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Before She Fell
Book Tour
Author: Natalie Sammons
Publisher: Bloodhound Books
Date Published: June 24, 2024Did she fall, or was she pushed? That’s the question DI Roth must answer in a case that will either redeem her after her last case, or cast her into a vote of no confidence.
During an extravagant party for her 50th birthday, Susan Grey is found at the bottom of the steps, alive, but barely. The case is dismissed as an accident until the police receive an anonymous phone call – it may not have been an accident. There are a bunch of suspects, a few motives, a bunch of red herrings, and witnesses who might be lying.
This is a quick read from a new-to-me author, told from several POVs that will keep you entertained.Background photo courtesy of Guy Basabose on @unsplash
Thanks to Bloodhound Books, and to Love Books Tours for bringing me along on the book tour! -
Whistle
Author: Linwood Barclay
Publisher: William Morrow
Date Published: May 20, 2025Reading this book, I could not help but make comparisons to the creepy guy in the hat, Charlie Manx, in Nos4a2. Whistle had the same kind of impending dread, of something just beyond consciousness, that you knew was bringing evil to town.
How can the words “ChuffchuffCLICKETYCLACKclikcetyCLACK-wooWOOchuffCLICKETYchuffCLICKETYchuff” hold such horror? How can the innocuous train spinning around the Christmas tree that we see as a symbol of the holidays hold such suspense? Linwood Barclay, that’s how!
Annie Blount is a children’s author who has gone through a great deal of trauma over the past year. Her editor takes all the guesswork out of vacation planning by renting a beautifully renovated house in the country, away from the hustle and bustle of NYC. The first sign that it may not be the bucolic country home she thinks, comes when a neighbor is unpardonably rude. And then her son Charlie finds the train in the backyard shed. And things start to get weird.
Told from the perspective of 23 years earlier when the train store comes to Lucknow, and the investigation of the proprietor by the good-intentioned Chief of Police, Harry Cook, to the present-day disappearance of Charlie, the author is not afraid to “kill his darlings”. You have been warned! If that’s not convincing enough, the author gives a special thanks to Stephen King in the acknowledgements.
Read this now. Because, according to Barclay, “this might not be my last time exploring an even darker world.”
Much thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for taking me on my beginning foray into horror with this advance reader’s copy!Thanks to Yucel Moran @unsplash for the background photo.
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The Butcher and the Wren
Author: Alaina Urquhart
Publisher: Zando
Date Published: July 25, 2023I am late to the party on this one, but it’s been sitting on my TBR shelf long enough that I decided to do a buddy read to motivate me. And I’m glad I did – I finished this in one day!
First of all, I might be an outlier, but I was fully absorbed in this book. I loved the setting. What better place for the creepiness that is the Bayou Butcher than New Orleans? It makes me regret that I didn’t have a chance to visit the cemetery when we were there!
The torture conducted by the serial killer, a man who treated his victims as sport, was pretty intense. I found myself wondering at the mind that could think up all those forms of punishment (sorry Alaina!). But it contrasted with the ministrations of Wren, the forensic pathologist of the title, because you must also have a stomach to do what a pathologist does!
While the ending was somewhat predictable, it sets up Book 2 in the series perfectly. Despite some plot issues, I thoroughly enjoyed this debut read from podcaster and real-life autopsy technician Urquhart and would recommend it! -
This Book Will Bury Me
Author: Ashley Winstead
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Date Published: March 25, 2025I was blown away by the way that Winstead captured the capacity for people to band together for a common cause.
The Internet has given birth to the burgeoning “internet sleuth/true crime” business, and thousands of forums and podcasts have sprung up around this theme. While I wasn’t aware of the real Idaho murders this book is based on, it was hard to step out of the story enough to remember – the book is a work of fiction. But because the dialogue rings so true, and the story is so compelling, I had to keep reminding myself that it (probably) was not (it isn’t).
And yet we still feel compassion for Jane, who has recently lost her father and is clinging to her found family to help her through her grief. We feel it for the others in the forum, regardless of why they are there – “a place for hopeless, helpless people to raise their tiny swords against the sky”. And maybe we even skate past whether what they do is morally right or wrong – because of the potential to save lives. But real life is not always so black and white, and neither was this story. But it was quick-paced, intelligent, and heart wrenching.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for introducing me to Ashley Winstead through an advance reader’s copy. Now to check out her backlist! -
My Son’s Girlfriend
Author: Kerry Wilkinson
Publisher: Bookouture
Date Published: February 27, 2025BOOK TOUR
Kerry Wilkinson always writes the main female character well, and in this instance he proves he can also write from a mom’s point of view.
The reader will feel every bit of a mom’s anguish when Jennifer here’s her son’s anguished words: “It wasn’t me” followed by a hang up. What follows is a fast-paced novel of cat and mouse as Jennifer tries to stay one step ahead of the police and whoever killed his girlfriend. because Jennifer is sure it isn’t Dan. And for Jennifer, it might just be history repeating itself.
The main characters each had distinct identities and the way Kerry weaved them all together made the plot move along at a good clip. This was an easy one day read for me!
Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture Books on Tour for an advance reader’s copy.Author Bio:
Kerry Wilkinson is from the English county of Somerset but has spent far too long living in the north. It’s there that he’s picked up possibly made-up regional words like ‘barm’ and ‘ginnel’. He pretends to know what they mean.
He’s also been busy since turning thirty: his Jessica Daniel crime series has sold more than a million copies in the UK; he has written a fantasy-adventure trilogy for young adults; a second crime series featuring private investigator Andrew Hunter and the standalone thriller, Down Among The Dead Men.
https://kerrywilkinson.com/
https://www.facebook.com/KerryWilkinsonBooks/
https://twitter.com/kerrywkSign up to be the first to hear about new releases from Kerry Wilkinson here: https://www.bookouture.com/kerry-wilkinson
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You Are Fatally Invited
Author: Ande Pliego
Publisher: Random House Publishing – Ballantine
Date Published: February 11, 2025Six prominent mystery writers are invited to a private island by an anonymous author, J. R. Alastor, whose works are well known even if he isn’t. And each writer is hiding a secret. This book is a wonderful debut by author Ande Pliego. It’s a little bit Agatha Christie locked room, a little bit Clue, a little bit Puzzle Box, and a whole lot of fun.
The book starts slowly, and you might be confused by some of the names (Ashton is so close to Alastor, and Ashton is also called Ash and Carter), but hang in there – once it gets going it never lets up! There are a lot of characters, but each chapter is titled with the writer’s name who is narrating. Sections are broken down by descriptions of mystery writing tropes, giving you a little prelude to what follows. Each night there is a different game/puzzle, organized by Mila, Alastor’s assistant. She’s been given an agenda, with no idea of the outcome. As the story proceeds, we see that Mila might be an unwitting player in the game, as are each of the writers.
And as one of the character’s t-shirts reads, “Don’t annoy the writer, they’ll put you in a book and kill you.”.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine for an advance reader’s copy. -
The Widow’s Lie
BOOK TOUR
Author: Melanie Price
Publisher: Wendlebury
Date Published: December 26, 2024I discovered this author a year ago, and this book reinforces why she will always be an auto-buy for me!
If you thought it was just the widow lying, you would be…wrong! Everyone in this book seems to be hiding something. The irony is that Jacqueline moved on to this quiet cul-de-sac partly for the privacy, but then she snoops when her neighbor Anastasia moves in. You can practically see the curtains twitching, Jacqueline standing there with a cup of coffee, her eagle eyes on her neighbor’s property. There is one thing that Jacqueline is happy about, and that is that her daughter and Anastasia become fast friends. Much more than the moms, who are always trying to outdo each other. Anastasia seems to be undermining Jacqueline with her friends. And Jacqueline thinks her husband is a little too friendly with Anastasia.
The way Price weaves her tale, you can almost feel the cattiness of the exclusive community. The secrets are revealed with a true sense of the humanity behind them. I love how Price tells the story from both POVs, forcing us to take both sides as the story unwinds. But how can you know? Who can you trust? And that is what kept this reader glued to the pages.
Thank you to Love Books Tours for bringing me the best arcs of new-to-me authors!Background photo courtesy of Mari Madriz on @Unsplash
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Horrible Husbands
Author: Jessica Huntley
Publisher: Joffe Books
Date Publishing: January 23, 2025This book was like a runaway train… clickety-clack… clickety-clack… clickety-clack, clickety-clack, clickety-clack, clickety-clack….until it goes off the rails! But then we find it didn’t go off the rails, it just took a detour on a totally different track, and then, man! What a bumpy ride it was.
Never underestimate the power of the girls. Best friends since childhood, Lisa, Holly, and Penny have gone their separate ways, but remain in touch through WhatsApp. None of them have revealed the secrets behind the facade of their relationships, or how horrible their husbands are. But once they’re together for a reunion, it all comes out and the author takes a page from Strangers on a Train. With a twist. Because they’re not strangers at all, and their plans are much more complicated.
If you’re a fan of books that will keep you up all night, this book is for you!
Thanks to Joffe Books for an advance reader copy for review!Background photo courtesy of The Chaffins on Unsplash
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The Artist’s Way Toolkit
Author: Julia Cameron
Publisher: St. Martin’s Essentials
Date Published: January 14, 2025The Artist’s Way Toolkit is a readily accessible “how to” guide for releasing the creative process. It is based on four tools: Morning Pages (extended journaling), Artist Dates (something you do by yourself, for yourself), Walks (minimum 20 minutes, no earphones or companions – not even dogs!), and guidance.
Guidance might be the hardest concept to grasp, as it involves writing down the problem you need guidance on, then trusting that “inner voice”. However, there is a whole process to understanding what true guidance is.
There are a great number of tools to help a creator implement the process – affirmations, a 12-week checklist, guidance for teaching the process to others, ideas for artist’s dates, inspirational quotes, poems by Julia (“The Queen of Change”), and keywords and phrases. I like the term “fuse lighter” – “a person who sparks our creativity”.
I skipped over a lot of the spirituality parts of the guide, and may not be able to commit to all of the steps (3 pages each day not including dreams!), though I suspect a lot of that will come with practice. But for anyone who would like a quick overview of Julia Cameron’s very popular Living the Artist’s Way and Write for Life, the Artist’s Way Toolkit, this is a great way to jumpstart self-growth and creativity.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Essentials for both an eArc and physical copy. -
The Perfect Home
Author: Daniel Kenitz
Publisher: Scribner
Date Published: January 14, 2025As someone who grew up on the OG fixer-upper shows and loves the dynamics of the couples on those HGTV reality shows who buy/sell/fix/flip homes, this book really struck a chord!
You know them – the shows with magazine-quality curated cushions, fixtures, knick-knacks, and unlimited budgets. Those shows where houses are finished in a week without the stars getting anything more than a strategically placed speck of drywall dust on their perfectly makeup-clad faces. I’ve always wondered what the backstory was of those couples who seem so…well…perfect! Well, this book goes there!
Before there was Dawn and Wyatt, there was…just Wyatt. A man who thought he was above the reality show audience, who just wanted to tell the uneducated masses about ways to enhance their homes. But then Dawn came along, the Lucy to his Desi, and America fell in love with them. Mostly with Wyatt, while Dawn provided the comedic relief. And then they become even more perfect when they become parents to twins.
But there is a danger to fame, and that is that once it’s achieved, how much is too much? Wyatt feels he has to find better and more dramatic ways to keep his audience engaged and up the viewer ratings, so while in the throes of withdrawal from a fertility drug, he hatches a plan that he thinks will be a surefire ratings boost. The “he said, she said” drama that plays out will have you on the edge of your seat. This is a standout debut novel from Kenitz and I read it in one “stay up late until it’s done” book fever!
Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for an advance reader’s copy!
Book Cravings 