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For Your Consideration: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
Book
There are three certainties in life: death, taxes, and the awesomeness of Dwayne "The Rock"...
Dear Los Angeles: The City in Diaries and Letters, 1542 to 2018
Book
A rich mosaic of diary entries and letters from Marilyn Monroe, Cesar Chavez, Susan Sontag, Albert...
Murder Buys a One-Way Ticket
8.0
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Book
It’s the funny side of homicide in acclaimed TV comedy writer and novelist Laura Levine’s newest...
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2666 KP) rated Blues in the Dark in Books
Apr 24, 2026 (Updated Apr 24, 2026)
Trying to Find a Kidnap Victim
It’s 1939, and Nate Ross’s latest client is Audrey Chase, one of the biggest movie stars. Her sister has been kidnapped, and the ransom demand is small. Audrey paid it, but her sister wasn’t returned as promised, and now she wants Nate to find her sister and return her safely. Given that this is Hollywood, Nate is wondering if this is more of a publicity stunt than a real crime, but the pay is good, so he takes the case. He quickly finds that, if he gets it wrong, this case will have deadly consequences. Can he figure out what is really going on?
This is another fun book in a series I always enjoy. It hues close to my impression of PI novels from the 1930’s. Nate and the few series regulars are fun, and the new characters did a good job of keeping me engaged. The plot included plenty of surprises, and I could not wait to get to the logical climax. While not focused on the studios of the era, I still felt like I was back in 1930’s Los Angeles. Now comes the wait for Nate’s next case.
This is another fun book in a series I always enjoy. It hues close to my impression of PI novels from the 1930’s. Nate and the few series regulars are fun, and the new characters did a good job of keeping me engaged. The plot included plenty of surprises, and I could not wait to get to the logical climax. While not focused on the studios of the era, I still felt like I was back in 1930’s Los Angeles. Now comes the wait for Nate’s next case.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2666 KP) rated Dark Sacred Night in Books
Aug 7, 2025
I Sense the Beginning of a Beautiful Partnership
It all starts one night when Ballard catches Bosch breaking into the file cabinets in the Hollywood police station. While he claims he is feeling nostalgic for his old case files, she doesn’t believe him. Some investigating on her own leads Ballard to the conclusion that Bosch is working on a case involving a teen who was murdered and left in an alley dumpster over 10 years before and she gets herself involved in the case. Will the two of them solve this cold case together?
I knew this team up was coming, and I enjoyed it now that I finally got here. The main case was set up in the previous Bosch novel, and I enjoyed seeing the follow through. It kept me entertained, although I did feel like Ballard was a little stupid at the end. The book splits time between both characters, so we get to see what is going on in both of their individual lives. We also get some individual cases the two are solving, although again, Ballard’s seem to get a little short shifted. Still, I enjoyed this first team up and am looking forward to more.
I knew this team up was coming, and I enjoyed it now that I finally got here. The main case was set up in the previous Bosch novel, and I enjoyed seeing the follow through. It kept me entertained, although I did feel like Ballard was a little stupid at the end. The book splits time between both characters, so we get to see what is going on in both of their individual lives. We also get some individual cases the two are solving, although again, Ballard’s seem to get a little short shifted. Still, I enjoyed this first team up and am looking forward to more.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2666 KP) rated Hollywood Kills in Books
May 28, 2026 (Updated May 28, 2026)
Stories for a Good Cause
This book, put out to raise funds to help victims of the 2025 Los Angeles wild fires, contains sixteen stories set in and around Hollywood. Over the course of the series, we meet just about everyone who works in the entertainment business from writers to character actors to caterers to directors to casting directors. Unfortunately, for all of these people, they are about to find themselves playing some deadly games. And yes, we do occasionally leave the Southern California area to find murder and mayhem on location.
Being an LA resident, I wanted to get this book to support the cause. And I enjoyed the stories by Ellen Byron and Wendall Thomas the most, no surprise since I like their books in general. But, when read back-to-back, these stories overall have a sameness to them. Not every story, but the majority. This isn’t to say the stories are poorly written or bad. I was engaged by the characters as the entertaining plots unfolded. I think if I had spaced these stories out a bit more, I would have enjoyed the book overall. So, my recommendation is that you pick up this book and do just that.
Being an LA resident, I wanted to get this book to support the cause. And I enjoyed the stories by Ellen Byron and Wendall Thomas the most, no surprise since I like their books in general. But, when read back-to-back, these stories overall have a sameness to them. Not every story, but the majority. This isn’t to say the stories are poorly written or bad. I was engaged by the characters as the entertaining plots unfolded. I think if I had spaced these stories out a bit more, I would have enjoyed the book overall. So, my recommendation is that you pick up this book and do just that.
The Pine Barrens Stratagem: From the Case Files of Steve Rockfish
Book
Private Investigator Steve Rockfish needs cash, like yesterday. The bad news is that yesterday, a...
Crime Thriller
The Location Shoot
Book
Controversial filmmaker Jean Mercier is shooting a film on location in Sweden. While spending the...
Romance
Home (Songbird, #4)
9.0
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Book
Rachel Myers never meant to stay in Payton. Her eyes were set on bigger things than waitressing at...
Contemporary Romance
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) in Movies
Aug 7, 2019
Following the very successful adaptation of Stieg Larssons millennium trilogy into three very successful Swedish language films, it came as no surprise when Hollywood announced that it would be making an English-language version of the series. Director David Fincher was announced to craft the first book in the series, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The new version follows very close to the original material with one fairly big exception which I will detail later in the review.
Daniel Craig stars as Mikael Blomkvist, who at the opening of the film has recently lost a court case for which he was being sued for libel by a prominent business figure. His career is in ruins and virtually all of his savings gone as a result of the trial and punitive damages. So when he is contacted by an attorney representing the wealthy and powerful Vanger family, he agrees to meet. Although highly reluctant to take a meeting, Mikael takes the four hour train ride north of Stockholm to a cold and remote island to meet with Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer). Henrik wishes Mikael to investigate the disappearance of his niece some 40 years earlier, a niece vanished under the families’ very noses and not a trace of her has been discovered since. Henrik is convinced that she has met with foul play, yet every year on his birthday, he continues to receive a gift of ornate pressed flowers in an anonymous package.
Henrik believes that the killer is haunting him by sending the gifts and that a member of his family may be to blame. Although skeptical of being able to find anything 40 years later, Mikael accepts the case and soon sets up residence in a small cabin on the island and begins his investigation by combing through police reports, conducting interviews, and examining photographs and newspaper clippings. Mikael had been warned that the other members of the Vanger family may not be too thrilled with his presence as not only is the family fractured, they all have their share of secrets.
At the same time, a very Goth punk girl named Lisabeth (Rooney Mara), is fighting her own demons. Lisabeth is an extremely gifted computer and surveillance expert who specializes in gathering background information on individuals. As such, her skills have made her in high demand with her employer. Unfortunately, Lisabeth is also a deeply antisocial person who is prone to lash out violently if provoked. Much of this stems from an extremely traumatic childhood spent in institutions which resulted in Lisabeth being placed as a ward of the state, not deemed competent to care for herself. This arrangement requires her to check in on a regular basis with a representative who, unfortunately for her, has recently suffered a stroke and places her in the care of the new guardian.
The new guardian subjects Lisabeth to horrific demands just so Lisabeth can access her money. The traumatized Lisabeth does not play victim long and in a twist of fate, is assigned by Henrik’s attorney to assist Mikael since she did the background check on him prior to Mikael being approached by Henrik for the investigation. The unlikely duo combined to form a highly efficient pair as they start to piece together the clues which indicate a brutal string of murders leading back for decades. As they work together, the relationship deepens and the reserved Lisabeth starts to come out of her shell. Tension mounts as danger surrounds them in an epic race against time to solve the case that certain members of the family do not want solved.
The film runs approximately 2 hours and 45 min and does take a little while to get started as the landscape and back story of the characters is established. The film has some very dark and brutal moments, which are hard to watch, yet were not as graphic as those in the Swedish language version. Craig and Mara work very well with one another and props to Craig for being willing to put on weight and occasionally looked disheveled to enhance his character.
Mara gives a masterful performance as the complicated Lisabeth, the anti-damsel-in-distress heroine, who subtly shows the many complicated sides to the character. Noomi Rapace first portrayed the character and has gone on to prominent success in Hollywood with a slew of upcoming high profile films. I would expect nothing less for Mara with two other sequels in this series to film. I am sure this breakout performance will not go unnoticed as it is an extremely difficult and daring role that few in Hollywood would want to tackle, much less be able to pull off as convincingly as she did.
I was extremely happy to see that the character names, settings, and situations were not changed in the new version, and it was refreshing to see the film set in Sweden and not relocated to London or New York. The biggest issue I had with the film was with the ending, which deviated from the previous versions. I will not provide spoilers, suffice it to say the resolution was a bit too tidy of a Hollywood ending and in my opinion greatly undermined one of the central characters of the film. That being said the film is a bold and dynamic vision from Fincher and is a deeply dark and disturbing story that is difficult to forget.
Daniel Craig stars as Mikael Blomkvist, who at the opening of the film has recently lost a court case for which he was being sued for libel by a prominent business figure. His career is in ruins and virtually all of his savings gone as a result of the trial and punitive damages. So when he is contacted by an attorney representing the wealthy and powerful Vanger family, he agrees to meet. Although highly reluctant to take a meeting, Mikael takes the four hour train ride north of Stockholm to a cold and remote island to meet with Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer). Henrik wishes Mikael to investigate the disappearance of his niece some 40 years earlier, a niece vanished under the families’ very noses and not a trace of her has been discovered since. Henrik is convinced that she has met with foul play, yet every year on his birthday, he continues to receive a gift of ornate pressed flowers in an anonymous package.
Henrik believes that the killer is haunting him by sending the gifts and that a member of his family may be to blame. Although skeptical of being able to find anything 40 years later, Mikael accepts the case and soon sets up residence in a small cabin on the island and begins his investigation by combing through police reports, conducting interviews, and examining photographs and newspaper clippings. Mikael had been warned that the other members of the Vanger family may not be too thrilled with his presence as not only is the family fractured, they all have their share of secrets.
At the same time, a very Goth punk girl named Lisabeth (Rooney Mara), is fighting her own demons. Lisabeth is an extremely gifted computer and surveillance expert who specializes in gathering background information on individuals. As such, her skills have made her in high demand with her employer. Unfortunately, Lisabeth is also a deeply antisocial person who is prone to lash out violently if provoked. Much of this stems from an extremely traumatic childhood spent in institutions which resulted in Lisabeth being placed as a ward of the state, not deemed competent to care for herself. This arrangement requires her to check in on a regular basis with a representative who, unfortunately for her, has recently suffered a stroke and places her in the care of the new guardian.
The new guardian subjects Lisabeth to horrific demands just so Lisabeth can access her money. The traumatized Lisabeth does not play victim long and in a twist of fate, is assigned by Henrik’s attorney to assist Mikael since she did the background check on him prior to Mikael being approached by Henrik for the investigation. The unlikely duo combined to form a highly efficient pair as they start to piece together the clues which indicate a brutal string of murders leading back for decades. As they work together, the relationship deepens and the reserved Lisabeth starts to come out of her shell. Tension mounts as danger surrounds them in an epic race against time to solve the case that certain members of the family do not want solved.
The film runs approximately 2 hours and 45 min and does take a little while to get started as the landscape and back story of the characters is established. The film has some very dark and brutal moments, which are hard to watch, yet were not as graphic as those in the Swedish language version. Craig and Mara work very well with one another and props to Craig for being willing to put on weight and occasionally looked disheveled to enhance his character.
Mara gives a masterful performance as the complicated Lisabeth, the anti-damsel-in-distress heroine, who subtly shows the many complicated sides to the character. Noomi Rapace first portrayed the character and has gone on to prominent success in Hollywood with a slew of upcoming high profile films. I would expect nothing less for Mara with two other sequels in this series to film. I am sure this breakout performance will not go unnoticed as it is an extremely difficult and daring role that few in Hollywood would want to tackle, much less be able to pull off as convincingly as she did.
I was extremely happy to see that the character names, settings, and situations were not changed in the new version, and it was refreshing to see the film set in Sweden and not relocated to London or New York. The biggest issue I had with the film was with the ending, which deviated from the previous versions. I will not provide spoilers, suffice it to say the resolution was a bit too tidy of a Hollywood ending and in my opinion greatly undermined one of the central characters of the film. That being said the film is a bold and dynamic vision from Fincher and is a deeply dark and disturbing story that is difficult to forget.