A KILLER PLOT......MURDER, SHE FOUND.......AGAIN AND AGAIN.....(****).......

A Killer Plot by E.C. Nevin (2026) 

     Welcome back, Jane Hepburn, great to see you back in sleuthing action. Jane, the tall, ungainly mystery novelist who's led a poignant life as a lonely, friendless outcast since childhood, once again encounters murder most foul in the publishing world. It's nice to report that since her last adventure, Jane's exhibits at least a smidge more self respect and less endless self depreciation. And she now has two genuine best buds who constitute her Scooby squad when hunting down killers.....young writer Natasha Martez and publisher intern Daniel Thurston.

     At a book party celebrating Natasha's fast selling debut mystery, Jane, all too typical for her, stumbles upon the body of a young, vivacious assistant editor.........and the poor girl won't be the first murder victim. Her boss comes next.......and guess who stumbles on that fresh corpse too?

     Author E.C. Nevin again creates a daunting array of suspects and motives for Jane, Natasha and Daniel to untangle. And along the way, there's no end of behind the scenes looks at the publishing universe of authors, editors and agents . Jane herself, even as she doggedly hunts down clues, looks for inspiration to break through her writer's block.

     My only quibble here is the same one I had with the previous book in the series, 'A Novel Murder'. Author E.C. Nevin displays a genuine talent for witty byplay, but rations it out in teaspoon portions. I only wish these books would graduate to 2-cup measuring spoons for the humor. But I was also truly taken and moved with amount of Jane's introspection into the ironic tragedies that surround the surprising final reveals.

      Everything's here you'd want in a great whodunit, including a detective unlike any other. Here's hoping for even more friends and self confidence for Jane in her next excursion........(but I'd advise anyone who attends these publishing parties with her to watch their backs from now on....)

     4 stars (****).

BRIMSTONE HOLLOW.....MURDER IN APPALACHIA......FOR GOSH SNAKES! (****)

 Brimstone Hollow by Archer Sullivan (2026)

     Nothing's better to cozy up with than a swiftly paced mystery steeped in the atmosphere of its location.....taking you to a place that seems so familiar and yet somehow strange and threatening at the same time.

     And that would perfectly describe the rural Americana settings of Appalachia where Private Investigator Annie Gore operates. Her latest case takes her to a small town that was mystified and enthralled by a snake handling preacher.......until he was found dead, bitten and poisoned by the very reptiles that curled around his arms during his thundering sermons.

     The preacher's daughter, raised by a mother who fled the marriage to her father, now hires Annie to look into why her father's funeral and burial came and went with such speed in that supposedly sleepy little town. Annie Gore, toughened by an unsettled childhood and her years as an Air Force investigator, won't leave that town until all of its darkest secrets are laid bare. Because it's clear that preacher Ezra King's death by snakebite was no accident and the increasing pile up of murders that follow more than bear that out.

     Author Archer Sullivan knows her territory like only an Appalachian can and the town, with its bizarre church, supernatural rumors and notorious deep sulfur pit are vividly depicted. A dangerous place to poke your nose into private lives, but Annie Gore won't leave town until there's closure for her client and an end to the mysteries swirling around the high body count. .

The book's incredible, tragic reveals finally come at you one after the other. 'Brimstone Hollow' may not sound like an ideal vacation spot but it makes for a solidly page-turning whodunit.

       4 stars (****).

MY KILLER FAMILY REUNION......THE FAMILY THAT SLAYS TOGETHER......JUST FOR FUN....UNTIL IT ISN'T.....(****)

My Killer Family Reunion by Dinesh Thiru (2026) 

     Nothing warms the heart more (and turns the pages faster) than a large extended family whose every member contemplates their own effective way to bump off the fam's powerhouse Matriarch. An amusing game the clan plays with each other that even tickles the Grand Mom herself, as she is called by everyone.

Amusing, that is, until it becomes apparent that somebody in the Devi family isn't kidding around with their intentions. And it falls to the most ignored, forgotten of the Devis, teen Jayshree, to become the family's most dedicated sleuth in getting to the bottom of things.

     This book literally teems with not only Devi parents, children, and cousins, there's also plenty of rivalries, secrets, romances, heartbreak, humor, attempted murders and even some nail biting suspense and do-or-die action. Jayshree manages to navigate her way through it all, even as her cousins, along with the rest of the family, conspire to put her in the path of that visiting charming Spanish student who's beginning to make her heart flutter.

     Author Dinish Thiru has put together a hugely entertaining package here. And it's filled to the very brim with all the messy comedic moments,, heartfelt drama and surprises that could only occur when such a large family reunites in one place. Enough chaos reigns to split them all asunder but those family bonds are tough to break.

     Engrossing, fun and with enough stuff going on that could fill five other YA comedy-mysteries. Grand Mom rules, but keep your eye on her now unforgettable granddaughter Jay.

      4 stars (****).

BRIDGET & GABE ARE NOT OKAY.......YE OLDE YA LOVE TROUBLES....WITH THE KNIGHTS OF ANGST AND QUIPS.....(****)

 Bridget & Gabe Are Not Okay by Lex Croucher (2026)

     Once again, author Lex Croucher cleverly confirms what we always suspected......that the mythical, mystical world of Arthurian England and Camelot was actually populated by YA characters steeped in simmering hormones, romantic angst and the ability to fire off snappy, snarky remarks at any given moment.

     Well, after the fun of 'Gwen and Art Are Not In Love", our favorite Camelot cosplay gang is back. But, sorry to say, not with quite as much of those laugh-out-loud moments we all enjoyed in the first book. The aftermath of battle has left two major queer romances on rocky paths strewn with hurt feelings, miscommunications, PTSD, and severe identity crisis. King Gabriel, given to panic attacks and almost zero self confidence, painfully pines for knight Sir Arthur. HIs sister Princess Gwendoline deals with similar anxiety over her love gone awry for the fierce girl warrior Bridget, who's afraid she's lost her courageous jousting bravado.

     There's only one way for these crazy kids to resolve their issues....... summon the Knights, create the Round Table and hit the road in search of the Questing Beast, the Green Knight, the Lady in the Lake and the Holy Grail. Not to mention rev up some favorable P..R. for Gabriel's progressive, groundbreaking new dictates for the kingdom, like legalizing same sex relationships and getting kids off the farm and into schools.

     The book does have some real sly witty fun with the various quests, some of which come to resemble the Monty Python misadventures. But the focus here remains on the two young queer couples struggling to rekindle those burning fires between them that never really went out.....only tamped down by cruel circumstance and their own misunderstandings of each other. And with their long questing exploits almost at an end,, the stakes are suddenly raised higher than all four of them ever anticipated.

     The adroit bending and warping of Arthurian legends remains captivating and you most definitely won't want to stop reading until you're satisfied that Bridget and Gwen and Art and Gabe are way more than okay.

     4 stars (****).

THE WOMEN IN WHITE......DISTURBING EXPERIMENTS ON FOUR WOMEN WITH PARANORMAL GIFTS.........(****).

The Women in White by Sarah Pekkanen (2026)

     This extraordinary thriller, bouncing between present day and 1964, left me saddened and angered on behalf of the four lead characters. As young women in '64, Betty, Helen, Kathleen and Ivy participated in ESP experiments conducted by a distinguished and intensely driven University professor of parapsychology. Over 60 years later, Betty, widowed, wheelchair bound and living a lonely hermetic existence, still wonders what became of the women with whom she formed such a deep sisterhood bond of shared experiences.......

     Betty enlists Riley, the new young caregiver she's just hired, to help her discover what became of her long ago friends. This leads to the flashback stories of each of these four ESP volunteers........and the terrible unforeseen toll the experiments took on their lives. Betty and Riley's investigations also seem to provoke some unknown person with just as much interest in the experiments now as there was in the past.

     Author Sarah Pekkanen, draws upon actual histories of parapsychology testing while she deftly evokes what the 1960's were like for young intelligent women like Betty and her friends. They cope with the Professor treating them either like children or lab rats and the various societal expectations put upon them to behave as dutiful wives and mothers. Your heart breaks for them as the experiments become more tortuous and their personal lives start to crumble.

     Surprises, danger and a twist reveal await Riley and Betty before their questing for answers comes to an end.. But even in the midst of closure, you can still sense the melancholic memories of women whose remarkable powers united them as they were patronized and mistreated.

     Fascinating, compelling read, all the way through. 4 stars (****).

THE HARDEST ONES TO FOOL.....A TRIPLE DECEPTION LEADS TO MURDER....AND MORE WILD DECEPTIONS.....(****)

 The Hardest Ones to Fool by Christina Li (2026)

     I was stunned by lead character Amelia Wu when I first started this book. Is this over achieving high school senior out of her mind? Under three different names and identities, she got three different boys from three different schools to fall in love with her? And while she's carrying on these triple romances with three sons of wealthy families, she runs the risk of encountering somebody who either knows her as Amelia or the other two fake personas she's performing.........which, we all know is bound to happen.....maybe more than once.

     These monumental deceptions, co-conspired by Amelia and her best friend Ingrid, also involve Amelia scamming the boys' families out of thousands of dollars which leads us to ask that burning question. If there some deeper motive involved here than just a lower middle class girl fleecing the rich, powerful and entitled one-percenters?

     Indeed there is, and Ingrid's mysterious "accidental" death after an all night party sets Amelia to investigating a host of suspects including her three so-called boyfriends. This throws her into an unlikely alliance with Jackie, her equally overachieving senior class frenemy and rival for Valedictorian. Together, they're a formidable duo.......and maybe something more that neither of them counted on.

     Author Christina LI keeps this incredible plot at a constant boil with more and more layers of duplicity and fraud to peel off as the story barrels on to its apparent conclusion. And I do mean apparent ,before the book finally detonates its massive Third Act reveal with a stinger on top.........guaranteed to leave you staggered by its sheer audacity. .

     Great twisty fun to had here. All dedicated fans of YA mysteries shouldn't let his one escape their 'read right away' list.

     4 stars (****).

THE HUNTED......HIGH OCTANE THRILLER KEEPS YOUR BLOOD RACING....AND THE BLOOD SPILLING...(*****)

 The Hunted by Steven Max Russo (2026)

     Still trying to catch my breath after this one......

     And now I've got to try to catch up on all the other books I stopped reading (not to mention numerous household chores) that I put on hold once this book had me in its vise-like grip.

     Yes, it's that kind of thriller you look for when you're in the mood for an adrenalin pumping, page-turning, up-all-night read. One that hits the ground running (and shooting) and never stops till there's countless rounds fired and a sizable body count.

     It takes no time at all to get caught up in the ultra dangerous world of Ophelia Harris, a former CIA analyst and now a field operative for the Grendel Security Group......essentially a private company of mercenaries for hire, conducting clandestine black ops, 'this-never-happened' missions for whatever government agency pays them.

     Ophelia's latest assignment for her boss Gerhard Mueller goes horribly wrong, with every Grendel operative dead except her.......and leaving her in possession of huge amounts of cash raised to fund insurgents in Middle East wars. Enraged and judging her a renegade traitor, Mueller sends out one hit team after another to terminate Ophelia when she returns to the U.S.........and there may be something else fueling his fury besides an operation gone south.

     But Mueller clearly underestimates Ophelia's formidable skills and determination to survive. And he didn't count on on her running into former Army Ranger Austin Medford, who remembers seeing Ophelia in action during his Afghanistan deployment. Once he aids her during yet another hit team assault, Austin realizes he's now joined her in Mueller's crosshairs. The hunt for the both of them is on.......until the hunted decide to turn the tables

     Virtually non-stop tension, suspense and explosive action follow, with Ophelia, Austin and their adversaries unleashing all manner of state-of-the-art weaponry upon each other. And through it all, Ophelia emerges an an all too human and vulnerable heroine, who does her best to avoid the carnage around her, even if her foes don't.

     Armchair adventurers who haven't yet discovered this book should be putting it right to the very top of their 'must read' lists. And prepare to stop everything else you're doing once you've started it.

     5 stars (*****).