This week’s pick manages to combine a murder mystery with a penetrating look 
at the many ways in which a traditional culture has changed in recent decades, and the impact these changes have had on people’s lives. It is a literate and charming tale that will both amuse and enlighten readers of all ages. 

Focusing first on the physical changes in village life over decades, and their disruptive effects on social patterns, she turns her attention to intensive farming techniques and their impact on the environment, and concludes with a critique of our wilful ignorance of the inhumane treatment of the animals that most of us rely on for food. 

Although Culiner may be guilty of romanticising the past, she nonetheless
paints the present as it is, warts and all.
JIM NAPIER, The Sherbrooke Record

Culiner has written a delightful novel packed with self-serving, quirky villagers fuelled by sexual peccadilloes, environmental activism and murder.first-person style is catchy.

 You feel like you're leaning over the back fence involved in a time that transcends cultures and age - gossiping about the folks next door
highlighted by tales of late-night visitors, sex and occasionally on how neighbours earn their money.
DON GRAVES, The Hamilton Spectator

Culiner is an intelligent author filling her pages with literary references, like literate morsels left around for the reader to unearth. 

The characters are inventive and yet grounded in human truths; the writing is witty and begs to be read over and over again; the story is pristine and poignant. In and of itself, 

Slanderous Tongue is an interesting read, but it is Culiner’s trademark style that makes the story substantial and robust with detail.

KINDAH MARDAM BEY, Lucid Forge