Murder at Tutley Brewery, by Behcat Kaya, continues the intense PI Jack Ludefance cases. Jack has earned enough money from his previous cases to live a prosperous life without taking on any more jobs. Then he gets a call, and the grandfather refuses to give up; he needs closure from the murder of his granddaughter. Wilhelmina Wein, the newly appointed CEO of Tutley Brewery, comes from a family of old grudges, dark secrets, and murder, making it difficult to find who killed her. Jack wades through half-truths and lies before he can set the hook that will connect the killer with the one tiny piece of evidence they have on him from the crime scene.

Followers of Jack Ludefance’s previous cases will find this novel isn’t as hard on Jack’s physical health, which is recovering from a forced drug addiction, but the twists weigh heavily on him mentally. I love that characters from previous books are included to help Jack crack this case. Behcat Kaya creatively unravels one twist, while generating another. I highly recommend this novel and the whole series to anyone who enjoys a good mystery. I look forward to the next one!

Seed of the Defiled, by John Edgell, is a battle of good and right versus evil and bondage. Prince Zandirxin plays right into the controlling hands of Xvardris, as his wicked desires become a snare and he denies himself nothing. A beautiful maiden and the unborn heir are hidden away by Xvardris as leverage to control Zandirxin. But then comes the day when the forgotten heir must be found to fulfill Baruch’s promise. Kander, a priest’s assistant, and Xzwindra, a woman warrior, are called upon to find the child. The way is long, hot, and dangerous, but they find help along the way in the least expected places. With the unseen hand of God and evil working behind the scenes, there is never a dull moment.

John Edgell master's suspense and intrigue as Seed of the Defiled unfolds. The author is descriptive, yet focused on each interaction, battle, and character, without being repetitive. At first, the unusual names were hard to keep straight, but it wasn’t a distraction. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this well-written novel and would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys fantasy.

This is a timely and insightful exploration of what truly drives workplace dissatisfaction and disengagement. Drawing on her background in law, business ethics, and organizational strategy, Hasl-Kelchner examines the “unwritten rules” that often shape workplace culture more powerfully than official policies.

The book stands out for its focus on fairness as a core driver of employee motivation. Rather than relying on abstract theory, it uses research, interviews, and real workplace examples to show how broken expectations around trust, empathy, and accountability can quietly erode morale and increase turnover.

Hasl-Kelchner identifies five key workplace norms that frequently undermine employees’ sense of fairness and offers a practical framework for addressing them. Her approach is structured yet accessible, making the book useful for executives, HR professionals, and managers who want actionable strategies rather than purely conceptual advice.

What makes this book particularly strong is its balance between ethical reflection and practical guidance. It doesn’t just diagnose workplace problems—it provides concrete steps for improving communication, strengthening relationships, and building healthier organizational cultures.

Overall, Seeking Fairness at Work is a thoughtful and relevant read for anyone interested in leadership, employee engagement, and modern workplace dynamics.

‘Even free comes with a price...’ A masterful romance thriller!

Pacific Southwest author Lotchie Burton, a native of Charlotte, NC, is a former military Intelligence Analyst and member of the law enforcement community – factors that add to her knowledge of the situations and characters she creates in her popular spicy romantic suspense novels. The Men of Thorne Enterprises series grows more popular with each volume, as DANTE’S REVENGE attests!

A glance at the novel’s cover suggests the passion and tension this story embraces. Briefly, this immersive and snarky story revolves around the beautiful Sherry Haskin ‘who lived a rags-to-riches dream until her handsome prince revealed his true face - a manipulative monster. After escaping his grasp and hiding under an assumed identity, she thought she was safe. She was wrong. Now, her past has found her, and the only thing standing between her and a gilded cage is the most lethal man she has ever met: Dante Wilkes - a man who balances cold precision with a burning protective streak. The result - a harrowing journey from a domestic nightmare into the arms of the one man capable of delivering true justice.’

Burton’s adroit writing style magnetizes attention from page one to the end, securing the need to follow her unique, award-winning novels that so successfully combine sexy romance with thrilling suspense!

‘Looks like the Surgeon is back.’ – A fascinating conspiracy thriller

UK author Murray Bailey has published thirty-six novels and now continues his successful The Egyptian Stones Series with THE MARK OF ETERNITY, once again plunging the reader into a mystery that consumes attention to the end. Weaving a conspiracy thriller with exploration of ancient history, Bailey now brings FBI Special Agent Charlie Rebb into focus, and a fine distillation of the plot is provided: ‘When FBI Special Agent Charlie Rebb learns that the Surgeon — a serial killer thought long dead — may be alive, she expects a hunt for a monster from the past. Instead, she finds a new string of murders marked by strange symbols. The trail runs from the U.S. to Egypt, where archaeologist Alex MacLure has uncovered ancient clues tied to a forgotten symbol — and a buried secret. When MacLure is framed for murder, he and Rebb are forced together in a race to stop the Surgeon. Before he completes a plan millennia in the making.’

Bailey captures our attention as the book opens: ‘When he first saw the flesh in the dog’s jaws, Eddie didn’t think much of it. His two hounds were often finding bones. Only this time it was different. The dogs had been running out by the church. And when he took the human hand from Deion’s jaws, Eddie worried he’d be in trouble…’Descriptive atmosphere painting is but one fine aspect of this engrossing novel – a high-quality book that will satisfy the most show more selective reader. Very highly recommended show less

Perfect by Maria Jane takes you down the path of Chloe Pham's life while she fumbles with relationships, yet excels in her education and work. Chloe’s choice of college was the first hurdle that separated her from the “perfect” man, as her mother kept reminding her. That’s just the beginning; each relationship has its qualities, but the dynamics, location, and future goals never seem to match up with Chloe’s heart. She gets a bit leery of beginning new relationships, which is understandable. This novel took a winding direction, which made me think she would end up doing a 360-degree turn at one point. Overall, this was a fun read that kept me laughing as she grew into the woman she wanted to be.

Nisha’s story hit hard: angry, exhausted, magical, and painfully real. The fantasy side is gripping, but what stayed with me was the clinic work, the fear, and the stubborn hope underneath it all. Fierce, messy, and alive. 🔥

Rising Above Adversity is a thoughtful and compassionate guide to healing the wounds we carry from childhood. This book has practical insights and gentle encouragement. The author combines personal growth tools with a warm, supportive tone that's like talking with someone you trust. This is truly an empowering book and so useful for anyone dealing with trauma from their early years. Highly recommended for a supportive read.

The Doomsday Butcher: A Gripping Serial Killer Thriller with Apocalyptic Stakes is the first novel in the Cole Chambers FBI Profiler Thriller series by S.E. Stitcher. Agent Cole Chambers is paired up with a veteran agent, Barry Kozlowski, when he is called upon to find a killer who is playing out the book of Revelation. This psychopath keeps the agents busy as he acts out the violent fantasies of his version of Revelation. Not only was he fighting to find the killer, but a journalist was hot on the trail.

I found The Doomsday Butcher a high-intensity thriller. S.E. Stitcher’s writing resembles the series Criminal Minds. A team profiling a serial killer, which takes an evil twist multiple time. I love that the author takes the time to draw his reader in, then executes the ending with danger, precision, and humor. This is an excellent novel, and I look forward to continuing the Cole Chambers series.

I went into The Tao of Poison by Isham Cook expecting a historical thriller, but honestly, it turned out to be so much stranger, darker, and more immersive than I expected, in a good way.

The character that completely pulled me into the story was Qiezi. From the moment her life starts spiraling after the events in her village, I couldn’t stop wondering how she was going to survive everything thrown at her. And trust me, Isham Cook does not make things easy for her. Between corrupt officials, predatory men, dangerous journeys down the river, and the constant fear surrounding her knowledge of poison, the book keeps this heavy tension hanging over almost every chapter.

By the end, I kept thinking about how poison works in the novel, not just literally, but emotionally and socially too. Who is actually poisonous in this story? The girl who understands toxins? Or the people around her who abuse power, exploit fear, and hide cruelty behind morality?

If you like historical fiction that feels atmospheric, dangerous, and completely different from the usual formula, The Tao of Poison by Isham Cook is absolutely worth picking up. It’s unsettling, gripping, and the kind of book that’s hard to stop thinking about afterward.

Have you ever started a book thinking it was going to be a romance, only to realize a few chapters in that it’s actually about grief, betrayal, healing, and the messy ways people try to hold onto love? That’s exactly how I felt reading Wings Against the Wind by JoDee Neathery.

Neathery crafts her characters with striking emotional depth. Gretchen, young and vulnerable yet quietly resilient, completely captured my heart. Watching her navigate the aftermath of Andrew’s shocking death felt painfully real. Andrew himself is complicated, flawed, romantic, selfish, tender and that complexity makes him unforgettable. I was equally fascinated by Paulina Dupont, whose icy composure and sharp wit make every scene she enters crackle with tension. And then there’s Knox Garland, perhaps my favorite character in the novel, whose quiet compassion becomes the emotional anchor of the story.

By the end, I found myself thinking a lot about the sea glass comparison from the dedication, how people can be broken, tossed around by life, and still come out transformed into something meaningful. That feeling quietly lingers throughout the entire novel.

If you enjoy emotional fiction with complicated relationships, layered characters, and a touch of mystery wrapped inside a deeply human story, Wings Against the Wind by JoDee Neathery is definitely worth picking up.

What distinguishes The Arnolfini Art Mysteries from many detective collections built around a recurring sleuth is that it understands arrangement as part of meaning. These six cases stand independently, but their chronological order gives them cumulative force, so that Armand Arnolfini emerges not simply as a competent investigator, but as a man with a coherent moral and aesthetic sensibility. The book knows what it is attempting to do, which is to fuse art history, mystery, and character continuity into a single design, and for the most part it succeeds.
DiSilvio writes with a clear sense of pacing. The episodes move quickly, but they do not feel rushed, because each mystery is anchored by enough historical and artistic texture to make its setting matter. A lesser version of this book would have treated art as ornament, or used famous names and masterpieces as a substitute for suspense. This one resists that temptation. The paintings, museums, artifacts, and archives are not decorative background. They shape motive, vanity, grievance, and obsession, which in turn makes the mysteries feel constructed rather than merely assembled.
Armand himself is an appealing central intelligence because the book does not need to overstate his brilliance. He observes, connects, and persists. That restraint helps. He is knowledgeable without becoming insufferable, and capable without seeming invulnerable. Just as importantly, the collection allows him a life beyond detection. The P. T. show more Barnum Mystery becomes a quiet pivot for the whole book because Andrea St. John enters it, and the series gains an emotional counterweight. Their relationship gives the later stories a steadier human center, particularly because the book does not sentimentalize that development more than it needs to.
The book’s recurring concern with recognition and misrecognition. Again and again, these stories ask who gets credited, who gets erased, what is deemed authentic, and what value the world assigns to art only after money or prestige has ratified it. The Phantom Forger, in particular, makes that argument with unusual clarity. It is not just an effective opening case. It is the thematic key to much of what follows.
There is humor here, and movement, and the expected satisfactions of revelation, but the book’s deeper interest lies in the unstable boundary between cultural value and market value. That is what gives the collection more weight than a simple sequence of clever puzzles. As a piece of constructed fiction, it holds. That is not a small achievement. show less

Maggie got me. She is twelve, frightened, uprooted, and carrying far more than any child should have to carry, but she is also observant, capable, and wonderfully alive on the page. Her move from San Francisco to her grandfather Ira’s Montana ranch could have been written as a simple contrast between city and country, but Wayne Edwards gives it much more care than that. What emerges instead is a story about learning how to belong when nothing around you feels familiar. Ira, especially, is drawn with a generosity I really appreciated. He is hard edged at first, yes, but never flat, and the gradual shift in how Maggie reads him is one of the most satisfying parts of the book.
If you have ever loved a story where a community slowly makes room for someone, this will likely speak to you. And tell me, are you the kind of reader who connects more with setting first or with character first? This book honestly gives you both.
I ended up talking about Maggie with a friend after finishing, especially the way her determination keeps opening doors for her even when life refuses to be easy. Would make a brilliant book club choice. The conversation writes itself.

Not my usual thing. Read this in chunks over lunch and a couple late nights. Kept going back to it, which is usually the whole test for me.
What worked is Helen. She is tough without acting like she knows everything, and the book gives her plenty to deal with. She is trying to do her job as a healer while getting dragged into family secrets, rank games, Temple pressure, and the danger around that green stone she carries. That sounds like a lot because it is a lot. But once it gets moving, it really moves.
The part that held me was how often Helen has to stand in a room full of people who think they own the place and still hold her ground. That felt real. So did the way she keeps showing up for people even when it costs her. Her scenes with her father and the mess around him were especially good. Not neat. Not easy. Better for that.
Only reservation for me is the start asks you to keep up. A lot of names, houses, and politics come at you early. Felt a bit like walking into a work meeting ten minutes late and trying to figure out who everyone is. But it settles down.
Solid. If you like big stakes, family trouble, and a lead who actually earns your respect, this is worth the time.

This was one of those books where I kept thinking, wow, the bar for men in power is truly in the basement, and yet I could not stop reading.
Anne Michaud looks at eight political marriages and asks the question everybody asks from the couch but almost nobody answers well, why do these women stay? And what makes it work is that it does not treat these wives like clueless ornaments. Michaud is much more interested in ambition, legacy, image, family duty, class, and survival than in easy victim narratives.
The strongest part for me was how readable it is. This could have been dry or preachy in a hurry, but it is actually sharp, gossipy in a smart way, and full of details that make these relationships feel painfully human. I was especially hooked by the through line of power as its own kind of glue, which is bleak but honestly convincing. I was completely invested. Messy, fascinating, and unexpectedly sad. I rolled in for political scandal and stayed for the psychology.