Publication Date February 25, 2025 James Renner is a journalist and former reporter for the Cleveland Scene. Known for his work on the Maura Murray case (he wrote True Crime Addict: How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray). His thorough research and investigation has resulted in a boatload of work on …
Publication Date May 6, 2025 Years ago, I read two Wally Lamb books that knocked me out: I Know This Much Is True and She’s Come Undone. Both were, for different reasons, deeply affecting and emotionally intense. When I had the opportunity to read Lamb’s new book, The River Is Waiting (thanks to Simon Element/ …
Publication Date January 28, 2025 Next month, it will have been five years since I read and reviewed a book by Joseph Finder…that one was 5-star House On Fire, #4 in the Nick Heller series (note to self: go back and read 1-4!!) During the pandemic, I read a ton of books, including lots of …
Publication Date January 21, 2024 I didn’t know what to expect from The Inheritance by Trisha Sakhlecha – hadn’t read anything about it, never recall hearing or reading about the author. But it sounded intriguing, and I was happy to receive a copy from Penguin Group Viking and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review, …
Publication Date May 20, 2025 Here I go again, with my secret pleasure reading: true crime. Rich Cohen, a well-known author and journalist (columnist for The Wall Street Journal, contributing editor at Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone) has written the amazing story of Jennifer Dulos, a wealthy Connecticut woman who dropped her kids off at …
Publication Date January 24, 2025 I’ve been a big fan of Scott Turow since I read Presumed Innocent back in the 1980s when I was working in a public library. How much do I love him? I read tons of mysteries/thrillers, and am particularly fond of legal intrigue in that category. But I will drop …
Publication Date March 4, 2025 I admit it. I am a fan of the true crime genre, and really enjoy when authors really, really KNOW their subject. And I generally check out the author’s (or authors’) biography, especially when I set out to read an author’s work for the first time. Another thing about me: …
Publication Date April 8, 2025 Much to my husband’s puzzlement, I am a big fan of true crime. I listen to podcasts, watch TV shows like Dateline and 48 hours, and read true crime books (another great thing about reading on a device rather than a printed book: you don’t have to cover up odd …
Publication Date January 14, 2024 I have been a diehard fan of Robert Crais/Elvis Cole/Joe Pike for over THIRTY YEARS. Seriously, when The Monkey’s Raincoat was published in 1987, I was working in a public library, grabbed it as soon as it came in, and was HOOKED. Since then, this has been one of the …
Publication Date January 14, 2025 When I reviewed James Grippando’s Twenty (in 2020), I noted that I couldn’t recall reading any of James Grippando’s books. And when reading about that title, Jack Swyteck wasn’t a guy I felt like I knew (despite that one being #17 in Grippando’s Jack Swyteck series). Jack Swyteck, the protagonist …
Publication Date January 7, 2025 I first read Alafair Burke because she is James Lee Burke’s daughter, and my husband LOVES JLB’s books. I was happy to receive a copy of The Note, thanks to Knopf and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.Described in the blurb as an “irresistible page-turner” that would make a …
Publication Date November 26, 2024 I’ve been a fan of Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series since…forever. I know it was in the 1980s that he came to do a reading at a bookstore (Capitola BookCafe) in my hometown, and I was taken aback when he went on and on about the Boston Celtics…but he was …
Publication Date October 15, 2024 Last year, when I reviewed Michael Connelly’s Resurrection Walk (“Highly recommended. Five stars!”), I wrote “I’m generally a big Michael Connelly fan, with the newer series featuring Renee Ballard (sometimes partnered with Harry Bosch) probably being my favorite.” BTW, if you haven’t read The Late Show from 2017, which introduced …
Publication Date October 8, 2024 How incredibly appropriate that Randy Rainbow’s new book Low Hanging Fruit came out (so to speak) on my sister’s birthday! She has been a huge fan of his for years – in fact she may be the one who introduced me to him. Whoever it was, I am grateful. This …
Publication Date October 1, 2024 Really? Twenty-five years since The Tipping Point was published? There is something magical to me about readable social science and the impact of social communication. If you read/remember the original and enjoyed it, you will love this follow-up: Revenge of The Tipping Point. I know some academics have issue with …
Publication Date October 1, 2024 Louise Erdrich is an incredibly gifted writer. As usual, this book shows her talent to the world! The Red River is only one of the characters in this story, along a variety of quirky, fascinating people in North Dakota…There is “humor, disturbance, and hallucinatory mourning.” Huh?? The people are complex, …
Publication Date September 17, 2024 Published just seven weeks prior to the Presidential Election of 2024, the stunningly well researched and written Lucky Loser, the sordid tale of “How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success” makes me even more afraid of another term with this con man/grifter in charge. …
I’ve been a huge fan of Elizabeth George’s Lynley-Havers series of mysteries, and frequently marveled at her ability to establish setting and characterization in ways that truly make them REAL to the reader. I received a copy of The Abandonment of Hannah Armstrong, #1 in the Saratoga Woods Series, in exchange for my honest review. …
Publication Date August 20, 2024 I have enjoyed the novels by William Kent Krueger that I have read, so I was happy to receive an advance copy of his latest, Spirit Crossing, from Atria Books and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Minnesota politicians? A hot topic this election season, and in this one, …
Publication Date September 17, 2024 A few years ago, I read and reviewed Laura Dave’s The Last Thing He Told Me, using words like “fun,” “twisty,” and “surprising.” I noted that I would read other books by her, so I was pleased to receive a copy of her latest, The Night We Lost Him, from …