SecretPanels.net
Website of Eileen Haavik McIntire
Author of books of mystery, history,
and suspense. Enjoy.
The 90s Club
My cozy mystery series features the able, alert, and active 90-year-olds at Whisperwood Retirement Village solving crimes and catching the culprits.
Book Review
Burn the Haystack
By Jennie Young, PhD
I have no interest in finding a new relationship, but a couple of friends recommended this book as a humorous read--and it certainly is. It's called Burn the Haystack--Decode Dating, Torch the Duds, and Make Room for Men Who Matter, by Jennie Young, PhD. She suggests using critical discourse analysis (that is, analyzing text, subtext, context for what is really being said). Then block the duds who respond to dating apps with inappropriate, offensive, stupid, and other such replies. She gives plenty of actual appalling examples and what they really mean. The idea is that if you want to find the needle in a haystack, burn the haystack. A good read whether you do online dating or not, but especially if you use those apps. A lot of men adhere to the fetid swamp of patriarchy and still think they are privileged, sought after, and can make the rules to suit only themselves. We can't cage or shoot them, but we can weed them out.
Also...
A Special Interest Murder
by Mette Ivie Harrison.
The protagonist, Ada Latia, is an amateur detective and narrator of this mystery novel. She is autistic as is the author. A young girl at a boarding school for autistic children is found dead. Ada sees a photo of the dead girl and suspects murder. She writes to the FBI of her suspicion and an FBI agent asks her to join him in investigating it because her autism will give her unique insights into the behaviors they encounter. Ada endures and relates the stresses that autism imposes in an otherwise neurotypical world, describing her feelings and discomfort as she persists and eventually brings down the culprit.
CALENDAR
Aug. 29, 2026: Exhibiting at Simply Made Here, 2302 Frederick Road 21228 - Between Catonsville & Old Ellicott City
Sept. 19, 2026: Carroll County, MD, Book Festival, Carroll Co. Farm Museum
Oct. 10-11, 2026: Annual Conference, Maryland Writers' Assn, BWI Hilton, Baltimore.