Sunset Swing (City Blues Quartet Book 4) by Ray Celestin #Historical #CrimeFiction

Posted in Book Review, Crime/Thriller/Suspense, Historical by Cathy

Author: Ray Celestin

Published: November 2021 by Mantle

Category: History, Crime, Fiction

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A young nurse, Kerry Gaudet, travels to the City of Angels desperate to find her missing brother, fearing that something terrible has happened to him: a serial killer is terrorising the city, picking victims at random, and Kerry has precious few leads.

Ida Young, recently retired Private Investigator, is dragged into helping the police when a young woman is discovered murdered in her motel room. Ida has never met the victim but her name has been found at the crime scene and the LAPD wants to know why . . .

The City Blues Quartet started in New Orleans in 1919, took in Chicago in the 20s, New York in the 40s, now we’re in Los Angeles in the 60s and each time and place has been depicted vividly and atmospherically, incorporating real characters and events. I’ve loved these books and am sorry this is the final one, but I enjoyed very much catching up with those characters I was drawn to during the series.

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26Nov2019

#BookReview ~ Shadow Moon: Book VI of the Huntress/FBI Thrillers by @AlexSokoloff #Crime #Thriller #TuesdayBookBlog

Posted in Audiobook, Book Review, Crime/Thriller/Suspense, Suspense, Thriller by Cathy

Author: Alexandra Sokoloff

Performed by RC Bray, Rinelle Harkin, Casey Turner, Meghan Kelly.

Released on Audible: October 2019

Category: Crime, Mystery, Thriller, Audiobook, Book Review

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Mass killer Cara Lindstrom is in the wind, after a deadly encounter which leaves FBI Special Agent Antara Singh questioning her own sanity and fitness to serve. ASAC Matthew Roarke exiles Singh to Portland to work as an assistant to his old mentor, retiring profiler Chuck Snyder—but a series of mysterious break-ins alerts Singh and Snyder to an active threat revolving around an old case: a series of brutal murders of homeless teenagers on the streets of Portland and Seattle.

The story begins in the present, following on immediately from Hunger Moon, with FBI Special Agent Antara Singh bound, drugged and blindfolded…alone in the deserted and derelict hotel except for the carnage left behind…to hide the fact she was complicit in what happened.

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6Aug2019

Forgotten Bones (Dead Remaining) by Vivian Barz #CrimeFiction #NetGalley #TuesdayBookBlog

Posted in Book Review, Crime/Thriller/Suspense, Fiction, Mystery, Paranormal by Cathy

Author: Vivian Barz

Published: August 2019 by Thomas & Mercer

Category: Crime, Mystery, Murder, Paranormal, Book Review

An unlikely pair teams up to investigate a brutal murder in a haunting thriller that walks the line between reality and impossibility.

When small-town police officers discover the grave of a young boy, they’re quick to pin the crime on a convicted felon who lives nearby. But when it comes to murder, Officer Susan Marlan never trusts a simple explanation, so she’s just getting started.

Skipping over the prologue, which I thought was too long and actually unnecessary since the characters don’t feature again, Police Officer Susan Marlan responds to a road traffic accident where the decades old remains of a child’s body is discovered buried next to a telephone pole that had been knocked down.

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6Jul2017

#ThrowbackThursday ~ Hollywood Shakedown by Mark Barry @GreenWizard62

Posted in Books, Crime/Thriller/Suspense, Dark Humour, Reading, Throwback Thursday by Cathy

Renee at It’s Book Talk began this meme as a way to share old favourites, as well as books that were published over a year ago. Not to mention those that are languishing on the to be read pile for whatever reason.

This week I’d like to revisit Hollywood Shakedown by multi genre author Mark Barry. This is his debut novel written in 2009, and a 5* read for me. Continue reading →

9Aug2016

Heavenfield ~ DCI Ryan #3 by @LJRoss_author #TuesdayBookBlog #Crime in beautiful #Northumberland

Posted in Book Review, Crime/Thriller/Suspense by Cathy

Author: LJ Ross
Kindle Edition
Category: Crime, Thriller, Suspense

When a man is found dead at the remote church of Heavenfield, DCI Ryan is the only other person for miles around. The police have no weapon, no motive and no other suspects.

The fabulous story arc, which began in Holy Island and was carried through into Sycamore Gap, now concludes with Heavenfield. DCI Ryan is suspended from duty on the orders of DCS Gregson and when he finds a body, the victim known to him and very close to his girlfriend Anna, in a remote location, he falls under suspicion. DI Denise Mackenzie is given the job of lead investigator, working with DS Frank Phillips and DC Jack Lowerson. All three are fully aware Ryan had nothing to do with the murder, but have to follow procedure in order to clear him, nonetheless. Continue reading →

21Jul2016

A Reason To Live (Marty Singer #1) by Matthew Iden @CrimeRighter ~ Crime fiction #bookreview

Posted in Crime/Thriller/Suspense by Cathy

Author: Matthew Iden
Published: Reissued September 2015 by Thomas & Mercer
Category: Crime, Thriller, Suspense

In the late nineties, a bad cop killed a good woman and DC Homicide detective Marty Singer watched the murderer walk out of the courtroom a free man.

It’s a case that retired detective Marty Singer has never been able to put out of his mind completely – the murder of Brenda Lane by Michael Wheeler. Wheeler was a police officer with the same force as Marty and the crime left Brenda’s young daughter an orphan. Wheeler was found not guilty, even though his story didn’t add up.

Twelve years later, Marty is feeling weary and apathetic having been diagnosed with cancer, which precipitated his retirement. He is about to begin chemotherapy treatment when Brenda’s daughter, Amanda, who was twelve years old at the time of her mother’s murder, seeks him out. She believes Michael Wheeler is back and is targeting her. Continue reading →

28Jun2016

Thin Air (Shetland 6) by @AnnCleeves ~ Murder in the #Shetland Isles #TuesdayBookBlog #AudioBookReview

Posted in Audiobook, Crime/Thriller/Suspense, Police Procedural by Cathy

Audiobook Review
Author: Ann Cleeves
Performed by Kenny Blyth
Released: May 2015 by Macmillan Audio
Category: Crime, Suspense, Thriller

A group of old university friends leave the bright lights of London and travel to Unst, Shetland’s most northerly island, to celebrate the marriage of one of their friends to a Shetlander. But late on the night of the wedding party, one of them, Eleanor, disappears – apparently into thin air.

As Caroline and Lowrie’s hamefarin’, the Shetland leg of their wedding celebrations, winds down, Caroline’s friends, Polly and Eleanor with their respective partners, return to their rented cottage. It’s midsummer, a time of prolonged dusk, known as the simmer dim. In the strange light earlier in the evening, Polly saw a young girl dressed in white on the shoreline. Continue reading →

26Jun2016

Haunted Destiny (Krewe of Hunters #18) by Heather Graham ~ #Paranormal investigators #SundayBlogShare

Posted in Crime/Thriller/Suspense, Paranormal, Romance by Cathy

Audiobook Review
Author: Heather Graham
Performed by Luke Daniels
Published by Brilliance Audio and released May 2016
Category: Crime, Thriller, Paranormal

A historic cruise ship, a haunted ship, the Celtic American Line’s Destiny, sets sail from the Port of New Orleans—with a killer on board. He’s known as the Archangel Killer because of the way he displays his victims in churches. And how he places a different saint’s medallion on each body. No one knows exactly who he is or why he’s doing this.

It was the Archangel’s eleventh murder as he travelled through the South. The killer’s latest victim has been discovered just outside the French Quarter in New Orleans. FBI Agent Jude McCoy and Jackson Crow, head of the Krewe of Hunters, are at the scene. Jude and Jackson notice an odd looking man behaving suspiciously on the edge of the crowd. They give chase, pursuing the man until Jude believes he saw him board the pride of the Celtic American cruise line, the Destiny. The two agents decide to sail with the ship, giving them the best chance of catching the suspect. Continue reading →

19Jun2016

Beijing Red by Alex Ryan ~ Bioterrorism in China #Thriller #AudiobookReview #SundayBlogShare

Posted in Crime/Thriller/Suspense by Cathy

Audiobook Review
Author: Alex Ryan
Performed by MacLeod Andrews
Released: May 2016 by Blackstone Audio
Category: Thriller, Crime, Suspense

When ex-Navy SEAL Nick Foley travels to China to find purpose and escape the demons of his past, he instead stumbles into a conspiracy his Special Forces training never prepared him for.

While working as an NGO volunteer for a non-profit organisation, overseeing a clean water project in western China, Nick Foley, a decorated ex Navy SEAL, is caught up in the outbreak of a deadly and unknown disease. He witnesses his friend, Batur, a Muslim and member of the local Uyghur community, die a horrifying and unexplained death. Nick and some of his team rush Batur to the hospital where they are held under guard, then moved to a quarantine ward. Continue reading →