Category Archives: Mystery and Suspense Titles

Burying The Hatchet By Chris Well

Earl Walker is an elderly, wheel-chair-bound, amateur sleuth who is determined to prove the innocence of his new pastor. When Earl’s new pastor meets with a psychic for a public meeting, the pastor leaves the room and the psychic is found dead – the pastor is arrested for the crime.

Earl is feeling his way through Christianity and detective work in this novel. He’s a Christian, but still new to the scriptures. In his heart, he feels his pastor is innocent of this crime, and he’s determined to prove this fact. In the midst of his detective work, Earl is falling in love with Gloria, a dear elderly friend. He also consorts with a young woman named Jenny whom he nicknames “College”. As the threesome attempt to solve the murder, they keep running into the town’s deputy who accuses them of interfering with a federal investigation.

A lot of other things happen in this story – some church members want to oust the pastor since he’s been arrested for killing a psychic. There’s an author (Page) in town who’s trying to get the lead for his next book and Earl joins forces with Page since Page has already done a lot of research about the serial killings of elderly people in the area.

This book was a light, slightly humorous, enjoyable read. It also was interesting to read a novel from the viewpoint of an elderly person. I don’t see a whole lot of novels being published with older protagonists.

Ironically, this book touched upon some subjects that I’ve been blogging about lately. The disappearance of Philip was mentioned as well as the dangers of psychics.

Overall a good read that I’d highly recommend.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Someone To Blame By C.S. Lakin

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Someone To Blame by C.S. Lakin

This book reminded me of Terri Blackstock’s novels. The chapters were short, suspenseful, and moved quickly. Irene, Matt, and Casey (The Moore Family) is suffering from a recent double tragedy. To help deal with their grief, they relocate to a small beach town called Breakers. Each member of the Moore family deals with their recent grief in their own way. Casey wears her deceased brothers’ clothing, wanting to keep their memory alive. Matt can’t stop thinking about the past, and what he could’ve done to prevent the senseless deaths.

When a new young guy comes to town named Billy Thurber, life in the quiet beach town becomes unsettled. A rash of robberies occur and there are several instances of vandalism. Meanwhile, young, vulnerable Casey Moore finds herself drawn to Billy. Could Billy be responsible for the recent ruckus in the small town?

Someone To Blame depicts a realistic journey to faith as we seek answers to our never-ending questions about life and death. I enjoyed this book immensely because it realistically shows how a family deals with grief and forgiveness. The fast-moving suspenseful threads made this book a page turner. I recommend it as a good read. Many thanks to the author for giving me a free review copy of this novel.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Congrats To Irene Hannon – RITA Award Winner

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Congrats to Irene Hannon for winning the RWA Rita Award in the Inspirational category! You can see a list of all of the Inspirational category nominees here. Here’s information about Irene’s winning title:

In Harm’s Way

by Irene Hannon

FBI special agent Nick Bradley has seen his share of kooks during his fifteen years with the Bureau. But Rachel Sutton is an enigma. She seems normal when she shows up at the FBI office in St. Louis–until she produces a tattered Raggedy Ann doll she found and tells him she thinks something is wrong because of a strange feeling of terror it gives her when she touches it. Nick dismisses her, only to stumble across a link between the doll and an abducted child, setting in motion a chain of events that uncovers startling connections–and puts Rachel’s life on the line.
Filled with palpable suspense and a touch of romance, In Harm’s Way is the final installment of the thrilling HEROES OF QUANTICO series.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

The Ambition By Lee Strobel

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The Ambition by Lee Strobel

As promised in yesterday’s blog post, here’s my review of The Ambition.

Is it possible for a church to get so big, and gain so much power, that it affects the actions of that church’s head pastor? Do you think if you led a huge church, would your heart still be grounded in preaching the gospel, or, would your faith falter as greed took over your personality?

Reverend Snow, the head pastor at the huge Diamond Point Fellowship church, has made a big announcement – he’s stepping down as pastor so that he can run for office. His peers are stunned, including Art, his assistant pastor. Meanwhile, as the story progresses, a strange series of events occur at this church, newsworthy events about miraculous healings. Snow wants to keep quiet about these miracles – he doesn’t want the public to view him as a religious freak.

The story also involves a lawyer, Tom O’Sullivan, with a gambling problem who comes to one of the members at Diamond Point for help. Can Tom put his apprehensions aside and lean on Christ? His gambling is overtaking his life, making him miserable, resulting in his making some traumatic decisions that affect the lives of others.

There’s also a journalist involved, Gary Strider. His live-in relationship is on the rocks because his girlfriend has been recently saved. He starts investigating Diamond Point – what kind of a church is this? The large auditorium certainly does not look like a church.

There’s also elements of mystery, intrigue, and murder woven into the story as the characters work through their issues – issues that involve God, Diamond Point church, as well as the political race.

This book was interesting and I found myself turning the pages, wanting to see what happened next. As I stated in yesterday’s blog post, I really liked the fact that the author had healing miracles in the story – that’s something I rarely see in Christian fiction nowadays – at least the miracles I’ve read about in the past aren’t shown the way this author portrayed in The Ambition.

If you like action and adventure-filled Christian fiction, then you should give this book a try.

Again, is it possible for a church to get so big, and gain so much power, that it affects the actions of that church’s head pastor? Do you think if you led a huge church, would your heart still be grounded in preaching the gospel, or, would your faith falter as greed took over your personality?

Leave your response in the comments.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Showdown By Ted Dekker

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Showdown by Ted Dekker

Welcome to Paradise.

Epic battles of good and evil are happening all around us.

Today that battle comes to town with the sound of lone footsteps clacking down the blacktop on a hot, lazy summer afternoon. The black-cloaked man arrives in the sleepy town of Paradise and manages to become the talk of the town within the hour. Bearing the power to grant any unfulfilled dream, he is irresistible.

Seems like bliss . . . but is it?
Or is hell about to break loose in Paradise?

***This review has a few minor spoilers.

I decided to take a break from my normal reading material to read this Ted Dekker book that’s been sitting on my shelf for awhile. I purchased it from the discount rack at Booksamillion awhile ago.

Paradise is a small, sleepy, boring town…until the new preacher, Marsuvees Black, arrives. Once Black enscounces himself within the town, he puts the entire Paradise population under his spell, with the exception of a young boy named Johnny. Johnny has witnessed Black murdering another citizen, and he can see the true colors of Black’s haunted personality. Johnny is scared, and he wants to save Paradise from Black, whom he considers a devil-like creature.

Wait a second. Do you like inspiring books? You must read Southern Comfort. It’s a haunting faith-filled tale. Tell your friends and church buddies by sharing this link. Download today! On Kindle & KU! Now, back to Showdown.

Meanwhile, up in the hills, a monastery is performing an experiment: Project Showdown. If the monks and teachers can keep a group of orphans separated from society and evil, will those children only be destined for goodness once they are released into the world, therefore becoming citizens of strong faith which could be an advantage to the rest of mankind? These orphans are not supposed to go into the dungeons, but Billy, one of the orphans, decides to break that rule after he comes under Black’s influence. As other orphans follow Billy’s footsteps, you’re drawn into a story where child writers are mesmerized by worms, worm sludge, and fictional characters. Samuel, another orphan, finds himself in the unique position of trying to sway his peers to go against evil to attempt to find their way back to the way of goodness and light.

This story did draw me in, and I thought it had a phenomenal Christian message. It shows how easily one can be swayed into evil, and while in the Devil’s evil clutches, you’re brainwashed, no longer thinking that things like murder and violence against innocent people are wrong in God’s eyes.

However, some parts of the book were utterly gross. When the kids are in the dungeon, and their flesh is destroyed by an evil rash with sores, they use worm sludge to treat their afflicted skin. Huge worms haunt the dungeon, multiplying while providing sludge treatments for the children. When the children eat the sludge…just gross is all.

Great violence and harm comes to one of the monastery’s children. It was hard for me to read about this…it just was. Although the story comes together at the end, this part will probably be hard to get through if you’re a sensitive reader.

If you like a good read with lots of supernatural elements, then this book is for you.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Fatal Judgment By Irene Hannon

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Fatal Judgment by Irene Hannon
From the Back Cover
U.S. Marshal Jake Taylor has seen plenty of action during his years in law enforcement. But he’d rather go back to Iraq than face his next assignment: protection detail for federal judge Liz Michaels. His feelings toward the coldhearted workaholic haven’t warmed in the five years since she drove her husband–and Jake’s best friend–to despair . . . and possible suicide.

As the danger mounts and Jake gets to know Liz better, he’s forced to revise his opinion of her. And when it becomes clear that an unknown enemy may want her dead, the stakes are raised. Because now both her life–and his heart–are in danger.

Full of suspense and romance, Fatal Judgment is a thrilling story that will keep you turning the pages late into the night.
==
Federal Judge Liz Michael’s life has taken a strong blow. Her sister, who was temporarily staying with her, has been murdered and Marshal Jake Taylor is assigned to protect Liz – what if her life is in danger, too? At first, Liz doesn’t think her life is in danger, after all, Liz’s sister, Stephanie, was hiding at Liz’s, trying to heal emotionally and physically from the abuse that her husband has inflicted upon her. She’s pregnant, and she didn’t want her abusive husband to hurt their unborn baby. When she’s shockingly murdered, Liz thinks the abusive husband has shot her sister.

However, Stephanie’s husband’s grief seems too raw, and too real. The marshalls conclude that Stephanie’s husband can’t be the one who shot her…that’s when they begin to assume the shooter shot the wrong woman – Liz may have been his intended target.

Throughout this story, both Liz and Jake’s faith is tested as Liz is taken into seclusion for her own safety. Jake finds himself smitten with Liz. Liz was his deceased college roommate’s wife, and Jake thought she was a cold, unfeeling workaholic, after awhile Jake finds that he’s been getting the wrong information about Liz.

Meanwhile, Jake has his own grief. He’s still struggling with the guilt he harbors for his wife’s death. He holds himself responsible and hasn’t forgiven himself for her tragic accident.

While a lunatic plots to kill Liz, both Jake and Liz grow closer as Jake hopes not to fail in this assignment.

This book was a real page-turner and I highly recommend it for those who enjoy good, romantic suspense. I was up late into the night reading this novel, and it’s rare for me to stay up past my bedtime reading a book nowadays! You really feel for the characters – and the way the villian was portrayed was haunting – he could’ve been your next door neighbor and you wouldn’t have suspected he was plotting to kill. Overall, a very good read.

Many thanks to Baker/Revell for providing me with a free review copy.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Intervention by Terri Blackstock

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Intervention by Terri Blackstock
Barbara Covington has one more chance to save her daughter from a devastating addiction, by staging an intervention. But when eighteen-year-old Emily disappears on the way to drug treatment—and her interventionist is found dead at the airport—Barbara enters her darkest nightmare of all.

Barbara and her son set out to find Emily before Detective Kent Harlan arrests her for a crime he is sure she committed. Fearing for Emily’s life, Barbara maintains her daughter’s innocence. But does she really know her anymore? Meanwhile, Kent has questions of his own. His gut tells him that this is a case of an addict killing for drugs, but as he gets to know Barbara, he begins to hope he’s wrong about Emily.

The panic level rises as the mysteries intensify: Did Emily’s obsession with drugs lead her to commit murder—or is she another victim of a cold-blooded killer?

This book is an awesome example of motherly love. Barbara is still grieving over the loss of her husband from a couple of years ago. Her spouse’s death has caused her daughter, Emily, to “act out” and get addicted to drugs. Emily’s behavior has gotten so bad that Barbara finds that she has to stage an intervention to save her child. The interventionist arrives and Emily freaks out, not wanting to hear the letters that her mother and her brother have written about her irratic and destructive behavior. However, once Emily arrives via plane, with the interventionist at the airport where the drug recovery center is located, minutes later, the interventionist is found dead and Emily is missing.

In spite of Emily’s reputation being harmed since the press identifies her as the apparant killer, Barbara knows better. She knows her daughter would never kill, in spite of her recent drug addictions and strange behavior. Barbara is determined to find her daughter, her gut telling her that her child is still alive. Her fourteen year old son Lance also helps with trying to find his sister, not believing his sibling is capable of murder.

This book takes a strange twist as we learn about a detective’s lack of faith in God, and about a demented doctor’s quest to get revenge against the drug recovery facility that “killed” his daughter.

As with Blackstock’s books, this was a suspenseful read that you won’t want to put down – a real page turner.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Rooms By James Rubart

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Rooms by James Rubart

On a rainy spring day in Seattle, young software tycoon Micah Taylor receives a cryptic, twenty-five-year-old letter from a great uncle he never knew. It claims a home awaits him on the Oregon coast that will turn his world inside out. Suspecting a prank, Micah arrives at Cannon Beach to discover a stunning brand new nine-thousand square foot house. And after meeting Sarah Sabin at a nearby ice cream shop, he has two reasons to visit the beach every weekend.

When bizarre things start happening in the rooms of the home, Micah suspects they have some connection to his enigmatic new friend, Rick, the town mechanic. But Rick will only say the house is spiritual. This unnerves Micah because his faith slipped away like the tide years ago, and he wants to keep it that way. But as he slowly discovers, the home isn’t just spiritual, it’s a physical manifestation of his soul, which God uses to heal Micah’s darkest wounds and lead him into an astonishing new destiny.

I got this book as a free Kindle download awhile ago. I don’t own a regular Kindle. I have the free Kindle for PC. Hopefully, I’ll own a Kindle by Christmas! 🙂

I found this book somewhat appealing since I’m a big fan of The Twilight Zone. This show was on before I was born and I watch reruns on New Year’s and Fourth of July almost every year.

Rooms reminded me of one long Twilight Zone episode. The book was somewhat intriguing and I wanted to see if Micah and Sarah ended up together at the end and I also wanted to see the outcome of Micah’s faith journey. This book has a great inspirational message that I believe most readers of Christian fiction would love.

Micah is shocked when rooms start appearing in the house he’s inherited from his crazy Uncle Archie. He goes to bed and wakes up and sees a room that was NOT in the house the day before! Although I thought the concept was interesting, during the first half of the book, I felt the situation was somewhat repetitious as Micah found room after room after room…the same situation over and over again. Also, when Micah talks to the mysterious voice (his own voice/alter ego), I felt it was a little bit repetitious too, hearing Micah talk and reason with himself.

Also, when the book talked about the parallel universe, it kind of reminded me of another sci-fi type book entitled Eli. I read Eli several years ago and I recall the book dealt with a parallel universe.

I was kind of puzzled about why Rooms was compared to Dekker’s and Peretti’s book House. Rooms was intriguing, the way the Twilight Zone is intriguing because you’re dealing with supernatural/unexplainable elements, but I didn’t find the book scary at all.

I wanted to see what happened in the book, but I found the writing to be corny. I felt the dialogue was somewhat clichéd and some of the situations that were supposed to be serious felt somewhat contrived to me. Also, I noticed the author used dated references like: Popeye, Foghorn Leghorn, and Candid Camera for example. I’m not sure younger readers would get the gist of what the author was talking about with the dated references.

This book does show you that you can’t rely on riches and wealth, only your faith in God, the one and only true God, to save you.

I think the story would’ve been more powerful if Micah ran a company that was distasteful to a lot of Christians, like, a porn company or an illegal company. I think the message would have come through better if Micah ran a company like that, and then learned that his ways were distasteful to the Lord? I think it was hard for me to grasp that Micah gave up his software company for God…almost making the reader feel that the author is pointing out that riches are distasteful to God, even if they are legal, like Micah’s software company.

This book was outside my regular genre of pleasure reading (romance, women’s fiction, regular suspense) but overall, Rooms was an interesting story and you’ll want to know what happens at the end.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Final Touch By Brandilyn And Amberly Collins

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Just started this book yesterday and it’s a good, riveting read. It’s a short book and I’ll be posting my review soon.
~Cecelia Dowdy~

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old…or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

Today’s Wild Card authors are:

Brandilyn Collins and Amberly Collins

and the book:

Final Touch (Rayne Tour, The)

Zondervan (May 7, 2010)

***Special thanks to Krista Ocier of Zondervan for sending me a review copy.***

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Brandilyn and Amberly Collins are a mother/daughter team from northern California.

Brandilyn Collins, known for her trademark Seatbelt Suspense, is the bestselling author of Violet Dawn, Coral Moon, Crimson Eve, Eyes of Elisha, and other novels.

Visit the Brandilyn’s website.

Amberly Collins is a college student in Long Beach, California, majoring in marketing. She’s active in her Alphi Phi sorority and dotes on her Yorkie puppy, Bear.

Here’s a video about the first book in the Rayne Series:

Product Details:

List Price: $9.99
Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Zondervan (May 7, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 031071933X
ISBN-13: 978-0310719335

Press the browse button to view the first chapter:

Dawn’s Light By Terri Blackstock

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Dawn’s Light by Terri BlackstockPaperback: 411 pages
Publisher: Zondervan (May 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0310257700
ISBN-13: 978-0310257707
In the face of a crisis that sweeps an entire high-tech planet back to the age before electricity, the Brannings face a choice. Will they hoard their possessions to survive—or trust God to provide as they offer their resources to others? #1 bestselling suspense author Terri Blackstock weaves a masterful what-if series in which global catastrophe reveals the darkness in human hearts—and lights the way to restoration for a self-centered world. As the Pulses that caused the outage are finally coming to an end, thirteen-year-old Beth Branning witnesses a murder. Threatened by the killer, she keeps the matter to herself. But her silence could cost her life. Meanwhile, as Deni’s ex-fiance returns to Crockett with a newfound faith and the influence to get things done, Deni is torn between the man who can fulfill all her dreams and Mark Green, the man who inhabits them. As the world slowly emerges from the crisis, the Brannings face their toughest crisis yet. Will God require more of them than they’ve already given? How will they keep their faith if he doesn’t answer their prayers?

This book continues Terri Blackstock’s saga that involves all of the world’s electronics and electricity – both segments cease to work, leaving people scrounging for food, water, and survival since there is no way to transport food and there is no heat or electricity to cook or clean. People still struggle to survive, but the book opens with the lean times getting a bit better, the banks open and customers are allowed to withdraw 2% of the balance shown on the last printed bank statement they received. Thirteen year old Beth Branning sneaks to the bank to see the action, and instead finds herself the witness to a brutal murder. The murderer threatens Beth and her family if she mentions what she’s seen that day. Scared, Beth suffers in silence while her family struggles to understand what kind of demons are haunting her.

Meanwhile, Deni Branning is falling in love with Mark, a Christian neighbor. When Deni’s unsaved ex-fiance, Craig, surpisingly appears from Washington, he makes a big announcement: He’s saved now, and he wants to court Deni again. Deni is torn – Craig has major pull in Washington and he might have the power to get all of the lights in their district turned back on before the others since the Pulses is now over and in a matter of time, things could be back to normal.

When Beth is hurt, Craig comes to the rescue, and Deni is somewhat drawn to Craig’s newfound kindness. What should she do?

I thought the ending to this book was bittersweet. I think I would have had a somewhat different ending. I thought the book was enjoyable and it was a quick fast read that held my interest.

I also noticed that this book alters the way that I think about some things. Like, when my son doesn’t finish his food on his plate, and I throw it away, I remember how the characters in Terri’s books are starving and about how they’d enjoy the food that I’m tossing in the garbage! I know that’s weird, but I think it’s because we’re a land of plenty, but wouldn’t realize it until a crises of this magnitude were to happen, and it would change our attitudes and perceptions about life drastically.

I reviewed the other three novels in this series, here, here, and here.

I emailed Terri Blackstock to ask her some questions about this series and she responded:
How did you come up with the Restoration Series idea?
I came up with the idea when we were all preparing for Y2k (the turn of the century). We thought computers would crash and our power grid would fail. The whole thing captured my imagination. When it didn’t happen, I decided to create an event like that on my own.

Did you lose power and wonder what would happen …?
While I was writing Night Light, Book Two, Katrina hit my state. My power was out for several days, and we had to sit in line for three hours or more to get gas, so I was kind of thrust into the world I was writing about. It turned out to be great research and helped me with the rest of the series.

I hope that helps. Thanks for asking, and for blogging about the series.

You’re welcome, Terry, and I really enjoyed the series! You provided me with several hours of reading pleasure!

~Cecelia Dowdy~