New lovers headline this unhurried but worthwhile murder mystery.
A U.S. marshal stumbles into romance and a homicide case at a therapeutic hot-springs resort in Burnett’s debut thriller.
Kate Swift is on psych leave from the Marshals Service following a Federal Witness Protection Program family’s massacre. She checks in at the Satori Institute in California’s Garrapata State Park, replete with therapeutic seminars and workshops in the comfort of a scenic retreat, complete with cabins and spa-like hot baths. Unexpectedly, she reunites with Tom Scott, a widower she met six months earlier. Kate wasn’t ready for a relationship then, but now might very well be. Meanwhile, local detectives are there as well: Someone discovered the lifeless, probably murdered body of Satori co-founder Malcolm Eastwick. When another body turns up, a fire blocking the road impedes the detectives’ return trip, so they enlist Kate to pick up their investigation. She and Tom, who’ve already helped the cops, are now partners in a murder mystery, and the couple scours for clues to identify a killer who’s likely right there at the institute with them and fellow guests. Burnett’s lead characters are engaging, each reluctant to dive into a relationship (Kate has previously dealt with a cheater). The murder investigation, led by personable detectives Laura Sanchez and Daniel O’Malley, initially unfolds as a separate plot. The dual storylines gradually and organically fuse once the cops learn there’s a U.S. marshal on site. Unfortunately, the “transitions workshop” in which Kate and Tom participate unfolds at a sluggish pace; recurring scenes over the course of days linger on many guests who play no part in the investigation. Nevertheless, tension surges when it’s clear that the murderer is watching (“They’ve planted spy cameras around the campus. Last night we found a camera in the room that I’ve been sharing with another workshop member”), possibly creeping into cabins and suites, and may have Tom in the crosshairs. Once Kate finally demonstrates her much-touted taekwondo skills and general badassery, the final act ignites in a satisfying ending.
New lovers headline this unhurried but worthwhile murder mystery.Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2023
ISBN: 979-8822916852
Page Count: 322
Publisher: Palmetto Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A satisfying thriller that will warm the hearts of fans who already take comfort in hating the forces of evil.
Lt. Eve Dallas’ 63rd futuristic case is less a whodunit than a manhunt for an unusually sympathetic killer.
Thirteen years ago, way back in 2048, scientific genius Steve Redman—father of the Banner-Wyst corporation’s Rainmaker Project—narrowly escaped death in a gas explosion that killed his pregnant wife and infant son and 200 other residents of their New York City apartment building the night before he planned to report his suspicions about the company to the FBI. Now the bill is coming due for Banner-Wyst. The first death to be discovered is that of Lawrence Chu, Redman’s colleague and trusted friend, whose tenure as director of bioengineering science ends when he’s beaten to death. For quite a while, Dallas and her partner, Det. Delia Peabody, know less about this mystery than their readers do. But when Ezra Dent, a consultant to Banner-Wyst who worked with Redman and Chu back in the day, is murdered in exactly the same ferocious way, Dallas and Peabody, with help from Roarke, Dallas’ tech-billionaire husband, promptly put the pieces together and determine who they’re looking for. The search for Redman, who went AWOL from his hospital bed without a trace six years ago, has its own challenges. So does Dallas’ attempt to get cooperation from partners Calvin Banner and Jacob Wyst, who are clearly in the crosshairs of a killer who seems a lot less monstrous than they are. If the breaks in the case are suspiciously convenient in arriving, readers can pride themselves on taking sides against a mega-corporation whose self-avowed ecological saintliness is undermined by its leaders’ underhanded dealing.
A satisfying thriller that will warm the hearts of fans who already take comfort in hating the forces of evil.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2026
ISBN: 9781250414564
Page Count: 368
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2026
Recommended reading for every paranoid suburbanite who’s considering a move to the city, or to the Arctic wilds.
Character assassination reigns supreme, if not uncontested, in a Long Island suburb.
April Masterson loves her husband, corporate attorney Elliott; their 7-year-old, Bobby; and her YouTube channel, “April’s Sweet Secrets.” What she doesn’t love is whoever’s texting her warnings about how Bobby isn’t really in their backyard while she’s busy filming her videos or withering critiques of her baking show or veiled accusations about her past and threats about her present. Her best friend, former prosecutor Julie Bressler, may be bossy and opinionated, but surely she’d never turn on April this way. Who else might know enough to send April goodies like a picture of her kissing Mark Tanner, Bobby’s soccer coach? Though April struggles to get Elliot to take her ordeal seriously, even when she shows up at his office for a lunch date, he’s protected by his receptionist, Brianna Anderson, whose attachment to her boss goes far beyond loyalty. Then Julie turns on her; Maria Cooper, her friendly new next-door neighbor, turns on her; and in the most mind-boggling scene, Doris Kirkland, April’s mother, whose dementia has brought her to a nursing home, turns on her. McFadden releases an escalating series of toxins so deftly into the suburban atmosphere that it’s practically an anticlimax when someone gets killed and April instantly becomes the prime suspect. But that’s only a setup for the tale’s boldest move: switching its narrator from April to a fair-weather friend who frames the whole nightmare in dramatically different terms. As a special gift to her savviest fans, the author throws in an even more jolting epilogue that’s as hard to forget as it is to believe.
Recommended reading for every paranoid suburbanite who’s considering a move to the city, or to the Arctic wilds.Pub Date: March 3, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249600
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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