Editorial Reviews

The first homicide case for a brand-new detective hits tragically close to home in When Things Fall Apart by Alan Brenham, an electric first installment of the Kit Hanover series. Despite being pulled off the investigation, Kit Hanover of the Comanche Nation isn’t going to leave the hunt for justice in the hands of her bigoted ex-partner, which launches her into a vigilante search for the unhinged killer. Juggling the weight of maternal grief, survivor’s guilt, and the frustrating ineptitude of her own colleagues, Kit is willing to risk her career – and even her life – to uncover the […]

A mysterious murder in the Louvre pulls young Claire Deveraux into a dangerous web of criminal intrigue in Every Silent Thing by Alan Brenham. Claire was the only one to witness the cryptic last words of the victim, who also secretly slipped a treasure in her pocket worth millions. Navigating the challenges of being a deaf American abroad is hard enough without a killer hunting you down, but when Claire’s twin sister suddenly arrives in Paris, their tangle of lives and lies becomes even more deadly. The story’s breathless pace keeps the pages turning, though the narrative does cut convenient […]

A viciously bullied teen, Mia Chandler, gains a mysterious and lethally effective guardian in The Wood Sprite by James Dobie, a chilling second installment of his Wallowa Lake series. Despite her protector’s initial promise to help, Mia soon learns that blood demands sacrifice, and that her mysterious new friend did not come into her life by accident. As the foundations of Mia’s family begin to fall apart, she and a devoted local detective team up to unravel the bizarre curse, and put the pieces of a broken life back into place. Haunting and enthralling, this fast-paced supernatural thriller could use […]

Pulling back the curtain on the profession of death investigation, Mary Jumbelic, M.D. has crafted a gripping and original memoir in Here, Where Death Delights. Reflecting on the unexpected tragedy that defined her young life, and expounding on her consequent decades of work as a medical examiner, this memoir is an intimate exploration of mortality and the lifelong task of processing grief. Open and honest discussions about death are often avoided or seen as taboo, which makes Jumbelic’s journey through morgues, crime scenes, and the maze of human emotions such a revelation, written with a deep sense of sensitivity […]

Intriguingly wise and emotionally nuanced, Unbearable by Amy Winfield is the surreal story of a lost young camper befriending a curmudgeonly bear – one who can somehow talk, drive, cook, and even debate semantics. Whether the bear is educating Brandon about the danger of stereotypes, saving his life with plant medicine, or begrudgingly becoming his loyal companion, Smokey retains a clever sass that is both sarcastic and smart. Underlaid with lessons about personal responsibility, unfair prejudices, anger issues, self-reliance, bullying, and compassion, this witty and well-conceived short novel is heartfelt, original, and wholly entertaining.

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After a young woman’s brutal murder in the English countryside, the hunt for her killer quickly spirals out of control in The Pike, a gripping UK thriller by J.J. Richards, and the second in his DCI Walker Crime Thrillers series. As potential suspects begin desperately trying to skip town and jumping in front of trains, the heinous killings don’t stop, hinting at a far more sinister explanation than teenage hedonism gone horribly wrong. The repartee of the investigators, particularly between Briggs and DCI Walker, keep the procedural elements of the plot informative and well-paced, without giving away the whodunit, […]

Author Fred D. Hannah III delivers another installment of his Recreation series with The Dead Zone 4: Sleep Now, Forever Do Us Part, a breathless new adventure pitting cosmic Queens against Dark Lords in the DreamSpace outside reality. In a freshly forged universe packed with androids and magic, Aliana bides her time for revenge against the evil force who defeated her friends and eliminated all she ever knew. While things may look normal on the outside, the truth is that reality has become stranger than fiction, and Aliana must tap into all of her spectrum powers if she hopes […]

Set in 19th-century Australia, Phelan’s Gold by Casey Walsh is a thrilling novella following the adventures of Eamon Phelan, a charming criminal, and his gang of cattle thieves. With a new gold rush on the horizon, Eamon and his companions start their journey north, where he hopes to find business amid the chaos, but on one of their stops Eamon finds love instead, and none of his later exploits can get Shelagh Cleary out of his mind. Witty, funny, and playful, Walsh’s novella is both romantic and full of historical detail, for a unique work of character-driven historical fiction that […]