Head Case by Bonnie Traymore – #BookReview – #DomesticThriller

Book Blurb:

A heartbroken teacher in need of a change gets more than she bargained for in this page-turner thriller.

Never make a major life decision in the wake of emotional turmoil. Cassie Romano learned this the hard way, leaving sunny San Diego for a teaching position at a private school in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York after a painful break-up left her heartbroken and in need of a change.

It all seemed so perfect in June when she came to interview. But now it’s December, and she’s stranded on top of a mountain surrounded by snow, ice, and acres of wilderness, lonelier than ever and bored out of her mind.

When a fellow teacher turns up dead and Cassie receives an unsettling letter from her a few days later, it’s clear to Cassie that something twisted is going on at Falcon Ridge Academy. Everyone seems to be writing the death off as a tragic accident, but she’s not so sure.

Cassie has secrets of her own, though, so she’s initially reluctant to get involved. Torn between the urge to protect herself and the desire to investigate further, she decides on the latter.

And the consequences could be deadly.

His Review:

Kimi is excited to have a new position at a prestigious finishing school in the mountains of central New York. She is a little uneasy about the competition for the coveted position of Headmaster but feels she has an open path to the position. An assisted fall down a steep staircase shatters that dream and takes her life.

Teaching summer classes is always a pain. The students are less than motivated and some of them are here from foreign countries learning English as a second language. The passing of Kimi puts everyone on edge including the entire staff of the school. Such a tragedy, a young life dying in such a tragic accident. The question on everyone’s mind, “Was it an accident”?

Compensation is good for this position and housing and food are supplied to the educators. A year or two in the position and there will be enough saved to buy a house back in California. Cassie hates the winters in upstate New York and cannot wait to get back to the beaches of southern California. She will leave as soon as the winter break at the school commences but being one of the newer teachers she is stuck with staying and teaching the students who cannot go home for break.

Madeline wants to be the head of the school’s administration. She has worked towards this goal and will let nothing stand in her way! Kimi seemed to have an inside track to the position but Madeline feels better qualified and worthy of the title. Why should an upstart get this plumb when Madeline has worked so hard?

This tale embraces the politics of a small teaching institution that caters to the very rich and foreign students. The characters are well developed and the plot simple but tragic. Avarice is a terrible taskmaster. Mix that with a mental condition and you have the ingredients for an interesting and heartrending tale. 4 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Domestic thrillers, Psychological Fiction
Publisher: Pathways Publishing
ASIN: B0CGQ2QCMN
Print Length: 253 pages
Publication Date: September 23, 2023
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Author: Bonnie Traymore is the award-winning author of suspenseful, page-turner, domestic and psychological thrillers that hit close to home. Her books consistently hit the hot new release page on Amazon. Her thrillers have been described as entertaining page-turners. They aren’t overly graphic and sometimes include occasional touches of romance and humor, but all in service of a fast-paced thriller read. The plots touch on disturbing topics such as sexual assault, revenge, murder, psychological disorders, and the complexities of human behavior, so they aren’t exactly cozy either. She aims to entertain and engage readers, and maybe freak them out a bit, but not give them nightmares. FYI, she likes to include multiple points of view in her books. If you like that, her books might be for you.

Originally from the New York City area, she lives in Honolulu with her family but frequents Hudson Valley, New York City, and the Bay Area. She has been reading mystery and thriller novels her entire life, and she’s been writing short stories and non-fiction for decades. She is also an award-winning non-fiction writer, historian, and educator. She’s taught at top independent schools in Honolulu, Silicon Valley, and New York City, and she’s taught history courses at Columbia University and the University of Hawaii.

Mystery Writers of America, Active Member

International Thriller Writers, Active Member

Sanctuary Motel by Alan Orloff – #BookReview – #domesticthriller

A Mess Hopkins Novel

Book Blurb:

Mess Hopkins, proprietor of the seen-better-days Fairfax Manor Inn, never met a person in need who couldn’t use a helping hand—his helping hand. So he’s thrown open the doors of the motel to the homeless, victims of abuse, or anyone else who could benefit from a comfy bed with clean sheets and a roof overhead. This rankles his parents and uncle, who technically still own the place and are more concerned with profits than philanthropy.

When a mother and her teenage boy seek refuge from an abusive husband, Mess takes them in until they can get back on their feet. Shortly after arriving, the mom goes missing and some very bad people come sniffing around, searching for some money they claim belongs to them. Mess tries to pump the boy for helpful information, but he’s in full uncooperative teen mode—grunts, shrugs, and monosyllabic answers. From what he does learn, Mess can tell he’s not getting the straight scoop. It’s not long before the boy vanishes too. Abducted? Run away? Something worse? And who took the missing money? Mess, along with his friend Vell Jackson and local news reporter Lia Katsaros, take to the streets to locate the missing mother and son—and the elusive, abusive husband—before the kneecapping loansharks find them first.

His Review:

Mess has been charged with running the motel while his parents are seeing the world. Problem is, Mess has a heart of gold and no business sense. His benefactor realized this was the case and left a manager at the motel to keep Mess in line.

Mess hates to see abused women and is always trying to give them a place to stay to avoid abusive relationships. The abusers are not happy with his benevolence. Escaping the beatings and abuse is not easy for the victims and Mess is risking his own life at times to aid these unfortunates.

The Fairfax Motor Inn is not exactly the pride of Fairfax and a refuge for the desperate. His current charges are a battered woman and her son. The son, Kevin, is not happy with the situation and causes many problems but Mess decides that he will protect the mother and save her son.

The rub is that the mother does not want to be saved either. There are those who seem to feel that the two might be hiding a bag of cash and now both mother and son have disappeared. Things could get messy indeed.

C E Williams This book is a fun read about a do-gooder and a fifteen-year-old dropout. Anyone tasked with raising a fifteen-year-old never-do-well will identify! Enjoy! 4.5 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. These are my unbiased opinions and mine alone.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Domestic Thrillers, Noir Crime
Publisher: Level Best Books
ASIN: B0C8BPCN5N
Print Length: 301 pages
Publication Date: October 24, 2023
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Author: Before Alan stepped off the corporate merry-go-round, he had an eclectic (some might say disjointed) career. As an engineer, he worked on nuclear submarines, supervised assembly workers in factories, facilitated technology transfer from the Star Wars program, and learned to stack washing machines three high in a warehouse with a forklift. He even started his own recycling and waste reduction newsletter business. Now he writes fiction.

Alan Orloff’s debut mystery, DIAMONDS FOR THE DEAD (Midnight Ink), was a 2010 Agatha Award Finalist for Best First Novel. He’s written two books in the Last Laff mystery series, KILLER ROUTINE and DEADLY CAMPAIGN (also from Midnight Ink), and writing as his darker half Zak Allen, he’s published three books: THE TASTE, FIRST TIME KILLER, and RIDE-ALONG. His novel, RUNNING FROM THE PAST, was one of the initial Kindle Scout selections.

His novel, PRAY FOR THE INNOCENT, won the 2019 ITW Thriller Award for Best E-Book Original.

His novel, I KNOW WHERE YOU SLEEP, was a Shamus Award Finalist for Best First PI Novel.

HIs YA thriller, I PLAY ONE ON TV, won both the Agatha Award and Anthony Award for Best Children’s/YA Mystery.

His short fiction has appeared in numerous publications, including JEWISH NOIR, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, CHESAPEAKE CRIMES: STORM WARNING, Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Mystery Magazine, WINDWARD, SNOWBOUND, LANDFALL, SEASCAPE, and MASTHEAD (BEST NEW ENGLAND CRIME STORIES 2016 – 2020), THE NIGHT OF THE FLOOD, MYSTERY MOST GEOGRAPHICAL, GUNS + TACOS, and MICKEY FINN: 21st Century Noir, Volumes 1 and 3.

His flash fiction story, “Happy Birthday,” was nominated for a 2018 Derringer Award, and his story, “Dying in Dokesville,” won a 2019 Derringer Award.

His story, “Rent Due,” won the 2021 ITW Thriller Award for Best Short Story, and “Rule Number One” (SNOWBOUND, Level Best Books) was selected for the 2018 edition of THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES anthology, edited by Louise Penny.

He loves arugula and cake, but not together. Never together.

Alan can be followed/stalked on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/alanorloff) and Twitter (@alanorloff). For more info, visit http://www.alanorloff.com

Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister – #Audiobook Review – #domesticthrillers

Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Book Blurb:

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK

Can you stop a murder after it’s already happened?

Late October. After midnight. You’re waiting up for your eighteen-year-old son. He’s past curfew. As you watch from the window, he emerges, and you realize he isn’t alone: he’s walking toward a man, and he’s armed.

You can’t believe it when you see him do it: your funny, happy teenage son, he kills a stranger, right there on the street outside your house. You don’t know who. You don’t know why. You only know your son is now in custody, his future shattered.

That night you fall asleep in despair. All is lost.

Until you wake . . .

. . . and it is yesterday.

And then you wake again . . .

. . . and it is the day before yesterday.

Every morning you wake up a day earlier, another day before the murder. With another chance to stop it. Somewhere in the past lies an answer. The trigger for this crime—and you don’t have a choice but to find it . . .

My Review:

Ouch! My head is spinning again and trying to grasp the new reveal. Now all I have to do is connect it to the previous reveals and then stack them in the proper order.

I’m a tried and true fan of the time travel premise. In this novel, a mother witnesses her son committing a murder. Shocked beyond comprehension, no way her son could have done this. She absolutely could not allow that to happen. Murder a stranger. Go to prison.

No.

Granted, I listened to the audiobook—more difficult to stop it to take notes—particularly when working out in the garden. So for the life of me, I cannot remember how, HOW in the world—what was it that occurred–to make her wake the next morning—a day before the murder.

Yeah, but it doesn’t end there. And each time she goes back—not necessarily the day before that—her investigation gets deeper and deeper and begins to uncover more shattering truths.

The twists keep coming. The reader has little chance to digest the last revelation when he/she is side-swiped with the next. But my gosh—the whole narrative? I’m not a terribly patient person and by three-quarters into the book was anxious just to get to the bottom of the whole thing; at this point so far from anything you might have imagined.

“But knowing the future is worse than not knowing. Isn’t it?

I can imagine the author’s plot line was probably written on an entire roll of butcher paper—how to keep all of this straight? Details missed, then grasped. How to explain away this whole phenomenon, an expert, becomes her go-to. A way to keep her sanity.

I must admit to becoming impatient with the protagonist–a mother who will stop at nothing to get to the bottom of the story—to rewrite history. The only way to prevent a catastrophe—change the circumstances leading to the event. The author’s careful devotion to her main character—driven almost beyond reason. The husband comes off empathetic and believable, a strong support character.

The hook reels in the reader and doesn’t slow the pace often, so it’s important to pay attention—no distractions from the audiobook. The tension is set, the tone turns dark, and then starts the twists, tumbling in one after the other. Not a mystery to try and predict. Best to just allow the storyline to flow to conclusion, which by the way is satisfying but did not answer all my questions. Good job, Gillian, I’m left just slightly off-balance!

I received a complimentary review copy of this audiobook from my locally well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Book Details:

Genre: Domestic Thrillers, Suspense
Publisher: HarperAudio
ASIN: B09PSNQYYR
Listening Length: 10 hrs 7 mins
Narrator: Lesley Sharp
Publication Date: August 2, 2022
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: Wrong Place Wrong Time [Amazon]
Barnes & Noble

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

The Author: Gillian McAllister is the Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author of the following novels:

Everything But The Truth (2017)

Anything You Do Say (2018) called The Choice in America

No Further Questions (2018) called The Good Sister in America

The Evidence Against You (2019)

How To Disappear (2020)

That Night (2021)

Wrong Place Wrong Time (2022)

All are standalone and can be read in any order.

Her latest release is Wrong Place Wrong Time, available now and selected for the Radio 2 book club and was the Reese’s Book Club August ’22 pick. It debuted at number 4 on the Sunday Times Bestseller List and number 2 on the New York Times Bestseller List. She has been selected for the Richard & Judy Book Club, the Radio 2 Book Club and is published in over 25 languages.

You can find her on Twitter and Instagram @gillianmauthor and at http://www.gillianmcallister.com.

Audiobooks

Dark Rivers to Cross: A Novel by Lynne Reeves – #BookReview – #domesticthriller

Book Blurb:

For fans of Hannah Mary McKinnon and Kimberley Belle, this emotionally charged thriller explores long-buried family secrets and the deadly reckoning that often follows their explosive reveal.

For two decades, Lena Blackwell has kept her sons at her side, teaching them everything she knows about running their successful river lodge in Northern Maine. But what she really wants is to keep her boys in the dark about their tragic past.

Her son Luke is right where he belongs, working at the family inn sheltered by acres of pine forest that stretch along the Penobscot River. So when his adopted brother, Jonah, threatens to upend their peaceful life by searching for his biological parents, Luke refuses to help.

Lena is determined to thwart Jonah’s search to uncover his own history. But the unexpected arrival of old friends at the inn for a weekend off the grid throws her plans into disarray. Little does she know, Jonah has already gleaned enough information to set in motion a deadly reckoning.

Luke may not want to know anything about his family, but he’s caught between the hard truths his brother is determined to expose and the devastating secret his mother is desperate to keep—at any cost.

Dark Rivers to Cross sensitively explores inherited trauma and the stories we tell the ones we love. It’s about what one mother is willing to sacrifice for her children.

His Review:

Escaping an abusive relationship is never easy! It was particularly difficult for Lena because her husband was a very well-respected surgeon. He seemed to have a split personality and in the quiet of their home, he abused her violently. Escape was the only way she could save her life and the lives of her unborn twins.

She escaped with a couple of suitcases into the upper concourse of the Penobscot River with her two new babies. She told everyone they were adopted and that their ages were different. A small hunting lodge with a few cabins was the childhood for her two boys. She called them Luke and Jonah and their male role model was a very understanding older man who sheltered the family.

Finally, her husband was required to take a psychiatric evaluation because of his erratic behavior. Subsequently, he was committed to a facility for his affliction. Underneath he hoped he could find her as hate and revenge became his primary motivators.

The boys grew up in a supportive and healthy environment. They were required to assist in the maintenance of the facility and also to make sure that the canoes and row boats were clean and serviceable for the guests of the lodge. Luke was content with the status quo but Jonah wondered who his birth parents really were.

Lena wanted both boys to go to college; Luke was interested but Jonah deferred to stay at the lodge and help with the day-to-day activities. The schism between the brothers leads to a number of adventures and ultimately their exposure when their father is still seeking revenge.

This is an entertaining tale of life in the mountains near the upper Penobscot River. The tension builds throughout the narrative and I was very involved in the overall tale and story. Enjoy the ride! 4 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: DomesticThrillers, Small Town & Rural Fiction
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
ASIN: B09S3F5WS2
Print Length: 288 pages
Publication Date: November 8, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Links: Dark Rivers to Cross [Amazon]
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: LYNNE REEVES GRIFFIN is a novelist and a nationally-recognized expert on family life.

Writing as LYNNE REEVES, she’s the author of the domestic suspense novels, DARK RIVERS TO CROSS (Crooked Lane Books, November 8, 2022) and THE DANGERS OF AN ORDINARY NIGHT (Crooked Lane Books, 2021).

Writing as LYNNE GRIFFIN, she’s the author of the novels, GIRL SENT AWAY (SixOneSeven Books, 2015), SEA ESCAPE (Simon & Schuster, 2010) and LIFE WITHOUT SUMMER (St. Martin’s Press, 2009).

Lynne has written the nonfiction parenting guide NEGOTIATION GENERATION (Penguin, 2007). She teaches writing at Grub Street Writers. She has written short fiction, essays, and articles for Parenting Magazine, Writer Magazine, Psychology Today, Chautauqua Journal, Solstice Literary Magazine, Brain, Child, and more.

To learn more about Lynne, visit http://www.LynneGriffin.com or follow her at https://twitter.com/Lynne_Griffin and https://www.instagram.com/lynnereevesgriffin/.

rustic bookshelves

Family Money by Chad Zunker – #BookReview – #crimethrillers

Family Money by Chad Zunker

Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Book Blurb:

A dead man’s secrets put a family in peril in a twisting novel of suspense by the Amazon Charts bestselling author of the David Adams series.

Alex Mahan is married to his high school sweetheart, Taylor. They have two daughters and a beautiful home, and Alex’s startup business is about to explode thanks to massive private funding from his compassionate and supportive father-in-law, Joe. With millions more to come, all is perfect—until Joe is abducted and murdered during a family trip in Mexico.

Alex’s world is about to be turned upside down. He can’t bear to tell his grieving wife why. The man they’ve both idolized has been keeping secrets. The pledged millions are nowhere to be found. The source of the original investment is a mystery, even to Joe’s financial adviser. No one, it seems, has any idea who the man they knew, loved, and trusted really was.

As Alex digs deeper into Joe’s shadowy life, the most shocking surprises are yet to come. Deadly ones, too, because every lie that Alex uncovers in Joe’s dark past puts his family in more danger.

His Review:

Everyone is excited to go on a fantastic trip to Mexico to see the pyramids with the whole family. The two young girls were totally spoiled by their grandfather. Joe is the type of man who couldn’t do enough for his family. He had been a little reticent to go but seemed to be really enjoying himself.

Then the enjoyment of one of the excursions was broken by Joe being abducted by three men! They put a blindfold over his head and pulled him into an old van. He mouthed the words, “Sorry Alex”! But Alex cannot save him and watched as the van disappeared around the corner.

The local police said they could help, but would they? Alex and family waited for a ransom call but none came. The local authorities soon gave up the search and rescue attempts. Alex is on his own to try and recover Joe and began a saga of heroic proportions. He kept his search a secret from his wife and mother-in-law because he didn’t want them to worry.

The story expands into international intrigue and the understanding of who Joe is takes on a whole new character. You will become involved in the seamy side of governments and clandestine operations. Enjoy the adventure and unbelievable lengths Alex employees to protect his remaining family. 4.5 stars – CE Williams

We’ve read two in the David Adams legal thriller series, the last one Book 3, Runaway Justice in December 2020 and find the author’s writing style engaging and well-paced. We received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are his honest opinions.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Domestic Thrillers, Crime Thrillers, Murder Thrillers
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
ASIN: B08SLW9ZL1
Print Length: 239 pages
Publication Date: March 1, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: Family Money [Amazon]
Barnes and Noble

The Author: CHAD ZUNKER is the author of the David Adams legal thriller, An Equal Justice, as well as The Tracker, Shadow Shepherd, and Hunt the Lion in his Sam Callahan series. Chad has worked for some of the country’s most powerful law firms and serves at Community First! Village, a 51-acre master planned community that provides affordable, permanent housing and a supportive community for men and women coming out of chronic homelessness. He lives in Austin with his wife, Katie, and their three daughters, and is hard at work on his next novel. For more information visit http://www.chadzunker.com.

Chill--It's Sunday

A Slow Ruin by Pamela Crane – #Audiobook Review – #domesticthrillers

A Slow Ruin by Pamela Crane

Book Blurb:

April 1910. Women’s rights activist Alvera Fields mysteriously vanishes from her home one night, leaving her newborn baby and husband behind, and the case is never solved.

April 2021. On the anniversary of her great-great-grandmother’s disappearance, Alvera’s namesake, Vera Portman, vanishes in an eerily similar manner. Six months later, the police recover a girl’s body. While the family waits, afraid to find out it’s Vera, Felicity Portman clings to hope that her missing teenage daughter is still alive. Despite all odds, Felicity senses a link between the decades-apart cases — a mother feels such things in her bones. But all suspicion points to the last person who saw Vera alive: Felicity’s sister-in-law, Marin.

Marin, with her troubled past. Marin, the poor woman who married into the rich family. Marin, the only one who knows Felicity’s darkest secret. As Felicity makes a shocking discovery in Vera’s journal, she questions who her daughter really is. The deeper she digs, the more she’s ensnared in the same mysteries that claimed their ancestor in a terribly slow ruin.

My Review:

Quite the domestic thriller that spans almost 100 years, from great-great-grandmother to great-great-granddaughter. What in the world could tie the two over the span of a century?

My first experience with the author; didn’t have any idea what to expect. However, this turned out to be twisty and emotional with several red herrings. First, women’s rights activist Alvera Fields mysteriously vanishes from her home one night—there is NO way she’d have left her husband, let alone her newborn baby.

Then her namesake, Vera Portman vanishes similarly. Her mother rabidly hopes that the body they find six months later is not Vera. The family is very wealthy, but it doesn’t appear to have been a matter of money.

When a journal is found written by Alvera, Felicity devours its contents hoping for some hint as to what might have happened to her daughter. SOOO much going on, family secrets, lies, deception, and the one that might include Marin—Felicity’s sister-in-law. The journal reveals much more than anyone could have expected.

I was glad to have the audiobook to help with the many characters, the inflections in dialogue, the hidden nuances. A family dynamic run amok with the circumstances, the suspicious character the reader doesn’t much like. Is the mother over the top? This IS her daughter after all…isn’t it?

I struggled with it, at times too much detail, minutia, slowing the pace, multiple threads. And the surprise in the conclusion, although at this point, was it really? It is a slow burn mystery, a tad too slow to keep my engagement at an edge of chair level.

I received a complimentary review copy of this audiobook from the publisher and NetGalley. These are my honest thoughts, but I’m sure there will be other readers who will be thoroughly entertained.

Book Details:

Genre: Domestic Thrillers, Psychological Fiction
Publisher: Dreamscape Media, LLC
ASIN: B09PQ6K6T2
Listening Length: 11 hrs 35 mins
Narrator(s): Angie Kane, Caitlin Cavannaugh, Lesa Lockford, Carolina Hoyos
Publication Date: February 1, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: A Slow Ruin [Amazon]

Rosepoint Publishing: Three-point Five Stars

The Author: PAMELA CRANE is a USA TODAY bestselling author and professional juggler of four kids, a writing addiction, and a horse rescuer. She lives on the edge and writes on the edge…where her sanity resides. Her thrillers unravel flawed women who are villainous, which makes them interesting…and perfect for doing crazy things worth writing about. When she’s not cleaning horse stalls or cleaning up after her kids, she’s plotting her next murder. Join her newsletter to get a free book and updates about her new releases at http://www.pamelacrane.com.

Rosepoint Publishing

The Darkest Web (Allison Barton Book 2) by Kristin Wright – #BookReview – #domesticthrillers

The Darkest Web by Kristin Wright

Book Blurb:

What is more dangerous? The lies she tells or the truth she’s hiding?

Jane Knudsen is an exceptionally private and intimidatingly beautiful workaholic attorney. Unflappable and cool, she’s the last person likely to suddenly snap and murder one of her firm’s senior partners. Yet she’s become the most likely suspect in the crime. She’s retained Allison Barton, her former law school roommate, to represent her. It’s Allison’s job to believe Jane, even if Allison never really knew her. No one did. Jane always made sure of that.

For Allison, getting close to her client now grows more complicated with each new development in the case. There may be other suspects in the victim’s orbit—his harried assistant, his wrathful wife, his overly attached daughter—but everything points to Jane’s guilt. She had opportunity, access, the weapon, and a motive—and she’s hiding something else. And Jane would rather go to prison for life than reveal the secrets that could save her.

But what secrets are worse than murder? And what will Allison risk to discover them?

His Review:

Being the most beautiful girl in the county is not all it is cracked up to be; especially if you have an abusive step-father and a mother who does not protect you at all. Jane is raised in that environment and is sold to all of her step-father’s friends and contacts at an early age. Her mother assists in making sure she is available for all who are interested.

Jane is so pretty guys are afraid to approach her. Other girls will not befriend her but rather put her down to augment their self-esteem. Child abuse from every angle estranges Jane from society. Her college years are just as oppressive as she has an on again/off again friend in Allison. They both have completed law school and are junior associates in the same law office. The boss is a tyrant and makes all of his junior’s lives miserable.

He is discovered dead in his office and the person who finds him is Jane. She is immediately suspected of being the killer. Allison works to defend her and their relationship slowly builds as they both realize they had misjudged the other.

Kristen Wright writes a very believable tale of prejudice and manipulation. Her development of the characters illuminates the flaws in both their characters. Understanding the cutthroat world of the law makes me very happy I chose another line of work. Managing partners take the majority of the settlements in the cases they are involved in and work the juniors 14 or more hours per day. Saturdays are just another workday. (Practicing law appears to be a bad career choice.)

This eye-opening saga left me surprised at the law profession and the lengths lawyers will go to enrich themselves and burn their junior associates. Read this book and see if you agree with my assessment while being thoroughly entertained. 4.5 stars CE Williams

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Domestic Thrillers, Legal Thrillers
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
ISBN: ‎ 1542026350
ASIN: B0919RR68J
Print Length: 319 pages
Publication Date: April 12, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: The Darkest Web [Amazon]
Barnes and Noble

The Author: Kristin Wright is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School and has simultaneously been a small-town general practice lawyer handling criminal defense and the vice president of the elementary school PTA. She lives in Virginia with her husband, sons, and two beagles. For more information about the author visit http://www.kristinbwright.com.

Have a great weekend!

Poison Pen (Claudia Rose Forensic Handwriting Mysteries Book 1) by Sheila Lowe – #BookReview – #DomesticThrillers

Poison Pen by Sheila Lowe

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

“IT WAS FUN WHILE IT LASTED.”

Those were the words on the suicide note found near Lindsey Alexander’s body. The police say it is an apparent suicide. Case closed.

Or is it?

Ivan, Lindsey’s partner, disagrees. He hires forensic handwriting expert Claudia Rose to poke around.

Motives for murder begin to pile up. Lindsey had made powerful enemies. Soon, a brutal attempt on Ivan’s life confirms Claudia’s fears.

A desperate enemy is lurking.
There is a massive target on Claudia’s back.

Claudia must join forces with intense LAPD detective Joel Jovanic to survive. They must stop the killer before the killer destroys her.

If you loved Simon McLeave’s A DI Ruth Hunter Crime Thriller series, you would most certainly love Sheila Lowe’s masterfully written forensic mystery thriller series.

His Review:

“Handwriting is similar to body language and tone of voice in that it reveals a lot of information about the writer.” Much scientific research has gone into this area of study. Handwriting can identify the writer and many of their mental characteristics. Claudia is an expert in that field. Could a suicide note supposedly written by the deceased actually have been written by another?

Ms. Lowe identifies the study of handwriting with the acumen of an investigator or artist painting a portrait of the author by the sample. Comparing the suicide note to known examples of the victim’s handwriting can quickly expose that a crime was committed. The topic goes much deeper however. Handwriting actually exposes various idiosyncrasies hidden in the psyche of the writer.

When a crime has been committed, the perpetrator will try to alter his/her handwriting. What better way than to print in block letters rather than write a note? Not a bad plan except for one little problem.

This particular note was uncharacteristic of the deceased. Unlike DNA or other clues, handwriting does not have a national database or another repository of historical evidence to draw from. I was impressed by the author’s description of the lengths a good handwriting analyst must go to; the types of letters, flowery curlicues, or rigidity, clearly identify a particular personality.

I suggest anyone with a desire to become a detective read this tome. It illuminates basic personality characteristics and styles the average person would never consider. Kudos to the author! Engaging and entertaining. 5 stars from CE Williams

We received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are his honest opinions.

Book Details:

Genre: Domestic Thrillers, Women’s Crime Fiction, Mystery Series
Publisher: Write Choice Ink
ASIN: B08WQ36GFP
Print Length: 350 pages
Publication Date: February 22, 2021
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: Poison Pen [Amazon]
Barnes and Noble

The Author: Sheila Lowe writes stories of psychological suspense that put ordinary people into extraordinary circumstances. Like her fictional character Claudia Rose in the award-winning Forensic Handwriting series, Sheila is a real-life forensic handwriting expert who testifies in court cases. She also writes the Beyond the Veil paranormal suspense series and nonfiction books about handwriting and personality.