March Book Reviews

I'm fortunate that one of my favorite pastimes is hiking. And since Missouri State Parks are still welcoming visitors to the outdoors, I have a few hours of my social distancing already covered each week.

It's still a little early for our blooming trees, as you can see from the shot above. But we have all the tiny streams that only run in the Spring to enjoy.

I get a few more hours of social distancing from getting lost in some great reads. Hope you find something in my March reviews that will do the same for you.

• A crime mystery (She Wore Mourning);
• A cozy mystery (Name Your Poison); and
• Occult horror (The Everett Exorcism).

Happy reading,
Bruce


She Wore Mourning (Zachary Goldman Mysteries Book 1) by P.D. Workman

PI Investigates His Own Demons as Well as the Crime’s 

In She Wore Mourning, Private Investigator Zachary Goldman takes on a gut-wrenching case when he investigates the drowning death of a five-year-old boy. Ruled an accident by the police, the boy’s grandmother wants closure and hires Goldman for a second opinion. Goldman has his suspicions, but he has nothing sufficient for law enforcement to re-open the investigation. Things seem at an impasse, then someone tries to kill him. But is the attempt on his life because of this case or some other that he’s working? He can’t be sure. And if it is this case, who’s responsible for the boy’s death? A pedophile who abducted the boy from his unlocked, backyard and then killed him? One or both of the parents? A forensic scientist in training who seems a bit too interested in Goldman’s case? Even the grandmother doesn’t escape Goldman’s scrutiny. Kudos to the author for keeping the suspense high, dangling several viable suspects in front of our eyes.

For the complete review, see: https://amzn.to/2TgPt6s


Name Your Poison (Top Shelf Mysteries Book 3) by Lolli Powell

You Can’t Beat this Heroine for an Imaginative and Humorous Murder Investigation

Author Lolli Powell continues her winning formula for bar owner and amateur sleuth, Erica (Ricki) Fontaine, mixing a hyperactive imagination with a cynical sense of humor in this third installment of the Top Shelf Mysteries, Name Your Poison. Above all, our heroine has near-boundless imagination. Before the police have the forensics report on the cause of death, Ricki has already decided it was a murder. Not only that, but she’s sure the victim wasn’t the intended target and her newspaper reporter friend, Logan, was nearly killed only as collateral damage. And while that’s quite the deductive leap without a net, she becomes really creative on motives. Before a tense (and unexpected) finale, Ricki suggests the murder was motivated by everything from retaliation by a sexually harassed Hollywood starlet to an attempt to derail a movie that was to be shot in her hometown. All the better to keep the reader guessing … which I did.

For the complete review, see: https://amzn.to/2J6e7B0


The Everett Exorcism (World of Shadows Book 1) by Lincoln Cole

Bad Things Happen When Your Exorcist Doesn’t Believe in Demons

When ‘occult’ and ‘paranormal’ are the sub-genres of a horror novel, I don’t necessarily expect to be scared. Often after loosening the constraints of reality, the authors become embroiled in creating ever more hideous creatures or discovering increasingly horrendous ways for people to die. The result is that the stories can end up being as humorous as they are scary. The Everett Exorcism, however, is NOT one of those books. It is quite creepy … in all the right ways.

For the complete review, see: https://amzn.to/2Jc2eJx

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