Category Archives: Mystery and Suspense Titles

Interview With Author Sara Mills

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This is an interview done by Heartsong/Love Inspired author Cara Putman on her blog. I haven’t had the pleasure of reading Sara’s books yet, but I look forward to reading them in the future. I was saddened to hear about the death of Sara’s husband one week ago. He was only forty. Please keep Sara in your prayers and purchase her books! They sound like great reads, and I’m eager to give them a try! Here’s Cara’s interview:
This interview ran on Monday — and I just learned that Sara’s husband died of a heart attack on Tuesday. He was young — 40 — and I am so grieved for Sara and her children. If you’ve considered buying one of these books, please follow the links at the end of this post to buy one or both books. I thoroughly enjoyed both, and may go buy them again they were that good.Miss Fortune and Miss Match are delightful books set in NYC in 1947.

Tell us how you got the idea for Allie and these books…

I got the idea for Miss Fortune in the middle of the night, when all good ideas come to me:One sleepless night I was watching The Maltese Falcon and I started to wonder how different the story would be if Sam Spade had been a woman. She’d never have fallen for Miss Wunderly’s charms and lies. She’d have been smart and tough and she would have solved the case in half the time it took Sam because she wouldn’t spend all of her time smoking cigarettes and calling her secretary Precious.The thought of a hard-boiled female detective got my mind whirling.I paused the movie and sat in my darkened living room thinking about how much fun a female Sam Spade could be. Intrigued but not yet ready to dash to my computer, I changed disks and put on Casablanca (my all time favorite movie ever). The sweeping love story, a tale full of hard choices and sacrifice was what finally made the whole idea click in my mind. If I could just combine the P.I. detective story of the Maltese Falcon with the love story from Casablanca, and make Sam Spade more of a Samantha, I could have the best of all worlds.These books are so good, I wish I’d written them.

How did you set the stage to capture that gritty PI feel without being dark?

I find that a lot of PI stories are gritty and dark, focusing on the worst of the humanity, and while I wanted the Allie Fortune mysteries to be exciting and tension-filled I didn’t want them to be stark and hopeless.One of the things I tried to do to counteract the darkness was to give Allie a multi-layered life. She has cases, relationships, friends and family, all of which I hope combine to make the stories textured, rich and full of life.Allie is a character I’d love to have coffee with.

What did she teach you while you wrote these books?

Allie was a great character to write. One of the things I learned from her was that human relationships (man/woman, mother/daughter, friends) are complicated and full of unspoken rules and expectations. Allie is a rule-breaker at heart and it complicates her life on a regular basis. One of the storylines I loved most is Allie’s relationship with her mother and how it grows and changes and how it’s shaped her.Another dimension of Allie’s character that really taught me a lot was her willingness to do whatever was needed to help those she loves. There is no price on that kind of friendship and it’s a characteristic I’d like to see more of in myself. Okay I admit it, I’ve got a bit of a friend-crush on Allie. LOL.

One last question: If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would that be and who would you take with you?

If I could go anywhere right now I’d head to Monterey, California (I’m writing a book set there right now) and I’d plant myself on the beach with a notebook, writing my story as the waves crashed. Sounds like my idea of heaven on earth. There’s something about the wind-shaped Cypress trees and the crash of the surf in Monterey that calls to me. I don’t know why, it just is.

Miss Fortune, Allie Fortune Mystery Series #1 By Sara Mills / Moody PublishersIn 1947 Allie Fortune is the only female private investigator in New York City, but she’s kept awake at night by a mystery of her own: her fianci disappeared in the war and no one knows if he’s still alive. Until Allie finds out, she will have no peace. When there’s a knock on her office door at four in the morning, Allie suspects trouble as usual, and Mary Gordon is no exception. Mary claims someone is following her, that her apartment has been ransacked, and that she’s been shot at, but she has no idea why any of this is happening. Allie takes the case, and in the process discovers an international mystery that puts her own life in danger.
Meanwhile, the FBI is working the case as well, and she is partnered up with an attractive, single agent who would be perfect for her under other circumstances-if only she knew whether her fianci was still alive.


Miss Match, Allie Fortune Mystery Series #2 By Sara Mills / Moody PublishersFBI agent Jack O’Connor receives a letter from Maggie, a woman he used to love, saying she’s in trouble in Berlin. The FBI refuses to get involved, so Jack asks Allie Fortune to help him investigate. Allie and Jack pose as a missionary couple who want to bring orphans back to the United States.
A child finds important documents that everyone in the city – Soviets and allies alike – want for themselves. Maggie refuses to tell Jack what the documents are, saying if things go wrong, they are better off not knowing. Through the course of the search, Allie’s past is brought back to her, half a world away from home.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Love Finds You In Valentine Nebraska

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Love Finds You In Valentine Nebraska by Irene Brand
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Summerside Press (December 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1934770388
ISBN-13: 978-1934770382
From Amazon.com:
Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Love Finds You in Valentine, Nebraska What can a California girl do with a few dusty acres of land in rural Nebraska? So Kennedy Blaine wonders after she inherits a ranch in the small, westernstyle town of Valentine, Nebraska. As Kennedy makes arrangements to sell the property, she finds herself drawn to the ranch and to its attractive manager, Derek Sterling. She decides to spend the summer in her ancestral home and reconnect with family members. But soon Kennedy is subjected to harassment by someone who clearly wants her to leave Valentine. Depending on Gods protection and Dereks assistance, she sets out to discover who is behind the offenses. But when her search reveals painful details about her family and raises questions about Dereks own past, will Kennedy still want to know the truth? Love Finds You is a series of fulllength romance novels that give readers a peek into the flavor of local life across the United States. The novels are uniquely named after actual American towns with quirky, interesting names that inspire romance and are just plain fun! This means that each fictional story draws on the compelling history or unique character of a real place. Our fresh, original love stories will feature everything from romance kindled in small towns, to old loves lost and found on the high plains, to new loves discovered at exciting vacation getaways.

About the Author
In a writing career spanning three decades, Irene has won numerous awards and published 45 books with sales of more than two million copies. Irene primarily writes inspirational romances, but she has also published nonfiction books, devotional materials and magazine articles. Before she became a fulltime writer, Irene taught for 23 years in public schools. Her other passions include traveling (she and her husband have visited all 50 states and 35 foreign countries) and history (she holds a Masters Degree in the subject). Her published titles include Where Morning Dawns, Listen to Your Heart, and the Kentucky Brides collection. Irene is an active member of her church and is affiliated with several writing organizations. She is a lifelong resident of West Virginia, where she lives with her husband, Rod.

This was a refreshing, enjoyable story, even though I felt the conflict was a bit cliche – rich woman and poor man fall in love, but he feels she’s too good for him.

Kennedy inherits her familial ranch, and when she arrives to survey her property, she meets rancher Derek Sterling. She’s immediately attracted to the handsome worker, however, Derek feels they cannot have a fulfilling relationship due to his troubled past – he’s adopted and unsure of his parentage, plus, he has not always lived on the straight and narrow. Kennedy doesn’t feel that Derek’s concerns are warranted, and she’s dealing with her own issues – she has yet to forgive her grandfather for his deception and she’s carried this anger against her grandparent for years. When she starts to get death threats, Kennedy must really look inside herself and draw upon her faith to make important decisions about her life. Only through their faith in God can both of these lovebirds finally overcome their obstacles.

This is the first Summerside Press novel I’ve read, and I have others in my TBR pile.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Dark Pursuit by Brandilyn Collins

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Dark Pursuit by Brandilyn Collins

Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Zondervan (December 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 031027642X
ISBN-13: 978-0310276425

From the Back Cover
“Ever hear the dead knocking?”

Novelist Darell Brooke lived for his title as King of Suspense—until an auto accident left him unable to concentrate. Two years later, reclusive and bitter, he wants one thing: to plot a new novel and regain his reputation.

Kaitlan Sering, his twenty-two-year-old granddaughter, once lived for drugs. After she stole from Darell, he cut her off. Now she’s rebuilding her life. But in Kaitlan’s town two women have been murdered, and she is about to discover a third. She’s even more shocked to realize the culprit is her boyfriend, Craig, the police chief’s son.

Desperate, Kaitlan flees to her estranged grandfather. For over forty years, Darell Brooke has lived suspense. Surely he’ll devise a plan to trap the cunning Craig.

But can Darell’s muddled mind do it? And—if he tries—with what motivation? For Kaitlan’s plight may be the stunning answer to the elusive plot he seeks . . .

This book was riveting, and as usual of Collins’ style, the main character finds a dead body at the beginning of the story. When Kaitlan sees the dead woman on her bed, she immediately suspects her boyfriend Craig of the murder. She runs to her convalescing grandfather Darell, begging for his help. Kaitlan is shocked when Darell suggests she return to her home and to her murderous boyfriend. When Craig turns abusive, Kaitlan fears for her life, and wonders about her grandfather’s advice. When Craig takes her car keys and cell phone, making it hard for her to leave her secluded apartment, Kaitlin wonders if Craig is planning to kill her next.

Kaitlin calls upon God to help her through this ordeal, and Darell and his housekeeper assist Kaitlin with her recent plight.

I thought this book was riveting, and depending on how fast you read, you can finish the book quickly as each scene leads into the next. This is an intriguing novel and is definitely a page-turner.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Baker’s Fatal Dozen by Lisa Harris

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Baker’s Fatal Dozen by Lisa Harris

From the back cover:

Get ready to cook up a second helping of Pricilla Crumb and her hilarious schemes to serve up justice.

When Reggie Pierce, who runs Pricilla Crumb’s favorite bakery, is found dead, Pricilla finds herself hot on the trail of another sticky scandal that begins with murder. Bus asPricilla chases after clues to catch a killer, will hte road to her long-distance romance with Max hit a permanent detour?
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This book was a light, entertaining read. When Pricilla walks into her favorite bakery, she finds the owner (Reggie) lying on the floor….dead! She’s determined to prove to the investigator that Annabelle, Reggie’s wife, is innocent of murdering her husband. However, clues unravel as she finds out questionable information about Reggie’s two children, his employees…as well as Annabelle. As she sorts through this maze of evidence, Max, her beau, is determined to make the long move from New Mexico to Colorado to have a more permanent relationship with Pricilla. However, Pricilla is not sure if she’s ready to commit to Max.

As she solves the mystery, Priscilla also needs to discover why she’s scared of love and commitment. I felt that the characters in this novel were very well developed and the story had a good flow. Like most cozies, it was suspenseful, without being too scary.

If you are interested in seeing my review of book one in this series, look here.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

The Wedding Caper

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The Wedding Caper by Janice Thompson

Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc (October 1, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1597895245
ISBN-13: 978-1597895248

From the back cover:
When a $25,000 night deposit mysteriously disappears from the Clark County Savings and Loan, Annie Peterson has reason to be concerned and to assume the role of amateur sleuth. Her husband’s job at the bank makes him a potential suspect, but knowing him to be a godly man, she can’t imagine it. Then again, there is that matter of the weddings to factor in. Twin daughters Brandi and Candy have just received proposals and two weddings are pending. Sure, Warren occasionally jokes about robbing the bank to pay for the ceremonies, but Annie knows him better than that. . .doesn’t she?
Just about the time Annie thinks she can wriggle Warren off the suspect hoook, he shows up with enough cash to cover the cost of both weddings.
Annie dives into the investigation, and the suspects pile up. One by one they fall, leaving her with only one logical choice. Who will it be: a somber-faced loan officer, a security guard with a shady past, a drifter with local ties – or the man she loves.==

This cozy mystery was a fun read. Especially as you see Annie sign up on the internet for a mystery-solvers course, she gathers advice on how to search for clues to solve her crime. She finds herself befriending the young security guard (a young single mother) at the bank, while suspecting her of stealing the $25,000 from the night deposit drop-off box. She also suspects her own husband since he shows up with $25,000 cash to pay for their twin daughters weddings, with no explanation as to where he obtained the funds.

Then there’s the saddened bank loan officer. His wife is dying and she needs urgent medical treatment. Would he do anything to save his wife’s life? She also suspects a caterer who handles money in a not-so-ordinary way, and the caterer’s troubled teen-aged son, who ran away from home, but returns to make amends with his family.

Annie’s sleuthing takes her back to the scene of the crime, and all the way to Amish territory. As the list of suspects gets longer, you’ll be drawn into the story, wanting to solve Annie’s case.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Recipe For Murder by Lisa Harris

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Recipe For Murder

by

Lisa Harris
From Barbour’s website:
Pricilla never expected to be involved in a real life mystery, but that’s exactly where she finds herself when she joins her son at his hunting lodge in the beautiful Colorado mountains. A superb cook and articulate hostess, Priscilla plans an informal buffet for the guests at her son’s hunting lodge. But the dinner party turns to chaos when a guest is found dead after sampling one of her salmon-filled tartlets.
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This novel took place all within the span of a few days time. Priscilla Crumb is retired, with a lot of time on her hands. When Priscilla’s son’s (Nathan), chef becomes ill, Nathan calls his mother to temporarily fill the job. Nathan owns a hunting lodge, and he must keep his guests happy with home-cooked meals amidst their game-finding excursions.

However, once Pricilla makes her salmon tartlets, one of the guests eats one, and drops dead! Pricilla is determined to find the cause of death, and she sleuths her way through the story, questioning all of the guests as well as the dead man’s widow.

This book was charming as you see how stubborn Pricilla is as she strives to solve the mystery. Her old friend, Max, is a guest at the lodge, and he’s had a crush on Pricilla for awhile. Since both Max and Pricilla are widowed, they wonder if a romance can develop between them. Also another romance brews between Nathan, and Max’s daughter Trisha, who is also staying at the lodge.

There’s a sequel to this novel entitled Baker’s Fatal Dozen. I look forward to reading book #2 within this series.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

A Suspicion Of Strawberries

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A Suspicion Of Strawberries by Lynette Sowell
Mass Market Paperback: 250 pages
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc (2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1597895237
ISBN-13: 978-1597895231
From the backcover:
When Charla Rae Thacker and her bridesmaids show up at Andi’s soap shop in Greenburg, Tennessee, for a morning of pre-wedding pampering, Andi bends over backwards to make it a pleasant experience for them all. But then Charla keels over and dies from anaphylactic shock after she uses Andi’s personally blended cherries jubilee facial scrub. Andi suspects sabotage and murder when she discovers strawberries – a lethal allergen for Charla – in the scrub. Now, Andi must save her business and her reputation.

As if she doesn’t have enough stress in her life, Andi’s long-time boyfriend, Ben Hartley, a long-haul truck driver, decides now is the time to settle down. With him out on the road, it’s been easy for Andi to keep him at arm’s length. What’s a woman to do when she’s tracking down a murderer and expected to help her man pick out his new house plans all at the same time?
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Andi has had a hard time choosing a career path for herself over the years. Now that she’s in her mid-thirties, she’s opened a soap shop that’s barely keeping itself afloat. However, after Charla Rae Thacker dies right after using the specially designed cherries jubilee facial scrub that Andi has created, Andi is worried about the young woman’s sudden death as well as the solvency of her business in this small town. When the police fail to take Andi’s concerns of sabotage to her cherries jubilee facial scrub seriously, she decides to solve the crime herself.

Her long-time boyfriend, Ben, urges her to mind her own business, but he finds himself offering her some assistance as she struggles to solve the crime on her own. However, finding Charla’s murderer is not the only thing on Ben’s mind. He wants to find a job in town, give up his life as a trucker, and buy a house so that he can settle down and ask Andi to be his wife. Andi has cold feet, and she’s unsure of committing herself to her long-term beau.

As the story unfolds, Andi finally convinces the police that there is truth to her allegations. You’ll enjoy this story as you see how this mystery is solved.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

A Few Secular Fiction Titles…

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Unforgivable by Tina Wainscott
****NOTE – THIS IS A SECULAR TITLE
Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: St. Martin’s Paperbacks (November 19, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312979088
ISBN-13: 978-0312979089
From Amazon.com
Book Description
Life in the backwoods of Booger Holler is anything but idyllic, but Katie Malloy’s childhood is remarkably happy-go-lucky-until her innocence is shattered by a shocking act of cruelty. Distraught, she believes she has endured the worst anguish she will ever face. She’s wrong….Now, eighteen years later, Katie has triumphed at last. With a quaint, cozy home and an attentive husband by her side, she should be contented. Instead, she wrestles with growing uneasiness as the horror of her past gives way to a chilling new nightmare. A serial killer lurks on the fringes of the dusty Georgia town, his identity concealed behind a friendly face. Because if there’s anything she learned through that long-ago tragedy, it’s not to trust anyone-not even those you love….AUTHORBIO: Tina Wainscott is an award-winning author of eight novels. She lives in Naples, Florida with her husband, dog, and cat.
I found this book in my basement. I’m assuming I got it from my RWA conference days as a free giveaway. I just started reading it, and I couldn’t stop. This story was riveting, and scary, so it’s not for the faint of heart! Katie is married to Ben, a veterinarian. Meanwhile, her childhood friend Silas arrives across the woods from where Katie lives with Ben. Silas has an uncanny ability to sense how people feel. He knows that Katie is in danger and there’s a serial killer on the loose, and Silas can see inside the killer’s mind. He knows that the killer is after Katie. Katie’s marriage to Ben is extremely unhappy and unfulfilling. She marries him out of a sense of duty when she turned eighteen. She now regrets her choice since she’s now trapped in an unsatisfying marriage to a much older man. Katie is shunned by her hometown as she lives in seclusion with her husband. Also, the story takes some interesting twists and turns as Katie comes to terms with some dark secrets lurking in her past, secrets which shed light on her mother’s mysterious death.

Although this book is not an inspirational, it did have some aspects that reminded you of an inspirational. Both Katie and Silas had a deep faith in God, and they prayed several times throughout the story. There is one sex scene, but I thought the story could stand without it. This was a riveting story and I could easily read other books by this author.

The other secular book I read was a sweet Silhouette romance entitled With This Child by Sally Carleen. It was a cute story and the storyline reminded me of Tuesday Night At The Blue Moon a little bit. Unbeknownst to Marcie Turner, when she gave birth as a teenaged unwed mother; the doctor and Marcie’s mother switch her baby with the terminally ill baby of another couple. Marcie’s “baby” dies, while the baby to whom she’s given birth is being raised by another couple. Now a young woman, Marcie becomes privy to this baby-switch information and she discovers her real daughter, Kyla is living with her “father”, Sam Woodward. Sam thinks Marcie is delusional to believe his “daughter” is the baby she’s given birth to years ago. Sam’s wife died years ago and he’s now raising Kyla alone. Once Sam learns that Marcie is telling the truth about the baby switch, they learn to work together so that Kyla can be raised in the best possible way. As Marcie becomes acquainted with Kyla, she falls for Sam. Both Sam and Kyla need to overcome their emotional barriers so that they can live happily ever after.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Web Of Lies by Brandilyn Collins

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Web of Lies
by Brandilyn Collins
Publisher: Zondervan
Pub. Date: February 2006
ISBN-13: 9780310251064
368pp
Series: Hidden Faces Series

From Barnes And Noble.com
In the fourth and final book of the Hidden Faces series, Annie Kingston and a new ally–Chelsea Adams from Eyes of Elisha–are drawn into a terrifying battle against time, greed, and a deadly opponent.

Like Brandilyn’s other novels, this book was gripping and scary. A word of advice: don’t read this book if you’re scared of spiders!

Brandilyn joins two heroines from her previous novels: Annie Kingston and Chelsea Adams so that they can solve a crime which involves a shooting at a convenience store. When a skeleton is dug up near Annie’s property, an old skeleton, the mystery deepens, making the reader wonder how all of this will tie together at the end. When Annie’s daughter’s life is placed in danger, the stakes are raised in this mind-blowing story.

If you like a good, scary, chilling read, then you should check this book out. It’s a good one!

I started this book awhile ago, but had to put it aside because I had to focus on reading the books assigned to me for RWA’s RITA award. Then, I had a deadline to meet for one of MY novels. So, when I managed to pick it back up again and start reading somewhere about three quarters of the way into the book, it was fairly easy for me to place the people and events. I was relieved, too. Because I seldom read novels over again!

~Cecelia Dowdy~