shrouded skeleton statue

Daryl M.

Librarian


Posts by Daryl M.

  • Author Chris Nashawaty and his latest book, The Future Was Now: Madmen, Mavericks, and the Epic Sci-Fi Summer of 1982

    Interview With an Author: Chris Nashawaty

    Chris Nashawaty is a writer, editor, and former Entertainment Weekly film critic. He is the author of Caddyshack: The Making of a Hollywood Cinderella Story and his work has appeared in Esquire…

  • Author Meg Shaffer and her latest novel, The Lost Story

    Interview With an Author: Meg Shaffer

    Meg Shaffer is the USA Today bestselling author of The Wishing Game, which was a Book of the Month finalist for Book of the Year, a Reader’s Digest and Washington Post Best Book of the Year, and has…

  • Bruce Borgos between his 2 books covers, Shades of Mercy and the Bitter Past

    Interview With an Author: Bruce Borgos

    Bruce Borgos lives and writes from the Nevada desert where he works hard every day to prove his high school guidance counselor had good instincts when he said, "You'll never be an astronaut." He has a…

  • Author Meg Shaffer and her latest novel, That Night in the Library

    Interview With an Author: Eva Jurczyk

    Eva Jurczyk is a writer and librarian living in Toronto. She has written for Jezebel, The Awl, The Rumpus, and Publishers Weekly. Eva smashed onto the mystery scene in 2022 with her debut, The…

  • Author Stuart Turton and his latest novel, The Last Murder at the End of the World

    Interview With an Author: Stuart Turton

    Stuart Turton is the best selling author of The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Devil in the Dark Water. His books have won numerous awards and been translated into thirty-seven languages…

  • Author Juli Min and her first novel, Shanghailanders

    Interview With an Author: Juli Min

    Juli Min is a writer and editor based in Shanghai. She studied Russian and comparative literature at Harvard University, and she holds an MFA in fiction from Warren Wilson. She was the founding editor…

  • Author Sara Nisha Adams and her latest novel, The Twilight Garden

    Interview With an Author: Sara Nisha Adams

    Sara Nisha Adams is a writer and editor. She lives in London and was born in Hertfordshire to Indian-Kenyan and English parents. Her first novel was The Reading List. Her latest novel is The Twilight…


Reviews by Daryl M.

  • Cover image for The Devil and the Dark Water

    The Devil and the Dark Water

    • By: Turton, Stuart
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    In a "locked-room" or "impossible crime" mystery, a crime, or series of crimes, is committed under circumstances that appear, at least initially, impossible for said crime to have been enacted. Those same conditions will also seem to preclude the criminal entering or exiting the crime scene.The first “locked-room” mystery was...
  • Cover image for The Eighth Detective

    The Eighth Detective

    • By: Pavesi, Alex
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    In the early 1940s, a Scottish professor of mathematics devises a mathematical definition of the murder mystery story and writes seven provocative stories as proof of his theory. He publishes a journal article regarding his ideas and then self-publishes his seven stories in a small volume, entitled The White Murders.Decades...
  • Cover image for Crossings : consisting of three manuscripts

    Crossings : consisting of three manuscripts

    • By: Landragin, Alex
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    Crossings, Alex Landragin’s debut novel is as difficult to define as it is to describe. At its most elemental, Crossings is a collection of three novellas that collectively tell a story. There are elements of several different genres present: historical fiction, mystery, fantasy, and romance. And, perhaps most surprising, the...
  • Cover image for Before She Was Helen

    Before She Was Helen

    • By: Cooney, Caroline B.
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    Helen Stephens lives a quiet life in Sun City, a retirement community in South Carolina. She regularly plays cards in the clubhouse with other residents of the complex, including her neighbors Joyce and Johnny. While she is mostly retired, she continues teaching some Latin classes at a local high school...
  • Cover image for It Came From the Sky

    It Came From the Sky

    • By: Sedoti, Chelsea
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    Sixteen-year-old Gideon Hofstadt prefers an orderly life and an orderly future. In his schoolwork, he excels in the sciences, but struggles with the vagaries of the humanities. It is the same way he struggles with his relationships with his family, friends, and his maybe boyfriend, Owen. Gideon cares about Owen...
  • Cover image for The Operator

    The Operator

    • By: Berg, Gretchen
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    In a world where most people walk around with a telephone on their person that can allow them to contact someone anywhere in the country, or the world, easily and directly, it may be a bit of a shock to realize that as little as 50 years ago many people...
  • Cover image for The Darwin Affair

    The Darwin Affair

    • By: Mason, Timothy
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    It probably goes without saying that when Charles Darwin published his revolutionary theories regarding evolution, and their supporting evidence, in The Origin of Species in 1859, there was controversy. Even today, 160 years later, Darwin’s theory of species evolving over time still engenders strong feelings of resistance to his ideas...
  • Cover image for The Ghosts of Sherwood

    The Ghosts of Sherwood

    • By: Vaughn, Carrie
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    The earliest references to Robin Hood date back to the 14th century, and the earliest surviving copies of the story are from the 15th century. The details may change, but the core of the legend concerns a nobleman turned outlaw with a band of followers known as the Merry Men...