I write romance and thrillers, but even the majority of my romances are rooted in suspense and mystery. Suspense is what makes my fingers hum, challenges my mind, and is always where I feel I’m at my best. Considering my husband is obsessed with serial killers like Michael Myers you can bet he always has…

The second novel of the #OwnVoices Ice Cream Parlor mystery series is a delightful confection as appealing as its predecessor! Bronwyn Crewse quit big city life in order to come home to the Cleveland suburb of Chagrin Falls and take over running her family’s ice cream store. Several months since its near-disastrous re-opening, when unexpected…

Laura Childs’s latest Cackleberry Club Mystery starts off with a heart-pounding bang! Our heroine, Suzanne Dietz, is heading to the emergency room to drop off a thermos of chili con carne for her surgeon fiancé, Dr. Sam Hazelet. She’s just gotten to chatting with Ginny Harris, the nurse at admissions, when a loud commotion draws…

The Windsor Knot by SJ Bennett is the first book in a highly original and delightfully clever crime series in which Queen Elizabeth II secretly solves crimes while carrying out her royal duties.  April 2016: Queen Elizabeth’s 90th birthday is fast approaching, and she intends to celebrate it at Windsor, the most beloved of her…

During the crazy and stressful climate we currently live in, it is nice to spend a few hours escaping into a good book. I often enjoy novels that take me to other parts of the world, especially when real-life travel is presently so restricted. The latest novel from Tasmanian author Robbie Arnott meets these needs.…

In my line of work, training is great, but nothing beats experience. As the two SUVs careened toward me, my experience in shitholes the world over allowed me to process several things at once: One, my Glock’s slide had locked to the rear, revealing an empty chamber. Two, my spare magazine was in the truck’s…

It’s hard to believe that this highwire act of tight plotting, alternating perspectives, and shifting timelines is a debut novel, but Alex Finlay’s Every Last Fear is a remarkable addition to the thriller genre, juggling all its many plot points so deftly that it kept me guessing whodunnit and why till the very end. Matt…

Chapter 4 That evening, Stoker amused himself with the earl’s latest purchase for the Rosemorran Collection—an enormous walrus that had required the combined strength of numerous porters to wheel into the Belvedere, the freestanding ballroom that had been given over to the various artifacts and works of art hoarded by seven generations of earls. It…

Missing and Endangered by J. A. Jance is an evocative and atmospheric mystery, where Cochise County Sheriff Joanna Brady’s professional and personal lives collide when her college-age daughter is involved in a missing persons case. It pleases me to no end to be reviewing a title from legendary author J. A. Jance, whom I have…

The cover of the haunting Tibetan-based novel The Ghost Moths by Harry Farthing features a quote that really cuts directly to the undercurrent that runs beneath the entire narrative: ‘The past can only determine the future if it survives the present.’  Sounds like a fortune cookie at a progressive Asian restaurant, but it really nails…