By turns suspenseful and enchanting, this breathtaking first novel weaves a story of love, family, history, and myth as seen through the eyes of one immortal woman.
Collette LeSange is a lonely artist who heads an elite fine arts school for children in upstate New York. Her youthful beauty masks the dark truth of her life: she has endured centuries of turmoil and heartache in the wake of her grandfather’s long-ago decision to make her immortal like himself. Now in 1984, Collette finds her life upended by the arrival of a gifted child from a troubled home, the return of a stalking presence from her past, and her own mysteriously growing hunger.
Combining brilliant prose with breathtaking suspense, Jacqueline Holland’s The God of Endings serves as a larger exploration of the human condition in all its complexity, asking us the most fundamental question: is life in this world a gift or a curse?
My Thoughts
I rarely read vampire stories anymore, and truthfully I did not realize God of Endings was such a tale. However, I’m glad I didn’t know because I found this to be a memorable reading experience which I would have missed if I’d known the “immortal” being was a vampire.
Holland skillfully weaves together multiple threads of Colette’s life, from her beginning as Anna through the Anya days and finally to her current life. I enjoy stories that slip back and forth between very different times, but often find a lack of attention to detail and consistency which muddles to story. None of that to be found here! It seems the author is a meticulous plotter and that care and skill form a solid foundation for beautiful descriptive and narrative writing.
The is a book to be savored, perhaps read over a rainy autumn weekend, wrapped in a blanket in front of a fire.
Highly recommended.
Published By: Flatiron Books Publication Date: March 7, 2023 Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy
by Justin M. Kiska February 13 – March 10, 2023 Virtual Book Tour
Parker City, Autumn 1984…
As the leaves begin to change colors and the weather starts turning cooler in the historic city in the heart of Western Maryland, Parker City Police Detectives Ben Winters and Tommy Mason are called to Saint Paul’s where the recently installed Father Roland Taylor, who has become very popular in the community, has been found dead in his office at the church. By all appearances it seems to be a tragic case of a break-in gone wrong.
Only twenty-four hours later, the detectives find themselves at the home of the city’s well-known morning radio show DJ, Morning Mike Moran, who also seems to have been the victim of a robbery gone wrong. Coincidence?
Neither Ben nor Tommy believe in coincidences. But at first glance, it seems to be just that. Until they find that the victims shared a common interest and begin an investigation that leads them to uncover a secret Parker City has been hiding for over one hundred and twenty years.
My Thoughts
Kiska has delivered a rollicking good story that blends past and present seamlessly. While this is part of series, it is written in such a way that the reader does not need to be familiar with the previous entries. I always appreciate that when I find myself discovering a new series.
The present day story focuses on two police detectives in a small town in Maryland who find themselves facing some pretty gruesome murders. As they unravel the threads linking these terrible crimes, they reveal a secret kept by prominent folks in their town for over a century. Present day chapters are interspersed with chapters from the mid-1800s that provide the backstory for the origin of the big secret.
Kiska does a good job of blending the past and present day chapters, a task which can be difficult. I am always annoyed as a reader when past/present chapter length is too long because I often have to go back and re-read the last chapter to remember where we left off. That’s *my* issue as someone who tends to read in sprints versus marathons, so I always appreciate it when the chapter lengths “fit” for me! Selfish, I know…!
The writing is some of the best I’ve seen lately – imaginative and action-packed. This is an author I will read again, for sure. Fact & Fiction will certainly appeal to fans of Steve Berry and Clive Cussler. Recommended.
Book Details:
Genre: Police Procedural Published by: Level Best Books Publication Date: February 2023 Number of Pages: 330 Series: Parker City Mysteries, Book 3 | Each is a Stand Alone Get Your Copy:Amazon
Author Bio
When not sitting in his library devising new and clever ways to kill people (for his mysteries), Justin can usually be found at The Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre, outside of Washington, DC, where he is one of the owners and producers. In addition to writing the Parker City Mysteries Series – which includes, NOW & THEN, VICE & VIRTUE, and FACT & FICTION – he is also the mastermind behind Marquee Mysteries, a series of interactive mystery events he has been writing and producing for over fifteen years. Justin and his wife, Jessica, live along Lake Linganore outside of Frederick, Maryland.
Introducing the Fitzglens and their theatre of thieves in this spellbinding gothic mystery!
London, 1908. The Fitzglens are proud of their reputation as one of London’s leading theatre families. They are, however, equally proud of another profession which they pursue very discreetly . . . When not on stage, they are thieves.
Jack Fitzglen’s latest plan is to seek out the infamous Talisman Chalice, steal it and create a dazzling piece of theatre around it. He travels to Vallow Hall in Northumberland to find the mysterious Maude – the last known link to the Chalice – but uncovers something far darker. Scandal, secrets and danger lurk in every shady corner. Perhaps the legend of the Chalice has come true: that in the wrong hands, the Chalice drags a person into a darkness from which he or she can never emerge…
As past and present collide, can Jack find the Chalice, the truth and return to his theatre of thieves unscathed?
My Thoughts
I was first introduced to Sarah Rayne through one of her non-series books, The Death Chamber, which remains one of the scariest books I’ve ever read. I’m glad to see her again deviating from her series regulars Phinneas Fox and Nell West in Chalice of Darkness, and possibly introducing a new series family, the Fitzglens!
The storytelling here is as intriguing and well-plotted as usual with Rayne’s work, and is accompanied by a surprisingly tender treatment of a woman horribly wronged. Maude endures unthinkable punishment from her husband, driven by his own inadequacy and his fear and loathing of her. Quite a reminder that the times when women were considered their husband’s property isn’t all that long ago.
In addition to Maude, the Fitzglen family is fascinating. The blend of thespian and thief was fun to read, and the ending was so satisfying. I would welcome additional stories featuring this troupe of performers and con artists!
This will appeal to fans of Simone St. James and of course to Raynes’ fans.
“Superb . . . Lovers of British historical mysteries with a dash of romance and gothic atmosphere will clamor for more” – Publishers Weekly Starred Review
Publication Date: February 7, 2023 Published By: Severn House Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy
Summer of Love A Music & Murder Mystery by Paul Martin February 6-17, 2023 Virtual Book Tour
Synopsis:
It’s 1967 in California’s magical City by the Bay— a bold new era of sex, drugs, rock ’n’ roll…and murder.
Graduating from UC Berkeley just as the Summer of Love begins, twin brothers Jack and Bobby Doyle forge two different career paths. Jack heads off to Vietnam to serve his country, while Bobby remains in the Bay Area, immersing himself in the world of music journalism. As the summer progresses, both brothers witness death firsthand for the first time, Jack on the battlefield and Bobby on the drug-infested streets of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district.
Their experiences are equally shattering, with Jack losing newfound comrades-in-arms and Bobby enduring the murders of two women he’d grown close to. Bobby’s traumas become as threatening as Jack’s daily perils when he falls under suspicion in the murder investigations. Conferring with Jack by letter, Bobby tries to discover who actually committed the crimes. As the Summer of Love draws to a close, stunning events overtake the entire Doyle family.
My Thoughts
Paul Martin has delivered a solid mystery steeped in the sex, drugs & rock & roll of San Francisco in the late 1960s and in the horror that was Vietnam. It’s clear that Martin knows his stuff when it comes to the bands and music that ruled the music scene, which at times results in overload for the reader. However, that feeling leads to a sort of vicarious thrill as you experience the total bombardment of ground-breaking music enhanced by psychedelic drugs that men and women like Bobby Doyle experienced during those heady days.
On the other side of the world, Jack Doyle experiences a very different set of bombardments, literally through warfare in Vietnam. While both brothers are dealing with life-changing experiences, they manage to maintain their bond as twins via corresponding by mail.
Martin does a good job of bringing both men’s stories to satisfying conclusions, giving us two older, scarred, and wiser twins by the end.
Fans of The Girls by Emma Cline and Laurie King’s Back to the Garden will enjoy this.
Praise for Summer of Love:
“Summer of Love follows two brothers, Jack and Bobby Doyle, through the terrifying and wondrous heart of the ’60s—one in the darkness of Vietnam and the other in the orange sunshine of the Haight-Ashbury, a tale stitched deeply into the historical background. Martin takes you there and he gets it right.” – Joel Selvin, bestselling author and longtime San Francisco Chronicle music critic
“A deeply immersing, character-rich plot…. With the skill of an expert storyteller and a special talent for bringing different pieces together to form a harmonious story, Paul Martin weaves together a spine-chilling and intense search for a killer, the brutal scenes of war, the thrilling and sensational moods of romance, and a relaxed and artsy atmosphere.” (5 Stars) – San Francisco Book Review
“Murder, music, and a tour of ’67 San Francisco power this literary mystery…. Martin exhibits a mastery of the city, from the level of the street as well as the cultural significance of its music and art…. The sense of a world spinning out of control pervades the novel…. Readers will not guess the jolting resolution…. A fascinating biography of a particular time and a particular place.” – Publishers Weekly
“This riveting page-turner set against the colorful backdrop of San Francisco in 1967 instantly absorbs the reader with its beautifully worded descriptions and vivid characterizations…. The author is expert at weaving fiction and reality so tightly they nearly become one.” – Lida Sideris, author of the Southern California Mysteries
Book Details:
Genre: Historical Mystery Published by: Level Best Books Publication Date: December 2022 Number of Pages: 310 ISBN: 978-1-68512-168-6 Series:A Music & Murder Mystery, Book 3 || This is a Stand Alone Mystery Book Links:Amazon | Goodreads | Level Best Books
Author Bio:
Paul Martin is a former book and magazine editor with the National Geographic Society. His writing assignments have taken him around the world. The author of twelve books of fiction and nonfiction, he has also edited or contributed to a dozen other books on history, science, and travel. An amateur luthier and onetime vineyard owner and winemaker, Martin lives near Washington, D.C.
Private investigator Elvis Cole and his enigmatic partner, Joe Pike, are back on the case in this brilliant new thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Robert Crais.
Adele Schumacher isn’t a typical worried mom. When she hires Elvis to find her missing son, a controversial podcaster named Josh Shoe, she brings a bag filled with cash, bizarre tales of government conspiracies, and a squad of professional bodyguards. Finding Josh should be simple, but Elvis quickly learns he isn’t alone in the hunt—a deadly team of mysterious strangers are determined to find Josh and his adult film star girlfriend first.
With dangerous secrets lurking behind every lead, Elvis needs his friend Joe Pike more than ever to uncover the truth about Josh, corrupt politicians, and the vicious business cartels rotting the heart of Los Angeles from within. And when Elvis’s estranged girlfriend, Lucy Chenier, and her son, Ben, return, he learns just how much he has to lose…if he survives.
Written with the heart, humor, and relentless suspense for which Crais is famous, Racing the Light delivers Elvis Cole’s most dangerous case yet.
My Thoughts
For years, Crais and Elvis Cole have been a go-to combo that satisfies my craving for a balls-to-the-wall detective story with a killer plot, snappy dialog, and characters as comfortable as a pair of worn in boots. Crais has mastered the art of the hard-boiled detective novel and this series never disappoints. Elvis Cole and Joe Pike are by turns rough & tumble and completely soft-hearted when it counts. The usual characters are back and as wise-cracking and world-weary as ever.
Not to throw shade at that other author who writes 1,000+ page detective novels, but ma’am THIS is how you write a detective novel.
A murderer strikes at a school reunion—but the students are no strangers to death— in this propulsive, twisty thriller from the internationally bestselling author of the Ruth Galloway Mysteries.
Is it possible to forget that you’ve committed a murder?
When Cassie Fitzgerald was at school in the late 90s, she and her friends killed a fellow student. Almost twenty years later, Cassie is a happily married mother who loves her job—as a police officer. She closely guards the secret she has all but erased from her memory.
Until her husband persuades her to go to a school reunion. Cassie catches up with her high-achieving old friends from the Manor Park School—among them two politicians, a rock star, and a famous actress. But then, shockingly, one of them is found dead in the school bathroom, supposedly from a drug overdose. As the victim was an eminent—and controversial—MP and the investigation is high profile, it’s headed by Cassie’s new boss, DI Harbinder Kaur, freshly promoted and newly arrived in London. The trouble is, Cassie can’t shake the feeling that one of them has killed again.
My Thoughts
Griffiths is already one of my go-to authors and I am so pleased to see her ramping up the Harbinder Kaur series at the same time she ends the Ruth Galloway series.
Kaur is a magnificent protagonist – wry, funny, brave, and well-able to hold her own in the male-dominated world of London CID. In this new entry, Kaur has moved from Sussex to London and is trying to acclimate herself to the big city. Her social awkwardness is endearing and familiar to anyone who has found themselves in a new, unfamiliar, but exciting city. That awkwardness has no effect on her ability to solve a murder, and this one is a doozie!
As usual, Griffiths’ writing is on pointe – a perfect blend of dialog and description, witty, and clever. This series is a winner and I really, really hope we see Harbinder on the screen sometime soon.
Forty years ago, Steven “Smithy” Smith found a copy of a famous children’s book by disgraced author Edith Twyford, its margins full of strange markings and annotations. When he showed it to his remedial English teacher Miss Iles, she believed that it was part of a secret code that ran through all of Twyford’s novels. And when she disappeared on a class field trip, Smithy became convinced that she had been right.
Now, out of prison after a long stretch, Smithy decides to investigate the mystery that has haunted him for decades. In a series of voice recordings on an old iPhone from his estranged son, Smithy alternates between visiting the people of his childhood and looking back on the events that later landed him in prison. But it soon becomes clear that Edith Twyford wasn’t just a writer of forgotten children’s stories. The Twyford Code holds a great secret, and Smithy may just have the key.
“A modern Agatha Christie” (The Sunday Times, London), Janice Hallett has constructed a fiendishly clever, maddeningly original crime novel for lovers of word games, puzzles, and stories of redemption.
My Thoughts
I’ve been searching for a book that really captures and holds my attention and makes me think about the story and the clues.
The Twyford Code is it.
The firts part of the story is told in the unusual format of transcribed recorded messages which require the reader to pay attention in order to keep to the plot. I did find this a bit difficult to follow at times and thought there could be some editing done, but it all works out in the end.
I can often predict the twist in mysteries, but this one had me completely unsuspecting the action in the last part of the story, which is AMAZING!
This book makes you work – I found myself going back and re-reading passages several times to keep everything straight, and spent a lot of time re-reading parts after I got to the end.
Puzzle aficionados will adore this and I can see book clubs chewing on this one. Very well-done.
The mysterious connection between a teacher’s disappearance and an unsolved code in a children’s book is explored in this fresh novel from the author of the “clever and often wryly funny” novel The Appeal.(PopSugar)
Publication Date: January 24, 2023 Published By: Atria Books Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy
Older women often feel invisible, but sometimes that’s their secret weapon.
They’ve spent their lives as the deadliest assassins in a clandestine international organization, but now that they’re sixty years old, four women friends can’t just retire – it’s kill or be killed in this action-packed thriller by New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-nominated author Deanna Raybourn.
Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie have worked for the Museum, an elite network of assassins, for forty years. Now their talents are considered old-school and no one appreciates what they have to offer in an age that relies more on technology than people skills.
When the foursome is sent on an all-expenses paid vacation to mark their retirement, they are targeted by one of their own. Only the Board, the top-level members of the Museum, can order the termination of field agents, and the women realize they’ve been marked for death.
Now to get out alive they have to turn against their own organization, relying on experience and each other to get the job done, knowing that working together is the secret to their survival. They’re about to teach the Board what it really means to be a woman—and a killer—of a certain age.
My Thoughts
Red meets Kill Bill in this delicious romp featuring four of the most entertaining but deadly female characters ever put to page. This is such a different type of story from Raybourn and proves she’s one of her generation’s most accomplished writers.
Fans of her 19th century series may not appreciate the departure, but I sincerely hope they give this a chance. Every character is drawn tautly but with warmth and wit, and the story is flawless.
If you’re looking for a purely entertaining, action-packed adventure, this is your book. I will be astonished if this doesn’t get adapted to film.
In the first major history of crime fiction in fifty years, The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and their Creators traces the evolution of the genre from the eighteenth century to the present, offering brand-new perspective on the world’s most popular form of fiction.
The Life of Crime is the result of a lifetime of reading and enjoying all types of crime fiction, old and new, from around the world. In what will surely be regarded as his magnum opus, Martin Edwards has thrown himself undaunted into the breadth and complexity of the genre to write an authoritative – and readable – study of its development and evolution. With crime fiction being read more widely than ever around the world, and with individual authors increasingly the subject of extensive academic study, his expert distillation of more than two centuries of extraordinary books and authors – from the tales of E.T.A. Hoffmann to the novels of Patricia Cornwell – into one coherent history is an extraordinary feat and makes for compelling reading.
My Thoughts
This is a crime-lover’s dream – a comprehensive treatment of crime fiction by a master of the genre, presented in a readable and fascinating way. It took me awhile to finish this as this is the kind of book I dip in and out of, reading a chapter here and there. And reading a chapter isn’t as easy as it sounds, because I found I had to keep a notebook handy to write down all the authors and books I haven’t read, but which Edwards presents in various forms.
This will appeal to readers of crime fiction and probably not many others, so it’s a niche buy. I’d recommend for large library collections.
After falling in love with the quiet lake life and a certain police detective, former Chicago Tribune reporter Emma Moore trades interviewing jocks for chasing champion cows at the county fair. As a small-town newspaper reporter, she covers local topics both big and small, but when her friend Luke is arrested for the murder of the head coach of his club softball team, she’ll need to hone her investigative skills to clear his name. Emma calls up best friend Grace for help, and together the women go up against cutthroat parents willing to kill for a chance to get their daughters onto a premier college sports team.
The game is tied with bases loaded, and murder is up to bat. Can Emma and her friends bring the heat and win the game?
My Thoughts
This second in a fun series featuring Emma Moore and her chic friend Grace is another winner. Back in 2019, I wrote about McKenna’s first Emma Moore novel – The Great Jewel Robbery – and described it as “Nancy Drew for the 21st century.” Murder Up to Bat further solidifies that statement.
Emma and Grace are two very likable, intelligent, and clever heroines matching wits with a couple of affable, good-looking men as they all chase down the clues to solve a murder. All very improbable compared to real-life murder investigations, meaning there’s very little mess here and a lot of human interaction.
There are tons of cozy mysteries on the market right now. Some of them work, some don’t. What works here is McKenna’s writing, which is colorful, informal, and very, very relatable. The reader is meant to connect with Emma – she could be us! – and McKenna does an excellent job of making that connection.
Recommended for fans of cozy mysteries.
Author Bio
Elizabeth McKenna’s love of books reaches back to her childhood, where her tastes ranged from Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys to Stephen King’s horror stories. She had never read a romance novel until her sister gave her the latest bestseller by Nora Roberts. She was hooked from page one (actually, she admits it was the first love scene).
Her novels reflect her mercurial temperament and include historical romances, contemporary romances, cozy mysteries, and dark mysteries. With some being “clean” and some being “naughty,” she has a book for your every mood.
Elizabeth lives in Wisconsin with her understanding husband and Sidney, the rescue dog from Tennessee. When she isn’t writing, reading, editing, or walking the dog that never tires, she’s sleeping.
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