Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Murder Mystery

THE ZUCCHINI FAIRY MURDER: Salty Sister Mysteries Book 2 by Ann Philipp – Cozy Mystery, Amateur Sleuths, Murder Mystery

Wherever zucchini grow, they grow with unstoppable vigor. Patricia Schuster and her mother face a legendary overabundance in The Zucchini Fairy Murder, Book Two in the Salty Sister Mystery series by Ann Philipp, but garden veggies are soon to be only a close second of their problems.

They have more zucchini than any family, friends, neighbors, and possibly the entire population of the surrounding several counties could possibly go through in a season, no matter how much zucchini bread they make. Mrs. Schuster, in an absolute riot of an opening scene, cruises through their California hometown in the middle of the night looking for cars with open windows to drop bags of zucchini into.

This camouflaged, highly questionable type raid on the neighborhood distresses her daughter, who tries without success to discourage her mother from her nighttime activities. Such hilarity threads through the background action of the story, as Patricia does her best to calm her mother down, rein her in, and manage her crazy.

Plot and humor merge when petty zucchini crime clashes with a murder investigation.

The mystery kicks into high gear as Patricia can’t resist trying to solve the case with the help of a group of golden-age ladies she inherited along with her grandmother’s house and antiques business. With nerves of steel, these formerly incarcerated elderly ladies now work for the FBI and are highly skilled in specialized areas like technology, firearms, languages, and psychology, and they have no problem breaking the law to solve a case.

After Patricia’s first ‘case’, detailed in book one of the Salty Sister Mystery series, Grand Theft Death, Patricia and ‘the Ladies’ have got a way of getting to the heart of an investigation. Even when that way involves a bit of subterfuge, a lot of illicit snooping, and more than a few sets of lockpicks.

In the best cozy mystery tradition, what makes The Zucchini Fairy Murder so much fun—besides the overabundance of summer squash—is the combination of spilling gossip about the small-town residents and their misdeeds with the one step forward, two steps back approach of an amateur sleuth.

Along with humor and intrigue, this story builds eclectic but earnest bonds between its central women.

We see sisterhood, motherhood, and cool aunt relationships between Patricia, her mother, and the four ‘Ladies’ of her grandmother’s generation who have taken both women under their wings. That web of relationships is sometimes nurturing, especially on the mornings when the Ladies make Patricia an excellent breakfast.

The Zucchini Fairy Murder by Ann Philipp is a zany romp where an amateur sleuth tries to figure out whodunit in spite of both herself, and the ladies who bring their specialized skills to the case.

This is the sort of cozy small town setting more than a bit outside the modern problems of everyday life. A perfect read to leave the ordinary and go to a place where a little dash of luck and the lead to a happy outcome for everyone in spite of many false accusations, mistaken arrests, and midnight zucchini drops from an unseen “fairy” along the way.

October 27, 2025
TIME-MARKED WARLOCK: The Chronos Chronicles Book 1 by Shami Stovall – Urban Fantasy, Murder Mystery, Supernatural Mystery

Shami Stovall’s Time-Marked Warlock rewinds urban fantasy with fresh magic.

Adair Finch is the world’s most powerful warlock – and he’s done with it all. In Time-Marked Warlock, Shami Stovall crafts a brilliant urban fantasy that feels like Groundhogs Day meets Harry Dresden, delivering a take on magical investigation that will leave readers spellbound from the first page.

A reluctant mentor meets his match in a twelve-year-old witch.

After losing his brother in a case gone wrong, Finch has sworn off the paranormal world entirely. But when young Bree Blackstone pounds on his door in the middle of the night – her mother murdered, her father kidnapped – Finch wades back into the magical chaos he’d tried to escape. What starts as a favor for an old friend becomes a twisting mystery that threatens everything he thought he knew about his world.

Stovall excels at creating an unlikely partnership, one crackling with energy and humor. Bree isn’t your typical helpless child in need of rescue – she’s a young witch with questions, opinions, and magical abilities that complement Finch’s considerable power. Their banter and growing mentor-student relationship provides both emotional depth and genuine laughs throughout the investigation.

Time magic creates a game-changing twist on fantastical investigation.

The real genius of Time-Marked Warlock lies in Finch’s unique ability to rewind time and witness events as they actually happened. When someone tries to kill both Finch and Bree, his ability to see the attack unfold adds layers of complexity that keep readers guessing right alongside the characters.

Stovall uses this temporal element not as a gimmick but as a sophisticated plot device that deepens the mystery while raising the stakes. Each revelation through time manipulation reveals another clue towards conspiracy, transforming what appears to be a straightforward murder case into something even more sinister and far-reaching.

A standout series launch that reinvents urban fantasy tropes.

Time-Marked Warlock succeeds because of the originality it infuses into familiar urban fantasy elements – powerful warlocks, magical investigations, supernatural threats. The world-building feels both lived-in and vivacious, populated with complex characters whose flaws make them more compelling than perfect heroes ever could be.

Stovall’s writing sparkles with wit and energy, moving at breakneck pace while never sacrificing character development. Finch’s journey from bitter retirement to reluctant heroism feels earned, while the emotional resonance of Bree’s evolution from terrified child to capable young witch elevates the entire narrative.

As the opening volume of The Chronos Chronicles trilogy, Time-Marked Warlock establishes a magical world readers will want to revisit again and again. Fans of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files and Kevin Hearne’s Iron Druid Chronicles will find their new favorite series in Stovall’s perfect combination of urban fantasy adventure and time-bending mystery.

Time-Marked Warlock by Shami Stovall won Grand Prize in the 2024 CIBA Shelley Awards for Supernatural Fiction.

July 23, 2025
RED HERRINGS RADIO: The Media Mysteries Series Book 6 by Gail Hulnick – Murder Mystery, 1960s, Amateur Sleuths

From its very first page, Red Herrings Radio, from Gail Hulnick’s Media Mysteries series, evokes the classic mystery novels of days gone by. We meet protagonist Lillian on September 7, 1964, in the pre-dawn hours as she heads to work. The early shift at a bustling radio station may seem like excitement enough, but soon Lillian’s faced with unexpected and unpleasant thrills: there’s a dead body at work, and it’s one of her best friends.

Red Herrings Radio uses many elements of classic mystery, even down to the noir lighting of the early-morning streets. Yet it also diverges from mystery-novel tradition in interesting ways.

Unlike many older mystery books, it has not only a female sleuth, but a focus on the challenges and barriers faced by a woman in the 1960s. The book is studded with authentic period details, from Beatles mania and folk music to the Royal Tour and the World’s Fair. It also doesn’t shy away from the weightier topics of the era. As Lillian investigates Susan’s death, she finds herself grappling with looming issues like abortion and gender equality. Author Gail Hulnick gives these issues their due complexity, painting a realistic picture of the 1960s as an era of global change and growing pains.

Red Herrings Radio also breaks from mystery tradition by featuring a reluctant and inexperienced sleuth. Lillian’s no cop, though she’s certainly willing to work with the police if it’ll help her get answers about Susan’s untimely end. She doesn’t like being mixed up in the drama of investigating what’s starting to look like a murder. Still, her sense of duty to Susan’s memory overcomes her reluctance. When everyone else seems to be giving up on finding the answer, Lillian never quite lets go of hope.

The search takes Lillian to unexpected places and introduces her to unusual suspects. The doctor is hiding something, and the professor and ex-boyfriend too. Now her coworker is suddenly acting suspicious. Red Herrings Radio lives up to its name as it introduces a growing list of suspects, each with complex motivations. The more Lillian learns about Susan’s life, the stranger things get. As it turns out, her close friend wasn’t really that close after all. Did Susan’s own secrets lead to her murder?

Alongside the mystery, this is also a tale of female friendship.

Lillian starts enlisting her and Susan’s mutual friends in the investigation but starts to feel resentful as she learns she’s been left out of Susan’s major life events. Susan even had a mysterious new boyfriend who Lillian didn’t know about. As she navigates both betrayal and loss, Lillian must grow through these challenges. For her, forgiving the friends who’ve apparently shut her out is almost as big a challenge as the unofficial murder investigation.

Along the way, Lillian’s career grows too. She deftly navigates barriers at work, beginning to outshine her more-experienced colleagues and landing choice reporting assignments. Readers get a fascinating inside look at the 1960s media industry.

As the radio station sends Lillian to exciting places like the New York World’s Fair, she sneaks in opportunities to continue sleuthing. Cold War tensions are running high, and the appearance of several stern and mysterious Russians further complicates Lillian’s investigation. She has countless leads, but no certainty. Though she finds a helpful police officer who’s willing to listen, she has little to offer him. In the end, Lillian must face the fact that she cares more about the investigation than anyone else, even the professionals.

Maybe it’s because she saw Susan’s lifeless body that morning at work. Maybe it’s a desire to redeem her place in a circle of friends who have grown apart. Whatever it is, Lillian can’t quite bring herself to let go.

This book moves fast. While there are points where it would have been nice to slow the action and delve deeper into Lillian’s complex life, Red Herrings Radio rewards its readers well in the end. When things look most hopeless for her investigation, the novel takes an unexpected leap.

Lillian’s answers don’t come when she wants them to, but through patience, attention, and a willingness to forgive, she at last has a chance to put the pieces together. What she discovers is shocking, yet strangely inspiring: solving the mystery also reveals something crucial about Susan’s character. Red Herrings Radio by Gail Hulnick is an excellent read for anyone looking for approachable thrills, unexpected twists, and an intelligent lens on history and human connection.

February 5, 2025
THE THIRD ESTATE: Secrets of the Manor by D.R. Berlin – Murder Mystery, Conspiracy Thriller, Amateur Sleuth

In The Third Estate: Secrets of the Manor by D.R. Berlin, we are introduced to Kai Lovac, an assassin working for The Third Estate—a group of powerful individuals who wield their influence to enrich one another.

Lovac sets out to kill Professor Milo Anderson, a former member of the prestigious Stockton Military Institute of Combat Aviation in Colorado. The Professor is working on top secret data wanted by both the government and The Third Estate.

The military has obtained images of Anderson meeting with individuals from The Third Estate, incriminating him as working with a dangerous group known to eliminate any living person who hinders their goals. The military labels him a traitor and will stop at nothing to find out why the Professor has decided to work for such a heinous organization.

Meanwhile, Cadet Sophie Allard prepares for her last flight at the Stockton Military Institute—which she must fly perfectly to earn her graduation. But an uncovered secret weighs on her mind.

She recently discovered that her adoptive father, Professor Milo Anderson, used to attend the Institute as well some years ago. She can’t understand why he would keep that secret from her—nor can she let go of the question.

As she’s going through her practice runs for graduation, she is notified that her father was involved in a lab accident and has passed away. Her superiors allow her time to go to her former home, Grand Lake Manor, to attend her father’s memorial service.

When Sophie arrives at the family manor, she notices that something is not quite right at her home.

She sets her mind to a secret investigation, hoping that she can get to the bottom of what actually happened in the lab explosion that caused her father’s death. Sophie doesn’t yet realize that she’s placing her own life in peril.

Right from the start, readers are pulled into this intricately tangled web of lies, espionage, and assassination attempts.

As the story begins to unfold, readers will wriggle in their seats as they grasp the many details of the mystery, trying to put together these valuable puzzle pieces. The mystery keeps revealing itself until the very last page of this thriller.

Readers will think they know a character very well, only to have the rug pulled out from under them further into the story. The many twists and turns make each turn of the page an anxiety-inducing event as readers find out what will happen to each character—and just what side they are truly working for.

January 6, 2025
DREAMS And ILLUSIONS: Gabrielle Dorian Mysteries Book 1 by Rebecca Olmstead – Paranormal Mystery, Women Sleuths, Murder Mystery

Dreams and Illusions by Rebecca Olmstead is a delicate interplay of mysteries balanced on an emotional undercurrent, exploring the immutable ebb and flow of life to find resilience in the shadow of misfortunes.

In the bustling town of Whitman, Gabrielle co-owns the boutique Belle Femme with her best friend, Kate. Radiating the tranquil aura of an empowered business owner, Gabrielle is a caring woman burdened with a secret she hides from everyone. Gabrielle is blessed—or perhaps cursed—with prophetic dreams.

Almost as if they are a glimpse into the future, Gabrielle wrestles with dreams that foretell an ominous fate. Soon she is confronted with a series of distressing events that thrust her into a mystery.

Suddenly, terrible news of her husband’s untimely death destroys Gabrielle’s world of normalcy.

The grief of losing a loving partner soon intersects with fear, as another disturbing dream plagues Gabrielle. Her sister, Tina, is being held in custody, charged with theft and the murder of Mrs. Winnifred Everette, a wealthy elderly lady.

Gabrielle’s absolute trust in the innocence of her sister falters when Tina emerges as the sole beneficiary of Mrs. Everette’s eighteen-million-dollar fortune.

Gabrielle sets out to investigate the truth behind the murder. In a twist of fate, the buried secrets of the victim herself are revealed through the unravelling mystery—secrets that hold the key to a deep connection between the murder and Gabrielle’s fragile bond with her sister.

Gabrielle emerges as a woman of many layers, presenting the human experience as a complicated experience of duality. She becomes the epitome of strength in the throes of painful upheaval, yet falls into inevitable vulnerability that comes with the unforeseen demise of a loved one and the accusations entangling her sister. Similarly, the forces of hope and despair, love and loss juxtapose in Gabrielle’s personal life, inviting readers to empathize deeply with her efforts to hold herself up long enough to solve this mystery.

Rebecca Olmstead crafts a rich interplay between foreshadowing and psychological symbolism.

She achieves this through Gabrielle’s premonitions, which illuminate much more than just subconscious fears and spooky occurrences. Each unsettling experience, such as the dream of eerie laughter, indicates a troubling revelation while symbolizing Gabrielle’s anxieties and inner turmoil. Olmstead’s vivid descriptions of emotion and action pull readers into these troubling visions.

The story maintains a balanced rhythm of nail-biting action and calm character development.

As the reader accompanies Gabrielle along her investigations into the murder mystery, they also connect with her emotional journey through personal reflections and conversations.

Dreams and Illusions speaks of a woman who transcends the transient nature of suffering and builds on the quote by Aristotle, “It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.”

Dreams and Illusions by Rebecca Olmstead won First Place in the 2023 CIBA M&M Awards for Cozy and Not-So-Cozy Mysteries.

September 30, 2024
IF TWO ARE DEAD: A Garnick & Paschal Mystery by Jeanne Matthews – 19th Century Mystery, Murder Mystery, Women Sleuths

An enigmatic raven-haired beauty mysteriously murdered and cast into a stranger’s grave, left for scurrilous resurrection men to uncover in the dark of night! In Jeanne Matthews’s historical mystery If Two Are Dead, Detectives Quinn Paschal and Gabriel Garnick take up this case of vicious murder and ignite a mire of secrets and resentment at the pinnacle of 1867 Chicago society.

After catching the body-snatchers in the act of stealing a freshly buried corpse to sell for medical research, Quinn and Garnick realize the body found in Emmett Buck’s grave is by no means that of a young man, but that of a woman, whose bloody head and clean clothes point to a complex mystery. With only her appearance and some identifying jewelry, Quinn insists they can and will catch the killer of ‘Marietta A.V.’ Enlisting the help of an unscrupulous journalist, they locate her husband, a wealthy and influential doctor.

The woman’s husband, Dr. Horace E. Vinings, offers them an incredible reward if they can find Marietta’s killer. But Quinn and Garnick suspect he might not like the answer he receives.

Meanwhile, another case comes to the offices of Garnick & Paschal Private Detective Agency—one that might be even stranger.

Fact meets fiction when famed author Charles Dickens takes a secret departure from his American book tour to recover his precious diary, stolen by a woman who he’s certain is working at the behest of his late brother’s widow. If the contents of that diary get out, it could mean terrible scandal for the beloved Victorian wordsmith, and his extramarital lover.

Caught between the cooling leads of a murder and the incessant demands of Mr. Dickens, the detectives will have to push through danger, injury, and countless layers of deception to reveal the truth of both cases.

Matthews brings readers into the chaotic, grimy streets of 19th-century Chicago with vivid detail and riveting suspense.

If Two Are Dead fills your nose with the smell of slaughterhouse offal dumped in the rivers, conjures the chill of wind and rain kept at bay by thick coats and coal-burning stoves, and illustrates the city in all its tenuous juxtaposition of glittering grandeurs and industrial horrors.

Making excellent use of a unique time and place, this clever story builds from its setting of a city in transition. Resurrection men supply the rapidly-expanding field of medicine with fresh corpses to examine. Charles Dickens tours like a modern pop star. The rich and powerful must hide their indiscretions against the social standards of the day.

As Quinn and Garnick try to safeguard the reputation of Dickens, they also dig up long-buried secrets and cruelties to catch Marietta’s murderer. Even if it means potential disaster for Chicago’s most elite society.

In this tale about the murky underworld of 19th century Chicago, every character has hidden sides to them—suspect, detective, and victim alike.

Quinn must constantly reevaluate the motives and interpersonal connections that her suspects need to keep in the shadows. This is never truer than for the dead. The murdered Marietta’s own goals could illuminate what happened to her in her last days, but Quinn will have to parse words tainted by distaste and ignorance to discover who this young woman truly was.

Regardless of the reward, Quinn dedicates herself to finding justice for Marietta. Her driven spirit and quick mind compel readers to root for her throughout the investigation.

Quinn faces social and physical danger alike as a female detective in 1867. But even a brush with death and its lingering injury nothing will slow her down—especially as the pressure mounts in both investigations.

More troubling, however, are the conflicts that start to grow between her and Garnick. As partners and lovers, they rely on each other. But Quinn isn’t sure if she wants the life of commitment that Garnick seems to desire. And as Quinn brushes off Garnick’s worries and trudges on despite the harm this murder case has already brought down on her, she fears she may have pushed him too far away. The arrival of someone from Garnick’s past forces Quinn to confront the choices she’s willing to risk for the sake of their relationship.

If Two Are Dead interrogates how the unjust gender roles prevalent at the turn of the century dictate the lives of women—whether or not they choose to accept them.

As an Irish woman, Quinn also faces more than her share of bigotry. But most keen in this story is the role of a wife. Quinn sees the terrible power that husbands wield over their spouses, how it defines the secrets behind Marietta’s death and the scandal of Charles Dickens’s stolen diary.

Quinn doesn’t want a conventional life. She’s a detective first, and these investigations only give her more reason not to put such complete trust in anyone as to marry them. But, despite it all, she does want Garnick.

Balancing flashes of grim violence with the excitement of discovery and the humor of a cantankerous Charles Dickens, Matthews delivers a satisfying murder mystery.

Each new clue will spark burning questions in the reader’s mind. Matthews carefully constructs and expands the investigation, never quite giving the game away. And just as the answer begins to emerge from the fog, a new twist reframes what we know, rewarding those who share Quinn’s knack for catching subtle connections.

If Two Are Dead is a gripping tale of family and professional betrayal set in the dangerous streets of Chicago that dredges up one secret after another. But even those secrets buried six feet under can be laid bare once more.

September 16, 2024
PARALLEL SECRETS by ML Barrs – Murder Mystery, Small Town Mystery, Amateur Sleuths

In the small Missouri town of Walkers Corner, it seems everyone has a dark secret. In Parallel Secrets by ML Barrs, a TV journalist comes to town to do a magazine piece on a missing girl and begins uncovering many of those hidden stories.

Motivated by feelings of guilt for not following up on a previous unsolved case, Vicky Robeson’s joins the search for the missing child. She’s tenacious in her investigation. As a TV station journalist currently between jobs, she has well-honed investigative skills, specifically in her ability to wheedle stories from even the most reluctant people. She’s familiar with Walkers Corner; and as a reporter for a St. Louis TV station, she covered the case of a never-identified mystery girl. She believes the two cases are connected. The similarities that link these cases to her own experiences as a child make her unable to let this new story go.

Safe to say, her investigating is not welcomed by most of the locals in this close-knit town.

But one by one, Vicky finds ways to pull details about both cases from virtually everyone, using her eye for detail to wedge people out of silence. Vicky’s quest is not without personal danger, however, as she finds long-buried secrets, crimes that some are willing to kill to keep buried.

In the midst of her reporting, Vicky finds her relationship with Pete, her new love interest who has traveled with her in his RV, to be both a blessing and another challenge.

Pete keeps wanting a deeper relationship, while Vicky is reluctant. In addition, she’s considering taking a TV job in Texas that would put an additional strain on the couple. Even though Pete is perfect for her now, she’s not sure he’s perfect when it comes to her future.

Parallel Secrets is a literary jigsaw puzzle, the kind that remains unclear until the final piece is put in place. This is an enthralling read for anyone who enjoys a good-to-the-last-drop mystery.

June 5, 2024
THINGS UNSEEN: The Isaak Collection by David T. Isaak – Murder Mystery, Amateur Sleuth, Mysticism

After the murder of his sister, Dr. Walker Claybourne journeys to the Yucca Valley to wrap up Claire’s affairs– including the investigation, in David T. Isaak’s mystery novel, Things Unseen.

As a geology professor at the University of California in San Diego, a leading authority on volcanic landforms of the Southwest, Walker lives a life as solid and routine as the very rocks he studies. He has his tenure, his condo, and his quiet existence. On sabbatical to write a textbook, Walker plans on staying in Claire’s rented house just long enough to pack her things. However, he isn’t there long before guilt sets in as he realizes how little he knew his only sister.

With his parents both dead and his only other sibling teaching at Cambridge, Walker realizes how very alone he is, and he decides to investigate Claire’s murder.

His initial stop with the detective covering the case leaves him more confused than enlightened, so Walker turns to Claire’s friends, a strange group of both mystics and intellectuals. He quickly begins to see the complex woman his little sister was– counselor, reformer, and spiritual pilgrim. As the mystery deepens, the questions yield a plethora of suspects, while Walker faces multiple attacks on himself. He gradually begins to questions his own beliefs and long-standing intellectualism the more he learns about Claire.

This novel offers a fresh and complex take on the journey of self-realization.

In the beginning, Walker is a well-established skeptic and intellectual. His entire existence is built upon scientific observation and proof, the kind one can see and touch. He absolutely refuses to believe in the psychic visions of Claire’s friend Mandy or the Wiccan glamour spell entrancing him to another friend, Melanie.

Where Claire is passionate, seeing the power in the beautiful and often deadly landscape surrounding her, Walker is coldly calculating, analyzing those measurable traits easily explained by his many years of study and research. He admits that his life has been about endurance, a “doggedness” that has gotten him both his tenure and his lack of true friends.

However, Walker knows this stubbornness is exactly what he needs to keep him on the scent of Claire’s killer.

The more Detective Bolles pushes against his investigation, the more resolve Walker has to understand Claire and make up for all the years he’d wasted. He often wonders if his newfound obsession with knowing Claire’s mind and inner circle is healthy, or just a way of assuaging his guilt with the thrill of achievement in finding her killer.

However, this very uncertainty is, in itself, personal growth for Walker. As a goal-oriented man, he is always clear in his expectations and desires, but by investigating his fierce, loyal sister, he steps out of his “normal,” and likens the experience to his brain splitting and evolving.

Along the way, Claire’s friends and eventually Claire’s presence– whether in his mind or as a true spirit– convince him not to ignore the things for which he has no real explanation.

Walker begins to think that his years in academia have just been a way to hide rather than face life head-on as Claire always did, and he begins to truly notice the little details he sees every day. While Walker isn’t sure what the correct life path is, he no longer believes it’s simple. The path to truth, just like the mystery of Claire’s death, is a winding mixture of factual and spiritual, but one full of strong friendships and deep devotion.

March 6, 2024
THE OTHER MURDER by Kevin G. Chapman – Murder Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Police Procedural

In The Other Murder by Kevin G. Chapman, two ambitious journalists find themselves at the knife’s edge as they seek to uncover the entire truth of a gruesome double homicide.

“An error does not become truth because of multiplied propaganda, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.” –Mahatma Gandhi

Hannah, a journalist with the American Cable News network, is pulled away from a date by her editor to cover the breaking news of a shooting in Washington Square Park. The victim is Angelica Monroe, a White girl from Westchester County and a sophomore at NYU. She was shot at a close range, as shown by the dark hole above her left eye.

The murder becomes much more mysterious and complicated when Paulo, a reporter for a small community newspaper, makes a connection between Angelica’s murder and the shooting of a Latino teen, Javier Estrada, on the other side of the park on the same night.

Two detectives, Mariana and Dru, investigate the crimes and also connect Javier to the Monroe crime scene. A bag containing his Air Jordans was found near Angelica’s body. The investigators believe that Monroe may have had a dangerous item in her possession and that she may have involved herself in a highly unlikely vice, which brought her into the park and put her in harm’s way. By this time, Hannah and her network had built up Angelica as the tragic innocent victim of urban crime. When Paulo and Hannah team up, the true facts deviate farther and farther from the original narrative.

In this thrilling novel, the hunt for truth is challenged at every turn by confusion, desperation, and near-death experiences. The ‘system’ becomes increasingly complex and unpredictable, as stern directives are issued from the top, to which the investigators and the journalists are expected to adhere – even if it restricts their search. This obfuscation frustrates the investigators and prompts deep reflection in readers, as it mirrors the growing real-world indifference to truth, the cynical espousing of lies, and the fake news that popular newsrooms today have boldly proclaimed.

These themes of truth in the face of powerful deception become immense and haunting through the story of The Other Murder.

Readers will be struck by the inhumane and high-tension crime scene in the first chapter, as well as the accelerated pace at which Paulo and Hannah swing into action. The plot is chilling but heroic and boils down to one simple conclusion: Facts cannot be hidden forever, regardless of the backlash or denial against them.

Chapman has crafted a must-read novel through a proficient mixture of police procedural, thriller, and mystery. The Other Murder is undoubtedly a tale that will draw a reader in from the first page to the last. Chapman’s characters are a beautiful blend of various personalities, with their natural reactions to distress and pressure giving life and a satisfying richness to this tale.

March 1, 2024
A LONG WAY From CLARE by Robert W. Smith – Historical Fiction, Conspiracy Mystery, Irish-American History

Twenty-four-year-old Conor Dolan had intended to surprise his older brother and catch up after years apart. However, what he finds when he arrives in Chicago will spark a harrowing mystery, in A Long Way from Clare by Robert W. Smith.

Kevin, a beat cop in twentieth-century Chicago’s worst neighborhood, was found six weeks before Conor’s visit, in what the police have dubbed a suicide. However, Conor has his doubts. Each time he asks people about Kevin, he is met with resistance and denial. When Conor speaks with Detective Flynn, the man assigned to Kevin’s case, his suspicions become certainties. Flynn’s bizarre behavior, the minimal effort on the police’s part to investigate, and the men following Conor at every turn convince him to stay in Chicago rather than return to his home in Springfield.

Conor’s determination to find answers to Kevin’s death lead him in a dangerous dance with darkness amidst the shadows of Chicago’s underworld.

He finds an ally in undercover Pinkerton agent Rebecca Fletcher, who has been assigned to find information on a secret Irish society, Clan na Gael. Clan na Gael, a militant organization bent on establishing a united, independent Ireland, is planning the assassination of a visiting British dignitary. And Rebecca has uncovered evidence linking Kevin with them. Now Conor finds himself in the middle of a corrupt city, fighting for justice for poor immigrants and searching for the truth about Kevin’s life. The more he learns about his brother, the less sure he is that he actually wants that truth. At great risk to himself, Conor faces the corruption, where his own destruction is just one misstep away.

A Long Way from Clare revolves around the brotherly love between Kevin and Conor.

The reader sees their relationship through Conor’s memories. Kevin gave up so much to make sure his brother became more than himself. A seven-year-old Conor was once protected from the reality of eviction by Kevin, who strives to make the whole thing seem like a grand adventure even as their mother sends them across the ocean to their uncle. He does this again on the horrifying journey from Ireland to America aboard a cramped, filthy ship. Conor is never fearful because Kevin has given him strength and assurance that all will be well as long as they are together.

As a young adult, Kevin joins the army and later the police force to provide Conor with an education. He made certain Conor became a lawyer while Kevin himself walked the beat of the worst section of Chicago. Conor truly begins to understand Kevin’s sacrifice as he investigates Kevin’s death. However, he also finds a duality in the brother he loved and respected. He’s uncertain and confused when he learns of Kevin’s secretive life, struggling to reconcile this with his kind and caring brother.

Chicago itself becomes an integral part of the novel. The massive government corruption in the early twentieth century defines Conor’s story just as much as the other characters.

Conor’s fledgling law office cannot survive without the consent of precinct bosses, their “heelers,” and the coppers patrolling the ward. Everyone from the local priest to the court clerk has their hands in the coffers. Stuck in the capital of debauchery, Conor cannot fathom how his caring brother has spent most of his adult life working in the ward. The smog, the filth, and the human depravity overwhelm Conor’s upright values. Though he feels the pressure to break laws to benefit his “protectors,” Conor refuses.

The plight of immigrants, especially the Irish, becomes foremost in Conor’s mind since the city itself seems to devour these poor masses.

In his search for answers, he encounters so many people – women in particular – who’ve been abused and used, crushed beneath the feet of men seeking their own freedom from those at the top. They hurt those beneath them because they themselves are being hurt, going so far as to kill their own children rather than allow the city to consume them piece by piece. This dark and horrifying picture of the Windy City is the one that Conor must face.

A Long Way from Clare skillfully entwines the bonds of family, the underbelly of a corrupt city, and the resilience of those who struggle for justice. Robert W. Smith’s storytelling plunges readers into early twentieth-century Chicago to deliver a riveting narrative where the truth is irresistible.

June 5, 2023