Category:

Review

Review

Kiss Her Goodbye

by Jeff Ayers

Frankie Elkin, finder of missing people, goes to Tucson, Arizona, to search for a missing Afghan refugee in Gardner’s (Still See You Everywhere), latest thriller. Sabera’s a young mom who vanishes, leaving behind a frightened little girl and a husband who doesn’t seem all that concerned his wife is missing. The police don’t even bother opening a case into the matter. Sabera’s friend, Aliah, knows something has happened and hopes Frankie can uncover the truth, even if the answer is painful. Establishing a home base of operations, Frankie finds a place to live temporarily: housesitting for a rich gamer with exotic pets and a quirky staff, who quickly become her allies. The more Frankie digs, the more everyone seems to be hiding something, and when a breaking news segment on local television shows what appears to be Sabera in the background of a murder scene, Frankie starts to question if anyone is trustworthy. The past collides with the present, and Frankie will face the unfortunate reality that finding answers might not necessarily mean winning or justice. Gardner knows how to do a psychological deep dive into her characters, making readers feel that these people with traumatic pasts and secrets could easily be our next-door neighbors. She also provides insight into the plight of refugees while amping up the tension and twists. Another great entry from the always reliable Gardner.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

The House on Buzzards Bay

by Henrietta Thornton

Murphy likes to take lawyer characters out of their geographic and emotional comfort zones, and in this, perhaps his best book yet, he makes the discomfort both sharper and more nebulous than we’re used to. The author’s (An Honest Living) main character is Jim, who’s married to Valentina; they spend the summer in a house he inherited in Buzzards Bay, on the southeastern coast of Massachusetts. Before he met Valentina, he gave his tight pack of college friends shares in the home; over the years, they’ve summered there, some regularly, others rarely seen. This summer sees the return of several regulars and of Bruce, who hasn’t shown up in years. He brings with him a darkness that creeps over the old friends and becomes especially pronounced when the residents, in a nod to the house’s origins as a home for an occult group, holds a séance. A French woman who’s an ex of one of the gang, with her languid but also guarded ways, will be memorable for her strange manner. But all the characters and even the house will stay with readers, especially those who enjoy introspective language (“there was something petty, almost squalid, in not appreciating a friend’s beauty until she was holding it there before you”) and a slight tinge of the supernatural.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Exiles

by Jeff Ayers

Coile, who also writes as Andrew Pyper, passed away in early January, and this tense and terrific novel is sadly his last. A crew of three—two men and one woman—is sent to Mars to coordinate the eventual habitation of the red planet. Machines were sent earlier to create the base where they will live out the remainder of their lives, but the crew arrives at Mars to find no response to their signal. A bumpy ride to the surface and changed lock codes reveal a strange scenario. The robots built the habitat but were attacked by a being with stealth abilities and super strength, and the description sounds like an insect if it had one giant claw and could walk on two legs. As the crew listens to the machines tell their story, it appears that not all is as it seems, and the robots might be homesick for Earth, which would be entirely against their programming. This mix of horror, isolation, and psychological suspense demands to be read in one sitting and forces the reader to ask provocative questions with answers that have profound implications, such as, “What constitutes sentience?” and “What is the price humanity is willing to pay to reach the stars?” Exiles would make a fantastic movie, and fans of Alien or Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow should consider going on this journey.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Murder on Sex Island

by Brian Kenney

A marvelous parody of reality TV shows—think especially of Love Island—mashed up with traditional mysteries, if traditional mysteries include lots of fake sex, along with fake hair and teeth. When one cast member disappears from the super-successful, super-sleazy show Sex Island, the producers need to bring on someone else as a replacement ASAP. Staten Island native Luella van Horn is quickly hired as a two-fer, to join the show as a new contestant and in the meantime solve the case of the missing cast member. Except Luella is really a divorced former social worker from Staten Island named Marie Jones, who aspires to be a private eye and whose past is pretty inept, if incredibly humorous. But as the story grows darker, Marie finds herself trying to get out of a situation that is becoming riskier by the hour. First released as a self-published novel, this book was quickly embraced by comedian Jo Firestone’s many fans. While I haven’t heard it, the audio version, narrated by Firestone herself, is hugely popular.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Miss Caroline Bingley, Private Investigator

by Willy Williams

December 16, 2025 will mark the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth, and what better way to celebrate than with this delightful reimagining of Elizabeth Bennet’s antagonist from Pride and Prejudice. Two years after the events of that novel, in which the snobby and haughty Miss Caroline Bingley lost the battle for Mr. Darcy’s affections, she is “marooned” at her brother Charles’s estate in wintry Derbyshire, bored with weeks of country dances, unchanging society, and dull conversations. Despite her complicated relationship with the Darcys, Caroline has grown fond of Mr. Darcy’s younger sister, Georgiana. When Georgiana’s Indian maid, Jayani, disappears from Pemberley and Georgiana heads up to London alone in pursuit, Caroline, accompanied by her loyal manservant, Gordon, tracks both fugitives and stumbles upon a brutal murder that implicates Jayani. Drawing on her keen intelligence, her bold self-confidence, and her large income, our Miss Bingley plunges into a gritty underworld of poverty, cruelty, and exploitation far from London’s glittering Ton. As she seeks to clear Jayani’s name, she also discovers the brutal colonialism practiced by the East India Company. Australian authors Gardiner (1917) and Kumar (who produces Melbourne’s Austencon) transform Austen’s mean girl into a more sympathetic protagonist while preserving her quick wit, sharp tongue, and independent spirit. Janeites will eagerly await Miss Bingley’s next adventure in sleuthing.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

The Devil’s Kitchen: A Murder in Yellowstone

by Danise Hoover

A reader may justifiably expect this book to be set in the American west, but this work, a two-novel combination, begins with the French neoclassical painter Jacques-Louis David and and the French Revolution. The modern-day mystery is set in Yellowstone National Park, where seasonal ranger and retired Fort Worth cop Clarence Johnson discovers a corpse as an unplanned part of his tour of park history. It connects him with Park Service Police Investigator Allison Nance and DEA Agent LaFleur, and after some struggle to get his creds recognized, Johnson joins the investigation. LaFleur is convinced that this death is drug related and does everything to make the evidence fit his theory. Johnson is pretty sure it is not and works to persuade Nance to be open minded. Nance’s specialty is art history; the painter Thomas Moran is said to have much to do with Yellowstone being the first National Park, and art as evidence crops up often in this case. Chapters alternate between the past and the present, with an artifact of French royalty at the center of intrigue in both time frames. While it is somewhat unusual to have so much time spent in the past, it is necessary here to set the stage. The interpretation of the artistic clues is a bit stretched, but essential to the conclusion. This could be an interesting series, and I hope to see further adventures of Nance and Johnson, along with Tripod, his three-legged rescue dog.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Writers and Liars

by Brian Kenney

Fifteen years ago, a small group of young writers were invited to a retreat on the Greek isle of Eris. (Eris, by the way, is the goddess of discord and strife, a real trouble-maker if there ever was one.) Back then, the goddess managed to sow all manner of discontent, successfully breaking up at least one young couple. Who knows what she has in store for this retreat? Nevertheless, everyone from 15 years ago has been invited back by the mysterious billionaire and publisher Argos Alexander for another retreat, and nearly everyone is game to attend, bitter or not. Several of the participants are still writing, mostly crime fiction, and what writer could ignore powerful Argos? Even our narrator, Maia, who wrote one successful debut years ago, is hoping to make a fresh start. But Argos is absent for dinner the first night, leaving behind directions that whoever can write the best mystery while they are on the island will receive money and fame. Except he’s absent again for breakfast, and when a group goes for a hike, there is Argos, a crumpled corpse at the bottom of a cliff. This gives our writers plenty to worry about, from the expected (who killed Argos, and who will be murdered next) to the use of nature as a weapon. Rich in Greek mythology, this book will fascinate many readers

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Blood and Treasure

by Jeff Ayers

Pote’s debut thriller mixes the best of Clive Cussler, Tom Clancy, and Dan Brown to weave an unputdownable tale. An incident on the International Space Station leads to more questions than answers and appears to be a prelude to gaining access to a satellite and its tech. Ethan Cain and his team take on big-pocket clients to find hidden treasures and artifacts. Their current client initially had them track down a scroll, and the information revealed on it leads to the location of an ancient weapon hidden for centuries. Evil people and entire governments want to utilize its capabilities, and whoever has this weapon could change the world. Cain learns the coordinates for this device’s underwater hidden location, but when trying to recover it, he watches as a space capsule slams into the water close to them. Inside is an unconscious woman, ejected from the event that occurred onboard the International Space Station. How did she survive, and does she also have an ulterior motive? Pote’s writing captures what makes fans of action-adventure and historical conspiracy thriller writers like Brad Thor and Steve Berry deliver every book. Make this a mandatory addition to your reading pile; you will treasure it forever.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Widows and Orphans

by Henrietta Thornton

Humor, up-to-the-minute political clashes, and more humor meet in this cozy-adjacent small-town mystery. Our protagonist, Canadian journalist Cat Conway, has had it with the wellness industry, especially its craven criticism of vaccines. Her series of articles on the anti-vax movement has made her a target of right-wingers, and scared advertisers could be the kiss of death for the Quill and Packet—the struggling Port Ellis newspaper Cat works for. Still, when the industry comes to town in the form of the Welcome, Goddess event, at which insufferable influencers Bree and Bliss bring their crystals, navel-gazing, and clothes in colors like oatmeal and wheat, Cat doesn’t shy from covering it. She aims to buttonhole the two about why they’re peddling harmful advice, but plans are derailed in favor of a murder investigation when one of the influencers is found dead at the bottom of a cliff. Finding out who did it brings us into the underbelly of the wellness industry, which is perfectly and hilariously lampooned here, but also invites readers into Cat’s thorny but loving relationship with her wellness-guru mother and an enjoyable will-they-won’t-they romance with her coworker Amir. While this can stand alone, readers will want to go back to series debut Bury the Lead to spend more time with this gutsy journalist.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

The Witch’s Orchard

by Danise Hoover

We don’t know anything about Annie when Max hires her to find his sister, Molly. Molly has been missing for 10 years, and Max has been saving all that time to hire a PI. Max is from rural Kentucky, as is Annie—from a different part, but close enough to matter. Ten years ago, three little girls went missing and were replaced by applehead dolls: Jessica; then Olivia, who was returned; then Molly. Olivia, autistic and non-verbal, has never been able to convey anything that happened. No one but Max and Jessica’s mother wants answers, it seems, but Annie is as dogged as the job requires. As we unravel what the town is about, we also unravel this investigator and find that her past and her ethos blend nearly seamlessly with what she finds. Corruption; abuse; meth labs surrounded by achingly beautiful landscapes; wonderful, goodhearted, traditional people; and downright creeps make up the puzzle she needs to unravel. In a wonderful combination of mountain lore and history, false heroes and major new friends, readers see a picture of backwoods Kentucky that is authentic and engaging. It would be wonderful to see more from this author.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail