Mystery Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: Automatic Stay by Mark Shaiken

Author Mark Shaiken delivers a character-driven battle between history and finance in Automatic Stay, the second installment of his 3J Mystery series, a nuanced legal thriller that is also a love letter to Kansas City, celebrating the diversity of history, architecture, music, and culture that makes the city shine.

In an attempt to revitalize the music scene of Kansas City, the wealthy Rapinoes boldly invested in jazz clubs and the money kept rolling in, until Covid crippled the country and shuttered stages – a setup for an incredibly timely mystery. Their ambitious businesses and venues took a major hit, […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2022-09-29T11:03:33+02:00September 12th, 2022|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Mystery Book Reviews, Thriller Book Reviews|

Old Sins by Lynne Handy

Author Lynne Handy weaves a dark and stormy tale in Old Sins, the third ominously addictive novel in the Maria Pell Mystery Series.

Maria Pell once again finds her new home ominously plagued by death, which then draws her into the tangle of solving a spreading cliffside mystery. Despite being focused on summoning new words and poetic emotions in a much-needed cottage escape, Maria is pulled into the murder of a young woman, Bridget, which dredges up her own past trauma of discovering “Baby Doe.” What follows is an investigation of coincidence with diligence that would make Miss […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2022-08-23T09:19:28+02:00August 23rd, 2022|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Mystery Book Reviews, Thriller Book Reviews|

Review: A Disturbing Nature by Brian Lebeau

A deep, character-driven mystery, A Disturbing Nature by Brian LeBeau is a patient maze of a novel, leading readers on a grim journey through suspicion, murder, and obsession.

Mo is a quiet and mysterious young man with a mind that never caught up to his impressive size, and a lifetime of taunts and tragedies that never leave him. Even as he starts a new chapter at Bryant College as a groundskeeper, where for the first time “independence is not equated with exile,” the jagged pieces of his past are impossible to leave behind. Unfortunately, new surroundings don’t mean an end […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2022-08-05T05:38:04+02:00August 4th, 2022|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Mystery Book Reviews, Thriller Book Reviews|

Sealed With A Lie by Brett Monk & McKenna Langford

Brett Monk and McKenna Langford do not disappoint with the thrilling continuation of their Moms Who Lie series, Sealed with a Lie.

This installment delivers mystery and action in equal measure as the main characters must unravel family secrets and murderous plots, in an expertly crafted whodunnit. Driven by a cadre of fascinating characters, their backstories sometimes go back decades, impacting the events unfolding in this small town, with the narrative hopping from one point of view to another, which adds layer upon layer to the mystery.

Readers will be easily drawn into the many angles of this complex […]

SPR2023-01-09T14:27:35+02:00June 24th, 2022|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Mystery Book Reviews, Thriller Book Reviews|

Murder Is Revealing by Michelle Corbier

An amateur sleuth uses her knowledge of crime novels to solve her friend’s murder in Michelle Corbier’s Murder Is Revealing, an engrossing mystery about shady business deals and dishonest scams.

Widower Dr. Myaisha Douglas started seeking solace in writing after her husband’s death; she’s a prominent member of the Greensboro Women of Color Writing Group, as well as a local physician. When a college friend, successful realtor Candace Knight, becomes financially involved in the group and announces that she’s published a novel completely out of the blue, Myaisha is pretty suspicious. However, events are about to take an even […]

Michelle Hogmire2022-04-22T08:12:35+02:00April 22nd, 2022|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Mystery Book Reviews|

Review: Looks Are Deceiving by Bill VanPatten

The tight-knit small town of Mañana, CA is turned upside down by a cruel hate crime in Bill VanPatten’s Looks Are Deceiving, a mystery novel featuring an endearing amateur sleuth and timely conversations about racism and homophobia in contemporary America.

Will Christian is a 49-year-old aspiring writer and gay Latino man who moved to Mañana to live closer to his sister. Everything is going swimmingly until he sets out for a bike ride in late June and makes a grim discovery: the body of a young man, subject to severe blunt force head trauma, a 22-year-old who also happens to […]

Michelle Hogmire2022-04-07T03:00:16+02:00February 24th, 2022|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: LGBTQI+ Book Reviews, Mystery Book Reviews|

Review: The Cosmic Killings by Thomas J. Thorson

Author Thomas J. Thorson delivers a gripping Malcolm Winters mystery with his latest installment, The Cosmic Killings.

A young Amish girl is found dead at a zoo during her Rumspringa adventure, and while the Chicago PD are shrugging it off as random violence, there is something decidedly strange about this monkey house murder. Mal and Vinn, mild-mannered professors once again moonlighting as reluctant sleuths, find themselves diving into the mysterious and tight-lipped realm of the Amish, hunting for clues and hints as to why someone would want to remove a bone from the young woman’s forehead. When a second body […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2022-02-10T03:50:52+02:00December 22nd, 2021|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Mystery Book Reviews, Thriller Book Reviews|

The Church Murders and the Cat’s Prey by F. Della Notte

The third installment of the thrillingly unpredictable Housekeeper Mystery Series, The Church Murders and the Cat’s Prey by F. Della Notte is a wild, bullet-riddled ride.

Navigating the assassination attempt of her dear friend Father Melvyn, Mrs. B. is back in the hunt for the would-be killer with quiet determination, wicket wit, and her feline-boosted sleuthing skills. The crime hits close to home, and brings her even closer to Detective Jake, adding strong emotional tension to an already taut narrative.

Balanced well between bursts of action, lightbulbs of discovery, intimate moments of reflection, and meticulously written dialogue, Della Notte […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2021-11-08T05:15:24+02:00November 8th, 2021|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Mystery Book Reviews|