Category Archives: Mystery and Suspense Titles

Free Heartsong Presents Mysteries!

I’m giving away free books again! This time a whole set!

I have an extra set of the first shipment of Heartsong Presents Mysteries. The following books are included in this set:

Death On A Deadline
by Christine Lynxwiler, Jan Reynolds, and Sandy Gaskin
Everybody Loved Roger Harden by Cecil Murphey
Murder In The Milkcase by Candice Speare
Mysterious Incidents At Lone Rock by Rajendra Pillai
Homicide At Blue Heron Lake by Susan Page Davis and Megan Elaine Davis
Recipe For Murder by Lisa Harris
In The Dead Of Winter by Nancy Mehl
Trouble Up Finny’s Nose by Dana Mentink

Just leave a comment letting me know why you’d like to receive this set of books! The ENTIRE SET IS GOING TO ONE PERSON! I won’t be drawing the winner until March 15 (my deadline) or a short time after that! Also, when you comment, be sure to leave a way for me to contact you so that I can let you know if you’ve won!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

The Nancy Drew Files

I know, classic Nancy Drew is not Christian fiction, but it is wholesome reading. I found one of the Nancy Drew novels on my bulging shelf of books. I believe I purchased this book back in the days when I toyed with the idea of writing a young adult book, and I even thought about writing a Nancy Drew novel. Needless to say, I never wrote the Nancy Drew title. Last I checked, years ago, the publisher paid for Nancy Drew novels as work-for-hire. I’m not sure if that’s still the case, though.

As I read the book, I found it unbelievable. Does Nancy have nine lives?!! How can somebody almost kill you three times in the book, and it barely rattles her demeanor?? Whenever her life was threatened, it just encouraged her to dig deeper to find the truth so that she could solve the mystery!

I recalled that these were traits that Ms. Drew has always had. I used to read the Nancy Drew novels when I was ten or eleven, maybe? I loved them. The element of danger throughout the story, and then Nancy always managed to solve a mystery to save the day! I even read the Nancy Drew Scrapbook by the late Karen Plunkett-Powell a few years ago. The history of Nancy Drew was certainly interesting. The sleuth is over seventy-five years old, and as far as I can tell, they’re still publishing Nancy Drew titles.

As far as Christian fiction goes with regards to young, female sleuths, the only young adult Christian series I’m familiar with is the Juli Scott series by Colleen Reece. This series was published by Barbour Publishing and when I checked on Amazon.com, I noticed a lot of the Juli Scott titles had been re-released as hardcover Thorndike Press titles. I read a number of these years ago when I was into the whole YA genre. I’d still like to publish a YA series, someday, but right now, I don’t have the time to devote to developing one since I’m busy at work with my Christian romances!

Cecelia Dowdy

Skin By Ted Dekker

No, I haven’t read this book. I don’t even own this book (although I’ll probably get around to either buying it or checking it out of the library and reading it.)

I just thought it was interesting that I saw this book in the fiction/literature section in the Books A Million bookstore in Beltway Plaza in the College Park/Greenbelt area in Maryland. I thought they would have placed this book in the Christian fiction section.

The only reason I’m blogging about this is because I think it’s awesome that his book was in the regular fiction section. Somebody who wouldn’t necessarily pick up a Christian fiction title might give this one a try simply because of where they have it shelved. They might not necessarily know it’s a Christian title until they start reading it.

Until next time,

Cecelia Dowdy

Yuletide Stalker By Irene Brand

YULETIDE STALKER

Love Inspired Suspense
Published by: Steeple Hill Books
ISBN: 978-0-373-87401-9
Publication Date: 2006

SPOILER WARNING!!!

I really enjoyed this book. The author does an awesome job of describing the scenery in Hawaii. I was in Hawaii for my honeymoon a little over three years ago, so I was able to compare her descriptions to what I saw while on vacation. I felt as if I was right back on the island!

Maddie Horton is invited to visit Linc Carey in Hawaii for Christmas. Linc is a military man who gave emotional support to Maddie and her mother after her father’s ‘accidental death’ ten years ago. Once Maddie arrives in Hawaii, she discovers her father did not die accidentally, but was murdered, and the murderers have escaped from prison. The murderers’ family have their sight set on Maddie because they want to seek revenge against her father since they feel he’s responsible for the deaths of their kinsmen. Maddie is stalked by someone, and she wonders if she’s losing her mind.

Linc vows to protect Maddie, and Maddie feels animosity toward Linc since he treats her like a child. Due to their eleven-year age difference, it is hard for Linc to accept that Maddie has grown into a beautiful woman. When Maddie realizes she loves Linc, she hesitates about revealing her feelings because she’s not sure if Linc loves her as a woman, or as a ‘daughter’ because of their age difference.

When she is abducted, you hope and pray she makes it out alive.

This book was suspenseful, but not too suspenseful. I also noticed that the author had a twenty-year-old woman as her heroine and a thirty-one-year-old man as her hero. I don’t see this much in contemporary romance novels nowadays. The heroine is usually older than twenty. However, I believe the author did a good job in making the romance believable despite the age difference. She made it believable because Maddie was so mature for her age. She lost both of her parents before she reached adulthood, which forced her to grow up quickly.

Until next time,
Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com

Piercing The Darkness By Frank Peretti

ISBN #:0-89107-527-5
Published by Crossway Books
Publication Date: 1989
Re-released: August 2002
Re-released by: Living Books(an imprint of Tyndale House Publishers)
Living Books ISBN-10: 0-84236-372-6

Spiritual warfare. That’s one way to describe this story as Peretti focuses on the angels and demons that roam the earth. He gives these spiritual creatures names and the demons are always ugly, wartlike creatures, which I’m more than glad that I’m not able to see. As the people of Bacon Corner, and elsewhere, pray for the safety of the characters in the story, the strengh of the Heavenly Host increases, making it possible for them to defeat the ugly, evil demons.

I believe this novel is considered one of the classics in Christian Fiction. Sally Beth Roe is haunted by her past, which is linked to the occult. Her journey to finding Christ is a painful one, and she is spooked by her memories of ‘murdering’ her infant child. Demons still torment her, and she can only find relief through calling on Jesus’ name.

Meanwhile, Sally’s experience is intertwined with the town of Bacon’s Corner where a Christian school is under investigation for child abuse. Tom Harris has lost his kids to the state as a result of these accusations, and he fights to get his offspring back by banding together with others in the community. This band of Christian fighters include a lawyer and Ben, a police officer, who is wrongly fired from his job.

This was a long novel, and as is typical of Peretti, as mentioned before, he gives his spiritual creatures names and personalities.

If I had to give Peretti’s writing a category, I would dub it ‘Christian horror’ if there is such a thing.

I highly recommend this book. I enjoyed reading about how somebody who was so deeply involved in the occult came to know the Lord.

Until next time,
Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com
www.blackchristianfiction.com

House By Ted Dekker And Frank Peretti

=========MAJOR SPOILER BELOW. DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO READ THE BOOK!!!===

Okay, I’ve read books written solo by both Dekker and and Peretti, and enjoyed them. Both men are two of my favorite Christian fiction novelists. However, House was a different than the books that both Dekker and Peretti wrote solo.

Stephanie and Jack are a married couple who are going to a marriage counseling session at Jack’s suggestion. Stephanie does not want to go, but she does agree to go to pacify Jack. Stephanie is a country singer and she tries to hide the pain from their failed marriage by singing songs and doing ‘concerts’ at clubs. Jack is a writer and he desperately wants to save his marriage to Stephanie.

En route to their session, they get lost and are stopped by a cop, Officer Lawdale. He is intimidating, but tries to get them back on their way. While they continue, their tires are slashed on purpose by some weird contraption in the road. They go to the only building around, an abandoned inn. Since they are so far away, their cell phone service does not work.

When they arrive at the inn, there are no innkeepers present, initially. They only find Randy, a boisterous business man who thinks he’s a know-it-all, and his companion, Leslie, a psychologist. Randy always tries to act like he’s brave, although he’s really quivering with fear. Leslie always tries to analyze people and their predicaments due to her psychotic background. Both Randy and Leslie have suffered the same accident as Jack and Stephanie: the tires of their car were slashed.

Soon, they are joined by Betty, Stewart, and Pete, the family of ‘innkeepers’ who later are revealed as demons. As the book moves forward, it becomes apparant that the house is possessed by demons and the leader, the one who initiates the ‘game’ where he will let them out of the house if they give him one dead body, is Barsiduous White, who wears a tin mask and locks the house against their escape. As they ‘play’ this ‘game’ it becomes apparant that Betty, Stewart, and Pete are working with White in this ‘game’.

Around the middle of the book Stephanie, Randy, Leslie, and Jack go through several cliffhangers to try and escape the house. As they find themselves in the basement, the house shifts several times, and when they think they’re escaping, they end up in the same place where they’d started minutes ago. The time shifts also, making minutes seem like hours.

The game is supposed to end at dawn and as they go through rooms with trick mirrors and flooded pipes, they find another victim locked in the basement, Susan. Susan is a young innocent girl who claims she knows the way out of the house. However, at first, all fail to listen to this girl and it becomes apparant at the end that she’s an angel who’s come to show them the power of God is greater than the power of the demons who have them trapped in the house.

Only Stephanie and Jack end up accepting the truth at the end, so they are able to escape this weird house due to their newfound acceptance of Jesus Christ. Randy ends up killing Leslie, buying into White’s ‘rule’ that one dead body will guarantee an exit from the demented house.

During the course of the story, the demons play mind games with the players. When the players are alone, in locked rooms, their minds are tricked into remembering hurtful episodes from their past, things they need to let go of in order to accept God’s grace.

There are several things that the demons do during the course of the story to keep the reader hooked. Barsiduous White comes around the corner, sporting his tin mask and perhaps carrying a gun. Sometimes, the four players are tricked when they see four exact ‘twins’ of themselves, and the four originals wonder which are real and which are fake.

A room floods, and Randy tries to kill Stewart by trapping him in a pipe, trying to drown him. Leslie is trapped in a room with Pete, who wants her as his ‘wife’. He bounds her, and throws darts at her until she verbally admits to being ‘guilty.’ Pete also traps Stephanie later on, wanting her for his ‘wife.’

Stephanie feels abandoned when Jack leaves her in a closet as he goes to try and rescue Leslie. Jack is forced through an open door with a huge forceful current, and the door shuts behind him and he can’t get out. Throughout the story, doors open and close of their own accord. The house moans and groans throughout the story also. There are also trick mirrors in some of the rooms, where you see everything reflected in the mirror, except yourself.

And the list goes on and on.
I didn’t enjoy this book at all. I doubt I’ll read another Dekker-Peretti collaboration. I just wanted the book to end.

Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com
www.blackchristianfiction.com

Violet Dawn By Brandilyn Collins

***Spoiler alert – a few plot points are revealed!

I finished Violet Dawn by Brandilyn Collins last night. It was a great read! One thing I like is how the author was able to write a whole book about what happens within the span of a day or so. Except for flashbacks, the book happens within a short period of time, and like all of Brandilyn’s books, this one was suspenseful and you really wanted to see what happens.

When Paige Williams tries to make a new life for herself at Kanner Lake, all she wants to do is to be invisible, not drawing attention to herself as she tries to forget about her terrible and abusive childhood. However, her plans for a quiet life are shattered when she discovers the body of Edna San in her hot tub. Edna was a big-time movie star who has retired in the quiet community of Kanner Lake.

Over the next day, Paige’s life is a whirlwind of activity as she hides the body in a lake, not wanting to trust the police due to the mistrust she’s experienced with police officers in the past.

Unbeknowsnt to Paige, a few of the inhabitants of Kanner Lake take a liking to her, wondering what types of things she’s experienced in her young life to make her seem so haunted.

The chain of events that unfolds places Paige’s life in danger, and she learns that she needs to accept God, and accept his goodness if she’s ever going to escape the pains from her past.

I highly recommend this book.

Until next time,
Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com
www.blackchristianfiction.com