Tag: mystery

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#BlogTour: The Expat Affair by Kimberly Belle

For this blog tour, we’re looking at a thinking person’s thriller. For this blog tour, we’re looking at The Expat Affair by Kimberly Belle.

First, the review I posted to the book sites (BookBub.com / BookHype.com / Goodreads.com / PageBound.co / TheStoryGraph.com) and YouTube:

Thinking Person’s Thriller In Directions Perhaps Belle Didn’t Intend. This is one of those kinds of books that I really like because it tells a kickass suspense/ thriller tale, and if that’s all you want… there you go. But *just* below the surface, it also makes some points that in all honesty, knowing Belle for several years now and seeing several of her political posts on social media… I honestly don’t think she meant to make.

As a surface level thriller, this tale works quite well with both of its leads being American expats who find themselves connected to one part of Amsterdam’s diamond trade when all hell begins to break loose. Even at this surface level, the amount of intrigue and suspense Belle manages to layer into this barely over 300 page tale is rather astonishing, really. Lesser authors likely wouldn’t have been able to quite pull this off as effectively as she does, with the various corporate and familial relationships, motivations, and quandries happening side by side and sometimes directly overlapping… whether or not anyone or everyone involved knows it is happening.

On the deeper level, Belle makes clear that she does not like American gun culture, despite having lived in Atlanta for at least some time – the major metro area I grew up just outside of, where my grandfather was, so it was claimed, the most decorated WWII vet in his metro Atlanta County at the time of his death… *because of his comfort and use of guns before and during that war*. And while there are many who may be tempted to defenestrate the book over this, don’t. She doesn’t actually get preachy at any point about it, though various “Americans and their guns” comments are made more than once and by more than one character. Which is perhaps fitting given the Dutch setting of the novel.

But it actually goes well beyond this, getting subversive to many real-world political positions, because one major subplot revolves around a particular technology which I’m intentionally being obtuse about in this review so as to avoid spoilers. Yet in showing just how easy this particular technology is to use, and even making a point at least as much as “Americans and their guns” that using this tech itself isn’t actually illegal even though possessing the results of the tech very much is, Belle actively destroys every single argument about owning the result of this tech while also making it clear that bans against the possession of the results of this tech are actively elitist and classist, as this tech isn’t exactly dirt cheap. (Though it *is*, seemingly, more common than this particular book shows.)

Thus, this thriller featuring several complex characters of nationalities on both sides of the Atlantic works both with one’s brain in “just entertain me” mode *and* in “I want something to ponder after reading this book” mode, while still retaining its primary purpose of more straightforward entertainment.

Which is always a nice to see.

Very much recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt from the book followed by the “publisher details” – book info, description, author bio, social links, and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: The Expat Affair by Kimberly Belle”

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#BookReview: Lie In The Tide by Holly Danvers

You Think You Know Me. I fully cop to being one of those people that avoids my hometown in my adult life (other than visiting family members who continue to live there) specifically because high school was hell and I don’t care to catch up with pretty well anyone from that era of my life. (To be fair, the feeling is largely mutual. :D)

So for me, a group of former HS friends deciding to catch up by spending a weekend together to celebrate the upcoming 40th birthday of one of them is… weird.

And yet… Danvers absolutely makes the idea work. The first part of the tale is largely “establishing shots”, with each of our four friends introducing themselves and where they currently are in life as they begin to travel to the meeting point on Cape Cod. This section is admittedly slow… but then, so is this section in many of the best thriller/ horror/ disaster movies or stories.

Once everyone begins catching up, the action begins to pick up – including a scene that reminded me of a long ago college Service Spring Break incident, but to reveal that tale here would get into spoiler territory for the book. Hell, I didn’t even connect it until I began writing that last sentence. 😉 From here, the tale goes less introspective and, eventually, more into “what the hell is going on” / “who can we trust” territory, with a fair amount of exploration of the common theme of “who we are on social media isn’t always who we are in real life” that has been explored so much over the last decade. While Danvers doesn’t really add much to that particular discourse with this tale, she does use it to add a touch of depth to her own story.

I will note that the mystery, once it arrives, was perhaps given away a touch too early with one particular detail that one of the characters revealed in her opening monologue. So for those that just cannot stand solving the mystery before the author reveals it… well… “you think you know me”. In other words… there may yet be more to this tale…

The epilogue in particular offers a stinger that takes this seeming one-off tale and offers the possibility that it could in fact become a series, which those of you who pick this book up with the “Book 1” on its title would already know. (I had received an Advance Review Copy of the text months before publication, though I only read the book about 2 weeks before due to other ARC commitments.)

Ultimately, this actually has a blend of the approaches used in say the “Widows” series by Kimberly Belle, Cate Holahan, Layne Fargo, and Vanessa Lillie – where each author seemingly takes one of four widows and they combine to craft an intriguing and rompy series – and the meta-publishing discussions of say Romantic Friction by Lori Gold – among others – and yet still manages to be fairly uniquely its own thing even with those similarities. It will be interesting to see where Danvers takes this budding series and how long she intends to have it run.

Very much recommended.

This review of Lie In The Tide by Holly Danvers was originally written on May 20, 2025.

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#BookReview: The Backwater by Vikki Wakefield

Some Things Are Just Universal. In all honesty, reading this book as a former trailer park kid in the southeastern US (I grew up in exurban Atlanta, on the border between Atlanta and Appalachia), I couldn’t ever really tell that it was set in Australia other than occasionally weird terms like paracetamol for Tylenol, and I’m now assuming that what this text calls a “tilly” is what we would call in the Southern US a “john boat”.

But seriously, with this tale of a now young woman still on the run and the life that she has created hiding out along the backwaters after being accused of a devastating crime and the local corrupt cops seeking her… yeah, this is one that reads pretty damn universally, at least to those of certain backgrounds.

Wakefield does an excellent job with both characterization and pacing here, constantly dangling the secrets to get the reader to stay invested until finally the explosive playoff that by that point reads like some of Christopher Swann’s finest works – which is high praise indeed, given that his books are quite awesome. (Also that he, too, lives in the Atlanta area and several of his books are set there among Atlanta’s poorer underbelly as well.)

For those looking for a fairly action packed, cat and mouse kind of game that very much bleeds into the psychological, this really is quite a remarkable book. For those looking to be exposed to a side of life that they are fortunate enough to have never been anywhere near, again, this is a very well done tale showing some of the worse realities of life near the very bottom of the socioeconomic scale – particularly when you refuse government “assistance”. And for those who have lived that life and too close to it for comfort… this is one of those rare indeed tales where *our* voices get to be heard in particularly strong and emotional ways.

Truly a complex tale that works at every level.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Backwater by Vikki Wakefield was originally written on May 19, 2025.

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#BookReview: The Last Ferry Out by Andrea Bartz

Slow Burn Tropical Mystery. If you’re looking for balls to the wall action and suspense… this aint that book. If you’re looking for a more meandering yet tense… yet also tropical and relaxed… tale… hey, you’ve found that!

This is one of those tropical tales that uses its setting particularly well and indeed really transports the reader to that more low-key vibe, particularly among the more off-the-beaten-path, smaller, non-touristy islands… where perhaps people are willing to kill to keep it that way. Here the story is more about the various expats who have been on the island for varying amounts of time from just a year or two to a few decades and the love they have for the tropical paradise they’ve created amongst themselves in their fairly tight nit community.

Then… you have the outsider. Both the woman who originally came… and the woman who comes later looking to find out what happened in her fiancée’s final days.

In a community of expats, *everyone* has their secrets of the life they are escaping from, and *everyone* has reasons for wanting to be here rather than there. This is where the mystery really comes to bear, in sorting through the various histories and motivations of pretty well everyone on the island… including our main narrator who just got there and her fiancée.

Ultimately this is absolutely a book you come to more for the setting and stay for because maybe you want a touch more tense than a cozy mystery… but still want to be relaxed rather than thrilled, so you don’t want to go into a full on horror tale either. This book strikes just that balance, and I could very easily see it being read widely by the very tourists so many of the characters herein absolutely despise.

Overall a fun read, if slow – indeed, it does read quite a bit slower than its slightly over 300 page length suggests, feeling like it is perhaps 100 pages or so longer than it actually is. And yet, that stunning setting. Maybe you want to feel like you’re there longer than you actually are, anyway. If so, you’re going to love this book.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Last Ferry Out by Andrea Bartz was originally written on May 19, 2025.

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#BookReview: Every Little Thing by Kay Bratt

Truly Masterful. This is one of those books where the dangers of a foreign country – specifically, Mexico relative to US tourists, in this case – form a major plotline… so be aware of that going in, and depending on your own views you may like it or not. Either way, Bratt works it pretty amazingly to show that there are both good and bad people everywhere, and for the most part, people really just want to live their lives and work for the best for those they love.

In addition to the dangers of Mexico though (which are central to one of the major plotlines of the book), Bratt also does a great job of showing just how beautiful the resort areas in its tourist hotspots can be – which I can also attest to as well.

And then there is the plotline following the youngest of the Hart sisters, back again in a major way and having a more direct link with some of my own activities over the last couple of weeks, as I mentioned in Bratt’s Facebook group. So that was pretty cool for me personally, but even more generally Bratt managed to layer this particular plotline into this story very well, despite its only real connection to the Mexico-based plotlines being that it involved a member of the Hart family.

Overall I do think this was one of the stronger tales of this series, really, with all that is done herein and all that is set up to come out of everything. Bratt carefully and beautifully layers all these elements of destination wedding, missing person suspense, travel danger, personal danger, family loyalty, non-preachy political commentary, and so much more… and she manages to do it all while telling a compelling tale in just over 250 pages. As I mentioned in the title, truly masterful.

Start from Book 1, Hart’s Ridge, to understand all that is going on here, but for those more adventurous readers, this *can*, technically, be read as a standalone / entry point in series.

Very much recommended.

This review of Every Little Thing by Kay Bratt was originally written on May 5, 2025.

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#BookReview: The Murder Machine by Heather Graham

SHE DID THE JOKE!!!! One of my favorite jokes EVER, one that I literally laugh out loud every time I see it, goes like this: “My wife asked me why I carry a gun in the house. I said ‘Decepticons’. She laughed. I laughed. The toaster laughed. I shot the toaster. It was a good day.”

Ladies and gentlemen, a minor spoiler: Deep in the heart of this book about AI tools controlling our machines and how these tools could be used for murder, there is a line:

“If I’m going to need to shoot anything, he thought dryly, it would need to be the appliances.”

YEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SHE DID THE JOKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That alone MADE this book for me. That one line guaranteed a 5* review. Because it referenced my favorite joke ever. 🙂

Now, the rest of the story, taking place largely in the area I currently live (Jacksonville/ St Augustine, FL) with a few trips to some areas I’ve visited over the years (Tennessee), was a fun one just because of the personal connections… and the well told story. This is one that could have gone a T2: The Future War (an excellent book from earlier this Millenium, the conclusion of a trilogy that picks up immediately after T2: Judgement Day and tells a better conclusion to the Terminator story than anything put on screen since T2) route, given its basic premise… and yet chooses to make everything more more human focused.

Which makes it absolutely more terrifying.

Overall a well told story that could seemingly work as a series starter – and it would be very interesting to see where such a series goes.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Murder Machine by Heather Graham was originally written on April 22, 2025.

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#BookReview: The Memory Collectors by Dete Meserve

More Women’s Fiction Than Science Fiction. Seven years ago, in 2018’s The Space Between, Meserve managed to take a quasi-science/ science fiction concept of a NASA scientist discovering an asteroid behind the sun and spin an electric missing person tale around it – and did so quite well.

Here, she again delves into the “science fiction” element… without ever writing a convincing science fiction book. Yes, it has elements of scifi – the main thrust of the plot is that it is now possible to “time travel” into your own memories and there is now tech to do exactly this. But that is where the science fiction begins and ends here, and other than a (brief) realistic look at the price of such groundbreaking tech and how it would spread to even remotely common use, there really isn’t an actual “scifi” bent to this particular tale.

Now, if one approaches this from more of a “women’s fiction” tale with a few nods to scifi… it actually works a LOT better and is actually quite a strong story… that just needed those nods to scifi to make it work. As a women’s fiction tale of a mother devastated over her son’s death and another mother devastated over something she did that can never be forgiven, both seeking to understand what happened and both desperate to have even a few more minutes of their lives before said events… this is a truly compelling tale.

Meserve manages to weave all four central characters’ stories together seamlessly, though the fact that all use the same tenses and even the same verbal stylings *can* make it a bit hard to distinguish which character you’re reading, particularly in the beginning bits of a hand-off. And still, you can almost see TV/ film producer Meserve – her “day job” when she’s not writing – thinking of camera angles to show viewers certain elements of certain scenes that the characters themselves won’t necessarily realize at the time. Which is actually a cool effect that she brings to the page quite effectively.

Overall I think opinions will likely be divided on this tale based on which side of it you give more weight, which is why I’m trying to caution you in this review. If you come into this book expecting a science fiction book… if you’re familiar with/ enjoy science fiction before this book, you’re going to be disappointed at the science fiction within it. If you’re coming from a more women’s fiction world and perhaps this is (somehow) your first brush with scifi… the scifi may well work for you here. On the other hand, if you’re coming into this book expecting more of a women’s fiction tale with scifi elements to make it work… congratulations, that is *exactly* what you’ve found.

If you’re more of that first more scifi-oriented crowd that is perhaps looking to branch out but need something somewhat close to your scifi preference in order to take a baby step outside of that space to just test the waters… this really is a strong women’s fiction tale that will allow you to do just that, and you’ll likely find something you genuinely enjoy here. So take the chance.

Either way, maybe you think *I’m* the idiot here and that I have no clue what I’m talking about regarding this book. PLEASE, read the book, write your own review – and feel free to call me out as the idiot you think I am, should you feel the need. 🙂

Very much recommended.

This review of The Memory Collectors by Dete Meserve was originally written on April 8, 2025.

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#BookReview: In The Beautiful Dark by Melissa Payne

Beautiful Execution Of LGBT / Elderly Story Wrapped In Murder Mystery. This was an excellent and beautiful story of several different types of people who don’t often play lead roles in stories coming together to create a particularly powerful one.

You’ve got women loving women – in 1972. You’ve got a whole group of elderly people living in a retirement community in 2024… along with a much younger recluse living in an RV she parks near the community. And yes, you’ve even got both cameo and more expansive scenes with different dogs and even a cat.

Payne handles all aspects of this tale with remarkable care and a particular penchant for showing that no matter our backgrounds or where we find ourselves, we all strive for community and family… and often times, we can be our own worst enemies in having them if we aren’t careful.

The fact that she was able to bring so much near psychological horror level tension into the tale, and even a brief sprint of (somewhat comedic, though this may have been unintentional) action late in the tale truly shows just how well Payne knows her craft, as everything was done pretty damn close to perfectly.

Yes, this is a slow tale – it moves along at about the pace of the elderly people using walkers that so many of the characters are. But it is also a particularly beautiful one in both the characters it chooses to use and the story being told here.

For those looking for more elderly people in books or more naturally LGBT – without feeling forced or preachy at all – this is absolutely a book you should check out, and I genuinely believe you’ll enjoy. If you’re a reader that, for whatever reason, *doesn’t* want to read about either of those types of characters… eh, this really isn’t your book. Just move on in peace rather than one starring it because it has such characters.

Ultimately this really was yet another strong tale from Payne, who has done a phenomenal job throughout her career of creating just such tales.

Very much recommended.

This review of In The Beautiful Dark by Melissa Payne was originally written on April 8, 2025.

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#BookReview: The Girls In The Basement by Steena Holmes

Dark Tale Well Told From An Interesting Perspective. First, I gotta give props to Holmes for the way she handled the trigger warning in this book. I personally prefer them to be on the author’s website so those (like me) who prefer not to have any spoilers at all going into the book can have that experience, yet those who need/ want trigger warnings can still find that information as well. (Also, to be clear, Kindles automatically begin just after the table of contents in a book, so if a trigger warning is included at that spot, it *cannot* be easily skipped.) This noted, if you as an author are going to put one at the front of the book… maybe use a version of the one Holmes used here. 😉

As to the actual story here, it is one of those slower psychological thrillers where you *know* some *dark* stuff is going on largely behind the scenes… and even get the occassional glimpse of it from other characters… yet getting our main character to the point of seeing that which she has spent a lifetime not seeing…. takes some time.

One good thing that Holmes chooses here that keeps the book from going even more into the darkness is that while *some* aspects of the behind-the-pages darkness make it onto the page – enough to get a glimpse of all that is happening – that particular element isn’t shown as much as perhaps some readers may want. Instead, Holmes focuses much more on the views of the wife who thinks her family is finally safe and can live a normal life… except that she keeps catching her husband having hushed conversations about… something. This, to me, is the far stronger storyline as it is one of the *less explored* stories in the genre generally.

There are a lot of characters here, absolutely, and while it can get a touch tough to track them all in the beginning, as the story plays out it does become much more clear who is doing what and when, particularly in the rather explosive climax.

For those who prefer their stories ended in nice little bows that wrap up every single thread… yeah, this aint that. And is actually a stronger tale because of it… and, perhaps, one that means that Holmes intends to come back to this world. Time will tell. 😉

Very much recommended.

This review of The Girls In The Basement by Steena Holmes was originally written on April 8, 2025.

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#BookReview: Desperate Deadly Widows by Kimberly Belle, Layne Fargo, Cate Holahan, and Vanessa Lillie

Less Romp. More GirlBoss. Set in the aftermath of Young Rich Widows (though with curious timing, as that book was supposed to take place in 1986, this one is supposed to take place in 1987, and yet at least one character has had events happen that would mean this book would need to be in 1988 at minimum), this is less of the borderline comedic romp Young Rich was and far more GirlBoss now as the titular Widows all find themselves in various positions of power and influence themselves. Oh, and there is a complex murder mystery here with even more twists and turns – of more serious, if less life threatening, natures – than the first book.

And this is actually a good thing, as it shows a great deal of growth of our four lead characters even from the first time they show up in this book all the way through the end. The friendships they managed to create through the first book are going to be put to the test in several different ways here, and while there is a decent amount of comedy still left to be had… it is almost more of a Sisterhood Of The Travelling Pants / Crossroads (the 2002 movie with Britney Spears) type tale here (and indeed, Spears’ last line in Crossroads could well be the ending line here).

Ultimately this really was quite good and a remarkable follow up to Young Rich Widows… specifically *because* it didn’t follow the exact same type of tale and instead went the direction of showing growth in all aspects, even as it remained true to the core of the tale and stylings of the book that came before. This noted, much like say a Big Fat Greek Wedding or a Mamma Mia, while a second tale works much better than one might expect given where the first tale ended… maybe the series ends here. Or maybe Belle, Fargo, Holahan, and Lillie find a way to continue it one more time that makes sense without being a blatant cash grab. But for me at least, this really does work as a finale to these characters and this world, so we’ll see what happens going forward.

Very much recommended.

This review of Desperate Deadly Widows by Kimberly Belle, Cate Holahan, Vanessa Lillie, and Layne Fargo was originally written on April 8, 2025.