Friday, January 1, 2021
Tuesday, December 15, 2020
FINALLYYYYY! An Update on Marcia Muller's Next Sharon McCone Mystery
Soooooo, y'all know I take the time every other day to look for new releases from authors I love. And nothing is more punishing than waiting years between releases. So I thought Marcia Muller was done with her Sharon McCone P.I. mystery series, after 2018's release of The Breakers. Low-key... I was panicking a little about the woman and whether or not she was coming back. You know, given how we lost Grafton four years ago. Grafton's passing was the reason I buckled down in 2018 and read through the entirety of Muller's McCone series. And, hell, I finished the series excited for more. Sooooooooo, here we are YEARS later (and at the tail end of this craziness of 2020) with the announcement of the next Sharon McCone mystery. I, naturally, just hate to wait until August for it. UGH! Anyway, I and many Muller readers finally got our answer in McCone's 35th case, Ice and Stone.
When two women are brutally murdered in northern California, their deaths are the latest atrocities in a surge of violence targeting indigenous women in the area. Despite all evidence to the contrary, local officials rule the deaths isolated incidents, and they soon join the ranks of other unsolved homicides, quickly forgotten by law enforcement.
Private Investigator Sharon McCone knows better, and so does the organization known as Crimes Against Indigenous Sisters, who hires Sharon to go undercover in Eiwok county, a tiny region on the mountainous Oregon border, to uncover the murderer.
In an isolated cabin in the freezing, treacherous woods, Sharon must unravel a mystery that is rooted in ignorance, profound hatred, and vengeance -- before another victim is claimed."
Friday, December 11, 2020
Thursday, December 10, 2020
UPDATED: 2020 Mystery Series Catching Up List
2020 Mystery Series Catching Up List
1st BOOK SHELF
*Updated notes as of December 2020
I’m making this list because I’m tired of myself starting a new series, while having a series I already need to read hanging around my shelves.
This list will be used to help me stay focused! Other genres in-between will come as well.
Mrs. Murphy Series by Rita Mae Brown
Book #13: Cat’s Eyewitness
Book #14: Sour Puss
Book #15: Puss N’ Choots
Book #16: The Perrfect Murder
(The rest of the series I’ll check out from the library)
*Got absolutely NOWHERE here. Very unfortunate, considering this was once a beloved cozy series of mine. I honestly think I just grew out of it.
John Le’ Carre Smiley Spy Series
Book #3 The Spy Who Came Out of the Cold
Book #4 The Looking Glass War
Stand-Alone: A Small Town in Germany (This’ll be my first read)
*Didn’t get anywhere with Le’Carre. I started to read his stand-alone, The Little Drummer Girl, back in August. Unfortunately, I got distracted with other reads. Specifically that of Laura Child’s Tea Shop Mystery series. In that, I took on books 4-8 and made progress there instead. I also made progress in Margaret Maron’s series. So there’s that!
Suzanne Arruda’s Cameron Del African Series
It is vital that I finish this series this year. I only have five books left to read. The last two I’ll have to order. Nevertheless, I must finish this series in 2020.
✅Book# 3: The Serpent’s Daughter
✅Book #4: The Leopard’s Prey
✅Book #5: Treasure of the Golden Cheetah
(I have to order the following two for my personal library. Will not do until I’m done with BOOK #5)
✅Book #6: The Crocodile’s Last Embrace
✅Book#7: Devil Dance
*OFFICIALLY DONE AS OF OCTOBER 2020. I buckled down and knocked this series out. I enjoyed finishing it the whole way, too. I will say the 7th and final book, Devil Dance, was self-published. Not that this was necessarily a factor, but the quality of the series dipped here. There was a five year break between books 6 and 7, and I suspect the author didn’t have the same editor as previous. Nevertheless, I completed the series. Going to miss Jade del Cameron and her adventures.
Monday, August 17, 2020
FauxCast ~ CHOP IT UP: Goldenboy by Michael Nava (Henry Rios Mystery #2)
Saturday, August 15, 2020
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
Just Going Lay This Here...
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
We Got Some NEW Black Mysteries Up in HERE!
Thursday, May 28, 2020
The 3rd Cass Raines Private-Eye Book is OUT NOW!
"Wealth. Power. Celebrity. Vonda Allen’s glossy vanity magazine has taken the Windy City by storm, and she’s well on her way to building a one-woman media empire. Everybody adores her. Except the people who work for her. And the person who’s sending her flowers with death threats . . .
As Vonda’s bodyguard, off-duty cop Ben Mickerson knows he could use some back-up—and no one fits the bill better than his ex-partner on the police force, Cass Raines. Now a full-time private eye, Cass is reluctant to take the job. She isn’t keen on playing babysitter to a celebrity who’s rumored to be a heartless diva. But as a favor to Ben, she signs on. But when Vonda refuses to say why someone might be after her, and two of her staff turn up dead, Ben and Cass must battle an unknown assailant bent on getting to the great lady herself, before someone else dies.
Cass finds out the hard way just how persistent a threat they face during the first stop on Vonda’s book tour. As fans clamour for her autograph, things take an ugly turn when a mysterious fan shows up with flowers and slashes Ben with a knife. While her ex-partner’s life hangs in the balance, Cass is left to find out what secrets Vonda is keeping, who might want her dead, and how she can bring Ben’s attacker to justice before enemies in the Chicago Police Department try to stop her in her tracks . . ."
Saturday, May 23, 2020
Faithless in Death's Cover
"In the new Eve Dallas police thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling author J.D. Robb, what looks like a lover's quarrel turned fatal has larger―and more terrifying―motives behind it."
Friday, May 15, 2020
New Valerie Wilson Wesley Book & Series on the WAY!
"Odessa Jones doesn't trust her second sight. The extrasensory "gift" that her Aunt Phoenix claims will always protect her let Dessa down in a major way when she was blindsided by the death of her husband. Now, with her failing catering business looming over her, not to mention the possible loss of her home and continuing grieving, Dessa's last chance to keep her life together is a job at a real estate agency with a shady past.
With volatile boss Charlie Risko and a ramshackle operation, it's far from a dream job, but working at Risko Realty veers more into nightmare territory when Charlie is found murdered. Dessa knows she had a "glimmer"--or premonition--of death the day before, and is troubled to think she could have predicted Charlie's death. Her second sight kicks in again when a coworker is arrested for Charlie's murder - and Dessa knows for certain that he's innocent. This time, Dessa doesn't want to ignore her gift. She teams up with friend, former detective, and current barbeque cook Lennox Royal to help her track down the killer - but will her glimmers help save her before the killer strikes again?"
Monday, May 11, 2020
Muller & Paretsky Short Story Haul
Thursday, May 7, 2020
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
"ABCD" May Reading TBR
My first shelf was my “A” shelf. Unread books with "A" last name authors. Alphabet order through the pickings. Let's go! Maya ANgelou’s autobiography, A Song Flung Up to Heaven, beat Margaret ATwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. True enough. Yet, I took a little concession and choose the latter. Why? Two reason. One: never read an Atwood, but read plenty Angelous. Two: because this is an alarming time to explore some disturbing dystopian/totalitarian state novels. And I’m going to throw this out there: Gilead (do your research on that). So let's keep it real with the potential parallels we all fear on the horizon. The phrase "It'll never happen here" comes to mind.
Monday, May 4, 2020
A Special Video Blog Exclusive: "Build Your Investigator" TAG
Saturday, April 25, 2020
Ooooo. Somebody Sent Me Books...
What’s happening, all? Well, I guess that question isn’t exactly necessary in our current health crisis climate. So, in saying that, I hope and pray you reading this is doing well and keeping safe. I’ve taken this time to be still. Still reading, but keeping still. Not too much video making and blogging. More like be extra careful of my movements (as I still have to go to work), as well as keeping up with my family’s movements. There is much to say about these last few weeks but, for the majority, me and my folks are doing well. And I pray yours is too.
I’m here to share and shout out Elizabeth from the YouTube Channel, LizziefayeLovesBooks. Last week she sent me some books, y'all! Anyway, her and I have shared a BookTubeship these past few years. That BookTubeship came stirred by our connection in hosting #MarchMysteryMadness together since 2016. There are actual stories behind the book picks she has sent me. But instead of getting into all that on this rainy Saturday, I’ll share her latest video down below. Total appreciation for this.