by Valerie Webster | Feb 15, 2023 | Blog, Book Reviews
Sisters in Crime – CO member, Margaret Mizushima has announced the upcoming release of STANDING DEAD, her eighth Timber Creek K-9 Mystery. The Timber Creek K-9 books are police procedurals. Each adventure contains a combination of K-9 cops, veterinary work, and family relationships as well as a murder case to investigate and solve.
In this episode, the case for Deputy Mattie Cobb and her K-9 partner Robo becomes personal when Mattie’s mother vanishes without a trace. After a dead man is found tied to a standing dead pine in the beetle-killed forest near Timber Creek, Mattie is forced to play cat and mouse with a killer.
In a last-ditch gambit, she goes undercover into the killer’s lair to try to save her mother—or die trying. STANDING DEAD can be found wherever books are sold and is available for preorder now. The book releases March 7th.
Margaret Mizushima is the author of the award-winning and internationally published Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries. Active within the writing community, Margaret serves as past president for the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Mystery Writers of America, was elected the 2019 Writer of the Year by Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, and is also a member of Northern Colorado Writers, Sisters in Crime, and Women Writing the West.
She and her husband recently moved from their home in Colorado to the Pacific Northwest. She can be found on Facebook/AuthorMargaretMizushima, Twitter @margmizu, Instagram at margmizu, and her website at www.MargaretMizushima.com
by Valerie Webster | Dec 14, 2022 | Book Reviews
A favorite of my mine – now an Amazon Original. How could you not love an inspector whose name is just a consonant away from ganache! Author, bestseller and multiple award-winner, Louise Penny, brings her village of Three Pines and the insightful Armande Gamache to the streaming screen. And what a gift!
Gamache has observed his fellow villagers and probed what doesn’t reveal itself in the everyday business of life. But give Gamache time and connection to the player. He will, like the soul explorer he is, recognize the odd turn of phrase, the oh-so-slight incongruity. His openness to every possibility and his vision into the human psyche are his remarkable gifts.
In Episode One of Amazon’s series, a woman named CC de Poitiers is having an affair with her photographer. Just published, CC is a bitter woman who never says anything positive to anyone. At a curling match with the entire town watching, she is electrocuted. Inspector Gamache (Alfred Molina) is sent to investigate the case, along with Inspector Beauvoir and Sergeant Lacoste. It’s clear to Gamache and team the theme of this murder is not just to take someone’s life but to punish them as much as possible and to make a spectacle of it.
You won’t be able to turn away.
When Do Episodes Air: Three Pines was available on Friday, December 2, with 2 new episodes airing each week.
How Many Episodes: There will be 8 episodes in Season One of Three Pines.
Where to Watch Three Pines: Three Pines is available to stream on Prime Video (free trial)
by Valerie Webster | Dec 14, 2022 | Book Reviews
Denver homicide detective Nick Ryan and homicide suspect Elizabeth Harper have a history. Theirs was a passionate attraction that bound them, but a break in faith extinguished the flame. Years later In a chance assignment, Nick encounters his past lover. Her husband is dead and Elizabeth is the chief suspect. The Woman He Used To Know is a page turning experience you won’t put down.
There are 90 reviews on Amazon and more than 70 on Goodreads. A strong mix of five- and four-star ratings. Here are the samples that say it best.
This was a non-stop thriller. Loved the characters and the twists which kept you guessing until the end as to who was the murderer! Definitely plan to read more from this author.
Kerry O., goodreads
Helen charms us into thinking we’ll know the plot by giving us frequent glimpses not only into the mind of Nick Ryan, but also into the primary suspect’s mind as well. It is infrequent that I read a mystery book that puts us into the minds of both characters, this was a treat for the book.
Janine Bolon, Amazon
You think you have sussed out who did it but to find that you were wrong as the plot thickens. A constant page turner that has you hooked right from the start to finish.
Fiona Pope-Bulling, goodreads
A good murder mystery with an added side of romance that had me hooked from the very first chapter. I liked the underlying spark of chemistry between Nick and Elizabeth and found myself rooting for their second-chance HEA. I found this hard to put down because I just couldn’t guess who the murderer was until it was finally revealed in the last chapters. The author does a good job keeping the reader on the edge right to the very end.
Di O’Brien, Amazon
Colorado native and former OR nurse, Helen Starbuck is an award-winning author of The Annie Collins Mystery Series and standalone contemporary romantic suspense. When she’s not writing, you can find her dressing up like a princess and ballroom dancing with her friends or reading books about strong women and interesting men who find themselves in suspense-filled situations.
You can find more about Helen on these pages: Facebook (facebook.com/helensstarbuck), Instagram (instagram.com/helenstarbuck/), and her web site (helenstarbuck.com).
by Valerie Webster | Jun 20, 2022 | Book Reviews
“Driven,” by Valerie Webster is a page-turning story. The story revolves around Rita Mars, an ex-investigative journalist. Bobby Ellis, one of her longtime friends had a piece of important information to give to Rita but when she arrived he was dead.
Later learns that her friend didn’t commit suicide rather he was murdered. She gets driven and makes it her mission to find out the man that killed her friend.
The storyline moves at a fast pace and has the potential to keep the readers hooked on the story till the very end. The book comes with many characters- Rita, Bobby, Charles, Karin… Each character is vividly portrayed.
The suspense kept me glued to the story till the very end. I will recommend this book to all thriller lovers. I can’t wait to read more Rita Mars thriller stories…
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by Valerie Webster | May 22, 2021 | Book Reviews
Ava Barry, A 1948 Unsolved Murder and A First Novel
Ava Barry has been a script reader for Bold Films and Intrigue Entertainment. She was also an editorial assistant for Zoetrope: All-Story, Francis Ford Coppola’s literary magazine.
Windfall is her first novel. Ava lives in Australia.
Learn more about how she came to tackle this work in an interview by Wendy Werris for Publisher’s Weekly.
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by Valerie Webster | May 19, 2021 | Book Reviews
In these thrill matches, the sharp protagonists, Lee Coburn, Joe Pickett, and Jack Reacher—naming only a few—team up to pit their skills for thriller fans.
All contributors are International Thriller Writers (ITW) members. The project is edited by ITW member and #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Child.
The lineup includes:
Sandra Brown’s Lee Coburn vs. C. J. Box’s Joe Pickett
Val McDermid’s Tony Hill vs. Peter James’s Roy Grace
Kathy Reichs’s Temperance Brennan vs. Lee Child’s Jack Reacher
Diana Gabaldon’s Jamie Fraser vs. Steve Berry’s Cotton Malone
Gayle Lynds’s Liz Sansborough vs. David Morrell’s Rambo
Karin Slaughter’s Jeffrey Tolliver vs. Michael Koryta’s Joe Pritchard
Charlaine Harris’s Harper Connelly vs. Andrew Gross’s Ty Hauck
Lisa Jackson’s Regan Pescoli vs. John Sandford’s Virgil Flower
Lara Adrian’s Lucan Thorne vs. Christopher Rice’s Lilliane
Lisa Scottoline’s Bennie Rosato vs. Nelson DeMille’s John Corey
J.A. Jance’s Ali Reynolds vs. Eric Van Lustbader’s Bravo Shaw
Get Matchup! NOW.
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