Deborah Knott is the Bootlegger's Daughter by Margaret Maron

Bootlegger’s Daughter

By Margaret Maron

                A cold case has haunted the tobacco country of Colleton County, North Carolina in this novel about the Bootlegger’s Daughter that is the first in the Deborah Knott series by Margaret Maron. Eighteen years ago a mother and baby daughter disappeared. Found three days later, the baby survived but her mother was already dead. This unsolved murder became a local legend that haunted residents, including baby Gayle as she grew up. Now an adult, Gayle has hired attorney Deborah Knott to investigate so her mother can finally rest in peace with her killer finally caught, and Gayle hopes she can find some kind of peace in that closure as well.

                In the midst of all her work, Deborah presses for her passion for fair court sentencing that represents her commitment, that “punishment is supposed to deter a person from doing it again, not crush his spirit.” A particularly ruthless decree in a court case that Deborah watched while she waited for her client’s case to start next, that was the spark that began the fire of her own campaign for District Judge. The excitement of the primaries and then the election pulses through the pages. Campaigning with her family’s long history is sometimes an asset, and sometimes a liability. She is, after all, the strong-willed daughter of Kezzie Knott – notorious bootlegger, ex-con, and political string-puller. As this investigation continues, and as the campaign trail heats up, Deborah finds herself fully immersed in intrigue, debate, and the dangers of posing a threat to a murderer.

                Margaret Maron writes with an insider’s knowledge, in her Deborah Knott series, of the legacy of Southern culture – the land, the history, the issues of race, family secrets and often-troubled inheritance. The characters she creates are touching and compelling. Amidst some thoughtful, dire, and action packed issues handled in her books, there’s also some playfulness and even wistfulness in some of the characters.

                Born and raised in North Carolina, author Margaret Maron is a highly-regarded and awarded mystery writer.  She’s won the Agatha Award for her urban New York series featuring police detective Sigrid Harald, and the Edgar Award for Best Novel for Bootlegger’s Daughter. She’s also won the renowned Anthony and also the Macavity Awards.  Enjoy her 34 novels and two collections of short stories. A long-standing member of the Mystery Writers of America, she’s also held office as President of the Sisters in Crime organization. Her book, Bootlegger’s Daughter, was chosen as one of the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers.

                And if you want to hear more from the author listen on YouTube to Kendall & Cooper Talk Mysteries with Margaret Maron

Renee Patrick's Design For Dying

Design For Dying

By Renee Patrick

                Lights, camera, mystery! Travel to the golden age of vintage Hollywood and see if you can find the killer as you gather clues along with partnered amateur sleuths Lillian Frost and Edith Head. That’s right, in this novel it’s 1937 Los Angeles and Edith Head has yet to gain fame and any of her eight Academy Awards. Right now she’s starting at the bottom, working the wardrobes for movie stars. She’s also helping to discover and analyze some curious Hollywood secrets.

                Murder strikes one of the many young women who have come to Hollywood on the promise of a screen test and the hope of a leading role. Who would have the motive, means, and opportunity to kill this intriguing young woman, a gem named Ruby? You’ll learn much about this beautiful victim through her friends, including Lillian Frost. Lillian was also an aspiring actress, who is working in a department store. She jumps into the investigation after handsome Detective Morrow initially pulls her aside as one of the suspects. As you gather clues with Lillian, you’re taken on a fun hunt through scenes of the entertainment industry as it’s gathering its momentum as a business of dreams. Early in this journey our young amateur sleuth meets and becomes friends with hard working Edith Head. During the hunt there are wonderful, cameo appearances by fictionalized, real name actors and celebrities that will delight you.

                The authors are a surprise too. Yes it is collaboration, written by husband and wife team Rosemarie and Vince Keenan. They’ve done an incredible amount of research about classic Hollywood and they weave this information into the story so dynamically that the background and details add dimension into this story. Some of the elements you’ll enjoy include the irresistible humor, and the alluring glamour. And at the heart is an exciting mystery to solve. After all, as one of Barbara Stanwyck’s lines in the movie Baby Face in 1933 – “What chance has a woman got?”

                There’s already a wonderful sequel available titled Dangerous To Know. In this novel you’ll meet again some recurring characters, and be introduced to new ones and more fun celebrity cameos. A third book is in the works now.

                And if you want to hear more from the authors listen on YouTube to Kendall & Cooper Talk Mysteries with Renee Patrick

Murder As A Fine Art, A Masterpiece Read

    

              Murder As A Fine Art
               By David Morrell

                It’s London in 1854 and a killer has murdered a family of five people with the threat of more killings to come. It seems to be the work of a monster, yet in the result are the machinations of a person who strives to craft his brutality into a composition of scene, design, light, sentient sentiment. It’s almost artistry in the mind of the killer. Is this an original? Or is the killer copying the serial killings that terrorized London 40 years earlier? If a copy, there are more to come, and the residents are becoming stirred into a frenzy again as history seems to be repeating itself.

                To catch this cunning executioner, it will take a smart and unorthodox group of investigators who can imagine themselves into the mind of a serial killer. By 1854 a detective bureau was created to supplement the overtaxed police in London’s fast growing population. It included eight plainclothes officers who investigated in disguise, and this case was assigned to two of these men who were extolled for their extraordinary attention to detail and analytical skills, while being held under morbid suspicion by many of the population who feared their prying eyes.

                The detectives match their wits, and the tools of the infancy of forensic science, against evil. They add to their arsenal an unlikely father and daughter. He is known as the Opium Eater, and the books he writes and publishes are known as “novels of sensation”. One is a disturbing essay dramatizing the infamous Ratcliffe Highway killings of 1811. What’s described is eerily similar to these recent murders. His daughter is his companion and helper, and she is a remarkably un-Victorian woman. Her theories and observations on the case are insightful.

                The author, David Morrell is such a gifted writer. The scenes and the characters leap to life from the page to the reader’s imagination. He’s been called the Father of modern action novels. Back in 1972, he wrote a book with an unusual and iconic hero. That book was First Blood, and the iconic hero, a returned Vietnam veteran with PTSD, was Rambo. After writing the ground-breaking story of one of the best-known and most iconic anti-heroes, he has followed that with so many action and historical mystery and thriller best-sellers.

                He’s been a finalist for the Edgar, Anthony, Thriller and Arthur Ellis awards, and won the Nero and Macavity awards, as well as being a three-time recipient of the esteemed Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writers Association. The Bouchercon Conference gave him its Lifetime Achievement Award among many recognitions. He’s also a gifted teacher of writing, with a Ph.D in American Literature, and he co-founded the renowned International Thriller Writers organization with author Gayle Lynds.

                And if you want to hear more from the author listen on YouTube to Kendall & Cooper Talk Mysteries with David Morrell