Last year, I had the joy of discovering a new favorite author…As an avid mystery fan, I’m not sure why I had never read anything by Ann Cleeves, author of the Shetland and Vera series (neither of which I ever got into). But then I received a review copy of her 2021 book The Heron’s …
One of our local treasures in my hometown is author Laurie King. Her best-known books are part of a series, but the latest is a standalone – and it’s great fun! The story in Back To The Garden is set in the Central Coast region of California, and skips back and forth from the present …
I’m a big fan of Jane Harper, so when I read that Hayley Scrivenor’s book Dirt Creek was available from Flatiron Books and NetGalley in return for my honest review, I was looking forward to it – a LOT. For some reason, it was originally publixhed in Australia as Dirt Town, but is renamed as …
I haven’t read ALL of the 21 books in Kathy Reichs’s series featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance (“Tempe” Brennan, but I have most, and always enjoyed them. So I was happy to receive a copy of Cold, Cold Bones from Scribner and NetGalley. Tempe divides her time between North Carolina and Canada, and in this one, …
I tend to enjoy stories where the setting is a character on its own, if you know what I mean (think Jane Harper’s novels set in arid Western Australia. Oh, and BTW, if you enjoy mysteries, you really should check her out — start with The Dry). In Lee Goldberg’s Movieland, while Malibu Creek State …
About four years ago, I read and reviewed Fiona Barton’s The Child (four stars). I enjoyed it, so I was pleased to receive a copy of Local Gone Missing from Berkley Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for this honest review. This one features detective Elise King, who had to take a medical leave. Now, unsure …
I’m positive I have read other books by Sara Paretsky that featured “plucky heroine” V.I. Warshawski, Chicago PI – but I couldn’t name one or recall a plot – just went into this one expecting a well-written story to take my mind off the pandemic, crime, corruption, etc. And Overboard is definitely well-written, as expected. …
Thomas Threadgill is another of those thriller authors I’d never heard of until recently, but I was happy to receive a copy of Network of Deceit, the second in his series featuring San Antonio PD Detective Amara Alvarez. Threagill’s name is apparently found often on lists of authors “Christian fiction,” which would have honestly given …
As I have mentioned in earlier reviews of Robert Dugoni’s books, I first “met” Seattle Homicide Detective Tracy Crosswhite in My Sister’s Grave and I loved her, so I then eagerly read Her Final Breath. Following along in short order (he definitely can crank out books at a fast clip) were In the Clearing, The Trapped Girl, Close to Home …
Last year, I read and reviewed Steiner’s Missing, Presumed, her previous detective story featuring Manon Bradshaw (four stars). In that review I expressed my fondness for novels by Tana French and Kate Atkinson, and noted “I have to say that Steiner’s protagonist, Manon Bradshaw, reminded me a bit of Elizabeth George’s Barbara Havers of the …
I’m not sure why I haven’t read Val McDermid before, or why I wanted to read this one, but I am so glad it happened, and I thank Atlantic Monthly Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of Out of Bounds in exchange for my honest review! McDermid fans may already …