Dark Lava (Lei Crime, Book 7) – a #BookReview

Dark Lava - a Lei Crime Novel by Toby Neal

Title: Dark Lava (Lei Crime, Book 7) by Toby Neal

Genre: Currently #1712 on Amazon Best Sellers Rank in Kindle eBooks, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Mystery, Police Procedurals

Publication Date: July 7, 2014

Source: BookBub

Title and Cover: Dark LavaCover obviously depicts lava flow

I started reading the Lei Crime series back in 2014 with book 1, Blood Orchids, and have loved them all. Lei Texeira is a damaged but strong female protagonist. I’ve followed her journey in the Maui (Hawaii) Police Department as she’s climbed through the ranks. Along the way, she met Michael Stevens, also with the MPD. Their relationship was explosive, but they were obviously meant to be a couple. In book 7, they are newlyweds (finally!) and extremely committed to each other as well as their work. But Lei’s work has found her being volunteered for the bomb squad and that’s not a match that’s working well.

This installment sees Stevens participate in a much larger proportion of the story, while a parallel storyline follows Lei. In addition to the cases each encounter individually, they are met with major life-changing situations on both sides. On Stevens side, the baggage he brought with him into the relationship following their reuniting. On Lei’s side, her own family matters and the predicament presented by Stevens recent history. And that’s in addition to an underlying threat to them both regarding her previous police work.

Ms. Neal always incorporates scenes of Maui, the flora and fauna, the sights of the ocean’s unrelenting waves glistening in the sun, and the patois of the local population putting you square in the middle of the action. Information about the island and the native peoples figure heavily in this installment with Stevens investigation into the desecration of priceless artifacts.

Lei has progressed well through the series installments, becoming stronger, more confident, and less neurotic. The characters that surround Lei were well developed in previous installments, have become solid fixtures, and are beginning to feel like old friends–including her FBI contact and previous partners. Stevens is a confident, self-assured, partner. I particularly enjoy their large and sweet Rottweiler, Keiki.

Blood Orchids - A Lei Crime Novel by Toby NealI received this download from BookBub and appreciated the opportunity to read and review. I’ve enjoyed this series and watched the characters grow. Each book brings new surprises, fascinating tidbits about our fiftieth state and leaves you looking forward to the next in the Lei Crime series. (This was no exception, although somehow I jumped to book 9, so I’ll have to go back and pick up no. 8.) If you haven’t discovered Toby Neal and her Hawaii-based novels and the Lei Crime series, you owe it to yourself to give them a try. Start with Blood Orchids.  Recommended for all who enjoy mysteries, thrillers and suspense, women sleuths, and police procedurals.

Rosepoint Publishing:  Four point Five of Five Stars 4.5 of five stars

Toby Neal - authorThe Author: Award-winning, USA Today bestselling social worker turned author Toby Neal grew up on the island of Kaua`i in Hawaii. Neal is a mental health therapist, a career that has informed the depth and complexity of the characters in her stories. Neal’s police procedurals, starring multicultural detective Lei Texeira, explore the crimes and issues of Hawaii and are so popular that they’ve spawned a licensed fan fiction world on Amazon.

Neal focuses on mystery, but also writes romance and a line of apocalyptic romance thrillers, the Scorch Series, with Emily Kimelman.

Get two FREE award-winning Toby Neal books by signing up at: http://www.subscribepage.com/TobyNealNews

©2018 V Williams V Williams

Dying Truth – a #BookReview

Dying Truth by Angela MarsonsTitle: Dying Truth (Detective Kim Stone Crime Thriller Series Book 8) by Angela Marsons

Genre: Currently #36 on Amazon Best Sellers Rank in Mystery, Thrillers & Suspense, Crime, Serial Killers, and #47 in Mystery/Police Procedurals, AND an Amazon Author ranking of #4 in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Mystery, Police Procedurals

Publisher: Bookouture

Publication Date: Happy Publication Day – May 18, 2018

Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title and Cover: Dying TruthDark, compelling

OMG, maybe it’s good I’ve never been wealthy! In this, the 8th in the DI Kim Stone series, the reader is introduced to life for the super elite school child. These privileged kids go to Heathcrest Academy. Education for uber snobs–maybe, but not all of them–there are some who have not been enrolled in money. And kids can be cruel. But I digress… Continue reading “Dying Truth – a #BookReview”

#ThrowbackThursday – author Rick Mofina – Book Review

#ThrowbackThursday

Renee began the Throwback Thursday meme on her blog, It’s Book Talk to share some of her old favorites as well as sharing books published over a year ago. Sounded like a good reason to join! I am touching on some of my oldies but goodies, favorite authors, and favorite stories. Hopefully, you’ll find either a story or author that interests you and you’ll check them out. And, if you’d like to join the fun, you’re welcome to use Renee’s pic from her website. Just provide the link back to her please).

Cold Fear by Rick MofinaThis week I am highlighting Rick Mofina, another terrific, prolific author who wrote Cold Fear, which I reviewed on Goodreads. He has actually written a number of other books, including this series. This novel was published by Carrick Publishing on December 8, 2012.

Originally posted July 12, 2014

Book Blurb:

In the remote, rugged corner of Montana’s Glacier National Park known as the Devil’s Grasp, little Paige Baker of San Francisco disappears with her dog, Kobee, while on a camping trip with her family; or so her mother and father have told authorities.
A multi-agency task force launches a massive search as Paige fights to survive in the wilderness. Time hammers against her and soon the nation is gripped by the life-and-death drama.
Secretly, behind the scenes, the FBI grows suspicious of Paige’s parents. Their recent history and disturbing evidence links them to a horrible secret from the past.

My Review:

Little city girl Paige Baker runs into the woods with her dog, Kobee, to find her mother–and gets distracted by a chipmunk who captures the dog’s attention as well. Unfortunately, this was preceded by an unusually loud and emotional fight between her father and mother. The mother shouldn’t have been much farther down the trail, but the chipmunk didn’t go that way and neither did Kobee or the child.

Father Doug thinks mother Emily has the child and vice versa. The San Francisco family is visiting the remote heavily wooded northern area of Glacier Nat’l Park known as Devil’s Grasp to finally put to closure a catastrophic event that happened when Emily was a girl. The disappearance of Paige, however, suddenly opens secrets that will bear on the event that enveloped Emily 22 years ago. Mother and Father must work together to solve their daughter’s disappearance as well as coordinate with authorities who suspect the parents.

While there are a number of scenes that push the curtain of credulity, especially that of a 10-year-old under-prepared child surviving 5 days in grizzly infested mountains (much less with a beagle in tow), to the wild final scenes of antagonist Isaiah Hood, the story becomes complicated and includes a number of twists you don’t see coming.

In between lay some fascinating insights into the wide and varied characters, the very believable dialogue between the characters, as well as the self-talk and recriminations of each of the persons connected to the ever-expanding and eventually world-wide on-going drama lived out in the beautiful Big Sky country of Montana. While I had a little problem believing the parents could be quite that forgiving of Frank Zander, I thought all the loose ends were tied up very neatly and closed out the story well and happily as you kept rooting for Paige to survive.

I received this free download from BookBub and appreciated the opportunity to read and review. Definitely keeps your attention and I can recommend to those who enjoy thrillers.

Rick Mofina - authorAbout the Author:

Rick Mofina is a former journalist and an award-winning author of several acclaimed thrillers. His reporting has put him face-to-face with murderers on death row in Montana and Texas. He has covered a horrific serial-killing case in California and an armored car-heist in Las Vegas, flown over Los Angeles with the LAPD Air Support Division and gone on patrol with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police near the Arctic. He has reported from the Caribbean, Africa and Kuwait’s border with Iraq. His true-crime articles have appeared in the New York Times, Marie Claire, Reader’s Digest and Penthouse. Mofina’s books have been published in 8 languages and 16 countries.

More Throwback Thursday Blogs

Renee at Its Book Talk

Jill at Jill’s Book Cafe

Rebecca at The Book Whisperer

Lynn at Fictionophile

Sam at Clues and Reviews

Holly B at Dressedtoread

Deanna at DeesRadReads and Reviews

Amanda at Literary Weaponry

Annie at The Misstery

Mischenko at Read Rant Rock and Roll

Laurie at Cozy Nook Books

Ann Marie at LItWitWineDine

©2018 V Williams I Love Likes and Comments--Please Share!

An Eye For An Eye – a Book Review

An Eye For An Eye by Caroline FardigTitle: An Eye For An Eye (an Ellie Mathews Novel book #2) by Caroline Fardig

Genre: Currently #2077 on Amazon Best Sellers Rank in Kindle eBooks, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Mystery, Police Procedurals

Publisher: Amazon Digital Services LLC

Publication Date: To be released January 23, 2018 – Happy Publication Day!

Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title and Cover: An Eye For An Eye – Cover depicts scene from book

Ellie Matthews switched to teaching at her local college after leaving her criminalist position with former partner Detective Nick Baxter. Ellie carries a lot of baggage and prefers the quiet, quasi-anonymous position of the college professor. Then one of her sister’s college friends goes missing and she finds herself thrust right back into the fray. This is the second in the series. Continue reading “An Eye For An Eye – a Book Review”

Bury the Past – a Book Review

Bury the Past by James L'EtoileTitle: Bury the Past: A Detective Penley Mystery by James L’Etoile

Genre: Currently #6197 on Amazon Best Sellers Rank in Kindle eBooks, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Mystery, Police Procedurals

Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

Publication Date: To be released December 12, 2017

Source: Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley

Title and Cover: Bury the Past – Cover hints jail cell block behind title letters

I admit that the setting of Sacramento, California (unusual venue) caught my eye and drew me into downloading this offering from the author and Crooked Lane Books as we lived there almost 45 years. When we moved to Sacramento, it was a low key state capital with Sac State (where hubby was to graduate), and had two active air bases that became important to me after he joined the Navy rather than be inducted into the Army in the middle of Viet Nam. It was a quiet, unpresupposing little town; certainly not the wild, graft-riddled hub of degradation depicted here. (Yes, I suppose we were young and naive.)

Bury the Past follows Sacramento Police Detectives John Penley and Paula Newberry as they investigate stolen street drugs and a homicide that appears connected. The first chapter begins the investigation into the homicide and quickly leads to a conspiracy that includes dirty cops and an old takedown. Continue reading “Bury the Past – a Book Review”

#AmReading – Bury the Past by James L’Etoile

Bury the Past by James L'Etoile

Welcome to my #AmReading feature! I am highlighting an author and their book currently visible in the “Fair Weather” widget celebrating blue skies, following seas, and my Goodreads (currently reading) list.

This week I am presenting James L’Etoile and his book Bury the Past: A Detective Penley Mystery. I received an ARC from the publisher Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley. The book will be released on December 12, 2017. Amazon classifies the novel as a police procedural, thriller & suspense, and crime and is 320 pages.

I will be presenting my review in the next couple of days, but in the meantime, here is the Continue reading “#AmReading – Bury the Past by James L’Etoile”

Outside the Wire – a Book Review

 

Outside the Wire by Patricia SmileyTitle: Outside the Wire (a Pacific Homicide #2) by Patricia Smiley

 

Genre: Currently #4329 on Amazon Best Sellers Rank in Books, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Mystery, and Police Procedurals

 

Publisher: Midnight Ink

 

Publication Date: To be released November 8, 2017 – Happy Release Day!

 

Source: Midnight Ink and NetGalley

 

Title and Cover: Outside the Wire – Love the cover–striking colors

 

Outside the Wire features Davie Richards as a LAPD Homicide Detective. At last–a female protagonist not damaged beyond saving or sporting model-like height and classic features! Her Kung Fu will worry no one, but she is packing. This lady sounds real and with her years on the force as an officer and detective, she has history. This is the sophomore release of this series by Ms. Smiley and is an intelligent, thoughtful, and reflective narrative on our military back from ‘Nam. (Some fared better than others. Few were exempt from memories best left in the jungle.) Continue reading “Outside the Wire – a Book Review”

Trace by Archer Mayor – a Book Review – Police Procedurals

Trace by Archer MayorTitle: Trace (Joe Gunther Series #28) by Archer Mayor

Genre: Currently #95 on Amazon Author Rank for Kindle eBooks, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Mystery, Police Procedurals

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Publication Date: To be released September 26, 2017

Source: Minotaur Books (St. Martin’s Press) and NetGalley

Title and Cover: Trace – Cover reflects a piece of the plot

Oh man–not again?! Here I am reading #28 of the Joe Gunther series, Trace. When I accepted the book didn’t realize there were 27 others in the same series out there. But, no problem! It is very likely that the protagonist, Joe Gunther, has been very well fleshed out in prior units. In this novel, we get just a snippet of Joe, and even that much makes him a person of empathetic character. You can tell he’s a good man. Continue reading “Trace by Archer Mayor – a Book Review – Police Procedurals”

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