I’ve just finished a rip-roaring adventure/romance trilogy that I loved reading. The Will Darling Adventures by K.J. Charles is set in 1920s London. Will Darling has returned from the War and wound up running a bookshop, inherited from his uncle, as he had few other choices. The first book, Slippery Creatures, introduces him and the trouble he falls into when competing mysterious organizations want something that had been hidden in the shop. Then the charming Lord Arthur “Kim” Secretan shows […]

I’ve greatly enjoyed reading A Curious Collection of Dates: Through the Year With Sherlock Holmes, one day at a time. It’s an almanac, where every day of the year has one or more entries related to Sherlock Holmes. Some are capsule biographies of people who’ve played Holmes, or John Watson, or a Moriarty, noted on their birthdays. Or those who were significant to the publishing of the Canon. Some are dates from the Arthur Conan Doyle stories when cases began […]

The Baker Street Babes, a group of women who are Sherlock Holmes fans, put out this short essay collection in 2017, the last year the BBC Sherlock TV show aired. It’s a terrific idea. Typical of his time, Arthur Conan Doyle didn’t always pay a lot of attention to the women in his Sherlock Holmes stories. Of course, there’s Irene Adler, who’s been given too much attention over the years. The first essay here is about her, and it smartly […]

This thorough “guide to cocktail history, culture, trivia, and favorite drinks”, as the subtitle has it, is comprehensive. It’s full of useful and interesting information — maybe too much. It’s a shame that the presentation isn’t as professional as the content. The Cocktail Companion by Cheryl Charming is laid out as though it was printed from web pages. It’s a larger-sized paperback, and it’s a chore to read. Given the page width, columns would have been preferred to the full-width […]

Couldn’t we all use more support for our mental health these days? I’ve been getting a regular dose of encouragement from The Latest Kate, a mailing list by Kate Allan that provides a daily message with a cute colorful animal drawing and an inspirational saying. It may seem silly, but I’ve found it a thoughtful pick-me-up. Allan’s newest book, You’re Strong, Smart and You Got This: Drawings, Affirmations and Comfort to Help With Anxiety and Depression, collects a number of […]

Released almost a year ago, Bond Vs. Bond: The Many Faces of 007 is an updated reissue timed to tie into what was going to be the release of the 25th James Bond movie, No Time to Die. Obviously, what with the shutdown of movie theaters, that didn’t happen, but the book is still here. I was looking forward to it as a retrospective on one of the most famous characters in British popular culture. It is that, but it’s […]

We’ve had kids’ books based on movie and TV shows. Now, in the next step for parents wanting to keep their pop culture front and center in their kids’ lives, Akashic Books has launched the LyricPop line of children’s picture books. The lyrics of classic pop songs — including Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop“, the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations“, Otis Redding’s “Respect“, The Go-gos’ “We Got the Beat“, and (most amusingly to me) Dee Snider’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It” — […]