by Amy Lillard ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 28, 2022
A promising new sleuth whose lovable dog and incipient love interest combine nicely with Lillard’s trademark Amish lore.
Lillard introduces a new heroine while keeping her focus on all things Amish.
Sissy Yoder isn’t Amish, but her parents used to be. So when she dumps her cheating boyfriend and needs a change of scene, her Amish roots provide an answer. Sissy leaves Tulsa to go help a relative in her parents’ tiny hometown of Yoder, Kansas. Her irascible aunt Bethel, who owns the Sunflower Café, has to admit that her broken leg is slowing her down and reluctantly agrees to have Sissy work at the cafe. Though Sissy and her Yorkie, Duke, are welcomed more warmly by her cousin Lizzie, who’s on bed rest until she delivers her twin babies, living without electricity and eating a high-calorie diet impel Sissy to find a place of her own. Her first friend in town is Gavin Wainwright, a reporter for the local paper to whom she’s attracted as a fellow journalist—her only source of income apart from the cafe is writing an anonymous advice column in the guise of 70-something “Aunt Bess,” though she can't let Gavin (or anyone) know about that. Her promising debut at the cafe is derailed when she finds Kevin, the milk delivery man, stabbed to death in the kitchen. Her newcomer status makes her the prime suspect in the eyes of Deputy Sheriff Earl Berry. As he continues to harass her, she decides to clear her name by finding the real killer. Gavin helps her investigate other possibilities, but when she finally sees the light, the killer is ready to darken it forever.
A promising new sleuth whose lovable dog and incipient love interest combine nicely with Lillard’s trademark Amish lore.Pub Date: June 28, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-49673-345-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
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by Don Winslow ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 2, 2024
If you love good crime writing but aren’t familiar with Winslow’s work, read this trilogy in order.
The dramatic conclusion to the trilogy about two New England crime families begun in City on Fire (2022) and City of Dreams (2023).
Near the end of his journey, multimillionaire Danny Ryan watches a casino implode in a mushroom cloud of dust and muses about his life’s implosions: “The cancer that killed his wife, the depression that destroyed his love, the moral rot that took his soul.” Danny is from Providence, Rhode Island, and desperately tried to leave his criminal life behind him. But using a ton of ill-gotten gains, he invests heavily in Las Vegas properties. Congress is conducting an investigation into gambling that could destroy his casino business and even land him in jail. An FBI agent plans to take Danny down for major sins he’d like to repent for. Meanwhile, can he make peace with his enemies? Nope, doesn’t look like it. Even if the parties involved want to put the past behind them, the trouble is that they don’t trust each other. Is Vern Winegard setting Dan up? Is Dan setting Vern up? “Trust? Trust is children waiting for Santa Claus.” So what could have been a “Kumbaya,” nobody-wants-to-read-this story turns into a grisly bloodletting filled with language that would set Sister Mary Margaret’s wimple on fire—figuratively speaking, as she’s not in the book. But the Catholic reference is appropriate: Two of the many colorful characters of ill repute are known as the Altar Boys, serving “Last Communion” to their victims. On the law-abiding side and out of the line of fire is an ex-nun-turned-prosecutor nicknamed Attila the Nun, who’s determined to bring justice for a gory matricide. (Rhode Island really had such a person, by the way.) Finally, the prose is just fun: A friend warns Dan about Allie Licata: “In a world of sick fucks, even the sick fucks think Licata’s a sick fuck.” A couple of things to note: This not only ends the trilogy, but it also closes out the author’s career, as he has said he’ll write no more novels.
If you love good crime writing but aren’t familiar with Winslow’s work, read this trilogy in order.Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9780063079472
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2024
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by C.J. Box ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 27, 2024
A tale that’s hard to believe but easy to swallow in a single gulp.
A bear is hunting prey in Wyoming’s Bighorns. And not just any bear.
It’s bad enough that Clay Hutmacher, who manages the Double Diamond Ranch, has lost his son, Clay Jr., to a vicious attack by a grizzly bear. What’s much worse is that Clay Jr.—who’d been about to pop the question to game warden Joe Pickett’s daughter, Sheridan—is only the first of the victims over an exceptionally broad geographical area. Marshal Marvin Bertignolli is clawed and bitten to death over in Hanna. Sgt. Ryan Winner is found bleeding out north of Rawlins. Former Twelve Sleep County prosecutor Dulcie Schalk, one of two survivors of an ambush, doesn’t survive her final encounter. The four experts chosen to kill the grizzly rope Joe into their expedition, but since their quarry keeps turning up far from the last sighting, the most meaningful confrontation the Predator Attack Team has is with a pair of Mama Bears, animal rights activists who demand due process for Tisiphone, as they’ve dubbed the presumed killer. Box, who’s far too canny to leave Tisiphone alone on center stage, follows Joe’s old antagonist Dallas Cates as the ex–rodeo star is released from prison and embarks on his revenge tour, which takes him to Lee Ogburn-Russell, an inventor whose life Dallas saved, and Axel Soledad, a correspondent who shares so many enemies with Dallas that he suggests they go after them together. Franchise fans will appreciate new details about Joe’s complicated family, the obligatory high-country landscapes, and yet another corrupt law enforcer.
A tale that’s hard to believe but easy to swallow in a single gulp.Pub Date: Feb. 27, 2024
ISBN: 9780593331347
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
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