Category Archives: Book Reviews

I started this series with the second book (“The Whispering Room”) and was blown away by both the story and author Dean Koontz’ writing style. When I received this book, “The Crooked Staircase”, I was a tad bit afraid that it would not live up to the predecessor. It is even better.

I think it can be read standalone but reading the whole series lets you grow alone with Jane and to meet individuals who might not make it to the next book.

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Guilia Driscoll is back on a case, this time involving a small group of nuns who are being harassed into selling their home to property developer. When a nun is found dead on the street while walking her dog and then the developer is found dead in basement of the nun’s home home, Guilia has to help solve the crime.

In the meantime, Guilia is pregnant and is starting to show. Her clothes aren’t fitting and the baby is beginning to make himself known.

The book progresses the story from the last as far as Guilia’s personal life. She is pulled back into her brother’s orbit when he is injured at work and is in a coma. She takes his kids in so they won’t be left alone.

There are some funny scenes involving the nuns. The book also takes an unexpected dip in paranormal. While I generally don’t read paranormal books, this one was not something that overwhelmed the rest of the story.

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I’ve enjoyed this series by Annette Dashofy. In this book (which is the sixth in the series), paramedic and deputy coroner, Zoe Chambers, is once again in the thick of a murder mystery.

There is someone preying on the elderly in their town. They are posing as water department employees and are busy casing homes for burglaries. After a woman dies, the hunt is on. Zoe’s boyfriend, Police Chief, Pete Adams, is called in and is busy hunting down the murderers.

Zoe gets in involved when her elderly friend appears to be the next target. Zoe moves in to help keep both Mr. and Mrs. Kroll safe from the unscrupulous criminals. With Zoe now in danger as well, Peter goes into overdrive to keep both Zoe and the elderly in their town safe.

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I always look forward to a new Davis Way crime caper. I’ve been following the series for a while (have to go back and find the time to read the first couple of books that I missed.) It is one of my favorite series as the plots are hilarious and the characters sometimes bring tears to my eyes from laughing so hard.

Davis Way Cole is responsible (part time now that she has the kids) for security at the Bellissimo Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. She lives there with her husband (manager of the Casino) and their young twin daughters, taking up half of the 29th floor of the hotel. A continuing theme in the books is that Davis is a dead ringer for the casino owners wife, a pampered lady who prefers to have Davis double for her at local events and has, for some reason, decided that Davis’ name is actually David.

In this story, Davis’ past in Pine Apple, Alabama, has made its way into the casino (once again.) Davis is asked to pay a ransom of a million dollars (just go take it from the casino, right?) In her search for the kidnappers, she runs into a cast of characters from Pine Apple – Bootsy Howard (a known witch – just ask any child in Pine Apple), Leverette Urleen, MD – a doctor that I would just say no to, and my favorite, Vreeland Howard (Davis’ sister’s best friend.)

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This is another fun entry in the A Birds of a Feather Mystery series. I’ve enjoyed all of the books in this series though I thought the last entry (prior to this one) was a little off course. With “Farewell My Cuckoo”, Marty Wingate has brought out, what I feel, is the best of the series thus far.

Julia Lanchester is the manager of the TIC, Tourist Information Center, at Fotheringham Estate. She and her boyfriend Michael have just attended a dear friend’s wedding. Julia has the distinct feeling that marriage (or at least a proposal) may be in her immediate future, too. However, when she and Michael return home from the wedding, Michael’s sister Pammy has shown up to stay overnight (camped out on the sofa.) When overnight turns to two days and then a week and then Pammy starts buying groceries and doing chores around the house, Julia is concerned that Pammy has moved in for good.

Then Willow, one of Julia’s dear friends, stumbles (literally) over a corpse. Julia is determined to stay out of the investigation of the murder of That Poor Man (what she calls him as no one knows who he is) but she is pulled in almost against her will.

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I am fairly new to the mysteries by Anne Perry. This is only the second book I have read in the Pitt series (though the first was really a one-off Christmas book.) I’m intrigued and well-pleased with Ms. Perry’s writing style. She has intellectual characters who use their wits and knowledge to solve the whodunnit.

In this book, Daniel Pitt (the son of Charlotte and Thomas Pitt), is a grown man working as a new lawyer in a prestigious firm. Daniel is called on to assist one of the bright stars of the firm in defending a man against the charge of murdering his own wife.

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Delaney Nicohols is an American (from Kansas), who is currently living and working in Scotland. She works at an unusual bookstore which is filled with interesting items, most of which are hidden away in the “warehouse” for the use of the owner, Edwin MacAlister.

In this story, Delaney is just making friends with some women who are in medical school. When one of them turns up murdered the morning after they all had a get-together and the murder occurs in the alleyway just behind the bookstore, Delaney finds herself involved in solving the murder.

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In this, the third book of the Gethsemane Brown mystery series, Gethsemane confronts the paranormal in an attempt to save lives. She is aided by Eamon McCarthy, the ghost conductor whose reputation Gethsemane salvaged in Book 1 of this series.

This time, a malevolent spirit has taken over the local opera house. It’s wreaking a horrible curse on many of Gethsemane’s boys (she teaches music at the local academy) and two of her best friends. Added to that, she has to deal with a ghost-busting crew who are out to debunk the story of Eamon’s haunting of the cottage where she lives.

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