Interview with Daryl Wood Gerber (The Son’s Secret)

Article and Interview by Elise Cooper The Son’s Secret by Daryl Wood Gerber is not the type of story her readers are used to. Instead of gardens, tea shops, and fairies flying around, she has ventured into suspense and mystery. This story explores the complex mother-adult son dynamic. Parents will relate to the main character understanding the fine line between being hovering to being supportive and caring. Plus, the anxiety that every parent goes through when their children do not …

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Interview with Yasmin Angoe (Not What She Seems)

Article and Interview by Elise Cooper Not What She Seems by Yasmin Angoe is a very suspenseful domestic thriller that will keep readers on their toes. The plot has the heroine, Jac Brodie, leaving home when she was twenty-two years old. She comes back after a family tragedy, where she must confront her tortured past―and a new danger in town that no one seems to understand but her. After years of self-exile, Jacinda “Jac” Brodie is back in Brook Haven, …

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Interview with Fiona Barton (Talking to Strangers)

Article and Interview by Elise Cooper Talking to Strangers by Fiona Barton is the second book in the series. This one involves three women out for the truth, all will be narrators in the story. Police detective Elise King is assigned to investigate the murder of local hairdresser Karen Simmons. Before her death, Simmons ran a singles group called the Free Spirits, and King immediately sets her sights on the men Simmons was dating. The author humanizes the detective by …

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Interview with Mary Burton (Another Girl Lost)

Article and Interview by Elise Cooper Another Girl Lost by Mary Burton has suspense, intrigue, and mystery. This plot will keep readers wondering if her characters are like the ones in the book Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn or are they real heroines, especially after the victim becomes a suspect. Ten years ago, fifteen-year-old Scarlett Crosby was held captive in a terrifying ordeal with a girl named Della. Scarlett escaped, their predator was killed, and Della simply vanished. A decade …

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Interview with Lisa Childs (Last Mission)

Article and Interview by Elise Cooper Last Mission by Lisa Childs is the finale to the Hotshot Heroes series. Those who like the characters will be saddened that they will not be able to read any more stories about them. In this one the hero is Mack McRonney, retired from military Special Ops. After his brother and sister were targeted by the saboteur, he decides to go undercover to find the culprit, working for the Hot Shots. Also, trying to …

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Interview with Joanna Schaffhausen (All the Way Gone)

Article and Interview by Elise Cooper All the Way Gone, the fourth book in the Detective Annalisa Vega series, delves into the world of sociopaths, wondering if there is such a thing as a good one. The plot has newly minted private investigator Annalisa Vega hired by Mara Delaney who insists that some sociopaths are beneficial to society. Mara has even written a book titled The Good Sociopath centered around Chicago neurosurgeon Craig Canning, surgeon. But Mara is now concerned …

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Interview with Alyssa Maxwell (Murder at the Elms and Murder at Vinland)

Article and Interview by Elise Cooper Each of Murder at the Elms and Murder at Vinland by Alyssa Maxwell intertwines a mystery within an historical novel. The setting is the turn of the century Newport where during the Gilded Age there is vast income and a power disparity. The main character, Emma Cross, is the “poor Vanderbilt” having inherited some money from the famous family. But she is an anomaly because she is independent and a working journalist who owns …

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Interview with Shelley Shepard Gray (A is for Amish)

Article and Interview by Elise Cooper A is for Amish by Shelley Shepard Gray has a premise where four English siblings with Amish grandparents are seriously thinking of becoming Amish. They are discontent with their lives and long for a change. Beth, Jonny, Kelsey, and Martin Schrock had their father leave the Amish faith, marry an English woman, and then had their parents get divorced. The parents were pretty much doing their own thing, searching for their own happiness, and …

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Interview with Patricia Johns (An Amish Country Reunion and Her Pretend Amish Beau)

Article and Interview by Elise Cooper An Amish Country Reunion by Patricia Johns centers around two people and one very special dog. The heroine, Trooper Genevieve Austin, arrives at the State Police K9 Training Center. She learns that she’ll be reporting to her former partner, Sergeant Scott Simpson who was not just her partner but her best friend. Gen hasn’t seen Scott since he ghosted her to protect his job. And after her own struggles to climb the ranks, she …

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Interview with Mary Alford (Ambush in the Mountains)

Article and Interview by Elise Cooper Ambush in the Mountains by Mary Alford a story of second chances, forgiveness, self-healing, compassion, unbridled trust, friendship, love, and redemption. As with most of her books she uses the weather as a character. Like the previous book, this book dealt with the dark subject of human trafficking in a compassionate and informative way. The opening scene in the story has Elizabeth Wyse remembering her Amish roots when she enjoyed the snow. At 18 …

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