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."

June 2006

All U Can Eat by Emma Holly
Belle Point by Karen Young
Blue Screen by Robert B. Parker
The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril by Paul Malmont
The Cold Moon by Jeffery Deaver
Copycat by Erica Spindler
Dark Tort by Diane Mott Davidson
Dead in Vineyard Sand by Phillip R. Craig
Don of the Dead by Casey Daniels
Express Male by Elizabeth Beverly
Eye of the Storm by Dee Davis
Hurricane by Karen Harper
Invisible Girl by Tess Hudson
Killer Dreams by Iris Johansen
The Last Assassin by Barry Eisler
The Last Spymaster by Gayle Lynds
On, Off by Colleen McCullough
The Other Woman by Diana Diamond
Prey For A Miracle by Aimee & David Thurlo
Rain of Fire by Linda Jacobs
The Rapture by Tim LaHaye & Jerry Jenkins
The Rome Affair by Laura Caldwell
The Rookie Club by Danielle Girard
See Delphi and Die by Lindsey Davis
The Serial Killers Club by Jeff Povey
The Shadow by Shelly Munro
Shamus in the Green Room: A Cece Caruso Mystery by Susan Kandel
Takedown by Brad Thor
Taken by Chris Jordan
Touch the Dark by Karen Chance
The Wrong Hostage by Elizabeth Lowell

May 2006

A Student of Living Things by Susan Richards Shreve
Alien Infection by Darrell Bain
Blown Away by Shane Gericke
The Bookwoman's Last Fling by John Dunning
Corpse Suzette by G.A. McKevett
Dead Watch by John Sandford
The Deadliest Denial by Colleen Thompson
Deep Sea Dead by Lori Avocato
Divine by Karen Kingsbury
Everfree by Nick Sagan
Everything After by Sharon Pywell
Eye of Vengeance by Jonathon King
Fever in the Blood by Robert Fleming
Fine-Feathered Death by Linda O. Johnston
Firetrap by Earl Emerson
Gone by Jonathan Kellerman
Hard Way by Lee Child
Hare Today, Dead Tomorrow by Cynthia Baxter
Hitched by Carol Higgins Clark
In Plain Sight by C.J. Box
Killer Instinct by Joseph Finder
Magdalene by Angela Hunt
Maggie's Story by Dandi Daley Mackall
Maximum Ride: School's Out - Forever by James Patterson
Riding With John Wayne by Aaron Latham
The Saddlemaker's Wife by Earlene Fowler
Second Sight by Amanda Quick
Sun Storm by Asa Larsson
The Surrogate by Judith Henry Wall
Thunderhead Falls by CE Murphy
Under Camelot's Banner by Sarah Zettel
Unspoken Fear by Hunter Morgan
The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard
White Shadow by Ace Atkins

April 2006

African Ice by Jeff Buick
The Alpine Recluse by Mary Daheim
Charmed To Death by Shirley Damsgaard
Dark Assassin by Anne Perry
Dark Harbor by Stuart Woods
Dead Days of Summer by Carolyn Hart
Dirty Blonde by Lisa Scottoline
Don't Look Down by Jennifer Crusie & Bob Mayer
Expect the Sunrise by Susan May Warren
The Final Victim by Wendy Corsi Staub
Getting Old Is the Best Revenge by Rita Lakin
Honeymoon by James Patterson and Howard Roughan
In Enemy Hands by Michelle Perry
Keep Me Forever by Rosemary Laurey
Live Wire by Jay McInerny
The Mask of Atreus by A.J. Hartley
Mourning Dove by Aimee & David Thurlo
Moving Is Murder by Sara Rosett
North by Northanger, or The Shades of Pemberley by Carrie Bebris
Our Lady Of Pain by Marion Chesney
Penumbia by Carolyn Haines
The Secret Supper by Javier Sierra
State's Evidence by R. Barri Flowers
Tomb of the Golden Bird by Elizabeth Peters
Twist and Shout Murder by Rosemary Martin
Two Little Girls in Blue by Mary Higgins Clark
The Vampire's Seduction by Raven Hart
Vanished by Karen Robards

March 2006

A Hole in Juan by Gillian Roberts
All in One Piece by Cecelia Tishy
The Barbed Rose by Gail Dayton
Bark M for Murder by J.A. Jance, Virginia Lanier, Chassie West, and Lee Charles Kelley
Blondes Have More Felons by Alesia Holliday
Cherry Cheesecake Murder by Joanne Fluke
Dark Light by Randy Wayne White
The Dead Yard by Adrian McKinty
The Ethical Assassin by David Liss
For Better or Hearse by Laura Durham
Have Your Cake and Kill Him Too by Nancy Martin
Head to Head by Linda Ladd
Hello, Stranger by Virginia Swift
In a Heartbeat by Rita Herron
The Island by Heather Graham
Isolation Ward by Joshua Spanogle
The Kill by Allison Brennan
Kill Me by Stephen White
Labyrinth by Kate Mosse
The Lost Get-Back Boogie by James Lee Burke
Micah by Laurell K. Hamilton
One Good Knight by Mercedes Lackey
Orbit by John J. Nance
The Pandora Key by Lynne Heitman
Prior Bad Acts by Tami Hoag
Skin Gods by Richard Montanari
Smoky Mountain Tracks by Donna Ball
Sour Puss by Rita Mae Brown & Sneaky Pie Brown
Steamed by Jessica Conant-Park & Susan Conant
The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult
Unplugged by Lois Greiman

February 2006

A Necessary Evil by Alex Kava
Blue Valor by Illona Haus
Bone Thief by Thomas O'Callaghan
Boudica: Dreaming the Hound by Manda Scott
Breakwater by Carla Neggers
C.I.: Dark Target by David DeBatto and Pete Nelson
Capital Murder by William Bernhardt
Crazy Wild by Tara Janzen
Crimson Code by Rachel Lee
Deadly Kisses by Brenda Joyce
Death on the Lizard by Robin Paige
The Deep Blue Alibi by Paul Levine
Dope by Sara Gran
Gone by Lisa Gardner
Grape Expectations by Tamar Myers
Hammer of the Earth by Susan Krinard
Hung Out to Die by Sharon Short
The Hunt by Allison Brennan
Irish Crystal by Andrew M. Greeley
The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury
Married to the Mop by Barbara Colley
Master of Darkness by Susan Sizemore
Memory of a Murder by Earl Staggs
Prayers for the Assassin by Robert Ferrigno
Privileged Witness by Rebecca Forster
The Protégé by Stephen Frey
Red Hot Murder by Joanne Pence
Sea Change by Robert B. Parker
The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain
Sorceress of Faith by Robin D. Owens
Strange Bedfellows by Paula L. Woods
Sunstroke by Jesse Kellerman
The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry
The Two Minute Rule by Robert Crais
Zero to The Bone by Robert Eversz

January 2006

All Night Long by Jayne Ann Krentz
The Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell by Lilian Jackson Braun
Death Dance by Linda Fairstein
The Delilah Complex by M.J. Rose
Edge of Evil by J.A. Jance
Every Breath You Take by Judith McNaught
Gentlemen & Players by Joanne Harris
Got the Look by James Grippando
Half Past Dead by Meryl Sawyer
Malpractice in Maggody by Joan Hess
Memory in Death by J.D. Robb
Mr. Murder by Laura Van Wormer
Nail Biter by Sarah Graves
Nothing but Trouble by Michael McGarrity
On the Run by Iris Johansen
Out of Time by Patricia Lewin
Plaguemaker by Tim Downs
The Prey by Allison Brennan
Purity of Blood by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
Rain Dogs by Sean Doolittle
The Sacred Cut by David Hewson
The Sempster's Tale by Margaret Frazier
Sleeping with the Agent by Gennita Low
Sundays Are for Murder by Marie Ferrarella
The Trouble with Magic by Madelyn Alt
Turning Angel by Greg Iles
Who's Sorry Now? by Jill Churchill
The Witness by Dee Henderson
Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Andrea Kane

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