August 2023 – More Mystery Please

In An Unholy Death, we meet newlywed Kate Murphy and her husband Paddy in 1910 Jewel Bay, Montana. The historical cozy novella offers Leslie Budewitz fans some backstory to the town they’ve come to know and love in her Agatha-Award winning Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries, as well as the origins of the Murphy Mercantile, known as the Merc for short in the modern-day series.

It also proves that the Merc’s Erin Murphy is not the first woman in her family to solve a murder. It’s in her blood. After all, the young Kate, not only discovers the body of a respected widowed preacher of the 1910 community, clues fall into her lap that could put her and the preacher’s orphaned daughter in danger.

An Unholy Death is full of plenty of suspects and twists and turns in the plot, which I didn’t see coming. I loved getting to know Kate and seeing the relationship unfold between our protagonist and Paddy, layer by layer.

Although this novella is supposed to have been released as a stand-alone edition from Carried to the Grave and Other Stories, in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the series, I do hope we’ll get to read more of Kate and the early days of Jewel Bay. My head was spinning with thoughts of what might happen next.

I highly recommend An Unholy Death for all Leslie Budewitz fans and lovers of historical cozy mysteries. I received this advance reader copy from Beyond the Page Publishing, courtesy NetGalley.

Order online or buy now at your favorite independent bookstore. Mine is Sellers Books and Art in Jim Thorpe, PA.

I loved Where the Dead Sleep! And its lead character.

Ben Packard is the kind of sheriff every small town would be lucky to have and a detective they would be able to count on to run down every lead in search of the truth, no matter where it takes him. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t forces in play, some not even relegated to the shadows, that not only challenge his mission and authority but also his life.

In Where the Dead Sleep, Joshua Moehling offers us a beautifully written, turn-the-page thriller set in Sandy Lake, Minnesota, a small town with loads of charm and just as many secrets. In this sequel to And There He Kept Her, the fact that their acting sheriff, a relative newcomer, is gay is no longer one of them.

With a plethora of suspects in the murder of Bill Sandersen, a local unambitious partier who had married into one of the town’s founding families not once but twice, Packard has his work cut out for him, not only in the case but also settling into a place he knew as a child, for better or worse.

I love the relationships between the characters, so richly drawn that you know them. Ease and tension, jokes and silence, love and violence, Moehling captures it all.

I highly recommend Where the Dead Sleep. When I turned the last page, I was excited for the next Ben Packard mystery (I’ve already ordered the first) and started wondering who would play one of my new favorite detectives onscreen. I’m thinking Henry Cavill.

I received an advanced reader copy of Where the Dead Sleep from Poisoned Pen Press. This review is fair and impartial.

Order online or buy now at your favorite independent bookstore. Mine is Sellers Books and Art in Jim Thorpe, PA.

Denise Mina cover of The Second Murderer o desk with 1940's typewriter, telephone and radio.

There’s no doubt Crime Writer’s Association Hall of Fame novelist Denise Mina had fun writing The Second Murderer, the first authorized Philip Marlowe novel written by a woman. I had fun reading it. The banter, the descriptions of characters and 1940’s Los Angeles, the fluidity of thought and words – even at a halted rhythm were spot on Raymond Chandler.

From the first line, I smiled hearing Humphrey Bogart in my head, who played the legendary gumshoe in The Big Sleep. Several times I amused myself trying to imagine Bogey with a Scottish accent but I couldn’t pull it off.

Mina, however, the bestselling Scottish crime writer I first came to know through her Paddy Meehan series – Field of Blood, The Dead Hour and The Slip of the Knife, pulled off Marlow in spades.

Mina also reintroduced the character of Ann Riordan, whom we first met in Chandler’s Farewell My Lovely, the second Marlowe novel. This time around Riordan, who heads up her own detective agency, is up against Marlowe to bring in a missing heiress. Whether she wants to be found is another story, which takes us from Beverly Hills to skid row, Malibu and back with a satisfying ending – all in pure Chandler style.

I recommend The Second Murderer to Denise Mina fans, Raymond Chandler fans and anyone who loves noir detective fiction. I received this advanced reader copy from Mulholland Books courtesy of NetGalley. This review is fair and impartial.

PS: I would love to see more of Ann Riordan P.I.

Order online or buy now at your favorite independent bookstore. Mine is Sellers Books and Art in Jim Thorpe, PA.

Month: August 2023

More Murphy’s Mercantile mysteries please!

Have you met Detective Ben Packard?

Mina evokes pure Chandler in new Marlowe mystery