West Heart Kill breaks the fourth wall by talking directly to the reader. About what you may ask. About how mystery authors have conventions that readers have come to expect. It is implied that the author speaking to us is about to defy these conventions (as Agatha Christie famously didContinue Reading
It’s always a great day when I get to drop in on the antics in Harvest, Ohio. Millie is an Amish matchmaker and widow. Lois is her non-Amish purple haired multi-divorcee longtime best friend. In Dating Can Be Deadly, Millie puts aside her matchmaking to enter her latest quilt inContinue Reading
Something strange is happening to Tamsin. First, her team at Myrica Dynamic discovers that their city is sinking. Could it be caused by the team’s mysterious secret underground project? More concerning is that Tamsin’s basement is sinking even faster than the surrounding area. Then a door appears, and an exactContinue Reading
Let It Crow! Let It Crow! Let It Crow! I know the holidays are quickly approaching when the latest humorous cozy mystery featuring Meg Landslow comes out. There is nothing better to get you in a holiday mood! Meg’s friend and patron, Ragnar, has opened up his massive estateContinue Reading
Murder on the Christmas Express has all the tropes that I enjoy in a locked room (train in this case) mystery. A holiday, a birth, an abusive marriage, snow, etc. are all here. So why was it such a struggle to read? Too many characters and almost all were moreContinue Reading
It ‘Twas the Bite Before Christmas when all through the house, people were reading this book, even my spouse. It was this great legal thriller about mobsters, you see. My husband loves gang stories, and its court scenes for me. It’s the twenty-eighth book in the Andy Carpenter series andContinue Reading
A former television star has an evening go quickly from bad to worse in the new graphic novel, Parasocial. Luke Indiana is at a comics convention signing autographs and posing for fan selfies. His evening soon descends into a cat-and-mouse thriller between himself and his “number 1 fan”. I wasn’tContinue Reading
Mrs. Pargeter is back after a six-year absence! Of course, she has found a body under her back patio. She uses her shady, but beloved, dead husband’s contacts to dig up information about who was murdered and why. Oh, did I mention that Mrs. Pargeter’s Patio is a humorous cozyContinue Reading
Private detective Agatha Raisin once again crosses swords (or in this case, arrows) with Detective Chief Inspector Wilkes in the 34th entry is this enchanting cozy mystery series. In Dead on Target, Agatha finds a body near a village fete. It’s the house-rich, cash-poor and maid grabbing landowner, Sir Godfrey.Continue Reading
The Golden Gate is a historical hard-boiled police procedural novel that includes family drama and addresses a lot of buzzy topics like politics, racism, passing, and how the rich are treated differently. The story is set in 1944 in a fashionable hotel where a politician is murdered but has flashbacksContinue Reading
Every once in a while, a book grabs you by the throat and sucks you into the story. It happened to me as a child with Alice in Wonderland and more recently with The Wind-up Bird Chronicle. Dreambound is my latest magical realism obsession. Journalist Byron’s twelve-year-old daughter, Liza, ranContinue Reading
Hemlock Island begins with an intriguing, but not very original, premise. Laney has recently divorced her husband, Kit. She refused alimony but agreed to keep the remote private island where they lived. Unfortunately, she cannot maintain such an elaborate estate on her teacher’s salary. She has been renting out theContinue Reading
“Fourteen competitors. Seven Days. A thirty-minute hiding window given at the dawn of each day. Gameplay continues until dusk…” So, begins Hide: The Graphic Novel, which is set in an abandoned amusement park in a cellphone free zone. One winner gets $50,000…but what happens to the losers? A gripping plotContinue Reading
A bestselling author, therapist, and social media influencer decides to document her renovation of a house where a tragic murder occurred. Unfortunately, a shattering marriage and the slow unraveling of her long-buried family secrets threaten both the project and her life. Will the madness of the house’s former murderous familyContinue Reading
Five friends have a girls’ weekend at a remote vineyard, which results in a missing woman. Did she have an accident or were more sinister forces at work? One of the women decides to have a reunion at the Scenes of the Crime while working on a script about whatContinue Reading
On the publisher’s blurb of a new thriller is a clear challenge, “My name is Elliot Chase, and I’m going to tell you a story unlike any you’ve ever heard.” I confidently chose to take up the challenge. However, I should’ve known, based on the author’s previous book, The SilentContinue Reading