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Romance

Review

The Devil in Oxford

by Danise Hoover

Christmas in Oxford sounds like a good idea. But as might be predicted by anyone acquainted with Ruby and her housemate and employer, Mr. Owens, that is likely a false assumption. While antiquarian books are their business, the Oxford sojourn highlights Egyptian artifacts and brings Ruby back to the harsh memories of her WWI service as an ambulance driver. Her feelings for Ruan, healer and witch, must be confronted, as must her trust in old and dear friends, including Leona, her partner in ambulance duties. Circumstances require much late-night skulking involving lockpicks and a reluctant Ruan as a partner, as well as attendance (unwilling) at overblown parties.In the end, the heroes are found and the evildoers are truly evil, but as with many books in this series, reading is easier if one starts at volume one. Smuggling, murder, and cocaine are mixed within a roiling undercurrent of social and political tension in an atmosphere of scholarship. A nicely drawn period piece.

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Review

Cross Your Heart and Hope He Dies

by Brian Kenney

This fun-loving mystery/romcom features Juliette Winters, author, editor, and likely workaholic. The book opens with Juliette hobnobbing with the Seattle elite on a posh yacht, working the crowd in anticipation of an announcement from business titan Warren Ellingham. It seems that Warren has a) decided to publish his memoirs and b) promised Juliette exclusive rights to the book, the most exciting, salacious tell-all that Seattle has seen in years, if not decades. Except things don’t always make it to the podium as smoothly as one might like. Before he can get a few words out, Warren keels over—likely from a heart attack—and the manuscript disappears, with Juliette left holding an empty bag. It’s easy to feel sorry for Juliette, but the arrival of Charlie Hawkins, MD on the scene, does a lot to cheer things up, and the woman who asserts not to have time for romance may well have to re-examine that claim, while still looking for Warren’s manuscript. Sure to delight fans of lighter mysteries from L. M. Chilton, Mia P. Manansala, and Elle Cosimano.

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Review

A Killer Getaway

by Charlotte Del Vecchio

For the past five summers, Lily Lennox has left her successful business in Cincinnati to work as a lifeguard at elite Caribbean Island wellness resort the Riovan. But no one knows why. They also don’t know about the string of deaths attached to the Riovan that conveniently align with Lily’s annual stay. As the protagonist returns to her annual island lifestyle, she exposes the truth behind the Riovan’s problematic wellness practices and her own reasons for returning. But this year, Lily’s plans are interrupted by a mysterious journalist, Daniel Black, who is intent on chipping away at any crack in the resort. Their attraction to each other only grows as Lily resists and attempts to divert his attention away from the resort’s secrets. This summer-vacation thriller provides a witty outlook on wellness culture and exposes the harsh impacts of body-image obsession while following a female antihero along a dark path of revenge, reflection, and romance. For fans of Emily Henry’s feel-good nature and Jeneva Rose’s twisted thrills, who will be uncovering its mysteries until the very end.

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Review

The Game is Afoot

by Brian Kenney

When is a cozy so much fun that you need to put down everything you are reading (or streaming) to just enjoy it? When that book is written by Elise Bryant, author of It’s Elementary. Here Mavis, our supermom hero, has way too many balls in the air. There’s the DEIB workshop in her daughter’s school that she has to attend—that’s diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging—where “I’ll be forced to sit here and smile and pretend like all the microaggressions that are surely coming are okay….” Plus her job which she finally abandons after imagining leaving for years. Add in her ex-husband, who is behaving exactly like she always wished he would when they were married. And a totally charming boyfriend. Then there’s the bevy of activities her daughter Pearl needs to be chauffeured to (almost-eight-year-old Pearl, BTW, is as sophisticated as she is funny.) It all comes slamming down one Saturday morning at soccer when Coach Cole drops dead, gasping for air. Sounds like a heart attack? Sure does. Except it turns out to be homicide. And who should take on investigating the Coach’s death? Fun and fearless—with an occasional anxiety attack—Mavis is the perfect character for 2025.

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Review

The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses

by Chris Kahn

Our favorite otherworldly investigators, Mossa and Pleiti, Jupiter-residing gay gals with a whole lot of know-how, are back. Or at least Pleiti is back, having been called up to help a good friend’s cousin, Villette, who is about to undergo her donfense, a sort of doctoral defense. Reluctantly, Pleiti agrees, despite the lengthy trip out to Stortellen University, located at the furthest reaches of the planet. But there are problems. Number one is that Villette is being accused of plagiarism—a false accusation but hard to shake. Problem number two is the absence of Sherlock-like Mossa, who is a no-show, leaving Pleiti alone to keep Villette safe while missing terribly her affectionate relationship. Thankfully, this is a short novel, whereas the earlier works (The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles, The Mimicking of Known Successes) were novellas. This gives Older some room to play, including in the bond between Pleiti and Mossa and the wonderful use of language (since the early settlers, after all, spoke a breadth of languages). Don’t be lazy, look the non-English words up; it’s half the fun. A unique series that just keeps getting better.

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Review

He’s to Die For

by Brian Kenney

What the world needs now is more LGBTQIA+ romantic and suspenseful fiction, and fortunately Erin Dunn’s He’s to Die For delivers just that. It’s totally head over heels when NYPD Detective Rav Trivedi (British born, Ivy League educated, Dad’s a Lord, suits are bespoke, get the picture?) can’t take his eyes off rock star Jack Vale, who is as talented a musician as he is super hot. But here’s the one flaw: Jack is the lead suspect in a murder case, and Rav is leading the investigation. Fortunately, Jack is able to clear his name, although both he and Rav remain cautious about hooking up thanks to the media onslaught, their own private natures, and the threat of violence that continues to surround them. Meanwhile the dialog snaps, the stakes are high, and the pacing pops. Give yourself a treat and get a copy of He’s to Die For, which miraculously succeeds as a romance as much as it is a suspense novel. Yes it’s early in the year, but this is already one of my favorite novels of 2025.

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Review

The Frozen People

by Henrietta Thornton

In this police procedural with a huge twist, Ali Dawson works for a London police department that purports to solve cold cases. These cases are so cold they’re truly frozen, hence the department’s nickname and the book’s title. But the team’s real purpose is to send detectives back in time to solve crimes. An Italian scientist is behind the technicalities of it all, and the officers themselves have only a vague idea of how it works, but no matter. They’ve now visited the past several times, at first leaving the COVID era to go back to just before the pandemic, and then visiting past decades. But now a government minister wants to prove his ancestor innocent of a crime, a job that will send Ali back to Victorian London. Visiting Ali’s own city, but a vastly different version of it, is as fascinating for readers as it is for the sleuth, but all goes awry when she can’t get back, and her son—their relationship is a highlight of the book—is accused of murder in the present day. Griffiths provides just enough of the intricacies of time travel to keep things interesting without bogging the narrative down with physics, creating a fresh new series that will leave readers wanting more

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Review

The Betrayal of Thomas True

by Brian Kenney

It is 1715, and young Thomas True has managed to escape from his parent’s home, arriving in London, where he takes up residence with his uncle, a candlemaker to whom he becomes apprenticed. But that’s hardly the story. Eighteenth-century London was home to a flourishing, if risky, gay subculture, a world that seduces Thomas and that was centered around the molly houses. “Molly was a slur used for effeminate, homosexual men and the term was adopted to describe the clubs, taverns…where they met up in secret”, according to The British Newspaper Archives. And although the houses were called mollies, they attracted a range of men, from workers to aristocrats. It was a world where Thomas felt a sense of belonging, made all the more immediate with his discovery of beefy carpenter Gabriel Griffin (AKA Lotty), the doorman at Mother Clap’s Molly House. But when a young molly is found murdered, Gabriel goes in search of the rat who is exposing the men to the judicial system. Could it be someone he is close to? This book is that rare thing: both a strong historical novel that drops you into a richly rendered early 18th century and a powerful mystery that remains at the center of the book.

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Review

Serial Killer Games

by Brian Kenney

It’s dark. It’s humorous. And everything about it is completely unexpected. Dolores dela Cruz has been on the lookout for a serial killer, and Jake Ripper fits the bill. A temp in her office, Jake is charming, handsome, and in possession of a pair of classic “strangler gloves.” What more can you ask for? Jake, meanwhile, is smitten with his mysterious colleague, from her severe wardrobe to the abuse she occasionally dumps on him. Slowly, the relationship between the two morphs into a morbidly intense but weirdly romantic obsession. The dialogue—a good part of the pleasure this book offers—runs from full-on snark to flirtatious banter. And while there are plenty of those head-swiveling moments suspense readers love, more shocking is the tenderness that grows between the two. Are we dealing with real murderers here, or do some serial killers just want to have a little fun? Weird enough to appeal to a broad swath of crime fiction readers.

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Review

The Big Fix

by Brian Kenney

Computer science professor Penny Collins has been dragged by her sister to a tag sale being run by Anthony, who’s recently deceased uncle has left him—as handsome as he is aloof—with his estate, which he is now trying to unload. Things go from bad to worse when Penny’s toddler nephew yanks open a closet door, only to have a dead body tumble out. From there, Anthony tries to avoid Penny and her 101 questions, while Penny can’t stop herself from trying to get to the facts. Or at least get to Anthony (did I mention how handsome he is?). Sooner rather than later, the two end up locked together in their own closet, and when they finally emerge, they agree to work together. Anthony, it turns out, works as a “fixer,” but one of the good guys: he doesn’t kill, he just, well, fixes things. There is a lot swirling around these two, including the missing wife of a technology billionaire—Anthony is involved—and eventually the FBI arrives on the scene. There are so many remarks from Penny about how Anthony smells, it’s quite remarkable; this could well be the first olfactory novel. In any case, I’m planning to splurge on a bottle of Tom Ford’s Eau d’Ombre Leather for when reading the next volume, which I sincerely hope comes along sooner rather than later.

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