#series – Page 48 – Avonna Loves Genres

Blog Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Dead Drop by James L’Etoile

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for DEAD DROP (A Detective Nathan Parker Novel Book #1) by James L’Etoile 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 Rafflecopter giveaway. Enjoy!

***

Book Description

Hundreds go missing each year making the dangerous crossing over the border. What if you were one of them?

While investigating the deaths of undocumented migrants in the Arizona desert, Detective Nathan Parker finds a connection to the unsolved murder of his partner on a human smuggling run. The new evidence lures Parker over the border in search of the truth, only to trap him in a strange and dangerous land. If he’s to survive, Parker must place his life in the hands of the very people he once pursued.

Border violence, border politics, and who is caught in between. The forces behind it might surprise you.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61440622-dead-drop?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=ggtpHIUfIq&rank=2

Dead Drop

Genre: Thriller
Published by: Level Best Books
Publication Date: July 19, 2022
Number of Pages: 300
ISBN: 978-1-68512-114-3
Series: The Detective Nathan Parker Series, Book 1

***

My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

DEAD DROP (A Detective Nathan Parker Thriller Book #1) by James L’Etoile is a mash-up of fast-paced thriller, Federal and local police procedural, and southern border crime mystery. This is the first book in this new series and the first book I have read by this author.

Detective Nathan Parker is called by an eccentric local named Billie about four 55-gallon drums off the side of the highway she discovered while searching for scrap. She has opened one of the drums and found a body stuffed inside. This dead drop is not the first found and all contained illegal immigrant males. The coroner discovers they have all died from fentanyl poisoning.

When Parker gets to close to several cartel operations, he is carried across the border to meet the head of the cartel and faces a horrible death, but Billie has followed him. Billie is not what Parker first perceived and he soon learns to survive, he is going to have to put his life in the hands of the people he once pursued and looked down upon.

I thought I was getting a straightforward southern border drug cartel crime story, but this story with its many twists and surprises is so much more. Nathan Parker is a man who has been in law enforcement for some time and has preconceived notions. He is also carrying a lot of guilt over the death of his partner. As Parker progresses through the story, he has his eyes opened and is discovering an empathy he did not have previously. Billie is a big part in helping Parker see the other side of his prejudice against illegal immigrants and in helping him fight and survive the antagonists. I liked Nathan and his character’s growth, but I really loved Billie. This is the first book I have read written by this author, and I will be looking for others in his catalogue. Great characters, fast-paced, surprising and a realistic ending had me reading this book way past my bedtime.

I highly recommend this first thriller in this new series, and I cannot wait for more!

***

Excerpt

Chapter 1

With one good score Billie Carson hoped she could begin to repair the damage from her past. But after three hours kicking rocks in the sweltering North Phoenix sun, all Billie had to show for the effort was a bag of beer cans and three Jeep lug nuts. She knew most folks wrote her off as a scavenger, but Billie fancied herself as a treasure-hunter. It was a romantic notion, in her mind—always looking for that one big find. She’d dug up wallets, rings, car parts, and good scrap metal out here. Not the crap you tripped over in the bottom of a desert wash, but leftover copper wire from building sites and steel tire rims left behind on the side of the asphalt. The recycling yards paid you good money for that shit, but money could never really make up for the broken lives she’d left behind. How could you repay the ghosts of men you’d led to their death?

Billie looked at the meager haul in her black garbage bag and calculated she wouldn’t be able to buy a cold beer at Paula’s Roadhouse on the way home, let alone help anyone else. Besides, the Roadhouse made her sit outside on the patio with her beer, on the days she could afford one. Paula told her once she made the regulars uncomfortable and wasn’t welcome inside. The beer was cold out on the patio and she figured she wouldn’t like the company inside anyway.

She knew there were treasures out here among the Saguaro cactus and creosote brush waiting to be discovered. Hell, she found her Maui Jim sunglasses out here, you could barely see the crack in the left lens after you got used to it. If she had the money, she’d buy one of them fancy electronic metal detectors that beeped and chirped when you found the good stuff. Paula would let her inside the Roadhouse then, for sure. Until Billie found her big score, she’d keep her head down and kick some more rocks.

Dry, spindly brush dotted the roadside. Thin branches cracked when you knocked up against them. The broken limbs were sharp and left red welts if you ventured too far off the beaten path. Motorists tossed, or lost, most of the good stuff she found a few feet off the road. Billie couldn’t imagine a world where you lost hard earned jewelry out your window and didn’t bother to stop and go find it. If tourists on their way to Cave Creek, or Sedona, were so well off they didn’t need their stuff–that was fine by her.

Billie spotted a set of tire tracks off the asphalt and her heart began to race. What if she found a broken refrigerator dumped in the brush? She could eat for a month on what she’d pull for scrapping a hulking appliance. She’d figure a way to drag it out of the desert before someone else grabbed it. The wide tracks bent behind a rock outcropping digging three inches into the sandy desert floor. Billie knew the vehicle was laden with treasure if it left tire tracks up to her ankles.

She slipped a dingy blue bandanna from her head and wiped the gritty sweat at the back of her neck. A makeshift canteen, fashioned from a Gatorade bottle and a length of drapery cord hung from Billie’s neck. She unscrewed the plastic cap and poured the last of her water on the bandanna. The soaked cloth cooled her head for the climb to the top of the hardscrabble rock outcropping.

The view from the small rise looked down into a deep, sandy wash where the memory of scant seasonal rainfall from the monsoons faded into chalky dust. Patches of tinder-dry brush lined the edges of the dry bed. The heavens hadn’t seen fit to nourish their shallow roots for months. A moonscape of tumbled rocks, sand, and broken branches, left behind by a distant flash flood, lined the bed. At the center of the sandy basin, the deep ruts ended. A second set of tire tracks painted a story of a stop before backing into the middle of the sand. At the end of the tracks no prize waited for her; no refrigerator, no mattress, not even a crumpled beer can. Whatever it was, Billie figured someone else got here first. She crawled down the rock ledge to the floor of the basin, kicking smaller rocks and watching for rattlesnakes along the way.

Down in the wash, the dry brush was taller than it seemed from the view up on the rise. Thin dried fingers of creosote bush towered over Billie’s five-seven height, and the vegetation screened off access to the dry bed. The brush lay crushed and broken at the edge of the parched earth where the vehicle punched through the barrier. Billie hiked the plowed path, where dry shattered twigs snapped under her boots releasing the acrid resin smell from the creosote bush.

Hidden from the road, Billie knew this was the perfect spot for a quick illegal dump. Yet, there was nothing here. Maybe it was a quickie dump of another sort, she thought, a make-out spot for a couple of hormone-engorged teenagers.

She turned and spotted a bright white patch in the brush at the bottom of the draw. A few steps closer and Billie made out four fifty-five gallon drums partially hidden under a layer of broken creosote branches. She wouldn’t have seen them if it weren’t for the blue and white stripes emblazoned on the sides of the containers.

“Well, shit. This don’t get any better.”

Billie swiveled around and tried to catch a glimpse of anyone who might be keeping an eye on the barrels. She knew she wasn’t the smartest woman, but what she did know was people who stashed things in the desert, generally don’t want them found. She also knew you dumped things out here to get rid of them fast.

Billie got on her knees next to one of the barrels, tossed off the layer of broken branches, and the hot metal surface burned her palm. She wrapped her bandanna around her fingers and forced the barrel upright. It was heavy, but she felt the contents shift as the barrel moved. She figured a land developer or machine shop owner needed a place to dump used oil, or chemicals they’d have to pay the county to take off their hands. Billie figured the empty drums would net her ten bucks a piece, easy. She’d dump the oil, or whatever was in the cylinder, back in the dusty wash. Her daddy always poured his motor oil out in the desert and Billie never even saw so much as a sick coyote.

She strained with the locking ring on the lid. It wouldn’t budge. Billie ran a finger across dark marks where tack welds burnt the paint away from the locking ring.

Something good was in this barrel, for sure. Why go through this effort for used motor oil? If it was old pesticide, maybe she could wrangle a reward from one of them cactus-lovin’ environmental places.

Billie grabbed a rock and hammered it against the welds. They chipped away after a few blows, and the bent locking ring fell at her feet. With the blade of a folding knife Billie kept on her belt, she pried under the lid. The lid popped and released a strong odor from within the sealed container. Billie grabbed her bandana and held it over her nose. The stench was unmistakable–decomposing flesh.

***

Author Bio

James L’Etoile uses his twenty-nine years behind bars as an influence in his novels, short stories, and screenplays. He is a former associate warden in a maximum-security prison, a hostage negotiator, facility captain, and director of California’s state parole system. He is a nationally recognized expert witness on prison and jail operations. He has been nominated for the Silver Falchion for Best Procedural Mystery, and The Bill Crider Award for short fiction. His published novels include: Black Label, At What Cost, Bury the Past, and Little River. Look for Dead Drop in the summer of 2022.

Social Media Links

www.jamesletoile.com
Goodreads
BookBub – @crimewriter
Instagram – @authorjamesletoile
Twitter – @jamesletoile
Facebook – @AuthorJamesLetoile

Purchase Link

Amazon

***

RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY

https://kingsumo.com/g/u3ucmk/dead-drop-by-james-letoile

Friday Feature Author Interview #2 with Elise Cooper: Critical Alliance by Elizabeth Goddard

Book Description

Mackenzie Hanson’s special set of skills opened the door to a successful career as a professor of cybersecurity at a Michigan university, allowing her to put her criminal past behind her. But when a long-ago partner in crime delivers a cryptic message about her father’s tech company being under cyberattack, she heads for Montana to secure exposed assets, close security breaches, and hopefully save lives.

Diplomatic Security Services special agent Alex Knight is back home in Montana to decompress from a mission gone wrong. But even as he’s trying to relax, he’s drawn into another mystery, complete with suspicious deaths, lethal threats, and whispers of espionage that all have one thing in common–a beautiful cybersecurity expert with a dark past.

When the situation turns deadly, Alex and Mackenzie will have to work together to find the answers they need–before someone silences Mackenzie for good.

USA Today bestselling author Elizabeth Goddard weaves a tangled web of nail-biting suspense and heart-stopping romance in this fast-paced conclusion to her Rocky Mountain Courage series.

***

Elise’s Thoughts

Critical Alliance by Elizabeth Goddard explores the impact of cyber criminals, a thrilling battle of wits between two hackers. A bonus for every series of Goddard is that readers can know what is happening with characters from previous books. In this series it is Jack and Terra from Present Danger, as well as Erin and Nathan from Deadly Target.

The plot begins with MacKenzie Hanson on an amusement park ride where she spots a former partner in cybercrime. He gives her a message about her father’s Montana company being targeted. Realizing she must now face her past she decides to return to Montana and visit her estranged family.

As a teenager MacKenzie and her partners hacked into wealthy companies in Robin Hood fashion, stealing from the rich to give to charities. But when one of the partners used their skills for nefarious reasons, she and one other partner blew the whistle. She was able to put her criminal past behind her to become a successful college professor.

Also back in Montana is Diplomatic Security Services (DDS) special agent Alex Knight to decompress from a mission gone wrong. He and MacKenzie also had a past when he took her on a tour of the DDS offices. They end up meeting on a trail path after he notices a drone is following her. When a shooter attacks them, they barely escape unharmed. She recruits Alex for protection while figuring out who’s trying to hurt her family. With suspicious deaths, lethal threats, and possible espionage, Alex and Mackenzie work together to find the dangerous hacker and their use of technology.

The plot has escalating tension. Family issues, putting one’s past to rest, and renewing relationships also add to this action-filled story.

***

Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?

Elizabeth Goddard: This is the last book in the series. I wanted to do a criminal cyber security story because I have a computer science background. I am a technical person although I did speak to a cyber security expert. I talked with them about every single aspect of the story to make sure I got it correct. I had in the story drones, artificial intelligence, and cyber weapons.

EC: What about the Montana setting?

EG: I love to write action adventure within beautiful settings, set in the mountains or a rocky beach. I thought it would be fun to have the story set in the mountains of Montana. Tech companies really are moving to Montana so their employees can have more fresh air and productivity.

EC: I thought of the “Jungle Cruise” ride when I read the waterfall scene. Did you base it on that?

EG: No, but I do remember now, the line in the “Jungle Cruise” movie. How they said ‘here is the backside of water’ after going around the waterfall. I had the scene in earlier books, Targeted for Murder and Deception. I love waterfalls so I put it in this book. I think they are amazing with the caves behind them. When writing about the mountains I need to put in a waterfall somewhere within the story.

EC: The scene in the amusement park?

EG: The ride, Octopus was a horrible experience for me. I think the Carnival experience is kind of creepy. All the noise and smells.

EC: How would you describe MacKenzie?

EG: Athletic, vulnerable, stubborn, determined, and brilliant. She was a troubled person who has found her way. She was a cybercriminal and now as a professor she can share her knowledge to do something good with her life.

EC: What is penetration testing, something MacKenzie teaches?

EG: A cyber security company is hired to go into a system to see if they can hack into it to find the vulnerabilities. Can they penetrate the system?

EC: What about the relationship with her sister Nora?

EG: Very challenged. There is a lot of emotional drama. But now they want to put the past behind them. They both feel betrayed and hurt by each other. Now they must work together to find the murderer.

EC: How would you describe Alex?

EG: He is a diplomatic security agent, a true professional. Being from Montana, means he has some cowboy in him. He is kind, thoughtful, caring, strong, and protective.

EC: Next book?

EG: It is a new series based in Alaska called “Missing in Alaska.” The first book is titled, Light of Day to be released in February 2023. A character from Critical Alliance will be the main character in this first book. There will be murders with the body count rising.

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.

Blog Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: The Binding Room by Nadine Matheson

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE BINDING ROOM by Nadine Matheson on this HTP Summer 2022 Mystery & Thriller Bog Tour.

Below you will find a book summary, my book review, an excerpt from the book and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!

***

Book Summary

Detective Anjelica Henley confronts a series of ritualistic murders in this heart-pounding thriller about race, power and the corrupt institutions that threaten us for fans of S.A. Crosby and Tami Hoag

When Detective Anjelica Henley is called to investigate the murder of popular preacher in his own church, she discovers a second victim, tortured and tied to a bed in an upstairs room. He is alive, but barely, and his body show signs of a dark religious ritual.

With a revolving list of suspects and the media spotlight firmly on her, Henley is left with more questions than answers as she attempts to untangle both crimes. But when another body appears, the case takes on a new urgency. Unless she can apprehend the killer, the next victim may just be Henley herself.

Drawing on her experiences as a criminal attorney, Nadine Matheson’s new novel deftly explores issues of race, class and justice through an action-packed story that will hold you captive until the last terrifying page.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58767994-the-binding-room?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=rl5q9tlr0q&rank=1

THE BINDING ROOM

A Henley Thriller Book #2

Author: Nadine Matheson

ISBN: 9781335426925

Publication Date: July 12, 2022

Publisher: Hanover Square Press

***

My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

THE BINDING ROOM (An Inspector Anjelica Henley Thriller Book #2) by Nadine Matheson is an intense and gritty British police procedural thriller. This is the second instalment in this series and can be read as a thriller standalone, but there are major character relationships that are better understood if you read The Jigsaw Man, Book #1 first.

Detective Anjelica Henley and her team are back and still dealing with the trauma of their last case as they are pulled into another difficult investigation. Henley is called to a scene of a brutal stabbing of a popular preacher in his own church and as they search the church discover another apparently tortured body barely alive, tied to a bed in a hidden room.

Henley and her team work both cases even as politics, secrets and lies make the team feel like they are getting nowhere fast. More bodies are discovered with the same terrible injuries and the female victim shows signs of having given birth. Both investigations have crossover suspects, but the clues lead to different motives. Henley must move quickly to stop more tortured murder victims.

I am happy to announce there was no sophomore slump with this addition to the series. Henley is still having problems emotionally from their last case and the loss of her mother. Her marriage is still in flux, and I still do not know how that will turn out in future books. Her entire team has become more fully fleshed and I care for them all with all their quirks and differences. This book does have several very dark and graphically disturbing scenes, but it is about sadistic torture murders and Ms. Matheson’s first book was the same, so I was expecting it. The investigative plot was well paced with several twists throughout that keeps you reading with a major twist right before the end.

I highly recommend this thriller and I am looking forward to many more in this series!

***

Excerpt

“We all lost,” said DS Paul Stanford as he held out a Quality Street tin in front of Henley.

“What on earth are you talking about?” Henley asked as she took off her coat and flung it onto a spare desk. “Are there any toffee pennies in there?”

“You might want to keep your coat on. The heating’s on the blink again. Either that or they’ve forgotten all about us and haven’t paid the bill. There’s a hundred and forty pounds in the pot and no toffee pennies.”

“Why is there a hundred and forty quid in there?”

Stanford rolled his eyes in mock exasperation. “Remember our bet?” he said. “On him. Our illustrious fully fledged Detective Constable Ramouter.”

“What have I done?” Ramouter asked from his position in the kitchen where he’d been eyeing the bottom of a mug with disgust.

“This is ridiculous,” Henley said. Her ears picked up the whirr coming from the electric fan heaters and the ice-fueled wind whistling outside and rattling the glass.

“You lasted, Ramouter; that’s what you did,” said Stanford. “We had a bet on how long you would last in the SCU.”

“And you didn’t think that I would last six months?” asked Ramouter as he picked up another mug.

“Mate, I didn’t think you would last six days. I’ll have a coffee if you’re making.”

“You shouldn’t be so mean to him,” said Henley as she took off her scarf and pushed it against the rotting frame of the window to block the icy draft that was sweeping across her desk.

“How am I being mean? I’m paying him a bloody compliment. After everything that happened, no one would have blamed him if he’d bolted for the door.”

“Well, he didn’t. He’s stuck with it. So, what are you going to do with the money?”

“I could give Ramouter the money. He could spend it on a train ticket to Bradford or something.”

“Now who’s getting soft?” Henley said. The phone on her desk started to ring.

“Or I could book a table at the curry house down the road. It will be teambuilding.”

“Or a normal Friday night out with you falling asleep in your chili chicken.”

“Rude,” Stanford replied as Henley picked up the phone and Ramouter appeared by his side with a mug of steaming coffee for him.

“Right. I see,” said Henley, reaching for the pad of blue Post-it notes on her desk and a ballpoint pen with a chewed cap. “I didn’t realize that we were still on duty. Can you send me the CAD details? No, I can’t get it myself because the system has crashed again. Thank you. Who found the body? Right.”

Henley pulled off the Post-it note and stuck it to the side of Ramouter’s mug. He peeled it off and looked at it quizzically. “Depending on traffic, we should be there in fifteen minutes.”

“You’re not going to have time to finish that,” said Henley, putting the phone down and grabbing her scarf.

“There’s a body in a church?” Ramouter said as he read the note. “Seriously?”

“That’s what it says.”

“Why are we dealing with this?”

“We’re dealing with it because the borough commander decided that the Serial Crime Unit should be helping out Homicide and Serious Crime with their caseload,” Henley replied wearily.

“Anyone would think that we were just sitting here watching Netflix all day,” Ramouter moaned. “Is it even a murder?”

“We won’t know until we get there, will we?”

“Can I say it?” asked Stanford, a grin spreading across his face.

“No, you can’t,” Henley replied. She picked up her bag and headed toward the door, with Ramouter in tow. She knew Stanford well enough to know exactly what he was going to say.

“I bet you a tenner that it was the Reverend Green with a candlestick in the library,” Stanford shouted out as Henley slammed the door shut behind her.

“I’m not telling you again. Step away from the tape.”

“What’s going on?”

“If I knew I was going to spend the afternoon standing out in the freezing cold I would have stayed in bed this morning.”

“I bet that they’ve found a body or something.”

“Look, those CSI lot have turned up.”

“I only popped out for a coffee and now the old bill are saying that I can’t go back into my own office.”

“F this. I’m going home.”

“I’m telling you that they’ve found a body.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time.”

“I don’t understand these kids. Too busy stabbing each other up. No value for life.”

“You can dress it up as much as you like. It’s Deptford innit.”

The murmurings of the curious and disgruntled crowd met Henley and Ramouter as they walked toward the scene of the crime.

“This is a church?” Ramouter asked as he looked up at the cream-colored facade of the brickwork. “I was expecting something a bit more… I don’t know, church-like. Maybe a steeple. This looks like a bank.”

“It used to be a NatWest when I was seventeen. The space was once cheap to rent. Not so sure now,” Henley replied.

“I did a quick Google search—”

“Of course you did.”

“And there’s another seven churches on the Broadway.”

“I’m not surprised,” said Henley. “Betting shops, churches and chicken shops on literally every London high street.”

Henley and Ramouter held up their warrant cards to the officer behind the police tape. Henley scoped the gathering crowd. Nothing about them raised any alarms, but she knew from experience that some murderers were voyeuristic by nature.

“Look likes Dr. Choi is here,” Ramouter said, pointing out the car of Henley’s friend and the Serial Crime Unit’s favorite pathologist, parked between a police motorbike and small white transit van that had ‘Forensic Services Crime Scene Investigation’ marked in black font on the side.

Henley stopped and looked around the small car park. There were no security cameras. She felt a sense of calm as she walked closer to the crime scene. It was a welcome emotion and a respite from the anxiety that was usually coursing through her veins, which she could keep at bay if she bothered to take her prescription to the chemist. She spotted the police officer that she was looking for leaning against the side of a police car, flipping through the pages of his notebook with a pen in his mouth.

“PC Tanaka? DI Henley from the SCU.”

PC Tanaka looked up and then stood to attention a little bit too quickly as Henley walked toward him.

“Ma’am,” said PC Tanaka.

“This is my colleague, DC Ramouter.”

“Shit,” said PC Tanaka when he dropped his notebook. “Sorry.” He brushed off slush from the cover. “It’s bloody freezing.”

“You were first on scene?” Henley asked.

Tanaka nodded. Henley could tell that he wanted to get it right. Giving a senior officer information about a murder scene was a lot different to dealing with burglaries, domestics and breaking up a fight between a couple of crackheads at the bottom of the high street.

“We, that’s the sarge, Sergeant Rivers, and I were driving back to the station. We’re based around the corner at Deptford station. We had just finished our shifts and was coming back from the McDonald’s up the road…”

PC Tanaka paused and took a breath.

Henley felt sorry for him as nerves or possibly shock overtook him. She saw a look of sympathy on Ramouter’s face as they both waited for PC Tanaka to continue.

“Sorry, guv, I mean ma’am,” said PC Tanaka straightening himself again and lowering the volume on his crackling police radio. “As I said, we were heading back to the station and one of the guys who works in the design agency practically threw himself onto the bonnet of the car. He was screaming about a body. We found the cleaner in hysterics in the staffroom of the agency. She refused to leave and take us to the church. I left her with the sarge and I went into the church and yeah, I won’t forget what I saw.”

***

Author Bio

Nadine Matheson is a criminal defense attorney and winner of the City University Crime Writing competition. She lives in London, UK.

Social Media Links

Author Website

Twitter: @NadineMatheson

Facebook: @NadineMathesonWriter

Instagram: @QueenNads

Purchase Links

Friday Feature Author Interview #2 with Elise Cooper: A Hint of Mischief by Daryl Wood Gerber

Book Description

The proprietor of a fairy garden and tea shop in Carmel-by-the-Sea, Courtney Kelly has an occasional side gig as a sleuth–with a sprinkling of magical assistance. . . .

Courtney has thrown a few fairy garden parties–for kids. But if a local socialite is willing to dip into her trust fund for an old sorority sister’s fortieth birthday bash, Courtney will be there with bells on. To make the job even more appealing, a famous actress, Farrah Lawson, is flying in for the occasion, and there’s nothing like a celebrity cameo to raise a business’s profile.

Now Courtney has less than two weeks to paint a mural, hang up tinkling windchimes, plan party games, and conjure up all the details. While she works her magic, the hostess and her girlfriends head off for an indulgent spa day–which leads to a fateful facial for Farrah, followed by her mysterious death. Could the kindhearted eyebrow waxer who Farrah berated in public really be the killer, as the police suspect? Courtney thinks otherwise, and with the help of her imaginative sleuth fairy, sets out to dig up the truth behind this puzzling murder . . .

***

Elise’s Thoughts

A Hint of Mischief by Daryl Wood Gerber is a well written cozy mystery. This is the third installment of the series. It has a murder, delightful characters, and an inviting setting that is very magical. If readers believe in fairies, instead of clapping their hands, they should read these novels. If people do not believe that fairies exist, they can read this one and let their imagination take over.

There are three mysteries to solve for the main character Courtney Kelly, the owner of the store Open Your Imagination, a gift shop in the community of Carmel-by-the-Sea, in California. She is trying to find a murderer, a thief who is robbing nearby stores, and the person leaving fairy “doors” around town.

The plot has socialite Misty Dawn recruiting a fairy garden specialist, Courtney, to host a fairy-themed 40th birthday party for her sorority sisters. When one of the sisters, Farrah Lawson turns up dead, apparently a poisoning victim, the police have questions for Twyla Waterman, who was seen in the vicinity not long before the body’s discovery, and a former cult member. Both Courtney and her fairy friend Fiona believe Twyla would not hurt a fly. Determined to prove her innocence they set out to find the real culprit along with finding the thief and the maker of the fairy doors. Since there are plenty of suspects to go around, Courtney and Fiona have their hands full.

The author throws readers a lot of curve balls to keep them guessing. Because of a wide cast of characters, both human and fairy alike, the cast of characters at the beginning of the novel is very welcome.

***

Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Idea for the story?

Daryl Wood Gerber: At the beginning of Covid I was at a cocktail party. I spoke to someone who told me they had a Fairy party for her daughter. After seeing the pictures, I thought I must do this for adults. I came up with the idea that sorority sisters at a reunion would do it to have some fun. Then, of course one of them is murdered.

EC: How did you get the idea for the murder?

DWG: Someone known as “The Poison Lady” gives talks. She was very helpful about poisons. I only used poisoning once before in another series. The plot surrounds how did the poison get into the victim. I did a lot of research on the different poisons I could use.

EC: Is it more difficult to find fairy quotes at the beginning of each chapter?

DWG: I must have quotes over 75 to 100 years for copywriting reasons. Everything I am finding is written pre-1920. I bought some fairy poem books and googled as well. Some of the poems are twenty stanzas long so I could piece them apart to maybe get four or five quotes out of them. At some point I will start writing fairy quotes. The one at the beginning of chapter 17 is made up by me. It says, “Is a fairy a demoted angel, or is an angel a fairy reunited with its Maker?” Some of them are anonymous, which we can use as well.

EC: How would you describe fairies-are they like children?

DWG: In this book they fear noises, they tease, and they sing. They are very impish, very playful, and curious. The Fairy Queen is more like an Angel.

EC: How would you describe Farrah Lawson, the victim?

DWG: She has turned forty and is a very popular actress. She is a go-getter, pompous, full of herself, and dismissive. She likes to belittle. Farrah has a dark side, can be a diva, spiteful, and is self-centered. Farrah became the mean girl.

EC: Fairy door versus fairy rings?

DWG: A fairy door is what people put at the base of trees. I put them in a lot of my gardens. Usually, people leave messages or pieces of food for the fairies so they can come and bring good wishes. A fairy ring allows humans to step from their world to the fairy world after the portal opens.

EC: There is a large community in this series?

DWG: In any cozy mystery the population grows. Each time a book is written it cannot be about the same seven people. My basics are Courtney, Fiona the Fairy, Pixie the cat, Josh, Meaghan, Brady, and Dylan the cop. It is almost unavoidable in a cozy to have a large community. In a TV mystery there are also the basics, but there are people that do not have any names. But if it were a book those people with speaking lines must have a name. The difference between TV and a book is that in a novel the people must be anchored visually. There is a world in a cozy mystery.

EC: What about the Sherlock Holmes comment?

DWG: Fairies are very intelligent and want to learn. Josh is a big fan of reading and has Fiona reading Sherlock Holmes. In the next book Fiona will be reading a lot more Shakespeare. With each book I want Fiona to get wiser and wiser, absorbing the material in books like a sponge.

EC: Next book?

DWG: It is titled Flicker Doubt, coming out this same time next year. The plot has a theater foundation tea requesting Courtney bring fairy garden stuff. One of the artists there is killed. He is very dark, gloomy, and temperamental. Meaghan’s art gallery partner is seen as a person of interest.

THANK YOU!!

***

Blog Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Silence on the Island: A Detective Liam O’Reilly Mystery by Stewart Giles

Hi, everyone!

Today is my turn to share my Feature Post and Book Review for SILENCE ON THE ISLAND: A Detective Liam O’Reilly Mystery by Stewart Giles on this Book ‘n’ All Promotions Blog Tour.

Below you will find a book blurb, my book review, the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!

***

Book Blurb

January on the island of Guernsey is grim. It’s dark and depressing. Detective Liam O’Reilly expected as much.

What O’Reilly didn’t bargain for was the eerie silence on the island in the dead of winter.

And when an old lady disappears from a care home and reappears, dead on the grave of a soldier who died 80 years ago, O’Reilly has absolutely no idea what to think.

When more old people are found, murdered amongst the tombs of these dead soldiers, and O’Reilly is met with silence everywhere he turns, he really has no idea why these people had to die.

Then he finally hears the truth.

But it is a truth that will haunt him for the rest of his life.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60838543-silence-on-the-island?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=yeFEmshBrG&rank=1

DI O’REILLY MYSTERIES:

Book 1 – Blood on the Island

Book 2 – Lies on the Island

Book 3 – Fear on the Island

Book 4 – Malice on the Island

Book 5 – Revenge on the Island

Book 6 – Christmas on the Island

Book 7 – Silence on the Island

***

My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

SILENCE ON THE ISLAND: A Detective Liam O’Reilly Mystery (DI Liam O’Reilly Mysteries Book #7) by Stewart Giles is another exciting addition to this series. Each crime mystery can be read as a standalone book and while the characters progress in their relationships, it is still easy to follow.

It is a frigid and quiet January on Guernsey Island for DI O’Reilly and the entire team until elderly patients begin turning up dead one-by-one on the graves of past relatives in the war memorial graveyard. When the third victim is taken, he pretends to be dead and survives the night, but is unable to identify the large, but gentle man who took him.

O’Reilly and his team have no leads and no motive, but plenty of suspects. They hope to flush out the killer by claiming to have a description, but they get a lead from a young man, known to the other PCs as a shady character and they are willing to follow any lead at this point in the investigation to stop a killer.

I love this series, DI Liam O’Reilly and his team! The author always has several plot twists and red herrings thrown into each book and this one was no exception. O’Reilly is that grumpy, older friend you just have to love. His interactions with his daughter, girlfriend and adopted stray cat always add levity to the stories, but he is one hundred percent focused on his cases. His team keeps becoming more fully fleshed as characters, also. This is another book in this series that I read much too quickly and once again must wait for more to come, but it is always worth it.

I highly recommend this mystery, this series, and this author!

***

Author Bio

After reading English at 3 Universities and graduating from none of them, I set off travelling around the world with my wife, Ann, finally settling in South Africa, where we still live.

In 2014 Ann dropped a rather large speaker on my head and I came up with the idea for a detective series. DS Jason Smith was born. Smith, the first in the series was finished a few months later.

3 years and 8 DS Smith books later, Joffe Books wondered if I would be interested in working with them. As a self-published author, I agreed. However, we decided on a new series – the DC Harriet Taylor: Cornwall series.

The Beekeeper was published and soon hit the number one spot in Australia. The second in the series, The Perfect Murder did just as well.

I continued to self-publish the Smith series and Unworthy hit the shelves in 2018 with amazing results. I therefore made the decision to self-publish The Backpacker which is book 3 in the Detective Harriet Taylor series which was published in July 2018.

After The Backpacker I had an idea for a totally new start to a series – a collaboration between the Smith and Harriet thrillers and The Enigma was born. It brought together the broody, enigmatic Jason Smith and the more level-headed Harriet Taylor.

The Miranda trilogy is something totally different. A psychological thriller trilogy. It is a real departure from anything else I’ve written before.

The Detective Jason Smith series continues to grow with book 17 now available. In addition, I have a new series featuring an Irish detective who relocated to Guernsey. The first 7 books in the Detective Liam O’Reilly series are now available. There are also 3 stand alone novels.

Social Media Links

Website: www.stewartgiles.com

Twitter: @stewartgiles

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stewart.giles.33

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Bright, Broken Things by Linda Shantz

Book Description

Welcome to Triple Stripe Stables, a farm in the heart of Canadian Thoroughbred horse country…
He’s racing cross-country, looking for a safe place to land.

She’s dreading a future that was never her choice.

They both want the same thing: to leave the past behind.

September means school, but this year, Nate’s not going back. He’s heading east, and while everyone at home thinks he’s pursuing a career as a jockey, he’s really just running away.

After always being a student, he lands a job as a teacher — of young Thoroughbreds, starting yearlings on a small but classy farm in Ontario. It’s the perfect place to hide, until a jockey’s agent comes along promising to give him everything he thought he ever wanted. How can he say no to a fast track to the career of his dreams? But can he go back on his commitment to the farm that gave him a break when his world had fallen apart?

Liv likes the new guy she hired to start the babies, but she kind of hates him too. He’s doing what she wants to do herself — dropping out to chase a future on the front lines of horse racing. She wishes she could be content, accepting the path vet school has firmly set her on. But a filly named Claire has captured her heart and ignited her real passion: riding racehorses. Does everyone get to follow their heart?

Meanwhile, a cherished mare on the farm carries a foal that will change both their lives and remind them… good things come to those who wait.

***

Elise’s Thoughts

Bright, Broken Things by Linda Shantz is a very enjoyable read. As with all her stories, this novella will allow readers to understand more about horses and racing along with very relatable characters.

The story includes the backstory on how Nate and Liv meet. She decides to hire him to help train the horses. Although there is an attraction at first sight, Nate realizes that Liv is hands off. What they do have in common is the love of horses and racing. Along with her sister Emilie who is the direct opposite of Liv, and a filly named Claire that stole Liv’s heart, readers get more of an understanding of the personalities of each character.

***

Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Why write this novella?

Linda Shantz: After the books I had readers who requested a prequel. This will lead those who have not read any books into the series, the backstory of Liv and Nick. I am thinking of writing the backstory on some of the other characters.

EC: You have this quote by Liv about her feelings?

LS: You are referring to this one, “The safest place is on the back of a racehorse. It is sanctuary.” Take for example what happened to me. I hurt my ankle. So being on the ground is hard, while being on a horse allows me to borrow their body. Horses provide for Liv the safety where no one can touch her.

EC: How would you describe Claire, the young thoroughbred?

LS: Flighty and excitable. She has a good head on her shoulders. Nothing ruffles her. She is ready to take on the world. A solid buddy who is a horse.

EC: What about the sisters Liv versus Emilie?

LS: Even though there is a physical resemblance they are quite opposite. Emilie does not have the competitive drive that Liv has for riding. Emilie is much more balanced. She is not obsessed with horse racing like Liv. She does not have the same need to be immersed in the whole horse racing world that Liv does. While Liv is standoffish, serious, with trust issues, seeing the glass as half empty, broken, and aloof; Emilie is mischievous, carefree, talkative, and easy going.

EC: What did you want to point out about horses being drugged?

LS: There are people who put money above horses. Racing gets a bad rap because of the drugging of horses. The vets play a big role. I point out in the book the vets are essentially working for the trainers who know what drugs are available and do things under the radar. Sometimes people have an unfair advantage because testing has not caught up with finding the drugs. Unfortunately, the vet received a very light sentence. Up here in Canada it is taken very seriously.

EC: Why is it so bad?

LS: There is not one governing body in horse racing. Each state gets to make their own decision on horse racing and drug testing. If the US adopted a single governing body, I am sure Ontario, and the other Canadian tracks would be a part of it.

EC: Next book?

LS: I am going to write the Emilie and Tim book next, probably out around Christmas. In that book Liv is going to go to England for a big race so there will be a lot of Nate, but not her.

EC: Are you still painting?

LS: Yes, I have some commissions of horses and dogs.

THANK YOU!!

***