The big three (fiction) genres appear to be romance, mysteries, and SF&F. Hmm, once upon a time we had Westerns, but I haven't noticed them, and poor horror tends to be lumped in with the mysteries or SF, which just goes to show how artificial these divisions are anyway.

Just for the record my three favorite mystery authors are Sue Grafton, Dick Francis and Dorothy Sayers. I'm also very fond of Sherlock Holmes, especially in this new incarnation by Laurie King which teams him up with equally brilliant Mary Russell. If you like humor and eccentrics with your mysteries, the Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn stories by Charlotte MacLeod are definitely worth checking out.

Aside from stating that the (relatively) new Dick Francis, Shattered about a glassblower is truly dreadful–I think he got too enamoured of the idea that unannealed glass can really behave in dreadful ways, I like most of the books by the authors mentioned above, and don't have any plans to review them soon. (Francis’ other book, Straight, about an industry with which I'm somewhat familiar–a gem and stone bead shop–is excellent. A gem, as it were. I only detected one improbability: you wouldn't place an order to Taiwan or Hong Kong just to get more bluelace chips and whatever the heck the other [slow-moving] item they were running out of. You'd wait, till you needed more than that.)

Hmm, come to think of it, the Booker Award winning Possession by A.S. Byatt is also a mystery. Also fabulous. I do have two honest to goodness reviews, and may, over time, add a few more.

Brief review of Sue Grafton's W is for Wasted. 30jan2020

Clark, Mary Higgins, I'll Be Seeing You Three stars. 22may2004

Hambly, Barbara, A Free Man of Color Three stars. 22may2004

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