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The Dark Wives... Vera Stanhope brings the spice to a perfectly anti-cozy fall mystery (Book Review)

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When a fictional character is so familiar to you that they feel like an friend you’ve known forever, the author must be doing something (or, more likely, a   lot  of somethings) right. Vera Stanhope—the feisty, bull-headed, and frequently-irascible Northumberland Detective Inspector—is exactly that kind of comfortable-as-old-shoes character... and author Ann Cleeves is still doing her proud in the latest outing,   The Dark Wives .     After a young man is found dead in the wee hours one morning, Vera and her team are called to investigate. They quickly discover that the victim, Josh--found bludgeoned outside a home which houses troubled teens—was himself a worker at the home... and that one of the home’s few residents—a 14-year-old girl named Chloe—is now missing.    Nearly everyone immediately assumes the girl must’ve killed Josh—especially since the other staff members and teens all seem to agree that Chloe had been sweet on the college student—but Vera isn’t so sure.   She insists (
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Bad Men Don't Stand a Chance Against Her... "This Girl's a Killer" Book Review

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One of my college jobs was salesgirl at a shoe store.     My manager—smart, sweet, attractive, and never-behind-bars ( that’ll be relevant in a second )—was great to work with.     But, I  seriously  questioned her choice in movies.   Her favorite genre was a mashup of female empowerment and vigilante fantasies—women in jail, enduring horrible things, only to  finally  exact graphic, brutal revenge on the men that had hurt them.    Back then, I didn’t understand the appeal... but after finishing Emma C. Wells’ debut novel,  This Girl’s a Killer , I think—at long last—I’m starting to.     Cordelia Black has—from the outside—one of those enviable lives.   She’s attractive. Put-together. Healthy. Independent. Self-sufficient, with a well-paying job—Big Pharma rep—that easily funds her love of very nice things (Manolo Blahnik and Louboutin stilettos, and a collection of Louis Vuitton handbags).    She’s beloved by her BFF since freshman year in college, Diane, and is the proud godmother/do
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A Weegie, a Hob, and Plenty of "Others"... Reach Their Ever Afters -- CANDLE & CROW Book Review

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One mischievous hobgoblin... on the brink of falling in love. One warrior queen... set on founding her own cult. One (former) goddess of death—now trying out life as a human—who thinks online dating is the way to go. One (seemingly) ordinary secretary who... well, is actually known as “Gladys Who Has Seen Some Shite” (although the “shite” in question remains unmentioned, so... who knows?).   And, one Glaswegian septuagenarian skilled in ink-and-sigil work (basically, magic spells made by using special inks and symbols)... whose job it is to keep the gods above, and all manner of fae creatures hiding in plain sight here in the human world down below, in line.    Together, they’re about to face what may be their greatest challenge, yet: finally figuring out who placed the twin curses on Al MacBharrais’ (the aforementioned septuagenarian) balding head... curses which killed off numerous apprentices, over the years, and caused his entire family to shun him, for no reason.   If the origin o
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Don't Fear This Reaper ... A Grim Reaper's Guide to Catching a Killer (mystery book review)

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You can find a Grim Reaper costume in any costume shop, because everyone agrees on what it is—long cape, hood, no face, and a big ole scythe, right?   But... what if everyone is wrong?   What if sometime between the reaper’s first appearance—in the Middle Ages, when the Black Death was the COVID of its day—and now, the whole concept of the grim reaper was... updated?   The black-hood-of-death-and-harvesting-tool getup would have to go.   Maybe the Grim Reaper 2.0 would look like a regular Joe (or Jane!). Like your neighbor. Your aunt. The muscle-y dude pumping iron at the gym.   Debuting author Maxie Dara makes hay* with this idea in her delightfully-creative new mystery,  A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer .      You probably wouldn’t look twice at Kathy Valence, if you passed her on the street. Just another frumpy, middle-aged, nearly-divorced—and very pregnant—woman... nothing to see here, just move along.   But the badge she carefully pins to the collar of her practical bla
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A Tale of Suspense Worthy of the Master -- The Hitchcock Hotel (book review)

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Imagine, just for a second, what your life would be like, without your friends? They’re such a huge part of those “formative years”... but not so much, I think, a throughway.   For instance, there are friends you have when you’re a little kid—the ones you play with at recess, or hang out with after school. Everything is easy and fun, and any arguments tend to be trivial (and sorted quickly).   Then the tweens and teens happen, and suddenly you’re a mass of raging hormones, explosive bursts of anger, and buckets of drama-llama angst.  Those earlier friends, from simpler times, may— or may not —still be in the mix, because the stakes have gotten much higher, with massive secrets and heartfelt desires to be shared... and kept close. You have your besties... but if just one confidence is broken, any bestie can be relegated to no-man’s land, in a millisecond.   High school is the last stop on the whole friend-making journey for a lot of people. Sure, other very casual friendships can develo
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Dark Secrets in the City of Angels -- P. J. Tracy's City of Secrets book review

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Every big city in America has its share of serious crime... but in a sprawling megalopolis like Los Angeles,  there’s your run-of-the-mill crime, and then there’s your okay-that-went-crazy-really-effing-fast crime.   In the latest entry in P. J. Tracy’s Detective Margaret Nolan series,  City of Secrets , Maggie—along with her stalwart partner, Al Crawford—are definitely ankle-boots-and-loafers-deep in the latter.     After arriving on the scene of what—at first glance—almost certainly appears to be  “just” another fatal car-jacking, Maggie and Al soon realize that the dead guy in the fancy car was actually the owner of a premium pet-food company worth millions... which he just so happened to be in the process of selling, for a huge profit. And  that  immediately puts a whole different spin on things.    Sure, in the part of town where things went down—one of those areas someone super-wealthy only goes with the idea of scoring something illegal, in mind—being rich and stupid go hand-in-
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Mrs. Sidhu Investigates (Review) -- The Menopausal Indian Caterer who Sniffs out Murderers

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Cozy mysteries have never really been my thing, in either book or TV show. They’re usually too cutesy, too predictable, too convenient, and too... well, basically cheerful (for me).   But plenty of other people clearly love them, and that’s cool. ( Hey, there’s more than enough room in the pond for everyone’s tastes, which is as it should be .)   Every now and then, though, something “cozy” grabs my attention, and I give it a try... like I did last week, with  Mrs. Sidhu Investigates  (streaming on Acorn TV, which is easy to get through Amazon).   And, just like those blue moons, once in a great while I’m pleasantly surprised and delighted... as I was with  Mrs. Sidhu .     A middle-aged catering chef—who, for much of the season, seems to be capably running a one-woman operation ( from prepping and cooking, to delivering and serving the food! )—in the smallish city of Slough, England, doesn’t seem like the obvious choice of heroine for, well,  most  things... let alone, a light-hearted
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