Category Archives: Book Reviews

I didn’t realize that “Broken Promise” was part of a series of books until I had started reading it. It refers to many things that have happened in previous books and ends with a cliff-hanger to be resolved in a future book. While I was able to read the book as a standalone novel, it felt as if I had stepped into the middle of a story and needed a little more background information to understand what was going on.

There is a basic story in this almost 500 page book with a mystery that I had solved in less than 100 pages (although not really the whodunnit which is part of the cliff-hanger.) As a mystery, it was a little lacking for me. I like to figure out the ending just ahead of or just behind the main sleuth in the story. In this case, it was pretty much evident what had happened almost as soon as the friction was introduced.

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This is the second book by Julia Heaberlin I have read and enjoyed. I actually enjoyed reading “Black-Eyed Susans” even more than “Lie Still” – which surprised me as I really enjoyed the first book. I will certainly be looking for this author again in the future and will make a point of buying her first book “Playing Dead” as I will probably like it as well as the others.

The setting for the story is the Ft. Worth area of Texas. I’ve lived in Texas for more than 10 years now – most of it in the Hill Country near Austin but most recently in the Northern Dallas suburbs. I can attest that the author’s descriptions of the locale and the people who inhabit the area are absolutely spot on. Picking up her book and reading some of the conversations mimic ones that I have with my neighbors. Not, thankfully, the ones about murder, but the rhythm and cadence of the conversations strike a familiar cord. Her descriptions of the landscape are spot on. There is a terrible beauty to the vastness of the land and the heat that scorches it year in and year out. The author has even put what we call cold and ice and snow in its place. Minimal compared to the Northern states but deadly here.

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“Fixed in Blood” was a high speed mystery thriller of a read. It turns out that it is the fourth in a series; however, it is the first book that I have read by T. E. Woods. I often read books out of series to see if they can be read as a stand-alone book. This one is easily read by itself; however, it is so well-written that you, like me, will probably want to read the whole series. It does contain information that can probably be construed as plot spoilers for the first books. I skimmed over those portions as I fully intend the read the prior three books. As soon as I finished reading “Fixed In Blood”, I purchased the three-book bundle which is available for the Kindle.

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“Chilling Effect” is the second book in the new Aroostine Higgins series by Melissa F. Miller. The character seems to have been introduced in a previous series by the author but I have yet to read that series. I did read the first book in this series, “Critical Vulnerability”. While I enjoyed the first book and I believe that it enhanced my reading of this book, I don’t think it is necessary to read the books in order to enjoy this story. There is enough background information given in this book to have it make sense and while there is information about the first book, I don’t consider the information to be a “spoiler” problem.

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“Critical Vulnerability” is the first book I have read by Melissa F. Miller. While it appears to be the first in a new series of books featuring Aroostine Higgins, it also seems that Aroostine and her husband Joe have been characters in a previous series of books by Ms. Miller. It did not seem necessary to have read that series to enjoy this new one but there are enough hooks in the story that to make me think that, as I enjoyed this book, I would also enjoy going back and reading the previous legal series featuring a character named Sasha McCandless.

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This is an engrossing psychological murder mystery by an author I have not read before. After having read the book and enjoyed it, I still do not understand the meaning of the title “The Bones of You.” I may be having a dense moment as I am definitely in the middle of a bad cold but it just doesn’t mean anything to me as there were no bones found. Apart from that, I was able to connect and appreciate the story and the story telling of the book.

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“Little Pretty Things” is a murder mystery and much more. The story revolves around two runners, Maddy and Juliet, who were track stars on their high school team ten years before. Maddy, who was always first and the superstar, moved away from their little town and seemed to have gotten things together in a big way. Juliet, always second to Maddy, ended up leaving college when her father passed away and is stuck in the town and in a job that she can’t stand with a mother who can’t get beyond her husband’s death.

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“Take Another Look” is a psychological thriller that asks whether or not evil is genetic or whether it is a product of environment.

Jane is a young woman, just out of college, when she meets Frank. At first, the police officer seems to be a dream guy but very soon, Jane realizes the dream is really a nightmare. She escapes from him when he tries to force her into an abortion. She runs away from her old life and finds that she is going to have twins. She can’t afford both children, so she gives one up for adoption, Louisa and keeps the other, Harper.

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