Review: Article 15: A Griffith Crowe Adventure

Article 15: A Griffith Crowe Adventure by M.T. Bass
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Half-Arapaho Wyoming ranchowner Griffin Crowe sidelines as a troubleshooter for a hogh-powered Chicago law firm. Usually success is expected, but his newest cade entangles him with an unstoppable femme fatale and vastly more trouble than he could have imagined.

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Review: Molten Mud Murder

Molten Mud Murder by Sara E. Johnson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

MOLTEN MUD MURDER is an engrossing murder mystery set in beautifully scenic New Zealand's North Island. At once a police procedural, a narrative of forensics, a romantic suspense, and an unfolding mystery set against a backdrop of divergent cultures and an often ugly history, this novel kept me riveted. Forensic odontologist Alexa Glock is a strong protagonist, despite her tragic past, determined to persevere in unraveling this puzzling case. I hope her adventures (North Carolinian temporarily transplanted to New Zealand) take root and prosper in sequels.


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Review: Pete the Pig Gets Picked On

Pete the Pig Gets Picked On by Lindsey Coker Luckey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Cheers for Pete, who finds his "differentness" is a useful trait to help himself and many others. Engaging rhyme and illustrations power a tale for children with a great lesson.

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Review: Dragon's Fury

Dragon's Fury by Michael Gordon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A wise pesson, capably presented. No bad guys here: a dragon friend and a boy, both learning good ways of coping with frustration. Lovely illustrations.

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Review: Ghosters 3 Secrets of the Bloody Tower

Ghosters 3 Secrets of the Bloody Tower by Diana Corbitt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I, too, have coulrophobia and couldn't stay in the Thousand Clowns Motel (or anywhere within sight!) But like our intrepid ghost "detectives," I too would adore visiting London and touring the thirteen components of the Tower of London. Kerry, Theresa, Joey, and Kerry's Gran have an extra special encounter coming: the spirits of the two princes, nephews of Richard III, disappeared, and from the beginning, presumed murdered. And the exciting third installment of the Ghosters adventures is afoot!

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Review: Molly: The True Story of the Amazing Dog Who Rescues Cats

Molly: The True Story of the Amazing Dog Who Rescues Cats by Colin Butcher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

From early childhood, we are taught that felines and canines never ever mix. Well, in the UK, the "star" of UK Pet Detectives, an adorable cocker spaniel named Molly, proves the exception to the rule. Along with her handler Colin Butcher , formerly in the Royal Navy and a long-time police officer, Molly has participated in over 100 searches with a high success rate.

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Review: Evil Sushi

Evil Sushi by C.A. King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In addition to its creatively unexpected title, EVIL SUSHI is that rare event, Horror with Heart. I really warmed up to the characters (most of them) who are really just small-town good guys trying to survive in a world where "scarce resources" almost means "nonexistent," who still endeavor to provide for their families and loved ones, and help friends. (The setting is not too far in the future.) Corporate fishing (read depth charges) has exploded a deep-sea rift and two village fishermen are benefitting from an inexplicable resultant catch. But what's too good to be true often is, and between a greedy restaurant chain owner, govermental agencies, and corporations, the fishermen are between a virtual rock and a hard place. But most damaging and dangerous is what else lurks beyond the new rift. Absorbing Marine Horror.


Also read for the Canadian Challenge.

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Review: Evil Sushi

Evil Sushi by C.A. King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In addition to its creatively unexpected title, EVIL SUSHI is that rare event, Horror with Heart. I really warmed up to the characters (most of them) who are really just small-town good guys trying to survive in a world where "scarce resources" almost means "nonexistent," who still endeavor to provide for their families and loved ones, and help friends. (The setting is not too far in the future.) Corporate fishing (read depth charges) has exploded a deep-sea rift and two village fishermen are benefitting from an inexplicable resultant catch. But what's too good to be true often is, and between a greedy restaurant chain owner, govermental agencies, and corporations, the fishermen are between a virtual rock and a hard place. But most damaging and dangerous is what else lurks beyond the new rift. Absorbing Marine Horror.


Also read for the Canadian Challenge.

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Review: Evil Sushi

Evil Sushi by C.A. King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In addition to its creatively unexpected title, EVIL SUSHI is that rare event, Horror with Heart. I really warmed up to the characters (most of them) who are really just small-town good guys trying to survive in a world where "scarce resources" almost means "nonexistent," who still endeavor to provide for their families and loved ones, and help friends. (The setting is not too far in the future.) Corporate fishing (read depth charges) has exploded a deep-sea rift and two village fishermen are benefitting from an inexplicable resultant catch. But what's too good to be true often is, and between a greedy restaurant chain owner, govermental agencies, and corporations, the fishermen are between a virtual rock and a hard place. But most damaging and dangerous is what else lurks beyond the new rift. Absorbing Marine Horror.


Also read for the Canadian Challenge.

View all my reviews

Review: Evil Sushi

Evil Sushi by C.A. King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In addition to its creatively unexpected title, EVIL SUSHI is that rare event, Horror with Heart. I really warmed up to the characters (most of them) who are really just small-town good guys trying to survive in a world where "scarce resources" almost means "nonexistent," who still endeavor to provide for their families and loved ones, and help friends. (The setting is not too far in the future.) Corporate fishing (read depth charges) has exploded a deep-sea rift and two village fishermen are benefitting from an inexplicable resultant catch. But what's too good to be true often is, and between a greedy restaurant chain owner, govermental agencies, and corporations, the fishermen are between a virtual rock and a hard place. But most damaging and dangerous is what else lurks beyond the new rift. Absorbing Marine Horror.


Also read for the Canadian Challenge.

View all my reviews

Review: Evil Sushi

Evil Sushi by C.A. King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In addition to its creatively unexpected title, EVIL SUSHI is that rare event, Horror with Heart. I really warmed up to the characters (most of them) who are really just small-town good guys trying to survive in a world where "scarce resources" almost means "nonexistent," who still endeavor to provide for their families and loved ones, and help friends. (The setting is not too far in the future.) Corporate fishing (read depth charges) has exploded a deep-sea rift and two village fishermen are benefitting from an inexplicable resultant catch. But what's too good to be true often is, and between a greedy restaurant chain owner, govermental agencies, and corporations, the fishermen are between a virtual rock and a hard place. But most damaging and dangerous is what else lurks beyond the new rift. Absorbing Marine Horror.


Also read for the Canadian Challenge.

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Review: Short Horror Stories Vol. 1: Horror Short Stories Collection with Scary Ghosts, Paranormal & Supernatural Monsters

Short Horror Stories Vol. 1: Horror Short Stories Collection with Scary Ghosts, Paranormal & Supernatural Monsters by Scare Street
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A trio of horror shorts to delight the discerning horror aficionado, featuring implacable and inescapable horror in differing, seemingly practical and everyday venues. The first story, my favorite, has some resonances of "Ring" and a "gift" that keeps on giving, but also some poetic justice. In the second, a compassionate Catholic priest unfortunately encounters horror beyond his worldview (no poetic justice here). In the third offering (delightfully tongue in cheek), a very wealthy and self-centered widow encounters the long arm of poetic justice.

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Review: SHORT HORROR STORIES VOL. 1 _ SCARE STREET

A trio of horror shorts to delight the discerning horror aficionado, featuring implacable and inescapable horror in differing, seemingly practical and everyday venues. The first story, my favorite, has some resonances of "Ring" and a "gift" that keeps on giving, but also some poetic justice. In the second, a compassionate Catholic priest unfortunately encounters horror beyond his worldview (no poetic justice here). In the third offering (delightfully tongue in cheek), a very wealthy and self-centered widow encounters the long arm of poetic justice.

(Release Oct. 16)

Review: If Only I Could Tell You

If Only I Could Tell You by Hannah Beckerman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Over how many decades can a covert family secret divide sisters? It's been 28 years for sisters Jess and Lily, but now that their mother Audrey has terminal cancer, and Lily's hotshot lawyer husband is off to the States for six months (maybe more), surely it's time to clear the decks, air the family laundry, expose all the secrets. Isn't it?


Narrated from triple points of view: Audrey, Jess, Lily, this psychological evocation set in London will resonate with fans of Lisa Jewell and Paula Hawkins, any reader who wishes a clearer understanding of Family, or who yearns for Second Chances.

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Review: FINDING MIRANDA: Minokee Mysteries, Book One

FINDING MIRANDA: Minokee Mysteries, Book One by Iris Chacon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

FINDING MIRANDA is Book 1 of the MINOKEE MYSTERIES, set in Little Cypress Forest in North Central Florida, in a tiny insular community, Minokee. No real estate sales, just lifetime living and inheritance. No businesses.


It's problematical not to love a novel featuring a dog, a librarian, a sweet-hearted blind guy, and lots of suspense leavened with gentle humour. Fortunately I really enjoyed the story, and am gleefully anticipating the next (THE MAMMOTH MURDERS, release Nov. 1)

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Review: The Furies

The Furies by Katie Lowe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

THE FURIES is a novel of deeply character driven literary fiction, turning on the twin cruxes of Sisterhood and "female rage." It stars several charismatic demagogues, including Robin, the girl whose friendship narrator Violet so strives for (to the point of mutating her character) and cherishes; Annabel, teacher of Aesthetics and a perennial "secret" girls' class, inciting female rage and revenge; and the not-quite-appropriate Dean of Students. Elm Hollow, the private girls' school in a small seaside English community, is the inheritor of myth and history, including an undercurrent of occult study and practice so appealing to a certain segment of the students.

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Review: The Dark Stuff

The Dark Stuff by Paul Seiple
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Which is worse, human evil or Supernatural elements? Human cupidity, concupiscence, and rage, or demonic manifestations? Readers of THE DARK STUFF will have a plethora of opportunities to ponder these questions, as the nature of demonic infestation dances a fine line with evil that is purely of human conception. This novel of Supernatural Horror will really appeal to those who consider the Spirit Board (Ouija) not a toy, but a tool of the demonic and an open invitation to Evil.


I quite readily emphasized with protagonist Daniel; he really tries. Unlike a few of the other characters! Daniel recognizes his foibles and strives to overcome. In fact, his dedication is practically unending; many individuals would have given up long before. The outcome abd denouement were unexpected, but ultimately satisfying in terms of poetic justice. (Don't read ahead!)

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Review: Trail of the Hana K'ilo

Trail of the Hana K'ilo by Channing Whitaker
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

I enjoyed the first novel in the Skeptic Detective Series, ONE NIGHT AT THE DRAKE MANSION, but TRAIL OF THE HANA K'ILO I enjoyed a thousand times more. Maybe it was the Alaskan setting, maybe the cryptozoology, maybe (again) it was the tension between Skeptic Science and True Believers (this time in cryptids). In any event, I gleefully devoured this one and am scanning the horizon for the next. Harlan Holt, Skeptic Detective, rocks.

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Review: One Night in Drake Mansion

One Night in Drake Mansion by Channing Whitaker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

First in the Skeptic Detective Series, our protagonist is Ph.D. candidate Harlan Holt, a member of Science, Magicians, Skeptics Foundation and anthropology graduate student. Harlan is an endearing and personable young man with a scientific frame of mind. Together with a young woman about to enter medical school, an aspiring actress, a paranormal investigator and a medium, he spends one night in a mansion abandoned for 80 years after the disappearances of all five of the family plus a well-known magician.


Between spooky occurrences and the unfolding of a historical megalomania, the reader is kept engrossed. Perhaps best is the ongoing balance between Science, as represented by skeptic Harlan, and paranormal believers, in the psychic medium and the paranormal investigator. The denouement is stunning.

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Review: One Night in Drake Mansion

One Night in Drake Mansion by Channing Whitaker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

First in the Skeptic Detective Series, our protagonist is Ph.D. candidate Harlan Holt, a member of Science, Magicians, Skeptics Foundation and anthropology graduate student. Harlan is an endearing and personable young man with a scientific frame of mind. Together with a young woman about to enter medical school, an aspiring actress, a paranormal investigator and a medium, he spends one night in a mansion abandoned for 80 years after the disappearances of all five of the family plus a well-known magician.


Between spooky occurrences and the unfolding of a historical megalomania, the reader is kept engrossed. Perhaps best is the ongoing balance between Science, as represented by skeptic Harlan, and paranormal believers, in the psychic medium and the paranormal investigator. The denouement is stunning.

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Review: One Night in Drake Mansion

One Night in Drake Mansion by Channing Whitaker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

First in the Skeptic Detective Series, our protagonist is Ph.D. candidate Harlan Holt, a member of Science, Magicians, Skeptics Foundation and anthropology graduate student. Harlan is an endearing and personable young man with a scientific frame of mind. Together with a young woman about to enter medical school, an aspiring actress, a paranormal investigator and a medium, he spends one night in a mansion abandoned for 80 years after the disappearances of all five of the family plus a well-known magician.


Between spooky occurrences and the unfolding of a historical megalomania, the reader is kept engrossed. Perhaps best is the ongoing balance between Science, as represented by skeptic Harlan, and paranormal believers, in the psychic medium and the paranormal investigator. The denouement is stunning.

View all my reviews