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Posts by Katie H

The REAL queen of crime

Cover of The Windsor Knot
A review of The Windsor Knot by S. J. Bennett

For a thousand year old castle, it’s certainly not the first time a violent death has happened within its walls. But it’s still shocking when Windsor Castle staff discover the body of a young Russian pianist in the wardrobe of a guest room deep within what is one of the most secure citadels in the world—and more so when that death is revealed as a murder. Her Majesty the Queen is of course horrified to hear the news—she had danced with the man only the previous night—but when police and MI-6 suspects that Russia is behind the crime with a possible mole, she knows what she has to do.

Posted by Katie H on Jan 28, 2021

Love is in the strut

Cover of Black Bottom Saints
A review of Black Bottom Saints by Alice Randall

Alice Randall isn’t an author that typically is at the top of many readers’ lists, having written several solid quietly received novels in the past and a few nonfiction works. But her latest, Black Bottom Saints, proves that Randall deserves more attention and a place on to-read lists.

Posted by Katie H on Jan 14, 2021

Not your typical high society lady

Cover of Her Night with the Duke
A review of Her Night with the Duke by Diana Quincy

Strong heroines are practically a necessity in historical romance, but Diana Quincy introduces an especially memorable lady at the center of her new romance Her Night With the Duke, launching her Clandestine Affairs series. Lady Delilah Chambers knows the habits of England’s ton through and through: as the daughter of a marquis and the widow of an earl, Leela circulates among the highest of the high.

Posted by Katie H on Jan 8, 2021

Something strange in the neighborhood

Cover of When No One is Watching
A review of When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole

The Brooklyn community of Gifford Place has seen its rough patches to be sure, but Sydney has always relished how her neighbors have banded together to help each other and hold the more insidious threats out of the historically Black neighborhood. But since Sydney has moved back to the venerable brownstone she’s always shared with her mother after a bruising divorce and mental breakdown, something has been off.

Posted by Katie H on Dec 18, 2020

Most. Dramatic. Main. Squeeze. EVER.

Cover of One to Watch
A review of One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London

Bea Schumacher has had some rough mornings, but nothing quite like the one she wakes to after a particularly harrowing wine-filled evening. The plus-size fashion blogger and One to Watch heroine wakes after her hazy, booze-fueled tweet storm righteously demolishes the premiere of the popular Bachelor-esque dating show Main Squeeze, calling out the reality show’s obviously unreal portrayal of women’s bodies and beauty. Reeling from a heartrending breakup, Bea expects the resulting Twitter furor to blow over, but to her surprise, she gets a call from the show’s producer.

Posted by Katie H on Dec 8, 2020

Remembering the way she was

Cover of We Keep the Dead Close: A
A review of We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Centurey of Silence by Becky Cooper

When Becky Cooper first heard the story as a student at Harvard, it seemed both unbelievable but still entirely feasible: in early January 1969, a Harvard professor killed a female archeology grad student after she threatened to expose their affair. After she failed to show for her general exams, she was discovered in her apartment with red ochre and necklaces arranged ritualistically over her bloodied, naked body. Harvard smothered the investigation, the murder remained unsolved, and the professor was still teaching in the same department, fully tenured.

Posted by Katie H on Dec 1, 2020

On the reservation, the past is never behind you

Cover of Winter Counts
A review of Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden

Virgil Wounded Horse tells himself he is doing the right thing. The half Lakota, half White Virgil is the Rosebud Reservation’s unofficial enforcer at the heart of David Heska Wanbli Weiden’s literary crime debut Winter Counts. For a few hundred dollars, Virgil will provide families with some sense of justice, delivering with his fists the verdicts that will never come from a federal government that neither allows the Lakota to hold their own trials, and rarely prosecutes in federal courts those crimes committed on reservation lands.

Posted by Katie H on Nov 20, 2020

Ho, ho, ho, deja' vu

Cover of In a Holidaze
A review of In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren

Tradition means a lot to Maelyn Jones, especially the annual Christmas gathering with her ‘chosen’ family, along with her parents and brother, in Christina Lauren’s holiday romance In a Holidaze. Gathering at the Park City, Utah cabin has been a constant even through her parents’ divorce, the upheaval of cross-country moves and the shifting relationships. And then there’s Theo and Andrew.

Posted by Katie H on Nov 11, 2020

Finally nice to meet you, Mr. Kimdaichi

Cover of The Inugami Curse
A review of The Inugami Curse by Seishi Yokomizo, translated by Yumiko Yamazaki

It’s a classic setup:  a powerful and wealthy businessman has died, and his family and retainers gather at his imposing and isolated villa for the reading of his will. Knowing the will has some very peculiar stipulations and familiar with the strained family tensions, the man’s lawyers, call in sight unseen a highly recommended private investigator to ward off potential bloodshed. But in an atmosphere primed for murder, the inevitable happens, and the unorthodox PI soon finds himself trying to solve seemingly impossible killings committed by a culprit who will strike again.

Posted by Katie H on Oct 26, 2020

Finding her own happy ending

Cover of His Only Wife
A review of His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie

Afi Tekple’s wedding is a rousing success in spite of the fact that the groom isn’t present. But that is to be expected of a young and wealthy businessman whose travels take him far from home on a routine basis, so important that even his own traditional wedding must yield to demands of business. The young Ghanaian seamstress, heroine of Peace Adzo Medie’s debut His Only Wife, is thrilled and proud to marry the son of the most powerful woman in her town and raise the fortunes of her widowed mother, her avaricious uncle and the wives he supports.

Posted by Katie H on Oct 5, 2020

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