Pretty Dead Things by Lilian West

December 07, 2024

I had some problems with Lilian West’s novel, Pretty Dead Things. However, I love the cover. “Small towns bury their secrets deep and don’t look kindly on people digging for them.” Cora learns that quickly when she buys a jar of buttons and...

Where They Last Saw Her by Marcie R. Rendon

October 05, 2024

Powerful. Provocative. Disturbing. Those are the words I’d use to describe Marcie R. Rendon’s standalone, Where They Last Saw Her. The author of the Cash Blackbear series returns to a familiar theme, #mmiw. Missing or Murdered Indian Women. U.S. and...

I Dreamed of Falling by Julia Dahl

September 17, 2024

Julia Dahl’s latest standalone, I Dreamed of Falling, is as dark as the cover. What do we really know about the people we love? And, what secrets are there in a small town? Roman Grady is the only reporter for a newspaper in a small Hudson Valley town. He covers...

Ashes Never Lie by Lee Goldberg

September 16, 2024

Although Lee Goldberg’s Ashes Never Lie is the second novel featuring his arson investigators Walter Sharpe and Andrew Walker, the author manages to incorporate his other series characters, Eve Ronin and Duncan Pavone, into this complex story. He adds a corpse...

The Queen City Detective Agency by Snowden Wright

August 14, 2024

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...