Tag: LGBTGIA paranormal murder mystery

Review:  Riddles & Rivals (The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club Book 5) by K. Sterling

Rating: 5🌈

Riddles & Rivals, an enemies to lovers story, was everything I anticipated it to be and more.  Involving two of the most compelling and layered individuals in this series, Sterling delves deeply into the men’s heavily woven lives that includes their families connected thru their often dark histories. As the last of the original mine owning founding families of Bisbee, Mercer and Baxter’s animosity started in their adolescence.  Fueled by the difference in their backgrounds, the deep religious beliefs, and the disparity climate of the household in which each man was raised.  

Riddles & Rivals sees Mayor Mercer Hathaway asking his longtime enemy Baxter Dawson for help. Mercer is tearing down the ominous Hathaway House and wants an answer to the famous old unsolved crime of what really happened to Julia Lowell.  A crime that has long been thought to have been committed by a Hathaway.  The answers might be in Hathaway House and they have a weekend to find out before it’s torn down.

That’s the bare minimum of this complex, character driven, beautifully crafted mystery. It’s got ghosts determined by their own agendas, ancient passions and two men who find themselves in a strange place where they unravel long held secrets and their own destiny.

Sterling’s forward asks reviewers not to divulge the spoilers of the story and I won’t. They are far too fantastic. 

I thought the men, their strengths and struggles with their pasts, especially Mercer’s inner voice as he wrestles with the events and his emotions, are so vivid and powerful.

Riddles & Rivals (The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club Book 5) by K. Sterling is a highlight of the series and a fabulous read.  A must in itself and in the series.

Loving the covers.

The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club :

  • Haunted Hearts #1
  • Moonlight & Madness #2
  • Unhappy Medium #3
  • Grave Expectations #4
  • Riddles & Rivals #5
  • Shadows & Reservations #6
  • Heart & Soulless #7
  • Specters & Sparks # 8

Buy link

        Riddles & Rivals (The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club Book 5)

    

Blurb

One haunted mansion. Two lifelong enemies. Three days to solve one of Bisbee’s most notorious mysteries.It’s nearly Valentine’s Day but it might as well be Christmas for Baxter Dawson when Bisbee’s mayor, Mercer Hathaway, knocks on his door with an irresistible proposition for the town’s favorite crime solver. Mercer’s planning to tear down The Hathaway House and burn everything inside it to free himself of his family’s dark legacy. But first, Mercer wants to find the answer to a riddle that’s plagued him for decades: who killed Julia Lowell and why does she haunt him every time he’s a guest at The Copper Queen Hotel? The answer is somewhere inside The Hathaway House but the real mystery is: can these two bitter rivals survive a weekend together in a mansion full of ghosts and Hathaway Family skeletons without killing each other?

  • Publisher: Bawdy Books (June 30, 2021)
  • Publication date: June 30, 2021
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 178 pages

Review: A Spooky Legacy (The Spectral Files Book 5) by S. E. Harmon

Rating: 5🌈

If A Spooky Legacy is the finale novel for Rainbow “Rain” Christiansen and his husband, fellow cold case detective, Daniel McKenna, then it’s a fabulous story and sendoff to a compelling pair of characters and supporting cast that I have come to adore.

Five books that have taken them through all the stages of a remarkable relationship that has involved adapting to two widely different in-laws with their unique backgrounds, great law enforcement teams, and investigations into cold cases, and ghosts. Lots of ghosts, of the malignant, the uncooperative , and of the helpful kind.

It’s been such a great pleasure and one imaginative, magnificent journey.

So of course the last case will be that of a heartbreaker. For everyone involved.

Just as Rain and Danny are waiting to hear from the adoption agency on their application for approval and potentially getting a child, they will be handed a cold case of missing family.

So many feelings here. Harmon has Rain’s personal doubts and insecurities/fears over being a parent running concurrently with the real painful emotions of the investigation into a case that involves two young children and their parents. One we know didn’t end well.

As the case develops into something dark and far more complicated than expected, so does Rain’s feelings about the adoption and extending their family to include a child. It’s a realistic, emotionally tough but touching storyline. It takes work and commitment and communication on both sides of the relationship. That’s something I really appreciate here.

There’s also an unexpected helpful aspect for Rain to act as a bridge to understanding how it would feel to have someone else in the relationship.

There’s so many touching, moving elements and scenes here. I honestly felt both satisfied and wishing for more at the end.

Does this feel right? Yes. But, how I want a glimpse into their future lives.

This series has been distinguished by extraordinary characterizations, well woven storylines, and remarkable relationships that showed emotional maturity and growth.

That’s rare no matter the genre and I’ll miss them.

Read this in the order of release so not to miss out on the development of characters and relationships.

The Spectral Files:

✓ P.S. I Spook You #1

✓ Principles of Spookology #2

✓ Spooky Business #3

✓ The Spooky Life #4

✓ A Spooky Legacy #5

Buy link:

A Spooky Legacy (The Spectral Files Book 5)

Blurb:

Rain Christiansen is settling into married life with fellow cold case detective, Daniel McKenna, and life is good. Better than good, even. But when it comes to the topic of expanding their family, Rain isn’t so sure he’s ready. Yes, a new addition could enrich their lives. But it could also tear down the delicate balance they’ve worked so hard to achieve. Do they really want to take that risk?

He’d love to brood over that a little more, but murder never takes a day off. A decade-old mystery of the missing Parker family is heating up. Most seem to think the Parkers pulled a disappearing act to get out of financial debt. It isn’t before the PTU finds out the reality is far grimmer than that. It seems that Quinn stumbled upon something better left hidden. Now that Rain has stumbled upon it, too, he has to be careful that he doesn’t meet the same fate.

Sometimes it amazes him how far he’s come from strait-laced FBI agent who couldn’t admit—even to himself—that he saw ghosts. He’s done the work, learning to get some measure of control of his paranormal side. And while his relationship with ghosts may not be perfect, it’s evolved into something symbiotic…which is a very good thing. Because in order to protect himself from the living, he might need a little help from the dead.

• Publication date: April 9, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 382 pages

Review: Shades of Sepia (The Sleepless City #1 ) by Anne Barwell

Rating: 3.5🌈

I’ve read this series out of order and this probably has hurt the way in which I have viewed the first story, Shades of Sepia.

I’m already familiar with the couple and characters here. Also how the events of this story unfolded and were resolved. I read it basically to complete the series and grab up any new information or missing details before heading into the series finale.

I liked getting to know Ben Leyton, a New Zealand human drawn to Boggslake, Ohio because of an old photograph from his grandfather. He’s a wonderful, relatable character. Simon Hawthorne, vampire with a terrifying past, is a quiet presence here against the vibrancy that’s Ben.

I liked them but my main quibble here is the rushed relationship. There’s no foundation, no chemistry at the beginning. Yes a feel for a realistic dynamic comes later in the book, but at the beginning, it’s all soulmate, insta-love ‘oh, I love you’ type of relationship and I just think it comes across as flawed and flat.

Especially when viewed against the funny, partly antagonistic tone of the one that emerges from Electric Candle with Blair and Forge. That is one that’s slowly grown and, even with a soulmate bond, definitely not an instant love connection. As I said, series should be read in order.

I thought the second half of the story and plot was better constructed. But again, I had the advantage of reading books 2 and 3 . For me, I enjoyed it but got frustrated that the investigation into the murders was simply too slow to see what was going on around the main characters. And major plot points weren’t followed through on, another issue which bothered me.

For me , there’s a large amount of sex to the exclusion of character and relationship development. Instead of giving the reader information about what exactly happened to certain characters, what did the investigation reveal, and some more vampire bonding details, we get sex.

It’s not as satisfying as it sounds.

So while there are some good things about this book. The characters themselves are lovely, some really nice moments individually, the whole story doesn’t come across as strongly as the book that follow.

It’s still a rec for me. It a good lead in to a terrific series. Read them in the order they are written.

The Sleepless City:

✓ Shades of Sepia #1 by Elizabeth Noble

✓ Electric Candle #2 by Elizabeth Noble

✓ Family and Reflection #3 by Anne Barwell

◦ Shifting Chaos #4 by Anne Barwell

Sequel Series:

The Vampire Guard by Elizabeth Noble:

◦ Code Name: Jack Rabbit #1

◦ Quarry #2

◦ Endosymbiont #3

Buy Link:

Shades of Sepia (The Sleepless City Book 1)

Blurb:

To be soulmates they first have to survive.

A serial killer stalks the streets of Boggslake, Ohio. The victims are always found in pairs, one human and one vampire.

Simon Hawthorne has been a vampire for nearly a hundred years, and he has never seen anything like it. Neither have the other supernaturals he works with to keep the streets safe for both their kind and the humans.

One meeting with Simon finds Ben Leyton falling for a man he knows is keeping secrets, but he can’t ignore the growing attraction between them. A recent arrival in Boggslake, Ben finds it very different from his native New Zealand, but something about Simon makes Ben feel as though he’s found a new home.

After a close friend falls victim to the killer, Simon is torn between revealing his true nature to Ben, and walking away to avoid the reaction he fears. But with the body count rising and the murders becoming more frequent, either, or both of them, could be the killer’s next target.

Author’s note: This story was originally released in 2014 by another publisher. This edition has been revised and re-edited with the end result being a better, stronger story.

• Publisher: LaceDragon Publishing; 2nd edition (July 11, 2020)

• Publication date: July 11, 2020

• Print length: 240 pages

Review: Unraveling The Threads of Fate by Alice Winters

Rating: 4.75🌈

Unraveling The Threads of Fate by Alice Winters is an excellently written, highly suspenseful tale that contains a lot of moments of extreme anxiety and dread. It stretches over the all events that should be happening to the people in the universe here.

I say should because a major element is that one character, Alex Coleman, school teacher, has a gift. He can see invisible threads stretching from person to person. Red threads ties a person to their soulmate. But the black threads he also sees ties them to the one who will kill them. It’s a talent he’s had his entire life and one he’s hidden.

In this universe, those with special gifts are tested and tracked, starting at a early age. But Alex’s abusive childhood with a destitute drug dealer allowed him to evade it.

Bishop King, scion to a wealthy businessman, once was the only friend Alex had growing up, until a horrific event drove them apart.

Bishop too has a special talent. He can walk in people’s dreams. But in Alex’s dreams, he’s got the power to do more, see more.

When they meet again, at Career Day at Alex’s school, they set off a set of events that have a rippling effect for a multitude of characters as Alex and Bishop fight to find and change their fates, pulled along by the threads Alex is seeing.

Winters, in her inimitable manner, with wry, sarcastic, haunting, and heartbreaking dialogue and scenes gives us a scary and thrilling tale of fate altered at breakneck pace, a murderer on the loose, and two find trying to outwit both a murderer and plot they can’t understand, and deal with a abusive past that threatens them.

With alternating flashbacks that are chilling in their cruelty and ability to deliver the blows that continues to be felt in the future, and a present where dreams are nightmares of blood, black threads, and death, that the author manages to bring romance and fun into this is amazing.

All the characters are fantastic. It includes Alex’s sister, Cali, who he raised. Her friends. Even the adults the surround them, good and bad.

It’s a vile and fascinating mixture.

But watching them trying to figure out how to change the date of each person and event, it’s thrilling and scary and heart racing.

And that ending is so very satisfying.

I believe this is a standalone.

So pick it up and enjoy a great thrill ride!

I’m highly recommending it.

https://www.goodreads.com › showUnraveling the Threads of Fate by Alice Winters – Goodreads

Alex
Some people are born lucky.
Then there’s me, destined to be loved by the man who knows my darkest secret.
My gift has followed me my entire life—the ability to see the threads of fate. I can see the red thread tying together two people destined to love one another.
But my gift has another side to it. A darker side.
I can also see a simple black thread tied to the fingers of those who aren’t aware of it, connecting them to the person destined to kill them. And when I look down at my own finger, I can see the red thread stretched over to Bishop King. The man who is my soul mate.


But then why is the black thread also wrapped around our fingers?
Bishop is sweet and caring, and I can’t stop my heart from loving him. I just need to thwart fate before it separates us forever.

Bishop
I swore to never let myself be drawn back into Alex’s world, but the man is funny and charming and the moment we’re together I fall back into the familiarity we shared as teenagers.
I know this time is different; he’s hoping that I can help him walk through his dreams to figure out how an innocent girl is going to die.

While his dreams tell of the future, mine allow us to find the truth. But what happens when we save a life and change fate–will it affect our own future? I can’t keep myself from falling for Alex, but what if helping him leaves one of us dead?

Unraveling the Threads of Fate is a standalone romance with action, mystery, humor, and a happy ending.

Review: The Spooky Life (The Spectral Files #4) by S.E. Harmon

Rating: 5🌈

Once again S.E. Harmon’s spectacular series has managed to ride that edge of horror, scaring the ever loving crap out of me, while providing me (and her magnificent characters) with so many witty, hilarious conversations and sayings that sellers out there in Etsy should be pounding at the author’s proverbial door asking for the right to put them up on crafting projects.

Rain Christiansen and fellow detective, Daniel McKenna, are finally getting married. They’ve set the date. Now if they can wade through all the wedding planning mountains of decisions people made for them, and wedding agenda items that have gotten so out of their control. Then they just might make it to wedded bliss.

I love this series and the characters. The author gives us an established couple that’s recovering from the traumatic events of Spooky Business, rebuilding their house, and trying to move forward with their future, in all its quirky, exasperating, and often murderous aspects.

Even in the most mundane periods of Rain’s and Danny’s life, ghosts are bound to make an appearance. As they do when Rain and his future MIL are touring a possible wedding venue.

This ghost and her request will lend The Spooky Life a fascinating, multilayered paranormal investigation that will eventually have major horror overtones. Just a fantastic element. Gives me the chills still thinking about it.

As to the rest? It’s witty, sarcastic, full of the found family that has been gathered through the paranormal crime unit , Rain’s hippie parents, his sister, Danny’s family, their aging GSD, and all the rest. Each adding memorable scenes, warmth, and often gentle hilarity to the mixture.

I would love to see another story, with their kids they are planning for. But if this is the last one, I’m content.

The author is leaving them at a wonderful place .

The Spooky Life (The Spectral Files #4) by S.E. Harmon is a outstanding story in a great series. It’s got fabulous characters and complicated plots. Read them in the order they are written for character and relationship development.

I’m highly recommending them all.

The Spectral Files :

✓ P.S. I Spook You #1

✓ Principles of Spookology #2

✓ Spooky Business #3

✓ The Spooky Life #4

https://www.goodreads.com › showThe Spooky Life (The Spectral Files #4) by S.E. Harmon – Goodreads

Synopsis:

Rain Christiansen isn’t sure he’ll ever fully understand the supernatural. But he’s finally finding his groove as a reluctant medium and cold-case detective. That’s not to say everything is going smoothly—there’s a wedding in the works, after all. He’s finally taking that enormous step with fellow detective, Daniel McKenna, and he couldn’t be happier…about the marriage. Not so much the wedding. The hoopla is enough to make him wish for a quick flight to Vegas and an Elvis officiant.

At least work is keeping Rain and the PTU plenty busy. Their latest case involves Hannah Caldwell, a silent ghost who can’t—or won’t—speak. She still manages to request that they find her dear friend, Cherry Parker, so that she can say goodbye. Piece of cake. Finding people is pretty high on the list of things that Rain does best.

But when it comes to ghosts, nothing is ever quite what it seems. Before long, his simple missing person’s case takes a dark and twisted turn. And Rain realizes he’s been so busy trying to protect Danny that he forgot to protect himself.

If he doesn’t turn things around—and quickly—his spooky life might be cut short for good.

Review: Spooky Business (The Spectral Files #3) by S.E. Harmon

Rating: 5 🌈

Spooky Business finishes up the amazing paranormal trilogy from S.E. Harmon. The author manages to pull off an absolutely perfect series finale that ties up all of Rain Christiansen and Daniel McKenna’s relationship issues satisfactorily as well as finalizing the cases the Brickell Bay, Florida PI squad (and the FBI) were investigating.

As with everything Rain seems to come into contact with , it’s all connected once more in Spooky Business but the how’s and why’s are so complex and the methodology to getting the answers so labyrinthine that the reader is so deeply involved with the investigations (yes, multiple) that when the true danger to Rain and Danny becomes apparent, it’s not from the person everyone would suspect.

How surprising ! And shockingly perfect! And it makes for a needed character growth that begs for a sequel trilogy. Especially given that ending!

An aspect of these stories is that Harmon never lets us forget the person and lives behind the ghosts Rain encounters. A conversation with a ghostly cantankerous grandmother turns into an unexpectedly poignant and loving moment. And I’m sniffing when I least thought I would.

The investigations are filled with raw emotions, moments of pain, confusion, and death. Ghostly and the very realistic.

Harmon also finds humor and threads it throughout to mitigate the themes of murder and death the plots deal with.

Amazing writing, incredible characters, storylines that are complex and beautiful in their way. This is a series you won’t want to miss. Including this fantastic finale.

Read them in the order they are written for relationship and storylines development.

I’m highly recommending this and the series.

The Spectral Files : 3 of 3:

✓ P.S. I Spook You #1

✓ Principles of Spookology #2

✓ Spooky Business #3

https://www.goodreads.com › showSpooky Business (The Spectral Files, #3) by S.E. Harmon – Goodreads

Synopsis:

Being insatiably curious is a good way to end up dead.

Rain Christiansen, cold case detective and reluctant medium, is very aware of that fact. But when infamous serial killer Thomas Kane wants to meet, there’s no way Rain can say no. He also can’t refuse Kane’s offer—find his missing wife, Delilah, and he’ll reveal the location of his victim’s bodies.

Rain has never turned down a good quid pro quo, and he doesn’t intend to start.

The hunt for Kane’s wife leads to yet another cold case, three copycat murders, and an investigation where nothing is as it seems. Soon, Rain is dealing with a ghost unlike any he’s ever dealt with before…a ghost capable of doing things he shouldn’t be able to do. How can Rain control something he doesn’t even understand? And what will he do when the unknown threatens the safety of the most important person in his life?

Rain is starting to realize that he can only battle the supernatural with the supernatural, and that is spooky business indeed.

Review: P.S. I Spook You (The Spectral Files #1) by S.E. Harmon

Rating: 5🌈

I have had author S.E. Harmon on my auto buy for a while now but somehow I missed this spectacular 3-book paranormal series ! I’m rectifying that now and just finished the marvelous P.S. I Spook You.

It’s the first story in Harmon’s The Spectral Files trilogy about a FBI profiler who can communicate with ghosts (he’s a bridge from living to the dead), the Detective he’s loves, and the cases they are involved in.

P.S. I Spook You lays down the complicated history of and between both men.

Rain Christiansen, FBI profiler, left the man he loved, his family, and hometown of Brickell Bay, Florida behind when he thought he was going crazy, seeing ghosts, ghosts who were talking to him. So he ran…all the way to NYC. A new job, drugs, and a doctor who said it was something to be cured.

Detective Daniel McKenna, cold case cop who was left behind with no idea why the man he loved up and ran to NYC.

Harmon details two damaged, haunted men who still are deeply in love with each other. She gives us a remarkable hippy family for Rain that’s a delight and one for Daniel that’s slowly revealed over the course of the book.

But it’s the amazing cold case of a missing girl that reunites them that really makes this story soar. Harmon’s ghosts are so poignant, from the smallest details in their expressions to the changes that happen as memories return. Harmon’s ghosts become tangible and real. Paranormal beings that need help , and Rain is so slow to accept the role he’s obviously been given.

This is a incredible element and I’m heavily invested in how Rain is going to grow into a role that’s he’s so new and unprepared for.

That goes for his partner and their relationship. Harmon’s characters react very humanly. Denial, the avoidance, then communication. Yet you can see the future areas where this “talent” of Rain’s is is quickly becoming a issue between them.

I was so hooked on the characters and storylines I was reading into the early hours. Then started on the next before I just had to stop. These people just got to me.

If you haven’t read this trilogy already? It’s an absolute must. Outstanding plots, fantastic characters and well developed relationships. It’s all here.

Ok I have Principles of Spookology to finish and then it’s onto Spooky Business. I can’t wait. Read all three in the order they are written to understand the plot and characters progression and development.

I’m highly recommending them all.

The Spectral Files 3 of 3:

✓ P.S. I Spook You #1

◦ Principles of Spookology #2

◦ Spooky Business #3

https://www.goodreads.com › showP.S. I Spook You (The Spectral Files, #1) by S.E. Harmon – Goodreads

Synopsis:

SSA Rain Christiansen used to be the agency’s golden boy. It just takes one moment of weakness, one slight, tiny, itty-bitty paranormal sighting, and all of a sudden, he’s the agency’s embarrassment. His boss gives him one last chance to redeem himself – go down to Brickell Bay, play nice with the local police, and leave the ghost sightings behind. Rain is determined to do exactly that, even if it kills him.

Cold-case Detective Daniel McKenna’s latest investigation is going nowhere fast. Five years earlier, high school student Amy Greene went missing after leaving her part-time job and was never seen again. Daniel is glad to finally have the FBI help his department requested, even if it does come in the form of his ex.

It doesn’t help that Rain is pretty sure he’s falling in love with Danny all over again – if he ever stopped. Add to that the frustration of seeing ghosts at every turn while he works a case that’s stalled in its tracks, and Rain is starting to wonder if second chances and happy endings are just for fairy tales.