Quill and Quire

BOOK REVIEWS

Shovel Ready

By Adam Sternbergh

Noir and SF have long been kissing cousins. Authors from Philip K. Dick through William Gibson have mined tropes of hardboiled crime fiction to lend their speculative stories a seediness that renders them more recognizable ... Read More »

March 13, 2014 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Cold Mourning

By Brenda Chapman

Intertwining mysteries drive the fast-paced plot of this suspenseful, wintry novel from Ottawa crime writer Brenda Chapman. When wealthy businessman Tom Underwood disappears one week before Christmas, police recruit Kala Stonechild’s first assignment is to ... Read More »

March 13, 2014 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Blood Always Tells

By Hilary Davidson

With Blood Always Tells, Hilary Davidson gives her recurring character, travel writer turned amateur sleuth Lily Moore, a rest. This time out, the Anthony Award–winning author spins a standalone tale of revenge, greed, and abuse, ... Read More »

March 13, 2014 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

The Shadow Queen

By Sandra Gulland

Though it purports to be the story of Louis XIV’s second official mistress, Athénais de Montespan (the story of the first official mistress, Louise de La Vallière, having been told in Gulland’s 2008 novel, Mistress ... Read More »

March 13, 2014 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Clyde

By David Helwig

The father of Clyde, the political analyst and title character of David Helwig’s new novel, died in Dieppe and his mother raised him in grim, post-war Ontario, employing a no-frills parenting style that would be ... Read More »

March 13, 2014 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels