American Blonde = triumphant return of a terrific character

One of my favorite books so far this year! Girl pilot/spy Velva Jean returns to America and is swept up in LaLa Land politics and intrigue.

If you loved Jennifer Niven's first three Velva Jean Hart books, you won't be disappointed by this witty, well written story set in post-WWII Hollywood. If you haven't read the first three books (I haven't, but I probably will now), you'll have no trouble falling in love with this character and following her continuing adventures.

I thoroughly enjoyed it! 

Colleen Thompson's serial thriller THE BEST VICTIM = #YesPlease (with a bullet!)

Colleen Thompson is doing what she does best in her new serial thriller, The Best Victim, taking us back to the intense emotion, taut plotting, and eerie atmospherics that makes critics to invoke Tami Hoag and Tess Gerritsen. Smart serial publishing by Amazon's Montlake imprint doles the story out one tantalizing episode at a time at a price that's easy to click.

The timely story is just the right amount of gruesome: a vicious online stalker called the Troll King gets his jollies by relentlessly dogging vulnerable young women until they commit suicide. And that can really piss a big sister off...

I've been waiting for the series to launch, which it did today! BAM. Check it out!

#2MinRevu CITY OF LOST DREAMS by Magnus Flyte = magical, mystical nerd-a-palooza

City of Lost Dreams is the magical mystical sequel to City of Dark Magic, which I raved on and recommended last year. Drawing on the art, music and history of Vienna, it follows the adventures of Sarah, a young musicologist on a mission to help her friend, a pianist with a sixth sense.

Terrifically spirited (pun intended), well-written, and intelligent. I ended up babbling a bit when I tried to sum up the complex plot, but trust me, it works. Highly recommending you read City of Dark Magic first.

#TBR Joyce Maynard talks about the chilling inspiration for her new novel AFTER HER

There's always room for Joyce Maynard on my TBR pile. She's one of those authors whose books are a writing workshop. Read her if you want to be a better writer. Or a well-fed reader.

In bookstores this week, Maynard's new novel After Her: A Novel. Here Maynard shares the chilling backstory...

A funny thing happened on the way to the Fashion District (Updating my review of Eric Coyote's THE LONG DRUNK)

Had to update my review of Eric Coyote's THE LONG DRUNK (Book 1 of The Homeless Detective Trilogy) with this funny little story about what happens when a great book goes out into the atmosphere...

The gist of my original review from last year: "A grittily horrid heroic journey that made me laugh out loud, fight tears, hug my dog and take a long, hot shower. Highly recommended but not for the prissy."
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Suzanne Rindell's riveting psychodrama THE OTHER TYPIST = Gatsby flare + Hitchcock twist

I really want Suzanne Rindell's The Other Typist to be the hottest read of the summer for the selfish reason that I can't wait to talk about the ending with someone!

Uptight Rose Baker is a police precinct typist in the 1920s, dutifully transcribing the confessions of rapists, murderers and thieves. Her new coworker, Odalie, draws her out of her shell and into her speakeasy Jazz Age lifestyle, but it's soon apparent that there is something sinister about this free-spirited stranger. Highly recommended!

Everything I loved about 'Top of the Lake' I loved about THE MEMORY OF LOVE by Linda Olsson

The harshly beautiful landscape of New Zealand -- and the harshly beautiful people of New Zealand -- create a rich environment for this wonderfully talented author.

On a quest to rescue a little boy from a rotten home situation, the protagonist, Marion, journeys into her own troubled past and confronts the realities of the people who loved and hurt damaged her.

Highly recommended for book clubs and lovers of excellent literary fiction.

Nancy Atherton's delightful cozy mystery series holds up nicely with AUNT DIMITY & THE LOST PRINCE

Gotta love Nancy Atherton's ghostly detective series starring Aunt Dimity and her young (very much alive) protege, Lori.

Lori is back, supported by the colorful cast of characters from the town of Finch, to solve the mystery involving a silver sleigh, a Russian prince, an enigmatic little girl in a pink parka and the ongoing teapot tempests of life in Finch.

This series has stayed fresh and charming over the course of almost 20 years (I think this is the 18th book), and will delight fans of Miss Marple type cozies.

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THE HURRICANE LOVER is "a powerful book that deserves to be read"

This week, Catriona Troth interviews author Joni Rodgers on the Triskele Books blog and reviews The Hurricane Lover:

"There is a filmic quality to the writing that means that the book played out in my mind in a series of vivid images. Rodgers has an ear, too, for the rich language of the Louisiana: colourful, gutsy and laced with Old French... 

The book has an undoubted political edge. It’s hard to miss the deep underlying anger at the woefully inadequate response to the hurricane. It comes through in Corbin’s railing against head-in-the-sand attitude of the authorities, and also in the verbatim reproduction, as chapter headings, of published emails to and from the Head of FEMA – the organisation charged with preparing for and coping with the disaster. Yet Rodgers avoids polemic by giving the ‘opposition’ their own rounded, sympathetic characters. 

This is a powerful book that deserves to be read both for the yarn it spins and for the real-life story it uncovers. Highly Recommended.

Read the rest here.

Kill Smartie Breedlove

Pulled the trigger on my new novel on Thursday. Huge THANK YOU to 18,000+ readers who welcomed Smartie to the world and made her debut the #1 mystery download on Kindle!

From the official flap copy:
A deliciously quirky whodunit by the bestselling author of SUGARLAND and THE HURRICANE LOVER…

Recently widowed private dick Shep Hartigate, a dishonored cop reduced to chasing cheating spouses for a ruthless Houston divorce lawyer, teams up with free-spirited pulp fiction writer Smartie Breedlove to find out who’s killing the inconvenient exes of Texas—including Smartie’s BFF, Charma Bovet, a centerfold with a heart of gold. Could Shep’s gorgeous but unscrupulous employer really have a secret bimbo/mimbo hit list? Or is Smartie Breedlove a few peeps shy of an Easter basket?

A colorful cast of problematic lovers, longsuffering family, and stalwart friends (both two-legged and four-legged) close ranks around Smartie and Shep as they sift clues and maneuver to stay alive. Calling on her longtime companions Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Daphne du Maurier, Smartie finds a roadmap to the hardboiled plot twists and U-turns drawing her perilously close to a damaging past that left her scarred and now threatens to destroy her.

NYT bestselling ghostwriter, author and indie publisher Joni Rodgers is known for creating characters that resonate, dialogue that crackles with wit, and plots that surprise. If you love a great mystery woven with skill, humor and compassion, KILL SMARTIE BREEDLOVE will not disappoint.

Kill Smartie Breedlove is just $3.99 on Kindle.