Riveting character-driven police procedural set in February in the Colorado Rockies. Gemma has just returned from maternity leave to her job as a Cedar Valley Colorado police detective. She is conflicted about letting her baby-daddy and live-in boyfriend work from home while watching her daughter. Her first case is theContinue Reading
Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes? Layers of secrets abound in Heaven’s Crooked Finger. 50-year-old Earl Marcus returns to his hometown in the mountains of Georgia that he left after a failed snake handling forced on him by his father RJ almost killed him at seventeen. RJ isContinue Reading
Beware, you may not sleep well after reading Kill Creek! Kill Creek begins with four horror novelists agreeing to a live-streamed interview in a long abandoned haunted house in Kill Creek, Kansas. The interviews are held on Halloween night and the novelists stay overnight within the house. All the novelistsContinue Reading
A non-stop roller-coaster of a read! Subhuman begins by showing the seemingly disparate specialties of five scientists. Dr. Cade Evans is an archaeologist, who has just discovered a mass grave underneath an existing excavated Egyptian tomb. Within it, Evans finds a mass of animal and human bodies, one with anContinue Reading
Good penultimate addition to the series. Y is for Yesterday is the 25th book in Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone private detective series. Y is set in late 1989 and details two mysteries. The first involves Kinsey’s attempted murderer from the previous book in the series, X. Ned Lowe is onceContinue Reading
Another great anthology from Otto Penzler, this time investigating crime. Focusing on criminals from the Victorian era to modern day fiction, the Big Book of Rogues and Villains has something for everyone. Some of the bad guys are mostly good like Donald Westlake’s Dortmunder, who is more of a bunglerContinue Reading
Great mystery but missing usual comedic family subplots. In How the Finch Stole Christmas, it’s Christmastime in Caerphilly. Michael’s college has decided to bring in a has-been actor named Malcolm Haver to increase tourist attendance for its annual play, A Christmas Carol. Unfortunately, Haver has a drinking problem, which meansContinue Reading
Humorous cozy mystery with a touch of romance. Ryli Jo Sinclair is a reporter for her small hometown newspaper and moonlights as the town’s forensic photographer. Ryli is intrigued by the new police chief, Garrett Kimble, who appears not to reciprocate her attention. She is called in to photograph theContinue Reading
Splendid British Golden Age murder mystery. For several years, Benedict Grame, a rich eccentric billionaire, has invited his friends to celebrate a traditional Christmas celebration in his mansion in a remote British village. However, this year he has also invited celebrated amateur detective Mordecai Tramaine. On Christmas Eve, a woman’sContinue Reading
Scattershot book about a real 1948 double murder. Supposedly about a double murder in 1948 in a small town in Illinois, this book diverges from its topic about 2/3 of the time. The author is obviously trying to make the fourteen newspaper articles that he wrote in the Chicago TribuneContinue Reading
Disappointing entry in the Lucy Stone series. After 23 books, I realize that an author may get tired of a genre or a set of characters. I give Ms. Meier credit for trying to update the setting by adding current events. However, the white supremacists in this novel are justContinue Reading
Evocative psychological thriller set in a dysfunctional family (aren’t they all) by a brand-new author. This is a story of two sisters, Corinne and Ashley. Ashley is happily married with a teenage daughter, a primary school son and a baby girl. Corinne is desperately trying to have her first childContinue Reading
Beautiful artwork especially the coloring. Innovative story. Young men are being killed in ancient Rome in the temples of the gods. The detectionist, Antonious, follows a twisty trail to the truth. A female slave, who has almost won her freeedom in the arena, may hold the key. It is goodContinue Reading
The Clue in the Trees is nostalgic for older Nancy Drew fans and is recommended for mystery-loving pre-teens and young teens. Set in a small Northern Minnesota town, The Clue in the Trees is the story of high school seniors: Francie, Raven and Jay. Francie recently moved into theContinue Reading
Four seemingly unrelated cases baffle FBI agents Sherlock and Savich in the 21st entry in the series. A woman is held hostage in her house by a dirty and confused man who says he only wants to protect her. A killer is rescued from his initial prison transport and disappears.Continue Reading
A wonderfully unique thriller set in Nazi-occupied Norway during World War II. It is nice to see Mr. Gross step out from the shadow of his frequent co-author, James Patterson. The Saboteur is the story of the daring members of the Norwegian resistance during World War II. Norway hasContinue Reading