Mystery – Fiction Aficionado

The Gentleman and the Thief (Sarah M. Eden) – Review

A standalone novel in The Dread Penny Society set in 1865 London brimming with secrets, scandal, suspense, and romance.

From the moment Hollis Darby meets Ana Newport, he’s smitten. Even though he’s from a wealthy, established family and she isn’t, he wishes he could have a life with her by his side. But Hollis has a secret: the deep coffers that have kept his family afloat for generations are bare, so he supports himself by writing penny dreadfuls under a pseudonym. If not for the income from his novels, he would be broke.

Ana Newport also has a secret. Though she once had a place in society thanks to her father’s business, bankruptcy and scandal reduced the family fortune to nothing more than a crumbling town house. So Ana teaches music during the day, and at night she assumes the identity of the “Phantom Fox.” She breaks into the homes of the wealthy to reclaim treasures she feels were unjustly stolen from her family when they were struggling.

12 November 2020

Top Ten Tuesday – Who to Host at a Murder Mystery Party

Welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday post, thanks to That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt originally had me stumped. Things I’d Have at My Bookish Party. You’d think that at this time in our lives—a time when we’re all fondly remember that thing we used to call “being social”—I’d be extra keen to dream up a bookish party, but I just wasn’t feeling it today…until I started thinking about which characters I would invite to a bookish party.

5 May 2020

Top Ten Tuesday – New-To-Me Authors I Read in 2019

Happy Tuesday, reader friends, and welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday post, thanks to That Artsy Reader Girl.

I’m actually doing a double post today, because I read so many new-to-me authors last year that I can give you ten new-to-me Christian fiction authors and ten new-to-me general market authors! I had no idea I’d read so many, and five of them are Australian authors as well! I’m hoping to read more from these authors in the future.

14 January 2020

Looking Forward to Thrillers/Suspense/Mystery in 2020

Hello, reader friends. Following on from yesterday’s post filling you in on all the romantic suspense releases you can look forward to in the first half of 2020, I’m going to give you a run-down on what’s releasing in the thriller, suspense, and mystery genres. While some of these releases will still have an element of romance, they differ from the romantic suspense genre in that the thriller/suspense/mystery plot is the primary focus of the story.

And if you’re a contemporary romance lover, make sure you check out upcoming contemporary romance releases here.

10 January 2020

Echoes Among the Stones (Jaime Jo Wright) – Review

After Aggie Dunkirk’s career is unceremoniously ended by her own mistakes, she finds herself traveling to Wisconsin, where her grandmother, Mumsie, lives alone in her rambling old home. She didn’t plan for how eccentric Mumsie has become, obsessing over an old, unsolved crime scene–even going so far as to re-create it in the dollhouse.

Mystery seems to follow her when she finds work as a secretary helping to restore the flooded historical part of the cemetery. Forced to work with the cemetery’s puzzling, yet attractive archeologist, she exhumes the past’s secrets and unwittingly uncovers a crime that some will go to any length to keep quiet–even if it means silencing Aggie.

29 December 2019

Katie & Rel’s Novel Gift Guide

Welcome, reader friends! Christmas is fast approaching, and if you’re anything like me, you’re still searching for the perfect gift for some of your family and friends. 😬 Last year, my dear friend Rel (from Relz Reviewz) and I put our heads together to give you some great recommendations to make your Christmas shopping a little bit easier, and we had so much fun we decided to do it again! As a result, here is Katie & Rel’s Novel Gift Guide for 2019!

14 December 2019

First Line Friday – Echoes Among the Stones

Happy Friday, book lovers, and welcome to First Line Friday hosted by Hoarding Books. It’s one week until moving day here in the Donovan house, so reading time has become pretty scarce of late, but I have managed to delve into Jaime Jo Wright’s new release, Echoes Among the Stones. I love the Gothic atmosphere she creates in these time-slip mysteries!

6 December 2019

Top Ten Tuesday – Historical Mystery TBR

Happy Tuesday, reader friends, and welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday post thanks to That Artsy Reader Girl. Today’s official topic is Extraordinary Book Titles. I’ve veered off to the side a little bit and collected some titles that, while not exactly extraordinary, are at least enough out of the ordinary to make you stop and take a second look. Titles that make you go “Hmmm… Now what’s that all about?” Except for the first one, which just makes me giggle! Enjoy!

29 October 2019

The power of fiction, the beauty of words, and the God who made us to wield them for His glory.