First in Erik Winter series
920558
Great Swedish read. Requires you to really follow the dialogue. Wonderful, youngish, hip jazz loving Chief inspector, youngest in Sweden. Grim look at the world of snuff movies, lots of blood and gore for those that like that, but wonderful character development for those readers that enjoy that. This series only gets better, like Jo Nesbo's improved, so too does this series, but to understand how the main character develops, start here, you will not be disappointed. Bring on more great Noir.
3765254
It was a great, fun ready while being snow bound. The first of Ms. Talbot's one that I've read, may have to read the first 3 in the series.
886516
I enjoyed snuggling up to this book on a cold day. Without realizing how time had passed, I managed to be locked into the pages and read this in one day. it was very good and I look forward to the next book in the series.
3209051
Toured To Death by Hy Conrad is the first book in Amys Travel Mystery series and it is a good start to the series.  In this book we are introduced to a mother and daughter pair, Fanny and Amy Abel, who are travel agents.  They set up a murder mystery role-playing game that starts in Monte Carlo and ends in Rome.  The guests must gather clues and try to solve a fictional murder during the trip.  But when the writer of the make-believe mystery is found dead, the fun and games become deadly serious.  Amy and Fanny must now solve a real life murder before anyone else dies.

I love the premise of this book.  It reminds me of old fashion mysteries that could have been written by Agatha Christie.  I feel that this makes this book a unique cozy and I enjoy that.  It is also a more unusual cozy because there is stronger language than what I am used to reading in a cozy mystery.  Nothing that was offensive to me, but it was stronger than normal.

The book is written in two parts: the fictional murder mystery and the actual murder mystery.  I enjoyed the first part better, it seemed to flow smoother and held my attention better.  The second part of the book seemed to drag out a bit.  Both mysteries are suspenseful and I did not figure out the culprits until they were revealed at the end.  I always like when that happens.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a cozy mystery with the feel of an old fashion mystery.  I plan on reading the next book in the series.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.  I would like to thank NetGalley and Kensington Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.
2210060
Winter of Secrets is the third in Vicki Delany's Constable Moonlight (Molly) Smith series. The story opens during the week between Christmas Eve and New Year's in the Kootenay Mountains and deep forests of Trafalgar, British Columbia, a peaceful resort town that is filled at the moment with vacationing skiers. It's also where Mother Nature has seemingly removed all colors from her palette except for black and white.

As a heavy snowstorm blankets Trafalgar into a Christmas fairyland, events turn ominous when two young men, visiting skiers and lifelong-friends, are found dead after their car plunges beneath the ice of the frozen Upper Kootenay River. It seems at first that a simple tragedy has occurred. Yet after the coroner discovers that one of the men had been dead at least a day prior to the fatal crash, Constable Molly Smith and Sergeant John Winters are summoned into the lives of the young vacationers whose privileged lifestyles include limitless wealth, drugs, predatory sexual encounters, and other dark secrets.

Delany's writing style is crisp and well-paced. I found it a definite pleasure to meet and spend time with her very human and memorable protagonist. She holds her reader to the page until the very end of this enjoyable mystery.

by Mary Jo Doig
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
4701767
This was not my favorite so far. Overall, the series has a lot of characters for the reader to keep track of. Winter was a not as engaging as the first books. Still, IU am hooked and will continue through the series- I am hoping for better reads in the future.
238213
Episcopal Priest Clare Fergusson and Millers Kill Police Chief Russ van Alstyne have come a long way since they first met in&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/In-the-Bleak-Midwinter-A-Rev-Clare-Fergusson-and-Russ-Van-Alstyne-Mystery/dp/0312986769/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">In the Bleak Midwinter (A Rev. Clare Fergusson and  Russ Van Alstyne Mystery)</a>. They have tied the knot, although a little late, as Clare is already pregnant. The fallout from  that will have to wait. The two are called out in the middle of the night to the scene of a burned out farmhouse. Believing it to be a simple case of arson, Russ and Clare leave town in a building snow storm for a long delayed honeymoon at a remote lake side cabin. They hope to find some answers to the problems arising from an unexpected pregnancy and the pressures of approaching parenthood. As the remainder of the Millers Kill police department continue the investigation into the arson, they discover the remains of two bodies with bullet holes in their skulls. Worse yet, a young girl is missing. Without her medication to treat the effects of a recent liver transplant, she will die. The chances of finding the girl in time become slimmer and slimmer as the weather grows into the worst snow and ice storm that has been seen in years. Highways and roads are shut down and communications are knocked out by the growing ice storm. Clare and Russ are isolated at the cabin and the police are seemingly stymied at every step in their investigation by the weather. The story is full of action with the characters reacting appropriately to the situations. There is enough side story action to blend the whole together and give the story a plausible feeling.
2776026
I originally got the first book of the series because it had a few good reviews and was inexpensive. However to my pleasant surprise I fell in love with the main character and the world created. With Winter's King the writer has come into his own the 3rd book shows his growth as a writer. I look forward to reading more of this series and give thanks to the author for the hours of enjoyment he has brought me.
1220582
I just finished reading Winter and just let me say "Wow"!

For a first book by this author it is a great read and I would imagine that the next ones in this series will probably be even better.

Winter Maessen is a 19 yr old going for her freshman year at Tishbe University.  She has no idea what God has in store for her but is being obedient to His voice by coming to this university.  She is a Goth but also a Christian who somewhere along the line went into witchcraft.  She doesn't understand the dreams she has been having or the deja vu occurrences that she has been experiencing.  She just thinks that she has a brain tumor just like what her mother died from.  But through other students at the school, she begins to get glimmers of understanding.

Winter's character in this book did get on my nerves occasionally but when I tried to imagine how I would react to what she was experiencing I was able to get past it.  She sees herself as someone that no one will listen to or believe based on her appearance.  She makes a few close friends at the school who help her to start understanding the gift that God has given her and how it can be used to help with the troubles that have been happening at the school.

The book alternates between Present Day and 4 years previous giving us a glimmer of what Winter's past was like and how she got to where she is now.  I'm not really a fan of books when they do this but it weaved in and out pretty smoothly.  Kept my attention throughout.  Even by the end of this book, there is still plenty that you want to find out about Winter and what she experienced before becoming a Christian.

One interesting fact concerning the author is that he studied Supernatural Theology at seminary.  I had never heard of such a thing but one of the topics covered according to his web site is the study of angels and demons which since Winter's protagonist is a demon definitely comes into play in this book.

I would most definitely recommend this book and can't wait for the next in the series to come out.
1101975
Moonlight Sins by Jennifer L. Armentrout is an interesting start to a new series. As I read this book I found it had a gothic feel to it while also a romantic feel. I couldn't quite get a real structured feeling for the de Vincent brothers or the direction this series is going. I think that this series is one that is going to have a little bit of several genres. The one thing that stands out is the author's ability to create interesting characters and to weave a complex story that keeps the reader engaged in the book.

I am looking forward to the future books in this series.
2567570
Goodreads bills this as Roxane Weary #1, so its already a good sign that this debut novel by Kirsten Lepionka will be the first of many. Or at least several. Its also ideal to start a new series at the beginning. something Ive occasionally not done and my enjoyment of subsequent books has suffered as a result.

I must admit initially I assumed thered been other books in this series as we meet investigator Roxane at a point when shes struggling. There are a few comments about her drinking and her fathers death so I wondered what Id missed. However Lepionka does a great job at eking out Roxanes backstory  particularly her family history and her complicated relationship with her cop-father, Frank. who was killed on the job nine months before this book kicks off.

Roxanes a great character. Indeed, Lepionkas shied away from over-achievers in this book (and series so far). Roxane and her two brothers all seem to be struggling a little though all in their mid-late thirties. I suspect well learn more about their relationship with their father (and mother) as the series progresses but we meet her family a few times in this book (shes particularly close to her brother Andrew) and get a peek at the type of man who raised them. Indeed it seems to have been something that shaped Roxane and shes struggling with the fact her father viewed her as a disappointment.

We learn early that Roxanes had both male and female love interests and meet her long-term on-again / off-again girlfriend in this first novel. There is  however  a bit of an a-ha moment on that front.

The plot itself is interesting and, although not-quite-addictive, I read it in a sitting. Roxanes cynical about Brad Stocktons innocence and his sisters assertion that Sarah Cook is alive (and is somehow implicated in her parents murders). I expected the book to be more about the events around Sarahs disappearance and her parents murders, but that wasn't really the case. Rather, Roxane goes off on a tangent after discovering other young women (similar to Sarah) have disappeared.

She ends up with no shortage of suspects  including Brad whos on death row and seems to have his secrets  but angers the local police force who seem irrationally angry about her investigation.

Im not sure I found the actual conclusion entirely feasible  in terms of events of 15yrs earlier and Sarahs disappearance as that part of the plot ultimately felt a little underdone. I was kept guessing, however, until Roxane herself worked it all out.

This is a great debut novel and I look forward to more in the series.

3.5 stars
1786287
I enjoyed the byplay between the lead characters as well as the actual story.  The book was well written although not quite what I expected after reading other series by this author.  But it was light, humorous, with witty byplay.  An excellent book for a cold winter night.
2282194
Overall: 4.25 stars

Plot/Storyline: 4.5 stars
I was pleasantly surprised by the fast start to this first book in the series. It was followed by the common but plot-delaying and (in this case) mercifully brief flashback revealing Daphne's background, and Trent managed the seemingly-obligatory character introduction without making me feel overwhelmed. More important, the plot-driven storyline grabbed me and never let go, even when I realized "this must be the murderer, I'm almost to the end of the book." (And I was wrong about whodunit, always a plus.) Trent even managed to add a soap-opera-quality secondary plot without turning the book into Peyton Place. There were a couple of minor plot holes, such as how the murderer obtained the murder weapon and how a broke divorcee managed to purchase a house, but Trent made up for them with an ending that didn't involve the police barging in to rescue a damsel in distress. I definitely look forward to reading more of this series, although I never figured out the series title. Amazon's listing shows this as "Daphne Reynolds Cake Mysteries" but the heroine's name is Daphne Martin. Finishing the book did not clear up this contradiction; possibly a future book will. And I still liked the book enough that I bought the next in the series as my Kindle Special Offers $1 mystery/thriller selection.

Characters: 3.75 stars
The main characters are mostly likable and believable. Daphne starts out a little whiny but straightens up quickly. Violet is a caring sister and devoted mother. Her twins border on too-cute-for-words but fortunately they aren't major elements in the story. Former beau Ben is a bit too perfect, and next-door-neighbor Myra seems a little two-faced. Daphne's mother Gloria is cold and detestable even before the soap opera starts. The not-quite-major characters on the suspect list are weaker. Uncle Hal is hard to read, but since we see him from Daphne's POV, that is believable. It didn't ring true that pet-shop owner Kellan would have two women desperate for his attention. Peggy is suspiciously understanding for a possible relative. Peggy's daughter Joanne doesn't even appear but is a constant source of rumors, mostly unpleasant and damaging Daphne's reputation. Produce-manager-turned-bagger Fred is suitably creepy.

Writing style: 4.5 stars
Sentence structure was fine. Dialogue flowed well and rang true to the characters. Description was a bit scanty but I prefer it that way as my mind pictures the events and settings; those who like to see the author's view may be a little disappointed.
1305046
Murder comes to Des Moines in Francis SparksMade Safe. And things are just getting warmed up at that point in this wintry Midwestern neo-noir debut.

Made Safe starts with the familiar elements of crime. Moses Winter, a middle-aged, down-on-his-luck private detective gets in over his head while investigating a cheating husband.

He forges an unlikely, and sometimes too trusting, partnership with Raif Raki, a Bosnian immigrant whos earned his way to detective on the city police department. Raki steals the show at first. He bends the rules to protect his cousin, who is the dead husbands mistress. He stifles anger and old trauma from atrocities in the old country.

Winter seems flatter at first, stumbling from one clue to another and taking a beating for it along the way, but his depth and drive blossom as Sparks reveals more of the Des Moines locale and Winters native born familiarity with it. Hes less familiar with the Bosnian underworld he discovers, including the vampy Majka, who has more to do with the conspiracy than Winter wants to admit when she starts up a love affair with him. Winter is sharp and good hearted, and he grows into an likable guy.

Winters relationship with Majka mirrors his with Raki. They warm to Winter a little too abruptly, but they're necessary strands to make the mystery drive on. Drive on it does. Winter discovers a human trafficking ring young girls from Europe herded literally like cattle with a chilling amorality. There are surprises here, though at the expense of a too-connected string of characters.

Winter time Des Moines provides a unique backdrop. Sparks crafts what seems at first a plain city and straightforward place, but becomes a murky setting that takes on the sturdy grays of film noir, suffering, and uncertain resolution. His ending teases readers a little too harshly, but the crime story holds up.
1618351
This is a new author for me and the first in a new series for him. I enjoyed this book,  the writing was good, no editing problems, and the storyline introduced an interesting plot that kept the action moving. The author does not explore the characters deeply, little is given about their pasts and there is no emotional growth.  That is one area I wished there was a bit more focus on, the reader is able to gather some  details on world building from the story, but very little detail is given about the characters.  Otherwise, the dialogue between the main characters is action focused and frequently sarcastic but friendly. There are no romances or love interests but plenty of good guys, bad guys and grey guys (and gals). There's also plenty of weapons, fighting, magic and monsters.  This book ends at a good stopping point, but by no means at the end of the story. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series, in fact, I read the sample already, and it looks great. 4 stars****
4324118
Lizzie Snow leaves her Boston homicide job when she is hired as a deputy in the small town of Bearkill, Maine. The sheriff needs Lizzie's expertise to help solve the rash of murders of recently retired policemen. She also has reason to believe that she may find her missing niece in this area.
A fast-paced story with many twists, lots of suspense and non-stop action. The author has created interesting characters that I look forward to reading more about in the next book.
"Winter At The Door" by Sarah Graves is a chilling, page-turning introduction to Lizzie Snow and the town of Bearkill.
2352141
Killer Storm is a great book to read on a cold winter night or anytime of year for that matter.  It is a real page-turner with wonderful descriptions of the Duluth area and points North, as well as the relationships between women, as well as the co-workers of probation officer Jo Spence.  You do not have to live in Northern Minnesota to appreciate this first novel from author Jen Wright.  I look forward to the next one!