Let’s raise a glass of vino to Coloradan Kate Lansing’s Killer Chardonnay and Parker Valentine, an ambitious and talented vintner. Valentine’s first name is unisex but her career choice is not: in California, America’s premier wine region, only around 10 percent of winemakers are female. Parker has been obsessed with wine making since her year…
In the third Santero and Rein thriller, Bernard Schaffer reunites detective Carrie Santero with manhunter Jacob Rein—to plumb the depths of a madman’s obsession… There’s just something so meaty and delectable about Bernard Schaffer’s writing. Every book of his goes down so quickly, leaving me feeling entirely sated. Blood Angel, the third in his terrific…
The Fire Thief by Debra Bokur is the first book in the new Dark Paradise Mystery series featuring Detective Kali Māhoe, where the Maui scenery may be beautiful, but dangerous secrets are buried beneath paradise. Oh, to be on gorgeous Maui in times like these—especially if you live in an area where the weather is…
Murder, She Wrote: The Murder of Twelve by Jessica Fletcher & Jon Land is the 51st entry in the USA Today bestselling series, where Jessica Fletcher finds herself stranded in a hotel during a blizzard with twelve strangers and a killer in their midst. Jon Land is the bestselling, award-winning author of more than 50…
In Coldwater, a young couple moves to Sacramento after the tragic loss of their baby. But instead of a quiet life in the suburbs, they find themselves involved in the fight of their lives with a group of drug-addicted squatters with a dark past. I wonder whether Tom Pitts likes jazz. I ask this question…
Tense, gripping, and with a twist you won’t see coming, The Split by Sharon Bolton is an explosive new standalone thriller about a troubled woman on the run to a remote glacial location on the Antarctic island of South Georgia. Sharon Bolton’s The Split is quite a reading experience. The titular “split” seemingly involves the breakup…
The Own Voices debut novel of Abby Collette’s Ice Cream Parlor mystery series is a breath of fresh air, featuring an African-American store owner who’s reluctantly drawn into solving a murder mystery after she discovers a dead body. Bronwyn “Win” Crewse moved home to Chagrin Falls, just outside Cleveland, Ohio, after a health scare reminded…
Edgar Allan Poe and the Empire of the Dead by Karen Lee Street is the third novel in the Poe and Dupin series, a thrilling historical mystery about mesmerism and magic, the shadows of the past, and the endurance of love. Poe and Dupin were last together in Philadelphia in 1844. In June 1849, Poe,…
Take Me Apart by Sara Sligar is a spellbinding debut novel of psychological suspense and a chilling, thought-provoking take on art, illness, and power that follows a young archivist’s obsession with her subject’s mysterious death as it threatens to destroy her fragile grasp on sanity. Sara Sligar’s Take Me Apart is a fascinating narrative that…
The Poison Flood by Jordan Farmer is the gritty story of a reclusive musician and the environmental disaster that threatens his small town and changes his life forever. I’ve been fortunate in recent weeks to read and review several outstanding novels that place a spotlight on underrepresented communities in American fiction. To the examination of…
