With everything so dicey these days pertaining to public education in the post-pandemic era, it was nice to hear some good news for a change: at a recent dinner party, my friend Maggie, who works as a librarian in a local middle school, told me that her students love mysteries! Turns out kids do sometimes … Continue reading KRIMES FOR KIDS: A Comparison for the Ages
Kiddie Krimes
AIM (NOT SO) STRAIGHT AND TRUE: My Resolutions for 2023
A few weeks ago, my pal (and Book Club Arch Nemesis!) the Puzzle Doctor reached his 2000th post on In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel. Not bad for a man who’s only been blogging since 1954. I hit my 500th post last August (it was a dreary review of a dreary book, Dorothy L. Sayers’ The Documents in … Continue reading AIM (NOT SO) STRAIGHT AND TRUE: My Resolutions for 2023
PAT ON THE BACK: Meeting (Some of) My 2022 Goals
“There is no Frigate like a Book to take us Lands away . . . “ These words by Emily Dickenson were emblazoned on the bookplates my grandparents gave me when, at an early age, I declared my love for reading. I pasted them into every volume I owned and used up my stock long ago. … Continue reading PAT ON THE BACK: Meeting (Some of) My 2022 Goals
KRIMES FOR KIDS (WITH A CHRISTIE TWIST): Aggie Morton, Mystery Queen
As the sages are fond of saying: good things come to those who read Christie. Had I not picked up my first Agatha Christie novel (And Then There Were None) at the tender age of eleven, I might not have devoured the author’s entire canon by my twenties, re-read her voraciously, and set myself up … Continue reading KRIMES FOR KIDS (WITH A CHRISTIE TWIST): Aggie Morton, Mystery Queen
THE BOY FROM U.N.C.L.E.: The Arctic Railway Assassin
Tell me it’s not true, Maya! Say it isn’t so, Sam. Et tu, Elisa . . . ? There is a myth in the literary world that authors (and illustrators) are people, too, and that they must be allowed to go where their imagination and passion takes them. I think those who believe this are … Continue reading THE BOY FROM U.N.C.L.E.: The Arctic Railway Assassin
KIDDIE KRIMES: Murder Meets Marketing in The Agathas
On behalf of the thousands of teenagers that I taught for thirty-one years, all of whom deserve to have wonderful stories created for them, I would like to demand that the following cliches be retired from books, films, and television aimed at kids: Can we stop setting stories in tony California towns where the rich … Continue reading KIDDIE KRIMES: Murder Meets Marketing in The Agathas
KRIMES FOR KIDS, DOWN UNDER EDITION: Sabotage on the Solar Express
After dragging myself through a Book Club selection that aimed for the moon but sputtered at take-off, I wanted a read that would take me for a wild ride. Thankfully, the latest chapter in the Adventures in Trains series had only recently arrived at my door. Those masters of ferroequinology, Mara Leonard, Sam Sedgman and Elisa Paganelli … Continue reading KRIMES FOR KIDS, DOWN UNDER EDITION: Sabotage on the Solar Express
BITING OFF MORE . . . (My 2022 Resolutions)
Here it comes – the moment when all the bloggers you visit try and entice you to keep coming back with our promises of things to come. Some of my plans are rather amorphous: I hope to do some spiffing up of the site itself so that Ah Sweet Mystery will be better organized, sport … Continue reading BITING OFF MORE . . . (My 2022 Resolutions)
BRAD’S BEST READS OF 2021
As book bloggers go, in sheer number of reads I’m a dismal failure. Don’t even try and compare me, say, to my friend Kate over at Cross Examining Crime who, even in a bad month (May, when she had to tend to the birth of five baby goats), reviewed thirteen books, ten more than my monthly average … Continue reading BRAD’S BEST READS OF 2021
THE RATCHETT EFFECT: Kids Solve Krimes on Trains
I have to hand it to my pal JJ: through his regular feature, “Minor Felonies,” over at his blog The Invisible Event, he has been calling my attention to some amazing mystery novels written with young people (and the young at heart) in mind. Sure, my shelves are over-crowded and my pocketbook depleted, but I’m … Continue reading THE RATCHETT EFFECT: Kids Solve Krimes on Trains
Ah Sweet Mystery! 