Blog Archives
Graves Island
Marci Lin Melvin’s Graves Island is a chilling historical mystery thriller that begins with a discovery no one in the quiet coastal community of Chester, Nova Scotia, could have anticipated. After a fierce winter storm batters the shoreline, forensic anthropologist Marigold Merry takes her usual morning walk on Graves Island and stumbles upon human remains beneath an old pier. What she finds suggests something far more disturbing than an ordinary cold case. When an unexpected act of violence threatens Marigold and RCMP Sergeant Jett O’Donnell, it becomes clear that someone has a powerful interest in keeping the island’s secrets buried. Melvin builds her story around this unsettling discovery, drawing readers into a complicated investigation involving wartime atrocities, hidden loyalties, and decades of carefully guarded information. The island itself is wonderfully atmospheric, with its frozen beaches, weathered structures, and isolated beauty creating an eerie setting for a mystery rooted in the past.
Each character brings a different perspective to the unfolding investigation. Marigold is particularly interesting because her professional confidence exists alongside deeply personal anxiety. She’s intelligent, outspoken, and occasionally difficult, which makes her interactions with others feel refreshingly human. International human rights investigator Pádraig Cassidy brings experience, determination, and a wonderfully dry sense of humor to the proceedings. Jasmine Merry, Marigold’s adoptive mother, adds another compelling dimension through her memories and complicated relationship with the island. I especially enjoyed how Melvin gives the older characters substantial roles, allowing their experiences, regrets, and relationships to shape the story. The shifting viewpoints create a sense that nearly everyone knows something important, even when they don’t fully understand how their knowledge connects to the larger mystery.
What gives this historical conspiracy thriller its emotional weight is the connection Melvin draws between personal suffering and institutional wrongdoing. The novel explores white supremacy, the legacy of Nazi medical experimentation, and the treatment of Indigenous communities in Canada. These are difficult subjects, and Melvin approaches them with an unmistakable concern for victims whose stories have been ignored or suppressed. The fictional conspiracy intertwines with recognizable historical injustices, giving the investigation consequences that extend well beyond identifying those responsible for a crime. I found the conversations about accountability, complicity, and the burden of secrecy especially thought-provoking. Melvin also has a distinctive storytelling style, combining grim discoveries and moments of genuine tenderness with sharp dialogue and flashes of humor. Some passages spend considerable time explaining historical and legal details, and the large cast occasionally demands extra attention to keep track of everyone. Still, those details contribute to the novel’s ambitious scope and its interest in how justice is pursued.
Graves Island is a suspenseful and emotionally intense historical thriller that offers readers plenty to think about alongside its twists and investigative intrigue. As a sequel to Wednesday Night Whites, it continues Melvin’s exploration of extremism and the people determined to confront it, while establishing a mystery with its own compelling stakes. What stayed with me most was the way the story examines the lasting influence of choices made decades earlier, especially when fear, shame, or loyalty has kept people silent. The relationships between family members, friends, and investigators provide moments of warmth amid some genuinely disturbing material. Readers who enjoy crime fiction, historical mysteries, and conspiracy thrillers with a strong social conscience will find much to appreciate here. Melvin has created a story in which uncovering the truth is as much an emotional undertaking as an investigative one, and that combination gives Graves Island its distinctive character.
Pages: 428 | ASIN: 0995012563
The Place Was A Little Spooky
The Rightful Future follows a retired librarian who investigates a brutal murder and uncovers a century-old secret that threatens her family and an entire town. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
Three things inspired me to write this story. The first is that I was a career records and information manager who managed the records of a large corporation. The paper records were stored in a building on the campus that had originally been built to test jet engines during WWII. We stored the records in the old test cells and observation platforms, which had been modified to accommodate our needs.
The place was a little spooky, especially if you happened to be there alone, which I frequently was after my staff left for the day. The strange creaks, whooshes, clangs, and occasional bats could set me on edge. Even security officers were reluctant to do their walk-throughs at night. I would regularly joke that one day I was going to write a murder mystery set inside that very building. While Marian discovers the body in the library in The Rightful Future, the seed had already been planted long ago.
My second inspiration came by way of the state of New York. I was born there and lived my first fifty years there before moving South. I’ve always been fascinated by the rich history and multiculturalism and diversity of the state. I learned of the influence of Iroquois culture, specifically Onondaga language and culture, when I lived in Syracuse for thirty-five years. The whole state was originally inhabited by the Six Nations of the Iroquois: Onondaga, Seneca, Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga, and Tuscarora. Colonialism displaced the tribes and took land, some of it sacred land, to use as they wanted and without regard to the people it originally belonged to.
The forefathers of this country based their governance model on the governance principles of the Onondaga. New York was also an epicenter of abolitionism, suffragism, and the Underground Railroad. Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, John Brown, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady-Stanton lived in New York state.
My third inspiration is my fifty-year interracial relationship with the love of my life, Ronald. I’d already written two memoirs about our experiences, but fiction seemed like a perfect place to explore some of the larger issues of race in America, and a mystery series was an excellent vehicle to unveil the history and show its connection to the present.
How do Marian and Lester’s different backgrounds and perspectives influence their understanding of the events unfolding in Cadence?
Marian and Lester have been together for so long, they share a similar perspective born of shared experiences. However, they are both strong-willed individuals, who approach crises from different angles: Marian’s understanding is driven by curiosity, while Lester’s understanding is driven by caution and protection. Uncovering secrets in Cadence tests them both—forcing Marian to confront uncomfortable historical truths while Lester seeks to shield the family from looming danger.
What inspired you to explore racial violence, white supremacy, and Indigenous history within the framework of a historical murder mystery?
It truly comes down to that collision of history and lived experience. By choosing to place Cadence inside the borders of the complex legacy of New York and then creating a framework of mystery and secrecy in which to tell the story, I am able to directly explore the realities of racism and systemic bias that I have witnessed firsthand on a deeply personal level for decades. Mystery (and horror) fiction allows me to expose these hard truths in a slow-burn dissection, showing how tightly the past is connected to our present.
Is this the first book in the series? If so, when is the next book coming out and what can your fans expect in the next story?
The Rightful Future is the first book of A Cadence Mystery, a multi-award-winning series. I’m happy to report that six more books have been published since this came out in 2021. They are, in order: The Eagle Speaks; Stony Place; Stone Coat Man; Improbable Future; Fallen Deer; and Creature of Secret Sorrows.
Children of Broken Promises, book 8, is expected to be released in late Spring 2027, and I’ve already begun book 9. As the series progresses, the mysteries grow more complex and the past becomes a character of its own, choosing to be represented in the Indigenous folklore found not only in New York, but across the world, that comes calling with demands to be heard. In this upcoming installment, readers can expect Marian, Lester, Enoch, and others you will meet in the later books to confront the lingering broken promises of the past.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website
Rise of the Redeemers
Holly Sue Ruddock’s Rise of the Redeemers is a powerful, emotionally charged Christian novel that brings the realities of human trafficking, childhood trauma, and spiritual warfare into a story about faith, family, and the extraordinary difference one person can make. At its heart is a simple but compelling idea: God can bring purpose, healing, and restoration into lives that have experienced unimaginable suffering. The story begins with Lois, a compassionate woman whose own painful childhood has given her a fierce determination to protect vulnerable children. When she encounters Amber, a teenage girl surviving on the streets of Portland, their connection sets a much larger story in motion. What begins as one woman’s willingness to answer God’s call grows into a sweeping narrative about generations of people whose lives become connected through love, sacrifice, and a shared calling to defend those who can’t defend themselves.
I liked how Ruddock brings the spiritual world into everyday human experiences. Angels and demons are active characters, and readers get a front-row seat to the unseen battles unfolding around ordinary people. These supernatural encounters give the story an intriguing dimension, particularly as heavenly warriors contend with forces determined to exploit humanity’s most vulnerable. Ruddock gives her angels distinct personalities, blending courage, loyalty, tenderness, and occasional humor into their interactions. Even Jesus is portrayed with an approachable warmth that reinforces the novel’s central message about His personal involvement in people’s lives. The spiritual warfare sequences are vivid and often intense, creating a sense that the smallest acts of obedience can have consequences far beyond what anyone can see. Readers who enjoy Christian supernatural fiction will appreciate the author’s imaginative depiction of the ongoing conflict between heaven and hell.
As the story expands, Rise of the Redeemers develops into a compelling blend of family drama, suspense, and investigative intrigue. Martin, Esther, Kelly, and a growing circle of memorable characters carry forward the legacy of compassion established by Lois and those who came before her. Their relationships give the novel its emotional foundation, especially through the tender moments of caregiving, unexpected friendships, and the everyday challenges of building a family. Ruddock also explores the disturbing intersection of trafficking, institutional corruption, greed, and power, gradually introducing a dangerous network that raises the stakes considerably. The contrast between this darkness and the warmth of the characters’ home lives creates some of the book’s most affecting moments. There’s also a welcome sense of humor woven throughout, from playful family exchanges to the antics of some particularly spirited farm animals. Those lighter scenes offer breathing room in a story that tackles deeply difficult subjects.
What made Rise of the Redeemers compelling to me was its conviction that redemption is something people participate in through their choices, relationships, and willingness to act. Ruddock writes with clear compassion for survivors of abuse and exploitation, while celebrating the foster parents, advocates, caregivers, and everyday people who refuse to look away from suffering. Her characters experience grief, uncertainty, exhaustion, and fear, yet their faith continually calls them toward courage and service. The novel’s treatment of trauma is often graphic and emotionally demanding, but its message of hope remains firmly rooted in the belief that every life has dignity and purpose. With its combination of supernatural adventure, suspenseful storytelling, and deeply held Christian convictions, this is a book that invites readers to think about what it means to become an instrument of healing in a wounded world. Rise of the Redeemers is a stirring reminder that redemption doesn’t just change the lives of the rescued; it raises up a generation brave enough to become rescuers.
Pages: 397 | ASIN : B0HL9L6MXG
The Prodigy
T.A. Stevens’s The Prodigy begins with the dazzling, high-pressure world of competitive figure skating. Jackie Anne Ellis is a teenage national champion whose extraordinary talent has made her a celebrity and the center of her mother’s Olympic ambitions. Then a frightening accident at the World Championships changes the way Jackie speaks, behaves, and understands the people around her. The mystery follows her family back to Aspen, Colorado, where their Victorian house seems to hold memories much older than its current occupants. A peculiar black-and-white cat, a room with an unsettling presence, and fragments of unfamiliar language hint at a connection that reaches into the nineteenth century. Stevens blends the unease of a ghost story with the curiosity of a historical mystery, giving the reader a compelling question to carry through the book: how well can we know someone we’ve loved all their life?
Modern Jackie is confident, outspoken, and accustomed to having choices. The past introduces a gifted young woman whose life revolves around piano music, social expectations, household work, and the limited freedoms available to girls in Victorian Colorado. Their experiences bring humor as well as genuine discomfort, particularly when familiar objects and customs become baffling in the wrong century. Yet the novel’s emotional center belongs just as much to the mothers. Anne’s devotion to Jackie is tangled up with her own skating disappointments, while the historical family story reveals how grief and frustrated dreams can shape generations. Stevens is particularly good at showing how praise for a child’s talent can carry an enormous weight, even when it comes from love.
Aspen is more than a picturesque backdrop here. Stevens brings its silver-mining past into focus through work routines, icy streets, strict social rules, and the lively atmosphere of places such as the Hotel Jerome. The contrasts between eras are often wonderfully concrete: clothing, transportation, cooking, and even the simple act of making a phone call acquire new meaning. There’s also an inviting trail of recurring details, including Beethoven’s music, family keepsakes, old photographs, and that persistent cat. If you enjoy the way Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander makes history feel lived in while weaving the extraordinary into personal relationships, you’ll find a similar pleasure in The Prodigy. Stevens gives that time-spanning approach a distinctive focus on gifted girls, family legacies, and winter sports.
I found the book most affecting when its characters have to reconsider what a successful life actually looks like. There’s real tenderness in the small moments between parents and children, especially when listening becomes more important than coaching or explaining. The story also has a melancholy streak, rooted in the losses and sacrifices that shadow the older generations, but it makes room for playful scenes and the sheer joy of moving across ice or sitting down at a piano. Its expanding family history invites you to pay attention to the little echoes between chapters, which gradually give the central mystery a richer emotional texture. The Prodigy is an absorbing blend of historical fiction, supernatural intrigue, and family drama, and its most memorable idea is a human one: being extraordinary is only part of a person’s story. Being understood matters just as much.
Pages: 357 | ASIN : B0H4SF36FK
Once She Discovers Magic
The House That Lies follows 14-year-old Emma and her friends as they investigate a mysterious mansion where ghostly encounters, unexplained disappearances, and secrets challenge everything they believe about the supernatural. What inspired the setup of your story?
I have always loved mystery novels, especially those with possible supernatural aspects to them. That love for the mysterious came out in this novel, helping me set up not only the world itself, but the belief or disbelief from the characters’ mindset.
Emma approaches supernatural mysteries with skepticism and logic. What inspired you to give her this analytical mindset in a world filled with magic?
I have always loved Star Trek, especially Mr. Spock. I used a great deal of his influence to give Emma similar reasoning skills. As far as magic, she never really believed in it until she was exposed to the portal for the first time and transported herself to a distant book world. (See Book 1—The Journey to Nirisia)
Ashford House feels almost like a character itself. How did you develop its disturbing history and atmosphere to deepen the mystery surrounding Dunhallow?
I believe nearly every town or city has a creepy, haunted houses that carry a history. (Whether it is real or not is for you to decide.) I love stories where the houses are, or seem to be, alive or haunted by past deeds, and so on. I used that same energy to invent the Ashford House.
The story explores Emma’s growing awareness that her friendships may change as their lives take different paths. Why was this emotional thread important to include?
In book #1, Emma is a brilliant, introverted girl who hated leaving her own house. She had no friends to speak of and was quite comfortable at home with her cat. Once she discovers magic and travels to Nirisia she realizes what she had been missing all along—friends. Now, the thought of losing her friends back to their world is heart wrenching. So, that thread is woven into every book since her friends have become an important part of her everyday life.
Author Website: https://mark-k-mcclain.com
But when Emma, Faylen, and Cedar find themselves in this spooky town, they set out to be the first ones to return with answers. And when someone close to them goes missing, waiting is no longer an option. They must uncover the dark secret hiding behind Ashford House’s walls—or sealed away in its basement.
Can the trio solve the mystery that an entire town cannot, before Ashford House claims them too?
Poverty, Crime, and Glamor Ran Unchecked
Behaving Badly follows a fearless reporter who, while investigating the disappearance of a missing girl, discovers that the case may lead her straight to her husband’s killers. What drew you to Depression-era Hollywood as the setting for this particular mystery?
My love of Los Angeles history coupled with hiking through the urbs and burbs of Los Angeles on weekends immersed me in my setting from street level and literally kept me in the story as I wrote. So much of L.A.’s groundbreaking architecture, like the Examiner building near downtown L.A. to the old concrete streets, bridges, and staircases on nearby hills still exists, open for exploration as Tess would experience them. 1932 L.A. sat at the center of a liminal period—the depression ending to the wild 20s, the bother of prohibition, uncontrolled crime, and the dark cloud of war in Europe on the horizon. Los Angeles highlighted the contrasts—oil baron mansions, Hollywood Boulevard lights, the glamor of the silent era overtaken by talkies, modern architecture like the Oviatt building, movie theaters lining Broadway in DTLA, and the depression driven poverty of Hoovervilles, the lawlessness of Prohibition tunnels beneath downtown, running at the same time as prep for the summer Olympics, and unchecked crime, coexisting in a city that exploded in population since the turn of the century. In 1932 Los Angeles, poverty, crime, and glamor ran unchecked, side by side. As a mystery writer, I liked the fact that Tess lacked the luxury of a cell phone or computer to solve mysteries and crimes. She needed smarts and guts.
How did you approach developing Tess as a capable, determined journalist who is also navigating the emotional consequences of losing her husband, and what made a newspaper reporter the right protagonist for this story?
Credentials, a paycheck, and deadlines defined crime beat reporter as the career for Tess. Her press credentials gave her access to people and places an amateur sleuth could not easily attain. Deadlines and assigned stories kept Tess in action without manufacturing mysteries for her to solve, and the paycheck legitimized her efforts then became a necessity to pay the rent as a widow in a depression society. The hyper activity of a newsroom provided an atmosphere for her to bury her grief and provided distraction. Tess modeled other real life female journalists of the era in Los Angeles like Aggie Underwood, Charlotta Bass, Louella Parsons, and Florabel Muir, who typified the strong, educated, modern women of the progressive movement at the turn of the century.
What interested you about exploring the relationships between organized crime, corrupt law enforcement, and powerful social institutions?
Digging deep, I saw how everything intertwined. Money and power in a depression society allowed special treatment for the missing children of the wealthy while the missing children of poor families were often abandoned or sent away to fend for themselves. Low paid cops bent their ethics to feed their families. The ungodly large amount of money wagered on gambling ships by people who couldn’t afford their rent. Corrupt politicians, seduced by power, exchanged favors for dollars or more power. During the depression, people made daily choices between pride and ethics or food and shelter. Even widowed Tess, now lacking the second paycheck that paid half the bills when her husband was alive, faced choices between looking away for her own survival, literal or financial, or standing on her principles.
Can you tell us more about what’s in store for Tess Hammond and the direction of the second book?
A cliffhanger at the end of BEHAVING BADLY sets the tone of the second Tess Hammond novel. Tess finds herself going deeper into the social politics of 1932 Los Angeles—racism, prostitution, and the conservative movement create social roadblocks to Tess’s determination to report on and solve a crime. The 1932 Olympic games’ start date is near, tensions over safety are high, and the upcoming 1932 national elections are looming.
Author Links: GoodReads | X | Facebook | Website
The Bookshop Mysteries: A Fatal Encore
S. A. Reeves brings murder, music, and plenty of mischief together in A Fatal Encore, the sixth installment of The Bookshop Mysteries series. Set in the charming Derbyshire town of Belper, this cozy mystery follows Gemma Curtis, the owner of the Bookworm Bookshop and Café, whose talent for solving crimes has become nearly as important as her love of books. This time, Gemma and her friends are heading to the Meadowfire Festival for a weekend of live music, glamping, and a little celebrity spotting. What begins as an exciting getaway takes a sinister turn when tragedy strikes during a performance by the popular rock band Static Avenue. Soon, Gemma finds herself caught up in another investigation, working alongside her partner, Detective David Haynes, to uncover the truth. The festival setting gives the story a lively, energetic atmosphere, and Reeves makes excellent use of the contrast between the excitement of a major music event and the darker secrets lurking behind the scenes.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of A Fatal Encore is its cast of characters. Gemma is an engaging amateur sleuth whose curiosity, intelligence, and determination make her easy to root for. Her relationship with David adds warmth to the investigation, especially as they balance their personal connection with their different approaches to solving crimes. Mavis Rawlings, Gemma’s older friend and business partner, is another standout. Her cheeky humor and willingness to get involved bring some of the book’s funniest moments. Jack, a local postman who plays bass in a comedy heavy metal band called Mutton Thunder, also adds plenty of personality to the story. The friendships feel comfortable and familiar, giving readers a sense of belonging within this quirky group. Reeves clearly enjoys spending time with these characters, and that affection comes through in their conversations, playful teasing, and genuine concern for one another.
The mystery itself offers an entertaining look at the complicated relationships within a successful rock band. As Gemma and David investigate, they encounter bruised egos, professional rivalries, financial tensions, and personal grudges. Each discovery adds another layer to the case, encouraging readers to consider how jealousy, ambition, and resentment can influence people’s decisions. Reeves incorporates police interviews, forensic evidence, and careful detective work alongside Gemma’s natural instincts, creating a satisfying combination of procedural investigation and amateur sleuthing. Fans of Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club will recognize a similar fondness for colorful characters, witty dialogue, and ordinary people who become involved in extraordinary crimes. Like Osman, Reeves understands that much of the pleasure of a cozy mystery comes from the people investigating the crime. Reeves gives the formula a distinctive personality through its bookshop community, British humor, and lively music-industry setting.
What makes A Fatal Encore particularly appealing is the way Reeves balances its central mystery with the everyday lives of the characters. The story moves between backstage drama, police work, and the comforting familiarity of the Bookworm Bookshop and Café, giving the investigation room to develop while keeping the characters’ relationships at its heart. The writing is accessible and conversational, with plenty of humorous exchanges and vivid details that bring the festival atmosphere to life. There are moments when the dialogue explains more than necessary, but the steady stream of discoveries and the entertaining personalities help maintain the momentum. Although this is the sixth book in the series, the central mystery is approachable for newcomers, while returning readers will appreciate spending more time with Gemma and her friends. A Fatal Encore is an enjoyable, character-driven cozy mystery that combines a lively setting, an intriguing investigation, and a generous helping of British charm. It’s a great choice for readers who love their murder mysteries with memorable friendships, clever clues, and a little rock and roll.
Pages: 372 | ASIN : B0G532MRZZ
Directive Detectives: The Salem Directive: File 002
G. Savo’s The Salem Directive, the second book in the Directive Detectives series, is an engaging middle-grade historical mystery that turns a visit to Salem, Massachusetts, into an adventure filled with discovery, friendship, and some fascinating history. Twelve-year-old Maddy Torres and her friends Evelyn Wagner, Darnel Thomas, and Jin Cho are back, following another mysterious file from the hidden room they’ve discovered inside the Boston Public Library. This time, their investigation takes them into the history of the 1692 Salem witch trials. Armed with cryptic instructions, old documents, maps, and plenty of curiosity, the four friends explore a city where Halloween attractions share the streets with centuries-old landmarks. What makes the premise especially appealing is how each clue encourages the detectives to question familiar stories and look more closely at the people and places behind them. It’s a historical mystery that makes learning feel like an adventure readers can experience alongside the characters.
One of the book’s strengths is its portrayal of the four young detectives and their friendship. Each brings something different to the investigation. Maddy is thoughtful and observant, Evelyn has a talent for spotting patterns, Darnel is passionate about history, and Jin approaches almost everything with technological curiosity, a healthy appetite, and a wonderfully entertaining sense of humor. Their conversations are full of playful teasing, friendly disagreements, and the kind of comfortable familiarity that makes their friendship believable. Jin’s reactions to Salem’s Halloween festivities and his ongoing commentary about practically everything provide some particularly funny moments. Savo also gives the characters room to think independently, question one another, and occasionally admit they’re wrong. Their different personalities make the teamwork interesting, especially when a clue requires several perspectives to understand. This sense of camaraderie gives the middle grade mystery a welcoming atmosphere and makes spending time with these characters enjoyable.
Savo brings Salem to life through its crowded autumn streets, historic buildings, museums, memorials, and quieter locations connected to the witch trials. Readers follow the detectives to places such as the Witch House, the site of the original courthouse, and the Rebecca Nurse Homestead. Along the way, the story introduces historical figures, examines surviving records, and explores how misconceptions can become accepted versions of history. The attention given to Rebecca Nurse is particularly meaningful, encouraging readers to consider the everyday lives of people whose names are remembered primarily because of tragic events. Savo handles difficult historical subjects with sensitivity while keeping the material accessible to younger readers. The black-and-white illustrations add another appealing dimension, helping readers picture the locations and atmosphere of the investigation. The combination of real historical sites, intriguing clues, and thoughtful questions gives this historical fiction adventure a strong educational element without losing its conversational charm.
What I liked most about The Salem Directive was its emphasis on curiosity, empathy, and the responsibility that comes with understanding history. The mystery unfolds through conversations, research, and discoveries that gradually change how the characters see the past. There’s a reflective quality to the storytelling, and its measured pace allows important historical details and emotional moments to receive the attention they deserve. I especially appreciated the idea that history is something each generation can examine, question, and help preserve. The connection between the young detectives and those who worked on the files before them adds a meaningful sense of continuity to the series. Savo has created a thoughtful blend of children’s historical fiction, educational adventure, and middle grade mystery that invites readers to keep asking questions long after the final page. For young readers who enjoy history, detective stories, and adventures shared among friends, The Salem Directive offers an entertaining journey through Salem and an encouraging reminder that every person has a story worth understanding.
Pages: 368 | ASIN : B0HL9J9LFK
