Daisy Jones & the Six

Daisy Jones & The Six is the best non-thriller that I have read this year! Set in the turbulent late 1970s Sunset Boulevard band scene, The Six is a five member middle-of-road rock band who are effectively forced by their label to add a sexy new lead singer, Daisy Jones. Continue Reading

Beautiful Bad

Beautiful Bad tells the story of Maddie and Ian’s relationship that ended in murder. The story starts with a bang: a female calls 911, a child screams in the background and the call is abruptly cut off.  When police arrive, they find a large bloodstain on the open concept kitchen’sContinue Reading

Mastermind. Drugs. Empire. Murder. Betrayal.

Mastermind. Drugs. Empire. Murder. Betrayal. The title really tells the entire story in a nutshell. Paul Le Roux started out small with online prescription drug sales in the United States. Marijuana dispensaries still use his “doctors prescribe without seeing the patient” methods. Like most legitimate CEOs, Paul expanded his productContinue Reading

Chasing American Monsters

Organized by state, Chasing American Monsters is a fine introduction to monsters found next door and across the United States. With more than 250 monsters listed, this book is sure to have something to interest every monster fan. I didn’t know that the state I live in, California, has bothContinue Reading

Drawn and Buttered

The third Lobster Shack mystery, Drawn and Buttered, is another great cozy mystery. It’s Halloween in Mystic Bay Connecticut. A giant Lobzilla goes missing! Houses are broken into but nothing is taken! A witch is afoot! Someone is murdered (of course)! Allie is out of her ankle cast but cannotContinue Reading

Devil Aspect

With insane killers imprisoned in a castle fortress rumored to house the Devil himself and a brutal serial killer terrorizing nearby Prague, the Devil Aspect has plenty of plot and a whole lot of creepy, gothic atmosphere. It is 1935 in a rural village outside Prague. A new psychotherapist arrivesContinue Reading

A Fire Story

Heartfelt memoir about losing your home in the worst wildfire in decades. A Fire Story is sad but ultimately uplifting. Multiple fires merged into a Northern California firestorm of epic proportions. The resulting burn area was the size of 15 Manhattans. Entire neighborhoods burned to the ground overnight. Warnings wereContinue Reading

Murder Pit

The Murder Pit is a witty take on Victorian London with frequent humorous potshots at the Holmes canon that also contains an intriguing mystery. If you ever wanted more humor in, say, the Hounds of the Baskervilles, this book is for you! Arrowood is a consulting detective for the poorerContinue Reading

Chocolate Cream Pie Murder

How many books in this series am I going to read hoping they return to the interesting plots and non-stilted dialogue of the first few? It appears at least one more called the Chocolate Cream Pie Murder. Hannah is once again being harassed by the annoying Ross. Usually I wouldContinue Reading

Judgment

Married Superior Court Judge Juliana fails to use good Judgment and has an one-night stand at an out-of-town conference. Juliana decides to never repeat her mistake and returns to her courtroom. Unfortunately, she then sees the man sit down as a member of the defense counsel. The man blackmails herContinue Reading

After She's Gone

After She’s Gone was named Best Swedish Crime Novel for good reason—realistic characterizations, a compelling mystery, and a haunting setting. Swedish Police Detective Malin is called back to her rural hometown to investigate the murder of a five-year-old girl. Ironically, Malin found the girl’s skeleton eight years earlier when onlyContinue Reading

Death at the Wychbourne Follies

A historical mystery set in 1926, but written in 2018, describes a Death at the Wychbourne Follies. Lady Gertrude Ansley was an actress before landing her Marquess husband and retiring. Wishing to relive her youthful adventures she invites her fellow actors to her country house, Wychbourne Court. She hopes toContinue Reading

Wedding Guest

In the Wedding Guest, Alex Delaware and Milo are back in the 34th police procedural in their series. A scantily clad woman is found garroted and posed on a toilet during a wedding reception. The venue is a seedy former strip club, which fits in with the reception’s theme ofContinue Reading