In Making the Monster, bestselling author and chemist Kathryn Harkup does a deep dive into Mary Shelley’s life and the historical events and scientific theories that influenced her greatest work. For two hundred years, it’s been one of the most evocative, potent names in literature. It instantly conjures up images of sparking electrical instruments, laboratories and…

Some things just never go out of style. Like nostalgia. And the further we get, the more people like to look back. Folks will always love to romanticize the past; put it up on a pedestal as if it was better or more exciting than the turbulent, messy present. Since the past is an open…

The house also featured a new porch stocked with a number of whitewashed rocking chairs. Nubile young women occupied two of those chairs. “Oh, hello,” one said in a cheerful way. “Shane’s writing, so he can’t see you right now. But we’d be happy to visit.” “Interrupt him,” the cop said in such a flat…

The painter Paul Cézanne was never comfortable with the Paris art scene, despite claiming he would change it “with an apple” (and he did). He was mal à l’aise with people, especially the fashionable, the wealthy. He once said, “The world doesn’t understand me and I don’t understand the world, that’s why I’ve withdrawn from…

The 17th Chocoholic Mystery finds our series heroine, Lee Woodyard, feeling extremely grumpy. When the Bailey house near where she lives with her husband, Joe, goes up for sale, she’s happy enough to cheerlead his plans to purchase the house with her uncle by marriage, Police Chief Hogan Jones, with the intent of flipping it…

Teresa Dovalpage’s latest murder mystery Queen of Bones explores lingering grudges between old friends and lovers separated by Castro’s final sanctioned raft exodus. Teresa Dovalpage has written a truly atmospheric mystery that delves deep into the theme of homecoming and all the secrets we think we leave behind. The novel’s greatest strength lies in Dovalpage’s excellent…

Paula Munier is a triple threat. In addition to serving as agent extraordinaire for a cadre of esteemed authors, she’s written five popular non-fiction titles, including three on the craft of writing—Plot Perfect, The Writer’s Guide to Beginnings, and Writing with Quiet Hands. Last year, she entered the realm of crime fiction with A Borrowing…

Anything for You is Saul Black’s third novel in the Valerie Hart series, in which the San Francisco Homicide Detective must revisit her past to solve a gruesome murder.  In my opinion, if you’ve read the first two books, you already understand that to know Valerie is to love her, even if she doesn’t think…

The express from Dover was still coming to a stop when Hillary Drummond leaped onto the platform. He staggered a moment, coming close to falling, but righted himself, balanced like a tightrope walker, with a suitcase in one hand and a satchel in the other. Once assured of his footing, he began to sprint along…

Shatter the Night by Emily Littlejohn is an enthralling, atmospheric novel and the fourth book in the Detective Gemma Monroe series—take a visual tour with GIFnotes! It’s Halloween night in Cedar Valley. During the town’s annual festival, Detective Gemma Monroe takes a break from trick or treating with her family to visit an old family…