all your Reads in Here

When I read the seventh Buryin' Barry mystery, Secret Undertaking , I liked the cast of characters enough to go back and pick up the first in the series,  Dangerous Undertaking . Mark de Castrique is skilled in introducing a new series. This reader, at least, felt as if I had dropped into the middle of Barry Clayton's life, and was just re-meeting people I had met before. Barry Clayton moved back home to Gainesboro, North Carolina from Charlotte where he'd been a police officer, a grad student in criminal justice, and married. That's all in the past now. His father has Alzheimer's, and Clayton's mother and uncle, and the community, need him as an undertaker. He's at the cemetery where Martha Willard is to be buried when Martha's grandson Dallas Willard shows up, shoots his brother and sister, and then aims at Barry, shouting, "Take a message to my grandmother. Tell her they tried to take her land. Tell her I love her." Barry survives, wounded i...

There's a new feature about to be rolled out on That's Books. There will be audio visual material to accompany book reviews on the site.

FOR BETTER, FOR WORSE. When Fi Lawson arrives home to find strangers moving into her house, she is plunged into terror and confusion. She and her husband Bram have owned their home on Trinity Avenue for years and have no intention of selling. How can this other family possibly think the house is theirs? And why has Bram disappeared when she needs him most? FOR RICHER, FOR POORER. Bram has made a catastrophic mistake and now he is paying. Unable to see his wife, his children or his home, he has nothing left but to settle scores. As the nightmare takes grip, both Bram and Fi try to make sense of the events that led to a devastating crime. What has he hidden from her – and what has  she  hidden from  him ? And will either survive the chilling truth – that there are far worse things you can lose than your house?  TILL DEATH US DO PART. I had seen so many reviews, comments and beautiful displays for Our House by Louise Candlish I was very intrigued by the book wondering...

A new Monkeewrench novel by P.J. Tracy is always a treat. While the mother half, P.J., of P.J. Tracy died in 2016, Traci successfully keeps the series interesting. Some will want more of the Monkeewrench team in the current novel,  The Guilty Dead . As a fan of the police procedural aspect, I was perfectly satisfied with the latest book. A year after a junkie is murdered in Hollywood, that death kicks off a crime spree in Minneapolis. Homicide detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth catch the case when the junkie's father dies. Gregory Norwood's death appears, at first glance, to be a suicide, but because the Minnesota businessman and philanthropist died of a single gunshot to the head a year after the death of  his son Trey, Magozzi is suspicious, and pushes the crime scene investigators to look further. While he and Gino focus on Norwood, Magozzi's partner, Grace MacBride, and her Monkeewrench team of computer geniuses are working on a prototype for a new software program...

Congratulations to the winners of the last contest. Natalie S. from Hyde Park, MA will receive Julia Keller's Bone on Bone . A Borrowing of Bones by Paula Munier goes to Willetta H. from Dearborn, MI. The books are going out in the mail today. I have two mysteries to give away this week with connections to headlines. Hank Phillippi Ryan's Trust Me  is her first standalone, the story of a grieving woman who is given the chance to write the "instant bestseller" follow-up to a televised case in which a mother is on trial for killing her young daughter. The cover of the ARC says "There are three sides to every story. Yours. Mine. And the truth." Linda Castillo is back in Ohio's Amish country with A Gathering of Secrets . When a fire destroys a barn on an Amish farm, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder is called because the oldest son of the family is missing. The body of eighteen-year-old Daniel Gingerich is found, and, by all accounts, he was a golden boy, bel...

It's Thursday! Welcome, fellow readers! I love to hear from all of you!   I can't tell you a thing about my current book because I haven't yet started Craig Johnson's Depth of Winter at the time I'm writing this on Wednesday night. I'm going to start it. But, all I can really tell you is Walt Longmire is heading to northern Mexico to rescue his daughter who was kidnapped by the head of a drug cartel. I loved Johnson's last book, but I'm not fond of books featuring drug cartels, so we'll see. I'll give it a chance. What are you reading or listening to this week? A favorite author? Are you giving a chance to something different? I'm looking forward to hearing from you.

When five-year-old Ava Sawyer goes missing from a birthday party at a local garden centre, the police are bewildered by the lack of leads. That is until two years later, when Ava’s body is found and another little girl, Audrey Briggs , goes missing. Audrey also attended that party … Leading the investigation is Detective Natalie Ward . A mother of two teenagers, this case chills her to the bone, and is a disturbing reminder of the last job she worked on. One that still keeps her awake at night… Natalie soon discovers that Ava’s mother has some worrying gaps in her alibi and as she digs deeper, she’s sure Ava’s father is not telling the full story. And what did the owner of the garden centre Elsa see that day? Something that she’s not telling Natalie … Just as Natalie is facing up to the grim possibility that Ava and Audrey were killed by someone close to home, another little girl from the party doesn’t come home from her ballet lesson. Can Natalie find a way to stop this killer befo...

Lifestyle Change With April is an inspirational book from fitness guru and businesswoman April Laugh. Do you want to live a healthier lifestyle? Need to drop a bit of weight? Or are you just looking to eat a bit better? Looking for ways to stay motivated? Then this book is the right book for you! It's not a book filled with theories, it is a down-to-earth, practical guide to healthy eating.

Ozzy & Izzy The Ospreys is a wonderful book that is handsomely illustrated and, as one might suspect from the title, tells the compelling story of two Ospreys, Ozzy & Izzy. Written by Paul Philip Gaunt and illustrated by Matija Sandric, it tells the story of how Ozzy migrates between Senegal on Africa's west coast and Rutland in the English Midlands. It was in Rutland that Ozzy met Izzy.

The Perils of a Literary Life is a novel from the pen of Jennifer Weeks. What happens when your grip on reality begins to falter? It's a romantic tale set amongst the Yorkshire Dales, yet it also moves into thriller territory, too. Alice is tired with being kept under the influence of her twin sister, who is just a shade too possessive for Alive's liking. So Alice moves to the Dales where

The Woman With The Red Hair is a debut novel from Clive Tuckett. Harry Frobisher, along with many other young men, had suffered badly during the Great War. He was traumatised and left sightless. He returns to his family's ancestral home on Bodmin Moor. He feels that he needs to seek reconciliation with William, his brother, after the murder of their parents. But there has been a second

Letters to the Editor is a novel by Mo McDonald. Way back in the 1980s, Jack Kelly was famous as both as a successful novelist and a celebrity broadcaster. He had the lifestyle to match, an army of fans and the ability to do, pretty much, whatever he wanted, when he wanted. Life was good. Now, moving forward to today, his secretary gives him an urgent call. She is warning Jack that a story

An Urgent Murder is a thrilling detective  novel form Alex Winchester. A murder had to be performed. And urgently! Should the victim be made to suffer? Perhaps. And if the blame could be placed on an innocent person? So what? A murder is undertaken in a home. When the police find the murder weapon (a jar of poison apparently with the fingerprints of the killer on it, the police declare that

The Arnolfini Connection is a novel from Brenda Turner. It is a compelling historical novel from the pen of Brenda Turner. Vilnius is an important city, dear to the people of Lithuania, the capital of which it is. However, in the first part of the 20th century the city was populated almost completely by non-Lithuanians. Not surprisingly Lithuanians were very unhappy about this situation and

Last month, I interviewed Paula Matter, author of the debut mystery, Last Call,   http://bit.ly/2OEesvq . Just this week, I had the chance to read the book, and there's so much I like about this book. I could have used a list of characters, but bartender Maggie Lewis and her story were fresh and original. Maggie Lewis has been the bartender at the VFW in North DeSoto, Florida for five years. She's a short, middle-aged, grumpy widow, but, most of the time, she enjoys the hours she spends with the regulars at the bar. Jack Hoffman has always been a pain, though. He complains about women in the bar, Maggie as a bartender, and every other issue that comes up. After writing his complaints in his notebook, he takes those problems to the board. Despite Jack's behavior, Maggie certainly wouldn't want the man dead. Why is she the main suspect when Jack's found murdered in his truck? Maggie had her first Saturday night off in five years when a younger woman is hired for the b...

While I'm finishing a book for tomorrow, I thought I'd pass on the information Sandie Herron shared. If you're a writer, or a reader of noir fiction, you might be interested. My name is Lou Boxer, director of  NoirCon , a biennia l literary conference based out of Philadelphia, PA. In addition to authors discussing their work, our programming features a variety of artists, publishers, scholars, fans, and other professionals whose lives and careers have been touched by noir.  I’m writing to let you know about our new online journal,  Retreats from Oblivion . In the spirit of NoirCon,  Retreats from Oblivion  aspires to publish all varieties of noir-related arts, from fiction and non-fiction to poetry, photography, visual art, music, and beyond. If you have any new stories, or out-of-print ones, looking for a new home, I hope you will keep  Retreats from Oblivion  in mind. It would be a pleasure to feature your writing in our journal! I hope you take a m...

When the Ice Dog Comes is a new book from author P K Bell. It tells the story of Westie Lady Corrie-Rex Arabella Jayne, in the sequel to Letters to Daddy. Granpappy has sent a message in the form of the Ice Dog. And so our Westie heroine. She must  discover what fate had befallen her long lost Mammy and Pappy, stolen by dog kidnappers, and never heard from again. She decides to leave home,

Rude Rousing Revenge is a new novel from Robert Hobbs. The protagonist, Karen, is a no nonsense kind of a woman. She's highly successful. And she's also heading toward her 40th birthday. She is beginning to wonder about her life. Is this all there is? Why now, amidst all this success, is she starting to feel unchallenged? As if her near perfect existence might not be enough? But then Karen's

Mercy or Mercenary is a new, thought-provoking thriller from Sheila Parker. The impact that Alzheimer's can have on an individual and their family can be devastating. But does that excuse someone who decides that they should have the power of life or death over someone? Leo Adare, a famous actor, is having his biography written, by a team of writers. Ralph Maguire, Ralph's friend Duncan

It's Wake-Up Time is a highly poignant and moving story written by Angela Skelley about life in Bristol in the 1960s and 1970s. From the first page which details her depression, all the way through to Canada, it details life in Bristol in the 1960s and the 1970s. People generally didn't have telephones at home and only the more well-off neighbours had the luxury of a TV set. Angela and her

Juliet Blackwell's third novel set in France takes readers to Provence in a story that spans more than a century, and a story that spans so much heartbreak. Can an American who never had a family find the way to reunite a bitter, broken man with the family that never accepted him? Blackwell's   The Lost Carousel of Provence is a moving story of loss and, in the end, hope. In 1901, Josephine Clement has everything she could want. Her husband even hires the a famous carousel designer, Gustave Bayol, who sends his team to Provence to assemble his latest carousel on the grounds of Chateau Clement. But, Josephine and Yves did not have a child to ride that carousel. And, their story ends in tragedy, but it's a story shared by a mysterious woman who appears only in a couple photos. Readers know her as Moelle, a young woman desperate to become a carver. In the 1940s in Paris, Fabrice Clement has run away from home to be part of the Resistance. He falls in love with a woman named P...

This time, I have in my possession all three books in Heather Graham's latest Krewe of Hunters trilogy. This series features three brothers, Bryan, Bruce, and Brodie McFadden, and the women they grow to love in the course of a paranormal crime investigation. Fade to Black , the first in the series, features the oldest brother, Bryan McFadden. Fade to Black opens in dramatic style. The cast of a popular older show, now in syndication, Dark Harbor , is participating in a Comic Con in West Hollywood. Four of the five stars desperately need the convention appearances. Marnie Davante, who had been the show's star, has moved on. Her true love is theater, but she appears at the conventions to help her former co-workers. But, Marnie's appearance doesn't exactly help this time when someone dressed as a popular comic villain confronts Marnie and slices her former TV mother, Cara Barton, to death. How does Bryan McFadden become involved in an LA case, when he's based in Virgi...

It was Betty, defiant to the end, who sent Lorna back to Longhampton. If Lorna’s learned one thing from Betty it’s that courage is something you paint on like red lipstick, even when you’re panicking inside. And right now, with the keys to the town’s gallery in her hand, Lorna feels about as courageous as Betty’s anxious little dachshund, trembling beside her. Lorna’s come home to Longhampton to fulfil a long-held dream, but she knows, deep down, there are ghosts she needs to lay to rest first. This is where her tight-knit family shattered into silent pieces. It’s where her unspoken fears about herself took root and where her own secret, complicated love began. It’s not exactly a fresh start. But as Lorna – and the little dog – tentatively open their cracked hearts to old friends and new ones, facing hard truths and fresh promises, something surprisingly beautiful begins to grow around the gallery, something so inspirational even Lorna couldn’t have predicted the light it lets into her...

Loved this book. Loved the main character, the unnamed narrator. There. That's out of the way. Brendan Dubois' character,  The Negotiator , reminded me a little of Lee Child's Jack Reacher. The book also reminded me a little of one of my favorite books about a con man, Stephen Cannell's King Con . This isn't one of those novels with an unreliable narrator. Just because the Negotiator is on the shady side doesn't mean he's lying to the reader. However, there are plenty of other unreliable characters in the book. The Negotiator admits he chose the dark path in life. He has an uncanny gift. He can look at a priceless book, jewels, a painting, and tell what they're worth. So he acts as a go-between in negotiations between parties who don't trust each other, for a price. He does have three rules. No drugs. No human beings (no human or sex trafficking) deals. He won't do anything that he feels is against the best interests of the United States. With on...

Mind Your Will is a highly welcome book from Dr Hugh F. O'Donnell. It is a highly welcome book that is a practical guide to protecting your will. Not only is the author a Doctor he is an experienced counsellor who has developed years of experience. In this book he shows the reader how to stop those using undue influence in their tracks and how you can use the power of the law to protect the

The Importance of Being Maddison is a new novel from Helen E. Highton. It's a very amusing novel which takes a wry look at the life of a typical family, through the lens of a girl of seven! It looks at the McLaren family and how Maddison fits in to the life of the family. Maddie is a little pocket rocket who seems to have not been fitted with an off switch! There's her mother, Liz, who

Congratulations to the winners of the last contest. Kristina A. from Dunedin, FL won A Tale of Two Kitties. Purrder She Wrote goes to Pat P. from Sesser, IL. The books are going out in the mail today. Bones. What would a mystery be without bones? This week, I have two mysteries that have bones in the titles.  Bone on Bone is Julia Keller's latest book. And, I'll be honest. I hadn't read earlier books in this series, and it really didn't matter. Of course, the series is better if you start at the beginning, but you can still enter and read this one. The book opens three years after the last book Fast Falls the Night. Bell Elkins returns to Acker's Gap, West Virginia. The town may have changed some, but crime and desperation still affects the town. Brent and Linda Topping know that because their world has been upended by the drug addiction of their son, Tyler. Then, Brent is murdered by his son's suppliers. Then, when Linda rushes to help her son, she's shot....

It's Thursday! Time to talk books, both here and on #AskaLibrarian on Twitter. My favorite day of the week! I just finished a book I'll review here on Saturday, but I loved it, and I think you might enjoy it, Glen, if you can find a copy (I'm taking my copy to my brother-in-law in a few weeks). It's called The Negotiator by Brendan DuBois. The Negotiato r is an unnamed narrator who admits he chose the dark path. He can look at items, though, and know what they're worth, so he acts as the in-between person for shady deals, for a price. Want to buy stolen jewels? A priceless book? A stolen painting? That's his job, until one of those jobs goes wrong. Now, he's out for revenge. Fans of Lee Child's Jack Reacher or one of my favorites, King Con by Stephen Cannell, may like this one. So, what are you reading or listening to this week? I hope you enjoyed at least one of those books as much as I enjoyed mine.

Lizzie's' Dream is a romantic novel set against the backdrops of the horrors of the Great War. Lizzie is 15 and she knows what she wants to be. She wants to be a governess. However, the fact that she, along with the rest of her working class family, work in the local mill, this dream job looks to be more of a piper dream than something she can attain. However, She meets a young solider

They Were There on the Western Front 1914-1918 is a remarkable book from Alan Weeks. He has painstakingly researched an absolutely amazing collection of first-hand accounts from 100 people who were there on the Western Front. The 100 are made up of a wide variety of different nationalities, British, Americans, Australians and French, from all walks of life, officers, conscripts, regular

In 2009, the fifth Haunted Bookshop mystery, The Ghost and the Haunted Mansion , came out. It was written under the name Alice Kimberly, a pseudonym also used by the authors who write as Cleo Coyle. On September 25, nine years later, the latest one in the series,  The Ghost and the Bogus Bestselle r by Cleo Coyle, will be released. Welcome back to Penelope Thornton-McClure and Jack Shepard. After her husband's death, Pen and her son moved to Quindicott, Rhode Island, where she took over her aunt Sadie's bookshop. She also found a ghost in the bookshop, the ghost of a private detective who had been killed there in 1949. As an avid fan of crime fiction, Pen is fascinated by the stories Jack tells, accounts of his cases in the 1940s. Some of those cases resemble current cases that Pen encounters. The hottest selling book in Buy the Book is Jessica Swindell's Shades of Leather . When a woman runs out of the store, after claiming it was her picture on the back of the book, takin...

I've been waiting years for a new Haunted Bookshop mystery by Cleo Coyle. I was so excited to read it, that I asked the authors if they'd answer a few questions. It's out next week, and I'll be reviewing The Ghost and the Bogus Bestselle r tomorrow. I'm glad the authors found time for the interview. Cleo (because it’s easier to call you that for the interview), would you introduce yourselves to the readers? Greetings, everyone, I am Alice Alfonsi, and I collaborate with my husband, Marc Cerasini, to write The Coffeehouse Mysteries and Haunted Bookshop Mysteries under the pen name Cleo Coyle. Marc and I also work independently under our own names. We’ve written popular fiction for adults and children; and, as media tie-in writers, we’ve penned bestselling properties for NBC, Fox, Disney, Lucasfilm, Imagine, and MGM. As for our Coffeehouse Mysteries, we’re celebrating 15 years in print, three starred reviews, and the publication of the seventeenth entry with Shot in t...