DVD Review: Richard Jewell & Book Review: The Suspect: An Olympic Bombing, the FBI, the Media, and Richard Jewell, the Man Caught in the Middle By Chris Chan When Richard Jewell dreamed of becoming a hero, he must have made his wish on a cursed monkey’s paw, because though he did save a […]
Author Archives: Christopher Chan
Book Review: The Irregular Adventures of Sherlock Holmes!; The New Adventures of Solar Pons: Tales of the Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street; Sherlock Holmes: Adventures in the Realms of Steampunk, Tales of a Retro Future; & Sherlock Holmes: Adventures in the Realms of Steampunk, Mechanical Men and Other Otherworldly Endeavors.
Book Review: The Irregular Adventures of Sherlock Holmes!; The New Adventures of Solar Pons: Tales of the Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street; Sherlock Holmes: Adventures in the Realms of Steampunk, Tales of a Retro Future; & Sherlock Holmes: Adventures in the Realms of Steampunk, Mechanical Men and Other Otherworldly Endeavors. Belanger Books is a […]
Book Review: Sherlock Holmes is Everywhere!
Book Review: Sherlock Holmes is Everywhere! This anthology takes a look at the various ways that Sherlock Holmes has influenced the real world. The essays in Sherlock Holmes is Everywhere! illustrate the different paths that brought the authors into the Sherlock Holmes fandom. Some of them read the original stories as children, others later […]
Book and Puzzle Review: Cain’s Jawbone: A Novel Problem
Book and Puzzle Review: Cain’s Jawbone: A Novel Problem Cain’s Jawbone is a unique book and puzzle. The title comes from the first recorded murder weapon. The premise is irresistible. A one hundred page-long novella, with all of the pages out of order. The goal is to rearrange the pages into the correct order– […]
Book Review: The Last Thing She Remembers
Book Review: The Last Thing She Remembers When a woman claiming to suffer from amnesia wanders into an English village, the aftershocks of her arrival will change the town forever. Who is she? Does she really have amnesia, or is she lying? This is the opening premise of J.S. Monroe’s The Last Thing She […]
Book Review: The Inspector Dover Novels
Book Review: The Inspector Dover Novels DCI Wilfred Dover is lazy, unhygienic, rude, gluttonous, ill-tempered, sticky-fingered, and one of the most entertaining detectives of twentieth-century crime fiction. His creator, Joyce Porter, wrote ten novels and several short stories featuring Scotland Yard’s most boorish and crude sleuth, along with two other series featuring an amateur […]
Book Review: A Woman Condemned: The Tragic Case of Anna Antonio
Book Review: A Woman Condemned: The Tragic Case of Anna Antonio After reading the title of this book, it may seem as if this historical overview of a 1930’s crime intends to exonerate the titular defendant. As the story progresses, however, James M. Greiner makes it clear that he is not declaring Anna Antonio […]
DVD Review: Elementary: The Final Season, and Elementary: The Complete Series
DVD Review: Elementary: The Final Season, and Elementary: The Complete Series By Chris Chan When CBS first announced Elementary, a modernized take on the Sherlock Holmes stories, purists like me were apprehensive. Not only did moving the mysteries to present-day New York City and gender and ethnicity-swapping Watson raise a few eyebrows, but […]
DVD Review: Knives Out
DVD Review: Knives Out (SPOILER WARNING: Major plot points will be discussed here.) Knives Out is a movie I wanted to love but wound up only kind of liking. On paper, it’s exactly my kind of entertainment. Harlan Thrombey, a famous mystery writer, has died mysteriously, his elaborately designed and decorated house is […]
Book Review: One Day You’ll Burn
Book Review: One Day You’ll Burn One Day You’ll Burn manages to achieve something few novels manage to succeed at doing: create a palpable sense of atmosphere and place. Not only that, but it manages to do so without being heavy-handed or overblown. Focusing on a grisly crime in Los Angeles, Joseph Schneider paints […]
Book Review: Jane Goes North
Book Review: Jane Goes North By Chris Chan Jane Goes North, by Joe R. Lansdale, is a comic, picaresque novel where the title character goes on a road trip to her estranged sister’s wedding. As is often the case, the story is more about the journey than the destination, but it’s not […]
Book Review: One More Lie
Book Review: One More Lie The murder of a child is a horrible tragedy. When a child is murdered by other children, that’s horrific. These visceral socio-cultural reactions form the backbone of One More Lie, the story of a convicted killer who just wants a normal life after being released from prison. As […]