Until Proven Guilty

In JA Jance's Until Proven Guilty, the first installment in the JP Beaumont mystery series, this debut would captivate you and make you want to keep reading for sure. When Seattle Detective JP Beaumont and his partner Ron Peters first arrrived at the scene of the crime of young Angela Barstogi's death. While they looked into the circumstances of it, they learned that his mother had ties to the cult inside the Faith Tabernacle search. That might them question everyone and everything around them, while Peters had a close connection to the case.. it had happened to his own kids by his own wife. Then Anne Corley entered the picture and JP's life, turning it around. But there remains a hint of a mystery of her and her background, when he met her at Angela's funeral. Then a double homicide had happened at the church, when both Suzanne and the cult leader had wound up dead. While all eyes pointed toward Andrew Carstogi, Suzanne's ex who's been ex-communicated and declared "Dead" in that church, he seemed to be the most likely suspect. Though JP had thought otherwise, he became more intrigued into Anne, while he had dealt with his own run-ins with Maxwell Cole, a thorn in his side. When someone else wound up dead and the heat is turned up, it was up to JP to put the screws on the killer... who was right under his nose in a mind-blowing climax on whodunit and why.

This was a great debut mystery from JA Jance. I really cared for JP and how he made it his own as a single man who misses his kids, and how he became enchanted by Anne Corley. I had grown fond on Peters and found them a remarkable partnership.  I did feel sorry for pool Angela and not so much for Suzanne a tiny bit. The Seattle locations were picturesque and the scenic settings were real-to-life on every page. This would make you shake your head and groan, hold your breath and propel you to read more to the end with non-stop drama, action, intrigue and a hint of mystery.

Will you take a chance to read Until Proven Guilty tonight?

Dark Road Home

In Anna Carlisle's Dark Road Home, the first installment in the Gin Sullivan Mystery series, this debut would leave you speechless with this dark tale of secrets and lies. Seventeen years ago, Virginia "Gin" Sullivan's sister Lily had mysteriously disappeared from home. Now twenty of years later, she gets a call from home that her body has been found in the cooler. She drops everything and leaves Chicago to return home to Trumbull, Pennsylvania. But her welcome home had been a bumpy one. Though she reunited with her former  boyfriend Jake Crosby and her best friend Christine Parker-Hart and her twin brother Thomas, she had stirred up most than a hornet's nest.  At the time, and even now, people accused Jake of the crime, including her father. When she asked first to consult on the case, she learned a shocking truth concerning her sister and the secret she was hiding at her disappearance. As she asked questions and pointed things closer to her, she bridged a wider distance between the people she cared for the most and how they invaded her questions. And when Jake's father Lawrence was found dead under usual circumstances, she dug a little deeper to know who had done it and why. The more desperate she was to find the answers, the most daunting it was to hear it. And when she had finaly figured it out with Jake with a twisted truth that hit closer to home, she would have to face the killer dead on and seek justice.

This was a mind-blowing and compelling mystery debut. I did feel a ton of compassion for Gin and for her family, then and now. I hated how people shunned Jake, when he had seemed like the least likely suspect. I liked how they bonded and came together to discover the truth and to solve the puzzle. Maybe people would give him more respect than they did before. I adored the majestic settings of Trumbull PA and how it popped on the page in living and vivid colors for the locations. This would make you blood turn color and gasp, shake your head, and feel numb all over with non-stop action, drama, suspense and a hint of romance on every single page.

Will you be ready to take the dark road home today?

Hunting the Five-Point Killer

In C.M. Wendelboe's Hunting the Five-Point Killer, this thriller will take you places you never been before and compel you to read more.  For Arn Anderson, he's a retired detective who asked to be a consultant of the cold case in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He had a hard time getting the CPD's assistance, when he had a notion that it might be connected to the Five-Point Killings and two police officer's suspicious deaths that looked like homicides. And that left Arn to pick up the pieces to study all of those cold cases, especially when Ana Maria Villareal did a TV special on them to broadcast to the public. That's when she received threats to stop the special. And when Arn's on the case to catch her stalker, it came way too close of identifiying him, when he made moes of his own. After when the police chief gets shot and later dies from his coma, it left Arn and Ned Oblanski to revisit everything, especially after Arn had been atacked himself.  As he studied everyone who was close to Butch Spangler and the cold cases, it had turned up the heat when Arn had another attack from the killer again. With help from Danny as his sidekick, an Indian who's helping him renovate his mother's home, they pieces together the puzzle when Arn's friends had to rush to save his friends' lives before it would be too late with a shocking ending on who done it and why.

This was a good thriller that kept me reading. I did care for Arn and his pursuit of justice to solve this cold cases. I did find Georgia Spangler quite amusing and Danny a likeable character. I did like the settings for rural Cheyenne in the midwest with vivid locations around the town. This would make raise eyebrows and shake your head a few times with a grimacing groan. (Needless to say, I did find lot of glaring punctuation/grammar erorrs in this e-arc that the author,  Mr. Wendelboe, and his proofeader/copywriter  missed, especially when it comes to dialogue, capitalization, and wrong/misspelled words. It should've been proofread to catch those errors before it went to publication.)

Will you give Hunting the Five-Point Killer a try tonight?

Nightfall

In Jake Halpern's Nightfall, this young adult thriller has exhilarating fantasy elements that would leave you feeling chilled and numb all over. On Marin's island called Bliss, every twenty-four years the sun always rises and every twenty-four years, it always sets with the rolling tide. And since this day had finally come for everyone on her island, they needed to pack everything and board the furrier boats. But for Marin and her fraternal twin brother Kana, they needed to find their friend Line who had wandered off on the island looking for mushrooms and Marin's sunstone necklace.  And when they finally located him, they finally made it back to shore to join the others. But, it was too late as they were left alone in the island, surviving to find a boat to head to the Desert Lands. It didn't come easy for them, since Line was injured and had gotten sick, and only a medicinal plant called lekar could heal him. As for Kana, he experienced a change into the night that he noticed he was different than the others appearances alone.  Between the three of them, they neded to survive and outlast against the nocturnal creatures that roam the island, while Kana learns a shocking hidden truth about his changes of his own. Together it was a race against time to make it on the boat and head to their new home before it would be too late for them.

This novel was eerily similar to the classic novel of Lord of the Flies, only with a modern and fantasy twist. Though I rarely read YA novels, this one was  fantastic and gripping beyond belief. I loved the contrast between day and night on Bliss Island and how the moonlight and the night becomes you. I care for Marin and Kana, who were more than two different split peas in the pod. And it had brought about an example that it's only the inside that counts and not the outside.  I did have harrowing compassion for Line and how he had a caring concern for Marin. This would grip you and hook you on the first page for a wild adventure that would take you places you've never been before with drama, non-stop action, suspense, a hint of fantasy, and a spark of romance.

 Will you survive before nighfall comes calling?

Black Echo

In Michael Connelly's Black Echo, the first installment in the Harry Bosch Mystery series, this debut would take you on a journey and keep you hanging on tight. Meet Hieronymous "Harry" Bosch, a Detective of the LAPD Hollywood Murder Squad. It all started out with a routine call for a drug bust, when he uncovered the dead body of Eddie Meadows in one of the tunnels. With a closer look, it became more than personal for him, since he used to know him from the Vietnam War. Bosch wanted answers and had taken the heat from the brass and also fro the IAD who had been tailing him around to pin something on him. Then he met FBI Agent Eleanor Wish and John Rourke, who had hindered him in the case. When he looked to find a witness named Sharkey, he told him what he saw when he found. But when later he was found dead, it had floored Bosch as he dug deep to find the connection between the Vietnam War and now in Present Day California. And the closer he would get to the truth, it might cost him his life and maybe his career in an explosive climax, when he least expected who was responsible for it in the end.

This was a gripping mystery debut that had kick-started the Bosch series and then later the Amazon hit series too.  I did become fond of Bosch and how he picked up the pieces to this puzzle. Although a loner, he did put his life on the line, while it might've irked others in his way. They most likely hindered than helped him, except for Eleanor. I've found her a bit intriguing in her own set ways and how she might've had something going with Harry. I did like the LA settings from the dark tunnels to the police station with picturesque scenery for the location. This would get you swept up into Harry's dark tale of how he fought in the war and how he went his own way to solve this mystery with non-stop action, intense drama, mystery and a hint of intrigue.

Will you be curious to read the Black Echo today?

A Taste for Murder

In Claudia Bishop's A Taste for Murder, the first installment int he Hemlock Falls Culinary Cozy Mysteries series, this debut series packs a punch of culinary delights and a lot of surprises. For Sarah "Quill" Quilliam and her sister Meg, they prepared to get ready for the Hemlock Falls History Days skit at their inn. While Quill managed the business end and Meg the kitchen, they had an electric bunch of guests to reside in the inn. But things took a turn for the worse, when first there was an accident on the balcony and two mishaps during the play outside of the inn, when two people ended up murdered--one of them was no accident. As Quill looks for clues on her own and her accountant John disappears from the inn, making him look up a prime suspect, she did her snooping on her own and pointed her finger at her other guests in the inn, including the uncouth Keith Baumer who's been nothing but rude. Though Quill has growing feelings for Myles the sheriff, Quill and her sister put their heads together to pick out the most unlikely suspect, when Meg becomes sick from her poisoned coffee. In the end, she couldn't believe her eyes on who done it and why for the most unsavory reasons of them all.

This was intriguing debut to this culinary cozy series.  I've found that both Quill and Meg are very careable and likeable people as sisters, co-workers and friends. I could see some chemistry between Quill and Myles, while Meg whips up some delectable recipes for the hotel guests. The recipes are too die for in the back of the book. I did like Hemlock Falls as an idyllic and visionary small town in New York state with compelling scenic scenes and picturesque locations. This would make you hungry for the food, starving for a good light, and to be compelled to read more in one or two settings with non-stop drama, suspense, mystery, and a dash of action.

Will you have a hankering taste for murder today?

Every Dark Corner

In Karen Rose's Every Dark Corner, the third installment in the Cincinnati romantic suspense series, this romantic suspense will keep you at the edge of the seat with shocking suspense right to the end. After Griffin "Decker" Davenport wakes up from his coma, he couldn't help wondering about the children who were victims of sexual crimes and human trafficking. Right by his side, Agent Kate Coppola helped him out on this assignment with her assignment, while Davenport heals from his wounds. Both Kate and Decker both have a dark tormented past that haunts them to no extend, while there's a budding and growing relationship between them that's red-hot and fiery as a firecracker. With the CPD and the FBI joint force task team, they look for clues and the way to bring this predator known as the Professor down for the count. As Brandon Edwards controls everyone in his house and his own family, he keeps them in his pocket, especially using Mallory Martin's sister Macy as a bargaining chip to do his evil bidding. But she has a plan of her own to make contact with the police and escape from the clutches so bravily to be reunited with her. As they close him on the missing links, everyone prepares to move in for the kill and take central aim to rescue Mallory and put the Professor out of business for good.

 

This was a bone-chilling and possibly a mind-blowing romantic suspense novel. I did care for Kate and her own skeletons of the closet. But I do see how she cared for Griffin and the others in her team, while she put herself out there in the line of duty. I did care for Griffin as well and his haunted past as well that had a twisted connection similiar to the case. I do believe they're perfect together as an explosive and exclusive couple. I do love how it's set in Cincinnati as the settings and locations pop on the page. This would make you feel bone cold and chilled, wince, shake your head, feel numb all over, and take you on an emotional roller coaster ride with non-stop action, intrigue, suspense and red-hot romance.

Will you watch your step in every dark corner?