Five times mystery, or a cockroach in a pear tree

Once mystery is odd, twice mystery is odder, three time, four times, five times mystery... Actually I'm sure I read way more than five mysteries over Christmas, but I'm searching my files for notes and turning notes into book reviews while I catch up on catching up, so here are reviews of just five mysteries--like five gold rings perhaps (four calling birds, three french hens, two turtle doves, and a cockroach in a pear tree?)

The cockroach shares a room with Mr. Smith in J. J. DiBenedetto's Mr Smith and the Roach. It's a delightfully odd mystery, humorous and distinctly thought-provoking, blending Raymond Chandler with Douglas Adams perhaps. Enjoy its elegant complexity with some elegant complex four-star coffee.

The Bluelight Special: A Cyril Landry short story by J. Carson Black is a short story set in the world of horse-racing, but you don't have to love (or know) the sport to be quickly drawn in. Pitch-perfect dialog creates great characters, but the questions hover--good guy or bad guy, and what injury is he planning. Great misdirections in a really short dark tale; enjoy with some dark five-star coffee.

Aaron Paul Lazar's The Asylum is a longer tale--advertised as a novella--filled with warm characters and a great sense of Maine coast locations. Things are not what they seem in Carmen's new place of work, and cozy mystery, scary adventure, cool plot, and a gentle sense that yes, things will all turn out, make it a very enjoyable book to read with some well-balanced three-star coffee.

Things are not what they seem in Dorothy L. Sayers' Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club either. The novel is set on the other side of the Atlantic of course, but the author creates an equally authentic sense of time and place as Lord Peter Wimsey spots those telling details of the corpse. Enjoy a complex tale with lots of twists and turns, accompanied by a complex four-star coffee.

Finally there's Virtually Lace by Uvi Poznansky, a sci-fi mystery novella which recreates a slightly futuristic world with just the same evocative sense as the past at the Bellona Club. Michael's working on virtual reality in his garage and, of course, the military are interested. But beauty and ugliness are balanced on a knife edge in real world and virtual. A well-sculpted short read, enjoy with some dark five-star coffee.

So, starting and ending with sci fi mystery. Why not?
And now I'll go search those file for more notes - see if I can find what else I read while that Christmas pear tree grew.

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