Please Join Us by Catherine McKenzie delves into secret organizations, hidden agendas, and how someone can take back control over their life.
At thirty-nine, Nicole Mueller’s life is on the rocks. Her once brilliant law career is falling apart. She and her husband, Dan, are soon to be forced out of the apartment they love. After a warning from her firm’s senior partners, she receives an invitation from an exclusive women’s networking group, Panthera Leo. Membership is anonymous, but every member is a successful professional. It sounds like the perfect solution to help Nicole revive her career. So, despite Dan’s concerns that the group might be a cult, Nicole signs up for their retreat in Colorado.
Once there, she meets the other women who will make up her Pride. A CEO, an actress, a finance whiz, a congresswoman: Nicole can’t believe her luck. The founders of Panthera Leo are equally as impressive. They explain the group’s core philosophy: they’re a girl’s club in a boy’s club world.
Nicole is all in. And when she gets home, she soon sees dividends. Her new network quickly provides her with clients that help her relaunch her career, and a great new apartment too. The favors she must provide in return seem benign. But then she’s called to the congresswoman’s apartment late at night where she’s pressed into helping her cover up a crime. And suddenly, Dan’s concerns that something more sinister is at play seem all too relevant. Nicole questions if joining Panthera Leo was the biggest mistake of her life and wonders how to extricate herself from the group.
Readers will be reminded of the problems women face at work, the Me-Too movement, networking, marriage, blending private and public lives, which are all part of this thriller.
***
Author Interview
Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?
Catherine McKenzie: I received an email many years ago inviting me to a women’s networking group with different professions. I was told I was recommended by someone although they would not tell me who. I thought if I decided to do it everything would then be made clear to me. However, I did not keep that email. I did not go partly because my husband said it was crazy. Some of the professions are intricate to the plot.
EC: What is the theme?
CM: Feminism is a theme. There is still a long way to go with the old boys’ network. It is underground, but still there. They are less overt now. I put in this quote, “If you need anything you come to this group. To your Pride… women don’t need to fight for their dominance; they join willingly to achieve the best result for all.” This is the mantra of the book. There is a stereotype that women are competitive with each other. This is because usually there is only one woman around the board table. If another woman comes in, they are perceived as a rival. I do think men pit women against each other. Everyone is socialized to be super critical and observant of women’s behavior. I do not think women are cattier or more aggressive around other women.
EC: How would you describe Nicole?
CM: A hard worker who is super smart. Mono-focused. She has put everything into her career without many friends. She wanted to be the best for her job. After her dreams were not realized she felt very vulnerable. She can be self-centered and insensitive at times. She does like her comforts.
EC: How would you describe the husband, Dan?
CM: He goes along to get along. He is a good person. Dan is OK with being second fiddle in their relationship and allows Nicole to take control and make decisions. He was the direct opposite of Nicole. Very easy going and laid back, charming, cautious, and kind. What I did in this book and other novels is to put women in the roles occupied by men and vice-versa.
EC: What about the LEO organization?
CM: It has CULT vibes. The women in charge of it use some of the techniques of a cult to control the others. They become all the people in Nicole’s life and discourage her to go outside the group. They do the providing. They are manipulative, dominant, demand loyalty, and obedience.
EC: You were brave for bringing up Covid-19 in this story?
CM: I struggled with it. I wrote it in 2020 but knew it was coming out in 2022. I thought about my different options: do I pretend it never existed, or do I consider it over. I thought that I was not going to skip over it entirely. I did want it to exist.
EC: Any movies or TV shows on the horizon?
CM: This book has been optioned for a TV series. My book, I Never Tell was also optioned. Nothing has been announced yet.
EC: The next book?
CM: It is titled, Have You Seen Her, about a search and rescue worker in Yosemite. It will be out in June next year.
THANK YOU!!
***
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
Can an Englisch city girl ever become one of the Plain People?
She needed a safe place to hide. Instead she found a place to call home…
Television journalist Leah Porte never imagined her career would end with her witnessing a murder. Now she’s temporarily living among the Amish in witness protection. Instead of feeling alone and adrift, Leah is warmly welcomed by the close-knit community–and Amish bachelor Isaac Sommer. But caught between two very different worlds, choosing love would mean leaving her Englisch life behind forever.
###
Book Description for Amish Baby Lessons
They need her. But will she risk her heart?
She’s the perfect Amish nanny…until she falls for her bachelor employer.
Tall, plain and awkward, Amish maed Jane Troyer has always been “useful.” Now she’s the temporary nanny for overwhelmed Amish bachelor Levy Struder and his baby niece. But Jane’s finding it hard to resist falling for the sweet boppli and the handsome, hardworking Levy. Can this spirited Plain Jane win a bachelor’s heart…and make their temporary arrangement permanent?
###
Book Description for Her Path to Redemption
Can she find forgiveness…
and a second chance?
Returning to the Amish community she left during her rumspringa, widowed mother Eliza Struder’s determined to repair her reputation. But one woman stands between her and acceptance into the church—the mother of the man she left behind. Which means Eliza must stay away from Josiah Lapp. But they’re still drawn to each other. Is it too late for the future that once filled both their dreams?
***
Elise’s Thoughts
Patrice Lewis latest has three novels centering around the Amish. Each of the last three years she has written stories that allow readers to see the conflicts involving the hero and heroine. A bonus is that people begin to understand the differences between the Amish and English worlds.
The Amish Newcomer has a TV journalist, Leah Porte, witnessing a gang murder. Put into witness protection for her own safety, she is sent to live with an Amish Family. This story centers on country life versus city life as well as living independently versus relying on family and community. Leah also grapples with her feelings for Isaac Sommer who had lived among the English until he decided to return to his Amish roots and become baptized. Would their living in a different world, with different cultures, be too much for a relationship to flourish?
Amish Baby Lessons is an ugly duckling type of story. Jane Troyer sees herself as a “plain Jane” who is awkward, although useful. Deciding to have a change of atmosphere she goes to live with her aunt and uncle in a new state. After meeting Levy Struder and his infant niece Mercy, who he is caring for, Jane decides to accept his job offer of being a nanny. Caring for Mercy brings Levy and Jane together, both realizing that they have feelings for each other. Will they overcome their own insecurities to realize how much they care for each other?
Her Path to Redemption has Eliza Struder, Levy’s sister, coming back to the Amish community. She left during her rumspringa and had a baby, Mercy, out of wedlock with an English man whom she married. After he died, she gratefully accepted the charity of a Pastor and his wife, returning home. She quickly realizes that she still has feelings for Josiah Lapp, the man she left behind. Each are drawn to each other, but must overcome some obstacles including Josiah’s mother, if the bishop is willing to baptize Eliza, and will the community accept and forgive her.
***
Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Were these books a series?
Patrice Lewis: The first one, The Amish Newcomer, was a stand-alone book but the other two books, Amish Baby Lesson, and Her Path to Redemption, are related.
EC: Why witness protection in the first book, The Amish Newcomer?
PL: I was trying to figure out how an English woman would be a part of an Amish community, including her having to dress the part. The only thing I could come up with is witness protection. The Amish have been known to take people in for witness protection. How would the character settle in with no background about the Amish? Leah had to be taught by the family how do work without electricity, appliances, a learning curve. There is a lot of me in this book.
EC: How so?
PL: I wondered if I could do what Leah did. I also wondered if I could ever become Amish since I do not like modern electronics. A quote in this book, “In the world, but not of the world.” I did have the Isaac hero character publishing a magazine on a computer powered by solar panels. I would belong to a more modern branch order that is not so resistant to technology. People who like to withdraw from the modern world must conform to an extent to make a living, but they are selective.
EC: How would you describe Leah?
PL: A duck out of water because she never lived in a rural area. She was completely urban. The Amish work as a community, while Leah is used to being independent. She had to learn that labor, working with her hands, is not something to avoid. Labor with the Amish is a form of barter. She had to learn that domestic chores are not oppressive. Previously she was strong, competent, and career minded. Leah was part of the feminist culture who competed in a man’s world. She can be sarcastic, feisty, and blunt.
EC: How would you describe Isaac?
PL: He had a lot of baggage. He came back to the Amish and became baptized. He still has a lot of “English” about him. He is determined and confident, but feels he has a lot to prove.
EC: What about the relationship between Leah and Isaac?
PL: He was more interested in her. There is a massive barrier because he was Amish, and she was not. This stopped him from getting involved with her.
EC: In Amish Baby Lessons what gave you the idea?
PL: Originally, I had the idea of a plain Jane, an ugly duckling.
EC: How would you describe Jane?
PL: Originally, I had her very plain, sarcastic, and bitter. Her mom told her to travel to her aunt and uncle for a change of environment. I decided to tone her bitterness down because she was not a very likeable character. Hired as a nanny, working with an infant, the more her true spirit comes out: she cannot be beautiful, but can be useful. Jane was based on a librarian I knew years ago who was adored. Even though she was not pretty, everyone loved her. Looks are not everything.
EC: What about the relationship with Jane and Levy?
PL: He adores her. He feels Jane’s inside is pure gold. He must get over his guilt because he thinks he chased his sister Eliza away when raising her after their parents died. Jane respects him for trying to raise Eliza’s daughter. Jane drew out the best in him and realizes he is a good man.
EC: What is the role of the baby Mercy?
PL: She represents hope. She gives Levy a do-over chance. She brings Jane and Levy together. Backstory on the book cover. It shows a four-month-old but when the book begins Mercy is a newborn infant. They did alter the text on the back cover description.
EC: How about Eliza who is in this book and the main character in the next book, The Path to Redemption?
PL: Caring, has an unsettled life, rebellious, but has changed. Because of her turnaround she still has a fire in her but has become subdued. In the last book Eliza marvels how Levy has changed. She was at rock bottom and was given money to return home. She was determined to pay this debt back.
EC: In the last book, Her Path To Redemption, how would you describe Josiah?
PL: He was bitter toward the English world because it lured Eliza away. His mother was resentful of Eliza.
EC: The role of the dolls?
PL: I was surprised to learn that the Amish share medical costs, if necessary, but everyone is responsible to make their own living. The dolls grew into a business for Eliza where she could become financially independent.
EC: Next books?
PL: The Mysterious Amish Nanny is out in January. The heroine was originally raised Amish but after her parents were killed, she had to enter foster care in the English world. She had been a banker until everything comes crashing down. She takes this cross-county trip, and her car breaks down next to an Amish community. Another book is a story of three siblings, a three-book series, which will probably not come out until April of next year.
THANK YOU!!
***
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
Prom Night. Longbill Beach, 1982. Emily Vaughn dresses carefully for what’s supposed to be the highlight of any high school career. But Emily has a secret. And by the end of the night, because of that secret, she will be dead.
Nearly forty years later, Andrea Oliver, newly qualified as a US Marshal, receives her first assignment: to go to Longbill Beach to protect a judge receiving death threats. But Andrea’s real focus isn’t the judge – it’s Emily Vaughn. Ever since she first heard Emily’s name a year ago, she’s been haunted by her brutal death. Nobody was ever convicted – her friends closed ranks, her family shut themselves off in their grief, the town moved on – so the killer is still out there. But now Andrea has a chance to find out what really happened…
***
Elise’s Thoughts
Girl, Forgotten by Karin Slaughter is a follow-up to her 2018 thriller Pieces of Her. Earlier this year, Netflix produced a Pieces of Her mini-series. This book will take readers back to their high school days with a reminder of how cliquey a group of students can be. Par for the course, Slaughter has a riveting murder mystery and fascinating characters.
The plot starts out with Andrea Oliver graduating as a US Marshal. Her first assignment is to protect a judge receiving death threats, but she is also asked to secretly investigate the cold case murder of the judge’s daughter, Emily Vaughn, who died forty years ago. There are dual timelines of Emily’s past and Andrea’s present perspectives broken up by witness statements given in the original investigation. These captivating flashbacks follow Emily in the period leading up to her death as she engages in a Columbo-inspired investigation of her own.
What Slaughter does best is draw readers into the event as they sympathize with the victim. In this case, Emily had dreams and was going places after high school. But it all came to a drastic halt after she was ostracized because of what happened to her. She was also murdered because of that event and Andrea is determined to bring her justice especially since the small town moved on with Emily’s friends closing ranks, her family ignoring their grief, and no one was ever convicted.
This plot is a page-turner with many twists. As always, the pacing makes the intensity of the story ratchet up.
***
Author Interview
Elise Cooper: What did you think of the Netflix series, Pieces of Her, based on your book?
Karin Slaughter: It is clearly different than the book. I just thought that the book is the book, and the show is the show. It was really a lot of fun to watch. We will see if they make more episodes.
EC: Is this book a continuation of your first book?
KS: They will market it when the book comes out with a sticker on the book referring to Pieces of Her. This started with a question about Andrea. In the previous book she wonders about her mom and herself. In this book she is trying to figure out how to be unlike her father, to be a good person. It is really important that she has Leonard Bible, a senior US Marshal, mentoring her. He shows her how to do things the right way.
EC: Why a US Marshal?
KS: I found writing about the US Marshals and Andy interesting. I talked with a ton of Marshals. It was fascinating to see all the cool duties they have. I wanted her to have this profession as a way to rebel against her mother, Laura. She was in witness protection and feels Andrea joined the enemy. I find it fascinating how people have one kind of life and then must have a new life. Usually someone made a deal to testify. Many times, they still must go to prison, which is what happened to Laura. I wanted to show how Andy grows up and becomes her own person. If I decide to write it as a series, having Andy as a Marshal gives me an opportunity to write about a lot of different crimes. They hunt down and keep track of pedophiles, chase after fugitives, and are responsible for security.
EC: How would you describe the relationship between Laura and Andrea?
KS: In the beginning it is a little broken. But then I think Laura does what good parents do. She accepts that Andrea will make her own choices even if she does not agree. By the end of the book, she comes around to that way of thinking. Andrea learns she can disappoint her mother and that is OK. There has been a transition from the first book to this book between the mother-daughter relationship.
EC: Do you think Andrea grew up in this book?
KS: Andrea had a lot of growing up to do. I wanted her to go through that evolution to find her strength. She blew everything up to find herself just as her mother did. There is a line by Laura, “wherever you go, there you are.” Maybe the world is not the problem, but she is the problem. She ends up as someone who is independent and a survivor.
EC: What about Judge Esther?
KS: She would tell you she is a good person who did some bad things. She only supports a certain type of woman, who must be just like her. She only gives a hand to people she approves of. She had her and her daughter Emily’s life all planned out. But after the incident, Esther only wanted Emily to disappear.
EC: Is Wexler evil?
KS: Calling him evil lets him off the hook. He is an opportunist. He tries to make his life as easy as he can that is directed toward his pleasure. Clearly a cult leader. He seems more nuanced. Like Jim Jones, Manson, and Koresh, those men in charge of a cult do it just to have sex with young girls. He is a bad guy where a lot of his actions comes from a deep hatred of women. He is a psychopath and a narcissist.
EC: Did Emily get cancelled?
KS: Everyone talks about getting canceled as if it came after the Internet. But those in high school know of someone that got canceled. Yes, because of what happened to her it put her on the outside of a group. All people wanted to do was punish her and considered her a pariah.
EC: Why did you mention dementia-like actions in the book?
KS: Esther’s husband, Franklin, did have a massive stroke. Esther kept him alive because she was under his thumb for most of her adult life and a lot of it was her wanting vengeance. There is also the fact that once she was caught in this horrible relationship she does not know how to live outside of this relationship.
EC: Why did you choose the music in the book?
KS: I grew up as a teenager in the late 1980s. I really enjoyed putting these songs in the book. I really love the Go-Gos. I thought how amazing they were considering they were the first all-female group to get to number one, playing their own music. These are all songs I liked. I am a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll.
EC: Do you have any other books or characters that are going to be made into a movie or TV series?
KS: Yes. Will Trent is picked up by ABC and will be made into a TV series. It might come out in January, thirteen episodes. After watching the pilot, it captures the spirit of my books, gripping with lots of twists and turns. Will is played by Ramon Rodriguez. The earlier books did not have Sara, so they are figuring out when to introduce her.
EC: Next book?
KS: In the summer of next year will be a Will and Sara book.
THANK YOU!!
***
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
DEA Special Agent Garrett Kohl must rescue a CIA officer when she’s kidnapped in Texas by a nefarious band of criminals in this pulse-pounding thriller for fans of C. J. Box.
Special Agent Garrett Kohl has just taken down a dangerous and deadly cartel boss when he finds trouble brewing back on his family’s homestead. A powerful energy consortium, Talon Corporation, has started an aggressive mining operation that threatens to destroy Garrett’s land, his family’s way of life, and everything they hold dear. To achieve its goals, Talon is flouting the law, bribing public officials, and meeting anyone who challenges it with physical violence. When the Kohls themselves are attacked by Talon guards, Garrett goes on the offensive, embarking on an investigation that he hopes will rid the Texas High Plains of the intruders once and for all.
Garrett soon discovers that the company has origins in the dark hinterlands of countries across the globe. Using coercion and assassination levied by men from former Russian special operations forces, Talon is working on a highly secretive scheme to commandeer precious U.S. resources. The tit for tat exchange between Talon and the Kohls erupts into a full-scale war when Russian spy, Alexi Orlov, kidnaps Garrett’s friend and ally, CIA operative Kim Manning. While Talon may be accustomed to getting its way in many places around the world, they have yet to encounter this rare breed of warrior down in Texas–a man who will fight to the death to protect those that he loves.
***
Elise’s Thoughts
Firestorm by Taylor Moore is packed with action, suspense, and thrilling scenes. It has danger, teamwork, corruption, family matters, legal battles, and friendship. The setting is the Texas panhandle which allows for the feel of a modern-day cowboy story.
The Talon company is flouting the law by bribing public officials, trying to take over ranches, and meeting anyone who resists with physical violence. But cowboy Garrett Kole, DEA agent and CIA operative, is not about to allow them to destroy his ranch even if they do possess the mineral rights to his land. This book quote shows the cowboy way, “Among the many things to be learned since his arrival in Texas was the cowboy code. The rules weren’t written or spoken but rather lived out during everyday life.”
Even in the first scene of the book, Kole shows his cowboy skills during a gripping confrontation with a deadly cartel boss in which bullets fly and bodies fall. After achieving the goal of capturing the cartel boss he heads home only to be confronted by the Talon Corporation. This is where readers meet most of the memorable secondary characters including Butch, Garrett’s father, Lacey, his long-time love, Kim, his CIA peer, Smitty, a confidential informant, and Asadi, an Afghan child brought to the US by Kole who wants to adopt him.
With Kim’s help Kohl discovers that the Talon Corporation is really a front for the Russians who have hired former Russian special operations forces to coerce, torture, and attempt to assassinate anyone who gets in their way. In good-old-cowboy-fashion, Kohl is determined to protect those he loves, a Texas raised breed of warrior, someone with a tough-as leather exterior, who feels the need to be there for those he loves.
This second book in the series is riveting from page one and never lets up. It has exciting scenes and plays on some realistic events. Family, loyalty, and respect all come into play along with an intense plot and interesting characters.
***
Author Interview
Elise Cooper: How did your profession help you write the stories?
Taylor Moore: I am former CIA from 2004 to 2008 and from 2008 to 2013 I did military intelligence. I can keep up with events because my best friend is still in. I remember in a meeting where an FBI agent did not understand that we operated in a grey world and not a black and white world. I show how the meetings and conversations would happen. I know what people talk about and what they struggle with including loneliness and the morality battles, realizing that the operator must live with the consequences. For the book stories, since I was in the CIA, I can forecast what will happen next. Then I thought of the ‘what if.’
EC: What influenced you to write these types of thrillers?
TM: Garrett Cole, the protagonist in my series, was a side character. My agent pointed out that I should make him the lead. Deep down I always knew he was stealing the show. In the first book he was DEA working overseas in narcotics. I tried to have Garrett as a law enforcement cowboy now placed in the grey world of CIA operations. This is how the series plays out and I can use my intelligence experience. The longer Garrett is in the world the more he becomes like the CIA. In the first book he was more black and white and had the law enforcement mentality.
EC: How would you describe Garrett?
TM: Calm, cunning, has trust issues, and likes the adrenaline rush. He is conflicted with his personal life. He is very similar to his military pal, Trip. Both are very loyal and know each other well. Trip is more settled down.
EC: How would you describe Kim, who works for the CIA?
TM: Extremely intelligent, a hard-worker, loyal, goal and career oriented. After meeting Garrett, she is realizing that there is more to life than the mission. She seems too always be on her own, lonely. I think she is attracted to Garrett, maybe because he is the opposite than what she is used to. Kim can be aloof and independent, someone who builds walls. People are either intimidated by her or jealous, which has isolated her.
EC: What about the relationship between Garrett and Lacey?
TM: Garrett’s girlfriend Lacey is jealous of Kim, and he is jealous of Lacey’s ex-husband. They act as each other’s wingman, best friend, and partner. They are solid and have each other’s backs. She understands him and is trying to be supportive.
EC: Do you play off the cowboy story?
TM: Yes. There is a frontier, a bad powerful company, and a corrupt sheriff in the hands of a powerful family.
EC: You play on realistic events in the story?
TM: The first is with Asadi, the child Garrett brought home from Afghanistan. This is the one-year anniversary of when so many Afghanis who helped us during the war were left behind. I also did think of Eilan Gonzalez, the Cuban boy sent back after he tried to stay in the US, during the Clinton Administration. In both cases we left the boys high and dry. I almost wrote Eilan into the story with Garrett referencing it. An interesting fact is that the book was already written, and I had to change a sub-plot because of what happened in Afghanistan. It was horrible watching people trying to get out of there because they were afraid they would be killed or would be forced to go back to a life they did not want, especially the poor girls who must wear a Burka and cannot go to school. And with Eilan after he was forced to go back to Cuba, they made him the poster boy for Communism. I hope people who read this book will realize what was done.
EC: What about the Russia angle?
TM: When I started writing this no one was talking about the Russian interest in our minerals. The Russians were buying up gas leases in Amarillo Texas. Those scenes are realistic. The bad guys in the story are part of the Wagner group. These are Russian mercenaries who were former Special Operations. They really are doing nefarious things around the world. Americans should also understand how China has 80% of the world’s minerals. Everything we have including our advanced weapon systems needs those minerals. If they can corner the market, we are in real trouble. I wrote about mining and processing the minerals. Just in the news, America is starting to do this close to the setting in the book.
EC: Your next book?
TM: The third in the series will be out this time next year. It will have the full cast of characters. It will deal with nuclear weapons. The series has been optioned for a movie or TV show.
THANK YOU!!
***
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
New York Times bestselling author Lisa Black launches a pulse-pounding new series with a taut, compelling forensic thriller that introduces Dr. Ellie Carr and Dr. Rachael Davies, who must combine their expertise to solve deadly crimes . . .
When D.C. crime scene analyst Dr. Ellie Carr is called to investigate the heartrending case of a missing baby, she’s shocked to discover that the child’s mother is her own cousin. Close during their impoverished childhoods, Ellie and Rebecca eventually drifted apart. Rebecca is now half of a Washington power couple, and she and her wealthy lobbyist husband, Hunter, have been living a charmed life in an opulent mansion—until their infant son is taken.
“Every contact leaves a trace.” That’s the basic principle of forensic science followed by pathologist Dr. Rachael Davies. A reluctant Ellie is teamed with Rachael, employed by Hunter to help with the investigation. Rachael is assistant dean at the prestigious Locard Forensic Institute, named in honor of the French criminologist who inspired the profession. But in this case, discovering where those traces lead quickly becomes a dangerous journey through a web of greed and deadly ambition.
At first antagonists, then allies, Ellie and Rachael race to find the baby alive and bring the kidnappers to justice. What seemed like a simple ransom grab reveals links to a lobbying effort to loosen regulations on a billion-dollar gaming empire. Unless they can piece together the evidence before the Senate hearing, Rebecca’s son—and others like him—will face an unthinkable fate . . .
***
Elise’s Thoughts
Red Flags by Lisa Black combines a clever mystery with a forensic thriller. This first in the series introduces Dr. Ellie Carr, part of the FBI’s evidence response team, with Dr. Rachel Davies, a pathologist at the private forensics’ lab, Locard Institute. Having a forensic background herself, the author Black weaves her own professional experience into the plot, making it a realistic story.
Dr. Ellie Carr is called to investigate the vanishing of 4-month-old Mason Carlisle, who disappeared without a trace. The baby’s dad, Hunter, owns a lobbying firm, while the mother, Rebecca is a policy adviser to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ellie cannot believe it when she discovers that Rebecca is a cousin whom she was close with as a child but has not seen in more than fifteen years. Thinking that she should recuse herself, Ellie finds out that she is staying on the case. By leaving her in an official capacity she wonders if the FBI wants her to be a spy or a scapegoat since Rebecca and Hunter are suspects.
To make matters worse, Hunter decides to have Dr. Rachael Davies, a pathologist with the Locard Institute join in the investigation. At first, Rachael and Ellie were standoffish towards each other, but slowly a friendship develops as they begin to rely on each other. After the parents of Hunter’s co-workers also have their children kidnapped it becomes a race against time to bring back the children alive. It seems that the Carlisles’ professions and their involvement in a gaming industry become the clues from which Rachael and Ellie begin to unwind the investigation.
As the pages are turned the tension rises. The investigation is interesting and the detail about forensics is a bonus. The twists offer different red herrings to keep readers guessing.
***
Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Is this the first in a new series?
Lisa Black: I planned this as a series. For my other series, I thought to write one book and then it grew into a series when the publisher wants more. This one I planned it so my characters would have a lot of background, direction, personal issues, and a set-up where they would not be tied up in one city since I love to travel. My past two series were set in Cleveland.
EC: What about the Locard Institute?
LB: A private institute that does training, research and private cases regarding forensic cases, anything from ballistics to DNA analysis. They can go to different places including internationally. They investigate extortion, kidnapping, and murder. I like to have different crimes occur. I am fascinated with white collar crime like extortion, con men, and fraud.
EC: How would you describe Ellie?
LB: She is a crime scene specialist. But in this case, she finds out that part of this very wealthy family includes her cousin with whom she lived for a time when she was young. They were as close as sisters. She is very much at loose ends. After her mother died, she lived with her grandmother, then an aunt/uncle with some cousins, and was moved to other aunts/uncles. She was always loved and well cared for, but a lot of moving around for a child, forcing her to act like a guest. Now she is recently divorced with her ex-husband as her boss. Ellie is detailed, does not like to make waves, and is not pushy. She tries to make herself invincible, not front and center.
EC: How would you describe Rachael, the assistant director of the Locard Institute?
LB: She is a lot more stable than Ellie. After her sister died, she and her mother are raising her 2-year-old nephew. Her life outside of her family is the Locard Institute. She is an observer, confidant, patient, tries to keep a neutral face, and smoother than Ellie in working with people.
EC: Did your professional experience help you to write these stories?
LB: As a forensic scientist at the Cuyahoga County Coroner’s Office, I have analyzed gunshot residue on hands and clothing, hairs, fibers, paint, glass, DNA, blood, and many other forms of trace evidence, as well as crime scenes. Now I am a latent print examiner and certified crime analyst for the Cape Coral Police Department in Florida, working mostly with fingerprints and crime scenes. Some organizations I belong to are the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the International Association for Identification, and the International Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts. I know what happens at a crime scene, what realistically would happen. The police officer, the detective, the forensic personal, and the pathologist, each have a distinct skill. The FBI does cooperate with the local police, but there are jurisdictional issues.
EC: You explain the different emotions of victims?
LB: You are referring to this quote, “Victims could ping-pong back and forth between despair and seeming normality, sobbing with deep animal cries one minute and making a joke the next, transitioning through three extreme emotions in the span of one sentence.” There are all sorts of different responses of people in crime scenes. Sometimes they have a horrible scream. Two people in the same family in the same house can have different emotions. I went to a burglary once; the mother was sobbing like her heart was broken.
EC: On-line gaming plays a crucial role in this story? I thought of the Brad Paisley song, “online.”
LB: Yes. I thought how anyone can say anything on the Internet. A pedophile can be in a chat room pretending to be a fourteen-year-old. This is every mother’s worst nightmare. Now it is required for a parent to put all this personal information in so their child can play a game. I thought what is happening to all this information. Is it being data mined or is your child being targeted by advertising? Games are designed to keep children playing, literally addicting bordering on psychological manipulation. Children can buy accessories within this game like weapons or costumes. Actor Jack Black’s eight-year-old son ran up $7,000. The game itself is free, but it’s the in-app purchases that make the money. There are congressional hearings that try to come up with new regulations.
EC: Next book?
LB: The title is What Harms You, out next August. It is book two. The Locard Institute offers training for law enforcement personnel. The story has a serial killer going to this CSI School, the Locard Institute. The serial killer learns information so as not to get caught.
THANK YOU!!
***
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles are plagued by what seems like a completely senseless murder. Sofia Suarez, a widow and nurse who was universally liked by all her neighbors, lies bludgeoned to death in her own home. But anything can happen behind closed doors, and Sofia seemed to have plenty of secrets in her last days, making covert phone calls to old contacts and traceless burner phones. When Jane finally makes a connection between Sofia and the victim of a hit-and-run months earlier, the case only grows more blurry. What exactly was Sofia involved in? One thing is clear: The killer will do anything it takes to keep their secret safe.
Meanwhile, Angela Rizzoli hasn’t had a decent night’s sleep in all the years since her daughter became a homicide detective. Maybe the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree. Nothing in her neighborhood gets by Angela – not the gossip about a runaway teenager down the block and definitely not the strange neighbors who have just moved in across the street. Angela’s sure there’s no such thing as coincidence in her sleepy suburb. If only Jane would listen; instead she writes off Angela’s concerns as the result of an overactive imagination. But Angela’s convinced there’s a real wolf in her vicinity, and her cries might now fall on deaf ears.
With so much happening on the Sofia case, Jane and Maura already struggle to see the forest for the trees, but will they lose sight of something sinister happening much closer to home?
***
Elise’s Thoughts
Listen To Me by Tess Gerritsen brings back the beloved characters Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles in a new novel. A heads up for readers is that there are two storylines, both engrossing.
The plot has Rizzoli, her partner Barry Frost, and Maura investigating a series of puzzling events. The first has them wondering who killed Sofia Suarez, a nurse, brutally murdered. Then there is Amy Antrim a victim of a hit and run accident after she walked off the curb. What the investigators are wondering, is there a connection since Sophia was Amy’s nurse.
Then there is Jane’s mom Angela who is a typical caring mother. Now preoccupied because her lover, retired detective Vince Korsak, is in California caring for his sister, Angela has become the neighborhood’s busy body. But she too investigates some oddities in the neighborhood and becomes like daughter, like mother. There is a missing teenage runaway who the local police aren’t taking seriously, and a new couple that moved into the neighborhood. They are suspiciously keeping to themselves and there appears to be a lot of construction noises coming from the house. She is continually asking Jane to participate in the investigation to find out what is happening. Upset that Jane is not listening to her, Angela becomes the number one watcher of the neighborhood and starts her own investigation which leads to trouble for both her and Jane.
This story has humor, character personalities, and suspense. It is interesting how this intricate plot also details the lives of Jane, Maura, Angela, and Barry.
***
Author Interview
Elise Cooper: The last Rizzoli & Isles book was I know A Secret in 2017.
Tess Gerritsen: Yes, it has been a while. I did have two books in the interim, but several years have passed. After I finished number twelve, I didn’t feel I was going to write anymore and thought the series would be over with the book, I know A Secret. I had other stories I wanted to tell.
EC: How did you get the idea for this story?
TG: Jane’s mom, Angela Rizzoli started to talk to me. I heard her say very clearly in her Boston accent “if you see something, say something.” The signs are in Boston’s Logan Airport. I thought, what is Angela seeing? It turned out this book is about the suburbs where people used to know everyone who lives in the neighborhood. Angela suddenly feels something is wrong. It was “Rear Window” but in the suburbs with Angela Rizzoli playing Jimmy Stewart’s role.
EC: These days it does not seem that there are anymore “neighborhoods?”
TG: This is true. Now a days everybody works with the houses empty during the day. When I grew up in a little suburban area of San Diego that was how it was. I had an auntie who was very snoopy, in everybody’s business. I kind of modeled Angela after her. In the past there were many more housewives and people at home. People knew their neighbors and had block parties. It is sad those days may not be true anymore.
EC: Which season did you like the best?
TG: I enjoy winter. It is my most creative time. I think winter can be a character, although not so much in this book. I like the sense of isolation. As a writer I don’t mind being shut up in my house for four months and not seeing anyone for a while. It is almost as if when everything gets less colorful, turning grey, white, and black, the colors bloom in my head. In the wintertime there is less of a distraction.
EC: Angela has had a rough go, but came out, OK?
TG: She is clever, a survivor. She has been battered in the last couple of years. Angela started in 2001 as a contented housewife, raising her children. Around book five her husband has left her for another woman. She suddenly finds herself without a career, husband, and living in the same suburban house by herself. She learns there is life beyond the first marriage. She did find love with a retired homicide detective, but now he is California caring for his sister. So, she has a little too much time on her hands.
EC: Does she feel like she has an empty nest?
TG: She does have a granddaughter, Jane’s daughter Regina whom she babysat until she attended pre-school. The one joy she has is cooking for her family. In one of the scenes, she has a big dinner, a giant Italian feast. Her life is her grandchild and cooking for people she loves.
EC: How would you describe Angela?
TG: She is a neighborhood snoop, a busybody, and will always be motherly to her children. She is kind and has a good heart. When she does get involved, it is to make sure no one gets hurt.
EC: There are two quotes about motherhood in this book. Please explain.
TG: You are referring, “No one wants to listen to their mother,” and “The burden of motherhood is that your children’s problems are your problems.” I raised two sons, and their problems are my problems. Even now if something is going wrong in their life, I try to think how I can help fix things. If I offer some advice, it does not mean they will listen. Mothers at ninety are going to worry about their seventy something children. It just never goes away.
EC: How would you describe Jane?
TG: She is courageous and competent. She is determined and thorough. Yet, Jane is having problems with her mother. She is honest, direct, impatient, sarcastic, a tomboy, and relentless.
EC: How is the relationship between Jane and her mom Angela?
TG: I think of Angela like my mom. I was at my mom’s house, going to a book signing, and wearing a St. John suit. I was then forty something years old. She looks at me and tells me, “Your skirt is too short.” I thought how children can never be perfect. This is what Jane is dealing with now. But Jane is partly at fault because she is not listening to her mother even though Angela has some very valid issues. I wanted to focus on the complications of her life, which has nothing to do with police work.
EC: How would you describe Maura?
TG: Maura and Jane are like salt and pepper. The showrunner for the TV show describes Jane and Maura as Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. She is very patient, and what drives her is her intellect. She is a pianist in a doctor’s orchestra. I just use my life as shorthand for Maura.
EC: How are you and Maura similar?
TG: I did grow up playing the piano. I also had the kind of car she drives, enjoy the kind of wine she drinks, we play the same instrument, and went to the same medical school. She is all from my life. In so many ways I identify with her. We are both self-contained. She is happy around dead people, while I am happy in my office. We are not the kind of people who feel comfortable in crowds and showing how imperfect we are.
EC: Maura has a relationship with a Priest, Daniel Brophy. Why did you do it?
TG: The Priest showed up in book number three, The Sinner. It was a book about murder in a convent. When I lived in Paris it was right around the corner from a seminary with young Priests in training. I kept thinking it is too bad for the sake of motherhood they are out of reach. I was also a big fan of the “The Thorn Birds” where Richard Chamberlain played this yummy Priest. It is about forbidden fruit. When the Priest came into the story, I thought that Maura and he would just have fond looks. But in book number four, Body Double, he was suddenly back, becoming the Priest for the Boston PD. The repeated contact between him and Maura led them to give in to a relationship. It is a constant struggle for both.
EC: Did you get any backlash?
TG: Yes. I get more notes about that relationship than anything else in the stories. They ask is he going to leave the Church and marry Maura? Will they have a happily ever after? Why is Maura so stupid to fall for a Priest, an unattainable man? We all know brilliant women who have fallen in love with the wrong man. It happens. As time has gone by, they come to an understanding that will satisfy them both.
EC: Will there be a TV show reunion based on this book?
TG: I do not think there is anything in the works for this to happen. I did have people ask to bring them back for a reunion, but it has not happened.
EC: Next book?
TG: It is not another Rizzoli and Isles book. The book is based on a little town I live in Maine. My husband and I found out that our neighborhood had these people who worked for the government but would not talk about it. They were all retired CIA. On our street we had retired CIA on one side and retired OSS on the other. It occurred that these retired spies would be a fun setting for a book with a dead body showing up in one of their driveways. It also has generational conflict since the young local police investigator does not realize who these grey-haired people are, and she completely disrespects them. The working title is Spyville, and hopefully will be out this time next year.
THANK YOU!!
***
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
