Tag: #aboutauthor

Feature Post and Book Review: Too Many Bridges by Bill Gormley

Book Description

An eyewitness to a murder calls the Pittsburgh police from one of the city’s 446 bridges, then disappears. To solve the case, the police must find the bridge. But where to start? Detective Branko Radic and Officer Kathleen Mulroy seek help from a nun, a professor, a mechanic, and a tattoo artist. They learn of a family feud, a business in trouble, some sketchy Harry Potter merchandise, and a missing young woman. If only they can find the right bridge, they might be able to put it all together.

But sometimes, a case is like a funhouse mirror at an amusement park. You have to adjust to the distortions in order to perceive the truth.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216662201-too-many-bridges?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=PPGGsf0MBc&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

TOO MANY BRIDGES (A Radic & Mulroy Mystery Book #1) by Bill Gormley is an intriguing murder mystery/police procedural with an intricate plot full of twists and misdirection while also introducing the reader to a cast of new characters and Pittsburgh, PA. This is the first book in this series.

The Pittsburgh Homicide Department receives an anonymous call from an eyewitness who claims to have witnessed a murder and will only give their location as under one of Pittsburgh’s 446 bridges. With no other information, or even a body, Homicide Detective Branko Radic is given a short timeline to investigate if this is valid information. He is given the assistance of Officer Kathleen Mulroy, who is relatively new to the force and has a social services background and is familiar with the city’s homeless population.

The initial investigation goes nowhere until a body is discovered. When the victim is identified, Radic and Mulroy suddenly have multiple persons of interest and lines of inquiry, but they cannot locate two of their major suspects. A cat and mouse game ensues over the greater Pittsburgh area with everyone seeming to be two steps behind until each discovered bit of evidence adds up to the killer and his motives.

This is an engaging and intricately plotted first book in the Radic & Mulroy mystery series. The author seamlessly pulled me into the investigation with realistic characters and dialogue that develop fully as the story progresses. These are characters that left me wanting to follow them into future books. The crime mystery plot is a strong step-by-step police procedural with dead ends and discoveries that are not always straight forward. The pacing is balanced and leads to many twists and an interesting conclusion. The city of Pittsburgh, the surrounding area, and the many bridges throughout adds authenticity and atmosphere to the story.

I highly recommend this first crime mystery/police procedural in the Radic & Mulroy series and am looking forward to reading many more in this series.

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About the Author

Bill Gormley is a mystery writer, amateur jazz pianist, and retired educator. For 33 years, he was a Professor of Public Policy and Government at Georgetown University, where he wrote and taught about public policy, federalism, bureaucratic politics, and early childhood education. He also helped to found the university’s day care center, Hoya Kids.

Gormley’s non-fiction articles have appeared in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, the Public Administration Review, the American Journal of Political Science, Developmental Psychology, Science magazine, and elsewhere. His non-fiction books have been published by the Brookings Institution Press, the Princeton University Press, the Harvard University Press, and others.

Since retiring from Georgetown, Gormley has written two murder mysteries, both published by Level Best Books: Too Many Bridges (2024) and The Silent Trumpet (2025). His murder mysteries are police procedurals set in Pittsburgh, PA. A third mystery, Too Many Steps, will be published in 2026. Books may be ordered from the usual vendors.

In addition to his writing, Gormley produces a podcast, Profs on Cops, which is available through Spotify and Apple.

Social Media Links

Website: https://billgormley.com/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/too-many-bridges-a-radic-mulroy-mystery-by-bill-gormley

Feature Post and Book Review: Stone Mad by D.M. Pulley

Book Description

Life fell apart for Mannie Wallace after her daughter’s best friend was abducted from the playground right under Mannie’s nose. Six years later, Mannie is working as an engineer turned insurance investigator and barely holding the pieces of her family together. When an eccentric developer hires her to survey an infamously haunted Gilded Age mansion, Stone Mad Castle, it could be just the thing she needs to get her career and life back on track.

But once inside the abandoned castle, her dream job becomes a nightmare when the motley crew of investigators discovers a dead body in the basement and Mannie starts seeing ghosts. Probing deeper into the mansion, she begins to suspect that Stone Mad’s sinister past may be connected to the little girl she lost. Her daughter, now fourteen and obsessed with true crime, is convinced that girls have been mysteriously disappearing near the haunted house at an alarming rate for more than a century.

Twist follows twist, like the hidden passageways that honeycomb the castle, as Mannie risks everything to unravel the mansion’s secrets and uncover the fate of her daughter’s missing friend. In the end, Mannie must solve the mystery of Stone Mad once and for all … or become the next chapter in its haunted story.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/243260420-stone-mad?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=UDv9UhTlrH&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

STONE MAD by D.M. Pulley is an atmospheric horror/thriller featuring a haunted historic Cleveland Gilded Age mansion, called Stone Mad, and the architectural engineer, Mannie Wallace, who is hired to evaluate it. With stories of decades of paranormal hauntings, madness and death, and missing young girls, can Mannie survive Stone Mad?

Mannie Wallace’s life fell apart on the day her daughter’s best friend disappeared on a trip to the beach under her supervision. Six years later, after a breakdown, a divorce, and moving with her two children to her grandparents’ old home in Cleveland Hts., Mannie is trying to get her life and reputation back on track. Mannie receives a call from an eccentric developer who wants a survey of the mysterious Stone Mad mansion to turn it into a boutique hotel. This is just the chance she needs.

As Mannie works in the mansion, she discovers hidden stairs and spaces in walls, as well as room measurements that do not add up. Mannie also begins to see ghosts of young girls who all remind her of her daughter’s missing friend and is worried she may be having another breakdown, but then a real girl is discovered dead in the basement. Mannie’s true crime obsessed daughter believes young girls have gone missing from around the mansion for more than a century. When she and her friend go on their own to investigate, they disappear, and Mannie is now in a race to discover all the secrets of Stone Mad once and for all.

This story would be a good horror/thriller read at any time of the year, but it has all the spook factor and chills you really want for the Halloween season. Mannie is a complicated protagonist who you can find difficult to like, but you also can feel empathy for her. The story has flashback chapters at the beginning of each section that give the reader more history of the mansion and the girls who disappeared. While I felt the beginning dragged a bit, it continued to pick up speed as more of the history and the present came together to a gripping climax. I love this author’s books and how they pull from actual locations in my hometown, not just the historic buildings, but also the restaurants and neighborhoods. The story also includes many interesting architectural facts, as well as historical facts.

I recommend this eerie horror/thriller that keeps you guessing while you are on the edge of reality, sanity, and the paranormal.

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About the Author

D.M. Pulley lives in Northeast Ohio with her husband, two children and dog, Hobo. Before becoming an Amazon bestselling author, Pulley worked as a Professional Engineer rehabbing historic structures and assessing building failures. Her survey of a vacant building in Cleveland, Ohio inspired her debut, THE DEAD KEY, the winner of the 2014 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.

Since then, Pulley has published four more novels inspired by true crime and real buildings, and she has sold over 800,000 books worldwide. Her thriller NO ONE’S HOME was nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award and named one of the “Best of Horror” by Suspense Magazine The abandoned buildings, haunted houses, and buried past of the Rust Belt continue to inspire her work. Her latest Gothic thriller, STONE MAD, is the story of a haunted house, a missing girl, and the woman who connects them.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.dmpulley.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DMPulleyAuthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/d.m.pulley/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/stone-mad-by-d-m-pulley

Feature Post and Mini Book Review: Don’t Look in the Freezer by Patti Eddington

Book Description

Patti Eddington should have known when she married her veterinary student boyfriend that she would spend anniversary and birthday dinners not sitting at tables at fancy restaurants but kneeling under a surgery table in a cocktail dress, desperately trying to mop up a steady stream of blood and urine with cheap paper towels. She should have guessed that every knock at the door or ring of the phone would mean her husband would be torn away from the family for hours—sometimes returning deflated, sometimes smiling. But she could never have dreamed that her beautiful, curly-haired young daughter would one day bathe and sleep with an inflatable tick (until the day it was mysteriously punctured by a salad fork) or that she would go through her marriage of forty-five years opening every freezer door with caution.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/236668714-don-t-look-in-the-freezer?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=lpaYWMSvnK&rank=1

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My Mini Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

DON’T LOOK IN THE FREEZER: The Very Strange Life of a Veterinarian’s Wife by Patti Eddington is an entertaining nonfiction series of essays/memoir on the author’s life as the wife of a veterinarian and their pets throughout the years. While many of the chapters are humorous there are also many poignant moments throughout.

If you are a lover of animals, I do not see how you could not enjoy this book. Our family had many of the pet animals described in Patti’s family, so I can relate to the good and bad. Everyone has had that “good” pet or “crazy” pet that no matter what, you loved them and mourned their passing. This book though includes the other side of the story about the dealings with pet parents and interruptions to the doctor and his family’s personal lives that they dealt with.

This is a book for all pet lovers and is an unfiltered look at this author’s life and pets.

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About the Author

Patti Eddington is a newspaper and magazine journalist whose favorite job ever was interviewing the famous authors who came through town on book tours. She never dreamed of writing about her life because she was too busy helping build her husband’s veterinary practice, caring for her animal obsessed daughter—whose favorite childhood toy was an inflatable tick—and learning to tap dance. Then fate, and a DNA test, led her to a story she felt compelled to tell. Today, the mid-century modern design enthusiast and Jazzercise instructor enjoys being dragged on walks by her ridiculous three-legged dog, David, and watching the egrets and bald eagles from her deck on a beautiful bayou in Spring Lake, Michigan.

Social Media Links

Website: https://pattieddington.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Patti-Eddington-Author/100091516900287/?mibextid=qWsEUC

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pattieddingtonauthor/?igsh=ajVpNmN6cXNiM3N1

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/don-t-look-in-the-freezer-by-patti-eddington

Feature Post and Book Review: Heartless by Brian Fitzgerald

Book Description

Ten years of frustration and heartbreak caring for his son John, born with a catastrophic heart defect, have convinced Rick Morrow that the world is stacked against his family. And on what should be the best day of their life — the day when John will finally get a new heart – an even worse nightmare begins, when the helicopter carrying the heart crashes, destroying the heart and the hopes of the Morrow family.

Rick’s heartbreak turns to rage as he begins to suspect that the accident was no accident at all. His pursuit of the truth puts him on a collision course with the giant Cera Corporation and the powerful family that runs it, who have an agenda of their own and will stop at nothing to make it come true. The escalating conflict threatens Rick’s reputation, his safety and even his marriage. It reaches its gut-wrenching climax with Rick and his wife Mary facing and even more terrible question; will they sacrifice all they believe in to save their own son, at a cost almost too high to imagine?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58278246-heartless?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=Gk87HRvkDc&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

HEARTLESS by Brian Fitzgerald is a tour de force medical thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. It takes on so many issues revolving around transplants, family stressors, corruption, money, and personal and medical ethics as you follow a couple with a child who needs a heart transplant. I find it hard to believe this book has not made it on to any must read or book club list.

Rick and Mary Morrow have dealt with frustration, fear, and hope of having one of their young sons on the national heart transplant list for ten years. Right when they believe all hope is gone and their marriage is shattering, a heart becomes available. A decision is made to fly the heart between hospitals in a new experimental container. Rick follows the helicopter from the ground but realizes there is something wrong. It is coming down. Rick was a helicopter mechanic in the service and knows something is not right with the scene.

Rick’s heartbreak turns to rage as no one believes him. He continues to question everyone involved, but he runs onto a wall put up by the conglomerate Cera Corporation and the powerful family with their own agenda behind the scenes. With escalating threats, Rick and Mary face the ultimate question of what they will sacrifice to save their son?

Mr. Fitzgerald drops you into the lives of Rick and Mary with a writing style that pulls you immediately into their story and does not let go. The thriller plot moves at a fast pace with an ever-escalating tension between the truth and the cover-up with plenty of twists and surprises throughout. You also have the dichotomy between the Morrow’s financial situation and the unlimited funds of the Cera Corporation which leads the reader to ethical and moral dilemmas to contemplate. And then you get hit with a personal moral choice that the Morrow’s are cornered into making for their son. This book will stick with you for a long time after you close the cover because you will continue to think about what choices you would have made.

I highly recommend this medical thriller and hope many, many more people read it!

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About the Author

Over the course of career in marketing and technology Brian made his living through storytelling, communicating in print, online and national broadcast TV. During that time, as head of communications for a billion-dollar information security firm, he had a role in some of the most tumultuous events in cybersecurity including major breaches and global privacy issues. Brian has worked with (and at times been at odds with) the media, academia and even America’s intelligence and law-enforcement agencies. These experiences have informed his fiction writing, as he strives to bring to life the human consequences of advances in technology, medicine and social media.

Social Media Links

Website: https://brianbooks.com/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Brian-Fitzgerald/author/B0GF45VCP5?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1791144059&sr=8-1&shoppingPortalEnabled=true&ccs_id=1f4ee3f8-1ec4-4e18-be69-344437e21500

Feature Post and Book Review: A Killer for Christmas by Kim Harrington

Book Description

Christmasville, Maine, is the only place where Kelsey Hendricks has ever felt happy. When she loses both her job and her boyfriend, the move is a no-brainer, especially when she sees a listing for a position as Christmasville’s social media manager. Surrounded by twinkling lights and candy canes and with the perfect job, this tinsel town is working its magic on Kelsey. With two heartthrobs vying for her attention, her life is now just like a Christmas movie.

Except for the murders.

The first one is dismissed as an accident. But after the second, and definitely the third, it becomes abundantly clear that Santa is leaving coal in someone’s stocking this year.

Determined to bring back the holly jolly spirit to the town before tourists begin canceling their reservations, Kelsey must sleuth her way out of a chilling murder mystery and back to a holiday rom-com.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/245670642-a-killer-for-christmas?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=EeAnRrD7DE&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

A KILLER FOR CHRISTMAS by Kim Harrington is an entertaining holiday cozy mystery read for all lovers of the combination of Christmas spirit, a possible rom-com holiday romance in cute small-town Maine, and murder. This combination may sound crazy, but you know there is a group of us who are all out here looking for this book…Ho, Ho, Oh no!

Kelsey Hendricks quits her job and flees a bad break-up in Boston to the one place that always brought her joy and happiness, Christmasville, Maine, where it is Christmas every day. She lands the job as the town’s social media manager and checks into a local family-owned inn. It would all be a great start to a new life if she did not continue to come across dead bodies. The first may have been considered an accident by the mayor and police chief, but two, and then three?

Kelsey and her newly made friends must deal with a mayor that will believe anything but the truth to save the town’s tourist income, an on-line troll calling themselves the ChristmastimeKiller, and two men who could either be her rom-com dream or a killer?

This is a fun holiday cozy mystery read with just the right amount of interesting small-town characters and/or suspects, with periods of threat or uncertainty thrown into the mix. Kelsey is a protagonist that is relatable and the dialogue between her and her new friends is fun and believable. I enjoyed the characters, but I did not feel an in-depth attachment to them, except for Kelsey. The murder plot moved well throughout the story after the second murder with a climax I did not see coming. (I like when that happens.)

This is the one, if you are like me, and like a little murder and possible romance to go with your holiday cheer.

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About the Author

Kim Harrington is the author of A Killer for Christmas, her debut adult mystery coming in 2026 from Crooked Lane Books. She is also known for her teen novels Clarity, Perception, The Dead and Buried, and Forget Me, as well as books for younger readers including Revenge of the Red Club, the Sleuth or Dare series, and Gamer Squad series. Her books have been published in ten countries. She lives in Massachusetts with her family and never leaves the house without a book. Find her online at kimharringtonbooks com.

Social Media Links

Website: https://kimharringtonbooks.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorkimharrington

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimharringtonauthor/

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/kimharringtonbooks.bsky.social

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/a-killer-for-christmas-by-kim-harrington

Feature Post and Book Review: Murder in the Vineyard by Liz Fielding

Book Description

Huge-hearted Abby loves dogs — and doesn’t think twice about swerving to avoid an adorable terrier in a country lane. Or following along, when the troublesome pup goes darting off into a local vineyard.

But she never expects where the runaway dog is leading her — straight to a corpse!

Clementine Courtenay, elegant matriarch of the May Valley Vineyard, lies floating face-down in a stream.

The police say she must have slipped and drowned. But Abby’s not so sure.

As rumors begin to swirl amid the tangled vines, Abby realizes that no one in Clementine’s inner circle is quite what they seem.

Between jilted lovers, greedy offspring and bitter rivals, Clementine kept her friends close and her enemies closer still . . .

What secrets will Abby find — fermenting in the darkest corners of the Courtenay family cellar?

It’s up to Abby to solve the case before this sweetest vintage turns sour .

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/256776617-murder-in-the-vineyard?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=P3Z0PZQwgW&rank=4

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

MURDER IN THE VINEYARD (Maybridge Murder Mysteries Book #4) by Liz Fielding is another wonderfully engaging addition to the cozy Maybridge Murder Mysteries series featuring an English horticulturist, wife and mother who seems to always find herself embroiled in a murder. This book can be read as a standalone, but the protagonist’s family and all the Cotswolds characters continue to evolve, and I have enjoyed the entire series in order of publication.

Abby Finch finds herself swerving into a hedgerow after barely missing a small terrier that has darted in front of her car. It is wet and trembling, so she puts it in her car to begin the search for its owner. She meets the woman who runs the local dog rescue, Fancy Day, and discovers the dog was homed to Clemintine Courtenay, who is from an old money family and owner of the May Valley Estates Vineyard. When they go in search of Clemie, they find her lying face down in a stream dead. While Abby has questions, the police feel there is no foul play involved.

Abby promises her new husband she will not get involved, but there are rumors and questions that do not add up. Clemintine was entangled in family greed, drama, and rivalries as well as hiding her own secrets. When another body turns up in the same location, Abby and her friends work to untangle the twisted family vines.

I enjoy this series and Abby’s adventures every time I get a new addition to this series. Abby and her family and friends continue to engage me in every outing. Ms. Fielding’s writing of the character interactions and friendships make me feel as though I could walk right into the story and be a part of the group. Scout the terrier’s journey to becoming a part of Abby’s family is a wonderful addition to the story. The mystery plot in this addition to the series is very smartly interwoven with current and generational family secrets, plenty of red herrings, and the always present horticultural tie ins that I enjoy reading about.

I highly recommend this entertaining addition to the Maybridge Murder Mysteries series.

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Author Bio

Liz Fielding worked as a secretary in Africa and the Middle East and was co-ordinator of the Brecon Jazz Festival before writing full time. Her books are published worldwide in multiple languages, she has won the Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA award for both The Best Man & the Bridesmaid and The Marriage Miracle and in 2019 was honoured with an Outstanding Achievement Award from the Romantic Novelists’ Association in the UK.

She is now writing cozy crime for Joffe Books and her first Maybridge Mystery, Murder Among the Roses is available now.

Liz lives in West Sussex.

Social Media Links

Website: http://lizfieldingblog.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lizfieldingauthor/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liz.fielding/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/murder-in-the-vineyard-a-brand-new-utterly-gripping-english-cozy-mystery-full-of-twists-maybridge-murder-mysteries-book-4-by-liz-fielding