ABOUT US

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS


What do we do?                        reviews mystery fiction with a bit of news and commentary added. Each of our reviewers has their own page of reviews. Some of the reviewers choose to include a brief bio at the foot of their page.

Our reviewers have several ways of designating a book of special interest, usually at the end of their review. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED and RECOMMENDED. Then there is the ultimate accolade, the Black Diamond, which appears at the top of the review as an icon and denotes a book, in the view of the reviewer, of exceptional merit. We occasionally review biographical or reference books.

What we don’t do. We don’t review true crime and very rarely review horror unless it has a strong mystery element. We don’t review audio books and we don’t review ebooks or downloadable books unless they are available in standard book format as well.

Special Sections .   CLASSIC CORNER reviews mystery classics recently re-released.   U. K. REPORT reviews British mysteries not currently available in the U. S.   ODDS & ENDS is a potpourri of news, convention coverage, award nominations and results and anything else that comes across my desk that might be of interest in the genre.   PAPERBACK PAGE reprin ts reviews of mysteries that we reviewed in hard cover that are now available in paperback. Books being reviewed for the first time, even though they are paperback editions of a previously released hard cover will appear on the individual reviewer’s page. When there is a SPECIAL FEATURE button on the home page you will find an article or commentary about some aspect of the mystery genre. When the GUEST REVIEWS button appears on the home page it means we have a contributing reviewer who does not review for us regularly and thus doesn’t have a page of their own.

Our Format . We review hard cover, trade paperback and mass market paperback books. Hard cover books are identified by publisher and month and date of publication (i.e. Ballantine Books February, 2008). Trade paperback or Trade paperback originals are identified with publisher and the month and date in numbers (i.e. Signet Trade PBO 2/08 or Signet pb 2/08). Mass market paperbacks are identified in the same manner without the word trade (i.e. Signet PBO 3/08 or Signet pb 3/08). On small press reviews you will find the ISBN number to make it easier for you to order from your favorite mystery bookseller*.


When Do We Publish?                                  publishes six issues per year with postings this year in January, March, May, July, September and November. There are times when issues post late but that’s an approximation.

Submission Guidelines .

The policy of                       is to review books concurrent with publication, either hard cover or paperback. To that end we require at least two months lead time prior to publication to enable us to consider a book for review.

How Do I Navigate The Newsletter?    To view a complete list of the books reviewed click on Table of Contents on the Home Page. To review a complete list of the authors reviewed, click on the Author Index on the Home Page. To browse individual reviewers’ pages click on their name on the Home Page.

 Who Are The Reviewers?   We have reviewers from across the United States, Canada and the     U. K.  All of us who review are lovers of mystery fiction – from cozies to hard-boiled, legal and medical thrillers to historicals. You will get a fair idea of who likes what once you start reading their reviews. Many of the reviewers are, themselves, writers – published and unpublished, in the mystery field and outside it.

While I’m on the subject of reviewers, although we share a common language with the U. K. and Canada, those of our reviewers who live in those countries sometimes phrase or spell things differently than we might. You will find that I keep those phrases or spellings – just as I hope that American publishers retain those features in publishing a book here. 

*Where To Find Books. If you are not blessed with a local mystery bookstore check out The Independent Mystery Booksellers Association web site,  http://www.mysterybooksellers.com ,  which provides a list of their bookseller members.

We hope you will check out our reviews often. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to e-mail me at the address below.

Happy reading!

Sally Powers
Editor & Publisher
 sallypowers@roadrunner.com