MURDER-GO-ROUND: REVIEWS BY HARRIET KLAUSNER

Harriet Klausner, was chosen the number one reader in the entire USA by BOOK Magazine. What does that mean to you? She reads constantly and knows what's out there and wants to let you know, too. Read on for tips to great books from the wonder reader Harriet Klausner.


Check her new column in FMAM's hardcopy magazine, titled, Murder-Go-Round by Harriet Klausner.

I was born in the Bronx where I obtained a Masters in Library Science. My thesis topic was the Impact of Science Fiction Reading by High School Seniors on Standardized Reading Scores. I met my spouse Stan when he read my palm in a Bronx outdoor cafe.

After being married for seven months, we moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania where I worked in the local bookstore. Our only child was born just outside the city on the same day as the Three Mile Island "meltdown" began. A few months later, we moved to Massachusetts where I worked in a small used book store that catered to fans of horror and science fiction. Ultimately we moved to Georgia where we currently live.

There I have worked with the library and found an acquisition job in a bookstore. I also started my book reviewing career here. I have always been a big fan of fiction. My favorite books span most genres. I enjoy a heated romance, especially written by the Sandras - Chastain and Brown. I love science fiction and fantasy when the realm feels real. Horror is entertaining to me when the vampires seem as if they are another living (dead?) species. Koontz remains my king.

However, I particularly take pleasure from almost all the sub-genres of mystery to include comic books starring Batman and Ms. Tree. I do not enjoy non-fiction, especially biographies (Boring) or most westerns. Being a hyper-speed-reader (as my husband calls me), I sometimes read two-three novels in a day. I enjoy writing a short synopsis of what I read and evaluate the tale. I take immense pleasure telling other readers about newcomers or unknown authors who have written superb novels. Finally, my husband has told me that my epitaph will read "Give me literature or give me death."

May 2005

The Alpine Quilt by Mary Daheim
Black Ice by Anne Stuart
Blue Mercy by Illona Haus
The Body in the Snowdrift by Katherine Hall Page
A Breath Away by Rita Herron
Broken Prey by John Sandford
Cat in A Hot Pink Pursuit by Carole Nelson Douglas
The Closers by Michael Connelly
Countdown by Iris Johansen
Death Takes a Honeymoon by Deborah Donnelly
Enemy Mine by Lindsay McKenna
Falls The Shadow by William Lashner
Final Justice by Jasmine Cresswell
Hitler's Peace by Philip Kerr
Last Witness by Jilliane Hoffman
Love Her to Death by Linda Palmer
No Place like Home by Mary Higgins Clark
Not A Girl Detective by Susan Kandel
Out of Range by C.J. Box
The Pegasus Secret by Gregg Loomis
Savage Garden by Denise Hamilton
Sullivan's Justice by Nancy Taylor Rosenberg
A Venom Beneath The Skin by Marcus M. Villatoro
Wednesday's Child by Gayle Wilson
Wildcat Wine by Claire Matturro

April 2005

A Confidential Source by Jan Brogan
A Killing Night by Jonathan King
A Real McCoy by Tori Carrington
Baked To Death by Dean James
Bubbles Betrothed by Sarah Strohmeyer
Burned by Carol Higgins Clark
The Chairman by Stephen Frey
Company Man by Joseph Finder
Cut and Run by Ridley Pearson
Dead Run by P.J. Tracy
Death of the Party by Carolyn Hart
Deep Blue by Kat Martin
Evil Intentions by Denise Osborne
Face Down Below the Banqueting House by Kelly Lynn Emerson
For Camelot's Honor by Sarah Zettel
Funeral Music by Morag Joss
I Hunger for You by Susan Sizemore
In the Company of Liars by David Ellis
Jigsaw by Kathleen Nance
Legacy of Masks by Sallie Bissell
Long Spoon Lane by Anne Perry
Mountain Peril by Tom Eslick
Open Channel by Jill Morrow
Prince of Darkness by Sharon Kay Penman
Superstition by Karen Robards
The Future Widows' Club by Rhonda Nelson
Trial by Fire by D.W. Buffa
Two Dollar Bill by Stuart Woods

March 2005

All the Flowers Are Dying by Lawrence Block
As Simple As Snow by Gregory Galloway
Cold Service: A Spenser Novel by Robert B. Parker
The Compass Rose by Gail Dayton
Dead of Night by Randy Wayne White
The Dead Stone by Vicki Stiefel
Endgame by Dee Davis
Forgotten Man by Robert Crais
Freefall by Judith and Garfield Reeves Stevens
Hard Truth by Nevada Barr
Jane and His Lordship's Legacy by Stephanie Barron
Lost Lake by Phillip Margolin
Luau of Death by Jerrilyn Farmer
Missing Persons by Stephen White
Most Wanted by Michele Martinez
Rules of Engagement by Bruce Alexander
Saving Cascadia by John J. Nance
See Isabelle Run by Elizabeth Bloom
Sign of the Book by John Dunning
Slaying Is Such Sweet Sorrow by Patricia Harwin
Sleeper by Gene Riehl
Speak Softly, She Can Hear by Pam Lewis
Ten Little New Yorkers by Kinky Friedman
Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult
White Thunder by Aimee & David Thurlo
With No One as Witness by Elizabeth George
Year of the Hyenas by Brad Geagley

February 2005

A Killing Rain by P.J. Parrish
Assault and Pepper by Tamar Myers
Blood Memory by Greg Iles
Bloodline by Jeff Buick
Cat's Eyewitness by Rita Mae Brown & Sneaky Pie Brown
Dark Eye by William Bernhardt
Die A Little by Megan Abbott
The Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Susan McBride
Indian Givers by J.A. Russo
Murder Can Mess up Your Mascara by Selma Eichler
Murder in Alphabet City by Lee Harris
Necessary Evils by Neesa Hart
Prince of Fire by Daniel Silva
The Rising by Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins
The Rosary Girls by Richard Montanari
The Serpent in the Garden by Janet Gleeson
Silent Witness by Rebecca Forster
Siren's Call by Mary Ann Mitchell
Strange Affair by Peter Robinson
Suspicion of Rage by Barbara Parker
True Crime by Alan Gold
Unlucky For Some by Jill McGown
Unspeakable by Graham Masterton
The Villa of Mysteries by David Hewson
Vodka by Boris Starling
Wait Until Midnight by Amanda Quick
Winter of Discontent by Jeanne M. Dams
Wiped Out by Barbara Colley

January 2005

Bead on Trouble by Barbara Burnett Smith, Berkley
Better Off Dead by Meryl Sawyer, HQN
Bloodlines by Jan Burke, Simon & Schuster
The Cat Who Went Bananas by Lilian Jackson Braun, Putnam
Dangerous Games by Michael Prescott, Onyx
The Dark Lord by Patricia Simpson, Tor
Deadlocked by Joel Goldman, Pinnacle
Dragonsblood by Todd McCaffrey, Del Rey
Entombed by Linda Fairstein, Scribner
For Love and Money by Leslie Glass, Ballantine
Guardian of Honor by Robin D Owens, Luna
Hot Target by Suzanne Brockmann, Ballantine
Hunter's Moon by Cathy Clamp, C. T. Adams, Tor
I'll Be Watching You by Andrea Kane, Morrow
Killing Bliss by E.C. Sheedy, Zebra
The Mesa Conspiracy by David Kent, Pocket
The Motive by John Lescroart, Dutton,
Murder Under a Mystic Moon by Yasmine Galenorn, Berkley
Puppet by Joy Fielding, Atria
The Search by Christiane Heggan, Mira
Shadows of Myth by Rachel Lee, Luna
Sit, Stay, Slay by Linda O. Johnston, Berkley
Survivor in Death by J.D. Robb, Putnam
Tahn by L.A. Kelly, Revell
Tool & Die by Sarah Graves, Bantam
A Wedding to Die For by Leann Sweeney, Signet
With Red Hands Stephen Woodworth, Dell

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