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

Savor The Elusive Elixir by Gigi Pandian

The Elusive Elixir 

By Gigi Pandian

                Centuries-old protagonist Zoe Faust, the accidental alchemist, is traveling between Portland, Oregon and Paris, France, in search of an Elusive Elixir that can help her friend and sidekick, Dorian the three-foot tall gargoyle chef. He is facing a dire dilemma as he is slowly turning into stone. As you can imagine, Dorian has to keep a low profile around Portland to avoid scaring the residents, although his innate talents and humor are truly a delight. Only Zoe can unravel the alchemical secrets that may save him. During her distraught search, she is also confronted by a cold case murder from one of her previous lives that she’s compelled to solve. As you can deduce, this inventive author has raveled some supernatural and paranormal elements around an irresistible mystery.

                As Zoe explains, “Alchemy is a personal transformation. Its core principle is transforming the impure into the pure, be it lead into gold or a dying body into a thriving one.” She is dedicated with a deep passion to her science. She’s also a loyal friend and struggles with her extraordinarily lengthy life in the social ties she makes. In this book she revels in the joys of romance, while still shuddering as she contemplates the secrets she’s keeping from him. The reader is treated to almost the feeling of time travel as Zoe recalls adventures of her previous lives. The author writes in such gorgeous details, different eras are magically brought to life.

                Gigi Pandian is a USA Today bestselling author with three books in the Accidental Alchemist series. She’s received the Left Coast Crime’s Lefty and Rose awards, as well as short listed for the Macavity and Agatha Awards. She spent much of her childhood travelling the world with her cultural anthropologist parents, undoubtedly enriching her writing by bringing depth to her settings and brilliance to her characters. She is also an enthusiastic, almost vegan health food dynamo. She treats her readers to delicious, easy-to-make recipes in her books as well.

                This is truly an original mystery, laced with supernatural components, and a modern twist on an ancient science. Will that Elusive Elixir be found in time to save Dorian from a horrific nightmare, trapped alive within stone? Will the cold case murder be solved to Zoe’s satisfaction, before she is herself accused of the murder from her past life? And can romance thrive through it all? You’ll enjoy reading about it all.

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

A Work Of Love by Connie Connally

The Songs We Hide

By Connie Hampton Connally

               

                What we play for the world are the songs that the world wants to hear from us. The music that shapes the soul and reveals who we really are, those are The Songs We Hide, lovingly written about by Connie Hampton Connally.

                Evoking stunning emotions, this author conducts a magnum opus of incredibly beautiful historical fiction. Her writing brings to life the people of stark, brutal, 1951 Hungary. Katalin and Peter are young adults and upon their shoulders they bear the brunt of post World War II, where survival is made so much more difficult by the brutal regime suffocating freedoms. As Katalin realizes, “during the war she had held out hope, because some day the war would end. Now the war was over, but what was there to hope for?”

                Katalin was singing a wonderful duet with vibrant Robert, ‘Caro Mio Ben’, ‘My Dear Beloved’.  Now the same notes pained her to the core, as a loving single mother of her one year old daughter, whose father had suddenly disappeared. The government and secret police made terrifying disappearances common place. Robert hadn’t even known he was going to be a father, and she had no idea which one of the too many horrifying places he was held. That’s if he was still alive.

                Peter’s family had been rocked by the travesties of war, and then “The Collective” had confiscated what little their hard work had been able to achieve. They lived under the constant threat not only of starvation, but of their family’s separation and loneliness. Peter and his brothers had lost their mother, and their weary father had to try and carry on with his broken heart. Peter shyly sings his songs quietly to the beloved horse who works with them on what’s left of their beloved family farm. But they can’t make a living any longer on the farm alone. Peter must go to work in the city, where he meets Katalin who is waiting, for her beloved Robert. The lives of Katalin, Peter, and the people around them in this story will deepen the reverberating drum beat of your heart.

                The author, Connie Hampton Connally, became interested in Hungary’s turbulent history from her love of music. Through music she was inspired by the story of Zoltán Kodály, a twentieth-century Hungarian composer who spread music in his nation despite totalitarianism and two world wars. This author writes such memorable turns to a phrase, and such noteworthy descriptions that range the full spectrum of human emotions from despair through hope. In The Songs We Hide she’s composed a stirring tribute to the incredible strength of people, in a brutal time in Hungarian history, and the desperate need to create hope. As the crescendo builds, the reader will wonder, and hope – Can people withstand, can they be stronger than the hatred and betrayal surrounding them?

Matching Wits With the Devil of Delphi

Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis Mystery Series

By Jeffrey Siger

                “The shooter was a pro. . . . You were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and only by the grace of God didn’t end up with a bullet in your brain.” All is not sunshine and beauty in the Greek Isles and in present-day Athens. Central Police Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis and his team are kept busy, especially in this seventh book in the series as they match wits to solve the mystery driven by the Devil of Delphi, and those who have made a deal with the devil.

                The legitimate world market is threatened with a flood of counterfeit, sometimes deadly alcohol. When some consumers suffer fatal consequences because of poisons included in the “bomba”, it catches police attention. When a member of one of Greece’s richest and most feared families is dramatically shot dead, political pressure is sudden, intense and vicious that the police solve the case. Chief Inspector is under the gun in this exciting police procedural. They are up against a fearless crime syndicate that’s driven by an unquestioned ruler. Her followers call her Teacher, and she is now the one who enforces the cardinal principle of those who had enslaved her in her younger life:  Do as I say or die.

                 This author, Jeffrey Siger, writes incredibly interesting and complex characters. You learn so much about the incidents in their lives that shape their actions and the impacts those actions have on so many others.  He shows how his villainous characters live their lives through their own sort of moral code that they’ve twisted from their personal histories. Their correlating actions show the reader a darker side. One of the assassins, known by his chosen name of Kharon, demonstrates his penchant for the way he takes out his targets. He “preferred the up close, personal approach to ending a life, one that allowed him the opportunity of affording a potential victim a reasoned means for survival.” Just as interesting are the personalities and motivations of the Chief and his team’s members.

                Jeffrey Siger is a Pittsburgh native and former Wall Street lawyer and name partner in his own New York City law firm to write mystery thrillers that tell more than just a fast-paced story. His novels explore serious societal issues confronting modern day Greece, and still touching on the country’s ancient roots and gloriously picturesque setting. I recommend the series; the ninth is now available, An Aegean April.

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

Now You Know - Fast Falls the Night by Julia Keller

  Prosecutor Bell Elkins soon realizes that her Appalachian hometown is facing a tragically fatal challenge fighting a single day’s record number of heroin overdoses from a batch tainted with a lethal tranquilizer as Fast Falls the Night. This is the most recent in the enthralling mystery series by Pulitzer Prize winner and author Julia Keller.

                The first overdose murder comes right after midnight, followed by many more before the full day ends. The Police and Prosecutor work desperately to track down who is selling the bad batch of drugs. It’s most disturbing that this novel is based on a real life event. The author tells this story through the perspectives of the different victims and also other people in the small town of Acker’s Gap in West Virginia. The reader then gets an understanding of what brings people to the brink of tragedy, and also the impacts that one person’s actions can have on so many different people.

                While Bell Elkins is feverishly working with the police, she’s also facing some dark family issues surprisingly uncovered, that is undeniably life altering. It’s one thing to deal professionally with unspoken tragic events that affect others, but how will Bell deal with it when she’s confronted with buried emotions and acts within her own personal history?

                The author, Julia Keller, spent twelve years as a reporter and editor for the Chicago Tribune. It was during that time that she won the Pulitzer for Journalism. As the Chicago Tribune described – “. . . for a gripping, meticulously reconstructed account of a deadly 10-second tornado that ripped through Utica, Illinois.” What struck me immediately by these articles she wrote in 2004 was how she puts the reader so completely into the setting and scene of the storm, through every sense including desperation/fear, but the focus was how she made the stories about the people – their stories and the impact on their lives. It’s so much like her writing in her books. So often in mysteries it’s the acts that are the focus, but she puts the characters in the forefront. In Fast Falls the Night each chapter heading is a character, and each is written from their different points of view. The reader really gets to walk a few steps in these characters shoes, and that elicits a glimmer of understanding.

                And if you want to hear more from the author listen to Kendall & Cooper Talk Mysteries with Julia Keller