A Cruel Deception by Charles Todd is the 11th Bess Crawford Mystery, where nurse Bess Crawford attempts to save a troubled former soldier from a mysterious killer in the aftermath of World War I. The First World War has been over for months, but there’s still plenty of suffering to ease—and the Paris peace talks…
Over nearly a decade as a bookseller at Barnes & Noble, I came to know the big names in every genre. Even if I’d never read one of their books myself, I could recommend them to customers based on the author’s reputation and the reader’s interests. Margaret Maron was one of those big names. I…
A House of Ghosts by W. C. Ryan is an unrelenting, gripping mystery set during World War I that seamlessly mixes genres and is packed with twists and turns and a kindling of romance. In the winter of 1917, as the First World War rages on, a most unusual house party converges on Blackwater Abbey…
Perusing the list of Edgar winners, trying to decide which I wanted to tackle for this retrospective, New Orleans Mourning jumped out almost immediately thanks to its utterly gonzo synopsis: It’s Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and civic leader and socialite Chauncey St. Amant has been crowned Rex, King of Carnival. But his day of…
A Dangerous Engagement is the stylish, charming sixth novel in the Edgar-nominated Amory Ames mystery series by Ashley Weaver, set in 1930s New York. There were four or five shots fired in rapid succession followed by a moment of deafening silence. I jumped up from the bed, but Milo had beaten me to it,…
Before they became legendary writers, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, and Anne Brontë were detectors in this charming historical mystery… “Madam? …Mrs. Chester, are you well?” When she pushed the door open, she found the room silent and empty of its occupant and covered in so much blood that she felt she might drown simply…
The Pearl Dagger by L.A. Chandlar is the third book in the Art Deco Mystery series, where the Great Depression loosens its grip on New York City and Mayor La Guardia and his team meet their greatest foe in the fight against organized crime. Lane Sanders—aide to New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia—has a…
The Twice-Hanged Man by Priscilla Royal is the 15th book in the Medieval Mysteries series, where bodies are turning up and the only suspect is the supposed ghost of a man hanged twice. Prioress Eleanor already has plenty on her plate—having just escorted her brother Robert and his pregnant wife, Elizabeth, from their imperiled manor…
Murder at Crossways by Alyssa Maxwell is the seventh installment of the Gilded Newport Mystery series, where Editor-In-Chief Emma Cross teams up with real-life socialite Mamie Fish to investigate two similar murders around the Harvest Festival. Emma Cross’s relaxing day at the beach with her Aunt and Uncle Vanderbilt goes horribly awry when a body…
Buried by Ellison Cooper is the second book in the Agent Sayer Altair series, where the FBI neuroscientist is on the trail of a serial killer who’s turned up the heat on a cold case. An FBI agent’s hike on his day off doesn’t go according to plan when his cadaver dog scents a body.…
