City Under One Roof by Iris Yamashita

January 10, 2023

One reason I found the concept for Iris Yamashita’s debut mystery so intriguing is because I had seen the CBS Sunday Morning feature about Whittier, Alaska. Yamashita’s City Under One Roof is set in the fictional town of Point Mettier, Alaska, but her...

Viviana Valentine Gets Her Man by Emily J. Edwards

November 08, 2022

I know there are some hardboiled female private investigators (Kelli Stanley’s Miranda Corbie comes to mind), but there aren’t too many out there capable of handling themselves in a gritty environment. Meet Viviana Valentine, a secretary in New York City...

Pay Dirt Road by Samantha Jayne Allen

April 18, 2022

Samantha Jayne Allen’s mystery debut, Pay Dirt Road, was the winner of the 2019 Hillerman Prize. To me, that indicates a quality mystery set in the Southwest that captures the local atmosphere of the setting, just as Tony Hillerman’s books did. In this...

The Appeal by Janice Hallett

January 24, 2022

Janice Hallett’s debut novel, The Appeal, is unlike any epistolary novel you’ve read. Even the title has several meanings. And, the story itself? Don’t believe anything until you get to the end of the book. All you can do is guess with the clues...

Mango, Mambo, and Murder by Raquel V. Reyes

October 11, 2021

I love a cozy mystery debut that’s a little different with characters that are not the stereotypical white middle-class owners of a craft shop or bookstore. Raquel V. Reyes introduces Cuban-American Miriam Quinones-Smith, a food anthropologist, a wife and...