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    Dark Stories

    Dark Stories

    Games and Entertainment

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    ATTENTION! THIS GAME IS MEANT TO BE PLAYED WITH FRIENDS IN PERSON. IF YOU ARE ALONE YOU CANNOT...

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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Aug 15, 2020 (Updated Aug 15, 2020)  
Sneak a peek at THE BLACK MIDNIGHT, a historical mystery, by Kathleen Y'Barbo on my blog. Enter the giveaway to win a $20 Amazon gift card and/or a signed copy of the book!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2020/08/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-black.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
Two killers, two detectives, and a menace called The Black Midnight may be the death of both of them.

Three years before Jack the Ripper began his murderous spree on the streets of London, a killer struck fear into the hearts of the citizens of Austin, Texas. Some believe one man is responsible for both, while others lay the blame at the feet of someone close to the queen herself. With suspicion falling on Her Majesty’s family and Scotland Yard at a loss as to who the Ripper might be, Queen Victoria summons her great-granddaughter, Alice Anne von Wettin, a former Pinkerton agent who worked the unsolved Austin murders case, and orders her to discreetly form a team to look into the London matter. One man is essential to her team, and she doesn’t want to consider taking on this challenge without his expertise. Unfortunately, he’s back in Texas, with a bad attitude and a new profession.

The prospect of a second chance at catching the man who terrorized Austin three years ago just might entice Isaiah Joplin out of his comfortable life as an Austin lawyer, even if it does mean working with the Queen’s great-granddaughter again. If his theories are right, they’ll find the Midnight Assassin and, by default, the Ripper. If they’re wrong, he and Annie are in a bigger mess than the one the lady detective left behind when she departed Austin under cover of darkness three years ago.

Can the unlikely pair find the truth of who is behind the murders before they are drawn into the killer’s deadly game? From Texas to London, the story navigates the fine line between truth and fiction as Annie and Isaiah ultimately find the hunters have become the hunted.
      
    Spy Club

    Spy Club

    9.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

    Tabletop Game

    "We could start a Spy Club," suggested Beatrice. "You know — search for clues and try to find...

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Ross (3284 KP) rated The Paris Mysteries in Books

Dec 27, 2019  
The Paris Mysteries
The Paris Mysteries
Edgar Allan Poe | 2019 | Crime, Thriller
5
5.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Crime fiction stripped bare - all tell
"Show, don't tell" is the mantra of many authors. It means give the reader the information so they can decipher the plot at their own pace, with various tidbits of information scattered throughout a book. It doesn't mean long rambling sections of exposition.
This phrase was clearly coined after Poe's demise, as he doesn't seem to have ever heard it.
Yes, he is undoubtedly the first and most important writer of detective/crime fiction. This by no means suggests it is any good.
The three stories are really just a setting out of a mysterious crime with some facts/suspicions, with a lengthy monologue where C August Dupin solves the mystery. That's it. No suspense. No character development. No real scene setting. Just a slightly puzzling crime followed by a smartarse giving the solution.
The main thing to take away from these three Poe stories is that the police and detectives used to be rubbish and looked for the wrong evidence, or were sidetracked by what they wanted to see. There are many crimes and stories with apparently impossible solutions which can't seem to be unravelled. This idea absolutely was the genesis of the rich and varied crime genre we have today. The idea that a strange set of circumstances can arise where an apparently normal crime can be committed but with the evidence so obscure and tangled that unravelling it would take a genius.
Sadly, Poe didn't put the story around the bare bones of these crimes. So all we have is three exam questions with a know-it-all giving the answer, with no charm, no suspense, no thrilling conclusion. One of them barely even concludes the murderer, just spends an age picking holes in the logic applied by various newspapers in trying to document the crime.
I might be interested in reading a retelling of these stories (except the one where a letter has simply gone missing and is found my looking somewhere obvious), where someone actually weaves a narrative around the bare bones.
I appreciate Poe's efforts because of what followed, but not for what they themselves are.
  
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BookInspector (124 KP) rated The Killing Choice in Books

Jul 1, 2021  
The Killing Choice
The Killing Choice
Will Shindler | 2021 | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This novel is told from multiple perspectives, sharing the thoughts of a very wide variety of characters. The detectives Finn and Paulsen are the ones tasked to solve murders that happened in a very strange circumstances. This crime story is very strongly driven by it’s characters. There are a lot of thoughts shared not only by police, but by the victims’ family as well. The characters are very different and all of them troubled, none of the character is happy in this book. 😀 Every character analise different topic and different feelings, and it does become a little overwhelming sometimes. I really enjoyed the diversity and inclusion of the characters in this book, I like wider representation of people.

As I mentioned before, this novel is more character driven than the plot, that is why, I think the investigation part was quite thin in this book. The surprising discoveries just kind of appear, missing the juicy surprises while investigating. I think all the thinking parts made this book seem quite slow, but on the other hand it allowed the reader to get to know the characters better. I liked that this book has different storylines, and it was interesting to see how all the stories get connected at the end. The topics discussed in this book were all possible aspects of grief, family relationships, drug dealing, guilt, council estate life, mental health issues, revenge, and many more.

The writing style of this book is enjoyable and easy to read. The setting of this book keeps changing, depending on the character, and I really enjoyed that. When the book has many perspectives, I find it difficult to know who is who, especially when their names and surnames are being used without one another. Personally, I prefer either names or surnames, otherwise I am wondering who that person is. 😀 The chapters are pretty short and the pages just flew by for me. I liked the ending of this novel, it rounded up the story very nicely.

So, to conclude, it is a very thought provoking crime story, filled with complex and deeply troubled characters as well as a layered plot. It is a slow burner, that allows the reader to delve deeply into the character’s world.