Nostalgia with perfect amount of mystery that has the reader engaging.
596450
I started reading and I was able to connect Moorthy and Deepu's character to my friends in college. Mysterious past of a friend, ragging juniors, smart guy of the class falling for a girl, it has all of it.
Overall: it was a worthy read, completely unexpected ending. I would suggest my friends to read it too.
3438195
My 80-year old mother, an avid reader, said the book made her feel like one of the characters.  She particularly enjoyed the familiarity of the time when she was a child.  She recommends it as a great, get-away read.
2277192
I really loved this book.  Our narrator, writing as an adult in present day, tells us of his teenage years in Piney Creek Louisiana, centering on the summer of 1989 when his neighbor, Lindy, was raped. This book is really two things:  it's a mystery surrounding the crime and who could have committed it and it's a reflection on memories and how we are affected by them.

First, the mystery.  It was compelling and there are clues peppered throughout.  I thought I knew what would happen but nothing (and everything) was as it seemed.  There are a few creepy scenes (not horror or paranormal creepy, just voyeuristic and invasive) and the book is very atmospheric.

That brings me to my next point.  I loved the description of the setting.  I felt like I was experiencing a Louisiana summer; like I could really feel the heat and humidity, see the moss hanging from the trees, feel the sweat dripping, and taste the lemonade. Even the mood of the community as a whole was felt.  The author really created a complete sense of place.

Where this book really shines, though, is in the recollection of youth.  The narrator describes his memories with a nostalgia that is very relatable but also with a wisdom that can only come from a lifetime of experiences.  Anyone who grew up in the 80's will recognize references to the Challenger explosion, Jeffrey Dahmer, talking for hours on the phone before there was internet and call waiting, running around the neighborhood until (and sometimes after) dark with friends.  In many ways, the 80's marked the death of innocence for our society in general, and this narrator's reflections on his childhood mark the death of his.  It's a great parallel.

Many readers may be put off by how this book is paced and structured.  It's told in bits and pieces that are mostly in order but occasionally veer off onto what seem like unrelated events, much like the recollection of memory.  Often we recall bits and pieces of an event and those memories lead us to others. Some readers may feel these are parenthetical scenes but I felt that they all tied in to the overall growth of the narrator.  Indeed, this book is much more about the narrator than it is about Lindy and the mystery surrounding her rape.

Overall, I really loved this one.  The nostalgia, the atmosphere, the importance of memory viewed from a distance of years, all of these things were great.  I loved the writing.  I loved that the author captured the feeling of adolescence so perfectly.  I found it very hard to put this book down and highly recommend it.  In fact, my original rating after finishing was 4 stars but I just can't stop thinking about this one and the more I think about it the more I love it.  For that reason, I'm bumping this up to 5 stars and I'm pleased to own a physical copy for my bookshelf.
850140
If you're  looking for a book with love, mystery, Victoriana, time travel and fond memories of your youth in the early 80's then this is the book for you.

The author weaves these themes together so well that I was hooked from page one.

Looking forward to reading more books by this author!!!
1578522
This was a super fun book to read. It has good, solid characters that I could relate to as a grandma, memories of how sneaky my kids were and memories of myself growing up.

 The mystery and suspense slowly builds to a fast, relentless pace, but not so fast that I couldn't keep up. There is a twist at the end that I hope to learn more about in book 2.

This is a fun adventure that I think my 8-12 year old grandkids would enjoy reading.
As reviewed on www.thestubbypencilslibrary.com
3366413
Talk about a nostalgia trigger. Everything about this book reminded me of why I once loved fantasy. Obb is easily one of the most lovable grumps in fiction, and the assortment of characters that comprise the cast recall a fondness for movies and books I loved growing up, from Labyrinth to Hans Christian Andersen.

Admittedly, I enjoy anything where the protagonist breaks the mold for what they are supposed to be, so this book was an easy sell from the first page. What followed was lovingly written, with a piece of the author left buried in the text, like a flower blossoming amidst wreckage.
3224320
In 1976, Mahony receives a picture with an inscription on the back explaining his mother came from a small town in Ireland.  He, himself, had grown up in orphanages, never knowing if he was abandoned intentionally or by accident.  With his new information, he sets out to learn more about his past and hopefully find answers to his lifelong questions.  What he finds instead is a town steeped in mystery, ghosts and the timelessness that only Ireland can provide. This is a wonderful book, written with an eye towards the magical and mysterious;  both at work as Mahony grapples with his own questions while awakening the town's not-so-fond memories of his mother 26 years earlier.  The author has an amazing talent that cannot be overstated.  I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.
1397170
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more in the series. Although I am not into vintage clothing, I admired the descriptions of clothes, perfume and music. It was so nostalgic. The plot was well constructed and was quite absorbing, kept me reading later than I should have. Highly recommend.
813043
An easy to read mystery, which was difficult to put down. It brought back  many memories of high school chums.
1371209
It is nice to see the workings of an octogenarian mind. An aging but far from feeble sleuth, with the camaraderie of her neighbor ponder the possibilities of two murders being connected. The reader feels as if he is a resident of this small-town of Bradley. This is a charming and satisfying read. The cast of characters is quirky, sometimes nutty, and often lovable.
4376670
I read this book as a stand alone and really enjoyed it.  In fact, I liked the hero Sam Slater so much I will be searching out the other books in this series.  Two seemingly disparate story lines intertwine making for an engrossing reader experience.  The story is told well and presented in such a way that my interest rarely waned, but, for me, the best part of the experience was the feeling I had of being transported back in time to the mid-twentieth century.  It invoked in my mind many long-ago memories so that while I was caught up in the twists and turns of a top-notch who-done-it I also meandered through some nostalgic memories.  The old images scattered throughout the book complimented the narrative beautifully and added a visual aspect that added additional appeal to the story.  I am thankful I was given the opportunity to read this book for review purposes and happily recommend it to historical mystery fans everywhere.

Reviewed by Laurie-J
3107354
Great story, relatable  characters and fun. It's a nice trip down memory lane for those of us who read fantasy in our youth. While it's a new story, it feels familiar. I'm eagerly awaiting the rest.
269053
My book group read Shadow of a Broken Man last month and it was a terrific nostalgia read, with plenty of cold war intrigue and parapsychology and free of cell phones and the internets! The protagonist is a dwarf detective with a PhD in criminology and a black belt in karate.  Chesbros Bob Mongo Frederickson is one of the most unusual outsider detectives around.
591290
This was my first Miranda James book and is the fifth book in the series.
Charlie Harris is a fifty something year old man living in his family home in Athena, Mississippi with his two adult children, a boarder, and his ever present, extremely large Maine Coon cat, Diesel.  While it is told in first person, the story has a mystery inside of a mystery which is part of the charm of reading this book.
 Its National Library Week and Charlie and Teresa Farmer, the director of the Athena Public Library are planning to feature Electra Barnes Cartwright, the author of the Veronica Thane juvenile mystery series. While doing research, Teresa discovers Electra is still alive, living nearby and nearing the age of a hundred. With this discovery, Charlie is more than happy to accompany Teresa when she goes to meet the author.  With everything set for the exhibit and word getting out that Electra is still alive and will appear at the library, things start to get a little strange and crazy.
Each chapter ended like reading a Nancy Drew book; never wanting to put it down because you wanted to find out the whodunit.  This kept me guessing up until the end and  was finished nicely. If you grew up with girl sleuths or boy detectives, Miranda James' The Silence of the Library will bring back fond memories as James not only tells the story of Charlie and Diesel's latest case, but also skillfully weaves in a Veronica Thane mystery. James will have readers rapidly turning pages as you relive the days of cliffhanger chapters and roadster-driving sleuths.
3443373
Theres a lot going on here. Fionas father, Malcolm, is a famous investigative journalist while Fiona mostly does fluff pieces. One of the girls from 1950 is an orphaned French girl who spent time in a concentration camp and who disappeared (only her friends thought anything serious happened to hereveryone else assumed she ran away). We end up with two mysteries: who killed Sonia in 1950, and was Fionas sister Deb really killed by her boyfriend Tim 20 years ago? Just to add to it, what role have the occupants of the town and the members of the police force played in all of this?

I found the mysteries to be fascinating and satisfying. There are subtle clues along the way, and Im not ashamed to say I missed some of themthats indicative of a well-crafted narrative, in my opinion. There should be enough information to make you feel like you're getting somewhere while keeping the ultimate clues subtle enough to keep you from feeling bored. Its a tough line to tread.

The story did a good job with the ghost of Mary Hand. Theres definitely something inexplicable going on here, but it isn't too heavy-handed and neither is it taken too lightly. Ultimately it does seem that theres a ghost wandering the halls and grounds of Idlewild, but she isn't overly powerful and doesnt ride roughshod over the rest of the narrative. She adds the right level of creepiness.

Uncorrected proof provided by publisher for review.
3455210
Having a fondness for mysteries set in this era, I thoroughly enjoyed the well-drawn characters and sense of fashion explored in author Arbel's charming book. In my estimation, the author also deserves sustained applause for a typo-free text.
1155388
If you are in the mood for a wonderful mystery set in the 1920's, this is it. Haines does a wonderful job of using the vernacular of the time, so much so that you feel you are actually there. She weaves a twisty plot of mystery in which her character, Raissa, navigates not only the newly-discovered talent of being able to see ghosts, but also her inner struggle in reentering society after the loss of her husband in World War 1. Not only does this story have mystery and ghosts, but it has a character with personal struggles that readers can relate to. Thumbs up for this book!