all your Reads in Here

Welcome to the world of geek culture in Meghan Scott Molin's fun, fast-paced mystery, The Frame-Up . Even if you don't attend cons or read comic books, MG Martin's world is entertaining. It's repetitive to say it, but this is just a fun mystery. MG (Michael-Grace) Martin is totally immersed in geek culture. Her parents disowned her when she dropped out of law school to write comic books. And, it's that knowledge of comics and their history that involves her in a criminal investigation. She's in a coffee shop when she sees a crime scene on a man's computer and says it looks like a crime scene from an old comic. She's right, and Detective Matteo Kildaire of the LAPD is interested both in her personally, and in her knowledge. And, once she talks with Matteo, she admits "Witty banter is my Kryptonite." MG recognizes Matteo's crime scene as one starring her favorite superhero, the Hooded Falcon. She quickly becomes his consultant for the drug-re...

Bohnhoff's first Gina Miyoka mystery, The Antiquities Hunter , is a debut mystery, but not the author's first novel. She's the co-author of a number of Star Wars novels, including the bestseller,  The Last Jedi . And, she excels at writing suspense and action. I can't wait for Gina's return. Gina Miyoka is a fascinating character. Her father is a retired cop, and Japanese. Her mother is a Russian immigrant. Gina carries good luck charms from both cultures, and adds a few personal touches. She's 5'2, about 94 pounds, and she worked as a cop for 3 years for the San Francisco Police Dept. before she became a private investigator. When Gina's best friend, Rose Delgado, admits she thinks she has a stalker, Gina agrees to check it out. It doesn't take her long to find the man in the Honda. But, he's an investigative journalist, Cruz Sacramento Veras. He knows more than Gina's comfortable with, including the fact that Rose, an undercover agent for t...

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...

I thought T. Jefferson Parker's second novel featuring PI Roland Ford was terrific. Swift Vengeance is a fast-paced story that is all too plausible. This was my first one of Parker's books, so I can't compare them to earlier ones. I found the characters well-developed, a little quirky, and fascinating. It was a page turner. Ford first met Lindsey Rakes in a casino when the drone operator for the Air Force was a heavy drinker and gambler, trying to escape her day job. Two and a half years later, when she turns to him for help, she's trying to get her life back together again. She lost custody of her son due to her lifestyle, and now she's desperate to regain her ex-husband's trust and share custody. But, that won't happen if she turns a threatening note over to the FBI. Rakes has received a note signed "Caliphornia" that threatens her with death by decapitation. She's a little worried that a man she once dated is behind the threats. Ford offers...

Are you a fan of older sleuths? If you like Rita Lakin's Gladdy Gold mysteries or J.C. Eaton's Sophie Kimball ones, you might want to try  Poppy Harmon Investigates by Lee Hollis. When Poppy Harmon's fourth husband, Chester, dies, the retired actress is stunned to learn he left her penniless. She has no practical skills. Once, though, she did assist a private investigator turned screenwriter with some of his plot ideas. Maybe that qualifies her to be a PI? Poppy gets her California license, and together with her best friends, Iris and Violet, she opens The Desert Flowers Detective Agency. Then they discover no one wants to hire three sixty-year-old women as PIs. But, Poppy's daughter is dating an actor, and she asks him if they can put his face on the website. However, Matt wants to be more than the face of the agency. He becomes "Matt Flowers" detective, which only enrages Poppy's daughter. With Matt's face as the face of the agency, though, business...

I think I'm getting a little tired of the escapades of Stephanie Plum-like characters. Although Kellye Garrett's second Detective By Day mystery, Hollywood Ending , is set in Hollywood, apprentice private eye Dayna Anderson and her best friend, Sienna, are a little too Stephanie and Lulu for me. After solving a hit-and-run case, former commercial spokesperson Dayna Anderson wants to become an apprentice in training to cop turned private investigator Aubrey Adams-Parker. She thinks she’s found the perfect case when Lyla Davis, spokesperson for the upcoming Silver Sphere Awards event, is killed at an ATM. Dayna’s boyfriend, hot actor Omari Grant, had been at that ATM just minutes earlier. Dayna teams up with her best friend, Sienna Hayes, a reality star wannabe, and uses her wiles and connections to probe the social media secrets of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Some people have secrets worth killing for, and Lyla Davis seems to have known them all. Dayna’s soon caught up in Hollywo...

Don't be deceived by the cover of David Myles Robinson's novel, Son of Saigon . It does have its dark moments, but the humor more than makes up for it. It's a witty, delightful story, and I was happy to hand it off to a friend. I hope he enjoyed it as much as I did. Hank Reagan is a seventy-year-old, a wealthy man who spends his days playing golf or gin with another retiree, Norm Rothstein. Since Hank's wife died, he's just waiting at the retirement community he calls "the death farm" for his own death. Norm doesn't mind looking for his sixth wife, but Hank isn't interested in all the women who are circling. Then, Tran Xuan Mai showed up to see Hank. Hank, a CIA operative was in Vietnam forty years earlier, and he and Mai were in love. When the Americans evacuated Saigon, he was forced to leave her behind, not knowing she was pregnant. Now, Mai wants Hank to find their son, a man who disappeared after his high school graduation. He'd be in his ...