Author

Danise Hoover

Review

At Midnight Comes the Cry

by Danise Hoover

Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne are now married and happy despite the innate differences of an ex-pilot Episcopal priest and a now-retired police chief. Son Ethan, eight months old, has a stay-at-home dad as a caregiver and things are relatively smooth until the annual Thanksgiving day parade is beset by white supremacists. Officer Knox, newest on the Miller’s Kill police department, is concerned about the disappearance of Syracuse PD officer Kevin Flynn, who was assigned to a state task force to infiltrate the sort of group that disrupted the parade. When Russ and Knox search the woods, two interesting new characters join their quest: Yixin Zhao, from the state attorney’s office; and Paul Terrance, from the park service. Clare is not left out, having taken on the task of saving an abused young mother whose husband is part of a supremacist group, and her child. With great outdoor scenes, tight plotting, and appealing characters, this will hold readers’ attention and leave them hungry for more.

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Review

The Pines Were Watching

by Danise Hoover

Life in a small town in Minnesota is not supposed to involve complex crimes in the middle of a heat wave, at least that’s how Sheriff Red Hammergren feels, but when missing public-health nurse Joanie Crea’s body is found on the run-down estate of the formerly wealthy Grandgeorge family, tensions and suspicions run away with the locals. There is little help coming from Joanie’s rigid, bureaucratic robot of a boss or her glad-handing, church deacon of a husband. The body of a second woman is found and information from her abused and recently beaten young son may hold a key. A mystery man with a green jacket, missing funds, and long-held secrets all play with Red’s sixth sense, making her feel that the solution is just beyond her grasp. Help comes from Red’s poker-playing buddies and Waltz, a crime scene tech, but her indomitable need to solve the crime is primary. This is a deeply atmospheric and compelling read. We can only hope for more from the series.

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Review

Killer Flock

by Danise Hoover

While this is the 11th in a long-running series, readers can ignore all the threads of the ongoing story and only attend to the current bizarreness of a birdwatching tour occurring in wintry Nebraska, and immediate family drama. Kate Fox is preparing for an incoming blizzard when the sheriff calls to tell her that a van of birdwatchers has run off the road and needs rescuing. All local first responders are otherwise occupied, so Kate, sister Louise, and friend Deenie marshal forces in true midwestern fashion and take the stranded group to the local high school to ride out the storm. Louise, a miracle worker of sorts, arrives with enough food, equipment, and know-how to feed and provide beds for the group, though perhaps not to the visitors’ snobby standards. This is a record storm, and they are truly stuck, but however prepared they are, murder is not something that is expected. With homage to Agatha Christie and old-fashioned library books, the ordeal is survived, and the crime is solved in this oddly retro and engaging locked-room mystery.

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Review

At Death’s Dough

by Danise Hoover

As Geneva Bay, WI is mostly a summer resort, making ends meet for the town’s small businesses in the winter is no easy task. Delilah and Son, gourmet pizza establishment, is no exception. The history of the place as a vacation spot for the Chicago mob is a mixed blessing, but when the Chamber of Commerce comes up with a “Gangsters of Geneva Bay” map and self-guided tour, Delilah is sort of obliged to sign on, even though it upsets cop boyfriend Calvin Capone, who does his best to play down his nominal connection to the mob. That she and her Aunt Biz discover frozen human remains while ice fishing only makes things worse. We have local and mob history combined with the overflow of ugly divorces, bad police work, family feuds, and a juicy bit of danger to liven the plot, along with trying to make sure that Valentines Day reservations will make up for the rest of the slow month to make this a fun addition to an entertaining series. And of course there are recipes at the end.

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Review

A Place of Secrets

by Danise Hoover

In a quiet Ontario town, days after Christmas, Evelyn Massey, over 90 years old, is found dead in her home with a note guiding Alice, a local policewoman, to a dead body buried in the basement for more than 60 years. More bodies are found, all from the same time period, with evidence suggesting Evelyn’s long dead husband as the guilty party. He is considered saintly by his daughters and granddaughter and the family friends still living, most of whom are also in their 90s, making this no easy case to investigate. Assisting Alice’s able and interesting team is Hugh Mercer, late of the NYPD, in the area doing a sort of personal penance for his career. The local chief goes so far as to suggest letting the mystery of the dead bodies slide since it all happened long ago and everyone is so old, but the serial killer emerges in a dramatic fashion, bringing all the motives to the open, including Alice’s private demons. The weather and landscape play an integral part in this somewhat bleak story that’s best read on a sunny day.

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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

Come Through Your Door

by Danise Hoover

Twists within deceptions are at the heart of O’Connor’s story of insanity, confusion, and murder. Some readers, in fact, may need to take notes to keep straight the murder of Annabelle a year ago from what is happening in the present day. Veterinarian Dimpna Wilde is once again at the center of events that involve her assistant, Niamh, with a dead body found in her apartment. Cormac, Dimpna’s love interest, is investigating and is tricked by a fake crime-scene photographer who cleans the scene of evidence and disappears, just one of the outlandish events that occurs. The confusion about who is who and what is what is eventually explained, but hardly makes the situation clearer. There is even a bizarre Irish pun of a name that somehow brings the murderer into focus. This series, while offering much in the way of Irish local color, is far from cozy, and offers a lot of satisfaction for readers willing to untangle all the complicated knots.

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Review

The Botanist’s Assistant

by Danise Hoover

Margaret, large, 50ish, probably neurodivergent, is a remarkably good assistant in a university lab doing botanical research into possible cancer cures. The bottom drops out of her world when she discovers the body of her beloved boss, Dr. Deaver, in his office, quite dead. In true scientific fashion, she notices the small details that no one else, especially the bumbling campus police, takes account of. Her comments are quickly dismissed and she is pressed into rewriting an important grant application to credit someone who deserves no credit at all. There are deans grasping for academic glory, scientists looking to make big bucks, and only Margaret who wants to know the truth. She finds a friend in Joe, a new custodian whose personality seems out of keeping with his job. Together they work to discover what is truly going on, and not only find a murderer, but also save the cutting-edge research study. Margaret is a delight, and the situation requires her to open herself to friends and new possibilities. The ending leaves the possibility for more from Margaret and Joe, which would be a fine addition to the genre.

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Review

Death on Dickens Island

by Danise Hoover

Tiny Dickens Island, located in the sound between Connecticut and Long Island, has a small permanent population composed of families in the midst of some sort of feud or another. Delia has come back after years of living in Manhattan to take up her role as mother to teenage Connor and part manager of the family’s general store. She’s inherited her grandmother’s house and for now is loving being back, though is unsure of her maternal success. Connor finds a secret room in grandma’s house with old books and what may be a pirate map. Delia encounters grandma’s ghost, who visits the room occasionally and offers a unique perspective on island history. The map is stolen by local miscreants and doesn’t lead to treasure but rather to a long-buried body that brings old scandals to the present. With logic, the help of an old love, and grandma’s ghost, Delia puts much of the puzzle together, leading to a solution to the murders and to some of the family feuds. An enjoyable, sandy cozy with the author’s promise of more to come from Dickens Island.

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Review

Empty Boxes

by Danise Hoover

The title is a hint to a major plot element in this somewhat tangled, dangerous, multi-crime story with an intrepid reporter at the center. Rita Locke, crime reporter for a major Pittsburgh paper, is awakened early on a Sunday, her day off, by one of her police sources alerting her to a grisly murder in a funeral home. It’s the last straw for her boyfriend, and as she leaves for the crime scene, he ends their relationship. The body was found by a local beautician, and she is mighty nervous when interviewed by Rita. There are dead witnesses, anonymous clues, stolen jewelry, fake medical practitioners, and medical schools, nearly deadly foreign travel, returning boyfriends, and of course, the empty coffins referred to in the title. Yes, the story is crowded, but it is refreshing to have a reporter at the head rather than a cop or a PI, and readers will not be able to put this down towards the end. Here’s hoping for more about Rita Locke.

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