Today is my turn on the Book n All Promotions Blog Tour and I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE ABBERLEY BEACH MURDERS (Detective Dove Milson Book #3) by D.E. White.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
***
Book Description
THE ELECTRIFYING NEWEST NOVEL STARRING DETECTIVE DOVE MILSON.
Four dead.
One clinging to life.
Are they tragic accidents or is someone out to kill?
Detective Dove Milson is called out to a gruesome scene under the pier: four bodies floating in a flooded escape room. What really happened after midnight in room 6?
Then Dove discovers one of the dead was a person of interest in a cold case involving Olympian in-the-making Mickey Delaney. She was left for dead in an abandoned quarry and has been in a coma for five years.
What’s the connection between these cases and do they have anything to do with the attacks on the beach?
One thing is clear.
Dove’s in a dangerous game of cat and mouse and only one of them will escape with their life.
THE ABBERLEY BEACH MURDERS (Detective Dove Milson Book #3) by D.E. White is another outstanding British police procedural crime mystery in the Detective Dove Milson series. This has quickly become one of my favorite series in this genre. The books can all be read as standalone crime mysteries, but Dove, her colleagues and family have all been evolving and I believe this series is best read in order.
Detective Dove Milson and her partner, DS Steve Parker are called to the scene of a gruesome crime. Four bodies are found floating in a flooded escape room.
Dove discovers one of the dead was a person of interest in a cold case where a promising Olympian gymnast was attacked and left for dead in a quarry. She has been in a coma for the last five years.
Dove is being watched as she works to discover if there is a connection between these two cases. Will she be able to solve the crimes before she too becomes a victim in this dangerous game?
I love Dove and D.E. White’s writing style. This book, like all the others in the series, is an intricate puzzle that is cleverly crafted and builds momentum as it comes together and reaches a surprising climax and conclusion, and I am always surprised at the end. The crimes may be gruesome but Dove and her colleagues are realistically portrayed in their determination to catch the killer and solve the crime.
I highly recommend this British police procedural crime mystery, the entire series and this author!
***
Author Bio
Daisy White started writing fifteen years ago, scribbling ideas on napkins at work on the night shift. After various jobs, including working as cabin crew, in a hospital, a supermarket, and as a 999 call handler for the ambulance service, she began writing full time in 2018.
She writes cosy crime as Daisy White, including the Amazon bestselling RUBY BAKER MYSTERIES (Joffe Books), and psychological thrillers as D.E. White; REMEMBER ME and THE FORGOTTEN CHILD (HarperCollins).
Her latest book, THE FORGOTTEN CHILD, was released on kindle, audiobook and paperback in October 2019, and charted at number 15 in the US Amazon Kindle Top 100. It has been described as ‘…an explosive gangland thriller.’
Daisy’s new police procedural, GLASS DOLLS, featuring DC Dove Wilson, was published by Joffe Books in 2020. She is also working on a new cosy crime series and another standalone psychological thriller.
Rep’d by Lina Langlee at the Kate Nash Literary Agency.
I will be posting Feature Post and Book Review blog posts on the Harlequin Investigator Blog Tour for all of these great reads throughout this month and the next.
Today I am sharing my blog post for COLD CASE DOUBLE CROSS (Cold Case Investigators Book #2) by Jessica R. Patch.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Come back throughout the month for more and enjoy!
***
Book Description
They’re on a cold trail
and running out of time.
Convinced his brother was wrongly convicted of murder years ago, detective Cash Ryland’s determined to find the real killer—even if it puts him in the crosshairs. But he needs help from cold case investigator Mae Vogel, whom he mistreated in high school. Can they put their past aside to solve the murder…before the killer succeeds in silencing them for good?
COLD CASE DOUBLE CROSS (Cold Case Investigators Book #2) by Jessica R. Patch is a Christian romantic suspense in the Cold Case Investigators series. Each book features a member of the MBI (Mississippi Bureau of Investigations) Cold Case Unit involved in a crime mystery/suspense. They meet and work with their perfect match and as their case progresses so does the romance. Each book can easily be read as a standalone with minimal crossover of the characters in the MBI unit introduced in the first book.
Detective Cash Ryland believes his brother was wrongly convicted of murdering his ex-wife. He is determined to find the real killer no matter how long it takes.
MBI Cold Case Investigator Mae Vogel is home on vacation to visit her ailing grandmother. Cash wants Mae’s expert assistance, but he mistreated her years ago in high school. Mae is willing to help with the case, but she is having difficulty forgiving Cash personally.
Can they work out their differences and solve the mystery before the killer silences them for good?
I enjoyed this quick romantic suspense read. The suspense plot is fast-paced, action packed and gives the reader many suspects and red herrings. The killer was a surprise to me and I like when that happens. It is well integrated with the Christian romance which has no sex scenes. Mae must learn to truly forgive past transgressions and learn and believe that there are some good men out there. Cash is hiding a secret that he has held for far too long. Ms. Patch does a good job of working the H/h through their pasts and misunderstandings.
I can recommend this Christian romantic suspense for a fast and entertaining read.
***
Excerpt
She moved toward the lawn chairs Mom and Grandma Rose were sitting in, glanced up at the radiant display and smacked into marble.
Nope. A man.
She peered up to apologize, but the words died on her lips as recognition dawned. Cash Ryland. Mae hadn’t laid eyes on him, by design, since high school.
Maybe this was the origin surrounding her jittery feeling.
She put some pep in her step and moved backward, but Cash’s tanned arm reached out, as if assuming she’d stumbled and not retreated from him.
She swatted away his steady hand. “I’m perfectly fine.” No need for physical touch between them.
His thick eyebrows tweaked upward. “Sorry.” His voice had grown deeper, huskier since he was a kid. Cash shoved his hand into his pocket, drawing her eye to the badge clipped to his thick black belt looping through well-fitted jeans.
What? How in the world did Cash Ryland make it into any branch of law enforcement and why would he want to? His teenage years had been spent as a juvenile delinquent. Not that she’d imagined what Cash might be doing now, but if she had it would be more along the lines of doing time for drug possession or grand larceny or maybe both. Not on the grounds with a criminal investigations division badge from Willow Banks Sheriff’s Office.
Unbelievable.
“You never were too good at masking your feelings.”
She glanced from his badge to his face and his lopsided grin rolled another wave into her stomach. How dare her body betray her common sense by being attracted to his strong, chiseled features.
His blond hair had turned a little sandier, but it worked for him, unfortunately. His eyes hadn’t changed—they were still the same intense shade of blue that won the hearts of girls determined to rebel against their parents. Cash had never been meet-the-parents material, unless a girl wanted to give them a heart attack and end up grounded for life.
Not Mae.
Mae knew better.
And she’d still been charmed then burned.
Speak, Mae. You have to at least speak. “I’m just surprised, I guess.” As if she were still a high school girl enamored by the bad boy of Willow Banks and unsure of herself, she folded her arms, which felt like dead weight across her chest.
Cash Ryland—a detective. She’d seen it all.
“Well, it’s a surprising thing. Um…” He scratched the back of his neck. “I actually was looking for you. I saw your family and hoped you would be here. Your brother mentioned you were in town on vacation.”
Why did Barrett have vocal cords? He hadn’t mentioned Cash to her. But then, why would he? Barrett was clueless about what had transpired during her senior year with Cash. All he knew was Mae had tutored Cash in English. But if anyone had been schooled that semester, it was Mae.
“Barrett talks too much.” She tried to pass around him, but he blocked her. “Detective or not,” Mae said, tossing grit into her tone, “if you don’t move, I’m going to move you. And I promise you, size doesn’t matter. I can do it.”
While Cash towered above her five-foot-one frame, she was not porcelain, and attached to her petite frame was the muscle to maneuver him if necessary.
His hands shot up in surrender, but there was no teasing in his eyes. “I have no doubt, Mae. You’ve always been strong.”
No one had ever uttered those words about her before, but flattery wasn’t going to get him one solid inch. His charm no longer affected her.
He cleared a path for her to flee. “I just want to talk to you for a minute or two. Please?”
***
About the Author
Publishers Weekly Bestselling author Jessica R. Patch is known for her dry wit and signature twists. When she’s not hunched over her laptop, you can find her cozy on the couch in her mid-south home reading books by her favorite authors, watching movies with her family, and collecting recipes to amazing dishes she’ll probably never cook. Sign up for her newsletter “Patched In” at www.jessicarpatch.com.
From the USA Today Bestselling Author of the acclaimed Love’s Journey series comes the story of Bertha Troyer.
In 1959, after reading a heartbreaking plea for medical personnel, Bertha Troyer, a young, beautiful Amish woman from Sugarcreek, rebels against church rules and enters nursing school determined to pour out her life on behalf of the desperate children of Haiti.
This fourth installment of the Sugarcreek Series, follows Rachel’s beloved aunt, Bertha, back in time to a nightmare of poverty, political unrest, and the fury of nature, as Bertha is forced to make the most agonizing decision of her life in order to protect her people—and the man—she loves.
Elise’s Thoughts
Bertha’s Resolve by Serena B. Miller is the fourth installment of the Love’s Journey in the Sugarcreek series. This novel, as well as the other three, have engrossing characters, a riveting plot, and information about the Amish of Ohio. The stories involve policewoman Rachel Troyer, her three elderly Amish aunts who run a Bed and Breakfast, Joe Matthews, Rachel’s eventual husband, and his son Bobby, along with other Amish town members. These books should be read in order to get a feel for the characters, but after the first chapter of the first book readers will not want to put down any of the stories.
Going from the first book to the latest:
Love Finds You in Sugarcreek, Ohio also known as The Sugar Haus Inn brings to life the Troyer family. Three elderly aunts who happen to be Amish have raised their niece, Rachel Troyer ever since her father died. The aunts understand her desire to respect the Amish culture, while not following in the Amish footsteps. Rachel has since joined the Sugarcreek police force and views her job as protecting her aunts and the town.
Bertha is the oldest of the three aunts and she is the leader who is strong, responsible, and dominant. Lydia, the middle sister, is gentle, kind, and finds solace in baking. The youngest is Anna, a sweet, Down Syndrome person who gives unquestioning love and befriends younger children.
The plot has Rachel suspicious of a bearded stranger who land on her aunts’ doorstep, begging shelter for himself and his young son. Joe Matthews and his son Bobby decided to escape the Los Angeles lifestyle after his wife was brutally killed. They are looking for anonymity and a quiet life. Although the aunts warmed to Joe and Bobby immediately, it took Rachel much longer to realize she had feelings for the father and son. In addition, all the books, have a suspenseful mystery. In this one Rachel must protect herself, her aunts, Joe, and Bobby as she tries to find who murdered the wife.
Book 2, Rachel’s Rescue, delves into the backstory of how Rachel’s father was killed. On her tenth birthday she and her dad, a policeman, had gone to the bank. There, her father was murdered in front of Rachel’s eyes after he tried to stop the bank robber. Knowing how to use a gun, Rachel grabs her father’s gun and points it at the killer, Carl Bateman. This book explores forgiveness and second chances as Rachel must come to grips with her anger and bitterness over losing her father. Twenty years later, she becomes obsessed with wanting revenge when Bateman was released from prison for serving his time. The suspenseful mystery also involves Bobby being kidnapped. This story takes readers on a journey with Rachel as she tries to overcome her feelings of revenge.
Book 3, Love Rekindled focuses on two new “English” characters. Dr. Michael Reynolds gets an opportunity to take over a country veterinarian practice in Sugarcreek, Ohio, and jumps at it, because this is his childhood town, and he feels close to the Amish community. His wife, Cassie, a Columbus attorney, is climbing the corporate ladder with lightning speed and refuses to go with him. Neither will compromise. A second plot finds Keturah Hochstetler, a midwife saving a baby after the mother has a horrific car accident. This story compares the English couple with the elderly Amish couple who show that sometimes career goals need to take second place to love and devotion, that career sacrifices are needed. The mystery involves Rachel trying to find family members of the rescued baby.
Book 4, Bertha’s Resolve explores the oldest aunts’ backstory. In 1959, after reading a heartbreaking plea for medical personnel, Bertha Troyer, a young, beautiful Amish woman from Sugarcreek, rebels against church rules and enters nursing school determined to pour out her life on behalf of the desperate children of Haiti. As a young nurse, she dealt with a nightmare of poverty, political unrest, and the fury of nature, as Bertha is forced to make the most agonizing decision of her life to protect these people. This book is very relevant today regarding the Americans and Afghan people who need to be rescued.
There is also a romance, and the choices Bertha must make so that a marriage is not destroyed, sacrificing her own love. Fast-forward to current time and Bertha again meets up with her forever love. Also, in this book Joe’s brother, Darren, is highlighted. He and Joe have opened a restaurant/bar that is becoming very successful until someone tries to steal their money. Childhood bullying and abuse are also issues in this story.
In all the books, the way of life of these simple, hardworking people is explored. People become engrossed in reading about Joe and Rachel, the aunts, Bobby, and Darren. Readers will take a journey with each character and have a vested interest in how the plot plays out. The stories combine a smidgen of romance, a suspenseful mystery, Amish life, and the importance of family.
***
Elise’sAuthor Interview
EC: The last book has Bertha part of a rescue effort. Rumor has it that your son is also part of a rescue effort for those in Afghanistan?
Serena B. Miller: My son had been in Afghanistan for five years as a contractor. He is currently working day and night to get people out, Afghan translators. One was tragically killed by the Taliban a few days ago. They warned his wife that she and her four children were next to be executed. Thankfully, he got them out, but I am worried about others who are trapped.
Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the series?
Serena B. Miller: An editor suggested I write an Amish story. I decided to choose the Sugarcreek area in Ohio because of its pretty name and it being compared as “the Little Switzerland of Ohio.” I lucked out because the owner of the Bed and Breakfast where I was staying had a lot of Amish friends. I had dinner with an Amish family that had seven children and the grandmother/grandfather was also there. The matriarch of the family told me I could ask anything, nothing was forbidden. His one stipulation was that I write the truth about the Amish. They loved the finished book. I even have an Amish family vet every Amish book I write.
EC: You write other series/books?
SBM: I have written three historical books, another Amish series, a non-fiction book about Amish parenting, and a series about Manitoulin Island in Canada, which was optioned for the Hallmark channel. Also, the first of these Amish books was made into a TV movie which can be found on many of the streaming channels.
EC: How would you compare the three Amish sisters?
SBM: Bertha is the oldest who has integrity and a tender heart. She is not domesticated but is the wise leader of the family with a bossy will of iron. Lydia is the baker who lives for cooking and is very quiet. Anna has Down Syndrome and is very sweet. Her personality is based on a church friend of mine. Since I have three sisters, I have become fascinated with the sisterly dynamics.
EC: How would you describe Rachel?
SBM: Very protective of those she loves. The killing of her father in front of her has defined her personality. She is determined to protect her family no matter what. She is analytical with common sense except where her father’s killer is concerned. Although very compassionate and direct, at times she is vulnerable. She also is very loyal and tenacious.
EC: What about the relationship between Joe and Rachel?
SBM: Both are very strong personalities. They can be stubborn at times. They have their disagreements, but always respect each other. They are on equal footing.
EC: In the second book you redeem the killer?
SBM: I felt I had to. He served his time in prison for twenty years. Now he has turned his life around by healing abused dogs and training them for search and rescue. His early life, when he was abused by his mother, is based on a true story. Carl, the killer, has an affinity for animals because they saved him as a child. He is now caring, remorseful, and deserves a second chance.
EC: How would you describe your books?
SBM: They are mysteries, suspense with a crime, and has an emphasis on the importance of family. For me, the mystery has the reader turning the pages to see what happens next. I put this quote in, “Whenever she (Rachel) needed the world to feel like a safer, saner place, she went to visit her Amish aunts.” I like writing about the big family, the agrarian culture, and the Amish community. Each book has a goal, a mystery, and a spiritual theme, with of course, a happy ending.
EC: What are the themes of each book?
SBM:Love Finds You in Sugarcreek, Ohio is about acceptance and not to judge a book by its cover. Rachel’s Rescue has a theme of forgiveness. Love Rekindled is about the healing of a marriage. I wrote this one in the months after my husband passed away. We had been married for many years. It is about family relationship, but at that core is the marriage relationship. Bertha’s Resolve shows that it is possible to do the right thing and to walk away from the possibility of an extra marital affair.
EC: You always have tidbits about the Amish lifestyle. In Bertha’s Resolve you compare the Amish with the Mennonites?
SBM: The Mennonites can get on a plane, go to college, and have an extensive mission program of helping. The story of this book has Bertha worshipping a co-worker from afar. Now fifty years later they still have that depth of friendship. I want to show that with both groups they have a very strong work ethic and are problem solvers.
EC: What about your next books?
SBM: I am currently writing book 5 in this Sugarcreek series. I am debating if Rachel will continue her profession as a police officer, maybe part time. It will feature Joe’s brother Darren who will get a love story. Since Joe is a former Major League baseball player, I will bring baseball into this story. I am thinking of having an Amish boy who has a phenomenal talent for the game. Both Amish girls and boys love baseball. Hopefully it will come out in the Spring of 2022.
I am also working on an Amish children’s novel that is for children. It will also be set in Sugarcreek with some familiar characters. There will be twelve books in the series. The first should come out around Christmas time.
THANK YOU!!
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
In the near future, advances in medicine and quantum computing make human cloning a reality. For the wealthy, cheating death is the ultimate luxury. To anticloning militants, it’s an abomination against nature. For young Constance “Con” D’Arcy, who was gifted her own clone by her late aunt, it’s terrifying.
After a routine monthly upload of her consciousness—stored for that inevitable transition—something goes wrong. When Con wakes up in the clinic, it’s eighteen months later. Her recent memories are missing. Her original, she’s told, is dead. If that’s true, what does that make her?
The secrets of Con’s disorienting new life are buried deep. So are those of how and why she died. To uncover the truth, Con is retracing the last days she can recall, crossing paths with a detective who’s just as curious. On the run, she needs someone she can trust. Because only one thing has become clear: Con is being marked for murder—all over again.
CONSTANCE (Constance #1) by Matthew FitzSimmons is an exciting and thought provoking dystopian sci-fi mystery thriller that is the first of a two-book series. In the near future, if you have the millions to spare, human cloning is a reality.
Constance “Con” D’Arcy is a talented musician, who survives a horrible traffic accident which kills almost every member of the band she plays in. The accident moves her to accepting the gift of her own clone from her aunt who is the co-founder and brilliant mind behind the Palingenesis clinic.
After a routine monthly upload of her consciousness which should only take hours, Con wakes up months later in the body of her clone. She is told her original is dead, but the transition that should have happened with memories from her last upload has left her with no memory of the last 18 months.
Con is determined to find out what happened to her original and discover what has happened in the last 18 months. She cannot trust anyone who is offering to help because they all have ulterior motives and agendas. Caught between the wealthy and powerful Vernon Gaddis and Dr. Brooke Fenton fighting over what is hidden in Con’s brain and the Children of Adam who want the death of all clones, Con can trust in only herself.
This is an amazing story! I could not put it down. Constance “Con” is a protagonist that is memorable. She at times is a little too curious for her own good, but she is also fearless and resilient. She must face discrimination and bigotry as a clone at the same time she deals with the ethics of being a clone herself. Mr. FitzSimmons takes the reader through ethical and philosophical questions on cloning intertwined in the story and dialogue of his various characters. Also, and no small part of the story is an intricate crime mystery that has so many twists and surprises I could not stop turning the pages. Throw in some great rock band references and I was hooked. This book does not end with a cliffhanger, but there is an open question at the end of the story and the promise of a second book to come. I cannot wait!
I highly recommend this dystopian sci-fi mystery!
***
Author Bio
Matthew FitzSimmons, an American boy from Illinois, grew up in London in the 1970s under the baleful eye of the Kings Road punks. His otherwise idyllic childhood was shattered by the traumatic experience of seeing Star Wars on December 27, 1977 in Leicester Square, listening to his father sleep through what was clearly the greatest cinematic achievement of all time, and fearing he was adopted.
For college, he attended Swarthmore College where he earned a B.A. in Psychology but lived largely in and for the theater.
After several years in New York City, and having learned he wouldn’t do absolutely anything to make it, he absconded to China. There he wrote a first novel (the less said about which the better), played center back for a foreigner’s soccer team, sparked a near riot and was forced to write a ziwo pipan (self-criticism) by the University of Nanjing—his first work of political fiction.
He now lives in Washington, D.C., where he taught English literature and theater at a private high school for over a decade. He cohabitates with a pair of old boots, collects bourbon and classic soul LPs, and wonders if he will ever write anything half as good as the first sentence of James Crumley’s The Last Good Kiss.
