Mystery & Crime Book Reviews

THE TRAPPED GIRL by Robert Dugoni
FICTION & LITERATURE
Released: Jan. 24, 2017

"Dugoni (In the Clearing, 2016, etc.) drills so deep into the troubled relationships among his characters that each new revelation shows them in a disturbing new light. The dizzying descent from a solid, unspectacular procedural to an unholy tangle of crimes makes this his best book to date."
Seattle Police Detective Tracy Crosswhite's fourth case takes her out of her hometown, out of her jurisdiction, and out of her comfort zone. Read full book review >
ELEVENTH GRAVE IN MOONLIGHT by Darynda Jones
FICTION & LITERATURE
Released: Jan. 24, 2017

"The 11th from Jones (The Curse of Tenth Grave, 2016, etc.) is densely packed with supernatural problems, sex scenes not for the timid, and assorted complicated mysteries. Boning up on the 10 proceeding installments may be a prerequisite for making sense of this one."
Now that the Grim Reaper has become a god, she's having a hard time dealing with her new powers. Read full book review >

BLIND MAN'S BLUFF by Sadie Cuffe
FICTION & LITERATURE
Released: Jan. 18, 2017

"The prolific Cuffe sisters (Maine's White Pine Cone Conspiracy, 2015, etc.) have produced another character-driven Christian cozy better enjoyed for its romance than its slight mystery."
An inheritance and a threat turn a teacher's world upside down. Read full book review >
COLD HEART by Karen Pullen
FICTION & LITERATURE
Released: Jan. 18, 2017

"A complex case with a surfeit of red herrings that still marks a distinct improvement over Pullen's uninspiring debut (Cold Feet, 2013)."
A North Carolina cop lands her dream job with the Homicide Division only to risk becoming a victim herself. Read full book review >
A PUZZLE TO BE NAMED LATER by Parnell Hall
FICTION & LITERATURE
Released: Jan. 17, 2017

"The Puzzle Lady, who seems to improve with each new adventure (Presumed Puzzled, 2016, etc.), spreads red herrings with reckless abandon this time out."
A loyal Yankees fan does everything in her power to save the wife of a promising pitcher from a murder charge. Read full book review >

SCHEDULED TO DEATH by Mary Feliz
FICTION & LITERATURE
Released: Jan. 17, 2017

"An engaging but not complex mystery that moves forward quickly with freshness, a few surprises, and a couple of real scares."
In this California-based cozy, a professional organizer sorts through suspects in the mysterious death of a client's fiancee. Read full book review >
RACING THE DEVIL by Charles Todd
FICTION & LITERATURE
Released: Jan. 14, 2017

"Despite the high body count, the pacing feels a bit slow. A perfectly competent but unexceptional entry in the crowded niche of interwar English village mysteries."
Scotland Yard's Inspector Ian Rutledge battles his own shell shock and a rector's murderer in an English coastal hamlet. Read full book review >
WHERE I CAN SEE YOU by Larry D. Sweazy
FICTION & LITERATURE
Released: Jan. 10, 2017

"Versatile Sweazy (See Also Deception, 2016, etc.) punctuates the lawman's quest, laid-back yet urgent, with snatches of flash-forward dialogue that warn you not to expect a series. Well, we'll see."
A police detective returning to his Midwestern hometown is confronted by an unending stream of new crimes when he'd rather be investigating an old mystery close to his heart. Read full book review >
TWO DAYS GONE by Randall Silvis
FICTION & LITERATURE
Released: Jan. 10, 2017

"Beneath the momentum of the investigation lies a pervasive sadness that will stick with you long after you've turned the last page."
A Pennsylvania police officer digs deep, then still deeper, into the mystery of an inexplicably slaughtered family. Read full book review >
FOR TIME AND ALL ETERNITIES  by Mette Ivie Harrison
FICTION & LITERATURE
Released: Jan. 10, 2017

"Linda might make a comforting companion for devout Mormon women struggling with their leadership and history. Other readers, though, are likely to find the prose ham-fisted and didactic, the mystery unsatisfying, and the solution downright offensive."
Mormon housewife Linda Wallheim grapples with her faith as she delves into underground polygamy in her third investigation (His Right Hand, 2015, etc.). Read full book review >
ADRIFT by Micki Browning
FICTION & LITERATURE
Released: Jan. 10, 2017

"Browning's debut can verge on cliché, and she seems reluctant to flesh out her supporting cast, but the main action of the story flows smoothly."
A dive gone wrong forces a normally grounded diver to open her mind to the possibility of supernatural interference. Read full book review >
A PERILOUS UNDERTAKING by Deanna Raybourn
FICTION & LITERATURE
Released: Jan. 10, 2017

"Although Raybourn's wit and whimsy veer dangerously close to the twee, you have to admire her self-sufficient heroine, who divides her attention so comfortably between lepidoptery and Victorian sexcapades."
An unconventional 19th-century sleuth and her equally eccentric sidekick uncover dark secrets of the upper class in this sequel to A Curious Beginning (2015). Read full book review >
Kirkus Interview
Clinton Kelly
January 9, 2017

Bestselling author and television host Clinton Kelly’s memoir I Hate Everyone Except You is a candid, deliciously snarky collection of essays about his journey from awkward kid to slightly-less-awkward adult. Clinton Kelly is probably best known for teaching women how to make their butts look smaller. But in I Hate Everyone, Except You, he reveals some heretofore-unknown secrets about himself, like that he’s a finicky connoisseur of 1980s pornography, a disillusioned critic of New Jersey’s premier water parks, and perhaps the world’s least enthused high-school commencement speaker. Whether he’s throwing his baby sister in the air to jumpstart her cheerleading career or heroically rescuing his best friend from death by mud bath, Clinton leaps life’s social hurdles with aplomb. With his signature wit, he shares his unique ability to navigate the stickiest of situations, like deciding whether it’s acceptable to eat chicken wings with a fork on live television (spoiler: it’s not). “A thoroughly light and entertaining memoir,” our critic writes. View video >