Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for HUNT YOU DOWN (Agent Tori Hunter Book #9) by Roger Stelljes on this Books-On-Tour Bookouture tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
The girls walk arm-in-arm, laughing through the quiet late-night streets of Manchester Bay, celebrating their homecoming weekend. But arriving home, the laughter dies. Their best friend Cami lies still on the floor, hair splayed on the carpet, and rope marks all around her throat…
When university student Cami Margot is found murdered, Agent Tori Hunter and Detective Will Braddock are among the first on the scene. For Tori, the image of this smart young woman with her whole life ahead of her being hunted down is instantly seared in her mind. The team quickly realizes the murder weapon—a purple, gray and black nylon rope—is an exact match of that used in the murder of another student.
Tori teaches Criminal Justice at the university. Knowing the students trust her implicitly, Tori asks questions all over campus and soon learns that both girls were members of Lake Frat. The group plan secret parties at each other’s lakeside homes, away from prying eyes… and when the rope is linked to a boat from one of the parties, it’s clear the girls were killed by one of their own.
Does a psychopath walk amongst the university students, attend their classes, join in their parties, cheer at their sporting events all while plotting their next kill? The students ask Tori: could they be next? Someone has been hunting these girls. But Tori is a hunter, too… even if the prey is closer to home than she ever thought possible.
HUNT YOU DOWN (Agent Tori Hunter Book #9) by Roger Stelljes is a diabolically twisted addition to the Agent Tori Hunter series that reminds me once again why I love these books. While each book continues to follow the lives and relationships of all the main characters and citizens of Manchester Bay, Minnesota, the author does an excellent job of encapsulating their stories and the criminal case in each, so they can each be easily read as a standalone crime thriller/police procedural.
Agent Tori Hunt is teaching Criminal Justice full-time now at the university, but when her partner Detective Sergeant Will Braddock gets an early morning call, he asks her to accompany him when he is told there is another murder of a university student. As the investigation heats up, Tori and Braddock discover the two dead girls were members of Lake Frat. The group consists of wealthy college students who use their family homes on the lakes for exclusive private parties, and they believe their killer is a member.
When a sting is set up for a probable suspect, it all goes awry. Tori is in a foot chase to capture the suspected killer and when he goes to trial, the case blows up in embarrassment for Tori and the prosecution in court when a third girl is killed in the same manner. Tori and Braddock know they are being manipulated but proving it beyond a reasonable doubt is the problem.
This is an excellent addition to this series! There are so many twists and red herrings in the criminal plot that I kept reading to the end. All the books in this series have had gripping criminal plots I have loved, but this is now my favorite. Tori and Braddock continue to be an intelligent pair of supportive and loving protagonists with the entire cast of secondary characters in the sheriff’s department giving the reader a strong police procedural. After these nine books, I feel like I am visiting old friends and cannot wait to return. This is a thriller series that checks all my boxes and leaves me wanting more.
I highly recommend this captivating criminal thriller/police procedural!
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About the Author
Roger Stelljes is the acclaimed New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of pulse-pounding murder mystery and suspense novels, including the Tori Hunter and McRyan Mystery Series. Roger’s crime thrillers are noted for their fast-paced, yet intricate plots filled with layered and complex characters.
Roger started his first novel in July 2002 while on vacation in Minnesota’s Brainerd Lakes area and has been writing ever since. His debut book, The St. Paul Conspiracy, was nominated in genre fiction for the Minnesota Book Awards along with finalists Brian Freeman and William Kent Krueger. With his follow-up, Deadly Stillwater, where Vince Flynn hailed Roger as a “powerful new thriller voice”, he won the Midwest Independent Book Publishers award for commercial fiction.
Born and raised in Minnesota, Roger still lives there with his family. In addition to his work as an author, Roger is a partner in his law firm. Roger is an avid sports enthusiast and enjoys spending time outdoors boating, attending hockey games, and honing his golf game.
Retired secret service agent Ron Eldon hunts his daughter’s killer, taking on the role of detective in a case that everyone says is suicide. Aided by his ex-colleague Yolanda Reddy, they are confronted by official obstructions, plagued by red herrings, confounded by false information, and tricked by a Russian spy who has history with Eldon from the Cold War. Leaving behind him a trail of bodies and a minefield of revelations, Eldon is beaten and captured before escaping to continue his crusade across London, Bristol, Cornwall, and Yorkshire. Ending with a shocking twist that reframes the story in a new and defining light, this spy thriller delves into Britain’scolonial past, present-day slavery, and Russia’s dirty tricks, uncovering truths that dare not speak their names.
JOVE: A Novel by Jack Davies is an engrossing British espionage/crime thriller mash-up that gives the reader an exciting, action-packed story of a retired secret service father seeking justice for his daughter, Jove, the deception and double cross of British and Russian spies, and a far-right criminal conspiracy.
Retired secret service agent Ron Eldon is sent to identify the body of a young women who is believed to have committed suicide by jumping off the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol. The young woman is his daughter, Jove, who is currently a secret service asset who followed her father into service. With the help of an ex-colleague, Eldon searches for information, but with official obstructions, kidnapping, murders, and a Russian spy from his past, Eldon will have to use all his experience to discover the truth and survive.
This novel is written with such intimacy and intrigue it is difficult to put down. As we meet and follow our protagonist, retired secret service Ron Eldon you feel as though he could walk right off the page. Eldon is not a super spy caricature, but a very human man. As you follow him throughout the story, the plot contains many red herrings, twists, and surprises that continue through the end of the book. Being a novel of spies, deception, and misinformation, I was continually guessing if what I was reading and being led to believe was true. The tie-in of the historical subplot of Bristol’s part in England’s slave trade is interesting and added to the questions and suspicions around Jove’s investigations into historical slave holders’ compensation, BLM, and right-wing extremists.
I highly recommend this smart and surprising British espionage/crime thriller mash-up!
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About the Author
Jack Davies is an award-winning writer/director/producer based in London. Writer of published short stories, film scripts and poetry, he was shortlisted for the York Poetry Prize in 2020. He lives in London, UK.
After rescuing a teammate from a covert detention facility in East Asia, it’s back to business as usual for John Dempsey and Task Force Ember: conducting counterterrorism operations in denied areas.
An opportunity to strike a master Houthi drone engineer sends the team to Yemen, but things start to go wrong almost as soon as their boots hit the ground. What is their local contact hiding, and why didn’t their CIA contact show up to the rendezvous? Meanwhile, First Lady Petra Jarvis’s job—juggling the roles of wife, first lady, and Ember liaison—is about to get a lot harder. The Presidential Election is only two weeks away, and President Kelso Jarvis’s SEAL instincts are failing him. Good in the heat of battle and in the situation room, Jarvis is floundering in debate prep, allowing his political rival to paint him as a caricature of the war mongering, hot-tempered SEAL.
What neither Petra nor Dempsey know is that they are both in the sights of a master spy operating right under their noses in DC—a spy with orders to sow chaos. As Election night nears, Dempsey and Petra are drawn further into his web, and soon it’s hard to tell who is manipulating whom.
A dangerous game is afoot, and to win Dempsey and Ember may well be forced into a bargain with the devil.
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Elise’s Thoughts
Insurgent by Andrews & Wilson has everything readers love about these stories including fast-paced action, suspense, and an intense plot with a level of realism that makes people think these authors have a crystal ball.
The plot has John Dempsey and the Ember task force having an opportunity to strike a master Houthi drone engineer in Yemen. It appears that Task Force Ember’s technology might have been infiltrated by foreign adversaries leading to a cat and mouse between Ember and a psychotic Chinese operative who has grandiose plans to strike massive blows to the United States and Dempsey personally. Meanwhile, First Lady Petra Jarvis’s job of juggling the roles of wife, first lady, and Ember liaison puts her in danger.
High stakes, geopolitically and personally, with life and death consequences has Petra and Dempsey intent on finding the Chinese agent and making sure he fails. Readers will be on the edge of their seats as the tension level builds.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: What is new on the television front?
Brian Andrews: We have a project over at Amblin Entertainment, which is Steven Spielberg’s company. We’re excited about that. It is based on one of the short stories that we have coming out later this year. We’ve had a little bit of musical chairs with the showrunners for the “Shepherd Series” and “Tier One.” We’re on the hunt for our third showrunner for the Shepherd series right now. Still hoping that that will get some movement. We’re interviewing a showrunner for another series called Strike Group that we’re developing, which is about an aircraft carrier, a mystery.
EC: How did you get the idea for this story?
BA: Insurgent is book ten in the “Tier One series” and felt like it is an important book. It was time to circle back almost like an anniversary. We circled back and revisited some of the themes that we introduced in the first book. I think the savvy reader will pick up on that right out of the gate. It opens in Yemen, where Operation Crusader went down with John Dempsey losing his team, which is when Jack Kemper became John Dempsey. He hasn’t been back to Yemen since the Jabouri base was blown up. And, so for him, this is a homecoming, an emotional one, because he’s coming back to this place where it all started. This is why we kicked off the book here.
EC: But the Chinese play a major role in the story?
BA: The world is now interconnected. The Yemenis aren’t just making their drones and their anti-aircraft systems and missiles by themselves. It is not happening in a vacuum. They’re getting help when they’re getting supplied by the Chinese and they’re receiving aid from the Iranians. We’re starting to see that the Chinese, especially over the last five years, are becoming a defense contracting hub. They’re building drones, missiles, and helicopters. They have a guidance system. They’re starting to export the types of products and weapon systems that were previously only in the purview of the United States. Soviets, and the European defense contractors. Now they’ve got a foot in that game.
EC: Does the title mean anything?
BA: It is the origin. We think of an insurgent as an assaulter or somebody who’s coming at you on your home turf with a gun. This title is sort of metaphorical. We’re dealing with a more complicated insurgent. We dealing with a Chinese effort to infiltrate American defense, industrial complex, and our politics on multiple levels.
EC: The structure of this book is different?
BA: We’ve never done this before. in any of our novels. And we were excited and curious to see if people recognize the flash forward open, and then what people think of it. The book is started at the end, and then we come back and bring you back up to that point. You see all the events that led up to the climax.
EC: How would you describe Ren, the Chinese agent?
BA: He is evil, a threat, a psychopath, manipulative, adaptable, sadistic, and loves chaos. This antagonist has got a screw loose. And so that’s something else that we haven’t really explored since Malik, the Russian Zeta, part of the secret Russian task force. He was a little bit sociopathic and on the edge. He went against Dempsey in Red Specter, that was book five.
EC: It’s like the story has a word of warning about the Chinese?
BA: Before, we could exert a certain element of control over bad actors, by depriving them of access to arms and technology. Iran, Pakistan, Yemen, along with terrorist organizations if they couldn’t develop them, their weapons in house, or buy them from the Russians, or get them off the black market, they couldn’t get them. And now the Chinese are happy to supply them with weapons, but not just weapons. It’s not just guns, it’s technology and guidance systems along with drones, engines, and components they couldn’t make themselves.
EC: There is a book quote that says it is hard to kill only with air strikes. Can you explain?
BA: There’s going to be people who are going to question the value of special operations, of teams like our fictional task force, Ember, and operators, like John Dempsey, who must go in on the ground to execute missions and deny areas. People question, why should we take the risk? We can just drop bombs. We can launch a missile, we can blow up their warehouse, or target the home where the guy lives. But just look at Iran. It’s clear the regime is still in control. We could bomb them into oblivion, and if they’re hiding underground, and we don’t have any boots on the ground, we don’t eliminate the regime, the regime will rise again. I think we’ll always have to have boots on the ground whether they’re overt or covert.
EC: Can you explain the book quote, “politicians were the easiest adversaries to manipulate because they lacked principles and acted only in their own self-interest.”
BA: Our goal was to be apolitical in these stories and not pick a side, but we live in a policy driven world, in the geopolitical world. I think it’s okay for characters to call out certain frustrations that we the authors are observing in real life. In American politics that’s driven by self-interest and power. The way that our politicians can change their opinion, and their votes on a dime should be concerning to people. You elect somebody based on what you perceive to be their platform and how they convey to you their belief systems and you’re doing that because you’re hoping that that person will represent you, the voter, and the constituency’s interest when it comes to making important decisions. And then they get in office, and you realize, oh, they don’t care. That was all just a bunch of gaslighting. They just said what they thought they needed to say, and what the voters need to hear to get elected. Then they get in there, and they do what they’re told, or what money buys, or whatever. And I think that this is something that we’re all seeing that politicians are maybe emboldened to even not hide it anymore, because there’s no consequences in their behaviors.
EC: Do you have wishful thinking when you put this quote in by President Jarvis? “I don’t make decisions based on the political climate polling. Whatever the pundits may or may not want or criticize me.”
BA: I think it’s very clear, and should be clear to anyone who reads this book, that President Jarvis is the president that we all want. And President Jarvis is the type of president that all presidents should aspire to. It should be an act of service to be President of the United States. It should be a burden. It should be difficult when you should have sleepless nights because you’re having to put the needs of the country ahead of your own. And as president, you should have to serve your entire constituency. that means people who don’t agree with you on everything that you say. In the Tier One series we want to entertain. But also, we want to present characters who represent a higher purpose. They should be models of heroism. People who do the right thing, do the hard thing, and put country, mission, and team before self.
EC: What’s the importance of First Lady Petra?
BA: She had a military, and an intelligence career. She was chief of staff to the DNI, who was Jarvis. She’s the president’s sounding board, confidant, knows national security, and a woman of action. What the US has never had is a First Lady who came from a background of military service or in the intelligence community. Because in her mind, she brings something different to the table. Jarvis needs her. He appreciates her counsel and her input. She is sort of a counterbalance to him, especially with his Parkinson’s now. Petra would say, ‘I’m going to do both. Why do I have to limit myself? You know, why can’t I be the first lady and continue to be Petra.’ So that’s kind of what we did in this book, her refusing to be put into a box and told that you must do this, because that’s what all the other first ladies did. And there’s this expectation, I hope we communicated in the text, in the story, there’s an expectation that she will behave and be quiet, and go off and do the things that other first ladies do.? But she is not going to do that. She’s supposed to function as the shadow firewall between Director Casey of Tier One, and the Office of the President, to provide a certain level of possible deniability and keep Jarvis at arm’s length from the operation of the task force. The exact role that he filled for President Warner. What we started to put into that subplot in this book is this idea that Jarvis is struggling to give up power and knowledge, the task force decision making. She calls him out on it saying, ‘This was your idea. So, you know, you can’t, you can’t have it both ways. You gotta pick.’ And he lets her be in charge and make the decision making.
EC: The next books?
BA: The next Tier One, book 11 we have not thought about yet. And have not written another Shepherd book.
The next Sons of Valor is what we’re writing right now, starting a new trilogy. It will take “Chunk” Redman, who leads a covert team of elite operators, and Whitney Watts, and the Gold Squadron south of the border, where they’re going to be up against Mexican cartels for the next 3 books. It is titled for now, Sons of Valor 5 and will be out sometime next year.
But we do have a book coming out in November titled Dark Horse. It is a standalone novel. It’s a sort of a modern retelling of Three days at the Condor. It’s about a secret program that the CIA runs where they have a think tank, and the members of the think tank come up with predictive scenarios about things that our adversaries could do. And they feed those scenarios into the analysis machinery of the CIA. And they get discovered and targeted by bad guys with everyone getting killed except one person. And that character is Eva Dasher, and Eva is on the run, being hunted, trying to figure out who’s responsible for this.
We are also writing a short story every month, for the entire year. The first short story was released last December, titled First Ranger. And then we did one a month since. Each of these stories was written to be a potential vehicle that Anderson/Wilson could develop for film and television. It gives our readers and listeners a preview of some non-Tier One and Sons of Valor projects that we’re trying to develop for TV and movies and features. They’re completely different. First Ranger is historical. fiction. It’s the story of Thomas Knowlton, who was America’s first army ranger. He’s a real guy, but we fictionalize the story about how he was recruited by General Washington to form America’s first special forces unit, which were known as Knowlton’s Rangers, covert operations in 1776. Another example is Sledgehammer, that has a retired ground branch operator, Matt Holland. This is a story about a guy who’s retired. He’s in his early 70s and realizes that his daughter who he thought died is still alive. He puts together a team from his past, and they go into Syria to rescue her.
THANK YOU!!
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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.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for NATURAL CAUSES (Sam Tate Mystery Series Book #5) by Nikki Stern on this Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links, and a PICT giveaway. Enjoy and good luck!
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Book Description
Nature abhors a vacuum. One killer is filling it with bodies.
Three years after quitting her job as a homicide cop, Sam moves to Denver as a named partner with a boutique private investigation firm. She’s finished with the violence and trauma that have marked both her personal and professional lives. But when a zealous eco-terrorist begins a killing spree with plans to escalate, she finds herself once again hunting a serial killer whose past too closely resembles Sam’s own.
Genre: Police Procedure, Suspense Thriller, Crime Mystery Published by: Ruthenia Press Publication Date: June 23, 2026 Number of Pages: 280 ISBN: 979-8996092208
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My Book Review
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
NATURAL CAUSES (Sam Tate Mystery Book #5) by Nikki Stern is another exciting addition to the Sam Tate mystery/crime thriller series of books. Sam is now a private eye and partner in an exclusive firm in Denver, Colorado. This book is easily read as a standalone with Sam starting a new career in a new location with enough background on the few carryover characters from the previous book that you are not confused or feel like you are missing something. Like the other books in this series, it is plot based around a complete serial killer investigation.
P.I. Sam Tate is getting used to her new life with the help of a few close friends. After twenty years in law enforcement, she is looking forward to more low-key investigations. When a family requests an investigation into the disappearance of their husband/father, Sam only begins to investigate when his body is found. Almost immediately after, the son of a prominent businessman is killed. Both have cryptic one-word notes and pin pricks at the base of their necks. When a third is discovered, it becomes a multi-agency investigation and Sam is once again involved in a serial killer investigation.
The notes lead Sam and the others to the possibility of eco-terrorism revolving around conspiracy theories and the dark web. Will Sam and her friends be able to unravel the truth from lies and stop a serial killer with an agenda on the loose in Denver?
The plot in this book, as well as all the books in this series, are fast-paced and full of red herrings and twists that continually surprise. This story is intriguing and kept me reading right up to the suspenseful ending. Sam is trying to move on and yet she gets pulled right back into a serial killer investigation. This book does a good job of pulling in key points of Sam’s life from the previous books. If you haven’t read them this is a good starting point and you will not feel like you are missing anything while I can recommend all the previous books.
I highly recommend this serial killer thriller in the Sam Tate series and look forward to many more to come.
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Excerpt
“Gorgeous, absolutely drop-dead gorgeous.”
Todd Fischer stood near the edge of a snowy precipice and slapped his chest like a primate surveying his kingdom. He pulled in a lungful of air, his new Filson hiking vest tight against his broad chest. He was winded, more than he cared to admit, and cold. Even at the end of April, the temperatures on this trail lingered in the low thirties. A late-season snowfall added to the discomfort, not to mention the threatening gusts of frigid air.
“You know,” he continued, turning to his companion, “people would pay plenty to live here.”
“I don’t think you can just put up housing in a national park,” she replied.
“Anything can be bought and tamed, Elena. “Even the Rockies.”
“I believe you, Todd. Now, please come down off that ledge? Remember the warnings we received about the missing railings and the danger of microbursts? I do not want my husband to be blown away like a character in The Wizard of Oz.”
Fischer laughed. “I’m not about to be knocked over by a blast of air. I think you should worry more about the kids. Go see what’s happened to them.”
As soon as she’d moved out of sight, he bent over, suddenly dizzy. Crap, getting old was not for sissies. He needed more exercise, more hydration, more time, more of everything.
Elena turned back to the trail, shaking her head. The “kids” were young adults and, as far as she was concerned, pampered twenty-somethings. She was the “wicked” stepmother, just ten years older than the eldest, perpetually a graduate student. Whereas younger brother Paulie treated school as one long excuse to party.
Now she heard them, bickering, as usual.
“Could you stop complaining?” Rowan was saying.
“Not a chance,” Paulie griped. “We are tramping in the mountains, just past dawn, in the cold and the wind. In late April. I left a warm bed and a warm body so I could freeze my backside off with distant dad and wife number three.”
“Maybe the warm body should have helped you dress for a hike in the Rockies.”
“You’re just jealous.”
Rowan appeared first, dressed perfectly for a mountain trek. Paulie, on the other hand, looked like he’d come from a night of clubbing, right down to his overpriced sneakers and his curated day-old beard.
“There you are,” Elena said, forcing a smile. “We were on the ledge for a better view.”
“The one with the ‘danger’ sign?” Paulie asked. “Oh, right. Dad likes to go where he’s not supposed to. I guess you could call it his specialty.”
Elena reminded herself that she could handle two brats for one morning. Before long, she would get herself pregnant and make them both irrelevant.
“Take a look,” she suggested. “It’s quite lovely.”
But they were back to fighting, ripping into each other like territorial animals. Until an unexpected gust of wind interrupted their discourse, strong enough to send a few rocks scuttling down into the valley.
“What was that?” Paulie asked.
“Nature, dummy,” Rowan retorted.
“Wait, where is your father?” Elena demanded.
Paulie cupped his hands and yelled, “Attention, Todd Fischer. We’re officially concerned. Show yourself.”
Rowan climbed to the ledge and swallowed hard. “Maybe he found another way to head down,” she said.
“No,” Elena declared. “Something happened.”
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Author Bio
Nikki Stern is the author of eight books, including five in the award-winning Sam Tate Mystery Series. She was a co-author of several musical murder mystery plays in the popular Café Noir collection. She’s also written a number of short stories and essays, some of which can be found here. A former families’ advocate following the death of her husband on 9/11, Nikki now serves on the leadership council for Search for Common Ground, a global conflict transformation organization. She lives in Princeton, New Jersey.
For the first time in print comes a collection of five short stories in the Edgar award-winning Kate Burkholder series, PLUS one new, never-before-published story, from New York Times bestselling author Linda Castillo.
When two young boys don’t return home from an innocent afternoon of fishing, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder must track them down before the first winter storm of the season bears down on Painters Mill in THE PACT.
In DISAPPEARED, Kate races against the clock to find a two-year-old who has vanished during a violent thunderstorm. Was the little boy swept away in the rising creek waters? Or is his disappearance even more sinister?
In BLOOD MOON, a man is brutally attacked by a large beast in the woods. Throughout the night, reports of similar incidents escalate and Kate must confront the creature terrorizing the town before violence tips over into tragedy.
When a family dog brings home a human bone, Kate finds herself on a desperate search for answers to end the macabre rumors and ghost stories inundating Painters Mill in the Edgar award-winning short story HALLOWEDGROUND.
In DARK STORM RISING, Kate must brave a dangerous blizzard to save an elderly Amish woman from a sinister foe. Will Kate reach her in time to save her life?
In A DARK PATH, a brand-new story, an Amish couple disappears while enroute to town. They’d recently been threatened by their granddaughter’s troubled boyfriend—and there’s heavy weather moving in. Kate rushes toward their remote farm, but a dog on the road causes her to crash into a ravine, where she discovers a shattered buggy. Together, she and her new canine friend must find the couple before it’s too late.
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Elise’s Thoughts
A Dark Path by Linda Castillo has her trademark writing style even though the stories are not as dark as her novels. All six stories feature her blend of twists, mystery, kind-heartedness, some humor, and sometimes violence.
There are five short stories written as novellas plus a new short story that has as its title the same name as the book compilation. In “A Dark Path,” a brand-new story, an Amish couple disappears enroute to town. They’d recently been threatened by their granddaughter’s troubled boyfriend with a storm moving in. Kate rushes toward their remote farm, but a dog causes her to crash into a ravine, where she discovers a shattered buggy. Together, she and her new canine friend, Sherlock, must find the couple before it’s too late.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Why have a collection of short stories?
Linda Castillo: Charlie, my editor, asked me to write that first short story many years ago. I had never read a short story. And his advice to me was, just get to the point. And make them a little bit lighter. I would write a short story, and that short story would be released on Kindle, or, another digital device right before the release of a novel. And I started getting a lot of mail from readers who were saying, ‘I don’t use an e- reader. I like to have a book. I need a physical book. Now I can’t read your short stories.’ Because they’ve only been available on Kindle or another device, Charlie, my editor at St. Martin’s Press, said, let’s do a collection of six or seven stories. And that’s what we did. You know, the first collection was titled A Simple Murder, and since it was very well received, we did this one. Because each individual short story is too short to do a novel, so we did a collection.
EC: Is it different to write a short story than the books?
LC: I would say the biggest difference, of course, is the pacing. Things must happen very quickly. And one of the things that I also try to do, and as you well know, the novels get very dark sometimes. There’s a murder involved, and there are some dark elements in some of the Kate Burkholder novels, especially the early novels. And the short stories, even though some of them deal with darker topics, some of them are fun, some of them are cozier than the Kate novels. For me, as a writer, it was really a nice change. It was a different pace. It’s faster, and, you know, you don’t really have time to develop your characters as much. So maybe it’s a little bit more topical, but in a fun way.
EC: I usually don’t like the short stories because the plots are not detailed enough and there is not much character development. But if a reader has read the Kate books, they will enjoy these short stories. Do you agree?
LC: I have a funny story. There was one reader, and I think she gave A Dark Path a pretty good review, but she said, ‘I’ve not read any of the novels, but these are way too innocent for me.’ And I was dying to respond to her. I wanted to tell her, but the novels are not that innocent. No. I guarantee you’re going to get a murder. But some of them I wouldn’t call them lighthearted stories. But just, a little bit more lighthearted than the, than the novels.
EC: What was your favorite short story?
LC: “Blood Moon.” This is the story with the hog. Anyone who has been out camping or, having a tent in the yard or whatever, sleeping out in the barn or something like that can relate. Telling ghost stories and then hearing a noise and you’re like, what was that? And to me, that’s so much fun and that was kind of the whole idea behind that short story. It was just, really a lot of fun, and, you know, kind of one of those adventures. It was a little quirky, but I really did enjoy that story.
EC: Did the stories have a lesson to them?
LC: I think some had a theme of tolerance. “The Pact,” with the two little boys who did the whole blood brother, cutting the wrist in the beginning. You know, there really is a lesson in that. And then the other one is “Hallowed Ground,” where the Mennonite woman wants to give tours of an Amish cemetery. “Disappeared” also has a theme of tolerance where the Amish girl falls in love and gets pregnant by the English boy and her parents try to separate him from the baby and love of his life. I think one of the things that I always try to do, maybe not in the same way with every story, is that tolerance works both ways. In “The Pact” the Amish parents weren’t exactly wild about those two kids being best friends. These are probably the little moral lessons that we learn as children, and I think, you know, it’s not always a bad thing to have that reiterated as an adult.
EC: Did the setting play a role?
LC: My settings always seem to have stormy weather in them too. Me and weather. I hope readers are okay with that. I’m a huge fan of weather. The first book, Sworn Silence, took place during a long, cold Ohio winter. That was such a big part of the book. It made everything more difficult as far as the investigation and the story. If you add the weather element, you have a man against man, and then you also have man against nature. It adds a little element of moodiness or, just a little something extra that I love, I’m a huge weather fan.
EC: What about the new short story, “A Dark Path?”
LC: There’s a Labrador in the story. We had a yellow Labrador too. I found him when I was living in Dallas where we lived. It was very sad, and the day that I had one of my dogs put down, a woman carried in this emaciated animal, just skin and bones. No hair, just bloody, bloody skin. I thought it was a pit bull. And I told Dr. Williams, I will take that animal. I thought, I just put Blue down and I’m here at this moment because I need to save this other animal. We took him, and we had to feed him. He almost died because he was starved to death. We had to feed him every hour, He got his hair back and his head was no longer bigger than his body, he turned into a gorgeous, sweet tempered yellow Labrador. His name was Nutmeg, and we gave him a very, very good life. And we lost him, a few years ago now. That is who I based the Labrador in “A Dark Path.” I didn’t name him after Nutmeg, but named him Sherlock. I gave the lab in the story the look of the yellow lab Nutmeg.
EC: Will you have Sherlock as a rescue dog working for the police department?
LC: Sherlock bonded with Kate. He has the personality of a lab. He will be a supporting character in future stories. And I don’t know if you remember, but Tomesetti brought home a cat. The books deal with heavy topics of murder. I think the cat and Sherlock bring a level of comfort. And so that’s kind of what I try to do with that. Sherlock will be just a home family member. This story combines the abusive boyfriend with Sherlock saving Kate.
EC: What about the next book?
LC: It’s called The Betrayed and will be out in July 2027. I absolutely love this story. The plot has an ordinary Amish woman, with a family, a husband, and suddenly finds herself the target. Kate comes in blind, having no idea why, why would somebody be trying to murder her. She does not lead a reckless lifestyle, she’s not a risk taker, and she’s lives in Painters Mill. It has some dark moments.
THANK YOU!!
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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.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for SHADOWS OF FRENCHMEN (A Jonathan Grey, M.D. Mystery) by Michael Rigg on this Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, and excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links and a PICT giveaway. Enjoy and good luck!
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Book Description
On a frosty Sunday morning in February, Dr. Jonathan Gray, Coroner of Orleans Parish, faces a gruesome sight. A dead man splayed against the circular steel and cut-glass blocks of the city’s AIDS memorial in Washington Square Park has strange symbols carved into his forehead and chest. A coded note—a cipher—has been placed under one hand. The body mutilation and note are hallmarks of a serial killer dubbed by the news media as the “Mardi Gras Sweeper,” because he strikes during Carnival season and leaves coded manifestos taunting police and giving hints about his next victim.
Hoping to avoid a panic during the city’s most profitable season, Mayor Max Jamerson asks Gray to investigate the murder “on the sly,” without formal assistance from the New Orleans Police Department. Time is of the essence as Gray races to figure out the cipher and track down the Sweeper in order to prevent additional killings—and save Mardi Gras.
Genre: Medico-Legal (Coroner) Thriller Published by: Level Best Books Publication Date: May 5, 2026 Number of Pages: 336 ISBN: 979-8898202354 Series:A Jonathan Gray, M.D. Mystery, Book 2
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My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
SHADOWS OF FRENCHMEN (A Jonathan Gray, M.D. Mystery) by Michael Rigg is the second exciting book in the Jonathan Gray, M.D. Mystery series. While this book is easily read as a standalone, I am glad I read book one, Voices of the Elysian Fields, first, just for more detailed character backstory. There is little time between each book with book one set during the Christmas/New Years holidays and this second book set during Mardi Gras.
There have been some repercussions for Lt. Detective Betsy Sprance since accusing the mayor in her last case, but Coroner Jonathan Gray is determined to get her help when a body is discovered with strange symbols carved into its flesh. It is very similar to bodies left during a killing spree two years previous, also during Mardi Gras. While Jonathan and Betsy believed they had witnessed the killer’s death, it appears he has returned.
As they race to catch a killer, they are hampered by the mayor not wanting to panic the Mardi Gras crowds. As the murders continue, they must solve the cypher of the killer’s manifesto with only the help of their small group of friends to stop the killings once and for all.
This is another New Orleans immersive fast-paced mystery/crime thriller featuring a great cast of characters. All the main characters are fully developed and realistic. Jonathan and his wife have a strong relationship that has been tested, and they came out even stronger. Betsy has worked hard as a Marine and then worked her way up in the NOPD Detective Squad. Ranger, Betsy’s husband’s storyline is still evolving and intriguing. Jonathan and Betsy are both engaging and exciting main protagonists. The plot of this serial killer crime/ mystery was well paced with as many dead ends as surprises and twists. The discovery of the killer completely shocked me, and I like when that happens. This series is addictive.
I highly recommend this thrilling addition to the Jonathan Gray, M.D. Mystery series!
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Excerpt
Chapter One
Alpha and Omega
Sunday, February 1, 2015 – 1:47 a.m.
Twenty-plus years with the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office taught Jonathan Gray to expect the unexpected. But Washington Square Park had always been a tranquil haven on the fringe of the French Quarter. So crime-scene tape draping the square’s wrought-iron fence presented the visual equivalent of fingernails on a chalkboard. Moonlight filtering through stately live oaks cast eerie—almost funereal—shadows, adding to the dissonance.
Fluttering in the nippy midwinter breeze, the neon-yellow ribbon communicated
a mute warning. On this side, normalcy. On the other, insanity. Stepping into the dysfunction never got easier. Regardless, turning back wasn’t an option. As if speaking the incantation aloud would immunize him against the unfolding drama, he repeated his trite pre-crime scene mantra: “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” His breath lingered in the frosty air before evaporating.
After checking in with the uniformed officer monitoring access, Jonathan angled toward floodlights illuminating a temporary canopy above the city’s AIDS memorial. More tape—red as opposed to yellow—identified the innermost “Do Not Cross” perimeter. Crime scene technicians in white Tyvek protective suits busied themselves measuring and photographing what must be the reason he’d been summoned. A male corpse sitting upright on the ground—its arms and legs twisted at seemingly impossible angles—leaned against the memorial’s circular cut-glass and steel panels surrounded by a pool of thick, dark-crimson liquid.
A curved, nearly rectangular piece of wood with brass edges—most likely a knife handle—protruded from under the right side of the dead man’s rib cage. A portion of his intestines spilled out of the wound. A second knife—its handle and part of its blade visible—had been thrust downward into the soft tissue between the left collarbone and neck.
Cause of death seemed too obvious to require someone of Jonathan’s seniority. A first-year med student could have made the call. But markings carved into the dead man’s forehead and chest hinted at something more sinister. No wonder Mitch Broussard from NOPD had called him in the middle of the night. The man’s heavy flannel shirt lay open, exposing his chest and a series of
capital letters etched into his skin. The letters—G I D I A I D I V—made no sense, at least not in English. A folded piece of paper with similar letters and other symbols, not quite readable from that distance, lay under the man’s left hand. Lack of blood covering the letters in the chest signaled they had been added postmortem. Jonathan focused on two marks in the man’s forehead. An uppercase “A” and what looked like an upside-down horseshoe—the Greek letter Omega—apparently cut while the victim was still alive.
It couldn’t have been two years already. But there it was. Alpha and Omega. Jonathan bit his lip and cursed under his breath. Then, a silent prayer. Looked like the nightmare was about to begin—again.
One of the CSTs stood and raised her clear face shield. “Hey, Doc. Welcome to Funsville.”
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Author Bio
Agatha and Anthony-nominated author Michael Rigg, a lawyer for more than four decades, writes mysteries and thrillers set in two very different locations: Virginia Beach (where he lives) and New Orleans (which he visits as often as possible “for research,” including participation in three Mardi Gras Krewes). He is a retired Navy Judge Advocate and a retired civilian government attorney, formerly working for the Department of the Navy Office of the General Counsel. He is a member of International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, and both the Sisters in Crime national organization and its Southeastern Virginia Chapter—Mystery by the Sea.
