Book Review: She’s Not Sorry by Jeff Ayers
By Jeff Ayers
April 18, 2024An ICU nurse struggles to stay emotionally detached from a case in Mary Kubica’s latest thriller. Work-life is already challenging for Meghan Michaels, as she balances being recently divorced and being present for her teenage daughter. An apparent suicide arrives at the hospital one day, and the patient, Caitlin, suffers from head trauma and is…
Book Review: Cheater by Karen Rose
By Janet Webb
April 18, 2024One of the hottest trends in crime fiction is seniors being murdered and/or seniors solving murders. Cheater is set in a San Diego retirement complex populated by considerably affluent retirees. How does the title of Karen Rose’s latest mystery fit the crime? A cheater is “a person who acts dishonestly in order to gain an…
Cooking the Books: A Catered Quilting Bee by Isis Crawford
By Doreen Sheridan
April 17, 2024Sisters Libby and Bernie Simmons know very little about quilting, but they’re experts when it comes to catering. Thus, they’re thrilled to be able to provide refreshments for the Longely Sip and Sew Quilting Circle’s first ever exhibition, held at the local library. The eclectic group of quilters is far from what the Simmons sisters…
Book Review: How To Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin
By Doreen Sheridan
April 17, 2024Annie Adams is despairing of making a go of her writing career when she gets an unusual summons. Her Great Aunt Frances apparently wants her to come up from London to visit the village of Castle Knoll, where Frances has long made her home. Annie and her mother Laura have always been under the impression…
Book Review: A Deadly Walk In Devon by Nicholas George
By Janet Webb
April 16, 2024The disparate group of American tourists who make up the Wanderers walking tour through Devon have more in common than you might think. Rick “Chase” Chasen is a recently retired detective from San Diego. He’s happy to be in the company of his old friend, Anglophile Billie Mondreau: she’s an inveterate knitter and a wise…
Book Review: The Dredge by Brendan Flaherty
By John Valeri
April 15, 2024Debut novelist Brendan Flaherty grew up outside Hartford, Connecticut and later attended Washington University. He earned an MFA from Boston University, where he was the recipient of the Saul Bellow Prize. For a time, Flaherty lived in Hawaii, though he has long since returned to his home state, where he makes his home with his…
Killer Beginnings: Five Crime Novels with Dazzling Opening Scenes
By Harry Dolan
April 15, 2024When I started planning my latest novel, I had nothing but a character and a situation: What if a girl of eleven climbed out her bedroom window one night and, feeling adventurous, went wandering in the woods near her house—only to find the body of a young woman lying in the grass beneath an oak…
From Imagination to Ink: Crafting Histories and Heroes in Thriller Fiction
By Libby Fischer Hellmann
April 12, 2024Most thriller writers are suckers for a good story. I’m one of them. And if the story is true, many of us start playing the “what-if” game. What if I took a character and imagined it happened to her? What if I set the story in Chicago? What if I created a backstory that explained…
Cooking the Books: Molten Death by Leslie Karst
By Doreen Sheridan
April 10, 2024What could be more relaxing than a vacation in Hawaii, especially when it’s in celebration of two important life milestones? California-based Valerie Corbin is about to turn 60, and her wife, Kristen, is soon to retire as well. When Kristen’s friend Isaac offers to let them stay in his house on the Big Island of…
Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth: A Visual Guide
By Sally Hepworth
April 10, 2024Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth is a thrilling page-turner of sisterhood, secrets, love, and murder. For as long as they can remember… Jessica, Norah, and Alicia have been told how lucky they are. As young girls they were rescued from family tragedies… And raised by a loving foster mother, Miss Fairchild… On an idyllic farming…