Monday, October 31, 2022

Showcase: The Confessions of Matthew Strong by Ousmane K. Power-Greene

Today on the blog I'm showcasing, The Confessions of Matthew Stone by Ousmane K. Power-Greene. A timely debut that mixes crime drama with social critique and another fabulous offering from my favorite indie, Other Press. Once you read all about it I know you'll want to dip your toes into this critically acclaimed novel, I know I do. It's an Amazon editor's pick for Best Mystery, Thriller and Suspense.
Enjoy!


ISBN-13: 978-1-63542-208-5
Publisher: Other Press
Release Date: 10-25-2022
Length: 416pp

Buy It: Publisher/ Amazon/ B&N/ IndieBound

ADD TO: GOODREADS

Overview:

A wildly original, incendiary story about race, redemption, the dangerous imbalances that continue to destabilize society, and speaking out for what’s right.

One could argue the story begins the night Allegra Douglass is awarded Distinguished Chair in Philosophy at her top-tier university in New York—the same night her grandmother dies—or before that: the day Allie left Birmingham and never looked back. Or even before that: the day her mother disappeared. But for our purposes Allie’s story begins at the end, when she is finally ready to tell her version of what happened with a white supremacist named Matthew Strong.
From the beginning, Allie had the clues: in a spate of possibly connected disappearances of other young Black women; in a series of recently restored plantation homes; in letters outlining an uprising; in maps of slave trade routes and old estates; in hidden caves and buried tunnels; and finally, in a confessional that should never have existed. They just have to make a case strong enough for the FBI and police to listen. This is when Allie herself disappears.
Allie is a survivor. She survived the newly post-Jim Crow south, she survived cancer, and she will survive being stalked and kidnapped by Matthew Strong, who seeks to ignite a revolution. The surprise in this doesn’t lie in the question of will she be taken; it lies in how she and her community outsmart a tactical madman.

Thursday, October 27, 2022

#GIVEAWAY Guest Post: It's News To Me by R.G Belsky Blog Tour

Today is my stop on the It's News to Me by R.G. Belsky blog tour sponsored by Partners in Crime Virtual Tours. Read all about the novel, and The Name Game Guest Post from Dick Belsky. Don't forget to visit all the blogs on the tour and to enter the #Giveaway at the end.
Enjoy!

It’s News to Me by RG Belsky Banner

It's News to Me

by R.G. Belsky

October 3-31, 2022 Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

It's News to Me by RG Belsky

Dashed dreams: she wanted to run for president one day, now she's dead at 20

When Riley Hunt—a beautiful, smart, popular student at Easton College in Manhattan—is brutally murdered, it becomes a big story for TV newswoman Clare Carlson.

After days of intense media coverage, a suspect is caught: a troubled Afghanistan war veteran with a history of violent and unstable behavior. The suspect's mother, however, comes to Clare with new evidence that might prove her son's innocence.

As Clare digs deeper into the puzzling case, she learns new information: Riley had complained about being stalked in the days before her murder, she was romantically involved with two different men—the son of a top police official and the son of a prominent underworld boss—and she had posted her picture on an escort service's website offering paid dates with wealthy men.

Soon, Clare becomes convinced that Riley Hunt's death is more than just a simple murder case—and that more lives, including her own, are now in danger until she uncovers the true story.

Praise for It's News to Me:

"[It's News to Me is] witty, clever and engaging. Clare Carlson’s irreverent comments and dogged reporter’s instincts make for a propulsive ride as she races from the chaos of a newsroom’s inner sanctum to the dangers of a murder victim’s deepest secrets. Once you start, you won’t put it down."

Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times best-selling author

Book Details:

Genre: Mystery
Published by: Oceanview Publishing
Publication Date: October 4th 2022
Number of Pages: 352
ISBN: 1608094561 (ISBN13: 9781608094561)
Series: Clare Carlson #5 (each is a stand alone work)
Book Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Wednesday, October 26, 2022

Showcase: Ancestry by Simon Mawer

Today I'm showcasing Ancestry a novel by Simon Mawer and a new release from my favorite Indie Publisher Other Press.
Enjoy!


ISBN-13:  978-1-63542-319-8
Publisher: Other Press
Release Date: 10-25-2022
Length: 432 pp
Buy It: Publisher/ Amazon/ B&N/ IndieBound

ADD TO: GOODREADS

Overview:

The New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Room brings a slice of his own family history to life through extensive research and rich storytelling.

Beginning with his great-great-grandfather Abraham Block, acclaimed novelist Simon Mawer sifts through evidence like an archaeologist, piecing together the stories of his ancestors. Illiterate and lacking opportunity in the bleak Suffolk village where his parents worked as agricultural laborers, Abraham leaves home at fifteen, in 1847. He signs away the next five years in an indenture aboard a ship, which will circuitously lead him to London and well beyond, to far-flung ports on the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. In London he crosses paths with Naomi Lulham, a young seamstress likewise seeking a better life in the city, with all its prospects and temptations.
Another branch of the family tree comes together in 1847, in Manchester, as soldier George Mawer weds his Irish bride Ann Scanlon—Annie—before embarking with his regiment. When he is called to fight in the Crimean War, Annie must fend for herself and her children on a meager income, navigating an often hostile world as a woman alone.
With a keen eye and a nuanced consideration of the limits of what we can know about the past, Mawer paints a compelling, intimate portrait of life in the nineteenth century.

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

Review: Vanishing Hour by Laura Griffin

Today I'm reviewing Vanishing Hour by my all time favorite romantic suspense author, Laura Griffin. It was FAB!!!
Enjoy!

ISBN-13:  978-0593546697
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: 10-25-2022
Length: 336 pp
Source: Author for review
Buy It: Amazon/ B&N/ IndieBound

ADD TO: GOODREADS

Overview:

When a cold case in Texas leads to a sinister string of disappearances, a newcomer to the small town helps a detective piece together the clues in this new romantic thriller from New York Times bestselling author Laura Griffin.

Corporate lawyer Ava Burch has had enough of the big city and the daily grind. She grew up with her father, who raised search-and-rescue dogs, in rural Texas and has moved to the small town of Cuervo to spend time in the dry, rugged wilderness near Big Bend National Park. When she and her dog, Huck, discover an abandoned campsite on a volunteer search-and-rescue mission, she’s perplexed, but she carefully photographs it all the same.

All Grant Wycoff can see when he looks at Ava is a city slicker—with her designer jeans and shiny car—who has no business on a serious team made of seasoned outdoorsmen and retired cops. But when she tells him of her findings on the trail, he sees there’s more to her than meets the eye.

Ava’s discovery reminds Grant of the unsolved case of a young woman who went missing two years ago. As they look into the campsite further, another woman disappears under odd circumstances. With time running out, Ava and Grant must work against the brutal heat from both the Texas sun and their own electric chemistry to solve the case.

Friday, October 21, 2022

Sophia Rose Reviews - Ghost 19 by Simone St. James

Today Sophia Rose is back reviewing yet another spooky tale just perfect for the season. 
Enjoy!




Ghost 19 by Simone St. James, narrated by Brittany Pressley

Horror, Suspense

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published:  10.4.22

Time: 2 hours 50 minutes

Rating: 5 stars

Narration Rating: 5 stars

Format: MP3

Source: Penguin Random House Audio

Buy from: Amazon 

ADD TO: GoodReads

 

GoodReads Blurb:

A woman moves to a town where she becomes obsessed with watching the lives of her neighbors while stuck in a house that refuses to let her leave in this first ever short story from the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Cold Cases.

Is there something wrong with Ginette Cox? It’s what everyone seems to think. When a doctor suggests that what she might need is less excitement, she packs up and moves from New York City to a house in suburban NY: 19 Howard Ave.

The town offers Ginette little in the way of entertainment in 1959, but at least she has interesting neighbors. Whether it’s the little girl with her doll or the couple and their mother-in-law, Ginette watches them from her window and makes up names and stories for them.

But it’s not all peaceful in suburbia. Ginette finds it hard to sleep in her new house. There are strange and scary noises coming from the basement, and she is trapped, either by a ghost or her own madness.

But when Ginette starts to think a murder has taken place and a mysterious man starts making terrifying appearances outside her window, it’s clear she must deal with whatever isn’t allowing her to escape this house…

 

Thursday, October 20, 2022

Oceanview Publishing October Offerings

It's time to reveal the October offerings from my favorite indie mystery publisher, Oceanview check them out.
Enjoy!

Wednesday, October 19, 2022

Sophia Rose Reviews- National Park Mysteries and Disappearances: Pacific Northwest by Steve Stockton and Bill Melder

Today Sophia Rose returns with an audio review perfect for the Halloween Season.
Enjoy!




National Park Mysteries and Disappearances: Pacific Northwest by Steve Stockton and Bill Melder

Narrated by Chris Abernathy

Volume 3

Publisher:  Tantor Audio

Published:  9.13.22

Times:  3 hours 59 minutes

Rating: 4 stars

Narration Ration: 4 stars

Format: MP3

Source:  Tantor Audio

Sellers: Amazon

ADD TO: GoodReads


GoodReads Blurb:

Some of the most visited national parks in the country have a dark side.

Aside from crowds of hikers, campers, and general tourists, there's a dark side to many that can be found in the great states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho. From strange disappearances, grisly murders and bone-chilling paranormal hauntings and ghost sightings, these pristine locales have a lot more to offer than just serene hiking trails or camping. In this third installment of National Park Mysteries & Disappearances, Steve Stockton, along with Bill Melder, presents the listener with a side to these locations you've never heard before.

So, put aside your nature guidebooks, forget about the pretty leaves, and the relaxing streams as well as the miniature golf, the funnel cakes and all the other "tourist traps" and prepare for a wild ride on the dark side of these major national parks.

 

Tuesday, October 18, 2022

#Macmillan Audio Review of Desperation in Death by J.D. Robb #55 In Death

Today I'm reviewing the #MacmillanAudio edition of #55 in J.D. Robb's In Death series, Desperation in Death.
Enjoy!

ASIN: B09Q7ZGLL8
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Release Date: 09-06-2022
Length: 13 hours & 11 minutes
Source: Publisher for review
Buy It: Audible/ Chirpbooks

ADD TO: GOODREADS

Overview:
The #1 New York Times bestselling author presents a gripping new thriller that pits homicide detective Eve Dallas against a conspiracy of exploitation and evil…


New York, 2061: The place called the Pleasure Academy is a living nightmare where abducted girls are trapped, trained for a life of abject service while their souls are slowly but surely destroyed. Dorian, a thirteen-year-old runaway who’d been imprisoned there, might never have made it out if not for her fellow inmate Mina, who’d hatched the escape plan. Mina was the more daring of the two—but they’d been equally desperate.

Unfortunately, they didn’t get away fast enough. Now Dorian is injured, terrified, and wandering the streets of New York, and Mina lies dead near the waterfront while Lt. Eve Dallas looks over the scene.

Mina’s expensive, elegant clothes and beauty products convince Dallas that she was being groomed, literally and figuratively, for sex trafficking—and that whoever is investing in this high-overhead operation expects windfall profits. Her billionaire husband, Roarke, may be able to help, considering his ties to the city’s ultra-rich. But Roarke is also worried about the effect this case is having on Dallas, as it brings a rage to the surface she can barely control. No matter what, she must keep her head clear—because above all, she is desperate for justice and to take down those who prey on and torment the innocent.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press.

Monday, October 17, 2022

Sophia Rose Reviews - Rescue Mission by Kendall Talbot

Today I welcome Sophia Rose back to the blog to share her  review of Rescue Mission by Kendall Talbot.
Enjoy!


Rescue Mission by Kendall Talbot

#3 Alpha Tactical Ops

Romantic Suspense

Publisher: self

Published:  10.28.22

ASIN:  B0B2QZ8JTN

Pages: 368

Rating: 4.5 stars

Format: eARC

Source: Author

Sellers: Amazon


ADD TO: GoodReads


GoodReads Blurb:

She’s a skilled sniper. He’s a Hollywood hunk.
But when the bullets start flying nobody is acting.

Ex-army sniper, Maya Grayson (Codename: Ghost) has pulled the trigger on many bastards. But since her military career was yanked away from her, finding her place back in the real world isn’t easy. And civilian men struggle with both her career choice and her sassy confidence.

Born into money, action star hero, Neon Bloom, has it all. Fame. Fortune. Female friends. And when he’s declared Hollywood’s Most Eligible Bachelor, his ratings and income skyrocket. So does the attention. And not all of it is good. Both his movie producers and mega-rich parents will pay any ransom, making full time guards a necessity Neon hates.

With an abandoned island resort as the backdrop for a new action blockbuster, feisty Maya is charged with babysitting the cocky playboy and their personality clash is worthy of an Oscar. But when Maya discovers the true gentleman behind Neon’s fake façade, saving him from ruthless kidnappers becomes the most important mission of her life.

Can Maya and her team save Neon? Or will this be his final act?

Fans of kick-ass heroines and cocky alpha men will love the adrenaline rush and steamy romance packed into Rescue Mission, book 3 in the Alpha Tactical Ops series!

Start reading this thrilling military romantic suspense today! No cliff-hangers, and a happily ever after guaranteed!

Thursday, October 13, 2022

Sophia Rose Reviews- Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty

Today on the blog Sophia Rose is back to review Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty a Sci-Fi Mystery one of her favorite genres.
Enjoy!




Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty

#1 Midsolar Murders

Sci-Fi Mystery

Publisher: Ace

Published: 10.4.22

ASIN: B09PZT7H9F

Pages:  336

Rating: 4.5 stars

Format: eARC

Source:  Berkley

Sellers:  Amazon


ADD TO: GoodReads

 

GoodReads Blurb:

From idyllic small towns to claustrophobic urban landscapes, Mallory Viridian is constantly embroiled in murder cases that only she has the insight to solve. But outside of a classic mystery novel, being surrounded by death doesn’t make you a charming amateur detective, it makes you a suspect and a social pariah. So when Mallory gets the opportunity to take refuge on a sentient space station, she thinks she has the solution. Surely the murders will stop if her only company is alien beings. At first her new existence is peacefully quiet…and markedly devoid of homicide.

But when the station agrees to allow additional human guests, Mallory knows the break from her peculiar reality is over. After the first Earth shuttle arrives, and aliens and humans alike begin to die, the station is thrown into peril. Stuck smack-dab in the middle of an extraterrestrial whodunit, and wondering how in the world this keeps happening to her anyway, Mallory has to solve the crime—and fast—or the list of victims could grow to include everyone on board….

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Showcase - Daughters of the New Year by E.M. Tran

Today I'm showcasing, Daughters of the New Year by E.M. Tran, a brand new release from a debut author from Hanover Square Press an Imprint of Harlequin the publisher that makes the world go round. 
Enjoy!


ISBN-13: 9780369722645
Publisher: Hanover Square Press 
Release Date: 10-11-2022
Length: 320pp
Buy It: Publisher/ Amazon/ B&N/ IndieBound

ADD TO: GOODREADS

Overview:

“Daughters of the New Year is engrossing and exhilarating... unifying and contorting a family tied by love, debts, humor, and ghosts. Tran has turned the question of what a family can be into a complex, heartfelt mural of possibility.” –Bryan Washington, author of Memorial and Lot

A lively, spellbinding tale about the extraordinary women within a Vietnamese immigrant family—and the ancient zodiac legend that binds them together

What does the future hold for those born in the years of the Dragon, Tiger, and Goat?

In present day New Orleans, Xuan Trung, former beauty queen turned refugee after the Fall of Saigon, is obsessed with divining her daughters' fates through their Vietnamese zodiac signs. But Trac, Nhi and Trieu diverge completely from their immigrant parents' expectations. Successful lawyer Trac hides her sexuality from her family; Nhi competes as the only woman of color on a Bachelor-esque reality TV show; and Trieu, a budding writer, is determined to learn more about her familial and cultural past.

As the three sisters begin to encounter strange glimpses of long-buried secrets from the ancestors they never knew, the story of the Trung women unfurls to reveal the dramatic events that brought them to America. Moving backwards in time, E.M. Tran takes us into the high school classrooms of New Orleans, to Saigon beauty pageants, to twentieth century rubber plantations, traversing a century as the Trungs are both estranged and united by the ghosts of their tumultuous history.

A “haunted story of resilience and survival” (Meng Jin, Little Gods), Daughters of the New Year is an addictive, high-wire act of storytelling that illuminates an entire lineage of extraordinary women fighting to reclaim the power they’ve been stripped of for centuries.

Friday, October 7, 2022

Showcase - The Blumkin Project A Biographical Novel by CHRISTIAN SALMON Translated by WILLIAM RODARMOR

Today I'm showcasing The Blumkin Project by Christian Salmon a new release from fave indie Other Press. 
Enjoy!

ISBN-13:  978-1-59051-154-1
Publisher: Other Press
Release Date: 09-27-2022
Length: 352pp 
Buy It: Publisher/ Amazon/ B&N/ IndieBound

ADD TO: GOODREADS

Overview:

This page-turning biographical novel follows the footsteps of a forgotten legend of the Russian Revolution, from Odessa to Moscow, Istanbul, and beyond.

Yakov Blumkin claimed to have had nine lives. Born to a poor Jewish family and orphaned as a child, he was a Socialist Revolutionary, a terrorist, the assassin of the German ambassador Wilhelm von Mirbach, a poet close to the avant-garde, a member of Cheka, a military strategist, a secret agent, and Leon Trotsky’s secretary. Executed in 1929 on Stalin’s orders at the age of only twenty-nine, he has continued to inspire a powerful curiosity, and wild rumors and falsehoods about his extraordinary life abound today.

As a young man in 1980s Paris, Christian Salmon identified strongly as a Bolshevik, drawn to the glorious October Revolution immortalized in literature and films such as Warren Beatty’s Reds and Sergei Eisenstein’s trilogy. Picking up the thread of his dream thirty years later, he sets out to reconstruct Blumkin’s shadowy past and ever-shifting identity with a trove of manuscripts, documents, rare photographs, and personal souvenirs.

Wednesday, October 5, 2022

Sophia Rose Reviews: The Belle of Belgrave Square by Mimi Matthews Blog Tour #Giveaway AustenProse PR

 


Good Day all today is Sophia Rose's stop on The Belle of Belgrave Square by Mimi Matthews blog tour. Read her review and don't forget to enter the fab #Giveaway at the end 
Enjoy!

Tuesday, October 4, 2022

Showcase: Nine Quarters of Jerusalem A New Biography of the Old City by MATTHEW TELLER

Today I'm featuring a showcase of Nine Quarters of Jerusalem A New Biography of the Old Cityby MATTHEW TELLER from fave Indie OtherPress.
Enjoy!

ISBN-13: 978-1-63542-334-1
Publisher: OtherPress
Release Date: 09-27-2022
Length: 400pp
Buy It: Publisher / Amazon/ B&N/ IndieBound

ADD TO: GOODREADS

Overview:


This unique, absorbing biography of Jerusalem brings to light its overlooked histories and diverse contemporary voices.

In Jerusalem, what you see and what is true are two different things. The Old City has never had “four quarters” as its maps proclaim. And beyond the crush and frenzy of its major religious sites, many of its quarters are little known to visitors, its people ignored and their stories untold. Nine Quarters of Jerusalem lets the communities of the Old City speak for themselves. Ranging from ancient past to political present, it evokes the city’s depth and cultural diversity.

Matthew Teller’s highly original “biography” features the Old City’s Palestinian and Jewish communities, but also spotlights its Indian and African populations, its Greek and Armenian and Syriac cultures, its downtrodden Dom Gypsy families, and its Sufi mystics. It discusses the sources of Jerusalem’s holiness and the ideas—often startlingly secular—that have shaped lives within its walls. It is an evocation of place through story, led by the voices of Jerusalemites.

Monday, October 3, 2022

Oceanview Publishing September releases

 

Today I'm featuring two brand new September releases from my favorite Mystery Indie Oceanview Publishing.
Enjoy!