RogerBW's Blog

The Lily of Ludgate Hill, Mimi Matthews 31 October 2024

2024 Victorian romance. Anne Deveril has been letting herself fade into obscurity looking after her widowed mother. Mr Felix Hartford is apparently a feckless man-about-town. They were almost married six years ago, and they've spend the intervening time despising each other…

[more]
Deep Black, Miles Cameron 30 October 2024

2024 SF, second of its series. The crew of the greatship Athens has found out something about what's been going on. Now she has to make it home.

[more]
Radlands 29 October 2024 - 1 comment

Radlands is a post-apocalyptic two-player duelling game from 2021. It's designed by Daniel Piechnik, who has no other BGG credits.

[more]
The Pearl Dragon, Amelia Ellis 28 October 2024

2011 thriller, fourth of this ongoing series; translated from the original German by Rachel Ward. The owner of a Chinese restaurant hires Nea to get back a stolen videotape.

[more]
The Weekly Challenge 292: Largest Zuma 27 October 2024

I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved fiddling with arrays and searching game states. (Note that this ends today.)

[more]
git commit murder, Michael Warren Lucas 26 October 2024 - 3 comments

2017 mystery. Dale Whitehead's company has sent him to the BSD North convention, which isn't a good match for his ADD or anxieties. But when someone drops dead on stage, he seems to be the only person to have thought of murder.

[more]
Neighbourly Games 21 October 25 October 2024

More gaming with some nearby friends.

[more]
Frostgilded, Stephanie Burgis 24 October 2024

2019 fantasy short story, epilogue to Thornbound.. Two years later, Cassandra is determined to celebrate her anniversary.

[more]
Airecon West 23 October 2024

Back to ACWest–now moved out of the Ramada and into the Telford International Centre down the road. With images; cc-by-sa on everything.

[more]
Past Lying, Val McDermid 22 October 2024

2023 mystery, seventh in the Karen Pirie series. As COVID restrictions start in Scotland, a researcher at the National Library contacts the Historic Cases Unit with an unfinished manuscript in the papers of a dead writer which shows some remarkable parallels with a real murder.

[more]
Dark Lord's Daughter, Patricia C. Wrede 21 October 2024

2023 fantasy. Kayla's day out at the State Fair suddenly includes a stranger telling her that she's the daughter of the previous Dark Lord of Zaradwin, and bringing her and her family across worlds to commence her rule of evil.

[more]
The Weekly Challenge 291: Index Poker 20 October 2024

I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved list evaluation and poker hands. (Note that this ends today.)

[more]
Half a Soul, Olivia Atwater 19 October 2024

2020 fantasy romance, first of a series. Theodora Ettings meets a fairy lord in the woods, and half her soul is stolen before her cousin Vanessa can rescue her. With her emotions largely missing, can she avoid scandal long enough to see Vanessa though her Season in London?

[more]
Gone Away, Hazel Holt 18 October 2024

1989 mystery; Holt's first novel. Sheila Malory is a widow in a Devon town, who gets involved in all the local Good Works. Naturally that ends up including poking about in a local murder. US vt Mrs Malory Investigates.

[more]
Listen to the Silence, Marcia Muller 17 October 2024

2000 mystery, twentieth in Muller's series about Sharon McCone, private investigator in San Francisco. Sharon's father dies, and when she's going through his things she finds a very surprising document. Spoilers.

[more]
Random in Death, J. D. Robb 16 October 2024

2024 romance/SF/mystery; 58th novel of Robb's In Death series (SF police procedurals). Someone's poisoning girls in public places; Dallas investigates.

[more]
The Spellshop, Sarah Beth Durst 15 October 2024

2024 fantasy. Kiela and Caz flee from the sack of the Imperial Library with all the books they could save, and go to Kiela's birthplace on a remote island. They plan to keep their heads down. But problems aren't going to solve themselves.

[more]
The Great Deceiver, Elly Griffiths 14 October 2024

2023 mystery, seventh in its series. It's 1966 in Brighton, and someone is murdering magicians' assistants again…

[more]
The Weekly Challenge 290: Double Luhn 13 October 2024

I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved list analysis and Luhn's checksum algorithm. (Note that this ends today.)

[more]
Thirsty Meeples October 2024 12 October 2024 - 1 comment

Back to the boardgame café after only two weeks (with Essen in between).

[more]
A Wizards's Guide to Defensive Baking, T Kingfisher 11 October 2024 - 1 comment

2020 fantasy. Some wizards hurl lightning or speak with water. Mona helps the bread rise in her aunt's bakery, and occasionally animates a gingerbread man. But a dead body on the bakery floor is only the start of her problems.

[more]
Essen 2024 10 October 2024

I still go to Essen SPIEL. I still love Essen SPIEL.

[more]
Sanctuary, Ilona Andrews 09 October 2024

2024 modern fantasy novella, set in the world of the Kate Daniels series. Roman is a servant of Chernobog, but that doesn't make him a bad person. And certainly when someone turns up semiconscious and claiming sanctuary he knows what to do…

[more]
Case Histories, Kate Atkinson 08 October 2024

2004 mystery, first in a series. In 1970 a small child goes missing while camping in the garden with her sister. In 1994 a young woman is murdered in her father's office. In 1979 a new mother is found clutching an axe next to her husband's body: "He woke the baby". And in the modern day former copper turned PI Jackson Brodie investigates.

[more]
The Kingdom of Copper, S. A. Chakraborty 07 October 2024

2019 fantasy, second of its tetralogy. Five years later, Nahri is married to the heir of Daevabad; younger brother Ali has somehow survived an exile that was meant to kill him; and Darayavahoush is dead, but they won't let him rest.

[more]
The Weekly Challenge 289: Maximum Jumble 06 October 2024

I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved list evaluation and string manipulation. (Note that this ends today.)

[more]
Palace of Spies, Sarah Zettel 05 October 2024

2018 historical adventure, first in a trilogy. Having had a fatal row with her guardian, Margaret Fitzroy finds herself with no option but to be sent as a spy into the court of King George, as one of the maids-of-honour to the Princess of Wales.

[more]
The Fox's Curse, Sarah Painter 04 October 2024

2019 urban fantasy, third of its series. Lydia Crow is blackmailed by ex-boyfriend Paul Fox (of one of the other magical families of London) to work on a vaguely-defined case. But who killed the guy, and what dies his ghost want?

[more]
Fair Market Value, Hailey Edwards 03 October 2024

2024 urban fantasy, first of a planned series. Frankie and her siblings Matty and Josie run a garage for classic cars… and Frankie is a necromancer on the side.

[more]
Unbroken Faith, Glynn Stewart 02 October 2024

2023 space-navy SF, third and last of its sub-series. Another ex-commonwealth state is under attack by an alliance of former naval commanders, and they appeal to the Dakotan Confederacy and the rump Commonwealth for help…

[more]
Thirsty Meeples September 2024 01 October 2024 - 2 comments

Back to the boardgame café.

[more]
Search
Archive
Tags 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2300ad 3d printing action advent of code aeronautics aikakirja anecdote animation anime army astronomy audio audio tech base commerce battletech bayern beer boardgaming book of the week bookmonth chain of command children chris chronicle church of no redeeming virtues cold war comedy computing contemporary cornish smuggler cosmic encounter coup covid-19 crime crystal cthulhu eternal cycling dead of winter doctor who documentary drama driving drone ecchi economics en garde espionage essen 2015 essen 2016 essen 2017 essen 2018 essen 2019 essen 2022 essen 2023 essen 2024 existential risk falklands war fandom fanfic fantasy feminism film firefly first world war flash point flight simulation food garmin drive gazebo genesys geocaching geodata gin gkp gurps gurps 101 gus harpoon historical history horror hugo 2014 hugo 2015 hugo 2016 hugo 2017 hugo 2018 hugo 2019 hugo 2020 hugo 2021 hugo 2022 hugo 2023 hugo 2024 hugo-nebula reread in brief avoid instrumented life javascript julian simpson julie enfield kickstarter kotlin learn to play leaving earth linux liquor lovecraftiana lua mecha men with beards mpd museum music mystery naval noir non-fiction one for the brow opera parody paul temple perl perl weekly challenge photography podcast politics postscript powers prediction privacy project woolsack pyracantha python quantum rail raku ranting raspberry pi reading reading boardgames social real life restaurant reviews romance rpg a day rpgs ruby rust scala science fiction scythe second world war security shipwreck simutrans smartphone south atlantic war squaddies stationery steampunk stuarts suburbia superheroes suspense television the resistance the weekly challenge thirsty meeples thriller tin soldier torg toys trailers travel type 26 type 31 type 45 vietnam war war wargaming weather wives and sweethearts writing about writing x-wing young adult
Special All book reviews, All film reviews
Produced by aikakirja v0.1