Category: Mystery

Book Tour, Cozy, Mystery, Partners In Crime

Cayman Conundrum by Stacy Wilder

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

June 9-20 Virtual Book Tour
Liz Adams Mystery Series

Description

A honeymoon in paradise turns perilous in this riveting seaside mystery.

A tropical vacation transforms into a web of danger and deception when an author and his manuscript vanish. Is his thriller about money laundering in the Caribbean too close to the truth?

With the stakes high and time ticking, Private Investigator Liz Adams and her new husband, Brad, along with their truth-sniffing Labrador, Duke, partner with the local authorities to unravel a multitude of crimes. As they search for clues, the newlyweds explore the delights of the island, including a hunt for buried treasure.

Will they uncover the truth in time, or will the honeymoon end in heartbreak? Set against the backdrop of the stunning island of Grand Cayman, this cozy mystery will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

My Thoughts

This is a new series for me, and I was pleased to find that I could jump in and enjoy this without having read the earlier books. What I found was a delightfully fun mystery with a bit of an edge – a cozy blended with a hard-edged crime and ruthless criminal.

Liz and Brad (and, of course, Duke!) are as engaging a pair of detectives as I’ve found recently. I was reminded a bit of Carolyn Hart’s “Death on Demand” married duo, but Liz and Brad are definitely a 21st century couple!

The murder mystery here is handled with sensitivity, given that the victim is a friend of the couple. The plot is well-developed and sneaky enough that I was still guessing past the half-way point. The guilty party is totally repulsive and unexpected.

This will be a great summer read, especially if you’re on a beach!

Author Bio

Stacy Wilder writes mysteries, children’s stories, short stories, and poetry. Her mission is to deliver a delightful story to readers of all ages while benefiting a larger community. She donates a portion of the proceeds from the sales of her books to causes that help the homeless, both people and pets.

Beyond writing, Stacy is deeply devoted to her faith, family, and her beloved Labradors. She is also enthusiastic about the causes she supports, the beauty of art, the serenity of the beach, and the joy of reading.

She and her husband live in Houston, TX with a totally spoiled Labrador named Eve.

Book Details

Genre:  Cozy Mystery
Published by:  Wild Hawk Press
Publication Date:  June 28, 2024 
Number of Pages:  227
ISBN:  9798985426694 (Pbk)
Series:  A Liz Adams Mystery, Book 4 

Shortlinks:

Author’s Links:

Website https://pictbooks.tours/nc1ZRjVh

Amazon Author https://pictbooks.tours/ihQGLWI4

Goodreads https://pictbooks.tours/0CDvrC2m

BookBub https://pictbooks.tours/Mj2I01J5 @wilderstacy

Instagram https://pictbooks.tours/hw3cTiw4 @authorstacywilder

Facebook https://pictbooks.tours/eLJn9KUa @wilderstacy

Amazon – https://pictbooks.tours/dOFxRZig

BN – https://pictbooks.tours/OUKaq3RS

Goodreads – https://pictbooks.tours/c9k6l4FQ

BookShop.org – https://pictbooks.tours/5aK4jQdb

SERIES – AMAZON https://pictbooks.tours/LtxgFQen

SERIES – GR https://pictbooks.tours/QaRo2hSm

PICT Tour Page https://pictbooks.tours/5SDmW5hU

Ghosties, Mystery, New Releases, paranormal, Psychological, Spooky Season, Suspense, Women

Asylum Hotel by Juliet Blackwell

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Description

When a mysterious figure shows up in the photograph an architect takes of the derelict Seabrink Hotel, ghostly encounters and murder are unleashed.

Aubrey Spencer loves photographing classic old buildings and abandoned places that hold old secrets. The Hotel Seabrink, perched overlooking the sea, is one such place. Currently abandoned but scheduled for a major renovation, it has a torrid history. Back in the 1920s it hosted A-list celebrity clientele, and now the locals insist it is haunted by the ghosts of two young women who died there. When Aubrey goes to photograph the site before the renovation begins, she bumps into a man named Dimitri Petroff, a minor online celebrity who shares her fascination with old buildings, the Hotel Seabrink in particular.

When he is found dead the next day at the base of a cliff, the police are quick to close the investigation. But Aubrey feels unsettled by locals who claim he was murdered and that it’s not the first time someone interested in the hotel was killed. As she digs deeper into the property’s dark history (and its origins as an asylum) as well as Dimitri’s professional rivalries, she becomes mired in an unsolved murder case from several decades earlier, one with eerie parallels to the contemporary case.  But someone is determined to keep her from discovering the truth—at any cost.

My Thoughts

I’ve been a fan of Juliet Blackwell’s books for a long time, beginning with her Lily Ivory series and expanding into her later forays in longer fiction. I confess, I was very disappointed to hear that the Lily Ivory series has sunsetted, but if giving up the LI series means Blackwell has time to write mysteries like this absolute STAR of a book, I’m good!

Turns out Blackwell’s earlier writing might have been practice for this full-blown mysterious, scary, imaginative story.

Everything here works seamlessly to deliver a taut, suspenseful, and very well written paranormal mystery. It’s just the right amount of scary blended with a well-plotted mystery, resulting in a startling and very satisfying conclusion. Blackwell steps into the circle with authors like Simone St. James and Sarah Rayne, delivering a story that will keep you turning pages, albeit with all the lights on.

So well done!

Publication Date: July 29, 2025
Published By: Berkley Publishing Group
Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the review copy

Action Adventure, British, Historical, Mystery

The Grand Illusion by Syd Moore

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Publisher Description

Historical fiction inspired by the War Office response to the Nazi obsession with the occult

Step forward Daphne Devine – you are about to change the course of the war 

June 1940. As World War Two rages, Daphne Devine remains in London, performing each night as assistant to stage magician Jonty Trevelyan, aka the Grand Mystique.

Then the secret service call.

For, aware of Hitler’s belief in the occult, the war office has set up a hidden cohort to exploit this quirk in the enemy’s chain of command.

Daphne and Jonty find themselves far from the glitz and glamour of the theatre, deep inside the lower levels of Wormwood Scrubs prison. Here, they join secret ranks of occultists, surrealists, and other eccentrics co-opted to the war effort. There is one goal: to avert invasion on British shores.

Soon Daphne realises she must risk everything if there is any chance of saving her country.

My Thoughts

I first read Syd Moore’s Essex Witch Museum series a few years ago, then she dropped off my reading radar…until I came across this beauty buried in my Goodreads Want to Read list. I am very happy I found her again!

Grand Illusion is a whopper of an adventure, complete with likable (and unlikable) characters, suspense, action, a nail-biting climax, and promise of more to come.

This explores the little-known use of illusion in WWII – where the Allies used illusory effects to fool the Axis into thinking they had bigger, better & more people and equipment. Here, Moore uses Daphne and her mentor/employer Jonty to develop all sorts of illusions to trick the enemy. There’s a wonderful scene where a senior official believes he is under attack by the enemy, only to discover it’s all smoke and mirrors.

Moore also touches on the incarceration and deportation of thousands of Germans and Italians in Britain during the war. This is the first I’ve read about that and will be seeking out more information (always the sign of a good book!)

Moore is a clever, engaging writer who consistently produces quirky and imaginative mysteries that depart from the well-worn tropes used by many authors. Check out all her work, including Grand Illusion.

Publication Date: May 7, 2024
Published By: Magpie Books, Simon & Schuster
Thanks to the Central Library of Rochester & Monroe County for the book

Arts & Crafts, Cozy, Family, Mystery

One Sharp Stitch by Allie Pleiter

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Publisher Description

When thirty-something Shelby Phillips returns to her quiet hometown just outside of Asheville, North Carolina, she reluctantly takes over her mother’s Nimble Needle needlepoint shop—and gets entangled in a murder investigation . . .

It’s only temporary. That’s what Shelby Phillips tells herself when she returns to excruciatingly harmless Gwen Lake after her graphic arts career—and the office romance blooming with it—get tossed like rejected design mockups. Her plan is as simple and fool-proof as a tent stitch: manage the family needlepoint shop during her parents’ RV vacation. It’s just a month. It’s not as if they’re retiring . . . right?

When Shelby becomes responsible for hosting a trunk show with local vendors, she’s determined to pull it off. Even if that means dealing with former classmate Kat Katsaros, a rising entrepreneur specializing in needlework scissors. Kat has changed since high school—and she’s angling to take over the Nimble Needle herself. The tension unspools when Shelby makes a terrible discovery on the morning of the event: Kat’s dead body.

Shelby can’t believe the death was an accident. That’s why she’s set on exposing who committed the murder with Kat’s own equipment. She finds help in a new friend, a potential crush, and the surprising support of her sister and the Nimble Needle stitchers. Still, Shelby must move quickly to stop the crafty culprit before her maybe not-so-temporary new life in Gwen Lake comes apart at the seams . . .

My Thoughts

Cozy mysteries are evolving! Typically, a cozy mystery features a quirky yet intelligent young woman located in an idyllic small town living their dream of running a book shop, a candy shop, a bakery, etc. The writing swings wildly between really bad and really good and the mysteries are not especially complicated. Think Nancy Drew all grown up.

Here, though, we have an example of a new trend I’m seeing in cozy mysteries – characters and settings that are a little more believable and relatable. Even though the reader must admit that the premise of a cozy mystery is always going to be, at its heart, unrealistic (dead bodies don’t just turn up in small towns), this one features characters that are a bit more real.

The mystery is also well-crafted and developed, although the identity of the killer is cleverly suggested at different times. The needlework aspect will appeal to crafters and does lend a nice subplot to the overall story. The author is skilled at their craft, for sure. I look forward to more from Allie Pleiter.

This was a pleasant afternoon read and will be popular for summer reading.

Publication Date: March 25, 2025
Published by Penguin Random House
Thanks to the Greece Public Library for the book

Action Adventure, Book Tour, Detective, Mystery, Partners In Crime

After Pearl by Stephen G. Eoannou

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

April 14 – May 9 Virtual Book Tour
A Nicholas Bishop Mystery

Description

1942. War rages in Europe. Pearl Harbor still smolders. And alcoholic private eye Nicholas Bishop wakes up on a hotel room floor with two slugs missing from his .38 revolver. The cops think he’s murdered lounge singer Pearl DuGaye, mobsters think he saw something he shouldn’t have, and Bishop remembers nothing…

Together with his indomitable assistant Gia Alessi, who he may or may not have fired, a WWI vet who often flashes back to 1918, and a one-eyed female dog named Jake, Bishop tries to piece together the events that took place during his disastrous five-day bender. Along the way, he stumbles across a dirty politician, a socialite and her unfaithful husband, and a cabal of American Nazis who are undoubtedly up to no good.

Written in the spirit of classic noir, Eoannou adds his own unique voice and flair to the genre in this, the first action-packed outing of the Nicholas Bishop Mysteries.

My Thoughts

Fans of traditional noir crime fiction will thoroughly enjoy this first in a series featuring PI Nick Bishop. Eoannou delivers a clever mystery filled with witty and gritty dialog, colorful characters, and an on-the-money plot that will have you guessing right up to the end.

I especially enjoyed the Buffalo setting, although I am not a Buffalo native. I live about 60 miles to the east of B’lo but spend enough time there to recognize many of the descriptive details Eoannou includes in the narrative.

There seems to be a resurgence of crime fiction set in between the wars or just after WWII. Much of what I’ve read has had a bit of a madcap theme with very quirky characters, both human and animal. Eoannou, however, fully embraces the Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ross McDonald school of detective fiction and I LIKE IT!

Grab this one from your library or buy a copy and settle in for some entertaining reading.

Book Details

Genre: Historical Noir
Published by: Santa Fe Writers Project
Publication Date: May 1, 2025
Number of Pages: 260
ISBN: 9781951631475 (ISBN10: 1951631471)
Series: A Nicholas Bishop Mystery, Book 1

Shortlinks

Author’s Links:
Website – https://pictbooks.tours/FSfgN
Goodreads – https://pictbooks.tours/vuHGE
BookBub – https://pictbooks.tours/DOYFg    @seoannou
Twitter – https://pictbooks.tours/0ZUxp    @StephenGEoannou
Facebook – https://pictbooks.tours/VRrsD    @steve.eoannou
Amazon Author – https://pictbooks.tours/dH0fI
YouTube – https://pictbooks.tours/5jXv1    @stepheneoannou341

Retail Links:
Amazon – https://pictbooks.tours/GnUqG
BN – https://pictbooks.tours/SKzFi
Goodreads – https://pictbooks.tours/g8j2t
BookShop.org – https://pictbooks.tours/4HrBP
Talking Leaves – https://pictbooks.tours/PsJ9n

PICT Tour Page – https://pictbooks.tours/M6bi1

Author Bio:

Stephen G. Eoannou is the author of the award-winning short story collection Muscle Cars and the novels Rook, Yesteryear, and After Pearl. He holds an MFA from Queens University of Charlotte and an MA from Miami University. He has been awarded an Honor Certificate from The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and the Best Short Screenplay Award at the 36th Denver Film Festival. His latest novel, Yesteryear, was awarded the 2021 International Eyelands Award for Best Historical Novel, The Firebird Book Award for Biographical Fiction, and Shelf Unbound’s Notable Indy Books of 2023. He lives and writes in his hometown of Buffalo, New York, the setting and inspiration for much of his work.

Action Adventure, British, Fantasy, Magical, Mystery, paranormal

Piety’s Fury by Sam Ragnarsson

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Description

A missing girl. A town full of secrets. A past that won’t stay buried.

Some families keep dark secrets. Some families *are* dark secrets.

When a young girl vanishes in rural Northern Ireland, Piety, a newly appointed Queen’s agent, must return to the same orphanage she grew up in to investigate.

Lissy isn’t just any child. She has magic in her blood, a power she doesn’t understand and can’t control. It’s been driving her father to madness. It may even have killed her mother.

As Piety digs deeper, she finds more than a missing girl. A dangerous artefact, steeped in ancient power, was left in Lissy’s bedroom. A warning, a weapon, or perhaps something worse. And Lissy isn’t the first girl to disappear.

The trail leads to a quiet family farm where generations of women protect a dark secret. They all share the same magical gift, and the same tragic history; taken in by their new mother, after their real parents mysteriously died. And now that mother has her eyes set on Lissy.

To uncover the final, terrifying truth hidden in Templepatrick, Piety must untangle decades of disappearances—and confront a past that wants to stay buried.

A chilling and atmospheric urban fantasy set in 1960s Northern Ireland, Piety’s Fury is a tale of magic, mystery, and the cost of uncovering the truth.

My Thoughts

What a wild story! I haven’t read such an un-put-downable adventure in ages, and am now mourning the end because I WANT MORE!

The second in the Agents by Royal Appointment series, Ragnarsson has written one of the best fantasy/adventure stories of the year. The characters leap off the pages with smart-ass dialog and heart-stopping action centered on Lissy, a young girl who is just learning about her gift of magic. The concept here is one I’ve not read often – a family of magical beings keeping their line going by “adopting” children gifted with magic. I suppose it’s a bit similar to Mother Malkin’s “family” in Joseph Delaney’s Last Apprentice series, but this story is just so well-developed it seems wholly original.

The action never stops, and Piety and Fitz are two of the most engaging lead characters out there. As I read, I kept imagining this as a movie or TV series. It would be fantastic!

Fans of witty, fast-paced, action-packed fantasy will slurp this one up.

Highly recommended.

Publication Date: April 20, 2025
Thanks to Book Sirens for the review copy

Author Spotlight, British, Detective, Mystery

Author Spotlight – Peter Lovesey

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

I’ve never read any of Peter Lovesey’s books, but I was nonetheless saddened to read of his death on April 10. Shelf Awareness ran a short piece on his career and I learned a whole lot of things about this prolific writer whose books I clearly remember shelving way back when I was a library page.

Did you know that Lovesey is credited as the first to successfully set a detective series in the past? His series featuring the Victorian detective Sergeant Cribb explored gritty crime in settings such as music halls and underground boxing rings. Cribb’s adventures were made into a popular television series in the late 1970s, which I now must try and track down (hoping I might find an old DVD in a library somewhere!)

Lovesey went on to write a popular contemporary series featuring hard-as-nails detective Peter Diamond. This is the series I am now reading! There are dozens of Diamond stories out there, and I am determined to read each one.

Lovesey concluded the Diamond series with his last publication, Against the Grain, in 2024.

Lovesey concludes his long-running series featuring Bath detective Peter Damond with a bang, delivering an ingenious fair-play whodunit set in the small English village of Baskerville as the annual harvest festival approaches . . . Lovesey derives genuine emotion from Diamond’s potential retirement, and his golden age-style plotting is as tight as ever. This sends the series out on a high note. Publishers Weekly Starred Review

Lovesey was also apparently a stand-up human being, acknowledged by friends and colleagues as someone who led a really good life. He won multiple awards for his work, and I suspect inspired many crime fiction writers of the last few decades.

Now that I’m retired from work as a library director, I am making much more time to read and catching up with a lot of authors I’ve neglected over the years. Lovesey is one of them.

If you want to know more about Peter Lovesey, read the Shelf Awareness article and check out his website.

Cozy, Mystery

Written in Stone by Paige Shelton

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Netgalley Description

When Delaney Nichols wins a special Hidden Door Festival invitation to artist Ryory Bennigan’s studio, she isn’t sure quite what to expect. What she finds is an elusive fellow obsessed with the Picts—complete with his own versions of their blue tattoos and vibrant red hair—recreating the stones they left behind. She also meets a visiting paleontologist, Dr. Adam Pace, from the University of Kansas attempting to sell an artifact that might just explain what the Picts’ language really sounded like.

Or at least that’s what he claimed the artifact was for. Before the deal can close and Ryory can get a closer look at it, Dr. Pace is found dead.

With the police dragging their feet in the investigation, Delaney takes it upon herself to dig into Dr. Pace’s past. Her research goes murky as she quickly discovers Pace’s shady background—selling fake dinosaur bones and running into some 3D-printing trouble back in Kansas. Could his past have come back to bite him in Edinburgh? And what does his questionable background mean for the mysterious Pictish artifact he was trying to sell to Ryory? Delaney will have to dust off her magnifying glass to uncover the truth behind this case… or risk becoming a pile of bones herself.

My Thoughts

Paige Shelton is one of my go-to cozy mystery authors, and her Scottish Bookshop series is a favorite. This latest entry in that series is another winner.

One of the things I love about this series is that Shelton makes every story a mini-lesson in history. For instance, past books have included plots involving Mary, Queen of Scots and famous swords. Here, we learn about the Picts, perhaps the most mysterious of the Celtic peoples. It’s not a deep dive into history, but enough to make me want to know more. Add that to inventive plots and colorful characters and you have a very successful story.

While this can be read out of order, if you’re new to the series I recommend you start at the beginning and savor each one.

Publication Date: April 1, 2025
Published By: St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy

Fairytales, Family, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Suspense, Teens, Young Adult

The Whisperwood Legacy by Jo Schulte

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Description

Knives Out meets The Hazel Wood in this twisty contemporary fantasy about an amusement park shrouded in dark secrets—and the family desperate to inherit it at any cost. 

Welcome to Whisperwood, a sprawling theme park nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, where thrilling rides and picture-perfect scenery bring cult-classic fairy tales to life. Or at least they did until eighteen months ago, when the family matriarch, Virginia Strauss, suddenly shut Whisperwood’s gates and the beloved park was left to wither away along with the family’s dwindling fortune.
 
For seventeen-year-old Frankie Strauss, Whisperwood’s closure has been a blessing in disguise. After seeing three generations of wealth’s corrupting influence, she is more than ready to shed the Strauss-family’s gilded handcuffs.
 
But when Virginia goes missing, Frankie realizes that her family might be guilty of something much worse than mere dysfunction. With the help of the mysterious and handsome groundskeeper Jem, Frankie sifts through a web of near truths and outright lies, uncovering a reality where nothing is as it seems and fairy tales aren’t just real—they’re deadly. 

My Thoughts

With nods to many, many sources – folkloric, modern film, YA horror – The Whisperwood Legacy turns them all inside out in this fabulous, creepy, dark fairytale. Just when I think I won’t find another author or story to surpass books like The Hazelwood and The Clackity, along comes something new that just blows my mind.

Emerging readers of dark fiction will adore this twisted, anxiety-ridden tale as our protagonists attempt to control a story centuries in the making. Schulte spins a tale that envelops you with sticky little tendrils that just won’t let go until the last little bit of your nerve has been shredded.

This one will be at the top of my October spooky reads list this year.

Highly recommended.

“Atmospheric and delightfully eerie with monstrous fairy tales and toothy secrets.”—CG Drews, New York Times bestselling author of Don’t Let the Forest In

Publication Date: May 27, 2025
Published By: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy

British, Detective, Mystery, Suspense

Death at the White Hart by Chris Chibnall

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Description

From the internationally award-winning creator of Broadchurch comes a brilliant new detective story following one man’s death and the secrets that unravel in a coastal English village

Nothing keeps a village together like secrets.

The villagers of Fleetcombe like to think of it as one of the most picturesque spots on England’s coast.

But now, it’s a disturbingly macabre crime scene.

A man is found dead, tied to a chair in the middle of the road, a stag’s antlers on his head. The gruesome scene stuns the town, especially when the victim is identified: Jim Tiernan, who ran the White Hart pub.  Tierney’s pub is at the center of village life and he knew everyone’s secrets.

Detective Nicola Bridge grew up in Fleetcombe and has now returned, for the good of her family, from a life away in Liverpool. DC Harry Ward is ten years younger and, despite his newcomer status, determined to earn Nicola’s trust.  Because they don’t have long to crack the storybook façade and find out just what the people of Fleetcombe have to hide.

And now, in the place she thought she knew so well, Detective Nicola Bridge is asking questions. Is she ready for what she’s about to find?

My Thoughts

After the phenomenal Broadchurch, this author had some high expectations to meet with new work. Those expectations were exceeded for this reader!

You’re gripped from the first chapter, as an utterly gruesome and very weird murder unfolds in an idyllic English village. The detective in charge of the investigation is flawed but brilliant, her protegee by turns charming and reluctant, and the village full of quirky folks, including a tough but vulnerable child who is key to the whole mystery. I was reminded of Martha Grimes’ Emily Louise Perk, one of my all-time favorite child characters.

The action moves at a fast pace, with chapters and sections just the right length to keep the reader engaged. Chibnall has mastered the craft of suspense, building tension with every sentence, leading up to the startling conclusion.

Fans of Anne Cleeves and Val McDermid will thoroughly enjoy this one.

“Fans of Broadchurch are going to LOVE Death at the White Hart! With its compelling pair of detectives and tense, creepy atmosphere, once you start reading, I defy you to stop.” —Shari Lapena

Publication Date: June 10, 2025
Published By: Penguin Group VIKING PENGUIN, Pamela Dorman Books
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy