Mystery

‘Jurassic Park’-style concepts don’t face ‘Extinction’ yet

Douglas Preston has ended some of his novels in crazy fashion, and he starts “Extinction” (April, hardcover) in crazy fashion on page one. People are

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‘Ænigma’ (1987) embraces reincarnation, psychokinetics, carnivorous snails

“Ænigma” (1987) dares ask: Can a lady in a coma avenge herself via a rebel-gal at a Catholic girls’ school? It’s the same rhetorical question

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‘High Potential,’ ‘Brilliant Minds,’ ‘Penguin’ showcase diverse brains

2024 might be the pivotal year for neurodiversity on TV, as “High Potential,” “Brilliant Minds” and even “The Penguin” feature different types of mental spaces.

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‘Where the Sidewalk Ends’ (1950) reverses the Hitchcock formula

Six years after the lauded “Laura,” the trio of director Otto Preminger and stars Dana Andrews (the guy) and Gene Tierney (the dame) reteam for

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Fall TV preview 2024: 10 shows I wouldn’t mind watching

Is Fall TV still a thing in this era when new stuff starts and ends at all points on the calendar, seemingly at random? It

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The moor the merrier in ‘Hound of the Baskervilles’ (1902)

In his second-most-famous Sherlock Holmes novel, “A Study in Scarlet” (1887), Arthur Conan Doyle branches into a Western for a while. And in his most

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Smart small-cast mystery makes ‘Laura’ (1944) a classic noir

One of my favorite hidden gems among Agatha Christie’s catalog is “Cards on the Table” (1936), because she establishes that only four people are in

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‘Murder!’ (1930) is an overly talky early Hitchcock talkie

“Murder!” (1930) is an early example of Alfred Hitchcock’s favorite theme of the wrongly accused person (in this rare case, a woman rather than a

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Legendary gumshoe takes first steps in ‘A Study in Scarlet’ (1887)

“A Study in Scarlet” (1887), Arthur Conan Doyle’s first Sherlock Holmes novel and a formative entry in the burgeoning mystery genre, remains entertaining 137 years

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Three-pronged plot of ‘The Dain Curse’ (1929) is worth the effort

Dashiell Hammett’s five novels suggest that his writing career went in reverse. He did two experimental novels first – the almost stream-of-consciousness plotting of “Red

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