Laura Childs Tea Shop Mysteries - One of 25 Best!

Congratulations Laura Childs! Well deserved recognition from Book Riot when her Tea Shop Mystery series is now included in their list of 25 of the Absolute Best Cozy Mystery Series. I know it's my very favorite! If you're interested in hearing more about the craft of writing from the author herself, click the link to the episode recorded last year when Kendall & Cooper Talk Mysteries with Laura Childs - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHKHhZtqJsc

Pekoe Most Poison

By Laura Childs

Have you ever attended a “rat tea”?  Well, you’re invited, in the recently released, eighteenth book in Laura Childs’ cozy tea shop mystery series.  If you’re already a fan, you’ll be delighted with this return to Charleston and the world of the Indigo tea shop, which blends beautifully with mystery.  If this is your first trip to this series, you can comfortably jump right in with Pekoe Most Poison.

You’ll learn, along with our protagonist Theo, that rat teas are parties dating back to twentieth century Charleston where the cream of society would sponsor teas to promote city rodent control and better public health.  You’ll also have a seat at the table for murder.  Now it’s up to you and Theo to follow the clues and puzzle out which of the suspects has committed this crime.

As a reader I was devouring the clues eagerly, between enjoyable tidbits of history and color around Charleston.  It’s the core characters that surrounded me like old friends.  The tea shop trio personalities are so interesting they resonate, and their interactions are laced with humor and fun.  And the suspects are abundant and varied.  You’ll be challenged working through potential motives and opportunity, but follow the clues to the thrilling ending, let your theories brew a little, and you just may solve this mystery along with Theo and her friends.

Little Girl Gone

By Gerry Schmitt

For this thriller, the author tossed aside the pseudonym of Laura Childs, and she began a new Afton Tangler thriller series. This first book in the series introduces her protagonist who is a family liaison officer with the Minneapolis Police Department.  Afton works closely and empathetically with families that are crime victims, and is also very tough in her developing investigative skills.

The mystery in this book is abduction.  In a thriller, different than a cozy, the mystery for the reader isn’t who did it.  Now the mystery is if the hero can catch the villain, and the clock is ticking from the moment this baby’s abducted.  In the meantime, you learn family secrets revealed.  And the movements and motives of the abductors are fascinating.

This book is an incredible, raw ride that you’ll be excited to read.  Be sure you have time to finish the last fifty pages in one sitting, because you won’t be able to put it down.  The next in the Afton Tangler series, Shadow Girl is available in stores and online.

To hear more from the author of both series, and over 40 mysteries, listen to our episode Kendall & Cooper Talk Mysteries with Laura Childs/Gerry Schmitt.  In honor of that, our sweet 16 podcast episode and in tribute to our tea shop series author, the Treasures and Teas Shop in Edmonds created custom, first taste mystery tea blends.  These are wonderful for sipping while listening to Kendall & Cooper, or while reading your favorite mysteries.

Phyllis Carlton, tea sommelier at Treasures and Teas blended the Queen’s Mystery #2.  Like a good mystery, this blend beckons to you to chase it.  The second blend for our sweet 16 is the Evening Shadow which is particularly soothing while enthralled in thrillers, and well suited to those cozy mysteries.  The Podners were invited to a tea tasting by Phyllis and were delighted.  We left after enthusiastically purchasing each.   And we were excited to send samples to Laura Childs for her to enjoy for our episode.

Next time you’re downtown Edmonds, stop by Treasures and Teas shop and ask Phyllis or Carla for these mystery blends.  And if you want to know more about them, listen to our brief interview with Phyllis who tells more details about these intriguing blends.

Chamomile Mourning

By Laura Childs

This author serves up a savory blend of herbal teas, pastries, and murder.  This novel is just one in a series of “cozy” mysteries that revolve around Theodosia Browning who owns Indigo Tea Shop in Charleston, South Carolina.  I’m such a fan of the series, I’ve read them all.  I’ve read some of them more than once.  Chamomile Mourning is early in the series, and one of my favorites.

Laura Childs gives delightful Charleston the feeling of a small town, and the characters surrounding Theodosia are so intriguing.  This book begins at a catered tea party at the Heritage Society’s annual Poetry event.  But murder becomes a dramatic verse of its own.  The victim is one of the Heritage Society’s own, prominent members.  When clues lead the local police to accuse one of Theodosia’s friends, she is motivated to prove them wrong.  But maybe Theodosia is wrong?

The clues will lead the reader toward several potential murderers and motives.  You’ll enjoy the chase, and during more relaxed moments you’ll also enjoy the detailed descriptions of Charleston.  The author really engages you in the challenges and appeal of running a small business too.  Several of Theodosia’s friends are small business people in the city, and she is so proud of her tea shop.  You’ll get an enjoyable glimpse into the varieties, history and social niceties of teas.  Haley and Drayton, who both work at the tea shop, are each artists at work.  Haley is the baker and Drayton is the tea mixologist.  They help Theodosia in many ways.  And there is an extra treat in the book!  You’re treated to recipes that are supposedly from Haley for pastries and from Drayton for teas.  Do yourself a favor and try these.  The ones I’ve tried have been delicious.

Laura Childs was a writer/producer at several national ad agencies, before forming her own company, Mission Critical Marketing.  She wrote four screenplays, got one read by Paramount, but never actually sold one.  She then thought to try writing mysteries. How fortunate for fans like me!  She really enjoyed the writing, and was so happy when she sold her first couple of books.   A prolific writer, she now has two other entertaining series in addition to the tea shop mysteries.  They are the Scrapbook Mysteries and Cackleberry Club Mysteries, and she’s not done yet.

Put your feet up with a cup of tea, or a glass of ice tea, and enjoy an entertaining flight of murderous fancy, mull over your clues, and then chase down your suspect.

Let Me Introduce You To The Last Mrs. Parrish

The Last Mrs. Parrish

By Liv Constantine

               

                There’s been an excited hum about this new psychological thriller, The Last Mrs. Parrish, and it’s well-deserved.  This book is co-authored by sisters Lynne and Valerie, using the pen name Liv Constantine, and their collaboration will have you gasping and hanging on through twists and turns.  This one is hard to put down until you reach the very end, and gasp.

                The villainy and actions of the devious Amber Patterson fascinate.  She is calculating in the way she becomes a part of the lives of Connecticut’s well-to-do, perfectly blessed, golden couple.  Amber is certain she was never meant for the everyday, plain life that she’s living.  She has no doubts that the Parrish privileged life is the life that she deserves.

                Driven by envy and equipped with a detailed plan, Amber takes action.  The ensuing consequences produce a centrifugal force that will hold you spellbound as you grip your book or kindle, eager to read what happens next.  Can Amber end up with everything she wants, or will she get what she deserves?  What dark secrets will be revealed?  What will be overheard when lurking at doorways or through deceitful means?  The writing flows so naturally, you’ll enjoy the storytelling style of these authors.

                The co-authors’ collaboration is smoothly, seamless to the reader.  They’ve created memorable characters and skillfully paint the setting and atmosphere of the exclusive town of Bishops Harbor.  As a reader and town visitor, you may enjoy sipping your way through the pages with Bishops Harbor’s popular drink – “the Double Cross Martini.  It’s deliciously duplicitous, sneaks up on you, and packs a potent punch, but it is low-carb so you can still fit into your designer jeans.”

                Lynne is also author of the amazing suspense novel The Veritas Deception in addition to several short stories.  She’s also a social media strategist and speaker.  Valerie has been a mystery fan from her early days with Nancy Drew, and later graduating on to Shakespeare.  She’s an active community volunteer, working with Free the Slaves in Washington, D.C. – an organization that fights  human trafficking – and also with Caritas Society of St. John’s College Annapolis, which raises funds for student financial aid. The sisters also co-authored Circle Dance - a taut, Greek American, family drama page turner. 

And if you want to hear more from the authors, tune into Kendall & Cooper Talk Mysteries with Lynne and Valerie (Liv) Constantine

Spend The Golden Hour with Marni Graff

The Golden Hour

By Marni Graff

               

                The Golden Hour is about an American in Oxford. It’s part of the wonderful Nora Tierney mystery series. Trouble seems to follow Nora Tierney at an uncomfortably close distance. In this case trouble comes in the guise of a stalker who is keeping a close watch on Nora’s every action, including with her baby son. He’s also stalking when she’s with her DCI boyfriend. He’s also watching when she’s alone.

                While Nora has her hands full with concerns about this watcher, her boyfriend Declan is called into an all-consuming investigation into the discovery of a very curious smallpox death. The victim is a museum employee who was restoring a Picasso painting when her body was found. This case is strange and frightening as clues are uncovered.

                This intriguing mystery features fascinating characters, all in what appears to be a serene setting, vividly described so that the reader is transported there. What’s unique about this mystery is the extraordinary mix of Cozy, Traditional, Suspense, and at the core even Thriller elements - all that in one book.  Blending the complementary ingredients from each of these types, this author has served up a story that has a homey stock, filled with savory veggies, spicy meats, and haunted by a single flavor that you just can’t identify, until you suddenly do.

                Author Marni Graff spent 7 years interviewing and learning from many of her favorite mystery authors including Val McDermid, Deborah Crombie, Ian Rankin, and her mentor and friend for many years P D James.  She’s the multi award-winning author of The Trudy Genova Manhattan Mysteries based on her own real-life work as a medical consultant for a New York movie studio. Her Nora Tierney English Mysteries has 4 books in the series, winning Chanticleer Reviews’ Mystery and Mayhem prize for Best British Cozy.

                And if you want to hear more from the author, tune into Kendall & Cooper Talk Mysteries with Marni Graff  This episode includes surprise guest Kay Vreeland with a priceless anecdote about P D James.  Also Alex Riggs, role playing game company owner at www.necromancers-online.com joins in with a recommendation on a role playing mystery game published by Chaosium where you, your family, and your friends find the clues and solve the mystery from the comfort of your living room.

Cozy-Exotic Inspector de Silva Mystery Series

Enchanting interview with author Harriet Steel about her wonderful Inspector de Silva mystery series. This is a Historical mystery set in 1930's Ceylon.  Learned so much, and you'll enjoy listening in.  

We were joined by Kay Vreeland who recommended the series to Kendall & Cooper Talk Mysteries Book Recommendation with Harriet Steel 

Kay is a mystery lover and also helps Indie authors succeed promoting and marketing their books.

Splinter The Silence with Val McDermid

Splinter The Silence

By Val McDermid

                Here’s a Thriller mystery novel that could easily be tomorrow’s news headline.  How dangerous are these internet trolls?  See what could possibly happen when some of your worst imagined fears about venomous, online attackers come true in fiction.  This plot is a timely look at the psychological impacts on human nature from the loud and broad reach of the internet.

                In this case women broadcast on the internet adamant stands on different issues they are passionate about, and as a result they become targets, and later end up dead.  But is it suicide, or murder?  Is the antagonism they experience on the web so harsh they can no longer live with themselves?  It looks like that.  Or is there a stalker who is a serial killer, lurking online looking for his victims.

                This tense thriller will have you white knuckled when you’re typing your next online tweet or update.  It’s part of the Tony Hill and Carol Jordan award winning Thriller series.  This is a police procedural that includes fascinating details and professional acumen of the British police team.  At the onset of this novel, Carol Jordan has really hit bottom in her personal life.  She’s recovering from a deep grief, and searching for some kind of purpose to her life after shattering changes.  As she reunites with Tony Hill, psychologist, and gains an unexpected second chance, she’ll be sorely tested because the stakes are high.  There’s no certainty that Carol can pull herself together.  The other detectives on her team are impressive, but each has a different and interesting Achilles heel.  You’ll enjoy getting to know each of these characters and how they work through their individual flaws to bring a contribution to the investigative team.

                This author, Val McDermid, is known as Britain’s Queen of Crime.  The suspense that she builds in her books is phenomenal.  The characters she creates, including the villain, arouse your curiosity about, what your own reaction would be in their situation?  Then, what will they do next?  Nothing is predictable, in any way.  Val McDermid is the bestselling author of more than thirty novels, translated into forty languages.  Her individual books have won many prizes and awards.  She lives in Scotland.

                And if the secrets of real forensic science fascinate you, I also recommend Val McDermid’s non-fiction book Forensics What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA, and More Tell Us About Crime.  It’s incredible to read about how far science has come to produce reliable evidence.  The scientific improvements are explained so that a reader can appreciate the work.  Also highlighted is the unwavering commitment of specific people through history who were determined to improve truth in evidence.  They recognized that justice is at stake.

And if you want to hear more from the author, tune into Kendall & Cooper Talk Mysteries with Val McDermid

Gayle Lynds Targets The Assassins

The Assassins
By Gayle Lynds

                “To say that assassination never solved anything is as inaccurate as saying crime never pays.  Or that all assassins come to a bad end.” – The Book of Assassins, George Fetherling.

                This quote describes part of the fast-paced plot in Gayle Lynds’ chilling international espionage Thriller.  Six master assassins, legendary each in his own ways, band together to steal a fortune from the middle of a war zone.  Not just any fortune, it’s Saddam Hussein’s missing billion dollar fortune.  Their mission goes terribly wrong and they retreat into invisibility.  Now they’re coming back, for what they feel is due them.  Is there honor among assassins?

                Former military spy Judd Ryder sees a man coming out of his row house and the man looks just like him, wearing his clothes.  Suddenly the imposter is killed by a deliberate hit-and-run.  A similar, strange incident occurs with CIA trainee Eva Blake.  They’re being used as a means to an end, but to what end?  This is part of the Judd Ryder books series, but also stands well on its own, so go ahead and sit on the edge of your seat when you open this cover.

                A large part of the fascination of this read is learning about some of the tricks of the trade that comes from the in depth training of spies, whether the spies are government or freelance.  This author certainly has the background to insure credibility in this genre.  Bestselling and award winning author of ten international espionage novels, she began her writing career as an investigative reporter.  Later she was an editor with rare Top Secret security clearance at a government think tank.  She became intrigued and inspired and learned a lot.  Soon she began writing short stories and then on to her own novels, as well as the Cover-One Series that she created with Robert Ludlum.  She’s a member of the Association for Former Intelligence Officers and she cofounded the International Thriller Writers organization.  The celebrated annual convention in New York is ThrillerFest.

                The Assassins is winner of the Military Writers Society of America Founder’s Award.  It’s filled with clandestine encounters in exotic sites around the world, tentative alliances, hidden agendas, precision fighting, and lots of secrets.  And as Gayle Lynds quotes J. Edgar Hoover, “there’s something about a secret that’s addicting.”

And if you want to hear more from the author, tune into Kendall & Cooper Talk Mysteries with Gayle Lynds

A Ghostly Murder, A Spirited Read

A Ghostly Murder

By Tonya Kappes

Here’s an amateur mystery sleuth who believes in justice for all, even the ghostly. Emma Lee Raines has discovered that she is able to see and talk with ghosts.  These spirits who are visiting her are “Betweeners” who are unable to “cross over” because they’ve got unfinished business.  As mortals, they were murdered and their murderers have not been found and brought to justice, yet.  But now Emma Lee has been persuaded to investigate.

In this novel, part of the Ghostly Southern Mysteries series, someone killed Mamie Sue Preston, the richest woman of Sleepy Hollow, Kentucky.  She was a hypochondriac and when she died everyone thought she’d finally succumb from a real illness.  Now it looks like it was murder, and Mamie herself is telling Emma Lee her own theories and suspects.  But Emma Lee is turning up some interesting clues of her own.  Others in the town have their own motives for trying to misdirect evidence and frame certain town residents.  The twists are ingenious, and it all heats up when our amateur sleuth teams up with boyfriend Sheriff Jack Henry Ross, who is an exciting Southern gentleman, and can be less than enthusiastic about these other-worldly connections.

The settings for this series are the delightful small towns of the South, specifically in Kentucky.  The beautiful scenery is vividly described and plays a role in the plotting.  The cast of characters are such fun, leaving you feeling that y’all have enjoyed a charming vacation away.

Tonya Kappes is a best seller author with more than twenty books and four novellas.  In her works she creates inviting communities and characters.  Her other series are just as endearing:  Killer Coffee, Divorced Diva, Laurel London, Magical Cures, Olivia Davis, Spies and Spells, and the Kenni Lowry series.  This last series is set where the food is fried, the secrets are buried, and Kenni Lowry is Sheriff.  And you don’t have to wait long for the next in the Kenni Lowry series – Ax to Grind the third in this series is out September 19^th this year.

If you’d like to hear more from the author herself, in her own words and in her own Southern accent, please listen to Kendall & Cooper Talk Mysteries with Tonya Kappes at this link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJcXUd-oDa8

Endangered Mystery Is Off Trail Suspense

Endangered

By Pamela Beason

               

                Please bear with me as I set your course onto the mystery trail of the suspenseful Summer Westin Mystery series by Pamela Beason.  Each book takes place in an intriguing natural environment of the great outdoors.  In these mysteries the setting, a contrast of beauty and danger, adds such an exciting dimension to the stories.

                Summer Westin, known as Sam, is a wildlife biologist, and she also writes articles about the animals and wilderness.  She’s currently Endangered in the back country of Utah.  Passing through the Red Rock Campground, she pauses and meets up with some of her Ranger friends.  She also runs into some of the camping families and unwittingly plays a part in one of the children suddenly going missing.  An intense search ensues on the rugged mountain.  Sam is determined to save the child, and also the wild cougars she loves, when people who are incited by the growing media circus begin blaming the animals for endangering people.  Even the FBI get involved in the search, and the agents assigned are wonderfully down-to-earth characters to enjoy as well.  During the course of the novel there’s even a growing question about a romantic interest for our courageous and smart protagonist.

                The mystery of what’s happened to the child is so suspenseful, you’ll never know what’s around the next corner, or where the trail of clues will take you, not to mention when Sam takes you OT – that’s off trail.  The suspects are uncovered sometimes with deliberation, and some appear unexpectedly.  The action is so engaging you’ll forget you’re a reader and start assuming you’re out there with Sam trekking across the wilderness, with heart pounding determination to save the child and the cougars. 

               

                Pamela Beason is a retired private investigator who lives here in the Pacific Northwest.  She knows the outdoors first hand because when she's not hard at work on her next book, she explores the natural world on foot, in cross-country skis, in her kayak, or underwater scuba diving.  She writes mystery and romantic suspense books with strong women, quirky sidekicks, animals both domestic and wild, a dash of humor, and a big dose of suspense.  After reading her other Summer Westin Mystery books with Sam solving mysteries in the Galapagos, and nearby in the Cascades, try her Neema Mystery series.

And if you want to hear more from the author, tune into Kendall & Cooper Talk Mysteries with Pamela Beason

A Walk on Chicago's Noir Side with Danny Gardner

        

A Negro and an OFAY

By Danny Gardner

                       This gritty Urban Noir book is a loosely fictional account about a real person, Lieutenant William Drury, a person “known for personal bravery” as was said after his death. The story takes place in the early 1950’s in Chicago and includes fresh description and detail on the underbelly of life in the city and surroundings. This author’s mastery of language in both text description and in dialogue is compelling and a real treat to read. The beleaguered protagonist faces systemic corruption and Syndicate confrontation. His fight is lined with persistence, street smarts, and a degree of fatalism. The struggle demands attention and unrelenting commitment, and the author artfully crafts the story in a way that infuses the reader with a tangible passion for the fight.

                Family and friendship are deep ties for Elliot Caprice, the Protagonist, in this book. I found these other characters also to be fascinating to read about in their dramatic relationships. I developed some real favorites among them, and I appreciate the strong men and women characters he creates in his writing. And just wait until you read the femme fatale. This author is a very successful and exhilarating genre bender who weaves unexpected elements into this Urban Noir.

                You may know Danny Gardner as a young stand-up comedian (Def Comedy Jam All-Stars vol. 12), and he also enjoys careers as actor, director and screenwriter. He has several published short pieces of non-fiction and Noir. He’s a frequent reader at Noir at the Bar events nationwide, including in Seattle at the Sorrento Hotel’s Fireside Room. He’s also a regular blogger at 7 Criminal Minds. This is his first novel, and such an impressive start to what hopefully will be a series. He is originally from Chicago and there’s no doubt his deep feeling for his hometown partly inspired the novel. In fact, his dedication of the book is “To Chicago, my love. May your south and west sides rise again.”

                Elliot Caprice is a cop on the run after charges that he killed two crooked colleagues. He returns to his hometown to find the family farm in foreclosure and the man who raised him dying in a flophouse. Desperate to raise the needed money, he starts working thanks to friends. He ends up crossing paths with a powerful family from Chicago’s north shore and a murder. Hired on the side, Elliot investigates with Chicago’s cops and the FBI breathing down his neck, the Mob watchful of his every step, and the wealthy and powerful pushing their own interests. Elliot Caprice is walking a tight wire.

And for more from the author tune into Kendall & Cooper Talk Mysteries with Danny Gardner

Revenge In Paris by Valerie J Brooks

Revenge In Paris

By Valerie J. Brooks

New Year’s in Paris sounds like a dream, but in this contemporary noir novel it’s just the beginning of a swirling nightmare for a smart and impulsive protagonist. Angeline Porter is a criminal lawyer. She knows crime when she sees it, and she’s used to seeking justice in a court room.

When she finds her sister Sophie dead from suicide, she’s overwhelmed with emotion and determined to blame someone. She settles on a likely suspect, Sophie’s French lover, and makes plans to execute her own form of justice, which is fatal. She’s passionately intent on avenging her dear sister.

Follow Angeline to beautiful Paris. She’s incognito, of course. Witness first hand her intricate plotting; how will she murder him? Her devious interactions with her target, and will he catch on in time to save himself? And other questions that pop up as she sets her trap, including that ultimate question – is she capable of vigilante murder? And if so, what happens après le murder? Well, I can tell you that the final scenes in this story present a jarring predicament.

Revenge In Paris, or as I’ve come to think of it as RIP, is the first in a Noir Travel short story series and is free at all ebook stores. Voilà, the second is available the week of October 23rd, titled Portland Prey and a third is on the way. You’ll want to start at the beginning of this adventure though and follow through in sequence. What an incredible setting the author chose, and Valerie Brooks knows Paris very well. Her descriptions of the city and its varied sights are truly pictures in your mind and you get a sense for the places as if you’ve been there yourself. As an incredible bonus, at the end of the story she’s provided us with so much information about Paris, and links to many sites where you can learn even more.

Valerie is certainly a writer of 5-star Noir. Other beautiful writing by her has appeared in Scent of Cedars: Promising Writers of the Pacific Northwest, and also in France, A Love Story. She’s served on the board of directors for Oregon Writers Colony, and she co-founded the acclaimed Willamette Writers Speakers Series.

You’ll be glad you tagged along on this exciting trip to Paris at New Years in Revenge In Paris. The author treats you to a strong, intelligent, gutsy woman who writes her own rules and throws herself into a dangerous situation of her own creation. As has been said, “well-behaved women seldom make history” – or good novels.

And if you want to find out more from the author herself, here’s the link to Kendall & Cooper Talk Mysteries with Valerie Brooks - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_VWnNCPL7M 

Win A Kindle With Your Book Recommendation

Your Book Recommendation is your Raffle Ticket to win a Kindle

             

Friends of the Edmonds Library Presents:

And the recommendation goes to . . . . .

Write a book recommendation

Email book recommendations to edmondslibfriends@gmail.com OR hand in your written book recommendation at the Edmonds Library between October 1^st and October 27^th

Age Categories are:  13 and under / 14 – 21 / over 21

Kindles will be given to 3 lucky raffle winners who also earn free help to setup their device and learn about ebooks from Sno-Isle Libraries staff.

Prizes:

Kindle winners will be announced at the Friends Annual Book Sale at noon October 28^th in the Frances Anderson Center

Winners’ recommendations will be published on My Edmonds News

All book recommendations will be displayed on Edmonds Library website and social media

Three recommenders of mystery books will be invited to read their recommendations on the Kendall & Cooper Talk Mysteries Podcast (YouTube, iTunes, Sound Cloud and KBFG radio)

Thank you sponsors:  Friends of the Edmonds Library, Symetra, and Marsh and McLennan Companies

Hollywood Homicide

Hollywood Homicide
By Kellye Garrett

This book is a mystery that’s cozy, gone glam, gone great. Unemployed actress Dayna Anderson was looking for a job, not a mystery when she was scrounging for her last coins to pay for gas. Her car had abruptly hit empty, leaving her stranded blocks down the street. Above her loomed a billboard offering a reward for information on a recent hit and run. Dayna had been in the vicinity and thought she may be able to find information to collect some much needed money.

As Dayna pulls together the information she knows, what’s revealed pulls her into a full-on amateur sleuth investigation. At the same time the intriguing questions and puzzling clues pull the reader eagerly in to find the solution. You’ll truly be tested to identify the murderer and the motivation behind the murder.

As important as it is to share a good mystery, this author also gives us a great cast of characters who bring a delightful vitality and humor to the story. Dayna, with her closest friends Sienna and Emme, are truly laugh out loud funny, so if you’re reading around other people on the bus or at the coffee shop you may get some stares and then some people around you writing down the title of the book. The humor rises naturally from the characters and the situations. You’ll feel like you’re there, laughing with them. Small town character Omari who has just made it big in one of Hollywood’s newest cop shows is a stunning choice for a romantic interest. We get to see him skyrocketing with the overnight success that actually takes years, plus a lucky break. In this case he edges out the originally cast star of the new tv series by a nose, literally.

Added appeal comes from the book’s setting, with the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. “Hollywood is high school with prettier clothes and better lunch options. You study scripts, not textbooks. Try out for roles, not varsity. Take screen tests, not math exams. And you vote for Oscars, not prom king.” The author knows the place well.  Kellye Garrett spent 8 years successfully working in Hollywood, including writing for the CBS drama Cold Case.  She expertly layers in interesting insights about the town and the celebrity business, along with making some fun of the phenomenon that it is.  If you want to hear more from the author herself, click on the podcast – Kendall & Cooper Talk Mysteries with Kellye Garrett

A great setting, starring a fun sleuth with her bright friends, plunged into the subterfuge of murder.

Thereby Hangs a Tale . . . .

Disturbed by Kevin O'Brien

Disturbed

By Kevin O'Brien

This book that I recently inhaled over a lock-all-the-doors weekend was suspense at its best.  And yes, I was Disturbed, in a good way.  Wow!  This author’s characters and situations feel very realistic.  The mystery all takes place involving every day people, adding to the fearful feeling that grows as you read, that this could really happen.  Your imagination will be ignited by suspects and alleged motives.  It’s amazing how involved a reader becomes trying to solve the mystery, as if the reader is actually one of the residents living at Willow Tree Court, part of it all, and needing to stop it.

It’s so much fun to get on and ride this roller coaster of twisted passions and intrigue.  A serial murderer is on the loose.  The target is specific people in their homes where they live on a certain type of street, on cul-de-sacs.  Be on your guard.  No one is safe, while the reader and the characters try to determine if there’s some other pattern for why these people are being attacked in their homes.

There’s a particular family the author is following.  The husband and wife are trying to settle into a very recent second marriage, with his kids who are a teenage boy and his younger sister.  On the outside of this marriage are his ex-wife who moved nearby and her friends who are still living in that same cul-de-sac.  As the plot unfolds, the secrets that are revealed just within this family will raise the hairs on the back of your neck.  A menacing quote from one character that will send shivers down your spine is the ominous, “I knew all your secrets – and all your weaknesses.”

Before becoming a New York Times Best Selling Thriller Author, and recipient of many awards, Kevin O’Brien’s interesting background was as a railroad inspector by day and novel writer by night.  A huge Hitchcock fan, Kevin O’Brien delivers a thrilling suspense of his own in his many hold-your-breath books.  I recommend his books, and now there’s one more – his new book Hide Your Fear is now available.

If you’d like to hear more from the author himself, in his own words, please listen to Kendall & Cooper Talk Mysteries with Kevin O’Brien

Exploring the Soul of an Octopus

Soul of an Octopus

A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness

By Sy Montgomery

Here’s a sweet read written by a mesmerizing storyteller who spins a true novel all about a sea creature that I discovered I knew very little about.  This book entertains with so much interesting information that surprises. The octopus lives an intriguing presence in the oceans, and in our Puget Sound.

The author studies octopus in the wild as well as in captivity primarily at the New England Aquarium in Boston, and also at our Seattle Aquarium, and the Vancouver Aquarium in British Columbia.  Most surprising to me is the personal connection she made with particular octopuses who they named Octavia, Kali, Athena, and young Karma.  How each of these beautiful beings demonstrated real intelligence and unique personalities was described vividly and with strong feeling by the author.

We’re treated to glimpses into the great work the Aquariums are doing, and especially what was featured at our Seattle Aquarium.  It was so fun to read about Seattle’s Octopus Symposium and the Octopus Blind Date events they’d had, as well as exciting descriptions of their work studying the wild octopus in the Puget Sound.

Sy Montgomery is a naturalist, documentary scriptwriter, and author of 20 acclaimed nonfiction books.  She’s been presented with Lifetime achievement awards from the Humane Society and the New England Booksellers association.  She lives in New Hampshire with her husband and the many animals they care for.  She’s said, “I think that animals teach compassion.”

Here’s a taste of the author’s passionate writing.  She’s relating her thoughts of the meeting of the wet and dry worlds while her hands and Octavia’s arms intertwine emotionally at the Aquarium.  Octopuses enjoy time exploring through touch this way.

“In the sea, perhaps, time itself is slowed by the water’s weight and viscosity.  Even with just my hands in (the octopuses) Kali or Octavia’s tank, time proceeds at a different pace.  Perhaps, I muse, this is the pace at which the Creator thinks, in this weighty, graceful, liquid manner – like blood flows, not like synapses fire.  Above the surface, we move and think like wiggly children, or like teens who twitch away at their computer-phones, multitasking but never focusing.  But the ocean forces you to move more slowly, more purposefully, and yet more pliantly.  By entering it, you are bathed in a grace and power you don’t experience in air. . . . To dive beneath the surface feels like entering the Earth’s vast, dreaming subconscious, submitting to its depth, its currents, its pressure, is both humbling and freezing.”

Beat Until Stiff by Claire Johnson has Murder on the Menu

Beat Until Stiff

By Claire M. Johnson

Are you hungry for a fun, summer read?  Here it is - a taste of intrigue, with spicy characters, a dash of humor, and a steamy setting all blended into a delicious mystery.

In this mystery the protagonist, Mary Ryan, is a pastry chef at a fancy San Francisco restaurant.  Some who work at the restaurant, or dine there, hide interesting, personal secrets.  And somebody hides one that’s clandestine.  It’s murder after hours in the restaurant’s kitchen.  You the reader are in a great place to try to solve this murder along with Mary.

To complicate matters, Mary’s ex-husband is a police officer and becomes involved in the investigation.  However, the officer assigned to the investigation is the ex-husband’s former partner on patrol who also knows Mary very well.  Neither of them is interested in Mary’s theories, but as the reader you’ll find that the clues she turns up are very helpful.

I really enjoyed the humor in the book, especially with the amateur sleuth, Mary Ryan.  And not just the characters are described so well.  The author painted a vivid picture of the setting.  San Francisco scenes are well known, but Claire M. Johnson wrote deeper including background snippets about the society and cultures there that put the story into a meaningful context.

Claire M. Johnson knows a lot about the life in her book.  After graduating from UC Berkeley with a B.A. in History, she decided to work as a pastry chef.  She loved it so much she continued for eight years in San Francisco and Oakland during the height of their food revolution. The passion and frenzied pace characterizing the food scene on the West Coast during the 1980s is well documented in this book, her first novel Beat Until Stiff.  For this book she won the 1999 Malice Domestic Writers Grant.  She stopped cooking professionally when her children were born.  Eating at restaurants is still one of her favorite hobbies, with her most discerning critiques reserved for their dessert menus.

If you have an appetite for following clues, meeting interesting characters, and trying to solve mysteries, you’ll enjoy this book.  Perhaps you’ll want to read it with a side of Butterscotch pie – Claire M. Johnson’s favorite.

And if you’d like to hear more, from the author herself, please click on our podcast Kendall & Cooper Talk Mysteries with Claire Johnson - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoqePYM_L5w

Go Deep Undercover with a KGB Spy

Deep Undercover

By Jack Barsky

The tension and intrigue of a thriller, spy novel is irresistible for so many of us. What about reading a spy memoir?  Can real life spying stand up to artistic license to kill?  In this case, yes.  I enjoyed reading all about the life of a real German, Russian spy in America during the 1970’s and 1980’s.  You’ll find his spying skills were very different from today’s Russian hacking accusations.

The author was born in 1949 in East Germany, into a small family suffering the impacts of the end of World War II.  This very East German Albrecht Dittrich had no idea he would grow up to take on an American name and life.  He describes in painful recollection the destitute life he lived with his brother and parents, the lack of love, and the early and continued indoctrination into Marxism, Leninism, and the glory of a future with international Communism.  The indoctrination included villainizing Germans living on the other side of the Berlin wall.  How the 0ppression affects the different members of this family during the slow rebuilding from the War is a sobering story.

Brilliant in school, Albrecht caught the attention of KGB.  The recruitment process is a fascinating read.  The skills that he learns, and the tests he’s put through are meant to prepare him for assignments that are at first well understood by his KGB mentors.  Later it’s interesting how they try to prepare him for spying in America, which is an environment they really knew very little about.

When Albrecht is sent to America to spy, he has to leave his entire life behind as if it never existed.  He had to find an American identity he could become, and so he became Jack Barsky.  His family and friends were given a made up cover story and could not contact him at all for years at a time.  As a young, idealistic and fully indoctrinated man, he was able to successfully become a totally different person with a new history and a mission he believed in.  This book allows you to see how he did it.  As time goes on you see how this decision wears on him.  It’s amazing to watch first the strength of his commitment to do his duty, and then it’s spellbinding to watch how the pent up emotion, regret, and discovery of love penetrate his plans and change them.

When Jack Barsky turned his back on the KGB, it was suspenseful to see if they would come after him.  I really enjoyed this book, including the part where the FBI catches him. The FBI agent’s Afterword is also very good at the end of the book.  I have to admit, the last few chapters when the author describes settling into a “normal” American life, I quickly lost interest.  Guess I was really into it for the old fashioned intrigue, and I’m glad there was plenty of that.

Ghost Man by Roger Hobbs

Ghostman

By Roger Hobbs

A casino robbery in Atlantic City goes horribly sideways, despite all appearances of its intricate planning.  The brain behind the operation needs to repair the damage and make it go away.  He calls in an old favor from a Ghostman.  Occasionally called Jack, Ghostman lives completely off the grid and cannot be found when he doesn’t want to be.  He makes himself invisible to society and lives without any ties or associations with people.  You’re introduced to this curious personality, who has a high intellect, and ethics he’s created for himself.  When inclined, he’s an expert fixer who cleans up crimes and makes them disappear.

This time the Ghostman is up against an explosive 48 hour clock, as well as more bad guys.  His analysis of the situation, as well as the stories he hears and sees played out before him, is compelling.  It’s a refreshingly intelligent crime story.  Your page turning will grow faster and faster as you can’t wait to find out what happens next.  No guarantees that anyone is as they seem.  And most fascinating of all is the Ghostman himself.  Incredible the smart ways he keeps himself unknown, fully disguised, in the shadows.  Seeing his personality at work through his own thoughts and actions is a real education.  Woven through the story the Ghostman mentally relives the inciting crime when he created this life for himself, and reasons why he did it.  The psychology is frightening, and at the same time fantastic.

This genius author created shadowy and criminal characters that not only come to life, but demand a true and thought provoking presence.  The smart plot appears to be moving in a specified direction, when the Ghostman improvises, and reimprovises a new ending right before your eyes.

When this novel was written, it received high acclaim from critics as a reinvention of the crime novel.  The excellent, descriptive writing in this debut novel led him to be named one of the best writers in his field.  In 2014 he was nominated for the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by an American Author.  He went on to author Vanishing Games which I look forward to reading.  Tragically he died far too young, near the end of 2016.  This legacy that he’s left his readers is meant to be grabbed tightly and devoured whole.  You’ll fully enjoy this tense ride.

Amanda Knox In Her Own Words

Waiting To Be Heard

By Amanda Knox

A story that monopolized international headlines for months at a time over the course of four years couldn’t tell the whole story.  A University of Washington student, who dreamed through her childhood of spending a year studying in Italy, settles into a life in Perugia, Italy.  Tragic, brutal murder of one of her housemates turns Amanda Knox’s dream into the darkest, life-altering nightmare that took years to resolve, enveloping her beloved family and friends and forever impacting their lives.  This memoir shows an isolated twenty year old who must somehow reach deep into her heart and soul to find courage, inspiration and hope.

I was so moved by the talent and skill of her writing.  I mean, this author can really write.  I felt the naïveté, the giddiness, the youthful freedom at the start of her dream adventure.  Then, I felt the accelerating horror as destiny takes hold.  And then, I was swept up in the diametrically opposed emotions as she’s jailed in Italy, put on trial in a media surroundsound, and convicted with a twenty-six year sentence for a crime she did not commit.

At the heart is Meredith Kercher who will not be forgotten.  What the reader learns about her crystallizes what a beautiful young woman’s life was stolen so young.  Amanda writes anecdotes about the short time she and Meredith had together as friends.  What a nice, naïve, giving young woman, also joyful with her own dreams and aspirations and part of a loving family and circle of friends left devastated.

The author is not only able to vividly record her own experiences, but she also gives glimpses into the experience of her family, friends, and others including Rafaelle Sollecito who was also wrongly convicted.  The reader is filled with compassion for them all for what they also endured.  You can vividly imagine the horror to be in Seattle on the other end of Amanda’s evolving phone calls home, to uproot your life, maintain a residence in Italy to be as near as possible for years, watch your finances dwindle, and struggle to maintain hope your daughter would be freed.

It takes an incredible storyteller to write about a well known, true event in a way that the reader is carried along and kept in the moment on each page.  I found myself hoping for triumphs and fearing tragedy and thinking the next page would be different, as if history can be changed.  Amanda Knox takes us on an insightful tour of the long trip from agony to ecstasy.  The author is never self-pitying, never represents herself as a victim.  Her depiction of the Italian police, the trials, her attorneys, her guards, and others she was in jail with is all riveting.

Today the author lives in Seattle and works with the Innocence Project, which is a non-profit dedicated to putting an end to wrongful convictions.  Exonerated by Italy’s highest court in 2015, almost four years after she was acquitted of murder, you can believe that such an effort would be close to Amanda Knox’s heart.  She’s also attended college courses and is an Arts Correspondent at the West Seattle Herald.  She paints a picture of a person who does not fear life, but relishes it.