Archives for October 2017

“Assassination at Bayou Sauvage,” by DJ Donaldson

Reviewed by Daniel James Sundahl DJ Donaldson is the author of a series of Andy Broussard / Kit Franklyn mysteries, most of which have been digitally published in the last half-decade or so. Donaldson’s mystery is readable, but if placed side-by-side with James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux novels, there are notable differences. Burke, for example, […]

“The Stone Pear,” by Elizabeth Genovise

Reviewed by Daniel James Sundahl Elizabeth Genovise has yet to write a novel, but this fine short-story writer may soon accomplish that feat.  She’s the author of two short-story collections, A Different Harbor and Where There are Two or More, both reviewed in Southern Literary Review.  The Stone Pear is a single story published by […]

Donna Meredith Joins “Southern Literary Review” as Associate Editor

The editors are proud to announce that longtime contributor Donna Meredith will join Southern Literary Review as an associate editor. Meredith’s award-winning novels include The Glass Madonna, The Color of Lies, Wet Work, and Fraccidental Death. She also wrote Magic in the Mountains: Kelsey Murphy, Robert Bomkamp, and the West Virginia Cameo Glass Revolution. Her work has appeared in Tallahassee magazine, Goldenseal, the Seven Hills Review and various newspapers. A graduate of Fairmont […]

“Jefferson: Architect of American Liberty,” by John Boles

Reviewed by Daniel James Sundahl Dumas Malone’s six volume biography of Thomas Jefferson is nearing the half-century mark since publication.  Joseph Ellis’s biography appeared in 1996, followed by other biographies, some of which own a “tabloid” quality. Annette Gordon-Reed’s The Hemingses of Monticello, however, is an insightful consideration of a story largely expunged from history […]

October Read of the Month: “Of Bees and Boys,” by Allen Mendenhall

Reviewed by Yasser El-Sayed Much has already been written about Allen Mendenhall’s new book, Of Bees & Boys: Lines from a Southern Lawyer. The celebrated author William Bernhardt, who penned the forward to the collection of essays, states that “Mendenhall is an artist and writer of the first caliber . . . Time and again […]