Auntiemwrites Crime-Mystery Author M K Graff

Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award Finalists Saturday, Jul 5 2025

Conferences and great read and writers action, book-tour, books, comedy, cozy, historical mystery, mystery, NF, police procedural, reading, Sci-Fi, series, thriller, YA Auntie M Writes Crime 7:31 pm

Founder Clay Stafford of the Killer Nashville International Writers’ Conference is pleased to announce this year’s Silver Falchion Award Finalists. The Silver Falchion Award is given for the Best Book in each category for the previous year (2024). Winners in each category will be announced at the annual Killer Nashville Awards Dinner taking place on August 23rd at the Embassy Suites Nashville South/Cool Springs Hotel in Franklin, TN.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the conference which hosts aspiring and established writers from all over the world to network and develop their writing skills in fiction and nonfiction that incorporate elements of mystery, thriller and suspense.

And here is the complete listing of all of the Finalists. Congratulations to the nominees:

2025 KILLER NASHVILLE SILVER FALCHION AWARD FINALISTS

(for best books of 2024)

Best Action Adventure

JERICHO BURNING

T.G. Brown

THE GENERAL’S GOLD

Bruce Robert Coffin and LynDee Walker

DESPERATE MEASURES

Ley Esses

WHERE LOVE MEANS NOTHING

Howard Gimple

THE NORTH LINE

Matt Riordan

Best Comedy (includes comedic P.I. and crime caper)

THE PRINCESS SHOPPE

Kerry Blaisdell

SWIPED

L.M. Chilton

GET GRIBNITZ

Howard Gimple

MODEL GHOST

TK Sheffield

SORRY, KNOT SORRY

Lois Winston

Best Cozy

BEESWAX BEWITCHMENT

S.E. Babin

ELIZABETH SAILS

Kristin Owens

STUDY GUIDE FOR MURDER

Lori Robbins

FRAMED FOR MURDER

Marla White

WHEELING AND DEALING

Becki Willis

Best Historical

EMPOWERED BY THE DREAM: A JOURNEY OF RESILIENCE

Gladys A. Barrio

THE PARIS MISTRESS

Mally Becker

A KILLING ON THE HILL

Robert Dugoni

FIND YOUR WAY TO MY GRAVE

Chris Keefer

WHAT ONCE WAS PROMISED

Louis Trubiano

Best Investigator (includes procedural, serious P.I., detective, and noir)

THE THINGS THAT CANNOT BE FORGOTTEN

Peter W.J. Hayes

LAST DOG OUT

Candace Irving

BLACK & WHITE

Justin M. Kiska

TIGER CLAW

Michael Allan Mallory

MURDER OUTSIDE THE BOX

Saralyn Richard

Best Juvenile / Y.A.

BEYOND THE CEMETERY GATE: THE SECRET KEEPER’S DAUGHTER

Valerie Biel

DEAD GIRL

Kerrie Faye

STEALING TIME

Norman Birnbach and Tilia Klebenov Jacobs

SNOWED

Twist Phelan

STAR BROTHER

Maxine Rose Schur

Best Literary

SHE RUINED OUR LIVES

Chris Chan

AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY

Dan Flanigan

Best Mainstream / Commercial

THOSE THAT DID NOT DIE

Penny Fletcher

ON THE MAD RIVER

Lucrecia Guerrero

PEOPLE WILL TALK

Kieran Scott

BETWEEN LIES AND REVENGE

Hannah Sharpe

BLINDSPOT

Maggie Smith

Best Mystery

DROP DEAD SISTERS

Amelia Diane Coombs

OBEY ALL LAWS

Cindy Goyette

AT FIRST I WAS AFRAID

Marty Ludlum

A WORLD OF HURT

Mindy Mejia

SCORCHED: BURN ME ONCE…

Cam Torrens

Best Nonfiction

THERE IS NO ETHAN

Anna Akbari

LOVERS IN AUSCHWITZ: A TRUE STORY

Keren Blankfeld

ASK NOT: THE KENNEDYS AND THE WOMEN THEY DESTROYED

Maureen Callahan

TILGHMAN: THE LEGENDARY LAWMAN AND THE WOMAN WHO INSPIRED HIM

Chris Enss

SEEDS OF LEADERSHIP

Wilson Lukang

Best Sci-Fi / Fantasy

OCEAN’S GODORI

Elaine Cho

THE CANOPY KEEPERS

Veronica G. Henry

MASTER VERSION 1.1

Antanas Marcelionis

HOUSE OF FIRE & MAGIC

Sherrilyn McQueen

THE BUILDING THAT WASN’T

Abigail Miles

Best Short Story Collection / Anthology

NEVER TELL COLLECTION

Kjersti Egerdahl, ed.

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROAD / Andrea Bartz (author)

EVERYWHERE WE LOOK / Liv Constantine (author)

SCORPIONS / Rachel Howzell Hall (author)

THE BAD FRIEND / Caroline Kepnes (author)

JACKRABBIT SKIN / Ivy Pochoda (author)

THE GHOST WRITER / Loreth Anne White (author)

DAY

Patrick Kitson (author)

DEEDS OF DARKNESS

William Burton McCormick (author)

6-LANE HIGHWAY

Sean Mitchell (author)

LARCENY & LAST CHANCES: 22 STORIES OF MYSTERY & SUSPENSE

Judy Penz Sheluk, ed.

HIT-AND-RUN / Christina Boufis (Author)

WHEEL OF FORTUNE / John Bukowski (Author)

THE POOL / Brenda Chapman (Author)

HAIL MARY BLUES / Susan Daly (Author)

INCIDENTS AND INTENTIONS / Wil A. Emerson (Author)

THE CRIMSON SALAMANDER / Tracy Falenwolfe (Author)

NO GOOD DEEDS / Kate Fellowes (Author)

NOT THIS TIME / Molly Wills Fraser (Author)

THE CASE OF THE PILFERED PARKA / Gina X. Grant (Author)

A PROMISE KEPT / Karen Grose (Author)

RED INK / Wendy Harrison (Author)

SKEETER’S BAR AND GRILL / Julie Hastrup (Author)

A TIGHT SQUEEZE / Lary M. Keeton (Author)

UNCLE RANDY’S MONEY / Charlie Kondek (Author)

THE PURLOINED PARCHMENT / Edward Lodi (Author)

THE RAGE CAGE / Bethany Maines (Author)

ONCE A THIEF / Gregory Meece (Author)

ROBBERY AT THE BIRDCAGE / Cate Moyle (Author)

THE CONSTELLATION NECKLACE / KM Rockwood (Author)

THE LAST CHANCE COALITION / Judy Penz Sheluk (Author)

THE HOSPITAL BOOMERANG / Kevin R. Tipple (Author)

ARTIFACT / Robert Weibezahl (Author)

Best Southern Gothic

POCKET FULL OF TEETH

Aimee Hardy

KENTUCKY BLOOD (BOOK I OF THE KENTUCKY BLOOD SERIES)

Ashley Thomas Sheikh

Best Supernatural

NOT BORN OF WOMAN

Teel Glenn

A PLACE FOR GOOD AND EVIL

Stacey Horan

CITY OF INNOCENT MONSTERS

Stacey Horan

DERVLA ALARMS THE NANAS

DR Ransdell

COLD SNAP

Lindy Ryan

Best Suspense

A FRIEND IN THE DARK

Samantha M. Bailey

IF YOU TELL A LIE

Lucinda Berry

THE NEXT MRS. PARRISH

Liv Constantine

LOST TO DUNE ROAD

Kara Thomas

THE LAST PARTY

AR Torre

Best Thriller

RICH JUSTICE

Robert Bailey

THE DREDGE

Brendan Flaherty

THE MECHANICS OF MEMORY

Audrey Lee

A FORGOTTEN KILL

Isabella Maldonado

THE ASCENT

Adam Plantinga

Best Western

KNIFE RIVER

Baron Birtcher

SARITA

Natalie Musgrave Dossett

THE BROKEN BLOOD

Dwight Holing

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Mandy Morton: Death of a Sandscratcher Tuesday, Jun 17 2025

Continued series winner and humorous crime and Series not to be missed book-review, book-reviews, books, feline mystery, fiction, humor, murder mystery, reading Auntie M Writes Crime 3:37 pm

Mandy Morton’s 14th mystery in her No. 2 Feline Detective Agency brings readers into her delightful world of cats, which Publishers Weekly notes: “The world that Morton has created is irresistible.”

In this outing, Hettie and Tilly have decided to have a seaside vacation. Booked into the Sandscratchers Villa in Felixtoe, Suffolk, their hotel is right on the beach, and with a fairground to entertain them, their good friend Bruiser drives them there on his motorbike and sidecar, Miss Scarlet, and stays over.

They soon find that Minnie, the owner of their Villa is, part of the large Meakin family, who own and run the Mewsment fairgrounds. A Sandscratcher is a showcat who stops traveling and runs a permanent fair. There are rides, games of chance, and dodgems among the stalls. Further down the beach, Wilt Dinsney runs the Wild West Show and romances Minnie.

But after only a few days of fun and ice lollies, their relaxation is cut short when several of the Meakin family go missing. Hettie and Tilly, along with Bruiser, are pressed into service to find the missing cats, fearing they are searching for bodies.

There are tons of Minnie’s malapropisms that add to the wry humor. Auntie M has read each book in this charming series, and she is always struck my how realistic the cats are, imbued by Morton with human emotions and frailties with her nuanced eye. After a while readers won’t notice the lack of humans and will become used to Tilly licking her paws clean and keeping notes as Hettie forges the investigation ahead, with Bruiser helping, too, as they unravel what has happened to half the Meakin cat.

Auntie M promises readers will become totally absorbed in this magical world Morton has created, which PD James called “original and intriguing.”

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Sally Smith: A Case of Mice and Murder Tuesday, Jun 17 2025

amateur sleuth and debut and great read and historical saga and mystery to die for and new series and Series not to be missed Barrister, detectives, Edwardian England, historical mystery, murder mystery Auntie M Writes Crime 8:00 am

Sally Smith calls on her barrister background and intimate knowledge of the Inner Temple to debut a mystery series set in 1901 that introduces reluctant sleuth Sir Gabriel Ward KC. Rich in historical details of the insulated Inner Temple and its workings, Smith also gives readers a cogent look at Edwardian London with its class and societal workings and restrictions of the era.

Gabriel is so preoccupied with his case, a dispute over the authorship of a children’s book with a mouse as protagonist and set in Temple Church that has taken readers by storm, that he almost doesn’t notice the body on his doorstep. This turns out to be the Lord Chief Justice of England, who currently has a silver carving knife stuck in his chest. And several candidates longing to replace him . . .

Soon Gabriel finds himself pushed into investigating the murder while still researching his case. His OCD tendencies make this even more difficult, as does the fact he wants nothing to do with the investigation, but has been threatened with losing his lovely set of rooms where he’s lived for entire career—and thus, a reluctant but completely charming amateur sleuth is born.

It’s an absorbing story with both plots cleverly wound together. Told in prose that sounds lifted off pages from the time period, with the setting lovingly described, I highly recommend this to readers for the complex character of Gabriel alone, but also for the nicely twisted plot Smith created.

I was at Temple Church years ago for the memorial service held there for my mentor, PD James, and delighted in walking the lovely area, so I really enjoyed taking a trip back to the cloistered legal world it services. And to my delight, Sally Smith agreed to be interviewed for Auntie M!

Auntie M: Knowing the Inner Temple setting as well as you do really helped the setting come alive as I read. Did you find using an area you loved made it easier for you to describe to readers? Were there any parts you deliberately left out? (Auntie M notes that for those who’ve never visited, there is a very helpful plan of the area in the front of the book.)

Sally Smith: I love the Temple and so of course I enjoy describing it. My book is set in 1901 and the Temple sustained severe bombing during the Second World War. So now some of it is as it has been for centuries and some of it has been rebuilt post war.

It was fun to knit together what I see with my own eyes every day with what I know (from maps and pictures) it looked like in Edwardian times. I did not leave anything out but I did add in a few fictional doors and windows!

AM: I once attended a memorial service in the chapel, an important place in your book, and you brought me right back to that day. Did you have to obtain any permissions to use the site?

SS: You are right, there are some detailed and loving descriptions of the church in the book. It has an amazing history, built by the Knights Templar in 1185. I happen to have a flat in the Temple and I am a member of the Inner Temple, but anyone can visit the church during visitor hours and write about it. Many tourists do so, particularly from the USA, and they are more than welcome.

AM: Your prose is lovely and fits the era well. Did you read books set in your time period to acclimate that voice as if you were there?

SS: I am delighted you think the prose fits the era. It may be that I chose the Edwardian era because I know I write in a fairly formal way but I do not really do it on purpose; a lifetime as a lawyer meant it just developed naturally. The only thing I did consciously was not to use actual words and phrases that were not used in 1901. Other than that it just comes naturally to me.

AM: How difficult was it for you to design such interesting yet realistic characters? Are any based on people you know?

SS: Everyone wants to know that! There is no one in the book completely modelled on anyone I know but the characters are all amalgams of many personalities I have met.

AM: Now that’s a barrister’s careful answer if I ever heard one! Please tell readers Sir Gabriel Ward will return soon with another mystery to solve.

SS: Sir Gabriel Ward is returning with another mystery to solve in A Case of Life and Limb, published in the UK in July and a bit later in the USA.

AM: When you’re not plotting or promoting, who do you like to read for relaxation?

SS: I am a real Golden Age detective reader; my favourite of that period is any of Dorothy L. Sayers; I also like PD James. One of my desert island books is Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, which I think is wonderful, and I find something new in it every time I read it. Coming forward, I loved Janice Hallett’s The Appeal.

I read huge amounts of nonfiction; I love biographies, and don’t care who they are about. Real lives are more fascinating than anything made up!

Sally, thank you for a very interesting interview. Sally’s book is available from Bloomsbury Publishing or Amazon, in ebook, hardcover, and on Audible as of today! Don’t miss it~

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The Silversmith’s Puzzle by Nev March Saturday, May 17 2025

complex mystery and Continued series winner and historical saga and Series not to be missed detectives, historical mystery, murder mystery Auntie M Writes Crime 11:20 am

Edgar Award Finalist Nev March brings readers her fourth mystery revolving around Captain Jim Agnihotri and Lady Diana Framjii as the married couple travel back to India for the first time since their marriage.

All is not well in the Framjii family with financial difficulties and Diana’s brother Adi accused of murdering his business partner. Found over the dead man shortly after his murder, Adi is the likely suspect, as their business making surgical instruments was floundering. Upon their return, Jim, who is mixed race, is not well received by the strict Parsi community, and as Diana grapples with being shunned, Jim investigates the murder.

The police seem content with arresting Adi, who protests his innocence. As Jim tries to unravel the silversmith’s life, he is hit with a perplexing trail that doesn’t make sense, from owed bills, to downright lies. Who and what was Satya Rastogi protecting?

He must go undercover at some point, and visit brothels before the truth emerges. And he soon finds Diana by his side helping him. This unlikely duo give this the air of a late Victorian Nick and Nora Charles.

1894 Colonial India springs to life under March’s talented pen. Rich in period details, coupled with the sights and sounds of Bombay, March bring the traditions of caste to the forefront as the mystery unfolds in this multilayered tale. Recommended read, especially for those who enjoy history.

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Season of Death by Will Thomas Tuesday, Apr 22 2025

Award winning novelist and Continued series winner and historical saga and Private detective and Series not to be missed book review, historical mystery, police procedural Auntie M Writes Crime 11:44 am

Auntie M has long been a fan of this well-researched Victorian-era series, and of the two main characters: Private enquiry agent Cyrus Barker, a traveled man with an interesting past and deep connections in London and the world; and his young partner, Thomas Llewelyn, whose Welsh roots rear their head from time to time in his pithy thoughts.

As SEASON OF DEATH opens, Thomas is dealing with lack of sleep from his teething infant daughter, whose mother Rebecca has figured prominently in several episodes and is a recurring character. Several other recurring characters have become part of the fabric of this intelligent and highly readable series. It’s intriguing how issues like communication, when there were no cell phones, and information, with no computers yet, are handled.

The Dawn Gang has reared its ugly head, only to be properly dispatched by Barker and Llewelyn in spectacular fashion as they threatened a poor beggar who dragged her leg, known as Dutch, and is brought to a mission to be bathed and treated.

Then the influential MP Lord Danvers and his wife visit and ask the enquiry agents help in finding Lady Danvers missing sister, who is thought to have tried to elope to Rome. But before they get started in their search for the missing woman, an enormous sinkhole opens in an area called Calcutta. Built over old railway tunnels, the devastation is enormous in terms of loss of life. It was also the known meeting place for the criminal underworld, and it is assumed and soon proven that a massive bomb caused the sinkhole, with buildings atop it falling into the crater to kill not only those families living above it but the criminals meeting behind it.

The race is one to find out who caused the explosion, where Lady Danvers sister, May, is living, and what has become of Dutch, who disappeared from the mission. With the leaders of local gangs dead, who will take over the criminal land? And where is May hiding and why?

What is an added pleasure amidst the complicated cases and action is Thomas’s commentary on the social classes and political issues of the day. A delightful read all around~

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BEYOND THE GATES by Linda Lovely Monday, Apr 21 2025

amateur sleuth and Continued series winner and great read and humorous crime and mystery to die for and Series not to be missed book review, continuing series, murder mystery Auntie M Writes Crime 9:42 am

The fourth HOA mystery debuts next week and it’s already garnering great reviews!

Here’s a few words from Linda on her launch party, and if you follow the link to the great review from Kings River Life, you’ll see a way to enter to win an ebook~
Happy Book Birthday, Linda!

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Laury Egan: Fair Haven Sunday, Apr 13 2025

complex mystery and great read and mystery to die for book-review, books, fiction, murder, mystery, reviews Auntie M Writes Crime 3:04 pm

Laury A Egan has a new release!

by Laury A. Egan

Publication: April 12, 2025

Fair Haven: A picturesque riverside town. A safe, friendly place. And then, one summer afternoon in 1994, Sally Ann Shaffer is electrocuted in her hot tub. Who did it? One of her many lovers? Her husband? A thief? A jealous colleague at her tennis club? The town is suddenly embroiled in suspicion, interpersonal conflict, blackmail, fraud, and murder.

Fair Haven shares sympathies with the British crime drama, Midsomer Murders, because of its small-town setting and diverse cast, any of whom could be the killer (except Cagney, the beagle). The characters include Chris Clarke, who is hired to photograph the crime scene and is involved with Kate Morgan, a woman fighting for custody of her son (Kate has a past history with Sally Ann Shaffer); the police chief, Ray Mackie, who steps aside in the investigation in favor of Vincent Rivera from the Major Crimes Bureau. Other players are Detective David De-Marco, charged with coordinating the local police effort; Harry Fallon, Kate Morgan’s drunken ex-husband and a long-time lover of Sally Ann; and R.J. Baines, a realtor hiding her lesbianism and her affair with the deceased. The relationships between these characters, as well as with a tennis pro, husband, priest, and a financial fraudster, provide rich opportunities for intrigue.

“When is a murder mystery more than a who-done-it? Answer: When it is written by Laury Egan. This wonderful mystery kept me entranced, as her characters drug me around the town of Fair Haven and through their inter-woven lives. In an ever more complex web of intrigue, jealousy, hatred and lust the plot was revealed. Though its difficult to write a review of a murder mystery without giving away too much, I couldn’t figure it out, even with some well-placed clues, until the end and then I was amazed by the reveal. You will be too.”

—CA Farlow, author of The Paris Contagion

“The pace never lagged, and I was as invested in the character dramas as I was in the murder mystery itself. Which is great, given how much the story is really about those people and their community and their ties to one another…a delightfully messy tangle of motives and reason-able suspects. Classic murder mystery shenanigans. Fair Haven [is] a very worthy entry in the genre.”

—Jennica Dotson, author of “A Reaper’s Folly”

342 pages, $16.95 in paperback and $6.99 eBook. ISBN: 978-1-915905-14-7

Amazon: https://geni.us/fairhaven

Published by Enigma Books, an imprint of Spectrum Books, London.

Fair Haven is Laury A. Egan’s 15^th novel. In addition, she’s published a collection, Fog and Other Stories, soon to be joined in May 2025 by a second collection, Contrary. Four volumes of poetry have also appeared. Her website: www.lauryaegan.com

Cover photograph: Mark Schwartz. Design: Laury A. Egan.

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An Un-Covent-ional Heroine, by Melissa Westemeier Tuesday, Apr 1 2025

Uncategorized book-review, books, convent mystery, detecting nuns, detectives, fiction, murder, murder mystery, mystery, reading Auntie M Writes Crime 9:32 pm

Please welcome Melissa Westemeier, whose new Nun the Wiser series debuts TODAY with Old Habits Die Hard. She’ll describe how she came to create her protagonist, Sister Bernadette, and why she loves nuns!

Sister B: An Un Conventional Heroine

My fascination with nuns started with The Sound of Music. While other girls played “house,” I played “convent.” Living in a sisterhood, always in a gorgeous pastoral setting, with a communal approach to sharing chores and responsibilities, appealed to me.

Plus, nuns were bad asses. They fought against Nazis but accepted everyone else. If you didn’t want to marry and have kids or were just too unconventional, you could knock on the heavy wooden door, and a nice nun would escort you over to plead your case to the Mother Superior. As long as you were willing to work hard and prove your mettle, the nuns had to take you in. What girl doesn’t dream of acceptance like that? In my imagination, being a nun also meant wearing a super cool outfit and having sleepovers with your besties every night. I can’t remember how old I was when I learned becoming a nun wasn’t in the cards for me because I was a Protestant and that nuns weren’t exactly as portrayed in The Sound of Music.

My romanticized view of nuns remained intact for a very long time. Lucky for me, before I tackled writing Old Habits Die Hard, I’d sent my sons to Catholic school and exponentially increased my understanding of Catholicism. When Mariana, part of my writing group, suggested the protagonist in Old Habits Die Hard should be a retired nun who wears a cross necklace, black pants, and sensible shoes—“still in uniform,” I was charmed. Even better that she was a retired middle school English teacher with a bossy attitude. Sister Bernadette entered the story fully formed in my imagination.

There aren’t many retired nuns solving crimes. Sister Boniface comes to mind, but she’s of a different era and British. Sister Bernadette Ohlson, AKA “Sister B” to her students and “Bernie” to her neighbors and friends, hasn’t worn her full habit in ages, but she’s not above grabbing her veil and rosary if it gets her special treatment. Her faith gives her serene confidence in the face of danger, and she’ll argue her case for disobedience because in her mind not all sins are created (or punished) equally. Yet as a woman of an order, she likes to keep things in order.

We first meet Bernie leading the residents of The Abbey: Senior Living off their bus after a night at the theater. She waits in the lobby to make sure everyone gets safely to their first-floor apartments before leading the rest upstairs. Bernie’s the first to notice the body in the hallway, and when former student Detective AJ Lewis arrives, Bernie acts as spokesperson for the group.

Bernie leads, but she also meddles to make sure things work out the way she wants. She’s insatiably curious, poking into everyone’s business because how can you be in charge if you don’t know what’s going on? Her neighbors come to her for advice, too, which puts her in the center of their drama, and her impulse to solve a murder that happened under their collective roof comes from her concern for their safety.

Older, wiser, and experienced, Sister B lends insight to her former student as he investigates the murder at The Abbey. She’s not above snooping or eavesdropping, nor is she opposed to using some healthy Catholic guilt to manipulate people. What’s fun in the Nun the Wiser Mysteries is the dynamic between her and AJ, her former student who is 50 years her junior. As a millennial, AJ has a different sensibility where authority is concerned, and he stands up to her. They frustrate each other and don’t always see eye to eye, but deep down they respect one another. Where other cozies involve romance between sleuths, Bernie and AJ cultivate an affectionate friendship and each book ends with a sweet scene featuring them together.

It’s funny to think I’m all grown up and my obsession with nuns never fully faded. I haven’t run away to join a convent, but I’ve invented a nun of my own to solve murders with her former student, so in a way I’m still pretending to be a nun. I guess maybe old habits DO die hard!

Melissa Westemeier is a Sister in Crime and teacher from Wisconsin. She uses humor to explore serious subjects, and her published books include murder mysteries, rom-coms, and a trilogy loosely based on her years tending bar on the Wolf River. She likes her coffee and protagonists strong and prefers to work barefoot with natural lighting.

You can find Melissa’s grand book at:

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/old-habits-die-hard-melissa-westemeier/1146452143

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Habits-Hard-Wiser-Mysteries-Book-ebook/dp/B0DKR171YC?s=books&tag=tulepubli-20&language=en_US

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/old-habits-die-hard-6

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DEAD MAN’S SHOES by Marion Todd Friday, Jan 24 2025

complex mystery and Continued series winner and mystery to die for and Series not to be missed book-review, book-reviews, books, detectives, fiction, murder, mystery, police procedural Auntie M Writes Crime 8:49 pm

The 9th DI Clare Mackay is a tightly-plotted winner, chockfull of Todd’s twists and page-turning events.

Intelligence indicates a serial killer known as the Choker, who targets gay men, is heading for Clare’s corner of Scotland, St. Andrews. Clare’s team swings into action, with covert actions, undercover work, and long surveillances.

Then a young man is murdered near a nightclub with all the hallmarks of this serial killer. Could Theo Glancy’s murder be connected to the nightclub as his family run it, or is this the newest case of the Choker?

Even worse than catching a new murder case, Clare finds the nightclub is attached to her nemesis, Val Docherty, who has shrugged off previous charges like a duck sheds water. Will this be the time Clare finally gets to see Val behind bars, and if so, at what cost?

This is a tight police procedural, with Clare’s team functioning well under her lead. Her personal life is on smooth sailing, too, until her sister brings her attention to her aging father’s issues. It’s time for Clare to have a few moments of personal reflection, all while searching to stop a serial killer before he strikes again.

Auntie M is a huge fan of Todd’s atmospheric series, gobbling up each installment. If you haven’t found this series yet, reach for it now. Better yet, start with the first, See Them Run, to follow Clare’s personal life. And now I have to wait for the next one…

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Continued Series Winners: Bradley, Johnstone, and Lovesey Sunday, Dec 29 2024

Award winning novelist and complex mystery and Continued series winner and great read and mystery to die for and Series not to be missed book-review, book-reviews, books, detectives, fiction, murder mystery, mystery Auntie M Writes Crime 4:05 pm

Auntie M’s 2025 gift to you readers. Happy New Year! And three greats to read:

Alan Bradley’s Flavia de Luce Mysteries, set in the 1950s, are currently in production in the UK, based on the first in this wonderful series, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. The books are a revelation, and when Bradley created his young genius sleuth, 11 in the first book, he hit on a magnificent creature, at turns smart and wily.

So Auntie M was delighted to find a new adventure for Flavia, now 15, and her prodigious brain growing in leaps and bounds, in What Time the Sextion’s Spade doth Rust. Mentoring her live-in cousin, Undine, described as “odious” and “moonfaced,” Flavia attempts to channel Undine’s potential for trickery to her own uses in her investigations.

This time a former hangman dies after eating poisonous mushrooms, and the de Luce’s own cook is suspected. With her chemistry expertise (something Auntie M admires add wonders how Bradley gets his information), Flavia sets out to clear dear Mrs. Mullet and uncovers some surprising and disturbing truths about her own family along the way. Clever humor balances the darker bits. Terrific.

I recommend Doug Johnstone’s Skelf series all the time and often give one for gifts. This family of three generations of strong Edinburgh women have been through the wringer and keep chugging along, and that is at the forefront of Living is a Problem.

Running a funeral home and private investigation agency from their home, their personal lives become entwined in the stories. Matriarch Dorothy, a skilled drummer, too, tries to help her boyfriend who is suffering from PTSD, when a Ukrainian member of the refugee choir that Dorothy’s band plays with goes missing.

Her daughter, Jenny, is conducting a funeral when it’s attacked by a drone, and Jenny sees gangland interference. She and Archie, their funeral home helper, are becoming closer, despite their differences. And her daughter, Hannah, a scientist, finds her interests changing, while supported by her wife.

This series is consistent, with an uplifting story that doesn’t shrug away from life–and death–yet leaves the reader uplifted and wanting more Skelfs.

Peter Lovesey closes his long-running Peter Diamond series with Against the Grain. The stubborn Diamond has solved more than his share of cases using his wiles and wit, with some surprises along the way.

In Against the Grain, Diamond travels to the country for a holiday with his partner, Paloma, at the invitation of his former colleague Julie Hargreaves. It’s no secret that Diamond is contemplating life after detecting, and he must decide to retire or solider on.

But he’s no sooner in the lovely village of Baskerville when Julie’s ulterior motive is revealed: a horrific accident at a grain silo has resulted in a manslaughter conviction for the dairy farm’s owner, and Julie is convinced that not only was there a miscarriage of justice, but that the real killer is still at large. He soon finds unfamiliar village customs come to the forefront of his days.

Diamond finds himself up to his elbows, literally, in things he couldn’t begin to imagine, that delight readers and perhaps Diamond himself. And uses his experience and his knowledge of human nature to a stunning climax.

It’s always sad to say goodbye to beloved characters, and readers can only hope Lovesey will keep Diamond going in a story or two. A wonderful series amongst Lovesey’s other fiction, Diamond is but one of Lovesey’s creations who linger with readers and deserve to be investigated.

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Auntiemwrites Crime-Mystery Author M K Graff

Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award Finalists Saturday, Jul 5 2025

Mandy Morton: Death of a Sandscratcher Tuesday, Jun 17 2025

Sally Smith: A Case of Mice and Murder Tuesday, Jun 17 2025

The Silversmith’s Puzzle by Nev March Saturday, May 17 2025

Season of Death by Will Thomas Tuesday, Apr 22 2025

BEYOND THE GATES by Linda Lovely Monday, Apr 21 2025

Laury Egan: Fair Haven Sunday, Apr 13 2025

An Un-Covent-ional Heroine, by Melissa Westemeier Tuesday, Apr 1 2025

DEAD MAN’S SHOES by Marion Todd Friday, Jan 24 2025

Continued Series Winners: Bradley, Johnstone, and Lovesey Sunday, Dec 29 2024

Death Unscripted: A Trudy Genova Manhattan Mystery

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THE GOLDEN HOUR: The 4th Nora Tierney English Mystery

The Blue Virgin

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Death at the Dakota: A Trudy Genova Manhattan Mystery 2

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