Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Review for BROADCAST BLUES (Clare Carlson Mystery Book #6) by R.G. Belsky on this Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour.
Below you will find a book synopsis, my book review, the author’s bio and social media links, and a Kingsumo giveaway. Enjoy!
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Book Synopsis
Wendy Kyle took secrets to her grave—now, Clare Carlson is digging them up
New York City has no shortage of crime, making for a busy schedule for TV newswoman Clare Carlson. But not all crimes are created equal, and when an explosive planted in a car detonates and kills a woman, Clare knows it’ll be a huge story for her.
But it’s not only about the story—Clare also wants justice for the victim, Wendy Kyle. Wendy had sparked controversy as an NYPD officer, ultimately getting kicked off the force after making sexual harassment allegations and getting into a physical altercation with her boss. Then, she started a private investigations business, catering to women who suspected their husbands of cheating. Undoubtedly, Wendy had angered many people with her work, so the list of her suspected murderers is seemingly endless.
Despite the daunting investigation, Clare dives in headfirst. As she digs deeper, she attracts the attention of many rich and powerful people who will stop at nothing to keep her from breaking the truth about the death of Wendy Kyle—and exposing their personal secrets that Wendy took to her grave.
Genre: Mystery Published by: Oceanview Publishing Publication Date: January 2, 2024 Number of Pages: 320 ISBN: 9781608095315 ISBN10: 1608095312) Series: Clare Carlson Mystery Book 6
While all of the novels in the Clare Carlson Mystery Series stand on their own and can be read in any order, the publication sequence is:
Yesterday’s News Below the Fold The Last Scoop Beyond the Headlines It’s News to Me Broadcast Blues
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My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
BROADCAST BLUES (Clare Carlson Mystery Book #6) by R.G. Belsky is another intriguing and fast paced addition to this mystery/crime thriller series featuring New York journalist turned TV news director, Clare Carlson. While this is the sixth book in the series, each of these stories is easily read as a standalone mystery/thriller.
New York Channel 10 News Director Clare Carlson is waiting for a lead story for her six o’clock news broadcast and once again the news gods deliver. Wendy Kyle is a former NYCP officer turned private eye who is murdered by an explosive device planted on her car door. Clare begins to dig into Wendy’s death and her cases that are specifically geared to help women with cheating high-profile husbands. But Wendy also made many enemies while on at the NYPD before she was kicked off the force.
Clare is once again juggling her news director duties with her journalist inquisitiveness for a big story that she wants to break. With plenty of suspects and leads, Clare might have bitten off more than she can handle this time.
I am always excited to get a new Clare Carlson mystery book. The plot in each always pulls me in with multiple suspects, false leads, and red herrings to the point where I never guess the endings. Clare is such a perfectly flawed realistic character. I love Clare and the different perspective of having the crime being investigated by a journalist, rather than a detective for a change.
I highly recommend this mystery/crime thriller book and every book in this series.
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Author Bio
R.G. Belsky is an award-winning author of crime fiction and a journalist in New York City. His newest mystery, BROADCAST BLUES, was published on January 2 by Oceanview. It is the sixth in a series featuring Clare Carlson, the news director for a New York City TV station. The first book, Yesterday’s News, was named Best Mystery of 2018 at Deadly Ink. The second, Below the Fold, won the Foreward INDIES award for Best Mystery of 2019. Belsky has published 20 novels—all set in the New York city media world where he has had a long career as a top editor at the New York Post, New York Daily News, Star magazine and NBC News. He also writes thrillers under the name Dana Perry. And he is a contributing writer for The Big Thrill magazine and BookTrib.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for RED LINE by Blake Rudman on this Black Tide Book 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
Baltimore Police Detective Mitch Wilson wants a nice day out with his wife and son. Instead, they are all caught up in a catastrophic terrorist attack that has repercussions across the USA and triggers events that could alter the course of civilization.
Having lost everything, Mitch sets out to seek justice – and revenge and stumbles upon a global conspiracy.
On the other side of the world, renowned linguistic professor, Yasaman Karami, flees her native Iran for the freedom of the west; she holds one of the keys to defeating the terrorist organization.
Yasaman and Mitch’s worlds collide as, alongside federal agents and allies, they race against the clock to hunt down the terrorist masterminds and prevent worldwide catastrophe.
RED LINE by Blake Rudman is a chilling noir crime thriller based on a twisted and yet believable scheme that could change the governments and economics of the world as we know it. This thriller starts with the two disparate main characters, one in Baltimore and one in Tehran who come together to stop a worldwide catastrophe.
Baltimore Police Detective Mitch Wilson is enjoying the day by taking his wife and young son to the latest animated hit movie. He drops them off at the theater and goes to park the car when a suspicious man catches his attention. He realizes the man is headed for the theater and before Mitch can stop him, he detonates a suicide vest killing everyone. This is happening all over the U.S. where the new film is showing. Mitch is determined to exact revenge and uses information he has discovered to bribe his way onto the FBI team investigating the terror attack called the “Red Line”.
Yasaman Karami is an archeological linguist professor in Tehran, Iran. Her research has led her and her mentor to discover the origins of language. Her mentor is kidnapped for the knowledge they posses and now they are after Yasaman. She is running for her life and ends up being helped across the border and into the hands of the FBI team with Mitch when another Red Line attack hits Europe.
It is a fast paced and action filled race to discover who is responsible for the Red Line attacks and stop the global attack to come.
This is a scary and at the same time thought-provoking thriller. It has a noir feel to the writing style, two main characters that could not be more different and yet come together to make a believable team, and fast-paced action. I do wish Mitch and Yasamin had come together sooner in the story, but there was a lot to set up for the intricate plot and while there was action to keep me involved in the story until they did come together, when they did, I could not turn the pages fast enough. The idea of terrorists, who are not the type of terrorists we normally think of, and the use of super-charged subliminal messaging were just realistic enough to have me seriously cheering on the good guys. I liked the romantic elements and found they were well written for a thriller and not stereotypical.
I recommend this noir crime thriller with romantic elements for a exciting ‘save the world’ read and I will be looking forward to reading more books by this author.
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About the Author
Blake Rudman enjoyed a former, successful career in executive management, building his own companies from the ground up.
Success or not, Blake’s heart has always been in the written word, and the myriad ideas he spent much of his spare time jotting down in notebooks, Post-Its, and scraps of paper whenever the inspiration hit him.
Now a breakout author of five noir thriller novels – all to be published in 2023 – Blake’s destiny of becoming a writer of some renown is well under way.
When he’s not working diligently on his next novel, Blake spends quality time with his family and tropical fish.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for TWICE ON CHRISTMAS by McGarvey Black on this Book ‘n’ All Promotions.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
After choir practice for midnight mass, college sophomore Rose Grandon takes a short-cut through Harbor Park. Grabbed from behind, she is violently assaulted, beaten and left for dead. The last thing she hears is a tenor voice singing Silent Night.
Several hours later, the police find Rose lying in a ditch. Badly beaten — but alive. As she recovers in hospital, Rose is told she’s pregnant. She has a terrible choice to make. She decides to keep the baby. Nine months later, she gives birth to a beautiful baby girl. She names her Mary.
Rose lives quietly in her small Connecticut hometown raising her daughter — the one good thing to come out of her horrible ordeal. She begins to get her old self back, but her evil attacker has never been caught. He strikes twice a year. Once on Christmas Eve, once on Christmas Day. Until he’s behind bars, Rose and her baby can never be safe.
But now he’s found out he has a daughter. And that changes everything . . .
TWICE ON CHRISTMAS by McGarvey Black is a serial killer crime thriller/domestic suspense that features a young woman who survives a horrific attack on Christmas Eve and must deal with the trauma and ramifications every year following for over a decade. This is a standalone suspense/thriller by an author who is new to me.
Rose Grandon is a college sophomore at UConn and home for Christmas break. After choir practice for midnight mass, Rose wants to get home quicker by cutting through Harbor Park and is attacked from behind. Assaulted and left for dead, the last thing she hears is a beautiful tenor voice singing “Silent Night” as she loses consciousness by a creek in a ravine.
Her attacker is never found as she deals with several months of rehab and a pregnancy from her attack. Rose works hard to get her life back and make a home for baby, Mary, but every year her attacker remains on the loose and brutally attacking one woman every Christmas Eve and killing on every Christmas Day.
What Rose does not realize is that her attacker discovers he has a daughter, and that changes all his plans.
This is a thriller that immediately grabs you with a terrible crime and then follows the protagonist, Rose, through the next years of her life and everything she must deal with. As the reader follows Rose’s life, there are several male characters introduced into her life that could be the serial killer. I felt it was evident very early even with all the misdirection. Rose also is dealing with her daughter’s behavioral issues which highlighted how much parents do not want to acknowledge about their own children. As in any domestic suspense there are times you want to yell at the main character for not realizing some key bit of inconsistency and this story had many. The law enforcement officers, both local and federal, are not very efficient either. No background checks?
Overall, I feel this is an average suspense/thriller that is entertaining, but with a few too many holes in the plot and a protagonist that does not question things she should.
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Author Bio
McGarvey studied voice at Manhattan School of Music and was later a theatre major in college. She pursued an acting career but later moved into a magazine and digital media career. During that time, she sold advertising and managed sales teams for companies like Conde Nast, WebMD and worked for brands including GQ, Travel + Leisure, and Allure.
In between, she took a year off and backpacked alone around the world. Later, after having two children, she left media and became an executive recruiter for internet companies. In 2017, she began writing full time and has since published six novels.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for DEAD WEST by Linda L. Richards 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 Kingsumo giveaway. Enjoy!
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Book Description
Still struggling towards the light, this time the assignment is to save, not kill.
Taking lives has taken its toll. Her moral justifications have faltered. Do any of the the people she has killed — some of them heinous, but all of them human — deserve to die?
Her next target is Cameron Walker, a rancher in Arizona. When she arrives at his remote desert estate to carry out her orders, she discovers that he is a kind and beautiful man. After a lengthy tour of the ranch, not only has she not killed him, she’s wondering who might want him dead.
She procrastinates long enough that a vibe grows between them. At the same time, she learns that he’s passionate about wild horses and has been fighting a losing political battle to save the mustangs that live on protected land near his property. He’s even received death threats from those who oppose him.
She finds herself trying to protect the man she was sent to kill, following a trail that leads from the desert, to the Phoenix cognoscenti, to the highest offices in Washington, DC. Along the way she encounters kidnappers and killers, horse thieves and even human traffickers. Hopefully she can figure out who ordered the hit before they hire someone else to execute the assignment.
Genre: Thriller, Noir, Suspense Published by: Oceanview Publishing Publication Date: September 2023 Number of Pages: 320 ISBN: 9781608095124 (ISBN10: 1608095126) Series: The Endings Series, Book 3
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My Mini Book Review
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
DEAD WEST (The Endings Series Book #3) by Linda L. Richards is a noir crime thriller with a twist. The protagonist is a female assassin who questions her continuation in her chosen profession when she falls in love with her intended target. While this is the third book in the series, it can be easily read as a standalone story.
I found this an interesting thriller with a noir feel and an intriguing protagonist. While I felt the need to suspend some belief as the assassin and her target fall into an instant attraction, the action takes off when he disappears, and I quit thinking about it. The information about wild horses was fascinating and I wish the plot would have stayed in that vein and not pulled in other crimes like the human trafficking crime sub plot. There are plenty of plot twists and action right up to the end that kept me guessing.
Overall, this is a fast-paced noir crime thriller with an intriguing protagonist.
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Excerpt
CHAPTER ONE
I’m sitting on a beach. It’s a ridiculous proposition. Fluffy white clouds are scudding through a clear, blue sky. Surfers are running around carrying boards, often over their heads. Then they plunge into a sea that looks deadly to my non-surfing eyes. Palm trees are waving, and the air is so neutral, you don’t have to think about it. Soft, welcoming air. You just float right through.
The view is beautiful. It’s like a movie backdrop. A painting. Something skillfully manufactured to look hyper-real. Textbook paradise, that’s what I’m talking about.
I’m sitting on this beach, trying not to think about the reason I’m here. But it’s hard. Difficult. To not think about it, I mean. I’m here, in paradise, because someone has to die.
Someone will die.
I got the assignment a few days ago. I flew to this island to pull it off.
My target is a businessman who lives on this island in the South Pacific. He is the kind of self-made guy who has achieved every goal in life and would seem to have everything to live for. Only now, apparently, someone wants him dead because here I am, ready for business.
So I stake him out. You need to understand at least the basics of who someone is before you snuff them out. This is the idea that I have. I’m not going all sensitive on you or anything, that’s just how it is. In order to do the best possible job in this business, you need to understand a little about who they are. It’s not a rule or anything, it’s just how I feel.
His name is Gavin White, and I researched him a bit before I got here. He made his fortune in oil and wax, which is an odd enough combo that you perk up your ears. Only it doesn’t seem to matter: the source of the income would seem to have nothing to do with the hit. Would seem to, because there is only so much I can learn about that, really. On the surface, anyway, I can find no direct connection between Gavin White’s livelihood and the death that someone has planned for him and that I am now further planning.
I follow him and his S560 cabriolet all over the tropical island. He makes a few stops. I watch what he does, how he moves and who he interacts with. Some of it might matter. I’m not doing it for my health. I’m watching him so I can determine when I might best have advantage when I go to take him out. There are always multiple times and different places to fulfill my assignment and usually only one—or maybe two—that are virtually flawless. Sometimes not even that. So I watch.
And it’s more than an opportunity I’m looking for, though that can play a part. It’s also a matter of identifying what will make my job not only easier, but also safest from detection. And so I watch. And I wait.
As I follow him, he stops first at a bank. Does some business— I’ll never know what. After that he visits his mom. At least, I guess it is his mom. An older woman he seems affectionate with. From my rental car, I can see them through a front room window. There is a hug and then a wave. It could be a bookkeeper for all I know. But mom is what I guess.
After a while he heads to the beach. He sits on the sand, contemplative for a while. I think about taking him there; full contemplation. But it is crude and much too exposed.
More time passes before he takes off his shoes, leaves them on the beach, and walks into the surf. I leave my car and take up a spot on the sand, just plopping myself down not far from his shoes.
I watch him surreptitiously. It is obvious he did not come to the beach to swim. He is fully clothed and he hasn’t left a towel behind there with his shoes. There is none of the paraphernalia one associates with a visit to the beach, even if this were one that is intended for swimming, which it is not. Signs warn of possible impending doom for those who venture into the water.
“Strong current,” warns one sign under a fluorescent flag. “If in doubt, don’t go out.”
“Dangerous shore break,” warns another. “Waves break in shallow water. Serious injuries could occur, even in small surf.”
I don’t know if Gavin White read the signs, or noticed them, but even though he is still fully clothed, he steps into the water anyway.
First, he gets his feet wet. Not long after, he wades in up to his knees. He hesitates when the water is at mid-thigh, and he stops there. For a while, it seems to me, it is like a dance. He stands facing the horizon, directly in front of where I sit. His shoulders are squared. There is something stoic in his stance. I can’t explain it. Squared and stoic.
Waves break against him, push him back. He allows the push, then makes his way back to the spot where he had stood before.
Before long, he ventures deeper still. The dance. I watch for a while, fascinated. I wonder if there is anything I should do. But no. The dance. Two steps forward, then the waves push him back.
And now he is in deeper still, and further from shore. I see a wave engulf him completely, and I hold my breath. He doesn’t struggle, but then I see him rise, face the horizon, square his shoulders.
The waves are strong and beautiful. And they are eerily clear, those waves. Sometimes I can see right inside them. Careful glass tubes of water, I can even observe that from shore.
For a while he stands like that, facing the horizon—a lull in the action of the waves. And then he is engulfed once again. I hold my breath, but this time he doesn’t rise.
I sit there for a long time, considering. And waiting. My breathing shallow. But he doesn’t reappear. After half an hour, I text my handler. “It is done,” is all I say, just as I know she will expect.
It was not my hand, but the mission has been accomplished regardless. No one knows better than me that there are many ways to die.
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Author Bio
Linda L. Richards is the award-winning author of over a dozen books. The founder and publisher of January Magazine and a national board member of Sisters in Crime, she is best known for her strong female protagonists in the thriller genre. Richards is from Vancouver, Canada and currently makes her home in Phoenix, Arizona. Richards is an accomplished horsewoman and an avid tennis player. She enjoys yoga, hiking, cooking and playing guitar, though not at the same time.
A KILLER’S GAME (Daniela Vega Book #1) by Isabella Maldonado is a gripping crime thriller that takes off like a rocket and never stops. This is the start of a new series featuring a Hispanic female FBI agent with a unique background in the U.S. Army Special Forces. This is an author introduced to me by Amazon’s First To Read program and I am looking forward to reading more of her books.
FBI Agent Daniela “Dani” Vega witnesses a murder right in front of her on the streets of Manhattan. When the killer is caught, it is learned he is only a part of a group of killers used in a conspiracy to enrich a powerful Senator. The only way to infiltrate this group is for Dani to team up with the murderer, Gustavo Toro, and while she successfully infiltrates the group, this new mission is a trap for them all set up by a brilliant game maker set on revenge.
In an underground converted missile silo rehabbed as a labyrinth, Dani and Toro and the other assassins must now fight each other with only one allowed to survive and leave. In this game everything is real, and the logic puzzles are lethal. Can Dani survive Nemesis’ ultimate revenge?
This is one of those thrillers that pull you in and then you cannot put it down. Dani is a strong, intelligent, competent, and yet vulnerable main character. All the secondary characters were believable, from her siblings to her FBI colleagues and all the antagonists as they are fleshed out, they never slowed the pace of the story. The plot, especially once all the assassins are in the maze, kept me on the edge of my seat and I was trying to solve the puzzles right along with Dani. This is not the usual FBI investigative procedural.
I am anxiously looking forward to more books in this series to see what Dani gets herself into next.
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About the Author
Wall Street Journal bestselling author Isabella Maldonado wore a gun and badge in real life before turning to crime writing. A graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico and the first Latina to attain the rank of captain in the Fairfax County Police Department just outside DC, she retired as the Commander of Special Investigations and Forensics. During more than two decades on the force, her assignments included hostage negotiator, department spokesperson, and precinct commander. She uses her law enforcement background to bring a realistic edge to her writing, which includes the bestselling FBI Special Agent Nina Guerrera series (soon to be a Netflix feature film starring Jennifer Lopez), the award-winning Detective Veranda Cruz series, and the Agent Daniela “Dani” Vega series. Her books have been translated into 22 languages.
The Locard Institute is a state-of-the-art forensic research center where experts from around the world come together to confront and solve the world’s most challenging and perplexing crimes. When Dr. Ellie Carr arrives for her first day as an instructor at the prestigious facility, the buildings glimmer amid the brilliant fall foliage on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. But within hours a colleague, Dr. Barbara Wright, is found dead on the floor of a supply closet. Her death appears to be an accident—but Ellie and her new supervisor, Dr. Rachael Davies, suspect a more sinister explanation.
A young woman attending a professional training program then disappears, only to be found in a gruesome tableau. Other than their link to the Institute, there seems to be no connection between the student and Dr. Wright. Although forensic traces are elusive, Ellie and Rachael are determined to find the bizarre link between the violent and diverse deaths.
As reporters shatter the privacy of Ellie’s new workplace, she searches old files and finds evidence of a crime that feels much too personal. But who, among those dedicated to justice, could be the threat? No matter how skilled she and Rachael may be in uncovering the truth, they may not be able to prevent a well-schooled killer from striking again.
WHAT HARMS YOU (Locard Institute Thriller Book #2) by Lisa Black is a gripping forensic crime thriller and the second book in the Locard Institute Thriller series featuring two dynamic female forensic experts. Even though this is the second book in this series, it can easily be read as a standalone.
Dr. Ellie Carr has arrived for her first day teaching at the prestigious Locard Institute on the Chesapeake Bay and within hours the teacher she is replacing is found dead. What appears to be a terrible accident leaves Ellie and her new supervisor, Dr. Rachel Davies, unsettled. As they investigate their colleague’s death, a female Suadi national attending the professional training program goes missing and is soon discovered dead.
Ellie and Rachel must now work to discover if there is a link between the two diverse deaths among the professional law enforcement agents attending this training program and discover who is responsible before he or she strikes again.
I love when I get to read a new Lisa Black thriller and learn more about forensic techniques besides watching her main characters put them to use in solving crimes. This story introduces the reader to the halls of the Locard Institute, right along with Ellie and where the crimes take place. I enjoyed the interactions between Ellie and Rachel who, while at different phases of their careers, still work well as colleagues and recognize each other’s strengths. The murders and mysterious killer keep the tension high and the reader on the edge of their seat. The scientific analysis Ellie and Rachel use for solving crimes as well as teaching their program attendees is woven throughout the plotline without slowing the pace and I always find highly interesting.
I highly recommend this exciting crime thriller in this series and all the forensic thrillers by this author.
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About the Author
Lisa Black’s books have reached the NYT bestsellers list, been translated into six languages and have been optioned for film. Perish was shortlisted for the inaugural Sue Grafton Memorial Award by Putnam and Mystery Writers of America. Lisa will be a Guest of Honor at 2021 Killer Nashville.
She is a certified crime scene analyst in Florida and a former forensic scientist for the Cleveland coroner’s office. She is a member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the International Association for Identification, and the International Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts, and has testified in more than fifty homicide trials.
She still aspires to drive Nancy Drew’s convertible and marry Ellery Queen.
