Joseph Mallozzi's Blog, page 3

September 28, 2025: Sharky Sunday!

Visiting Grandma, going out for Korean, and shopping at Pitout Minou…

Hittin’ the road –

Out and About: Victor Rose Cafe and Salon Toutou

Pumpkin treat –

Sharky wants a bite…

Twitchy nose –

Yet another outing…

Out and About: La Meunerie, Comptoir St. Jo, Victor Rose Cafe 10th Anniversary!

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September 27, 2025: Choose your ride (and crew) and tell me why – Part 1!

I have to go with the starship and crew that was my introduction to sci-fi television, the Enterprise NCC-1701.  I actually know very little about the crew of the other ships.

Who you got and why?

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September 26, 2025: Choose your mode of Sci-Fi travel!

Choose one and tell me why:
– Time Travel
– Multiverse Travel
– Dimensional Travel
– Interstellar Travel

Interstellar Travel is the stuff of classic sci-fi, like Star Trek and Stargate, and while this is a speculative exercise, the likelihood of encountering alien life over weeks, months, even years (if at all) is highly unlikely. Not so bad if you can step through the gate and be back home by bedtime, but even the merest of ship-board five year missions would risk making me loopy if I wasn’t seeing any action.

Time Travel, on the other hand, is an even older sci-fi chestnut that, theoretically, offers opportunities for great fun. As some have mentioned, who wouldn’t seize the possibility of being reunited with a lost loved one? But when you get into the mechanics of time travel, you start having to deal with the possibility of paradoxes and start worrying about how your actions could screw up the timeline, potentially landing you back in a horribly altered present where people wear their socks OVER their shoes. Of course it all depends on the theory of time travel you subscribe to but I would argue that if you’re an adherent of the branching timeline theory, then we’re getting into…

Multiverse Travel – Wherein we journey along the road not taken, perhaps a past in which the Roman Empire never fell or a timeline where those ref-abetted cheater Patriots never won all those Super Bowls. Past, present, or future, paradoxes no longer apply since it’s not YOUR reality you’re screwing with so why the hell not?

Dimensional Travel – Rarely explored in sci-fi, but when it is (Event Horizon, Annihilation, Stranger Things), it’s usually pretty damn horrific. This choice is, I’d argue, the easiest way to induce psychosis.

So I’m going Multiverse.

And you?

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September 25, 2025: Amazing Covers!

A few that caught my eye this week…

Absolute Wonder Woman #12 – cover art by Mateus Manhanini

Detective Comics #1101 – cover art by Stephanie Hans

Detective Comics #1101 – cover art by Gabriele Dell’Otto

Green Arrow #28 – cover art by Taurin Clarke

Green Lantern #27 – cover art by Aaron Bartling

Superman #30 – cover art by David Aja

Flash #25 – cover art by Davide Paratore

Ice Cream Man #47 – cover art by Martin Morazzo & Chris O’Halloran

So, which were YOUR favorites?

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September 24, 2025: 200 2025 Crime Reads Rated and (some) Annotated!

4.5/5
Blood Ties by Jo Nesbø (Immersive, grounded character-driven story)
Coram House by Bailey Seybolt (The ending genuinely surprised me)
Friends Helping Friends by Patrick Hoffman (Great character work)
Kill Your Darlings by Peter Swanson (Told in reverse but it bookends with a nice little twist)
Leo by Deon Meyer (A pulse-pounding ride – 2025 translation)
Poor Girls by Clare Whitfield (One of my top crime reads of 2024 gets its 2025 North American release)
The Impossible Thing by Belinda Bauer (Great characters, a compelling story, and a wonderful sense of humor)

4/5
A Novel Murder by E.C. Nevin (Fun and funny. A surprising delight.)
Dead Money by Jakob Kerr (Not a fan of legal thrillers but this one delivered some terrific twists)
Girl Falling by Hayley Scrivener (Solid twist ending)
Hang on St. Christopher by Adrian McKinty (Grounded, gritty and great)
Her Many Faces by Nicci Cloke (Minor quibbles in an otherwise gripping novel)
Karma Doll by Jonathan Ames (Not wholly on board with the ending, but getting there was a blast)
Kills Well with Others by Deanna Raybourn (Good mystery and great fun)
Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz (The second ending is a little anticlimactic but otherwise a very enjoyable read)
Murder at Gulls Nest by Jess Kidd (A standout protagonist in former nun Nora)
Red Water by Jurica Pavičić (Bleak yet compelling – 2025 translation)
Summerhouse by Yiğit Karaahmet (A suspenseful little yarn)
The Silver State by Gabriel Urza (Tiny quibbles in a fairly absorbing story)
The Summer Guests by Tess Gerritsen (A well-written mystery from the consistently great Gerritsen)
The Trouble Up North by Travis Mulhauser (Fascinating dysfunctional family dynamics)
The Wolf Tree by Laura McCluskey (Small island community mystery done right)

3.5/5
Anoxia by Miguel Ángel Hernández (Alternately fascinating and frustrating – 2025 translation)
Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (Compelling story that is really more of romance)
Command Performance by Jean Echenoz (Alternately hilarious and tedious)
Fox by Joyce Carol Oates (Solid)
Galway’s Edge by Ken Bruen (Solid but stylistically clipped)
Malma Station by Alex Schulman (Melancholic – 2025 translation)
Nightshade by Michael Connelly (Great character work)
One Good Reason by Emma Salisbury (Solid)
Oromay by Baalu Girma (Main characters shines but supporting players suffer – 2025 translation)
Pro Bono by Thomas Perry (Perry is another consistently great writer)
The Mailman by Andrew Welsh-Huggins (Fun, humorous, but an overly complicated third act)
The Understudy by Morgan Richter (An utterly delightful read until it shifts into standard investigative territory)
Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito (Delightfully dark and gruesome but at times a little too tonally dismissive)
Welcome to Murder Week by Karen Dukess (A lot of fun despite the fact there is no actual murder)
Where the Bones Lie by Nick Kolakowski (Wonderful character and humor, but had a hard time buying the late twist/reveal)

3/5
A Death on Corfu by Emily Sullivan
A Shipwreck in Fiji by Nilima Rao
A Twist of Fate by Se-Ah Jang
Allegro by Ariel Dorfman
All the Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah Harman
All We Trust by Gregory Galloway
Ballerina by Patrick Modiano
Battle Mountain by C.J. Box
Bitterfrost by Bryan Gruley
Ceylon Sapphires by Mailan Doquang
Clay by Franck Bouysse
Cold as Hell by Kelley Armstrong
Creep by Emma van Straaten
Dark Maestro by Brendan Slocumb
Death at the White Hart by Chris Chibnall
Death of a Smuggler by M.C. Beaton
Don’t Let Him In by Lisa Jewell
Dying to Meet You by Sarina Bowen
El Dorado Drive by Megan Abbott
Every Sweet Thing Is Bitter by Samantha Crewson
Fagin the Thief by Allison Epstein
Flashlight by Susan Choi
Forged by Danielle Teller
Heartwood by Amity Gaige
Hollow Spaces by Victor Suthammanont
Hunting in America by Tehila Hakimi
I Did Warn Her by Sian Gilbert
Jill Is Not Happy by Kaira Rouda
Julie Chan Is Dead by Liann Zhang
King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby
Letters from the Dead by Isabella Valeri
Leverage by Amran Gowani
Matchmaking for Psychopaths by Tasha Coryell
Mississippi Blue 42 by Eli Cranor
Mob Queen by Virginia Bledsoe
Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman
Never Flinch by Stephen King
Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson
Notes on Surviving the Fire by Christine Murphy
Old Soul by Susan Barker
One Death at a Time by Abbi Waxman
Pariah by Dan Fesperman
Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay
Peter Miles Has to Die by Katie Collum
Plays Well with Others by Lauren Myracle
Rage by Linda Castillo
Runaway Horses by Carlo Fruttero & Franco Lucentini (2025 translation)
Ruth Run by Elizabeth Kaufman
Saltwater by Katy Hays
Shaw Connolly Lives to Tell by Gillian French
Sister, Butcher, Sister by K.D. Aldyn
So Happy Together by Olivia Worley
Someone in the Water by Sarah Clarke
Streets of Nashville by Michael Amos Cody
Sweet Fury by Sash Bischoff
Tell Them You Lied by Laura Leffler
The Ascent by Allison Buccola
The Big Empty by Robert Crais
The Death of Us by Abigail Dean
The Doorman by Chris Pavone
The Empress Murders by Toby Schmitz
The Gatsby Gambit by Claire Anderson Wheeler
The Last Ferry Out by Andrea Bartz
The Last Room on the Left by Leah Konen
The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater
The Locked Room by Sara Pekkanen
The Lost House by Melissa Larsen
The Marriage Rule by Helen Monks Takhar
The Medusa Protocols by Rob Hart
The Memory Ward by Jon Bassoff
The Naming of the Birds by Pariah O’Donnell
The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue
The Perfect Divorce by Jeneva Rose
The Perfect Stranger by Tara Lyons
The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict
The Quiet Librarian by Allen Eskens
The Reluctant Sheriff by Chris Offutt
The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne by Ron Currie Jr.
The School Gates by A.A. Chaudhuri
The Snares by Rav Grewal-Kök
The Tokyo Suite by Giovana Madalosso
The Unlucky Ones by Hannah Morrissey
The Vow by Stefanie London
Too Old for This by Samantha Downing
Under the Skin by Susanna Rogers
We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter
We Are Watching You by Alison Gaylin
We Don’t Talk About Carol by Kristen L. Berry
Welcome to Cottonmouth by Jay S. Bell
When She Was Gone by Sara Foster
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego
You Belong Here by Megan Miranda
Your Steps on the Stairs by Antonio Muñoz Molina

2.5/5
Claire Darling by Callie Kazumi (Underwhelming unreliable narrator)
House of Lies by Anita Waller (Clunky dialogue)
Love You to Death by Christina Dotson (Plot propelled by bad decisions)
No Body No Crime by Tess Sharpe (Sharpe is better than this)
Our Last Resort by Clémence Michallon (Not buying the ending)
Retreat by Krysten Ritter (Too far-fetched)
Runner 13 by Amy McCulloch (Interesting premise but execution lacks)
Sunburned by Katherine Wood (A tad tedious)
The Cleaner by Mary Watson (Contrived plotting)
The Compound by Aisling Rawle (Clunky in its social commentary)
The Dead Husband Cookbook by Danielle Valentine (Stretches credulity)
The Deepest Fake by Daniel Kalla (Not buying it)
Everyone is Lying to You by Jo Piazza (Formulaic)
The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club by Gloria Chao (Silly)
The Family Inside by Katie Garner (Too much hinges on coincidence)
The Grand Paloma Resort by Cleyvis Natera (Clunky social commentary)
The Ones We Love by Anna Snoekstra (Rough ending)
The Other People by C.B. Everett (Meta nonsense)
The Perfect Home by Daniel Kenitz (Tad tropey)
The Proof of My Innocence by Jonathan Coe (Meta nonsense + clunky political and social commentary)
The Serial Killer Support Group by D.B. Stephens (Increasingly silly and far-fetched)
You Deserve to Know by Aggie Blum Thompson (Implausible plotting and convenient ending)

2/5
A Map to Paradise by Susan Meissner (Too pat and predictable)
Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney (Ludicrous twist)
Close Your Eyes and Count to 10 by Lisa Unger (A little clunky in its critique of social media)
Count My Lies by Sophie Stave (Preposterous twist)
Fair Play by Louise Hegarty (Meta nonsense)
Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister (At times nonsensical)
It Should Have Been You by Mara Andrea (Contrivances and conveniences abound)
Kill Creatures by Rory Powers (At times nonsensical)
Killer Potential by Hannah Deitch (Preposterous)
Nothing Serious by Emily J. Smith ((Insufferable protagonist)
Remember by Patricia Shanae Smith (Convenient amnesia)
She Didn’t See It Coming by Shari Lapena (Implausibilities abound)
Smile for the Camera by Miranda Smith (Rough ending)
The Fact Checker by Austin Kelley (Short yet interminable)
The French Honeymoon by Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau (Absurd)
The Missing Half by Ashley Flowers (Preposterous twist ending)
The Note by Alafair Burke (Clunky political and/or social messaging)
The River Is Waiting by Wally Lamb (Clunky political and/or social messaging)
The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau by Kristin Harmel (Coincidences abound)
Their Double Lives by Jaime Lynn Hendricks (Coincidences and contrivances abound)
This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead (ludicrous ending)
With a Vengeance by Riley Sager (Plot holes abound)

DNF (Did Not Finish)
A Campus on Fire by Patrick O’Dowd
A Lethal Engagement by April J. Skelly (Not my cuppa)
A Long Time Gone by Joshua Moehling (Trouble buying in)
A Proposal to Die For by Molly Harper
Antique Hunters on the Red Sea by C.L. Miller (Simply not for me)
Beartooth by Callan Wink
Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds by Allison Brennan (Insufferable protagonist)
Behind Sunset by David Gordon
Blood on the Vine by J.T. Falco
Darkenbloom by Eva Menasse
Dead in the Frame by Stephen Spotswood
Fever Beach by Carl Hiaasen (Clunky political and/or social commentary)
Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave by Elle Cosimano (Simply not for me)
Flashout by Alexis Soloski
Gray Man: Midnight Black by Mark Greaney (Simply not for me)
Hard Town by Adam Plantinga (Shoot the dog? I’m out)
Hidden in Smoke by Lee Goldberg
Schooled in Murder by Victoria Gilbert
The Black Highway by Simon Toyne
The Man Who Swore He’d Never Go Home Again by David Handler
The Poet’s Game by Paul Vidich (Simply not for me)
The Retirement Plan by Sue Hincenbergs
The Serial Killer Support Group by Saratoga Shaefer (Nonsense)
The Vanishing Kind by Alice Henderson (Coincidence-driven)

P.S. Our regularly schedule Wednesday “Amazing Covers” post has been pushed to tomorrow!

The post September 24, 2025: 200 2025 Crime Reads Rated and (some) Annotated! appeared first on Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog.

September 23, 2025: Quick! Before I run out of battery!

Dennit! I was going to post my rundown and ratings for 200 crime books (mystery, suspense, thrillers) of 2025 only to discover two of the titles (Liv Constatine’s  on my list were released prior to this year. Going to have to read two more books and delay my post to tomorrow – or, since tomorrow is Wednesday and Wednesday is Amazing Covers, then likely Thursday.

Also tomorrow is my pitch for the t.v adaptation of that 90’s cult class genre film.  If the studio likes the idea, we head into development.  If they don’t, then that’s one more pitch to toss onto the discard scrap heap.

As if things couldn’t get worse here in Montreal, the power went out just after lunch today and, three hours later, has yet to be restored.  I’m currently tethered to my iPhone as I complete this blog entry, so it will be a short one lest my battery runs out.  Anyway, I’ve got two books to read!

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September 22, 2025: My recent appearance on Dial the Gate!

In case you missed it…

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September 21, Sharky Sunday!

Expert crawler…

Expert sprawler…

Psssst.  C’mere.

Sweeet potato!

Coffee King!

Toronto to Montreal…

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September 20, 2025: Health mission! Coming soon!

My annual health check-up has been moved up from end of October to end of September which means I have only two weeks to adjust my routine in order to fool the blood test.  To be fair, I don’t have to make any major tweaks.  I start every morning with apple cider vinegar, olive oil and physillium.  I do a shot of kefir before every meal.  My lunches are bountiful but my dinners are usually light and I bookend my day with stretches and cardio.  No eating after 6:00 p.m. and I’ve informed Akemi I’l be limited myself to a mere single dessert every two days (not counting dark chocolate which is a daily indulgence but I don’t really count as dessert).  Also, until my appointment, I’ll be alternating my dinner between sardines canned in olive oil and soft-boiled eggs, both with fruit and green veggies.  Last time I was in, my cholesterol was creeping up so curious to see how this new diet and physillium routine changes things – if at all.  I have a friend my age whose blood pressure has been creeping up despite his lifestyle changes.  No doubt genetics have a lot to do with it.  Don’t recall my father suffering from either high blood pressure or high cholesterol.  His serious health issues were self-induced, the result of a lifetime of smoking.  My mother, on the other hand, has proven fairly resilient despite a diet heavily weighted towards frying in corn oil – until about a little over a year ago.  But, to be fair, she’s 91.

Also, the last time I was in, I got on the treadmill and had them run an EKG that showed something they called “scooping” which looked ominous on the graph but the doctor didn’t seem particularly concerned so I guess I shouldn’t be (?).

While I’m in,, I should also mention the fact that, over the past three months or so, my neck has been stiffening up at night (possibly the very latent effects of being hit by a cyclist and bouncing my head off the pavement back in January).  I’m fine during the day but I wake up in the dead of night, incredibly sore.  Also, I’ve noted the occasional flash headache (coming and going in seconds) and wondering what that’s about.  Remind me to ask.

Otherwise, a-okay.  I’ve got a big week ahead of me starting tomorrow when I join Darren Sumner for what will no doubt be another Stargate-centric chat on his Dial the Gate channel…

That’s 10 am PT/1 pm ET.  If you have questions, you can post them in the chat and Darren or I will field them.

Then, Monday, I’m doing a Q&A for a comic book class (For real!), followed by a pre-pitch call.  The actual pitch is on Wednesday.  I’ll be pitching a t.v. adaptation of a cult fantasy/horror film from the 90’s.  The hope is that my idea will so wow the studio that they will actually want to develop it.

Other than that, I’ve got some reading to do!  I’m 8 2025 crime reads away from 200 and the release of a full ranked annotated rundown.  Watch for it!

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September 19, 2025: Our Columbo rewatch continues with…”Murder in Malibu”!

This episode first aired May 4, 1990″.

Theresa Goren’s beachside pad was previously featured in “Last Salute to the Commodore”.

In “Ransom for a Dead Man”, Columbo’s second pilot episode, Columbo mentions he is off to investigate a murder in Malibu. Better late than never I guess.

My thoughts on this episode in chronological viewing order…

What a great parking spot, right in front of the bookstore!

Wayne is a cad, sleeping with his accountant and hiding the fact he is dating the famous author.

“You don’t have to be an actor, not with anything else you can do.” My favorite line of this episode.

Wayne seems a little clingy.

“Who was it?”
“Just a wrong number”… I was speaking to for five minutes.

15 minutes in and still not sure what’s going on in this episode.

Oh, shit. The driving gloves come on. He means business.

Whose POV is this, semi-witnessing the murder?

Columbo finds a hardboiled egg in his pocket! Did he forget he put it there or was it a gift from his wife?

Boy, Columbo is fixated on those knee socks.

And, clearly, the panties. Hoo boy.

The running gag of Columbo trying to get rid of his egg shells is kind of funny.

Weird OUT after Columbo finds out Wayne is the victim’s fiancé.

The Mystery of the Missing Ashtray!

“She’s so pretty.” Columbo opining on the dead woman…after going through her panty drawer. WTF is wrong with him this episode?

Brenda Vaccaro’s performance is annoyingly one note.

Wayne’s attempt to jump the P.I. is pretty lame. As is his swoon. Was his corset too tight?

He claims he just stumbled upon the murder scene and fired a single shot at her? Wut? Wouldn’t he wonder why she was lying in front of the fireplace?

“There’s no law against shooting a dead body.” Actually, I’m pretty sure there is.

How many eggs does Columbo have in his pockets?

Everybody is sad she’s dead because she was so pretty. It’s like an attack of violence has been committed on life itself!

Columbo doesn’t seem fazed by heights. Has he cured himself of his vertigo?

Why do those crows look like bats?

She made the call, not her sister?! She doesn’t sound anything like her?!

Good lord! The scene of the two of them falling into each other’s arms. This episode is a parody of Columbo of old.

I like the ghoulish coroner.

Columbo fixated on those panties again.

The panties were put on backwards. Of course it was a man! Really? That’s the Gotcha?

Holy smokes, “Murder in Malibu” is a steaming turd of an episode with the most ludicrous Gotcha in franchise history. Forget the fact that Jess sounded nothing like her sister and yet managed to convince Wayne, her freakin’ fiancé! Forget the fact that the whole case hinges on a pair of panties being put on backwards (say in the dead of night as our victim rushed to get dressed at the sound of someone in her home)! But the fact that Wayne drives all the way to Malibu, finds Theresa in bed and, instead of asking her about her decision and trying to talk her out of it, he just shoots her. What utter nonsense.

Easily the worst episode of the show’s run to date.

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