Synopsis

 

THE PARIS BOOKSELLER opens in 1917, as World War I ends and Paris is alive as a thriving center for culture and modernity. With new ideas rapidly taking the post-war world by storm, Sylvia Beach moves to Paris and opens the doors to her new English-language bookshop with the help of fellow writer and bookseller Adrienne Monnier. What starts as a partnership and friendship with Adrienne soon blossoms into a romance, and the women work together to create a haven for English writers and readers.

Sylvia quickly falls in love with James Joyce’s prose, especially his unpublished manuscript, Ulysses. When the contentious novel is banned in the United States for its obscenity, Sylvia takes a massive financial and personal risk, deciding to publish it under the auspices of Shakespeare and Company. She quickly realizes that the success and notoriety of publishing the most influential book of the century comes with steep costs. While many patrons applaud her efforts, some believe she has marred the integrity of Shakespeare and Company as she remains staunchly loyal to Joyce. Even worse, the future of her beloved store is threatened and her most enduring friendships are put to the test when Ulysses’ success leads to Joyce being wooed by other publishers. Now on the cusp of World War II and facing financial ruin, Sylvia must decide how far she will go to keep Shakespeare and Company alive.

 

 

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Review

 

This is the kind of book that can send you down a rabbit hole to learn more about the characters!

I love when I can learn new things about our past! While this book is fictionalized, it is based on some real-life people including bookshop owner and publisher Sylvia Beach, author James Joyce, and many many more. Set primarily in the 20s and 30s, this is a look into Sylvia’s life opening a bookstore and deciding that Ulysses by James Joyce needed to be published and since America was banning the book as obscene, it needed to be published in Europe. Imagine typing up the book from someone’s handwriting, that could be treacherous work and it was in one case where the husband came home and burned the pages because he considered it scandalous. Needless to say, that caused quite a pickle since there was not a way to recreate the chapter…or was there?

I have to admit, when I first started reading the book it was hard to get into and I’m not sure why. It might have felt a little high brow, but as I settled into the characters and their lives, I became immersed in the lives of the artists, how Sylvia was doing with her bookstore, her life with her lover Adrienne, and a little family drama thrown in to boot. I have to admit to searching online for Sylvia Beach and her life and accomplishments. I love that she jumped right in and started her store, primarily for ex-pats living in Paris, but it because a meeting place for writers, musicians, poets, and more.

James Joyce was a mess in this book. I don’t know if this is how he was in real life, but I have to imagine it is loosely based on the truth. He might have had a brilliant mind, but he was hard to deal with on many fronts and it cost Sylvia nearly everything.

This well-researched book will have you dreaming of Paris and the life that was available to many in the early 1900s compared to other countries. The glimpses of well know authors had me wondering what that life must have been like, to meet such great minds before they were just that.

Overall, we give this 4 paws up and will be looking for more books by this author.

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Kerri Maher is the author of The Girl in White Gloves, The Kennedy Debutante, and, under the name Kerri Majors, This is Not a Writing Manual: Notes for the Young Writer in the Real World. She holds an MFA from Columbia University and was a writing professor for many years. She now writes full-time and lives with her daughter and dog in a leafy suburb west of Boston, Massachusetts.

 

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Synopsis

 

Sleeping Beauty meets Indiana Jones in this thrilling fairytale retelling for fans of Sorcery of Thorns and All the Stars and Teeth.

Fi is a bookish treasure hunter with a knack for ruins and riddles, who definitely doesn’t believe in true love.

Shane is a tough-as-dirt girl warrior from the north who likes cracking skulls, pretty girls, and doing things her own way.

Briar Rose is a prince under a sleeping curse, who’s been waiting a hundred years for the kiss that will wake him.

Cursed princes are nothing but ancient history to Fi–until she pricks her finger on a bone spindle while exploring a long-lost ruin. Now she’s stuck with the spirit of Briar Rose until she and Shane can break the century-old curse on his kingdom.

Dark magic, Witch Hunters, and bad exes all stand in her way–not to mention a mysterious witch who might wind up stealing Shane’s heart, along with whatever else she’s after. But nothing scares Fi more than the possibility of falling in love with Briar Rose.

Set in a lush world inspired by beloved fairytales, The Bone Spindle is a fast-paced young adult fantasy full of adventure, romance, found family, and snark.

 

 

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Excerpt

 

When they stepped through the opening, it felt as if they had entered an entirely different house. From here, they could look out over the lake, a view of the valley framed by carved archways of streaked yellow stone that led onto a crumbling balcony. The railing—constructed of a row of winding bronze roses—was badly tarnished, and Fi could see at least one patch where the wooden floorboards had fallen out altogether, leaving her peering down at the deep water below. She made a mental note to be careful where she stepped.

Fi could only imagine how beautiful this place must have been, even just a hundred years ago, before the last Witches had fled. It was the kind of building that probably could have stood another thousand years if anyone had been around to tend to it.

In the evening light, the floating specks of dust from the broken spell burned like flecks of gold, illuminating wall-to-wall bookshelves filled with all the things someone had hidden here: old vials of colored glass; fine porcelain teacups hand-painted with blushing roses; and spools of expensive fabrics dyed burgundy and cobalt, the trademark colors of the silk makers in southern Andar. Fi hadn’t seen craftsmanship like this since the antique shops of Pisarre. Darfell was rich in ore, wood, and wine, but most of its exports were raw materials. Artifacts like this had to be from Andar. The shelves bowed under the weight of ancient books with thick cloth bookmarks spilling over the yellowed pages.

“This is more like it!”

Fi glanced over at Shane, who had gone straight for the treasure. A weathered chest on the far side of the room spilled over with gold chains and ropes of jewels. A silver crown set with pink diamonds already sat askew on the girl’s head. Fi sighed. In that way, Shane was like every other treasure hunter she’d ever known.

Fi had just stepped around a hole in the creaking floorboards, making for the books, when something else caught her eye. A narrow alcove had been cut into the wall near the balcony, and inside sat a long, low table draped in black cloth. Something shone in the table’s center, something that gleamed like shards of white marble. No, Fi realized as she moved toward it—it was bone.

She drifted closer and stared down at the shattered pieces of a bone drop spindle, smooth and pure white as if they had just been polished. She couldn’t tear her eyes away. A few rust-red drops clung to the whorl, and Fi suddenly wondered whether this was the spindle from the story, the one that had been hidden in Briar Rose’s garden.

Her hand seemed to move on its own. Almost against her will, she found herself reaching for the broken piece of the shaft. She hissed as something bit into her finger, making her jerk back. Only now did she notice the snapped-off end of the spindle hidden under the other pieces, sharpened to a point.

Suddenly it was hard to think. Black slanted into the edge of her vision, and all the blood in her body seemed to be rushing the wrong way, leaving her faint. Fi stumbled backward onto the sagging balcony. Her legs trembled as if the floor had begun to shake. A drop of blood welled up on the tip of her finger. Fi stared at it, captivated, the words from the ruin’s door echoing in her mind.

A drop of blood, a drop of hope . . .

“Fi, watch out!”

Shane’s shout brought Fi back to herself in a rush. She hadn’t imagined it—the weathered boards under her feet were shaking and groaning. The balcony was collapsing under her weight. A great crack split the air as the support joists snapped out of the divots in the stone wall.

Fi jumped away, but she was too late. She felt a great heave in her stomach as the whole balcony collapsed, taking a large chunk of the room with it.

She threw her rope helplessly toward the carved archways. The metal ring bounced off the stone—and then she was falling, the breath crushed out of her. Shane threw herself down at the edge of the ripped-apart floor, her hand outstretched over the gap. The distance between them might as well have been a mile. All Fi could hear was the echo of Shane shouting her name as she plunged toward the lake.

At least I didn’t take any of the precious books down with me.

It was her last thought before she hit the water.

 

 

About the Author

 

Leslie is a YA author who loves girl heroes and adventurers. She grew up on fantasy books, anime, fanfiction, and the Lord of the Rings movies, and met her true love in high school choir. She graduated from San Francisco State University with a B.A. in creative writing, and currently lives in Colorado with her wife and two spoiled house cats.

 

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Girl with a Gun (An Annie Oakley Mystery) by Kari Bovee

 

Genre: Historical Mystery / Cozy Mystery

 

Publisher: Bosque Publishing

 

Release date: April 2020

 

Synopsis

 

She’s on the rise to fame and fortune, but her sudden notoriety comes with some deadly consequences.

Annie Oakley thrives as a sharpshooter in the Wild West Show. Finally, she has a chance to save her family’s farm—and make her dreams come true.

But her act misfires when she discovers her Indian assistant dead in her tent. Uncovering a shocking secret from her assistant’s past, the girl with the gun believes it’s murder. Determined to find the truth, she ruffles some horse feathers, making enemies along the trail.

​But, when her prized gelding is stolen, Annie realizes she might have been the target all along.

Can Little Miss Sure Shot save her equine friend and find the killer before everything she’s worked for is destroyed?

​If you like a cunning mystery, a feisty heroine, and a fast-paced plot that keeps the pages turning, you’ll love this wild ride with the iconic Annie Oakley in the saddle.

 

 

Audible ~ Amazon

 

 

 

 

 

 

Review

 

Take a journey back to the Wild West with Annie Oakley, Frank Butler, and the Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. While this is a fictional story, there are parts of this story based on fact which gave me a peek into the past while enjoying this story.

Annie is but 15 when hired as a sharpshooter for the Wild West Show. Considering the financial straits her family is in, she signs up with the show. What she doesn’t expect is to become wrapped up in helping solve some murders with nothing more than her intuition and a few clues left behind. She has a little help from some new friends, but many still stand in her way and don’t believe what she is saying and this shouldn’t be a surprise since it is 1885 and men tend to think women don’t know too much.

I thought Annie was spunky to leave her family at that age to join the show, but I understand the responsibility that she feels towards her family and helping them survive especially since her mom has taken up with a deadbeat that drinks any of the money that they receive. I felt like Annie had to grow up quickly at that point as she was thrust into the limelight with her rifle and pistol acumen and entertaining the crowds. While not everything worked out well in the shows, the crowds were entertained and enthralled by Annie’s abilities. She was quite a celebrity!

The mystery is well crafted and while there are several red herrings tossed into the mix, I suspected who the killer was but didn’t have too many facts to back up my gut instinct. I enjoyed following the clues and trying to firm up my guess with facts sprinkled throughout the book.

There is a little bit of romance too for Annie and Frank Butler. In a way, it seemed strange since she was just 15, but at the same time, this is a different world in the late 1800s and really shouldn’t have been too surprising. I appreciate that the author stayed true to who Annie married in real life.

There was one passage that really caught my eye between Annie and a suffragette named Emma Wilson, who was also a local reporter. This speaks volumes to me.

“I admire you, Annie. With your sweet face, you look like a prim little girl in those sparkly cowgirl outfits, but you are fierce – you are making a difference in the world of women, inspiring women to be stronger, to let the world know that women can be might without losing their femininity. Have you thought about joining the suffragette movement?”

Overall, this is an intriguing mystery and I look forward to reading the next book and where Annie’s adventures take her (and I have an idea since this book ended with a clue!)

We give this book 4 paws up.

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

When she’s not on a horse, or walking along the beautiful cottonwood-laden acequias of Corrales, New Mexico; or basking on white-sand beaches under the Big Island Hawaiian sun, Kari Bovee is escaping into the past—scheming murder and mayhem for her characters both real and imagined, and helping them to find order in the chaos of her action-packed novels. Bovee writes the award-winning Annie Oakley Mystery Series and the Grace Michelle Mystery Series and has more ideas than time for many, many more.

​
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Giveaway

 

 

Enter to win a $25 Amazon gift card courtesy of the author of the Annie Oakley Mysteries! (one winner) (ends Feb 11)

GIRL WITH A GUN (Annie Oakley Mystery) Audiobook Tour Giveaway

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Digging Up Love

by Chandra Blumberg

Release Date: January 1, 2022

Series: Taste of Love, Book 1

 

 

Synopsis

 

Alisha Blake works her magic in the kitchen, creating delectable desserts for her grandfather’s restaurant in rural Illinois. Though Alisha relishes the close relationship she has with her family, she can’t help but dream about opening a cookie shop in Chicago. She may be a small-town baker, but Alisha has big ambitions.

Then a dinosaur bone turns up in her grandparents’ backyard. When paleontologist Quentin Harris arrives to see the discovery for himself, he’s hoping that the fossil will distract him from a recent painful breakup. Instead, he finds Alisha—and sparks fly. The big-city academic and the hometown baker seem destined for a happily ever after.

But Alisha is scared to fall in love. And Quentin’s trying to make a name for himself in a competitive field, which gets even more complicated when the press shows up at the dig site. For love to prevail, the two may have to put old bones aside—and focus on the future.

 

 

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Read for free via Kindle Unlimited

 

Review

 

If you are into cookies and dinosaurs, then you need to read this book! You will find many delicious treats including a hunky paleontologist and a pumped-up baker within the pages.

Sometimes I never know what I’m going to find when I read a book and tend to go in blind without reading the description or reviews. What I found in this book was a delightful, funny, and courageous story of two people destined to find each other but have some bumps in the road to work through before they can be happy together. Of course, that is many romance books, there has to be some friction to keep us intrigued and wondering how they will navigate the sea of love.

I am in awe of Alisha. Not only is she a fantastic baker with a social media presence, but she is a powerlifter and not afraid to do what she loves. However, she is also dedicated to her family, especially her grandparents that raised her and her sister when their mother died and their father took off. But that dedication has her frozen in her own life and she is afraid to do what she really wants to do thinking that they need her around. Enter Quentin, a paleontologist from a university in Chicago that is there to help uncover some dinosaur bones that were discovered on the property. Sparks fly between these two whether they want to admit it or not, but it is not a smooth journey to be together. They each have hangups that they have to work through to realize what they truly want and need (besides each other!)

I loved all of the characters and I felt like I was there in Hawksburg watching the story unfold. Alisha geeks out on dinosaurs ever since she saw Jurassic Park as a child, so meeting Quentin is like a match made in heaven. They are both a bit awkward around each other but it helps bring in other characters to help bring these two to their senses. The ride is not always smooth for these two but thankfully, they have friends and family to help them through various issues.

There is also Alisha’s sister, Simone, that we don’t really get to know very well in this book and I wonder if she will be featured in a follow-up story.  I wasn’t sure if I liked Simone, she could be rather abrasive, but when we learn a bit more near the end of the book it explains a lot and I saw her in a whole new light.

This is a great debut book and I look forward to reading more from this author. We give it 4 paws up.

 

 

 

 

 

Author Interview: Chandra Blumberg

 

As a debut author, what are some things readers should know about you?

 

I was born in Michigan and moved to the Chicago area shortly after college. I’m the mom of four amazing children. I love to bake and I’m always on the lookout for new recipes to try, and though they often turn out less-than Pinterest-worthy, my baked goods almost always taste great.

Lifting weights is another one of my passions. I enjoy the physical challenge and the boost from achieving new goals. I also love to travel and explore, whether it be other countries or nearby towns. One of my greatest joys is finding new places to visit and experience for the first time.

And of course, I love to read! I devour books from a wide variety of genres, from science fiction to mystery, historical fiction to fantasy, but romance captured my heart and never let go.

 

Describe your novel Digging Up Love in just one sentence.

 

A commitment-phobic baker who plans to escape small-town life for Chicago hits a roadblock when an enormous dinosaur bone is unearthed in her backyard, and she falls hard for the paleontologist sent to excavate.

Including dinosaurs as a major part of the plot is unique in a romance novel. What inspired you to include dinosaurs (or at least their bones) in your story?

My kids love learning about dinosaurs, so between books, shows, movies, and time spent visiting museums to see fossils, dinosaurs have been a big part of my life for a while now, and that might be part of what sparked the idea. Plus, I’ve been a fan of Jurassic Park since I was a kid, and I thought it would be really fun to write a romance with a paleontologist love interest.

As I was drafting the novel, I remembered reading a news article about mammoth bones turning up on a farmer’s property in my home state of Michigan, and I thought: what if it had been a dinosaur bone? There haven’t been any dinosaur fossils discovered in most of the Midwest, so that offered a lot of possibilities to explore.

 

Was there a moment when Quentin and Alisha’s story really came to life for you?

 

I wrote a sketch of a scene where a woman was on a date with a paleontologist at the Field Museum in Chicago. He was super enthusiastic about showing her the fossils, and they had this flirty, fun dynamic with a lot of banter. There was immediate chemistry, and I wanted to dive deeper into their story. At one point in the scene, the woman tripped, and her response was, “Whoopsie-daisy.” So I had this young woman who was using this sort of old-school exclamation, and I thought, why would she say that? Well, maybe she was raised by her grandparents. And the story evolved from there.

 

Was there a time during the writing process that you were really surprised by the story or your characters?

 

I was sharing an early draft of the story with critique partners and one of them mentioned how Quentin was a paleontologist like Ross from Friends, and my reaction was total shock. I used to love watching Friends, but for some reason—maybe my age at the time I watched it—even though Ross was one of my favorite characters, I had no idea what he did for a living. I decided to include my reaction into the book, because how could I not? Ross is such an iconic character, and here I had totally blanked on another paleontologist in pop culture.

 

Digging Up Love is very much a small-town romance, but it also includes scenes in Chicago. What made you choose to include both settings in your novel?

 

I knew I wanted a city-meets-country love story because it offers so many interesting and fun dynamics. Since I grew up in a fairly rural community and participated in the county fair, 4-H, horseback riding, and so on, I had that experience to draw from. I also enjoy living in the Chicago area immensely and wanted to incorporate elements of the city as well.

 

What do you most want readers to take away from reading Digging Up Love?

 

First and foremost, a happily-ever-after. While this book delves into some deep issues, this is Alisha and Quentin’s love story, and I want to leave readers with all the swoony feels! I hope to tug on readers’ heartstrings and make them laugh in the next moment. I also wanted to depict a heroine who is unapologetically into lifting heavy weights, and to include body positivity in the narrative. I hope the sense of love, both romantic and in relationships with family and friends, comes through in this story. Ultimately, this is a book about finding joy and the person who makes you feel happy and fully loved.

 

 

Digging Up Love Excerpt

 

About forty yards behind the house, Mrs. S sat on her trusty motorized steed. Granny stood next to her, the top of her blonde bob a good foot shy of the reflective orange safety flag jutting up out of the back of the seat.

Opposite the women, a backhoe perched motionless on the edge of the crater like a mechanical gargoyle, motor silent. Granny was holding a whispered conference with Mrs. Snyder, doused in her trademark rose-scented perfume so strong it could penetrate a gas mask.

Alisha slinked up to the women like an uninvited guest at a funeral. She couldn’t help but address them in a hushed tone. “Hi, ladies.”

Mrs. Snyder let out an almighty yelp and revved her engine. The scooter lurched forward toward the edge of the hole. Alisha dove for the kill switch, and Granny wrapped both arms around her friend’s ample waist, the heels of her Wellington boots making furrows in the grass. The scooter skidded to a halt like a clown car dumping its occupants at center stage.

Alisha collapsed on her knees, panting. “So sorry, Mrs. S!”

“Janet.” Fanning her flushed face, she leveled a beady gaze at Alisha. “If I’ve told you once, I told you a thousand times. Call me Janet.” She adjusted one of her clip-on earrings, blue-veined hand trembling. “‘Mrs. S’ makes me feel about a thousand years old.”

Alisha nodded just to pacify her. The switch would be impossible. Mrs. Snyder was Hawksburg’s answer to Mr. Feeny: a seventh-grade math teacher, religious ed catechist, and after retirement, a high school substitute teacher. No sense in arguing, though.

She pushed off the freezing ground and turned to Granny. “What’s this I hear about a skeleton in our new swimming pool?”

Pulling the sides of her coat around herself, her grandma said, “I was gonna tell you when you got home, sweetie. But you never get much time to yourself. I didn’t want to interrupt your visit with Simone. And I doubt it’s anything. Janet just said we should be sure.”

Surprise, surprise. Mrs. Snyder had called in the professionals, not Granny.

“I’m sure we’ll have this whole thing resolved today.” Granny patted her arm in reassurance.

Alisha relaxed a bit at her grandma’s touch. The Blake women looked nothing alike. Her grandma was a fine-boned peroxide blonde and fair as winter moonlight. But temperament wise, they were a match. If Granny wasn’t fussed, everything would be fine. But still . . .

“So there is a bone?”

Granny nodded. “A big one. See for yourself.”

Obediently, Alisha took a step forward to peer down into the pit. The man—and it was a man, after all—crouched in the mud, squinting against a battered digital camera, wasn’t wearing the khaki uniform she’d expected.

Instead, a dark-gray zip-up hoodie showed the curve of strong biceps and wide shoulders. He sat on his haunches in worn-in jeans and brown work boots. A cobalt-blue beanie was pulled down over his ears, accentuating the line of a straight, clean-shaven jaw. Definitely not middle aged either.

This was fine. Totally fine. Well, he was fine, that much was certain.

Keep it together, Alisha.

No worries. She tugged at her cropped leather jacket. She was perfectly capable of sending a fit young scientist packing.

Just then, he rested the camera on his thigh and looked up at them through the snow, his gaze as dazzling as a burst of sunshine after a storm.

Alisha’s knees almost gave way. Up until this moment, she would’ve put weak knees right up there with Bigfoot in the realm of myth. But the man’s electric gray-green eyes short-circuited her nerve endings and left her legs wobbly as Bambi.

He pulled his full lips to the side, gaze unfocused, clearly deep in thought. Then he dropped those striking eyes to the ground and stood up, rubbing a hand absently along his chiseled jaw. Her stomach turned itself inside out. It wasn’t every day she encountered a man who looked like her fantasies incarnate. But the biting wind and snowflakes swirling through the air hit her like a bucket of ice water. Not a daydream, then. Which begged the question, What to do now?

The textbook definition of a sexy scientist stood a few feet away, smack-dab in the middle of her grandparents’ future swimming pool. Chills that had nothing to do with the freezing temps collided with the heated flush of a heart gone into hyperdrive. A magnetic tug drew her a step closer, vying with a hysterical urge to turn tail and run.

Heavens to Betsy, cool it, Blake.

Without another thought, Alisha took a breath and jumped into the deep end.

 

About the Author

 

Chandra Blumberg is a Michigan native who loves writing funny, heartwarming love stories about characters that feel real and relatable. When it comes to her writing process, getting to that happily ever after is half the fun.

After majoring in English at Michigan State University, Blumberg moved to the Chicago area, where she enjoys exploring museums and the beauty of Lake Michigan in all seasons. When she’s not writing, she’s usually making a mess in the kitchen with her kids, lifting heavy barbells at the gym, or traveling with her family. Digging Up Love is her first novel.

 

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Giveaway

 

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Enter a Wizard, Stage Left (A Zodiac Mystery)
Traditional Mystery
Prequel Novella
Suspense Publishing (October 26, 2021)
Print length ‏ : ‎ 111 pages

 

Synopsis

 

Julia Bonatti wasn’t always a crime-solving San Francisco astrologer. She was a young woman, engaged to the love of her life, preparing for a teaching career when tragedy struck. Her fiancé was killed in a hit and run accident. As Julia struggles with her loss and attempts to find meaning in her life again, she takes refuge with her grandmother Gloria. But there’s little time for grief or rest because Gloria, a retired seamstress, needs Julia’s help. Gloria’s been hired to create costumes for a production of Agatha Christie’s Appointment with Death at the newly opened Theatre Mars in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood.

Theatre Mars is a stunning jewel, the cast is supremely talented and the script is brilliant. What could go wrong? Julia gets the first hint of trouble when her new friend, the owner of The Mystic Eye bookshop, warns that all might not go well. Opening night will take place during the dark of the moon, the last three days before the new moon, a time that bodes disaster for any new project. The dire prediction comes true when the lead actress is murdered before the final curtain, echoing the play itself. Julia discovers a vital clue to the murder, but a clue that puts Gloria’s life in grave danger. Can Julia rescue her grandmother before it’s too late? And will a black cat play a leading role?

 

 

Amazon

 

Read for free via Kindle Unlimited

 

 

Review

 

I have read a few books in this series and love the mystical aspect of the stories. The zodiac intrigues me and someday I might want to learn more about it myself.

I really enjoyed getting to know Julie and how she fell into astrology and this prequel definitely answers all of those questions. Plus there is a murder to solve along the way.

The premise of the book is a play being put on by a local theater featuring an Agatha Christie story. I don’t think I had heard of this one, so I loved reading along and learning more about one of her infamous characters, Hercules Poirot.  Julie ends up at the theater with her grandmother helping with costumes and that is the perfect place to be to discover the clues and uncover the killer. I don’t think she expected to do that and I felt like I was right there with her figuring it all out. I’m not sure I suspected the killer but it made sense once all of the clues were revealed.

I enjoyed meeting Gale and discovering how she decided to set up a mystic shop. I find that whole world very fascinating.

If you haven’t read any of this series, or even if you have, definitely check out this prequel to learn a bit more about Julie; Gale; Julie’s grandmother, Gloria; and Kuan, her grandmother’s tenant.

We give this 5 paws up.

 

 

 

 

 

Guest Post

 

Today we have a few words from the character, Gale Hymson. She is quite an intriguing character and I love her shop!

 

Gale Hymson

 

What an exciting evening I had last night!

It all started when I met a very interesting woman two days ago.  I was in the back parking lot of my shop breaking down boxes for the recycle bin.  You see, I’m Gale Hymson and I’m the owner of the newly-opened Mystic Eye, an occult bookshop in San Francisco.  That’s when I spotted a woman in the next-door parking lot of another building.

Her name is Julia Bonatti.  We said hello and Julia told me she was helping her grandmother with costumes for a production of Agatha Christie’s Appointment with Death.  I was intrigued because I’d seen workmen coming and going and I was really happy we’d have a small theater in our neighborhood.  I invited her over to visit my shop.  I told her my shop is well-stocked with books, jewelry, Tarot decks and lots of other interesting things a customer might not find anywhere else.

Long story short, Julia invited me to the opening night of Appointment with Death.  I thought it would be a quiet, enjoyable evening.  No such luck.  I couldn’t leave until the police had interviewed each and every one of us.  Why you ask?  Well, because of the murder!  The lead actress was murdered on stage in front of a live audience!  Talk about a riveting evening!

I do hope it’s not the last time I see Julia.  I think she’d be very interested in my shop and some of the astrology books we carry.  I’d love it if she became a regular customer!

 

 

About the Author

 

With the Zodiac Mysteries, featuring Julia Bonatti, a crime-solving San Francisco astrologer, Connie di Marco has combined her fascination with astrology and her love of writing mysteries.  Writing as Connie Archer, she’s the national bestselling author of the Soup Lover’s Mysteries from Berkley Prime Crime.  You can find her excerpts and recipes in The Cozy Cookbook and The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook.  She is a member of International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime.  She lives in Los Angeles but dreams constantly of the San Francisco fog.

 

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Goodreads * Amazon

 

 

 

 

Giveaway

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

 

Synopsis

 

The genie is out of the bottle. After decades of secrecy, Stella has finally made her resort’s natural hot springs available to guests. Little does she know, the waters have magical healing powers. Not only do the springs cure physical ailments, but matters of the heart as well. When word gets out, she has a riot of opportunity seekers on her hands.

Presley could use a bit of that healing magic. She returns to the inn for an unexpected visit, pregnant, planning to stay for the summer, and refusing to talk about her new husband. Did she leave Everett’s concert tour because of the pregnancy? Or is there trouble in paradise already?

Also on a collision course are Cecily and Lyle who’ve been living together for six months. Things aren’t working out as they’d hoped. Their separate roads in life rarely cross. Cecily knows she may have to yield if their paths are to merge. But at what cost? Is she willing to give up the career she’s worked so hard for?

Ollie is new on staff, hired by Stella to manage the Wellness Center. After a messy divorce and losing her family’s vineyard in a fire, she’s moved from California to Hope Springs in search of a fresh start. Most newcomers to Hope Springs are running, hiding, or searching. In Ollie’s case, it’s all three.

The magical healing waters of Hope Springs are powerful. But are they enough to set this group of sojourners on the paths that will lead to their ultimate happiness?

 

 

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Review

 

It is time to journey back to Hope Springs Farm and discover what the ladies are up to at the resort.

This series has all the feels and deals with many life-altering issues and how some might handle the various situations. The book is told from multiple points of view and we get a look into what each woman is dealing with outside of her job at Hope Springs Farm.

Ollie is running from a tragic accident that happened at the family home in California and it is causing her massive anxiety. I like that Ollie tries to find other ways to handle the anxiety outside of prescriptions. She is put in a situation near the end that reveals a lot about what happened previously that is causing all of this anxiety. I wasn’t too surprised at how one part of her story turned out because I suspected something wasn’t quite right with what happened in California and there was more to the story than we knew.

Presley has returned to be around friends and family while her husband is on the road performing. Since she is pregnant, I totally understand how traveling with a musician could be hard on her and not the best way to go through a pregnancy. Both Presley and Everett need to learn to compromise and figure out the best way to be married, have a child, and not let life rip them apart. I think there is more to come in their story because it is not resolved in this book. She is also trying to reconnect with her birth mother but that is not going well for the most part.

Cecily is passionate about her career as a chef, but I don’t think her fiance Lyle understands. We learn more about their relationship and why it isn’t working. You have to be on the same page in all areas of life to really have a successful relationship. I won’t spoil what happens but it is a good thing!

Stella has worked hard to bring this resort back to life and she is nearing the end of the renovations and this has her a little stir crazy. Plus, she is discovering information about the mineral baths that she didn’t know and it is causing a frenzy that is about to drive everyone crazy. I love how we get a peek at some journals from the past that gives us more details about the resort.

This book felt a little heavier than the others because all of these women are dealing with issues that are weighing them down. Some are resolved in this book and I imagine the rest will be resolved in the final book due out a little later this year. Despite the seriousness of some of the issues, I still found myself engrossed in the story and I felt like I was right there at the resort with these ladies. There are some funny moments with a bridezilla, but heartwarming as well when this bride realizes that life is about to change and she needs to go with the flow.

I always love the wisdom that comes from Opal and Jack, they are such wise souls and help ground these women when they need it.

I love this series and do recommend reading it in order to follow the paths of these women. I can’t wait for the final book in this series, but I will also be a little sad because it means no more looks into the going on’s at Hope Springs Farm.

We give this book 5 paws up.

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Ashley Farley writes books about women for women. Her characters are mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives facing real-life issues. Her bestselling Sweeney Sisters series has touched the lives of many.

Ashley is a wife and mother of two young adult children. While she’s lived in Richmond, Virginia for the past 21 years, a piece of her heart remains in the salty marshes of the South Carolina Lowcountry, where she still calls home. Through the eyes of her characters, she captures the moss-draped trees, delectable cuisine, and kindhearted folk with lazy drawls that make the area so unique.

 

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Synopsis

 

Why did Poppy agree to mourner manage Dalia’s burial site? Dead Dalia’s fan club overwhelms Poppy as do the signs of Dalia’s former life as healer and thief. Yet, Dalia’s clothes bring Poppy good luck and Dalia’s luscious, Latin lovers are irresistible. Dalia’s life in the witness protection program is both dangerous and intriguing. Once Poppy is accused of complicity, she wants everything Dalia out of her life.

 

 

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Excerpt

 

POPPY 1.0

 

Just after I moved into the guesthouse, they buried a dead girl in my yard. That’s when my life turned upside down and inside out for the second time. The first time was when the doctors rearranged my colon.

I was thrilled to move into the Topanga Canyon guesthouse, a boho-chic area north of Los Angeles. I knew about Topanga from growing up in the nearby San Fernando Valley. Now, as a struggling, mostly unemployed actress, I was living in a shitty, Hollywood neighborhood. Although it was a cute little bungalow, the environment was killing me—dirty, filthy, hot, too much traffic, zero fresh air, noise, and people living on the edge. Hollywood was no longer glamorous. And parking was a son of a bitch. Also, at age forty-six, I was done stepping over homeless people. Sorry-not-sorry and I deserved different and better. Even though many times, I had been close to homeless myself.

The universe spoke when I met Lily Jin at a Hollywood acting workshop. She was an exotic-looking and a mixed something. A twenty-two-year-old gal, and a lite-Buddhist, like me. I usually do just enough chanting to keep the demons and gremlins away for the day.

Lily was wearing torn jeans over her long, model-like legs and a midriff exposing a flat, firm tummy. There was not an ounce of fat anywhere.

Oh, to be twenty again and be able to eat, drink, smoke, and snort anything. That was several decades behind me. My five-six, lanky frame was getting flabby. Yes, even skinny people can get flabby. I was now in yucky perimenopause, with the last of my overcooked eggs dropping into withering fallopian tubes and heading down through my dried-up hoo-ha. Luckily, at first glance, you can’t tell this is happening unless you’re airport security staff.

My light brown shoulder-length hair only needed a bit of henna to hide the grey and my brown eyes were still bright and youthful. This helped my agent place me in the thirty-five-to-forty-five roles, despite being in my mid-forties. To date, no surgery, minimal fillers, and injectables. However, as I headed towards the half-century mark, I would revisit. In the meantime, I strove to sharpen my acting skills, and let gravity have its way with me.

While in the workshop, Lily and I tried following the acting exercise. As we were pretending to be wounded sheep during an alien invasion, Lily whispered to me, asking if I knew of anyone who wanted to rent her guesthouse. After the workshop, we went to

the El Compadre on Sunset to discuss the details. We were served frozen skinny margs, then toasted each other and became besties in an instant. When Lily told me that the guesthouse was in Topanga Canyon, I shouted over the mariachi band, “I’ll take it, I’ll take it, I’ll take it!” Even sight unseen and not knowing the price, she had me at “Topanga Canyon.” I had heard about Topanga. It was crawling with the famous and the has-beens who never were. The town was known for its eclectic artists and colorful history, including one of the Manson family murders. During the Hollywood golden age, it was the weekend getaway hotspot for the now-dead stars you can see on the Turner Classic Movie channel. It had changed, but still had some leftover glamour and pricey homes. I was already fantasizing about living among the stars, wearing designer sunglasses, and sipping champagne.

 

 

About the Authors

 

Angela Page is a writer, producer, and author of Matched in Heaven and Suddenly Single Sylvia. She is based in South Florida and Los Angeles.

Mia Altieri is a Los Angeles based actress, author, and voice-over artist. She lived in a Topanga Canyon guesthouse where she witnessed an urn buried in the yard and agreed to manage the mourners.

 

Website

 

 

 

 

 

 

Synopsis

 

She has zero interest in a happily ever after. He won’t let another woman down. Too bad they can’t keep their hands off each other.

Barney is the very definition of hot and cold. One minute he’s kissing the daylights out of me. But the next moment he can’t run away fast enough. It’s enough to give a girl a complex.

Then my apartment is trashed and he says he’s done farting around. He’s going to protect me and we’re going to work on our relationship.

Um, excuse me? What relationship? I’m not looking for ‘the one’. Except when Barney touches me, I forget all about my past and why I’m not in the market for a happily ever after.

But maybe Barney can be the one to prove to me Love will OUT. Assuming the person who’s stalking me doesn’t catch me first that is.

 

This later in life romantic comedy features a woman who thinks relationships are for other people, a silver fox who can’t make up his dang mind about whether he wants to try for another relationship, a group of friends who think taking bets on when the two will get together will surely lead to wedding bells and a makeshift family of former Army buddies who can not only tell dirty jokes but still have skills.

 

A Valentine for Valerie is a standalone book in the Love will OUT romantic comedy series.

 

A Hero for Hailey – Hailey and Aiden’s story

A Protector for Phoebe – Phoebe and Ryker’s story

A Soldier for Suzie – Suzie and Grayson’s story

A Fox for Faith – Faith and Max’s story

A Christmas for Chrissie – Chrissie and Wally’s story

A Valentine for Valerie – Valerie and Barney’s story

A Love for Lexi – Lexi and Lenny’s story

 

 

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Review

 

I love this series and the humor sprinkled throughout from the situations and characters. I always get a good chuckle from this author.

This book focuses on Barney and Val. Barney is older (mid to late 50’s) and Val is 45. I appreciate seeing older characters find love because it does happen, it isn’t always the younger ones! They met at Thanksgiving and sparks flew but Val has issues from her past that affect how she sees Barney and relationships. Barney just wants to protect her, partially due to his past and his military training.

Val does find herself in a little bit of trouble (in fact that is Barney’s nickname for her, Trouble) and it is Barney and the brothers to the rescue. This is a band of men you would want on your side if you found yourself in precarious situations, no matter how independent you are in this world.

While you can read this book as a standalone, I highly recommend reading the other books first because you will understand the dynamics of the characters and why they might say and do certain things.

I can’t wait for the last book about the last “brother” to fall in love.

We give this book 5 paws up.

 

 

 

 

 

Excerpt

 

“We need to talk, Valerie.” I scowl at Barney’s declaration. I have spent my entire life avoiding having the ‘talk’ with a man. Barney Lewis is not going to ruin my streak.

He may be one sexy middle-aged man – my hands itch to run through the soft texture of his black hair once again and his ever present five o’clock shadow gives my body all kinds of ideas of how his stubble will feel scratching certain areas of my delicate skin – but his handsome appearance doesn’t give him the right to boss me around.

Especially not when we’re at a wedding. A surprise wedding on Christmas day no less. Barney’s friend, Wally, proposed to his girlfriend, Chrissie, this morning, and then when they arrived at McGraw’s Pub to celebrate Christmas with everyone, he surprised her with a wedding. Naturally, Chrissie freaked out, but we got her down the aisle eventually.

Welp. Best get this stupid ‘talk’ over with, so I can get back to enjoying the party. I indicate the hallway leading to the restrooms. When he lifts his chin in agreement, I square my shoulders and march to the hallway as if I’m not dreading this stupid conversation.

Barney doesn’t immediately follow me. Of course not. He doesn’t want anyone to know what we’ve been up to after all. He made those thoughts perfectly clear when he ran away from me on Saturday evening after kissing the daylights out of me.

 

 

About the Author

 

I grew up reading everything I could get my grubby hands on, from my mom’s Harlequin romances to Nancy Drew, to Little Women. When I wasn’t flipping pages in a library book, I was penning horrendous poems, writing songs no one should ever sing, or drafting stories which have thankfully been destroyed. College and a stint in the U.S. Army came along, robbing me of free time to write and read, although on the odd occasion I did manage to sneak a book into my rucksack between rolled up socks, MRIs, t-shirts, and cold weather gear. After surviving the army experience, I went back to school and got my law degree. I jumped ship and joined the hubby in the Netherlands before the graduation ceremony could even begin. A few years into my legal career, I was exhausted, fed up, and just plain done. I quit my job and sat down to write a manuscript, which I promptly hid in the attic before returning to the law. But practicing law really wasn’t my thing, so I quit (again!) and went off to Germany to start a B&B. Turns out running a B&B wasn’t my thing either. I polished off that manuscript languishing in the attic before following the husband to Istanbul where I decided to give the whole writer-thing a go. But ten years was too many to stay away from my adopted home. I packed up again and moved to The Hague where, in between tennis matches and failing to save the world, I’m currently working on my next book. I hope I’ll always be working on my next book.

 

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Cold Brew Corpse: A Coffee Lover’s Mystery
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting – Florida
Crooked Lane Books (December 7, 2021)
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages

 

Synopsis

 

Espresso bar owner Lana Lewis returns in Tara Lush’s second Coffee Lover’s mystery, a stimulating read that fans of Cleo Coyle and Laura Childs will savor to the last drop.

 

It’s a steamy September, and business is brisk at Perkatory, the hottest coffee shop in Devil’s Beach, FL. Much of the clientele pours in from Dante’s Inferno, the hot yoga studio next door. But the bright, sunny Gulf Coast days turn decidedly dark-roast when the body of the studio’s owner turns up in a nearby swamp.

Between running Perkatory and training Stanley, her golden Shih Tzu puppy, reporter-turned-barista Lana Lewis is too busy to go sleuthing. But when the editor of the local paper asks her to write about the murder, Lana’s dreams of getting back into journalism start to percolate.

Lana discovers that the yogi has a nefarious past and her share of mug shots, so grinding her way through the suspect list is a large task. She learns that the victim was fatally beaned by an SUV before she was dumped in the swamp. But was the killer one of her students? An envious yoga teacher? Or a local photographer who seems to know too much?

But no one tells Lana Lewis what to do. Hunting the caf-fiend who killed the yogi puts Lana and Chief Noah’s relationship–and Lana’s life–in very hot coffee.

 

 

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Guest Post

 

Today we welcome Tara to StoreyBook Reviews and her insights into writing her dad into her book. I love her outlook on why she included a father figure versus a mother figure.

 

 

Writing My Dad into A Book

 

By Tara Lush

 

In reading the reviews of my debut cozy mystery Grounds for Murder, one character stands out as most readers’ favorite: Peter Lewis, the father of Lana Lewis, the book’s heroine-sleuth. Peter is in his late sixties, a widower, and the biggest gossip on Devil’s Beach, the fictional Florida island where my series is located.

Perhaps it’s his enthusiasm for life, or maybe it’s his love for his daughter—readers seem to adore him. Some have written me and asked for a book focused on him, while others want him to team up with his daughter to solve more murders in upcoming installments of the Coffee Lover’s Mystery series.

Some comments on Goodreads:

“I love her dad – he has a nice hippie vibe.”

“Lana’s dad is a laid back hippie kind of dude that does seem fazed my much but supports his daughter 100%.”

“A sweet and funny man, a hippie that loves his daughter immensely and always tries to make the best of a bad situation.⁠”

 

Here’s a secret: that character was based on my own father! My dad is from California, and quite quirky in a very 1960s-counterculture kind of way.

I didn’t set out to write him into a book. In 2019, when I started plotting the first in the Coffee Lover’s Mystery Series, I initially wrote the character as Lana’s mother. Of the cozies I’d read with a parent sidekick, most involved moms.

Then something awful happened while I was working on the first few chapters of the book: doctors found something suspicious on one of my dad’s medical tests.

Suddenly everything seemed to come into sharp focus. One doctor said it was likely my father had cancer.  He was scheduled for tests, and the results seemed to take forever.

Meanwhile, I was thousands of miles away in Florida. I kept on writing and decided to make a casting change in my sidekick character. I named the parent character after my dad and drew from some of my father’s quirkiest traits while writing.

It brought me so much joy and laughter as I wrote, thinking about my dad and trying to capture him on the page.

Happily, he didn’t have cancer. He was given the all-clear at the end of 2019, and he’s doing incredibly well.

I recently went to visit for his 75^th birthday, and for a solid week, we laughed, took walks, and chatted about random things. Like space (he reads a lot about other planets and aliens). Or terrible reality TV (he’s an avid 90 Day Fiance viewer). Or cat food (he loves his two cats and has become something of an expert on feline food).

He’s considered moving to be close to me in Florida, and my favorite quote of his came when we were discussing such a move.

“If I lived in Florida, I’d never have to wear pants again!”

Now, I’ll definitely be using that quote in my next mystery.

 

Here’s a short excerpt of Peter Lewis in COLD BREW CORPSE:

 

The door to the café opened and in walked Dad.

“Munchkin!” He strode toward me.

I could tell by the gleam in his eye he was harboring a juicy piece of gossip. I moved around the counter to greet him, and he gave me a half hug. Dad was tall, at least a foot taller than me, and his limbs were long and athletic, even for his age.

“What’s new?”

“Over there.” He motioned with his head to an empty table near the window. He had a serious look on his face, as if he were about to reveal a dark, explosive secret that would take down a global leader. We sat facing each other.

“Why the secrecy?” I folded my hands in front of me, trying not to laugh.

“I went to yoga this morning at The Wolfman’s.” His tone was pure drama.

“Oh yeah?”

“We shared a kombucha afterward and got to talking.”

My nose scrunched involuntarily. Dad loved that fermented tea, but I thought it tasted like feet dipped in vinegar. “And?”

He leaned in and lowered his voice so much that I couldn’t hear him at first.

“Dad, you can speak up. There are only three tables in here, and they’re at least fifteen feet away. I think your state secret’s safe if you talk in a normal tone.”

“Okay, listen. Raina’s had a stalker for some time now. Well, people described him as a stalker. He was a student. Followed Raina around like a puppy. Word on the street is the guy was a real creeper while they were all on the retreat in Costa Rica.”

“How does The Wolfman know this?” I narrowed my eyes. Maybe Dad’s gossip connections weren’t all that great. After all, we were talking about a sixty-five-year-old man who looked like a skinny Jerry Garcia and wore rainbow sweatbands.

“Wolfie knows everyone in the yoga community here on the beach.” Dad sniffed.

 

 

About the Author

 

Tara Lush is a Florida-based author and journalist. She’s an RWA Rita finalist, an Amtrak writing fellow, and the winner of the George C. Polk award for environmental journalism.

She was a reporter with The Associated Press in Florida, covering crime, alligators, natural disasters, and politics. She also writes contemporary romance set in tropical locations under the name Tamara Lush.

Tara is a fan of vintage pulp fiction book covers, Sinatra-era jazz, 1980s fashion, tropical chill, kombucha, gin, tonic, seashells, iPhones, Art Deco, telenovelas, street art, coconut anything, strong coffee, and newspapers. She lives on the Gulf Coast with her husband and two dogs.

 

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Giveaway

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

Synopsis

 

On Hawaii Island, a volcanic earthquake disrupts an abandoned cemetery—unearthing the body of a woman mutilated by her killer to conceal her identity. The search for her identity leads Hilo, Hawaii’s Chief Detective Koa Kane to a mysterious defense contractor with a politically connected board of directors. Defying his chief of police, Koa pursues the killer, only to become entangled in an FBI espionage investigation of Deimos, a powerful secret military weapon. Is the FBI telling all it knows—or does it, too, have a duplicitous agenda?

At the same time, Koa—a copy who thirty years earlier killed his father’s nemesis and covered up the murder—faces exposure by the dead man’s grandson. Koa is forced to investigate his own homicide, and step by step, his cover-up unravels until another man is falsely accused. Can Koa stand by and let an innocent man pay for his crime?

As the plots twist and turn and Koa juggles the past, present, and future, McCaw expertly illustrates the tenacity of the human spirit.

 

 

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Excerpt

 

CHAPTER ONE

 

Pele, masquerading as a glassy-haired old woman, wandered the lava trails around the massive smoking volcanic caldera called Kīlauea. Over millennia, her temper tantrums had created the Hawaiian Islands, including Kīlauea and the four other volcanoes that make up the Big Island of Hawai‘i. Fiercely jealous of Poli‘ahu, her sister deity, the snow goddess of Mauna Kea, and locked in eternal combat with Kamapua‘a, the demigod of rain, Pele’s exploits fueled the oral history of the islands.

Often called the stone eating woman, she’d resided inside Halema‘uma‘u, the pit crater within Kīlauea’s caldera on the Big Island’s southeastern edge. Inside Halema‘uma‘u, Pele’s red-hot lava often bubbled and smoked. Ancient Hawaiians left flowered leis and other tributes to the fiery goddess while Western haoles gifted bottles of gin. She’d quaked and rumbled over the past millennia, but, whether driven by climate change or sheer perversity, Pele’s sizzling rage had recently spiked to a 200-year high. In ancient times, she’d smothered an army of Hawaiian warriors, changing the course of Hawaiian history, and now she sought to teach present-day mortals renewed respect for her awesome powers.

Over the past month, thousands of earthquakes had rattled Hawai‘i’s Kīlauea caldera and the adjacent tiny village of Volcano, shattering windows, cracking foundations, disrupting utility connections, and spreading concern among its residents. Some with other places to go, had left, but most had lived for years with Kīlauea’s dangers and become inured to Pele’s antics.

The shaking opened fissures in the nearby Hawai‘i Belt Road, forcing motorists to slow to a crawl and, at times, closing the artery altogether. Massive cracks surrounding Halema‘uma‘u and stretching across the remaining caldera floor warned of Pele’s continuing anger and foretold calamities to come both near and far.

At the Jagger Volcano Observatory on the edge of the caldera, its number two volcanologist, stood looking out at the caldera. She was observing the primordial landscape when a monster earthquake rocked the building making it vibrate beneath her feet. Glass shattered. Cracks darted across the concrete floor. Thunderous sounds blasted her ears. She grabbed the edge of a massive worktable for support. The seismometer on her computer screen began bouncing off the chart before her computer suddenly stopped dead. She scanned the scene through the windows, now empty holes devoid of glass, overlooking the caldera and gasped.

Whole sections of the caldera floor had collapsed, plunging into the abyss created by the withdrawal of magma from the chamber beneath the volcano. Clouds of debris rose like thunderheads. In an instant, the Halema‘uma‘u crater doubled in size and depth. The pit that had been a small part of Kīlauea’s five-square mile caldera now threatened to swallow it whole. Before the violent shaking could tear the building apart around her, she ran for her life.

Unbeknownst to anyone near Kīlauea, Pele’s tentacles snaked out from the crater into a small neglected cemetery less than a half-mile away on the outskirts of Volcano village. The ground rolled and heaved, ancient rock walls crumbled, a giant tree crashed to the ground, and headstones toppled. Cracks appeared across the graveyard and expanded first by the foot and then by the yard. Subterranean forces propelled caskets upward. Boards splintered, and caskets broke open. Cadavers lay exposed. In destroying this sacred ground, Pele unearthed a man-made mystery.

***

On the other side of the Big Island, Hilo Chief Detective Koa Kāne stood in a different cemetery, the one behind the old white clapboard church on the edge of Kapa‘a. He didn’t have to hunt for the gravestone he sought. He’d come often over the years and could have found his way blindfolded. After resolving each murder investigation, he always returned to Anthony Hazzard’s tombstone. Penance for the man he’d killed thirty years earlier and solace for the guilt he’d suffered in the intervening years required it.

Hazzard’s death had been on his mind of late, haunting his nightmares. It was like that for him when an investigation ended. Time buried many mistakes and healed many wounds, but not murder. It was a stain on his soul, one he’d carry to his deathbed.

Putting his hand on Hazzard’s gravestone, Koa bowed his head and thought of the investigation just ended. He’d found justice for fourteen murdered school children and four of their teachers, just as he’d earlier solved the murders of an astronomer and a pair of loners living off the grid. Inadequate recompense for killing Hazzard, those successes did nothing to assuage his guilt. But they still empowered his empathy for murder victims and motivated him to pursue the most challenging cases. He stood for a long moment contemplating his life.

Turning away from the graveyard, the killer turned cop wondered what new crime would next command his attention and define his quest for atonement.

 

 

Reprinted from Treachery Times Two with the permission of Oceanview Publishing. Copyright © 2022 by Robert McCaw.

 

 

About the Author

 

Robert McCaw is the author of Fire and Vengeance, Off the Grid, and Death of a Messenger. McCaw grew up in a military family, traveling the world. He is a graduate of Georgetown University, served as a U.S. Army lieutenant, and earned a law degree from the University of Virginia. He was a partner in a major international law firm in Washington, D.C., and New York City, representing major Wall Street clients in complex civil and criminal cases. Having lived on the Big Island of Hawaii, McCaw imbues his writing of the Islands with his more than a 20-year love affair with this Pacific paradise. He now lives in New York City with his wife, Calli.

 

 

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