Bruce Coffin: Beneath the Depths Sunday, Aug 27 2017 

complex mystery and Continued series winner and great read and mystery to die for Auntie M Writes Crime 12:52 am

Beneath the Depths is Bruce Coffin’s sequel to Among the Shadows, his debut featuring Portland detective John Byron, and it’s a solid sophmore offering.

Juggling his sobriety along with his romance with Detective Diane Joyner that must be kept hidden, Byron doesn’t hide his feelings when a lawyer he dislikes is found dead by a lobsterman in a stretch called Floater Alley. A possible suicide or accidental drowning is ruled out once a slug is removed from the victim’s head.

Paul Ramsey’s recent loss of a huge case is one point that interests Bryon, but there soon seem to be no shortage of suspects in the growing list of people who would want the obnoxious lawyer dead. This is a man whose vanity plate reads: I WIN.

There are past clients, a drug connections, mistresses and a grieving widow, and that’s just the start. Complicating their investigation is a reporter who seems to have inside information on the case. And it doesn’t help when Diane is offered a position that might solve their problem with keeping their relationshop under the table but keeps the offer to herself.

With the Portland PD having its own issues, Byron is often caught between a rock and a hard place, which intensifies when the Chief makes it clear that Ramsey’s law office makes huge donations to his pet projects.

Coffin draws on his own experience and knowledge as a former homicide detective to make this a solid police procedural. The Portland setting is well drawn and provides a strong backdrop to the action. This is a great read with a tight plot and believeable characters.

 

Mandy Morton: The Michaelmas Murders Friday, Aug 25 2017 

Continued series winner and great read and mystery to die for Auntie M Writes Crime 12:07 am

Mandy Morton’s highly original No. 2 Feline Detective Agency is back with The Michaelmas Murders, with the detecting team of Hettie Bagshot and her assistant Tilly Jenkins being handed their strangest case yet.

Back from their late summer holiday, the cats are in need of funds, so when Fluff Wither-Fork of Wither-Fork Hall asks them to come around immediately, they are hopeful of adding to their coffers.

The new case is that of a bludgeoned cat found on the allotments that Fluff owns, across the road from Wither-Fork Hall. A stranger to the area, the male cat’s coat and fine clothing are drenched from the overnight rain and his body found right on Bonny Grubb’s onion patch.

None of the other cats on the allotments can identify the body, and are soon busy as preparations gear up for the Michaelmas Festival, and the Flower and Vegetable Show on the following day, as Hettie and Tilly try to interview the various cats.

This is where the real fun comes in. Morton’s world of cats is divine and the felines who people the allotments stand out as distinct personalities, with different families, appearances, backgrounds, and eccentricites. Many have heartaches in their pasts, too–could any of those incidents have triggered this murder?

Then a second cat is found dead in her bed, savagely stabbed, and Hettie and Tilly ramp up their efforts and their investigation to find the culprit.

This charming series, set in a world without humans, nevertheless examines foibles that affect us all. There are sly references to human deeds and fun names for the cats residing alongside this irresistible world where happiness can often be a warm bed and full, purring belly.

Not just for cat fanciers, Morton delivers a fine cozy mystery readers everywhere will enjoy.

 

Jorn Lier Horst: Ordeal Thursday, Aug 24 2017 

Award winning novelist and complex mystery and Continued series winner and great read and mystery to die for Auntie M Writes Crime 12:11 am


Chief Inspector William Wisting heads this solid Norwegian police procedural, one of a series being translated into English. Ordeal begins with a thoughtful two-page summary of Wisting’s life up to this stage, as this book is fifth in a series of ten.

Once a senior investigating officer himself, Horst gets those details just right, but it’s the interplay of the man’s detective nose with his sensibilities and his own emotions that make this a great read.

Wisting’s daughter, Line, has moved near him to await the birth of the child that will make him a grandfather and his daughter a single mother. She becomes friends with a young mother nearby, living in an inherited house with her little girl.

It’s a good fit for the two women, one pregnant and the other alone and new to the area. The house Sofie Lund has inherited belonged to her grandfather, a man who thwarted police efforts to tie him to several criminal activities.

There is also a missing mand, a taxi driver, whose case appears to have grown cold with leads. Then a locked safe in the basement of her grandfather’s house reveals secrets that put everyone connected in danger.

It’s a dance Wisting must make with his bosses as he fights the bureaucracy and the media while trying to protect his daughter.

Horst writes fully realized characters and well-plotted book that doesn’t race along but rather meanders in a totally realistic way as most police investigations do. Readers will be looking for the next translation to appear, even as the series is developed for Danish television.

 

Linda Castillo: Down a Dark Road Monday, Aug 21 2017 

complex mystery and Continued series winner and great read and mystery to die for Auntie M Writes Crime 12:22 am


The character of former Amish Ohio Chief of Police Kate Burkholder is one who consistently garners attention. Linda Castillo brings Kate back in Down a Dark Road, where Kate’s point of view allows readers an inside glimpse to her mind and the heavy burdens she carries.

Kate is trying to catch a convicted murderer, a fallen Amish man with a drug problem who killed his wife and was to serve a life sentence. But Joseph King has escaped and is headed to Painters Mill.

King reaches his children and takes them hostage, but at least one person believes he is not violent and never killed his wife. And Kate’s feelings are torn, because growing up, she and Joseph were the best of friends.

There is a tense standoff and Joseph agrees to let Kate go to prove his innocence. A sudden turn of events dramatically change the situation, but not Kate’s determination to find the truth.

A tense and tight mystery that belies its idyllic setting

 

Summer Humor: Rosenfelt, Murphy and Ingelman-Sundberg Wednesday, Aug 16 2017 

Continued series winner and great read and humorous crime and mystery to die for Auntie M Writes Crime 12:32 am

Being a dog lover, David Rosenfelt’s Andy Carpernter Mysteries are some of her favorites.
This summer he’s back with Collared, his newest entry starring lawyer Andy who also runs the Tara Foundation for dog rescue.

Married with an adopted son, Andy is contemplating not renewing his law license, which sends wife Laurie into a tailspin. Then he gets a call from the Tara Foundation and suddenly he’s working again.

Andy’s newest stray at his rescue has a chip the lawyer recognizes. He’s the “DNA” dog, and he’s related to a single mom, Jill Hickman, whose dog and her adopted baby were kidnapped and never seen again.

With Jill’s former boyfriend convicted of the kidnapping, it would seem case closed after evidence was found at his apartment, including dog hair which DNA testing showed as belonging to the missing dog.

Only now that same dog has surfaced, reopening the case and the hunt for the missig baby. Is the real kidnapper in jail or still on the loose? Can the missing boy still be alive?

With his wife, Laurie, urging him on, Andy and his wonderful team investigate. There are chuckles along the way in this satifying read that will please dog lovers and mystery afficionados who like a good puzzle. There’s plenty of suspense to keep you flipping pages through this satisfying read.


Shirley Rousseau Murphy returns with the twentieth installment in her popular Joe Grey Mystery. Welcome to the world of cats this time, and Cat Shining Bright opens with Joe becoming a dad to three adorable kittens in coastal California.

Being a dad means no more helping solve village crimes, until the local beautician, along with a customer, are found dead in her salon. Surely he must take on this investigation, although he’s unaware at first the kittens trail behind him.

There will be gang of thieves, a new cat shelter, and an intriguing neighbor, along with Wilma Getz, the human for Dulcie, mother of the kittens. That the cats speak to a few humans adds to the charm of the series.

The sequel to The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules is just as funny when readers crack open The Little Old Lady Who Struck Lucky Again!. Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg must enjoy writing about the crew of elder Swedish criminals she’s created, the League of Pensioners, a modern-day Robin Hood band.

Wanted for an art heist, the League travel to Las Vegas to lie low. Despite things like electric wheelchairs complicating their movements, they become luckier than they’d thought possible. Then Brains, their talented gizmo person, finds new ways to take on the casino, until a gang of jewel thieves cross their path and somehow they find themselves with diamonds to take back to Sweden along with their hefty winnings.

There will be losses, a motorcycle gang, and a decent bank job before it’s all over, until Martha has one more great idea for the gang. Enough antics to keep you smiling just from picturing this crew of seniors at work.

 

Patricia Hale: The Church of the Holy Child Tuesday, Aug 15 2017 

complex mystery and Continued series winner and great read and mystery to die for Auntie M Writes Crime 12:29 am

Please welcome author Patricia Hale, to introduce her newest release, The Church of the Holy Child:

Vicarious Vacations

Get up, go to work, come home, eat dinner, go to sleep, repeat. Our days become mundane, repetitive, Groundhog Day. We all feel this sense of stagnancy at one time or another. So what do we do? We take a vacation. Nothing a sandy beach can’t fix. But if a trip isn’t in the budget, we might pick up a book because another person’s life is always more interesting than our own.

So . . .the job of a writer, besides a great plot, is to create a character that one can go on vacation with or follow anywhere. When a reader relates to a character’s fears, morals (or lack of), flaws or secrets, a connection is established. The pages turn because the reader is invested in the character and has to stay with them as they step into the darkened basement, the foreboding forest or the doomed space mission, because they can’t not go. It is our duty as writers to give the reader a vacation, to provide change, challenge and bitten finger nails, all within the comfort of a recliner. If we don’t, there’s no turquoise water, no sandy beach.

And so, when each day runs into the next and life feels stagnant, pick up a book and find a character you relate to. Take a vacation and get the bad guy, pull off a heist or fall in love. Be a detective, a PI, or even the villain–wherever your connection lies.

In my new release, The Church of the Holy Child, rookie, PI Britt Callahan chases down a serial killer who is targeting women’s shelters. Despite her fear, insecurity and guilt, Britt’s determined to protect these women and prove her self.

Sound like a vacation you want to take?

Patricia Hale received her MFA degree from Goddard College. Her essays have appeared in literary magazines and the anthology, My Heart’s First Steps. Her debut novel, In the Shadow of Revenge, was published in 2013. The Church of the Holy Child is the first book in her PI series featuring the team of Griff Cole and Britt Callahan. Patricia is a member of Sister’s in Crime, Mystery Writer’s of America, NH Writer’s Project and Maine Writer’s and Publisher’s Alliance. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband and two dogs.
Website: http://www.patriciahale.org/

 

Stephen Leather: Light Touch Sunday, Aug 13 2017 

Award winning novelist and complex mystery and Continued series winner and great read and Uncategorized Auntie M Writes Crime 12:23 am

The prolific Stephen Leather had two books out last week: the paperback version of Takedown, his stand-alone, and the newest Spider Shepherd thriller.

In Takedown, Charlotte Button, ex-MI-5, has been seen before in Leather’s series, and is now tasked with taking out a rogue Special Forces soldier. He’s already hatched one deadly plot. What she needs to do if figure out his next plan and stop him before he can act.

She has help in the form of Lex Harper, who assembles a team who are capable of stopping the rogue soldier before the massive attack they fear he’s planned. Readers of the Shepherd series will know Lex, and here they’ll see another side to him.

Having these two previously seen characters in their own book brings a fresh look to this kind of adventure-filled thriller.

While this is whirling, Charlotte finds that two of three flash drives, hidden in secret places, have been stolen. Containing information on dirty government operations from the past, their loss means her life is on the line if they can get to the third. Who is after her and why?

And while you’re investigating this one in case you missed it when it first came out, Light Touch brings Dan “Spider” Shepherd back with a tough case that is topical and swiftly paced.

MI5 send Spider in when one of their undercover operatives stops giving them information on a drug lord with international smuggling on his resume. Spider needs to find out if Lucy Kemp has shifted to the dark side in her dealings with Marcus Meyer.

It’s an intriguing and delicate situation, made all the more difficult when he finds an SAS assassin is planing revenge killings for his sister’s overdose. Only Spider can find and stop Matt STanding and conviince him there’s another way to deal with all of this–Spider’s way.

With a theme built around trust, this is a filled with action and twists, with little rest on the horizon.

Leather’s skills in action have been noted by the cinema world, too.

Two of Leather’s novels have been adapted for film: The Chinaman, one of Leather’s Mike Cramer series, has been made into the movie THE FOREIGNER which opens this fall starring Pierce Brosnan and Jackie Chan. TANGO ONE has been made with Vincent Regan and Sophie Colquhoun, directed by Ssacha Bennett, and is awaiting a release date.

 

Simon Toyne: The Boy Who Saw Friday, Aug 4 2017 

Award winning novelist and complex mystery and Continued series winner and great read and mystery to die for Auntie M Writes Crime 12:07 am


Simon Toyne introduced Solomon Credd in The Searcher, the man whose identity is unknown except for a label stitched into his jacket: “This suit was made to treasure for Mr. Solomon Creed.”

It was a startling device for the new thriller series and in the sequel, Solomon decides he must track down the tailor who made the suit, believing he holds the key to his identity. With roots in the Holocaust, he’s traveled to France to find Josef Engel.

It’s a fool’s errand, when Solomon finds the man’s murdered body, a Star of David crudely carved into his chest, his body torn apart. The man’s granddaughter and her son remember the grandfather’s stories from the past, as well as tales of the man who saved them from the concentration camps.

The police suspect Solomon, that strange-looking pigment-free pale man in the murder. He must escape and find refuge with Marie-Claude, who is seeking her own refuge from an abusive husband, and her son, the adorable Leo.

If it wasn’t an interesting enough premise, Toyne ups the interest by having Leo and Solomon have something in common: a synesthesia, which in Solomon takes the form of smelling danger, while in Leo, allows him to see emotions as colors. It’s an intriguing and often useful element for Solomon, who’s been described as a genius high-functioning paranoid schizophrenic, one whose toxic memories have been removed by use of an implanted device in his shoulder.

The unlikely trio flees across France, avoiding Engel’s killer while still trying to solve his murder. Elements of the paranormal will keep you guessing if they are imagined or can be explained away. A rocking good ride.

 

Liz Mugavero: Cat About Town Wednesday, Aug 2 2017 

amateur sleuth and Continued series winner and great read and mystery to die for Auntie M Writes Crime 12:15 am

Cats and Cafes
by Cate Conte

What is it about cats and coffee that seems to go so well together?

It’s not just me who thinks that, even though it’s no secret those two things have a huge influence on my life. No, it’s actually a worldwide phenomenon, as evident when the first cat cafe opened in Japan in 1998.

For those who’ve never heard of a cat cafe, it’s a coffee shop, but with cats AND coffee. And pastries. And while you’re having your snack, you can hang out with a cat or two. The cats who live at the cafes come from local rescue organizations that partnered with the cafes. That means people can adopt them if they’d like.

Cat cafes are typically found in urban areas. They originated from the idea that people who couldn’t have cats could have a place to go and visit with them. And of course they need coffee (the humans, that is) so they can keep their energy up to play with the cats.

In recent years, cat cafes have migrated to the U.S. – New York, San Francisco, Boston to start, and now they’re popping up everywhere.

So of course, I had to put one on my island in Cat About Town.

Not your typical urban area, but since there’s lots of coffee on the island—and lots of cats—I think it’s going to work out just fine. As it turns out, Daybreak Island has only the local dog pound to care for any strays, ever since the local rescue closed its doors. So the cat cafe pro-vides a temporary home for the cats who would otherwise be locked in small cages at the pound, or worse, out on the street.

And, since the island attracts lots of tourists, it will never be short on visitors.

Especially with all the attention around the recent murder in town . . .

Cat About Town is out now, so grab a cup of coffee, find a cat to snuggle with at your local cat cafe, and enjoy!

Liz Mugavero writes the Pawsitively Organic Mysteries, the first of which was an Agatha Award nominee for Best First Novel. The sixth book in the series, Purring Around the Christmas Tree, is out in October of this year. As Cate Conte, Liz also writes the Cat Cafe Mysteries, the first of which, Cat About Town, was released August 1. She lives in Connecticut with her rescue pals.

 

THE GOLDEN HOUR: A Nora Tierney English Mystery #4 Monday, Jul 31 2017 

amateur sleuth and Award winning novelist and complex mystery and Continued series winner and great read and mystery to die for Auntie M Writes Crime 3:01 pm


THE GOLDEN HOUR is Auntie M’s 4th Nora Tierney English Mystery. It’s always exciting bringing out a new book, akin to birthing a baby. After the initial first draft, that lump of clay goes through multiple revisions: workshopping with colleagues to find the story; more revisions after beta readers chime in and point out areas that don’t make sense or need fixing; more rewrites after the “Britspeak” is corrected by wonderful UK friends. P D James told Auntie M years ago that “the real writing gets done in revision,” something she repeats to herself as a mantra when the going gets tough.

While the book tour isn’t until October into November, you can order trade paperbacks now on Amazon or through Bridle Path Press, and she recommends that latter if you’d like a signed copy! http://www.bridlepathpress.com.

Thanks to the talented Giordana Segneri who did the layout and that lovely domestic cover design; to Becky Brown, copyeditor; to Eagle Eye Pam Desloges; and to Beth Cole who did the Kindle files.

The book will be on Kindle later this week and this fall, in conjunctin with the tour, on Audible, with the wonderful British narrator, Nano Nagle, who’s done a wonderful job on the others in the series.

This one’s a bit different from her usual and Auntie M hopes you will enjoy it as much as Ausma Khan, Elly Griffiths and Sarah Ward, who all gave her cover blurbs. Great crime writers all, and she’s chuffed to have their names on her cover~

 

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