About RBL
I grew up in a family that loved to read. Every flat surface in my parents’ house was (and still is) covered with books. We lived two blocks from the library, where all of us worked or volunteered at one time or another, so we were able to feed our addiction easily. While we do pass books around amongst ourselves, we all have slightly different tastes when it comes to reading material, and my favorite has always been mysteries.
I started reading adult mystery novels when I was 10 or 11 and, for most of the last 30 years have been lucky enough to read between 1 and 4 each week. While I have had occasional detours outside the mystery genre and have also re-read my favorite books several times, this still adds up to a huge number of books. Someone once pointed out that reading was my hobby. This struck me as very odd. Reading isn’t a hobby, it is a necessity like air or food. If I don’t consume at least one book a week my quality of life deteriorates. That’s just the way I am.
So when my husband suggested that I start a blog centered around mysteries, it seemed like the perfect suggestion. In an ideal world, I would have total recall of all the thousands of books I have read and could regurgitate authors, plots, and characters to instantly fill the blog entries. But I don’t have that kind of memory. So what I have decided to do instead is to post reviews for books I am currently reading and can discuss while the details are still fresh in my mind.
I should also say that I am going to concentrate on “lighter†mysteries. The mystery book segment of the publishing world is now huge and varied. At some point, I realized that I was more interested in books that didn’t involve excessive gore, torture, and other things that make you squirm while reading. I am not a wimp, but I want to read books that are enjoyable, not unpleasant. I’m not going to limit myself to just cozy mysteries, but I am going to avoid hack and slash and hard core procedural books (unless I hear they are really good).
I am also going to search out books by new authors and small publishing houses. I have grown disenchanted with some of the big names in the mystery world at the moment and want characters and plots that are new and fresh. I feel as if I am embarking on a new reading adventure – scouring the mystery world for the tastiest books out there! I would love it if you would join me in this quest.
Conflicts of Interest or Blogs That Sell Things
If you have read About Our Book Reviews, you know why this blog has been created and how we mean to conduct it. But we thought we should say a few words about conflicts of interest.
You will probably have noticed that our book reviews contain a link that will take you to Amazon in case you would like to purchase the book being reviewed. As Amazon affiliates, we get a commission on all sales that are made by customers who get to Amazon through our web site. This commission is small (approximately 4%) and we probably aren’t going to make a fortune this way. However, this money does compensate us a little for the time we put into keeping this blog filled with good information and buys the occasional book for review.
You may also have noticed that we have put these links up for all of the books we have reviewed – even the ones we didn’t like and don’t recommend. We will not change our opinion on a book in order to sell it to you because we don’t want to lose our credibility. But you won’t always agree with our reviews. We may not like the book by your favorite author, but we put the link up there so you can go right to that book on Amazon if you want to.
You are under no obligation to buy anything through our web site. Frankly, we are huge library patrons who think the lending library is the greatest invention of all time. We couldn’t afford to read all the books we do if we had to pay for them all. Please, read our reviews and order the books through your local library – work that library card for all it is worth.
But for new books with long waiting lists, books you love and just have to own, or presents for fellow readers, please consider going through us to get to Amazon. You don’t save any money, but you let us know you appreciate our efforts.
Thanks!
Bob and Liz
Tell your friends about us!
Blogs grow when readers tell others about them. If you like our blog and know a fellow mystery reader who might, please tell them about us. We want to build a group of mystery lovers so we can share information and have lively discussions about the books we love.