“You could work for us” —A Former CIA Officer I was flattered when a woman I admire proclaimed this. She had read my novels about women WWII spies including Americans Virginia Hall and Virginia d’Albert-Lake and was impressed by the way I was able to follow breadcrumbs through declassified archives and multilingual sources to piece…
Xavier “Priest” Priestly is a licensed freelance legal investigator, who gets to charge exorbitant prices to the law firms that hire him because he’s extraordinarily good at what he does. His nickname comes less as a play on his surname than it does from the fact that he once studied for the Catholic priesthood, abandoning…
After an apocalyptic fog destroyed much of humanity, a small outpost of safety—a scientific research facility that figured out a way to raise a barrier against the fog—provided a haven for survivors. Some generations on, one hundred and twenty-two villagers live happily under the guidance of three scientists known as Elders, with help from an…
At the heart of every gripping thriller lies the eternal battle of good vs. evil, and a Southern setting with its own symbolic contradictions can highlight that conflict. But what is it about a Southern setting that so effortlessly morphs from bless your heart to a heart pierced with a dagger? Why does a place…
The Texas Murder Files series has come full circle. Hidden (2020) introduced us to Austin investigative reporter Bailey Rhoads and detective Jacob Merritt. From the police scanner, Bailey gets wind of a murder—she comes to believe it was an assassination. The protagonists are on opposite sides of the fence, but ultimately, they work together to…
The Last Note of Warning by Katharine Schellman The third in the luscious, mysterious, and queer Nightingale mystery series by Katharine Schellman, set in 1920s New York. Dead Tired by Kat Ailes MacmillanAudio · Dead Tired by Kat Ailes, audiobook excerpt The second in a charming and hilarious mystery series by Kat Ailes, Dead Tired follows…
While Mia Carina is proud of how she’s turned the Belle View Banquet Hall into Queens’ premier catering hall and party venue, her attention has been swayed of late by her intensifying relationship with her boyfriend, Shane Gambrazzo. She’s convinced he’s going to ask her to marry him soon, which would be beyond thrilling for…
Twenty years ago, an angry and humiliated Amy Brewer left the cabin where her circle of popular friends was staying one Memorial Day weekend and trudged home through the woods. When she discovered that a bomb had gone off in the cabin shortly after she walked away, she was assailed with both shock and guilt,…
Alana B. Lytle’s debut novel begins with a dream-like interlude, as what is presumably a dog considers her growing ambivalence towards her owner and companion. From wanting to be together all the time, in the manner of most canines with their humans, our protagonist grows resentful, as she realizes that she’s being taken for granted.…
Is it urban legend that a mother can find the superhuman strength to lift a car in order to save her trapped child? Or is it apocryphal? Most would agree that it’s a rare circumstance. Unless you’re retired CIA agent Helen Warwick, from Cindy Dee’s brilliant debut thriller Second Shot. Fifty-five-year-old Helen Warwick is as…
