Bloody Genius by John Sandford

May 18, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Bloody Genius by John Sandford
Publisher: Putnam
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Fern

At the local state university, two feuding departments have faced off on the battleground of science and medicine. Each carries their views to extremes that may seem absurd, but highly educated people of sound mind and good intentions can reasonably disagree, right?

Then a renowned and confrontational scholar winds up dead, and Virgil Flowers is brought in to investigate . . . and as he probes the recent ideological unrest, he soon comes to realize he’s dealing with people who, on this one particular issue, are functionally crazy. Among this group of wildly impassioned, diametrically opposed zealots lurks a killer, and it will be up to Virgil to sort the murderer from the mere maniacs.

When the police stall on their investigation into the murder of a doctor from the local state university, Virgil Flowers is called in to stir the pot. Initially reluctant, Virgil soon uncovers a whole host of clues – each one seemingly more bizarre and random than the last. Can Virgil and the police work out what’s really going on?

I’m a big fan of both the Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers series and this is another excellent book. I frequently find the Virgil based books are a little more lighthearted – and often nearly ludicrous – and wasn’t disappointed. This book doesn’t push the realms of reality too far, but I have to admit that readers looking for a serious, or intense plotline might not find what they’re after here. There is very much a tongue in cheek feeling to these books and while the plot is twisty and interesting I’m not sure anyone could really call it serious.

That said, I did love how as a reader I could tell items were linked together but it was oblique enough it was almost impossible for me to sort through what was relevant and what was a red herring. This kept me both entertained and deeply interested in reading more to find out how everything was connected – or not – and what had really been going on. While the focus really was on Virgil and some new police characters there was plenty of cameos and assistance from regulars like Davenport, Jenkins, Capslock and Shrake so I feel long-time readers of the series should also find this book deeply satisfying.

A fun, slightly frivolous and strongly written mystery book, this is a great series and an excellent addition. Recommended.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Audit This! by Anne Kane

May 15, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Audit This! by Anne Kane
Publisher: Changeling Press
Genre: Erotic Romance, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

No matter how you add the numbers, Nick is one hunk of an auditor!

When government tax auditor Nick finds himself obsessed with the work of romance author Khloe Matters, there’s only one thing to do. Audit her! But getting a closer look at the author in her own home just makes him switch his obsession from the writing to the writer.

When he accompanies her to a writers’ festival, things heat up in a hurry. Neither of them is being entirely honest, and as the weekend progresses so does the hilariously tangled webs of deceit as each of them seeks to further their own agenda.

Anything is possible in a hotel room.

This was an excellent example of how to explore the enemies to lovers trope between two characters who are instantly attracted to each other. Despite the disagreements between them, I genuinely bought the idea that Nick and Khloe could be a great match due to how carefully these scenes were written and how hot the chemistry was between them. Kudos to Ms. Kane for putting so much effort into those early scenes that established why these two had such a mixture of feelings about each other.

I would have liked to see a little more time spent exploring the conflicts between Khloe and Nick. The solutions to them made sense, but I was slightly surprised by how the characters reacted to what could have been bigger issues depending on how one thought about them. Had another scene or two of discussion been included, this would have been a five-star read for me.

A great sense of humor is something I love discovering in the erotic romance genre, and there were plenty of laughs to be found here. Trying to attend a professional work conference while also entertaining a new love interest leaves a lot of room for good-humored conversations along the way, especially when said love interest also happens to be one’s auditor. The playful dialogue was a great addition, and I would have happily read an entire novel’s worth of conversations between these two.

Audit This! was a funny and sexy tale.

Filed Under: Erotic Romance, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

OldTown: Fly, Sparrow, Fly by A. K. Frailey

May 14, 2026 By Leave a Comment


OldTown: Fly, Sparrow, Fly by A. K. Frailey
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Rhona Dewar takes her niece, Syn, into her home after a tragic accident. Together, they discover the healing powers of nature, dedicated kindness, and disarming honesty. Cultural identity, mystery, and humor bring this family drama to life.

On her sixteenth birthday, Syn’s brother, Andy, gave her a secret gift: an ancestry DNA test. As he suspected, the results proved that she was not their father’s daughter and carried not an ounce of Asian blood. Though she had her mother’s Scottish heritage, her father was a mysterious Venezuelan. Was she the child of an unrevealed love affair? Since Syn consistently outperformed him scholastically, Andy uses the discovery to punish Syn, slyly teasing her about her unusual intelligence. In a desperate desire to protect her parents’ marriage, Syn hides her feelings and the test results.

After Rhona and her husband take Syn into their home, suspecting deeper wounds than the ones caused by the accident, they learn the truth about Syn’s parentage. Rhona confronts her sister, Nia, and the forthcoming revelations astound her. Supported by her husband, the revealed talents of townspeople haunted by their own shadowed pasts, and a sense of earthy humor, Rhona navigates turbulent family and community issues. The poem, Fly, Sparrow, Fly, guides Rhona as she helps her niece fly free from the painful misconceptions that have held her bound.

Acknowledging the truth is the first step to becoming free.

Relationships between friends and various family members can be complex at times, and Ms. Frailey did a good job of exploring both the best days these characters shared with each other as well as the worst ones when they struggled to understand each other’s perspectives. There was a nice balance here of wholesome moments and more serious disagreements between certain characters depending on which scene was currently unfolding, and sometimes both happened at almost the same moment!

I struggled with the slow pacing, especially as it pertained to how much time it took for Syn receive the results of her ancestry DNA test and realize that she wasn’t actually biologically relate to her father. While I appreciated the character development that happened along the way, my interest levels did begin to wane as more chapters went by without the main conflict coming into focus. It would have been helpful in my opinion to either have Syn discover this family secret much earlier on or for additional conflicts to be introduced early on to keep the characters busy until the big reveal.

There were some interesting plot twists later on that added extra layers of meaning to earlier scenes. They fit the themes well and made a great deal of sense based on what I’d already learned about the characters. Will other readers see them coming in advance? It’s hard to say, but I liked how naturally they flowed into each other and into the storyline in general.

OldTown Fly, Sparrow, Fly was thought provoking.

Filed Under: Mainstream Fiction, Reviews Tagged With: , , ,

A Trinity of Chosen – An Age of Avarath by JP Behrens

May 12, 2026 By Leave a Comment


A Trinity of Chosen – An Age of Avarath by JP Behrens
Publisher: Budget Shakespeare Aspirations
Genre: Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Billy has felt forgotten and invisible since the day his mother passed away. He tries to escape into the fantasy worlds of video games and books.

One day, while at the mall with his step-mother, they get into an argument and Billy runs away. She tries to give chase, but Billy loses her in the crowd. Before she can find him, reality shifts and Billy finds that no one can see or hear him any longer.

However, one blind girl by the name of Miranda can perceive him by his aura. She’s been trapped in the mall, invisible to the world, for over fifty years. Complications force them to flee the mall and enter the world of Avarath.

Together, with the help of Tuac, a carnivorous, affable giant, and Swift, a feral nine-year-old boy, they must confront their destiny as The Chosen of Avarath. While searching for a way home, they will influence a world.

But whether the change they bring will be good or ill, no one can say for sure.

Anything is possible with a little luck and effort.

Focusing on friendship was a great decision for these characters. Given that Billy didn’t know Miranda, Tuac, or Swift when the first chapter began, I was impressed by how close they all became later on. It’s not easy to weave such a thing together, especially when the protagonists are also attempting to survive in a dangerous world where many different types of creatures are actively hunting them down. Kudos to the author for understanding the importance of these relationships and spending so much time developing them.

I had trouble with the pacing of this novel. Some scenes sped by while others felt much slower to me due to the time spent on dialogue and descriptions of the unusual places the characters visited. While I preferred the faster pacing, I could have adjusted to something slower, too, if every chapter had been written that way. More than anything, switching between the two speeds was what interrupted my immersion in the plot and encouraged me to select a lower rating.

With that being said, the world building was strong and creative. Some aspects of it need to be kept out of this review for spoiler reasons, but I can say that I truly enjoyed the early scenes that showed how Billy shifted into this alternate reality while at the mall with his stepmother as well as the later descriptions of how dragon eggs were incubated and hatched. The inclusion of so many little details like these made this world come alive in my imagination and kept me reading despite my struggles with the pacing.

A Trinity of Chosen – An Age of Avarath was filled with adventure.

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , ,

A Word With The Dead by Rhys Dylan

May 11, 2026 By Leave a Comment


A Word With The Dead by Rhys Dylan
Publisher: Wyrmwood Books
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Fern

A body in the hills. A missing man. An unreliable witness.

When a drone uncovers a dead cyclist in the West Wales countryside, DCI Evan Warlow is pulled into a case where the clues are scarce, the suspects slippery, and the motive buried deep beneath layers of power and deceit.

From a silent hospital ward to a shadowy woodland path, this is a mystery that exposes more than murder—it unravels a community.

Gripping, atmospheric, and disturbingly relevant.

DCI Warlow and his team are called in to what is a suspected hit and run cyclist death. From that single point the case soon spirals out of control, leading to some dark and murky places, Can they uncover what’s happening in the small, remote town?

I have found this to be a really enjoyable Welsh police procedural series and I thought this was a very good addition. The team is well linked and cohesive – I think readers will easily enjoy the various characters and what they each add to the problem solving aspects of the case. While there is plenty of history between the characters I do still feel the plot of this story stands very well by itself. I feel readers might get more emotional attachment and enjoyment for having read the series, but that isn’t necessary to enjoy and pick this book up by itself.

A few of the personal life plotlines do tend to arc over numerous books, and while I feel that gives longer-term readers a better depth to the story the mystery plot is very well contained just inside this story. I also really enjoyed the slightly darker, gritter aspect of these Welsh stories. While the pace is slower and more of a police procedural style of story (as opposed to an action-orientated plot) there are some quite heavy and deeper issues that are brough forward so this isn’t a fuzzy or warm kind of “feel good” plotline.

With excellent characters and a realistic plot I found this to be a thoroughly enjoyable story and a series I am really liking. Recommended.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Let’s Fast Forward to the Good Stuff by GetChrissy

May 8, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Let’s Fast Forward to the Good Stuff by GetChrissy
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

No more waiting around. It’s time to fast forward to the good stuff!

Ross is the most impatient person you’ll ever meet. You don’t want to keep him waiting in line too long because things will get ugly, fast! He wants to zoom through life, and tired of all the waiting that comes along with it. He wants to speed things up a bit. One day, a weird woman leaves a mysterious package for him that will change his life forever. Ross is in for a magical journey which is powered by his thoughts, but soon things begin to take a bad turn. Ross is in for the craziest ride of his life that you don’t’ want to miss!

Excitement comes in many forms.

Ross was a fascinating main character whose flaws made me want to learn more about him even though I found his quick temper and impatience irritating. He had such a short-sighted view of the world that he was often blindsided by things a more rational and thoughtful person would probably be able to predict in advance at least occasionally. While I don’t know that I’d want to hang out with him in person until he’s matured a bit, he sure did make this tale a memorable one.

There were some plot holes involving the mysterious woman and the package she left for the protagonist that made it hard for me to follow the storyline at times. I had several questions about how her present worked and how she became aware of Ross’ existence that were never satisfactorily answered, especially given that the warning about what would happen if he overused it seemed to be brushed over in later chapters. As much as I enjoyed the playfulness of this story, these issues prevented me from choosing a higher rating.

I enjoyed discovering the wild scenarios Ms. GetChrissy came up with for her characters as they continued to play around with their newfound power and figure out what it could and couldn’t do for them. She had some imaginative and sometimes wonderfully frightening ideas about what this device could do and how someone who was impulsive might push the boundaries of how to use it while attempting to skip over all of the boring parts of his own life.

Let’s Fast Forward to the Good Stuff was creative.

Filed Under: Horror, Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Swept Away by Jo Hiestand

May 7, 2026 By 2 Comments

Swept Away by Jo Hiestand
Publisher: Cousins House
Genre: Mystery
Rated: 5 stars
Review by Rose

Dan Winter asks his friend, former police detective Michael McLaren, to discover what happened to his wife, Ellie, who disappeared on the third day of the couple’s holiday on Bow Island. Dan thinks she was swept away by rough ocean waves. Perhaps, but after three weeks there is no sign of her, alive or dead.

McLaren’s inquiry seems to be going along swimmingly until the police suspect Dan of killing Ellie and hiding her body. Now McLaren has to dive deeper for the truth. Was Ellie really swept away or did she disappear of her own volition, perhaps helped by a wildlife expert who knows all the hiding place on the island? Or there’s the Chaucer-spouting war veteran who seems eager to help with anything. Or did Dan actually murder her?

Once again we are back in the world of Michael McLaren, and there have been a lot of changes since my last visit with him. I will definitely have to find the time to go back and read this series from the beginning, because I absolutely love these characters and the growth I have seen in them through the few books I have had the chance to read and review (see below for the links to those).

As much as I have enjoyed the rest of the books, I have to say I think this is my favorite so far. They just keep getting better and better. Ms. Hiestand really conveys the desolation and the weather on Bow Island, and the list of characters/suspects leave the reader with several possible solutions. There are twists and turns that truly keep you guessing with every new bit of information that Mike discovers.

I can often figure out the solution, but Ms. Hiestand has me guessing right up until Mike’s explanation on this one. Good job! I love it when that happens.

I am looking forward to more books in this series, and I also want to delve into her other series.

Here are my reviews of other McLaren Mysteries:

An Unfolding Trap
The Cottage
Overdue
Related by Murder
An Unwilling Suspect

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

Bear Country by Mary Hallberg

May 6, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Bear Country by Mary Hallberg
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, Romance, Action/Adventure, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Woman versus nature

Casey doesn’t want to go on the camping trip. She’s not a big outdoors person, and would rather stay inside with her paintings — and her air conditioning. But it’s her high school graduation trip, and her mom is making her go.

When one of Casey’s classmates disappears during the night, the teachers and park rangers assume she’s at the library and aren’t concerned. But Casey’s crush, Trevor, isn’t so sure and wants to go looking for her. A handful of others agree to join him — including Casey, despite her disdain for the woods.

But the trek turns deadly when the group encounters the reason their classmate went missing — an enormous, predatory grizzly bear, hellbent on destroying everything in its path. Now Casey and her classmates must find their way back to civilization without becoming bear food.

Never turn your back on nature.

There were some entertaining plot twists along the way as Casey and her classmates attempted to outrun and outwit their pursuer. Readers who are already familiar with this genre may be able to predict some of them ahead of time, but this wasn’t something that relied on the element of surprise in order to shock and frighten its audience. Instead, it was the journey from beginning to end that mattered with the plot twists providing the characters extra opportunities to learn from their most recent attempts at escape and try something different the next time they were attacked. I thought that was a good way to prolong what could have otherwise been a much shorter work.

The explanation for why the bear was so strong and aggressive was what held me back from giving this book a higher rating. While there were a few hints shared about its possible origins, they were not developed enough for its behavior to make sense to me. Knowing this information was critical in order to understand why a bear would suddenly begin attacking so many humans in a busy national park, especially given that none of the attacks were provoked or included usual reasons for an animal to behave this way such as a mother protecting her cubs.

With that being said, I loved the man (and woman) versus nature themes. Most of the characters knew little to nothing about camping, hiking, or coexisting with apex predators in the wild, and they did make a few mistakes early on that more seasoned campers would have avoided. The plot explored both the fear of the unknown and the anxiety some people feel when surrounded by nothing but trees and wildlife. These are themes that aren’t included in the horror genre as much as I’d prefer to see, so I was thrilled to find them here.

I should note that this was a pretty gory read, just as it should have been given the subject matter. Fans of that type of horror, take note!

Bear Country kept me perched on the edge of my seat from beginning to end.

Filed Under: Horror, Reviews, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Alteration by Claire Ibarra

May 5, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Alteration by Claire Ibarra
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Margaret is an acclaimed fashion designer, devoted mother, keeper of order and elegance in a city that never slows. But one morning, she simply doesn’t get out of bed. She has the startling discovery that here, within her quilted sanctuary, life feels gentler, truer, and more alive.

What begins as a quiet rebellion becomes a daring experiment in stillness. From her antique four-poster bed, Margaret receives a parade of visitors – among them are her free-spirited best friend, fretful daughter, young neighbor, and even the echo of her late husband. As secrets and old wounds surface, she begins to confront painful truths.

With wit, wonder, and a sharp eye for the absurd, Alteration invites us to ask what happens when we stop merely performing and begin fully living — one unexpected revelation at a time.

Nothing can remain hidden forever.

Margaret was a multi-faceted character who evoked all kinds of conflicting emotions in me as I read about her. Sometimes her stubbornness irritated me while in other scenes I was gently surprised by how thoughtfully she approached the world around her. This was even more true when her definition of the world shrank to not only her apartment but eventually to her bedroom and nothing more.

I would have liked to see a stronger explanation for why the protagonist decided to spend all of her time in bed when this tale began. Honestly, I was expecting her to grapple with more conflict during her time there, so the list of what she was attempting to figure out never quite felt large enough to justify this choice for me. While they were no doubt important to her, I did find myself wishing that either more time had been spent exploring them or that she could have revealed a few additional things she was wrestling with that would help to explain her sudden withdrawal from the world. This was amplified by the fact that that this was set in late 2019 and early 2020, just before the Covid-19 pandemic spread widely enough that many cities began to shut down non-essential businesses and services temporarily.

The mystery was barely even a whisper in the beginning which made the gradual revelation of what it was and why it haunted Margaret so much even more appealing to me. I especially appreciated the later passages that showed what happened when she tried to discuss this topic with the authorities. It was definitely not a typical conversation, especially for this genre, and it illuminated not only the character flaws in the people participating in it but also some of the flaws of American culture when it comes to how justice is pursued and how people react to information that conflicts with their assumptions about how the world works. This is really all I can say on that topic without sharing spoilers, but it was thought provoking and one of the best scenes in this book in my opinion.

Alteration has piqued my curiosity about this author’s work, and I hope to read more of it soon.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Murder In The New Forest by Carol Cole

May 4, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Murder In The New Forest by Carol Cole
Publisher: The Book Folks
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Fern

A Scottish detective in England’s New Forest.

Detective Inspector Callum MacLean should be unpacking boxes in his new home. But when a man is run over and killed outside Godshill Village Hall, his week’s leave is cut short.

The victim, Brendan Stafford, was a retired lecturer from Birmingham. No one knows why he was attending a local village meeting in the middle of the New Forest on a freezing January night.

The post-mortem reveals Stafford was already dead before the car wheels struck him.

Everyone in the village seems to be hiding something — from the butcher to the forest keeper. Callum and his team must dig into old quarrels and quiet vendettas — and uncover secrets as tangled as the forest brambles.

DI Callum MacLean has newly arrived in rural Hampshire from the bustling city center of Glasgow and he immediately is drawn to the stark contrasts. Called onto his first murder investigation before he’d even official clocked on to his first day, Callum hits the ground running. Learning about his surroundings, his new team, the office politics as well as the locals, can Callum sort everything out in time?

I bought this new to me author and series on a whim and am very happy with the discovery. I feel this book stands very well on it’s own, and while it is absolutely a British Police Procedural with the slower mystery pace of the genre I still thought there were plenty of twists and red herrings to keep even more active readers engrossed.

I thought the author did a good job balancing between all the new information – a whole cast of new secondary characters, as well as the main protagonist and new scenery – but keeping the plot and mystery moving forward at a decent pace. There were no info-dump sections which I was grateful for and while there was a lot of explanations needed I didn’t find myself bored or skimming ahead.

I also enjoyed the fact that I managed to guess a few parts of the plot, but was delightfully surprised by a few twists and secrets that I hadn’t seen coming. This made me feel like there was a good amount of conflict and mystery but nothing so high level it’s impossible to figure it out until the main characters lead you there.

A lovely first book that I greatly enjoyed – I had already ordered the next in the series before finishing this one. I expect this to be a series I shall enjoy further in the future. Recommended.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,
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