I live in that house you’ve seen on the news. We painted it robin’s-egg blue the summer I turned sixteen, but in your mind it’s white. Two little pink bikes lean against the veranda, and one wall glows blue with the reflected light of a police car. They use the same picture every time there’s…
Peter Ash just can’t help but be a Good Samaritan. And, once again, that need to help others has thrown him headfirst into dangerous gunfire. It all starts harmlessly enough, when he sees an incredibly pregnant woman by the side of the road. There’s no way any semi-decent man could drive by such a lady…
Murder Under Her Skin by Stephen Spotswood is the second Pentecost and Parker Mystery, a delightfully hardboiled high-wire act starring two daring woman sleuths dead set on justice as they set out to solve a murder at a traveling circus. It’s 1946 and Willowjean “Will” Parker has been the right-hand woman to private detective Lillian…
The heroine of Timothy Schaffert’s latest historical, The Perfume Thief, certainly stands out in a crowd. Clementine, an American ex-pat in her 70s, dares to dress in tuxedos and trousers at the height of the German occupation of Paris, a time when bucking convention or being outwardly “Other” is exceedingly dangerous. But Clem, a queer…
Making a courtesy call upon the newly married Sir Charles Wyatt on behalf of her infuriating father, clever widow Lily Adler finds herself unexpectedly drawn into the family’s affairs when a servant is accused of a theft. “Your footman is innocent. I am afraid it was your nephew who stole the money.” “Percy?” Sir…
Lynette belongs to an exclusive club. To join, it’s pretty straightforward: everyone around you just has to die. You have to outlast the psychotic maniac. Survive your grievous wounds. And then you have to do it again. She’s what society calls a Final Girl. You’re watching a horror movie and the silent killer knocks off…
From the very first page, Suburban Dicks flies out of the gate at top speed: Satkunanathan Sasmal would have been the first to admit he’d had worse nights working the midnight shift at his uncle’s Valero station. There was the old lady who fell asleep while driving and plowed into the first island. Satkunanathan…
Frankie Croy was once a literary darling, her debut novel a smashing success both critically and financially. But in the ensuing decades, her star has never risen beyond the height of that initial book, and a particular review of her most recent release sent the author into an emotional tailspin culminating in a very public…
What Doesn’t Kill Us—David Housewright’s latest McKenzie mystery, the 18th in the series—opens with quite a shocker: our hero has been shot in the back and lies in a coma. McKenzie’s friends, reeling from the news, have plenty of questions they need answered in a hurry. The unlicensed P.I. never officially took on cases since…
A Peculiar Combination by Ashley Weaver is the first book in the new Electra McDonnell series, set in England during World War II, and a delightful mystery filled with spies, murder, romance, and the author’s signature wit. Like they always say: desperate times call for desperate measures. Electra McDonnell and her Uncle Mick know it’s…
