The Queen City Detective Agency by Snowden Wright

I’m one of those readers who thinks fiction authors should be free to create characters and plots, and they don’t have to be the same gender or race as the protagonist. It will be interesting to see what the crime fiction community says about Snowden...

I Need You to Read This by Jessa Maxwell

Jessa Maxwell is the author of The Golden Spoon. Her second novel, I Need You to Read This, takes readers to the heyday of newspapers and advice columnists. It introduces a lonely young woman whose lifestyle leaves her a perfect victim for gaslighting. Alex Marks...

The Murders in Great Diddling by Katarina Bivald

Do you remember Katarina Bivald’s debut novel, The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend? It came out eight years ago. Somehow, I missed her second novel, Welcome to the Pine Away Motel and Cabins. Don’t make that mistake with her debut mystery, The Murders in...

Sunday Spotlight – Clea Simon

I met author Clea Simon years ago at a mystery conference. It’s been a few years, though, since she’s had a post here. And, every time I think of Clea Simon, I think of my friend, Sandie Herron, who loved Clea’s mysteries about cats. Simon’s...

“The Bookstore Wedding” by Alice Hoffman

A week ago, I reviewed the first Once Upon a Time Bookshop story by Alice Hoffman, “The Bookstore Sisters”. It told of Isabel Gibson who fled Brinkley’s Island, Maine, for New York City. She left behind her sister, Sophie, and the bookstore the...

To Err is Cumin by Leslie Budewitz

I can repeat what I’ve said before about Leslie Budewitz’ Spice Shop mysteries. They are a treat for the senses. With all the discussion of spices, food, flowers, and the use of all of them, Budewitz challenges readers to absorb her stories through their...