Georgia Tann left a dark legacy throughout the country, sewing tears among children and their birth parents for decades. Wearing gray hair, spectacles, a floral dress, and a sweet Southern smile, Tann looked like any caring grandmother—but most who encountered her learned that it was all a vile mask of horror and deceit. In 1924,…
I’ve heard it said that writers are God’s garbage men. We pick up people’s cast off details and deeds—some inspiring, some appalling—and use them to create our stories. For mystery writers, the newspaper is also a rich place to rummage through. Southern crime writer Ace Atkins commented, “I don’t have to make up plots. I…
Way back in 2010, I had a dream. My husband and I were attending a wedding weekend at the Opryland Hotel. He was with the guys, I was with the girls, and, as such, hopelessly bored—because when I’m not with him, I’m always unsettled. So, I went to find him. I texted him and said,…
The Covenant by Jeff Crook follows former Memphis police detective Jackie Lyons as she investigates a mysterious death in the second installment of the Jackie Lyons Mystery series (Available January 12, 2016). When photographer and former Memphis police detective Jackie Lyons finds Sam Loftin's lifeless body in the same location where his daughter died five…
Don't Ever Look Back by Daniel Friedman is second book featuring 88-year-old retired cop Buck Schatz who is asked for help by an old nemesis from his days on the force (available April 22, 2014). I grew up in what was essentially a three-generation household. My maternal grandparents stayed with us off and on for…
Hostage by Kay Hooper is the sequel to 2012's Haven, featuring Bishop and the Special Crimes Unit, using psychic gifts to hunt a dangerously unstable felon through the Appalachian wilderness (available November 26, 2013). I am fascinated by Kay Hooper’s FBI agents that have special abilities and the way she uses these abilities to help…
