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."

December 2005

Blessed is the Busybody by Emilie Richards
Blood Moon over Britain by Morag McKendrick Pippin
A Body in Berkeley Square by Ashley Gardner
Brighid's Quest by P.C. Cast
Cat Breaking Free by Shirley Rousseau Murphy
Dead Dry by Sarah Andrews
Dead Reckoning by Linda Castillo
Dead Roots by Nancy J. Cohen
Dear Departed by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
Deep Cover by Rachel Butler
Disappearing Nightly by Laura Resnick
Fade the Heat by Colleen Thompson
Forever Odd by Dean Koontz
A Harvest of Bones by Yasmine Galenorn
High Heels and Homicide by Kasey Michaels
Hot Wired by Jane Isenberg
Island Intrigue by Wendy Howell Mills
Kingdom of Lies by Lee Wood
Needled to Death by Maggie Sefton
Night Fever by Diana Palmer
No Peace For the Wicked by Pip Granger
S is for Silence by Sue Grafton
Seventy-Seven Clocks by Christopher Fowler
The Black Jack Conspiracy by David Kent
The Devil's Game by David Holland
The Next Ex by Linda Richards
Ticket to Ride by Janet Neel
Urn Burial by Kerry Greenwood
You Kill Me by Alison Gaylin

November 2005

As Dog Is My Witness by Jeffrey Cohen
Balloons Can Be Murder by Connie Shelton
Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt by Anne Rice
The Dark Horse by Patricia Simpson
Darker Than Midnight by Maggie Shayne
Delete All Suspects by Donna Andrews
Dreamboat by Judith Gould
Eye of the Beholder by Merline Lovelace
Fear the Night by John Lutz
Fool's Gold by Jennifer Skully
Getting Old Is Murder by Rita Lakin
The Girl with the Golden Gun by Ann Major
A Grave Mistake by Stella Cameron
Hard Truth by Mariah Stewart
Hula Done It by Maddy Hunter
Murder Uncorked by Michele Scott
Natural Selection by Liz Wolfe
New Year's Eve Murder by Leslie Meier
Night Game by Christine Feehan
Now You Die by Christiane Heggan
Predator by Patricia Cornwell
The Scorpion's Gate by Richard A. Clarke
Seaside by Scarlett Thomas
Six for Gold by Mary Reed & Eric Mayer
Stalking the Puzzle Lady by Parnell Hall

October 2005

Bad Attitude by Sherrilyn Kenyon
The Blood Red Sea by Ron Faust
Blue Smoke by Nora Roberts
Candy Apple Red by Nancy Bush
Category Five by T.J. MacGregor
A Catered Christmas by Isis Crawford
Colliding Forces by Constance O'Day-Flannery
Death at a Premium by Valerie Wolzien
Dying in Style by Elaine Viets
Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris
Half Broken Things by Morag Joss
Heretic by Joseph Nassise
Iron Orchid by Stuart Woods
The Killing Art by Jonathan Santlofer
King's Blood by Judith Tarr
The Last Sacrifice by Hank Hanegraaff & Sigmund Brouwer
The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly
The Mission: Crazy Hot by Tara Janzen
Mrs. Jeffries and the Silent Knight by Emily Brightwell
Now You See Me by Rochelle Krich
One Dead Under the Cuckoo's Nest by Lori Avocato
The Only Suspect by Jonnie Jacobs
Pale Death by David and Aimee Thurlo
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
The Price of Silence by Kate Wilhelm
The Regime by Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins
The Ruthless by L.G. Burbank
School Days by Robert B. Parker
Shadowed by Jerry Jenkins
Song of Unmaking by Caitlin Brennan
The Stranger House by Reginald Hill
The Vesuvius Club by Mark Gatiss
When Secrets Die by Lynn Hightower

September 2005

Angels in the Gloom by Anne Perry
Blood of Angels by Michael Marshall
Cold Truth by Mariah Stewart
Contact Zero by David Wolstencroft
Crimson Snow by Jeanne M. Dams
Deadly Impulse by Olga Bicos
Exposure by Dee Davis
Faithless by Karin Slaughter
A Foreign Policy by Guy Sinclair
Fury by Robert K. Tanenbaum
In Stone's Clasp by Christie Golden
Killer Karma by Lee Killough
Lethal Dose by Jeff Buick
Panic by Jeff Abbott
Paradise Lost by Taffy Cannon
Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear
Pelican Bay by Charlotte Douglas
Point Blank by Catherine Coulter
Raining Cats and Dogs by Laurien Berenson
Revenge Gifts by Cindy Cruciger
School Days by Robert B. Parker
Side by Side by John Ramsey Miller
Sinners and Saints by Eileen Dreyer
The Double Eagle by James Twining
The Shattered Blue Line by Patrick A. Davis
The Silver Anniversary Murder by Lee Harris
This Enemy Town by Marcia Talley
Witch Way To Murder by Shirley Damsgaard

August 2005

The Black Silent by David Dun
Blaze by JoAnn Ross
Blonde Lightning by Terrill Lee Lankford
Blood Knot by S.W. Hubbard
Dark Sky by Carla Neggers
Cast In Shadow by Michelle Sagara
Dead Man Docking by Mary Daheim
Dearly Devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
Desert Summer by Michael Craft
The Destined Queen by Deborah Hale
Died in the Wool by Mary Kruger
Disconnection by Erin Samiloglu
Fruitful Bodies by Morag Joss
Happily Never After by Kathleen O'Brien
The Hunted by Andrew Neiderman
The Lonely Girls Club by Suzanne Forster
Long Time Gone by J.A. Jance
Midnight Plague by Gregg Keizer
Without Mercy by Jack Higgins
Perfect by Marne Davis Kellogg
Poison Heart by Mary Logue
Princess Charming by Jane Heller
Raising Atlantis by Thomas Greanis
Remains Silent by Michael Baden & Linda Kenney
Shadows at the Spring Show by Lea Wait
Summer Garden Murder by Ann Ripley
Trace Evidence by Elizabeth Becka

July 2005

Any Wednesday I'm Yours by Mayra Santos-Febres
Before Sunrise by Diana Palmer
The Burning Girl by Mark Billingham
Case of Lies by Perri O'Shaughnessy
Close Case by Alafair Burke
Crusader's Cross by James Lee Burke
Curse the Dark by Laura Anne Gilman
Dancing In the Dark by Mary Jane Clark
Double Tap by Steve Martini
Eleven On Top by Janet Evanovich
False Premises by Leslie Caine
Fire Sale by Sara Paretsky
Grave Intent by Deborah Leblanc
Hot Ice by Cherry Adair
Killer Swell by Jeff Shelby
Killing Rain by Barry Eisler
Killing Time by Linda Howard
The Misted Cliffs by Catherine Asaro
Mozzarella Most Murderous by Nancy Fairbanks
PI on a Hot Tin Roof by Julie Smith
Shadows by Edna Buchanan
Silver's Bane by Anne Kelleher
The Stepmother by Diana Diamond
This Dame for Hire by Sandra Scoppettone
To the Power of Three by Laura Lippman
Upside Down by John Ramsey Miller
Urban Shaman by C.E. Murphy

June 2005

Act of War by Dale Brown
At Risk by Judith E. French
The Black Angel by John Connolly
Black Fly Season by Giles Blunt
Captain Alatriste by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
A Clean Kill by Leslie Glass
Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs
Deep Freeze by Thom Racina
Devil's Corner by Lisa Scottoline
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Inside Ring by Michael Lawson
Lie By Moonlight by Amanda Quick
Lullaby and Goodnight by Wendy Corsi Staub
Marker by Robin Cook
Men of Bronze by Scott Oden
Predestined by R. Garland Gray
Rage by Jonathan Kellerman
Rogue Angel by Jeff Rovin
Sofie Metropolis by Tori Carrington
The Twelfth Card by Jeffrey Deaver
Unzipped by Lois Greiman
Vengeance by Richard Marcinko and Jim DeFelice
Vineyard Prey by Philip R. Crai
What She Can't See by Hunter Morgan

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