A gripping, socially conscious mystery in which timelines collide in a tangle of lies, murder, and conspiracy.
A hidden note, a stash of cash, and a dead father’s secrets launch a photojournalist and her family into a dangerous mystery in Boulden’s novel.
Rose Webster returns to Lake Amelia, New York, to recover from a workplace accident that has left her physically limited and emotionally disoriented. Still reeling from the back-to-back deaths of her father, Randall, who died of an unexpected heart attack, and her mother, Carly, who succumbed to cancer, Rose finds herself caught up in grief and stagnation. She’s also grappling with the revelation that her father had a child named Maxi with another woman—she’s a biracial lesbian in law enforcement who isn’t sure she wants a relationship with her more privileged journalist half-sister. While smudging Randall’s den with sage, Rose uncovers a sealed envelope containing $10,000 and a handwritten note suggesting someone had been in danger—and that her father, an attorney, may have been quietly investigating. Her older brother, Kirk (with whom she shares a warm but slightly distant relationship), and Maxi are largely uninterested at first, but Rose is captivated. With next to no clues, she takes up the mystery as a new kind of assignment, one that will help her to reclaim her sense of purpose. Alternating chapters set in 2010 follow Kelsey Jacobs, a woman working at Randall’s firm who overhears a Spanish-speaking immigrant worker at the Western Inlet Inn whispering about a disturbing incident and expressing fear for her daughter’s life. Kelsey’s efforts to help are met with resistance, and soon she’s being followed, run off the road, and silenced. Rose’s present-day inquiry gradually uncovers Kelsey’s story, deftly linking it to systemic abuse, corruption, and predation. Boulden, an Emmy-winning reporter and IPPY award-winning author, writes with a journalist’s keen eye for details (“A few drops of iced tea fell onto Kelsey’s lap when she raised her glass to her lips, making her question her choice of white linen slacks”). Her prose is grounded, deliberate, and emotionally resonant. Though the pacing is occasionally slow, the story delivers a classic whodunit wrapped in themes of moral courage and buried family dynamics.
A gripping, socially conscious mystery in which timelines collide in a tangle of lies, murder, and conspiracy.Pub Date: July 8, 2025
ISBN: 9798986038469
Page Count: 326
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Gleefully sadistic, gloriously gratifying revenge fiction.
A frustrated advice columnist takes matters into her own hands.
Before dropping out of MIT during the second semester of her sophomore year, Debbie Mullen had designs on becoming the next Bill Gates. Now, almost 30 years later, the stay-at-home wife and mother of two uses her considerable genius to keep the Mullens’ Hingham, Massachusetts, household functioning “like a well-oiled machine.” In her spare time, Debbie also gardens and shares “the fruits of [her] wisdom” with neighbors via the weekly advice column she writes for Hingham Household, a local “family-oriented” newspaper. Though Debbie is proud of her husband and teen daughters’ accomplishments, her own life sometimes feels a bit empty. As such, she’s both honored and excited when Home Gardening magazine selects her backyard to feature in their next issue. Then, at the last minute, the publication decides to go in a different direction and instead spotlights the roses of her arch rival. Later that day, the editor-in-chief of Hingham Household axes her column because she’d counseled a reader to get a divorce. That evening, Debbie learns that her hard-working husband’s miserly boss refused his promotion request, her brilliant older daughter’s sketchy boyfriend broke her heart, and her athletically gifted younger daughter’s chauvinistic coach cut her from the soccer team for being “chubby.” Enough is enough. Debbie has always given great advice—everybody says so. If certain individuals don’t know what’s best for themselves, maybe it’s her obligation to help them see the light. Increasingly unhinged entries from a “Dear Debbie” drafts folder pepper the briskly paced, meticulously crafted tale, which unfolds courtesy of a pinwheeling first-person narrative. Some of the plot’s myriad twists are more impressive than others, but plucky, puckish Debbie is a nontraditional antihero for the ages.
Gleefully sadistic, gloriously gratifying revenge fiction.Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249624
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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