Tag Archives: Suspense

A Requiem for the Dead (Benoit & Dayne4) by Winter Austin-review

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A Requiem for the Dead (Benoit & Dayne Mystery 4) by Winter Austin-review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date October 2, 2024

The dead can no longer keep their secrets …

On a cold February morning, ME Olivia Remington-Thorpe’s severely beaten and bleeding husband stumbles onto Sheriff Elizabeth Benoit’s retreat. Before slipping into unconsciousness, he begs her to find Olivia. Hours later, Deputy Detective Lila Dayne discovers a mysterious boneyard with dark secrets.

The timing is catastrophic. Still reeling from the horrific events of the past autumn, the deputies of Eckardt County are spread thin, and tempers are short. Elizabeth’s relationship with her lead investigator is sour. Still worse, her ex-husband moved back to Iowa with a devilish deal.

As Elizabeth and Lila race the odds to uncover the truth of the skeletal remains and find their missing friend alive, Olivia seeks a way to escape from an abductor who is proving that she didn’t know her husband as well as she thought.

More bodies turn up, mysterious visitors arrive in Juniper, and one mistake from the Eckardt County Sheriff’s team will spell their own deaths in their most dangerous murder investigation to date.

••••

REVIEW:A REQUIEM FOR THE DEAD is the fourth instalment in Winter Austin’s contemporary, adult BENOIT AND DANE MYSTERY DAYNE murder, suspense thriller series focusing on small-town Sheriff Elizabeth “Ellie’ Benoit, and former Chicago police officer turned deputy Lila Dayne. A REQUIEM FOR THE DEAD can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty but I recommend reading the series in order for back story and cohesion as there is an ongoing premise throughout.

Told from several omniscient third person perspectives including Lila and Ellie, A REQUIEM FOR THE DEAD follows numerous intersecting pathways that will coalesce into a murder investigaton. Medical examiner Dr. Olivia Remington-Thorpe has gone missing; her husband and surgeon Dr. Dominic Thorpe is found critically injured; and Sheriff Elizabeth Benoit is reluctantly recovering in a secluded cabin, guarded by her former husband Joel, and his brother Rafe. A jeep crashes nearby, the victim is someone they all know, and Ellie is about to return to work whether she is ready or not. When Deputy Lila Dayne comes across a makeshift graveyard, a field of bones scattered amongst the debris and detritus , everyone must come to terms with a possible serial killer or something more sinister when several more sites are found scattered throughout the neighboring states. As Ellie and Lila work from different points of the investigation, a warning comes to back down and walk away.

The world building is detailed and complex following several paths that weave and wind, back and forth . From the outset the two investigations couldn’t be more different but the secrets and lies reveal a connection no one saw coming.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful and charismatic secondary and supporting characters including Ellie’s former husband Delta Force Operator Joel Fontaine, and her new lover, Joel’s brother and Ellie’s Undersheriff Raphael ‘Rafe’ Fontaine; Ellie’s embattled sister Marnie: Deputy Kyle Lundquist; former sheriff Kelley Sheehan; fixer Horatio Johnson; and deputies Cory Young and Brent Meyer. The requisite evil has many faces.

A REQIUEM FOR THE DEAD is a story of secrets and lies, power and control, betrayal and vengeance, murder and madness, family and forgiveness. The premise is intriguing, dramatic, raw and twisted; the characters are determined, edgy and tragic.

 

Reading Order and Previous Reviews
The Killer in Me
Hush, My Darling
Straight for the Kill

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

FOLLOW: GOODREADS / Website / Pinterest / Facebook / Instagram / Tule Author page

A lifelong Mid-West gal, Winter rediscovered her love of her beloved Iowa with its hot summers and snowy winters. She grew up listening to the captivating stories told by relatives around the table or a campfire. Since becoming a published author, she learned a mindset of a glass half-empty personality makes for a perfect suspense/thriller author. Taking her ability to verbally spin a vivid and detailed story, Winter translated that into writing deadly romantic thrillers. Combining her love of all things rural, agricultural, and military, she’s turned her small town life upside down.

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I’ll Be Waiting by Kelley Armstrong-a review

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I’ll Be Waiting by Kelley Armstrong-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date October 1, 2024

A spellbinding new tale of supernatural horror involving a haunted-house, seances, lost loved ones, and a sinister spirit out for blood…

Nicola Laughton never expected to see adulthood, being diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis as a child. Then medical advances let her live into her thirties and she met Anton, who taught her to dream of a future… together. Months after they married, Anton died in a horrible car, but lived long enough to utter five words to her, “I’ll be waiting for you.”

That final private moment became public when someone from the crash scene took it to the press—the terminally ill woman holding her dying husband as he promised to wait for her on the other side. Worse, that person claimed it wasn’t Anton who said the words but his ghost, hovering over his body.

Since their story went public, Nicola has been hounded by spiritualists promising closure. In the hopes of stopping her downward spiral, friends and family find a reputable medium—a professor of parapsychology. For the séance, they rent the Lake Erie beach house that Anton’s family once owned.

The medium barely has time to begin his work before things start happening. Locked doors mysteriously open. Clouds of insects engulf the house. Nicola hears footsteps and voices and the creak of an old dumbwaiter…in an empty shaft. Throughout it all she’s haunted by nightmares of her past. Because, unbeknownst to the others, this isn’t her first time contacting the dead. And Nicola isn’t her real name.

That’s when she finds the first body….

••••

REVIEW:I’LL BE WAITING by Kelley Armstrong is a contemporary, adult, supernatural thriller focusing on thirty something widow Nicola Laughton.

NOTE: Due to the nature of the story line premise, there may be triggers for more sensitive readers.

Told from first person perspectives (Nicola) using present day, and memories from the past, I’LL BE WAITING follows Nicola Laughton in the wake of the death of her husband. Approximately twenty-two years earlier, a group of high school friends went into the woods to perform a seance but in the ensuing aftermath death and destruction would follow. Fast forward to present day, wherein Nicola’s husband Anton would die tragically in an early winter snow storm, and in the months that follow Nicola would be contacted by mediums and psychics claiming they have been in contact with the dead but when a certified parapsychologist is willing to help NIcola contact her dead husband, the resulting fall-out sees more death and destruction for our story line heroine.

I’LL BE WAITING is a story of obsession and madness, secrets and lies, grief and acceptance, betrayal and vengeance. Nicola’s extended family struggle with her need to contact her late husband; a new friend is determined to help Nicola get the closure she needs and wants; and the angry spirits refuse to give up until everyone has paid. The premise is dramatic, dark and thrilling; the characters are determined, destructive and dynamic.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

Follow: Goodreads / Website/ Twitter/ Facebook/ Amazon Author Page/

Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers’ dismay. All efforts to make her produce “normal” stories failed.

Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon. She’s the author of the NYT-bestselling “Women of the Otherworld” paranormal suspense series and “Darkest Powers” young adult urban fantasy trilogy, as well as the Nadia Stafford crime series. Armstrong lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets.

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Forced Protector (Rogue Protectors 6) by Victoria Paige-review

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Forced Protector (Rogue Protectors 6) by Victoria Paige-review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date October 1, 2024

A grumpy princess. A laid-back Navy SEAL. A road trip. What could go wrong?

Thala Targen is known as the ice princess.
Sister to the Queen of Venusstea, she is a general in the royal guard and the next in line to the throne.
After an attempt on the queen’s life makes Thala a suspect, she goes on the run in the city of Los Angeles.
Forced in proximity with a mysterious agent—or a possible kidnapper—she soon finds the man’s easygoing personality grating on her last nerve.
But she needs him to prove her innocence.

Hank Bristow is known as the unruffled one.
Quick to smile, a nomad by nature, he goes rogue on instinct.
An instinct that has him rescuing a prickly princess from a fiery death.
Regrets may come later, but he’s looking forward to pulling that stick out of her royal a$$.

However, he soon discovers there’s more to Thala underneath that ice.
And he can’t wait to show her there’s more to life than being a princess.
Unfortunately, his heart didn’t get the memo that the princess wasn’t his to keep.

•••••

REVIEW:FORCED PROTECTOR is the sixth instalment in Victoria Paige’s contemporary, adult ROGUE PROTECTORS erotic, romantic suspense series focusing on a group of current and former US Navy SEALs, CIA Operatives and law enforcement. This is thirty-six year old, former CIA operative turned security specialist Hank Bristow aka Holden Buchanan, and twenty-nine year old, Royal Guard General / princess Thala Targen’s story line. FORCED PROTECTOR can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary. For fans of Paige, there is a slight cross-over and mention of the characters from the SCORNED FATE series.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Hank and Thala) FORCED PROTECTOR follows in the aftermath of the attempted assassination of Venusstea’s Queen Amadea Targen on US soil. Queen Amadea and Princess Thala were in the US for the screening of a film featuring a segment of their country’s history but an attempt on both of their lives finds Queen Amadea whisked to places unknown, and Princess Thala under the protection of our story line hero. Enter former CIA operative Hank Bristow, the man with whom Thala will fall in love. Someone is targeting our story line heroine, and when their whereabouts are continually compromised, Hank and Thala suspect a mole, someone on the inside taking aim at the royal siblings. Meanwhile, hiding out at his family winery, Hank must come to terms with the numerous attempts to purchase the vineyard, a vineyard that has been in the family for years but betrayal from within begins to focus on someone close. With the help of his former operatives, Hank begins to unravel the secrets surrounding the Venusstea Royal family.

The world building follows several pathways including the assassination attempts against Thala and Amadea; a political and international nightmare for power and natural resources; the endeavor of outsiders to take control of the Buchanan winery; and a Royal family at odds with history, culture and laws of succession.

The relationship between Thala and Hank begins acrimoniously. Thala is a general in the Royal Guard, and as such believes she is capable of handling her own protection. Hank is determined to protect the woman with whom he is falling in love but the threats against her life are difficult to stop when they are coming from more than one possible direction. The $ex scenes are intimate and provocative without the use of over the top, sexually graphic, language and text.

The secondary and supporting characters are numerous and dynamic: Hank’s cousin Christian, Uncle Edgar; Thala’s sister Amadea, her bodyguard Ramsay; as well as Hank’s teammates and fellow security specialists, several of whom we met in the previous story line. The requisite evil has many faces.

FORCED PROTECTOR is a story of betrayal and vengeance, power and control, greed and obsession, secrets and lies, acceptance and love. The premise is detailed, intriguing and dramatic; the romance is seductive and passionate; the characters are determined, and charismatic.

Click HERE for Sandy’s review of book five THE WIFE ASSIGNMENT

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

Follow: Goodreads / Facebook / Website/ Twitter/ Instagram

Victoria Paige writes smart, edgy, seductive romance.

Her heroes are badass alpha males and her smart, strong-willed heroines can hold their own against a bossy hero. Her books are sexually explicit and may contain dark themes, morally ambiguous choices, and disturbing situations as she injects realism into her stories and gives them her own twist.

Victoria lives in Richmond, Virginia with her husband and playful German Shepherd Dog, Loki.

Sign Up for Victoria’s newsletter HERE

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A Grim Reapers Guide to Catching a Killer by Maxie Dara-Review

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A Grim Reapers Guide to Catching a Killer by Maxie Dara-Review


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Description:
Sometimes it takes working with the dead to start living.

Kathy Valence is forty-two, mid-divorce, and pregnant with her ex’s baby. She’s also a modern-day grim reaper employed by S.C.Y.T.H.E. (Secure Collection, Yielding, and Transportation of Human Essences), but frankly that’s the easiest part of her life right now. Or at least it was, until her latest client’s soul goes missing.

When she finally tracks down seventeen-year-old Conner Ortiz, he angrily denies he died of natural causes, despite what his file says. He insists that someone at S.C.Y.T.H.E. murdered him, and he demands Kathy find out who and why.

Kathy has only forty-five days to figure out what happened to Conner and help him move on before the boy’s soul is doomed to roam the Earth as a ghost forever. She’s forced to rely on the help of her retired mentor, her almost ex-husband—and some sneaky moves by Conner himself. This is the wildest case of her career. . .and one wrong move could cost Kathy her job, not to mention her life.

 

 

Review:

A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer by Maxi Dara is an exciting paranormal story.  We meet Kathy Valence, who is 42years old, and in the midst of a divorce, even though her husband, Simon is thrilled that she is pregnant.  She is a modern-day grim reaper, who works for SCYTHE (Secure Collection, Yielding, and Transportation of Human Essences (souls)). Her job is to collect a newly deceased person’s soul for processing to the afterlife; she is very successful at her job.

Kathy is assigned to case number 507032, who is known as Conner Ortiz, who was killed.  Conner is 17 years old, and Kathy cannot find him.  When she eventually discovers him, he tells her that he was murdered by someone wearing a SCYTHE badge. Connor at first was hostile, but in time, he was willing to work closely with Kathy, and find out who murdered him. Kathy’s mentor Jo, as well as her ex-Simon will also help her find out what is going on in the SCYTHE offices. Time is of essence, as Connor has a 45 day window, where if he doesn’t make it, his soul would be doomed to roam the Earth as a ghost forever.

I really liked Kathy, as well as Simon, who was very much still in love with Kathy, especially now that she was pregnant.  Her mentor Jo, was also lots of fun.  Kathy and Connor did become close, as she was determined to find a way to save him. They are racing against the clock, with Kathy, Jo, Simon and Connor investigate those who may be from the SCYTHE people; as she uncovers clues that could reveal what is happening.  I do not want to give any more information, as it could ruin the story for you. 

What follows is an exciting tense climax, with a few twists and turns along the way.  A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer was a fun story, with some humor, mystery, suspense and a bit of romance.  A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer was very well written by Maxi Dara.  As noted, this was a fun enjoyable story line, which I suggest you read.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

 

                                  438 Melrose Court

I tapped the address in my file with the lid of the pen I’d been chewing on. Beside the front door of the sandy beige new build, swirly metal numerals confirmed my location. Four three eight. Weird. Definitely the right number, but this was all wrong. I turned from the house and glanced down the manicured lawn to the street sign across the road. It promised in no uncertain terms that this was Melrose Court, just as it was supposed to be. I shut my file with a defeated sigh and went back in through the open door a second time.

“Hello?” I called yet again as I stomped through the kitchen. It was a kitchen that belonged on a show about kitchens more than in somebody’s house: clean and white and open-concept, leading out into the high-ceilinged living room beyond. The “after” on a home renovation show. Not even a spoon in the sink or a crumb on the countertops. Which made the body sprawled across the tiled floor look even more out of place.

Now, slap a corpse on the floor of my dingy apartment kitchen and you wouldn’t bat an eye, at least in my line of work. But in a place like this, a dead body really spoils the ambience.

I rounded the island and reopened my file.

Case # 507032

Conner Mateo Ortiz

Age: 17

Cause of death: Seizure

Time to Collect: 4:30 p.m.

“Conner?” My voice ricocheted off the stainless steel and marble surrounding me. I crouched by the body and attempted to hover in a squat, but my left knee protested my weight with a defiant pop, and I wobbled forward. “Nope, nope, nope,” I muttered to myself, “no falling on bodies today. Not after last time.” I lowered myself to my steadily widening bum by 507032’s head. His rich brown locks fell over one closed eye, a spattering of freckles on his nose. I sighed, one hand at my stomach. Poor kid. He looked younger than his age lying there, long lashes pressed above bronze cheeks still full with the last remnants of baby fat. I’d found his basement bedroom not ten minutes earlier; a gallery of posters and mess and potential. It always felt wrong when they were young. Like their bodies should still have some life left in them. But of course, they didn’t. That’s why I was there.

Still, he was going to make me late, and the last man to make me late was the very reason I needed to get back to the office and then on my way home on time.

“Conner?” I tried again. Nothing. The house shuddered at my voice and fell still.

My phone vibrated in my back trouser pocket and I nearly puked, though I wasn’t entirely sure the two were related. I scrambled for the phone and hauled myself to my feet.

Simon. He got the table for six thirty instead of seven. Of course he did. Shit. If we weren’t already in the middle of a divorce, I’d consider filing over this.

This wasn’t the way it normally worked-the way it always worked. Death, for all its unpredictability and unknowns, was remarkably routine on my end. It was one of the things I loved most about my job. Someone under my department’s jurisdiction dies, I get the paperwork, carry out the collection, write up a report for Stu, and am on the couch watching Family Feud with a bowl of canned tomato soup by five thirty. That’s how it was, how it always had been for the six years I’d been a Collections Agent with S.C.Y.T.H.E. But somehow today was different. Case 507032 was different.

I glanced back over the boy. My client files were always pared down to need-to-know information, and in my position, there isn’t much I need to know. But it seemed clear enough from the body-long-limbed and dressed in faded jeans and a gray hoodie-that aside from his family’s apparent wealth, 507032 was your average, unremarkable teenaged boy. So the question was, why wasn’t he here?

I did a second tour through the house, Conner Ortiz’s name bouncing back to me in my own voice from the high ceilings of every starkly furnished room. By the time I’d circled back into the kitchen, it was after five.

“Conner,” I said into the definitively empty house, “I’m sorry.”

I closed my file for the last time and left 438 Melrose Court.

Excerpted from A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer by Maxie Dara Copyright © 2024 by Maxie Dara. Excerpted by permission of Berkley. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

 

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In the Air Tonight by Marie Force -review tour

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In the Air Tonight by Marie Force -review tour

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date September 24, 2024

I was there. I saw what you did.

Blaise

I wasn’t supposed to be there that night, but my friend Sienna talked me into going to the party in Land’s End so she could spy on her boyfriend. While hiding out in the woods, we witnessed an unspeakable crime. And we did everything wrong afterward.

Connections run deep in our small town.

I was pressured into keeping my mouth shut, even though every part of me objected. I assumed I’d always do the right thing in any situation. I was wrong about that and a lot of other things.

I was wrecked by what I saw and how the victim was treated by kids I’d known all my life. I’ve been sick over it ever since, even as I moved on, far away from the town where I was raised.

Fourteen years later, I learn that the guy who committed that unspeakable crime is running for Congress, and something in me snaps.

I can’t bear the weight of that knowledge for another second.

Finally, I report what I saw, and all hell breaks loose for me and others who were at that long-ago party. Some of them will do whatever it takes to keep the truth from coming to light…even if they have to kill me.

In the midst of an epic battle, a new love gives me the strength to stay strong, to fight for my life and to right a terrible wrong.

••••

REVIEW:IN THE AIR TONIGHT by Marie Force is a contemporary, adult, stand alone thriller focusing on several former students from Hope High School, Rhode Island.

NOTE: Due to the nature of the story line premise including rape and sexual assault, there WILL BE triggers for more sensitive readers.

Told from several first person perspectives including Blaise Merrick,IN THE AIR TONIGHT covers two timelines, and the sexual assault of a seventeen year old girl (Denise ‘Neisy’ Sutton) by a fellow student, a rising football star and wanna be Marine. Seventeen year old Blaise Merrick and her best friend Sienna Lawton were excited to attend a field party in Land’s End, a party of which they were forbidden to go but Sienna was determined to attend, and Blaise would spend the next fourteen years struggling with guilt and grief in the aftermath of witnessing the rape of a fellow student. Fast forward to present day, the man who committed the unspeakable crime is running for US congress, and Blaise refuses to remain silent, any longer. Previously hushed by Sienna, and the power and popularity of the former football hero’s family and friends, Blaise could no longer stand by, and reports the incident to the local police. What ensues is the fall-out and ensuing spiral for everyone concerned when the truth is revealed about what happened years before.

IN THE AIR TONIGHT is a heart breaking, dark and dramatic look at sexual assault, fear, popularity, desperation and guilt. Blaise Merrick will become a target, a victim and a survivor all for reporting the truth but will find love in the unlikeliest of places. Marie Force pulls the reader into an emotional, tragic and thought provoking thriller -what would you do if you witnessed a crime?

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

 

I shower and change into jeans and a sweater before heading out to return to my childhood home for the first time since my dad died of a heart attack seven years ago. That’s the only time I’ve been home since I left for college, a stance that’s caused significant friction in my family. They’ve asked for years why I stayed away until they quit asking and stopped reaching out. I still talk to all of them, but we’re not close. That’s how I wanted it, for reasons only I know, but now… If everything comes out, will it drive us further apart or bring us closer together?
I don’t know how that’ll go, and the not knowing only adds to my anxiety as I drive across the bridge into Hope.
Every nerve in my body is on full alert as I take the familiar roads to home, traversing the same route I did on that long-ago night after witnessing the crime that changed everything.
I park behind my mother’s silver Toyota Camry and take a long moment to look at the two-story Colonial home where I was raised. It’s been painted a darker shade of grey, and the shutters are now black. They were red when I lived there.
Mom comes out of the house, smiling with excitement that’s been sorely lacking in her since Dad died. She’s visited me often in the city, but I know she’s yearned for me to come home.
I hug her on the sidewalk.
“It’s so good to have you here, my sweet girl.”
“It’s good to be home.”

Follow: Facebook / email newsletter / Website / Instagram / Reader Groups

Marie Force is the New York Times bestselling author of contemporary romance, romantic suspense and erotic romance. Her series include Fatal, First Family, Gansett Island, Butler Vermont, Quantum, Treading Water, Miami Nights and Wild Widows.

Her books have sold more than 10 million copies worldwide, have been translated into more than a dozen languages and have appeared on the New York Times bestseller more than 30 times. She is also a USA Today and #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller, as well as a Spiegel bestseller in Germany.

Her goals in life are simple—to finish raising two happy, healthy, productive young adults, to keep writing books for as long as she possibly can and to never be on a flight that makes the news.

Join Marie’s mailing list  news about new books and upcoming appearances in your area. Follow her on Facebook and on Instagram. Join one of Marie’s many reader groups. Contact Marie at marie@marieforce.com.

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The Hitchcock Hotel by Stephanie Wrobel – a Review

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The Hitchcock Hotel by Stephanie Wrobel – a Review

 

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Description:
Alfred Smettle is not your average Hitchcock fan. He is the founder, owner, and manager of The Hitchcock Hotel, a sprawling Victorian house in the White Mountains dedicated to the Master of Suspense. There, Alfred offers his guests round-the-clock film screenings, movie props and memorabilia in every room, plus an aviary with fifty crows.

To celebrate the hotel’s first anniversary, he invites his former best friends from his college Film Club for a reunion. He hasn’t spoken to any of them in sixteen years, not after what happened.

But who better than them to appreciate Alfred’s creation? And to help him finish it.

After all, no Hitchcock set is complete without a body.

 

 

Review:

The Hitchcock Hotel by Stephanie Wrobel is an exciting, intense suspense novel. We meet Alfred Smettle, who is the founder, and owner of The Hitchcock Hotel; a Victorian house in the White Mountains, which is also close to the college that he and his friends went to. Alfred is fanatic on anything by Alfred Hitchcock, making the hotel a masterpiece dedicated to his favorite director; with pictures, paraphernalia and special themed rooms. 16 years have passed since his college days, and Alfred decides to have a reunion at his hotel. He sends an invitation to 5 of his friends, who are now adults.

Zoe, who is a successful chef, has a problem with being sober.  She also dislikes Alfred, suspecting he did something bad in the past. TJ, works as a bodyguard, having added muscle over the years, he secretly is involved with one of the females.  Julius was always nasty to Alfred during their school days. Samira, is happily married with children, and runs a sex toy business.  Grace is happily married with a wealthy husband, as she also holds secrets from the past. Then there is Danny, an elderly assistant to Alfred, who helps him execute his plans, as well as spy on the visitors; but she too has her own secrets.

At first, I thought the first half was a bit slow, but that did change in the second half, which turned into and exciting thriller, with some twists and surprises.  On another note, I frankly did not like any of the characters, as each had their own issues, and not really likeable; but I guess we were not supposed to like them. Lol   At the college, they all spent a lot of time partying, drinking and not really dependable; as there were POV’s for each of the friends, learning more about their days at the college.

What follows, especially in the second half of the book, are a number of red herrings, with twists and turns, as all of them had their own bad secrets.  Alfred intended to give his old friends a taste of the past. The big surprise happens in the middle of the book, taking everyone by surprise. But the end was a shock, even though I sort of suspected who the culprit was.  The Hitchcock Hotel was entertaining and intense, with by the end of the night, one doesn’t survive and the other is the murderer.

 

 

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The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by CM Waggoner-Review

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The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by CM Waggoner-Review

 

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Description:

A librarian with a knack for solving murders realizes there is something decidedly supernatural afoot in her little town in this cozy fantasy mystery.

Librarian Sherry Pinkwhistle keeps finding bodies—and solving murders. But she’s concerned by just how many killers she’s had to track down in her quaint village. None of her neighbors seem surprised by the rising body count…but Sherry is becoming convinced that whatever has been causing these deaths is unnatural. But when someone close to Sherry ends up dead, and her cat, Lord Thomas Crowell, becomes possessed by what seems to be an ancient demon, Sherry begins to think she’s going to need to become an exorcist as well as an amateur sleuth. With the help of her town’s new priest, and an assortment of friends who dub themselves the “Demon-Hunting Society,” Sherry will have to solve the murder and get rid of a demon. This riotous mix of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Murder, She Wrote is a lesson for demons and murderers.

Never mess with a librarian.

 

 

Review:

The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by CM Waggoner is a standalone paranormal mystery. We meet our heroine, Sherry Pinkwhistle, who is a 63years old librarian; she also solves murders in their small town.  Sherry is concerned, as the body count is rising; with her becoming convinced that there is something unnatural going on. Especially when her boyfriend is found dead, and her cat seems to be possessed, talking back to her.  Is there a demon in disguise?

Sherry is an unofficial consultant to the local Sheriff, as she is always investigating and solving the murders.   She is smart and self-sufficient and always creative in working with the sheriff, and the towns people all know that Sherry will find the culprits. She also realizes that a real demon is revealed, and Sherry will have to find a way to defeat the demon once and for all.

There were a number of great characters; including Sherry, the detective, the new priest, her two female friends (grieving widow and BFF). Of course, the cat, Lord Thomas, who became possessed, and talked.  There were a mix of other famous books that gave some humor, such as Jessica Fletcher, Buffy, and Hercule Poirot. As we reach closer to the end, Sherry will call a meeting with her friends, and a number of possible suspects.  She gives her thoughts on each person who is a suspect, and reveals who the murder was.  This was a surprising and amazing revelations.

The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society was a fun, bizarre, spooky, clever and entertaining story that kept me unable to put the book down.  Sherry was a fabulous character that turned into a wonderful detective. The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society was very well written by CM Waggoner.  If you enjoy mystery, librarian sleuth, and an enjoyable story, you should read this book.

Reviewed by Barb

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Meditation and Mischief by Elizabeth Pantley – a Review

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Meditation and Mischief by Elizabeth Pantley – a Review

 

Amazon / Bookbub

 

Description:
When this club selects a book, magic happens!This book club does more than read their books – they are absorbed into them to become the amateur sleuths! In order to leave the book, they must solve the mystery and reach The End.

In this journey they travel to The Golden Island Wellness Retreat for yoga, meditation, workshops, and spa treatments. They’ll bond with nature and improve their spiritual wellbeing. They’ll find their inner peace – and a dead body, of course.

Graduates from an acting college have gathered at the retreat for their ten-year reunion. Old friends reconnect, but apparently, so have old enemies. The book club must evaluate the attendees to determine whose baggage has led to murder.

 

 

 

Review:

Meditation and Mischief by Elizabeth Pantley is the 8th book in her Magical Mystery Book Club series. Refresher: The magical library consists of 8 members, who choose a book, and they are transported into the story, with cozy mysteries that they have to solve. This is a fun, enjoyable, lighthearted series, with wonderful characters and a magical cozy mystery.

In this journey, our book club members are whisked away to The Golden Island Wellness Retreat, a tropical resort, as they become transported into the story. The resort has yoga, spa, meditation, workshops for a perfect vacation spot, which includes a college reunion during their stay.  In a short time, a man is murdered at the spa; and the book club members must now try to find the killer.  The dead man, Owen, is a famous tv star, and all the members (especially Molly) see him as he is now a ghost.  It’s up to our amateur sleuths to solve the case before they can return home.

This was once again a fun adventure, with a number of red herrings that kept throwing them off; a number of the suspects were part of the college reunion.  There was a lot of humor, as the club had a lot of shenanigans throughout.  I loved Frank, who is my favorite (cat who talks); I like Paige, who is the leader and always reasonable. Mollie, the resident ghost, who is unseen, to others, but the book club sees her, and she secretly discovers some clues. The big surprise is that Gee Gee makes an appearance, since she is able to visit a couple of books.

What follows is a another terrific, enchanting and fun addition to this series, that has all the members trying to find clues, as well as suspects. I really enjoy this series, as it is so very entertaining.  All the characters in the Magical Mystery Book Club are very good, with Paige leading the way. There were a few surprises along the way, which changes a few things at the end. Mediatation and Mischief was a wonderful lighthearted fun magical mystery, which was very well written by Elizabeth Pantley.  I look forward to the next book.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy supplied for review

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