Books shelved under “Mystery”

I like historical fiction, and I like mysteries, but above all I like historical mysteries. While more familiar with Paul Doherty's work set in ancient Egypt, I still enjoyed this mystery set in early 14th century England. Thanks to Doherty's enchanting descriptions and vivid characterization, Nightshade drew me into the year 1304.

I probably have read other Hugh Corbett novels, but I can't remember them. Going off this novel alone, it's hard to get a…

Not my favourite of Meltzer's books. Somewhat too predictable, and the ending wasn't all that fulfilling. I enjoyed what the Book of Lies/Truth turned out to be, but there were too many loose ends with the main characters.

In general, it felt too much like another off-the-shelf secret-society-gone-wrong quest-for-an-ancient-artifact novel than a good thriller/mystery. More specifically, there was nothing about the novel that made me cheer or fall in love with it. I didn't get…

Fairly predictable as a mystery, Blasphemy is an interesting hypothetical progression of hysteria surrounding a fictitious particle accelerator that is suspiciously similar to the Large Hadron Collider. Preston combines a lively mix of physics, religion, and espionage to generate an exciting page-turner.

Seriously.

My favourite characters were mostly antagonists. Their outrage at the ISABELLA project was wonderfully telegraphed through both dialogue and actions; sadly, these sorts of people do exist in real life.

Unfortunately, I…

Dirk Gently ... what can I say about Dirk Gently ... well, to be honest, I read this book only because it was written by Douglas Adams. As a huge fan of h2g2, I was expecting something awesome.

What I got was ... okay. Not awesome, perhaps great, definitely okay. There are aspects of Dirk Gently that I find appealing. I enjoyed the geometric conundrum of the sofa, and the Electric Monk, but found other…

Sherlock Holmes is arguably the most well-known fictional sleuth, but he's not my favourite. I prefer the deductive methods of Poirot. My problem with Conan Doyle's mysteries is that they usually hinge on a detail unknown the reader, thus making it very difficult for the reader to attempt to solve the mystery on his or her own.