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Rhyming Stars

Fiction and Nonfiction related to rhymes - nursery and otherwise.

Fiction

• Bridled Groom
  Author: Borthwick, J.S.
  Publisher: $ ISBN: Date: 1994
  After courting each other through J. S. Borthwick's five previous mysteries, English teacher Sarah Deane and internist Alex McKenzie are finally planning a wedding: their own. It should be idyllic, culminating in a reception at the beautiful Maine farm owned by Sarah's aunt Julia Clancy. But not even her own impending nuptials can keep Sarah from probing a local mystery. This time the troubles strike literally close to home. Aunt Julia receives a series of sinister nursery rhymes telling her to leave High Hope Farm, and then the disquieting incidents begin: A groom falls through the hayloft; the farmhouse is splattered by buckshot; two stable helpers vanish into thin air; and a psychic librarian goes about the neighborhood proclaiming ruin and blood on the new moon. The reception does go forward as planned, but the happy event is marred by the morning-after discovery of a corpse in the stable. Sarah and Alex are brought home from their honeymoon as witnesses: They just may have seen the killer dance at their wedding. Obviously, the newlyweds have no time to settle into married life. Murder comes first, and they must try to solve the crimes before a horse show offers the perfect opportunity to destroy High Hope Farm for good. - Publisher Marketing.
  Updated 8.2.05
• Pocket Full of Rye
  Author: Christie, Agatha
  In this classic mystery, the beloved Miss Marple applies her wisdom to a children's rhyme to solve a complex crime.
  Updated 8.2.05
• The Big Over Easy
  Author: Fforde, Jasper
  Publisher: Viking $ 24.95 ISBN: 0670034231 Date: 2005
  LJ
  When D-class nursery celebrity Humpty Stuyvesant Van Dumpty III, is found shattered to death, all the evidence points to his ex-wife, who has conveniently shot herself. But Detective Inspector Jack Spratt and his assistant Mary Mary remain unconvinced.
  Updated 7.12.05
• Whiskey Sour
  Author: Konrath, J.A.
  Publisher: Hyperion $ 21.95 ISBN: 1401300871 Date: 2004
  PW
  Between avoiding the FBI and its moronic profiling computer, joining a dating service, mixing it up with street thugs, and parrying the advances of an uncouth P.I., Lieutenant Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels must find a frightening killer who calls himself "The Gingerbread Man."
  Suggested Reading: Debuts| Dating Stars
  Updated 2.1.05
• The Face on the Wall
  Author: Langton, Jane
  Publisher: Viking List Price: $ 21.95 ISBN: 0670876747 Date: 1998
  PW Kirkus
  An artist builds her dream house and then finds herself in a nightmare - drawing Homer Kelly into a deadly showdown between good and evil - in this clever, erudite new mystery by the author of Dead as a Dodo and Dark Nantucket Moon.
• Mary, Mary
  Author: McBain, Ed
  Publisher: Warner $ 19.95 ISBN: 0446517380 Date: 1993
  PW
  Florida criminal attorney Matthew Hope never takes a case unless he is personally convinced of the innocence of the client. And retired schoolteacher Mary Barton--known to her neighbors as "Mary, Mary, quite contrary"--isn't the easiest of women to believe in. McBain's fabulously popular Matthew Hope series takes another twisted turn into hideous mutilation and murder. Additional titles in the Matthew Hope series include: The House that Jack Built, Three Blind Mice and There Was a Little Girl.
  Updated 8.2.05
• The Big Bad Wolf
  Author: Patterson, James
  Publisher: Little Brown $ 27.95 ISBN: 0316602906 Date: 2003
  PW
  Number 1 bestselling author James Patterson's Alex Cross makes his debut with the FBI in this action-packed rollercoaster of a thriller. Other Rhyme related Alex Cross titles include: Cradle and All, Along Came a Spider, Four Blind Mice, Jack and Jill.
  Updated 10.7.03
• The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse
  Author: Rankin, Robert
  Publisher: Gollancz $ 9.95 (paper) ISBN: 0575074019 Date: 2004
  PW
  Toy Town...now older, bigger, and certainly not wiser. The Old Rich, who have made their millions from the royalties on their world-famous nursery rhymes, are being murdered. One by one. Horribly. A psychopath is on the loose. He must be stopped at any cost. It's a job for toy Town's only detective--but he's missing, leaving only Eddie Bear, and his bestest friend Jack, to track down the mad killer. A hilarious, very irreverent fantasy from the cult creator of Web Site Story, The Sprouts of Wrath, and the five-book Brentford Trilogy. - Publisher Marketing
  Suggested Reading: If You Like Douglas Adams
  Updated 1.21.04
• The Bishop Murder Case: Philo Vance
  Author: Van Dine, S.S.
  Date: 1928
  Philo Vance solves a mystery built around a nursery rhyme.
  Updated 8.2.05

Nonfiction

• Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind the Rhyme
  Author: Roberts, Chris
  Publisher: Gotham $ 20 ISBN: 1592401309 Date: 2005
  PW
  Revealing the seamy and quirky stories behind our favorite nursery rhymes, London librarian Chris Roberts traces the origins of the subtle phrases and antiquated references, unearthing religious hatred, political subversion, and sexual innuendo.
  Updated 6.2.05