Reading Jane Doe by Victoria Helen Stone was the spark to my powder keg. The inferno it produced could only be fed with books that featured that same kind of enigmatic female protagonists. As an ardent fan of Killing Eve, I thought it was the protagonist’s psychopathy in Stone’s book which made Jane so compelling, but reading Maestra by L. S. Hilton showed me how wrong I was on that count. Then began a – … Continue reading A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow →
I absolutely loved A Family of Strangers by Emilie Richards. It’s a beautifully executed mystery with a lovely second-chance romance subplot. It also offers a depiction of what living with chronic pain can look like, and as someone who has Fibromyalgia, that was really meaningful to me. I do want to caution potential readers that this book does contain child abuse, specifically and some violence, so if that’s a trigger for you, you’ll want to … Continue reading Family of Strangers by Emilie Richards →
I love creepy shit–the creepier the better. The Stillwater Girls by Minka Kent promised to deliver some of that creep, but as far as psychological thrillers go, it wasn’t that dark. This book was a little too tame for me, but I think it would be an excellent novel for readers who want to dip their toe into the psychological thriller genre without getting too scared. There is no on-page violence and… The Stillwater Girls … Continue reading The Stillwater Girls by Minka Kent →
I’m a fan of Laura Griffin’s Tracers series, so it’s no real surprise that I enjoyed her first book in the spin-off Wolfe Security series, Desperate Girls. Much like Griffin’s other books, this is very much a romantic suspense novel that heavily features procedural elements. When I first saw the cover and read the title, I wondered if Griffin had decided to try her hand at a psychological thriller, but no. Despite what the cover art … Continue reading Desperate Girls by Laura Griffin →
The Widows of Malabar Hill is a mystery set in Bombay, India in 1921. It’s not a romance. Romance does not go well for the main characters. However, it’s a very good female-centered historical mystery. The story takes place before Independence and before Partition, during a period when the Indian independence movement was gaining traction. The sense of rapid social change on many levels pervades the novel. The story follows two plotlines. In 1921, Perveen, … Continue reading The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey →
Family Jewels is a mystery that features two best friends who own a landscaping/ plant nursery business and also solve mysteries. It’s the first in a new series, an offshoot of the Rose Gardner mystery series, but you don’t have to have read the previous series to enjoy this book. There’s also a strong romantic subplot and lots and lots of unresolved sexual tension. The violence takes place off screen so it’s a non-scary, non-gory … Continue reading Family Jewels by Denise Grover Swank →
I recently shared on a podcast with Sarah that my mom would be undergoing a pretty major surgery, and I was stocking up on books to keep me out of my head (where my anxiety lives) while I waited during the procedure. Due to some complications (Mom is fine) I found myself once again camped out in the ICU waiting room. Turns out ICU waiting rooms are absolute shit for sleep but great for whittling … Continue reading Touch of Red by Laura Griffin →
This month’s Romance Wanderlust features a place that I’ve actually been to. The Winchester Mystery House is romantic in the sense that the owner, Sarah Winchester, seems to have been devoted to her husband, and it’s romantic in the sense that if you go on a candlelight tour then you can clutch each other in terror. Otherwise, it’s not so much as romantic as it’s just strange and unusual. You can’t stay at the Winchester … Continue reading Romance Wanderlust: The Winchester Mystery House →
On the surface You Were Here is all of the Elyse-bait. It’s a psychological thriller set in present and past, a story about infidelity and family lies. It also features a heroine who dreams of some tragic event long-ago, nightmares that are so vivid they disrupt her life. All of those elements are there, but they fail to gel together to make a story that’s cohesive. You Were Here opens with Abby Walter’s having one of … Continue reading You Were Here by Gian Sardar →
Hunt a Killer is a relatively new subscription service that may be of interest to the true crime, thriller/mystery loving members of the Bitchery. It’s essentially an ongoing, monthly puzzle that will have you poring over the contents of the box, endlessly Googling to work out each piece of “evidence” sent to you. As of right now, the cost is $30 a month with the first “season” being eight boxes long. But more on that … Continue reading Hunt a Killer Subscription Box →
Cathy Pegau wrote two of my favorite science fiction romance novellas: Deep Deception and Rulebreaker. Now she has a series of mysteries which I am madly binge reading. Set in Cordova, Alaska, in 1919, the Charlotte Brody Mysteries are as cozy as possible given that they involve lethal crimes, with just a smidge of romance and a lot of atmosphere. Charlotte Brody is introduced in Murder on the Last Frontier, the first book in the … Continue reading Murder on the Last Frontier by Cathy Pegau →
