This is the first Samuel Craddock mystery I’ve read, largely on the advice of other readers I met at Left Coast Crime this year. As when I had a bookstore, the best recommendations often come from fellow readers, and I decided to give this one a try. I was intrigued when I sat next to Terry at a panel and she told me this was a police series, by far one of my favorite sub genres. This is a softer police story than say, one by Michael Connelly, but it’s still a police novel and a very good one.read more
A mystery doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel to be enjoyable – that’s certainly proven by the scores of cozy mysteries published each month. Another formula beloved by readers (and viewers of Acorn TV and similar networks) is the British village mystery, a slightly rarer commodity. Much of contemporary British crime writing is of the extremely dark variety. And while I’m certainly a fan of writers like Ian Rankin, Val McDermid and Stuart MacBride, sometimes I yearn for something a little more in the Marple and Poirot mode.read more
This book is an absolute dream. Willig has crafted an epic set in 1800’s Barbados, in the world of sugar plantations and slaves. Told in two narrative threads, one in the 1850’s and one in the 1810’s, it’s clear that the two story lines are intertwined – the mystery of the novel is how exactly they are connected other than by the same sugar estates.
In the 1850’s, we meet Emily and her cousin Adam, who has brought Emily and his new wife Laura to start a life on Barbados. Emily has unexpectedly inherited an estate on the island and she’s eager to see it and try to puzzle out why her beloved grandfather has left it to her and not to her brother. As fate intervenes, the Davenant family takes Emily and her cousins in, inviting them to stay indefinitely.read more
The writer of this article, Carin Michaels, is a former federal investigator working on her first thriller. She is also a freelance journalist who has written for Gannett Newspapers, MLive Media Group, Third Street Publications and Crazy Wisdom Journal. She is also a playwright and has had productions in New York, Chicago and L.A. She reached out to me and I was intrigued because of her experience, and I think you will be as well, whether you are writing your own thriller or not.
This article was inspired after reading a bad crime thriller. As someone who was a federal investigator, I became incensed when I found the author’s story unbelievable. I have been writing for over 30 years, even though I’m just now working on my first crime thriller. I’ve earned paychecks, been reviewed and have developed a craft. Stephen King wrote in his book, On Writing, that “Every book you pick up has its own lesson or lessons, and quite often the bad books have more to teach than the good ones.” Given my unique experiences, I would like to discuss some minimum standards this bad book missed. This critique is an attempt to hone our skills as writers and readers. When creating intriguing crime stories, the basics for a good story are research, character, plot points and passion.read more
Kylie Logan, author of numerous cozies in paperback original form, has hit the big time via a Minotaur hardcover with her latest book, The Scent of Murder. Jazz is a school administrator who also works with cadaver dogs. As the book opens, she’s taking her dog through his paces in an abandoned building, hoping he’ll find the tooth she hid on another floor.
As she steps back to let the dog work, the dog alerts in the “wrong” place – or is it? When Jazz investigates, she find, so her horror, the body of a young woman, and worse, she’s a former student at the high school where Jazz works. While Jazz had known her as a studious and creative young woman, the corpse is full goth – white makeup, black eyeshadow, black clothes, tats, piercings. She’s puzzled about how this has happened in the few short years since the girl graduated from high school.read more
In the face of yet another list naming many male, noir writers as “the best”, I asked readers for their favorite books. You all answered with passion! As Julia Keller pointed out, “Lists are really just conversation starters.” You all started the conversation! You all really really love Dorothy L. Sayers and Louise Penny, but the answers ranged from Cornell Woolrich to Donald Westlake to Dorothy Gilman to two titles from the great Canadian suspense writer Chevy Stevens. I listed the respondents alphabetically, and if you didn’t include a specific title, you’re not here. But read on! You may find some food for thought and new books to love.read more
The first book in the Stella and Lyndy series, Murder at MorringtonHall, is not your typical rich-American-heiress-marries-broke-English-aristocrat story. Kentuckian Stella Kendrick loves horses more than anything in the world. It’s 1905, and she’s excited to journey with her father to deliver thoroughbreds to an English Earl. Upon arrival at Morrington Hall, the Earl and his Countess are appalled at Stella’s straightforward America manners and her lack of understanding of their aristocratic titles and way of life. Their son, Viscount “Lyndy” Lundhurst is utterly charmed.read more
The second in a new series from the talented Denise Swanson, and a wrap up to a favorite series by Heather Blake, by our reviewer Cathy Akers-Jordan.
Leave no Scone Unturned, Denise Swanson.
Former corporate executive Danielle (Dani) Sloan helps solves murders, when she’s not busy running her catering business, that is. Set in the college town of Normalton, IL, Dani is busy selling lunches to students and catering private dinners as a personal chef. She can’t help it that she keeps getting involved in murder cases or the fact the she’s attracted to the campus head of security, Spencer Drake.read more
Terry Shames A Risky Undertaking for Loretta Singletary is our book club selection for May. We’ll meet Thursday, May 30, 6 p.m. at the Classic Cup Cafe.
This book is the eighth in a series featuring small town police chief Samuel Craddock, where he follows up on the case of an online dating meet up gone very wrong. All are welcome to join the discussion! This book can be purchased at a discount on our online store page.
The second book in Christine Trent’s Florence Nightingale series is even more gripping than the first. The story opens with a friend of Florence’s innocently heading to the British Museum with her father and on the way, their carriage is attacked and their driver is killed. Because Florence’s friend is married to the secretary of war, the family wants discretion, and they ask Florence to investigate rather than the police.
Of course Florence is no lady of leisure – she’s running a hospital (the center of the action in the first novel) and in this novel, she’s asked to consult when cholera breaks out in the Soho section of London, a notoriously poor and miserable part of the city. She does agree to take on the investigation though. When another of her friend’s servants turns up at her hospital suffering with cholera, she’s on a tear.read more
This is the first Samuel Craddock mystery I’ve read, largely on the advice of other readers I met at Left Coast Crime this year. As when I had a bookstore, the best recommendations often come from fellow readers, and I decided to give this one a try. I was intrigued when I sat next to Terry at a panel and she told me this was a police series, by far one of my favorite sub genres. This is a softer police story than say, one by Michael Connelly, but it’s still a police novel and a very good one.
