Yesterday's Lost by Sam Cheever

by Sam Cheever
reviewed from Kindle

A truly horrifying nightmare of a well-described old history home from start to finish. Ghosts? Yes, there are, but not so much the type that just hang around for who knows what reason, but terrifying with no outer appearance to speak of nor floating around minding their own business. What would that business be? It's hard to say. A whole neighborhood is wary of the goings on. An older couple and their children live in the house, so what can be so terrifying?

Two detectives arrive on the scene when a call has been made. Neighbors are gathered outside, descriptions of the chaos within, only in the evening, are confusing and blood-curdling screams are heard within. What is happening? Our two detectives tentatively enter the house simultaneously front door and back door and find nothing but signs of strife, heavy air, fog and stench of death. So where are the family? What was making the screams? And who is the old-fashioned girl in the window?

This was a good story of haunting, serious damage, and broken-spirited investigators who have tragic results of their investigation. I shouldn't have read this one when I went to bed!

The Brain Loses the Game by Thomas Marchante

by Thomas Marchante
reviewed from Kindle

Who's up for a game? Is the rabbit hole still intact?
 Played like a game of chess, I have found another author to thoroughly enjoy, and especially our sleuth, Charlie Handler, who plays the game completely to win. Oh, how I love this premise! A mind that talks to itself and answers its questions to solve questions, so very me. A fitted out van far beyond what might be expected in sleuthing.

For those who prefer a different style, such as footwork, paper trails, I say give this one a chance, a very different approach that produces answers faster.

Check out the wife first, right? Caution, earplugs needed when asking her questions about her husband. Speech from Gilly is like chalk on a blackboard. No answers there anyway; Mack is the real person who Charlie needs to locate.  Or is he? He hasn't been seen or heard from since Charlie was hired to find him, dead or alive. A lot of questions to be answered. Charlie has been searching for players in this corporation since she was hired. Is this just a wild goose chase? People on her list to report on are there one moment, the next gone. And what is, to Charlie's versatile mind, entertaining. Going back in my history to when I was working, I sometimes wonder if we were being played or at least in a game, would we ever know it? Certainly an odd book and an odd choice for the future for Charlie. This had various threads throughout, but how do they get untangled? Of course, they still get tangled, wouldn't anyone in contact with the first person tangled want to know how and where that happened? I enjoyed this one completely, especially as the first part certainly was so in sync with how I solve thoughts or problems. Thank you Thomas Marchante... or is it "The Monitor?" or "The Joker?"

Inspector Rebecca Mayfield Box Set 1

by Joanne Pence

Very entertaining, really enjoyed all three stories
Beginning with The Thirteenth Santa, quite frankly I thought it took off with the hilarity of the old Keystone Kops films. How can a big van carrying 12 elderly Santas just disappear? Even more bizarre, where did the body of the thirteenth Santa come from? Christmas Eve has never been so strange. Some of the characters in the first story carry over into the next, some don't.

The second story, One O'Clock Hustle, has Rebecca Mayfield, Homicide division, working on several cases as the story goes along. Not quite a carry-over from book 1, but just as suspenseful and fast-paced as the first. It also carries over Richie Amalfi, completely in character, but would he actually kill someone? Another entertaining story, and still connected in some ways to the first and as high tension with humor as the last.

The third story, Two O'Clock Heist, is as tense and entertaining as the rest. I loved this entire boxed set, I downloaded it on to my Kindle. I can only imagine what the set would be like reading it on paper. I almost want to start reading it all again, but I just finished the set, which also included Richie's Italian Dialect, how it is used in San Francisco and what the words mean which I found really interesting. Joanne Pence has truly gone out of her way to bring an exciting and entertaining set to her readers.

Flo Charts (Silver Hills Cozy Mysteries)

by Sam Cheever
read on Kindle 

 Loved this story, full of interesting activities
This was my first book by Sam Cheever and I know I will want more. I've had this book for some time due to circumstances, but as soon as I started reading it, I was hooked. Wonderful word pictures came to mind as I read.  There is a new senior moving into the Silver Hills Senior and Singles Residence and Flo is the first to greet her. It seems Agnes has quite a presence but it doesn't stop her from being oddly accident prone because of that presence. She is certainly a good ally if you want to do any detecting. Flo and Agnes make an interesting team and good friends. Even their pets get along. But what is so unique about Agnes' cat, is that he likes to roam around the building, or is there more to it? He makes his rounds in his own unique style and process. What makes Flo so afraid of him?

When someone at the home becomes ill, work-related, Flo and Agnes start to ask questions. Flo being the questioner and Agnes providing a powerful backup. A very large woman, she is foil to Flo's lightweight methods. When the two of them try to gain access to the company where their friend works, checking it out becomes a hilarious misadventure. For a warehouse of household items and similar in storage, it has some very unexpected items here and there, not easily moved, but strangely unnoticed. All's well that ends well as soon as the police are in control...or maybe not as another case becomes a comedy of errors. Uniquely different from other cozy mysteries I've read.

Murder Below Zero

by John Lawrence Reynolds
a Rapid Reads book

 January in June, living in northern British Columbia, I can identify. Unusually cold this year, spring just doesn't seem to be in any hurry to arrive in Port Ainslee causing little excitement in the small village. Two conflicting policing sections, can Maxine Benson, chief of Port Ainslee's small police force, keep her cool and wits while the pushy provincial police both ignore and restrict her from doing her official job? The shocking discovery of a body in a ditch brings all enmity to the fore as Max tries to solve the crime with considerable interference from the overbearing head of the provincial police who are virtually scrambling the discoveries made by Max. It takes awhile but methodically Max has answers that are being ignored. Who could have murdered the man in the ditch and why does the body seem more frigid than expected? I enjoyed this book on several levels, a lot of plot packed into this Rapid Read. I will definitely be watching for more books by this author.

Dead Wake - A Forgotten Coast Florida Suspense Novel - Book 5

by Dawn Lee McKenna
reviewed from Kindle

 This book got my attention from the start, and no wonder. A flood from the most recent hurricane most certainly can make a lot of changes to buildings and landscapes. On the other hand, what turns out to be a completely unexpected find turns the town's citizens upside-down. Welcome to Apalachicola! Now I am very sorry I haven't discovered this series before. Unusual problems exist in the relationships of the citizens in their everyday lives but the shocking find while renovating a building halts almost everything but the investigation. Surprising twists and turns, mistaken answers to questions, I really enjoyed the sometimes shocking and sometimes humorous relationships, hidden secrets and the surprises that go along with it.

Assignment: Athens (A SpyCo Novella Book 1)

by Craig A. Hart
review from ebook

This novella and first in the series was quite interesting in characters, being short it didn't quite tell the whole story. I did enjoy it, though and would happily read another SpyCo book. Two different factions, SpyCo and Scorpion, appear to have a third unknown faction in their search for the central snatch back of a very important briefcase. Or is it really that special? Spies, heroes, partners, and other criminals all after the same briefcase, what do they have in common? Thrills, chills, murderers, terrorists, humor and hidden perils, I really enjoyed this book, Craig A. Hart really knows how to deliver.