Last Words

 

From Goodreads:

In March of 1975, as New York City hurtles toward bankruptcy and the Bronx burns, newsman Coleridge Taylor roams police precincts and ERs. He is looking for the story that will deliver him from obits, his place of exile at the Messenger-Telegram. Ever since he was demoted from the police beat for inventing sources, the 34-year-old has been a lost soul.

A break comes at Bellevue, where Taylor views the body of a homeless teen picked up in the Meatpacking District. Taylor smells a rat: the dead boy looks too clean, and he's wearing a distinctive Army field jacket. A little digging reveals that the jacket belonged to a hobo named Mark Voichek and that the teen was a spoiled society kid up to no good, the son of a city official.

Taylor's efforts to protect Voichek put him on the hit list of three goons who are willing to kill any number of street people to cover tracks that just might lead to City Hall. Taylor has only one ally in the newsroom, young and lovely reporter Laura Wheeler. Time is not on his side. If he doesn't wrap this story up soon, he'll be back on the obits page--as a headline, not a byline.

Last Words won the Bronze Medal for mystery/thriller ebook in the 2015 Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPYs) and was named a Finalist in the 2015 Foreword Reviews IndieFab Book of the Year Awards. It was also a Finalist in the mystery category of the 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.

 

For the record-- I don't really  review books.  I don't feel qualified, BUT I do love to talk about them and like to feel part of the book blogging world.

 

From Me:

I love a good series!  Love to get connected to the characters  and watch them grow throughout.   The setting and time are important also in a series and this one takes you right back to the mid 1970's, New York City...I grew up in the 70's, so it was fun to be transported back in time.  Loved all the references to music!

What makes a book good is when the author can make you love the characters and the setting and I feel Zahradnik does that in this series.

This Coleridge Taylor mystery is new to me, but I really liked it.  I even bought the 2nd in the series already.

3.5 stars!

 

I am adding this to my Cloak and Dagger Challenge hosted by

Books, Movies, Reviews.  Oh My..

 

 

And the Literary Loner Challenge hosted by

Whatever I Think of!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Gods Die

From Goodreads:

 Brighton, England, 1811. The beautiful wife of an aging Marquis is found dead in the arms of the Prince Regent. Draped around her neck lies an ancient necklace with mythic origins-and mysterious ties to Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin. Haunted by his past, Sebastian investigates both the Marchioness's death and his own possible connection to it-and discovers a complex pattern of lies and subterfuge. With the aid of his lover, Kat Boleyn, and a former street urchin now under his protection, Sebastian edges closer to the killer. And when one murder follows another, he confronts a conspiracy that threatens his own identity...and imperils the monarchy itself.

 

 

From Me:

Why did this book call to me?

I used to read "Historical Romance" novels all the time, and I loved them.

Then, I stopped. 

I always felt that I grew out of them, but that's not a kind description, because whether you like them or not, Historical novels take a great deal of research to be true to their time  period and most are very well written and developed.

They can be fun, fast, suspenseful and emotional.

(after reading these first books I've found I've missed them!)

 

But, nevertheless, I stopped reading them, about 25 years ago.

Until...   The Quirky Bookworm wrote a post titled: 

Addicting Books:  8 Titles you won't be able to put down, 

and she said:

 I always devour the new entries in C.S. Harris's Sebastian St. Cyr series too (there are ten in the series so far, so you have a lot of great books to look forward to if you haven't read any!). It's not so much about the mysteries as it is about the relationships between the main characters.

 

and then...the rest is history!

It's about the relationships between the main characters.

She had me at that!!

 

This is the 2nd book I've read in the series and I really enjoyed it.

I do love to see character development, and Harris does a great job.

Not to mention their is a murder mystery plot to go along.

I know I'll enjoy this series.

3 stars from me.

 

*You probably already know this, but I just found out that 'Regency'

Historical novels (and that is what this is) are from 1811 to 1820, in the United Kingdom when King George III was deemed unfit to rule and his son, the Prince of Wales ruled as his proxy as Prince Regent.  In 1820  the Prince Regent became George IV   on the death of his father.

Iron Lake

From Goodreads:

 Part Irish, part Anishinaabe Indian, Corcoran "Cork" O'Connor is the former sheriff of Aurora, Minnesota. Embittered by his "former" status, and the marital meltdown that has separated him from his children, Cork gets by on heavy doses of caffeine, nicotine, and guilt. Once a cop on Chicago's South Side, there's not much that can shock him. But when the town's judge is brutally murdered, and a young Eagle Scout is reported missing, Cork takes on a mind-jolting case of conspiracy, corruption, and scandal.

As a lakeside blizzard buries Aurora, Cork must dig out the truth among town officials who seem dead-set on stopping his investigation in its tracks. But even Cork freezes up when faced with the harshest enemy of all: a small-town secret that hits painfully close to home.

 

From Me:

I'll just say it straight out--I really loved this book.

I have a soft spot for series mysteries with  good characters, complex characters, interesting characters.

A cozy mystery is good sometimes, but I much prefer some grittier suspense and this one fit the bill!

Cork was a very complex main character.

I want to know more about him, so of course, I'll continue on with the series.  

I must know and understand his life!

 

Do you want to know what I also love?

The setting.

Sounds weird, I know--most people love a good plot, but no,  give me some great, multi-layered characters and a setting which the author LOVES, that comes thru in their writing and in turn makes me love their place of choice, and I'm a happy camper!

I love falling in love with the region of a series mystery!  In this case it's Minnesota.

 

When an author can make me love a place AND a character--they kind of have me hooked.

4 stars out of 5!