Reviewed by Nikolas Mavreas

An out-of-the-box murder mystery with some seriously intriguing twists

The Last Case is an unconventional but wholly satisfying specimen of the murder mystery form. Set in a coastal town in New England during the early 1980s, this novel opens with a body: a man in a Dungeons and Dragons costume found beheaded on the beach. This brings the lighthouse-dwelling detective Joseph Tey out of his isolation and back into the game. As he works at solving the case, Tey also works on himself, battling identity issues and a sense of mental deterioration.

Our protagonist’s inner conflict, his doubts about his past and his capabilities, are a constant presence in the book. This is accomplished with an ingeniously selected alternative to inner monologue: interjections of passages from Joseph Tey’s journal. In addition to fresh approaches to the genre, the plot is sprinkled with familiar mystery tropes as well, like annoying police colleagues, Cold War rhetoric, and a large corporation of unclear morality.

Every single character in this book, however minor, feels alive and breathing. Manners of speech, contents of speech, and little actions meticulously described all work toward the painting of people who feel vibrantly real, accentuated with sparse brushstrokes of the caricatural.

The attention to detail and resulting characterization is in every nook and cranny of this book, and it defines every aspect of the writing. Through particular, descriptive, and expressive detail, this novel is both fully excavated and polished like a jewel.

“The journal may tell him, if he dared read it. Something made him reluctant. Something made those memories unpleasant. He’d written them down as though putting them on paper removed them from his mind, making room for other things. His curiosity pulled and his apprehension pushed, so the diary remained on the coffee table.”

The novel rises to real thrills but also plunges to profound psychological depths. At its center, it is concerned with why people do what they do, the senselessness of bad actions, and redemption. It’s a thought-provoking thriller—and a strong one at that.

Some readers will notice that the protagonist’s name is taken from the pen name of an older mystery author. The reference doesn’t seem to carry more meaning than just being a simple homage to Josephine Tey, and it has no connection to another popular book series which has a fictional Josephine Tey. Delauder may have gone tongue-in-cheek with titling this novel, The Last Case: A Joseph Tey Mystery, but he also could be leveraging for a sequel or prequel to follow. DeLauder admits in the back matter of the book that this is his first foray into the murder mystery genre, but he writes with enough skill and expertise to make it feel like he couldn’t have done a better job. Until next time, I hope.

Thank you for reading Nikolas Mavreas’s book review of The Last Case by Sean DeLauder! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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Reviewed by Josie Prado

An unpredictable story of the mysterious deaths of top Democratic candidates

Fast-paced and a real shock to the system, Mystery of the Poison Cups is rather self-explanatory. During a secret emergency meeting of the National Democratic Party’s Election Committee, Bertha Bagley, a top contributor to the party, drinks from a cup laced with cyanide and dies. This event sets the stage for the avalanche to come, focused mostly on Senator Mudbuttom, another member of the Committee, and his family.

Unbeknownst to many, Bertha and Senator Mudbuttom are planning a coup to have Mudbuttom replace the current top candidate, Nix, as the Democratic Presidential election pick. With Bertha’s murder and more deaths from cyanide poisoning happening during the campaign trail, Senator Mudbuttom may face a detour from the White House into a jail cell.

The investigation begins with local police, but as the number of cyanide-related deaths rises following a watch party at the hotel, the FBI steps in to take over. Agents Lewis and Shelton Ledbetter, along with their boss Bob Cummings and his daughter Phyllis, form a task force to identify those responsible and prevent any future attacks. For every rock they lift, though, nefarious political snakes slither out and complicate their case. They would gather evidence and come close to an arrest, only for their prime suspect to be killed. In a room with corrupt politicians, who is actually willing to be cutthroat in the literal sense?

Mystery of the Poison Cups is a compelling exploration of the ultra-wealthy and the political underbelly that prioritizes power over morality. The story is filled with affairs, backstabbing, and complicated family dynamics, all while the characters struggle to maintain a respectable image. Senator Mudbuttom, for example, has a mistress and is simultaneously searching for evidence of his wife’s infidelity to justify divorcing her. The text does not attempt to dulcify any character’s actions; rather, it portrays them naturally and unapologetically. The Mudbuttom family feels like a real, tense family that has learned to survive with one another as opposed to loving each other.

I enjoyed traveling down this winding road of twists and turns, but sometimes I did find myself wanting more of a foundation in the setting to make the plot clearer. The text is primarily in dialogue with limited exposition and description, which is great for the pacing, but leaves some to be desired when it comes to building the conflict. Since everything is happening so quickly with no time reference, it can be difficult to feel impacted by the deaths other than Bertha’s. The shifts between FBI agents to campaign events can also sometimes feel jarring.

For readers looking for a fun, novel approach to murder mystery and politics, Mystery of the Poison Cups would be a great choice. It’s a fast-paced whodunnit for a rainy day, a mystery to solve with the soundtrack of a storm.

Thank you for reading Josie Prado’s book review of Mystery of the Poison Cups by D.K. Caldwell! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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Reviewed by Peter Hassebroek | Content Warnings: School shooting

A compelling novel about the ironies of the Second Amendment and rationalizing stricter gun legislation

Austin McGuirk gets bullied frequently at the fictional Brushy Ridge High School. Simmering rage prompts the purchase of an AR-15 through a private advertisement. He keeps the gun in his locker, ready to enact his revenge when he boils over. It happens with the ultimate humiliation that’s compounded by being recorded and shared online:

“. . . but none of it was as bad as this, none had ever stripped him so mercilessly of his dignity, had laid it out so blatantly for all to exploit and take delight in. Nothing sank his heart so deep into his bowels, no one had so mockingly exposed both his feelings and his self.“

He targets the bullying ringleader and girlfriend, isolating them in a hallway. He starts shooting. And then the moment overtakes him. He ends up killing eleven in all, including other unintentional innocents like his guidance counselor and, when cornered, himself.

While obvious blame lies with Austin for the shooting and Blake for its provocation, it’s not enough for the grieving parents and husband of the guidance counselor. They feel it could have been prevented and determine a root cause: the ease with which a boy like Austin could acquire such a powerful weapon.

It becomes their mission to thwart future occurrences by tightening the gun laws. In this, they have much support, including from their congressman and the US president. But not the resolute Speaker of the House, Fred Grantham. A formidable obstacle who would never consider tabling any bill encroaching on the Second Amendment. This he makes directly clear by spurning their appeal in Washington.

Thus is born the eponymous Brushy Ridge Militia, consisting of most of the parents and others. They scout the logistics and design an elaborate, costly months-long plan to kidnap the speaker to compel him to see the light. Ironically, the same Second Amendment Grantham uses to deny them provides rationale for the group:

“Why is it perfectly legitimate to use that ambiguous set of words to support the premise that a bullied eighteen-year-old youth can legally purchase a semi-automatic weapon, while the Brushy Ridge Militia’s actions are considered illegal, even though much more consistent with the Amendment’s original intent?“

To add further irony, the members must acquire guns and take NRA training. It’s a risky plan. A low percentage plan. Success depends on so many factors falling in place as expected. However, their collective grief has coalesced to overcome initial and ongoing doubts. Their resoluteness equals Grantham’s. And what the militia’s leader, Hank Patrick, a former DC lawyer, argues is highly persuasive and inventive. Will it work?

This is a well-paced read where the writing is economical yet complete; cohesiveness is one of its strengths. Readers will become easily invested in the militia’s efforts and whether they’ll succeed or not. The three stages of the plot—the mass murder, the kidnapping, the trials—are given thorough treatment, and the progression from one to the next is consistently smooth and logical.

The points-of-view shift from omniscient to close third person for many characters, from the murderer to the militia members to the FBI to the kidnapped speaker and more. This provides a broad perspective of events while remaining solicitous to each character. It also retains objectivity and avoids bias. Considering the number of characters, it’s impressive how all but the most minor are relatable and real.

For a story grounded in such heartbreaking sadness, The Brushy Ridge Militia is tastefully entertaining. The ironic use and cogent interpretations of the Second Amendment highlight this absorbing novel.

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Reviewed by Timothy Thomas

An inspired commentary on life’s unpredictability and the beauty of second chances

Moment by moment, day by day, we rarely know how or when people will enter or exit our lives or how influential they could become. Our acceptance of this most erratic characteristic of life may give us the courage to embrace the unexpected changes in things, circumstances, and people, giving potential to great joy even in the midst of great loss. While not strictly a treatise on the uncertainty of life, Michael Kahn’s The Gourmet Club poignantly illustrates how our most rewarding moments and meaningful connections can be birthed from the unpredictable.

The year is 1981. Four first year associates at Chicago’s prestigious Abbot & Windsor (Gabe Pollack, Eric Cameron, Susan Baker, and Norman Greenberg) have bonded because of their chance inclusion in their orientation’s Words of Welcome presentation. Norman’s wife, Esther, comes up with the idea of a potluck dinner for the small group and their respective spouses to get to know each other. After a delightfully successful evening with great food, conversation, and entertainment, the group agrees to get together for four dinner parties a year, with each couple hosting once a year. Thus, the Gourmet Club is born.

Over the years, this quarterly tradition plays host not only to the Club’s growing friendship, but also to the navigation of major decisions, career changes, and celebrations of life. As their paths diverge, these dinner parties keep them linked together by a shared desire for and need of community that offers support and encouragement.

Though Kahn writes in his author’s note that he simply followed the lead of the characters, the narrative conveys a strong sense of intentionality and wisdom. There is a thoughtfulness in the approach to each of the main characters. Their paths connect to an overarching theme of ceaseless change and community, and this connection results in a narrative landscape that is recognizably realistic with characters to match.

The difficulty in creating such a landscape and telling a story that spans decades, however, is that details can sometimes get lost. As the story gains momentum, there are lengthy gaps in the timeline that gloss over significant moments in the characters’ lives. The narrative tends to focus more on their careers, which means that less attention is given to their interpersonal lives and the changes happening within them, like parenting and marriage.

Still, this story does exactly what it sets out to do. Armed with an eclectic cast and a thoughtfully familiar world, The Gourmet Club is a confident, engaging book that prompts a reflective look at one’s own past and a hopeful look toward the future through eyes of wonder at life’s fortuitous paths.

Thank you for reading Timothy Thomas’s book review of The Gourmet Club by Michael A. Kahn! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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Reviewed by Shelby Zwintscher

An exhilarating international scavenger hunt for a powerful ancient relic

The Arcane Religious Knowledge and Numinous Experience Institute, ARKANE, is an international organization dedicated to solving supernatural and religious mysteries. Morgan Sierra, an ARKANE agent surrounded by loss, was recently cursed on a mission. But while paying respects to a friend who died during that same, fateful mission, Morgan receives a call about a new assignment from her partner, Jake Timber.

It turns out that an archivist at the national library archives in Vienna has found a Nazi Enigma machine containing a long-forgotten, encoded letter depicting a drawing of The Spear of Destiny. Also known as the Holy Lance, the Spear is a relic said to have been stabbed into the side of Jesus Christ during his crucifixion. It is believed to contain unimaginable power which can wield great good or tremendous evil.

While many have claimed their relics are the real Spear, Morgan and Jake are inclined to believe the Spear in Vienna could be the true, power-wielding lance due to this newly uncovered note. Written by a Nazi officer who transported this Spear fragment to the museum, the note confirms that the Spear has been “split into four pieces, as directed.”

As the Spear’s WWII historical connections are uncovered, Morgan and Jake suddenly find the museum under attack. Jericho Command, a military group under the rightwing US Presidential candidate Ezekial Stronghold, will do whatever it takes to gain the Spear fragment.

While fighting to flee the attack, Morgan has an encounter with a tattooed man who is part of this mysterious group. In their brief interaction, both can sense darkness around the other. Is this man cursed too?

The quest to find and reunite the Spear fragments begins with the personal. Morgan learns the true weight of her blood curse when her niece is hospitalized with a potential cancer of the blood. This emotional gut punch sets up a story that’s as satisfying on the human level as it is on the high-stakes plot level.

Spear of Destiny takes Morgan and Jake to archives filled with WWII artifacts, across borders and oceans, into crypts as dark as their history, as they race to find the Spear before it can be used for evil.

It’s a heart-pumping supernatural thriller that takes the reader to real locations all around the world. From Historischer Kunstbunker in Nuremberg to Potala Palace in Tibet, every historical location that Morgan and Jake visit is described in vivid detail and adds immense value for the historical fiction fan. The settings jump off the page and make the supernatural elements all the more frighteningly believable.

The settings are specific but so is the historical detail. Penn aims to satisfy in multiple arenas—from real history to real thrills to the real possibility of the occult—and does. There’s even a bibliography and details of the research at the end of the novel for those getting lost in the fascinating history.

As the 13th installment of a series, you’d think it’d be difficult to jump into as a first-time reader. But Penn takes care to sprinkle in the relevant histories of Morgan and Jake in ways that we can understand quickly and get moving.

Fast-paced, surprising, and dark, Spear of Destiny is a can’t miss thriller for fans of Dan Brown and action-packed historical fiction.

Thank you for reading Shelby Zwintscher’s book review of Spear of Destiny by J.F. Penn! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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Reviewed by Addison Ciuchta

Medical disinformation meets a mysterious cult in this tense medical thriller

Mark Lin is a hospitalist, a doctor who works on patients admitted for further care from the emergency department. Dr. Lin’s workload is light when the novel opens, discharging a patient and monitoring a few others on a typical day.

That afternoon, however, the patient he discharges, Shannon Dixon, calls him from the waiting room of an OB/GYN clinic to ask Dr. Lin follow-up questions. While on the phone, though, Dr. Lin hears a commotion and then an explosion. The OB/GYN has been bombed by an unknown person.

Dr. Lin tells police what he heard and tries to resume business as usual, traumatized by the sounds he overheard. Then a new patient says something eerily similar to a phrase he heard the attacker say, and soon Dr. Lin finds himself investigating a mysterious cult that seems to be putting multiple members in the hospital.

The medical cult in this thriller is particularly intriguing due to its relevance to modern society. Called the Path to Purity, the cult puts its members through strange trials to prove their commitment and discipline, all in the hopes of catching the attention of the Sun Priest and achieving true purity. It’s notable and impactful that those drawn into it are vulnerable, frustrated people looking to feel better, to be healthier, or just to be happier. It’s easy to understand why they were drawn into the cult’s grand promises, why they end up doing horrible things to their bodies in the hopes of moving up the ranks to achieve “purity.”

At times, Dr. Lin’s actions are difficult to relate to, especially as he gets deeper into the cult and, without spoiling anything, in two fairly critical moments when he knows violence will put innocent lives at risk, he doesn’t attempt to warn anyone or tip off the authorities. Instead, he tries to fend off the threats himself. In fact, most of the book, he doesn’t let the police know what he knows, instead investigating the Path to Purity by himself even when he knows it could lead to a tragic end for him and, with him, an end to his knowledge of what was actually happening. However, his intentions are good and it is easy to root for him, even if his actions aren’t always entirely logical.

The pacing is good, especially for a long book, with the tension escalating as Dr. Lin is pulled deeper into the Path to Purity and as more and more patients turn up at the hospital needing care as a result of the cult’s practices. The author’s medical knowledge shines in this book, with creative and detailed explanations of the consequences of the cult’s bizarre trials.

Toxic Minds is a unique thriller with a modern take on the dangers of medical disinformation.

Thank you for reading Addison Ciuchta’s book review of Toxic Minds by Anthony Lee! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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Reviewed by Erin Britton

An action-packed thriller that traverses the globe and plumbs the depths of political conspiracies and power struggles

Nikki Yanu Kanati’s The Savagery of Man: Operation Homecoming offers a gripping exploration of a world on the brink of catastrophe. As government factions, megalomaniacal individuals, and sinister secret societies compete to seize and retain power in the face of global devastation, the fate of the world hinges on the actions of one covert operative.

The tipping point comes with the assassination of US President Abraham Bancroft Calhoun. “Unfathomable, gruesome violence. Explosions. Dozens of thunderous explosions shatter the serene, beautiful spring morning of a quaint Virginia town as smoke, flame and deadly shrapnel poison the air.” This is closely followed by the sound of gunfire, and when the smoke clears, the body of the president is seen lying in the street.

The hero of the piece is Max Doss, a freelance operative with a history of taking whatever steps necessary to secure his country’s interests. “Unlike many in his profession, the man took no pleasure in administering pain,” although he is certainly willing to do so.

As Doss and his temporary (and unwanted) partner Tactical Agent Alejandra Bijeau traverse the country and then the world in search of the assassins and their paymasters, their mission is complicated by the machinations of two powerful individuals: Kurt Stromquist, an unusually charismatic UN administrator with a plan to forge a European empire, and Temüjin the Blessed, a direct descendent of Genghis Khan who is seeking to recreate his ancestor’s kingdom.

Complicating matters even further is the ongoing and highly confidential extraterrestrial arms race, which was triggered by the discovery of odd humanoid remains and alien tools in a cave system in Ethiopia. “For some time, we’ve known that Germany acquired an alien spacecraft, the first, right around 1954 and now we know how -.” Since then, the world’s major powers have all been searching for similar alien artifacts, with the USA, Russia, and China all seeming to have succeeded.

There are plenty of strands to The Savagery of Man: Operation Homecoming, allowing plenty of opportunities for action and keeping the story moving at a cracking pace. From the recognizable political intrigue to the malevolent secret societies and diabolical individuals to the extraterrestrial technology, there are certainly wheels within wheels when it comes to the plot.

While some of the leaps between incidents can be a bit sudden, especially when involving detailed backstory, all the different aspects ultimately hang together well. It helps that Max Doss has spent a lifetime in international security circles, which has afforded him insight into all the shady dealings that are afoot.

In fact, Doss is a true Renaissance Man when it comes to covert operations. He has all the skills, knowledge, and tools needed to thwart a number of international conspiracies. He’s an impressive hero—arguably verging into antihero territory—who isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty and always proves more than a match for the various villains he encounters. His partnership with Alejandra Bijeau also works well, even if their banter is sometimes a bit much.

While the story largely follows Doss and Bijeau in the course of their investigation, valuable background information and insightful analysis is provided by Hermann Adelman, both through his diary and via explanations he provides to his daughter Gretchen, who has been in a coma for two years following a car accident. “When you are strong enough to hear a story, I will tell you a story. I fear it is neither a short nor happy story. Much has changed in the world over the past two years. Our own country is at war with itself.”

Adelman’s role as an almost omniscient narrator is an interesting one, ensuring access to top secret information that helps drive the plot forward. However, as he remains a shadowy figure—his role within the US government and as Max’s boss are obscure—it is questionable just how reliable a narrator he is. This adds tension to the story, making it difficult to get a handle on who can be trusted and what is true, as does the input of the mysterious Mother.

There’s also a background mystery concerning Max’s real identity, his training, and his ultimate employer. “Our fearless leader once upon a time assigned code names to certain field agents. X was for the experimental program they were in. The number five meant that our Max was the fifth Max in the program to graduate. The boss later discontinued the project along with these designations for reasons unknown.” It adds an extra layer of depth and suggests there might be more in store for Max in the future.

Although the exact timeframe isn’t specified, it seems that The Savagery of Man: Operation Homecoming is set in the relatively near future. There are new technologies, political shifts, and conflicts, but the world is largely recognizable. In this regard, Kanati has clearly put a lot of thought into the worldbuilding and alternative history, blending reality with both current conspiracy theories and projections of possibilities for the future.

Such touches enhance the realism of the story, keeping it grounded in the present and likely future, even with the extraordinary elements of various threads, like the alien technology. The story is truly immersive, and as Kanati’s vision of the possible decline of the established global order is frighteningly plausible, there is a real sense of tension and peril.

The Savagery of Man: Operation Homecoming weaves together political chicanery with brutal violence and action to craft a disturbingly realistic thriller. It’s an ambitious novel carried on the shoulders of an archetypal action hero, and the various conspiracies and double-crosses mean that there’s never a dull moment.

Thank you for reading Erin Britton’s book review of The Savagery of Man: Operation Homecoming by Nikki Yanu Kanati and Mark McMillin! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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Reviewed by Andrea Marks-Joseph

This chaotic & gory quest to stop a cult from supernaturally resetting planet Earth is both an all-in adventure and a cheeky read.

In Izzy’s father’s suicide note, he admits to being the serial killer who went viral for the murder of six victims across the globe, seemingly unconnected but for the fact that all their femurs were taken as a souvenir. His letter describes these murders in detail and provides directions to find each person’s remains. When he’s found, his body had been “burned and blackened beyond recognition.”

In addition to the suicide note, Izzy’s father—though she prefers not to call him that; he’s Nathaniel now—left a puzzle box and a letter with his lawyer, who delivered it to Izzy in person at his funeral. When she was a child, Nathaniel made these sorts of puzzle boxes and designed interesting tricks for Izzy to discover, each box with its own opening method. Now, six months after his death (and six months of hell for Izzy), she learns that he set up a treasure hunt for her to follow, in hopes that she can “finish his work.”

Izzy—who enjoyed her life with her pet rat and her job as a cleaner for the “the local leader in crime scene cleanup”—wants no part of this mission. She immediately threw the first puzzle box away, recovered only because her friend Felix literally dumpster dived to salvage it. (Every time I see a dumpster from now on, I’ll be thinking of this line: “The dumpster seemed to be watching her approach, its plastic lids open like a beast eager for a treat.”) Author Morgan Mourne is so skilled in scene description in both mundane and horrifying ways I’ll never forget.

With each puzzle box, Nathaniel left a new letter for Izzy to decode, leading to clues about where she can find more femur bones and next steps. Each letter is less cryptic and more informative, sharing the truth behind why he did what he did. This still   doesn’t convince Izzy to follow the trail Nathaniel had set up for her. 

What really kickstarts Izzy’s dark, disturbing treasure hunt is the fact that creepy men keep following her around asking about items in her possession—one going so far as to show up at a blood-and-guts-soaked apartment she’s cleaning and forcing a femur into her hands. 

Izzy’s friend Felix—a collector of occultish artifacts and the owner of a bookshop called Hex & the City—and their mutual friend Dr. Nakahara—a professor of occult studies—help Izzy by connecting the clues she decodes from the letters to supernatural theories they’ve researched, eventually coming to the conclusion that Nathaniel was gathering seven specific femur bones in an attempt to keep them away from a doomsday cult. 

This specific cult is on a mission to gather the bones to supernaturally reset planet Earth, erasing all evidence humans were ever here, and putting themselves in charge of all nature when it begins afresh. With each new puzzle box they find comes a letter less cryptic; every set of instructions leading to a more dangerous mystical bone. “Each [bone] harbors massive destructive potential. If all seven bones are not united during the Convergence, then each bone will activate its own curse.”

“It wasn’t because I was some kind of monster,” Nathaniel writes in one of his letters to Izzy. “I thought I was saving you, saving everyone from unimaginable terrors.” 

The Bone Collector’s Daughter begins as a story about a young woman trying to escape her father’s dark legacy, forever written into her surname, but along the way, it transforms into a story of friends fighting to stop the exponential damage this cult is trying to inflict on the world. 

The further Izzy gets into this quest and the more letters from her father she reads, the more the story transforms—next into the complicated emotional journey of a daughter working through the trauma of everything her father has put her through. Was he doing good, just in his own way? His death starts to become more painful the more she learns. 

A nostalgic, emotional ribbon threads itself through the journey of Izzy learning that her father may have had honorable intentions, while she relives positive memories of her childhood and remembers the man she believed her dad was then. More than that, this quest leads Izzy to realizing that her father saw her as capable, brilliant, talented, and creative. What first felt like a burden now feels like a responsibility, a legacy she wants to uphold. 

“All these damned letters with their cryptic clues, puzzles, and references, and he always trusted her to figure the shit out. How could he have so much trust in her?”

And there’s lots of action: Felix is beat up so many times by the henchmen trying to   rob them of the puzzle box and bones that it becomes almost a running joke between them. We enter a world of gadgets built for surveillance and self-defense, and later, in order to protect the bones they’ve found from the cult, the trio signs up for a super high-tech safekeeping company that uses their biometric data to personally safeguard their belongings. “So we’re basically turning into walking passwords?”

In terms of content that readers should be aware of in this novel, other than the blood, gore, and murderous cults, it’s only mentioned once in passing, but we learn that her motherkilled herself and Felix’s younger brother diedin a similar situation involving a group on the hunt for occult-related items.

The tone of this book feels so much like The CW show iZombie and the TV series Lucifer, both of which understand the seriousness of solving the murders they’re tasked with, but their lead characters are such unserious people that it never gets too dark. It’s the casual, upbeat, bright and cheerful let’s-get-on-with-it tone of a day out with your quirkiest, closest friends—even if that day out is an errand to secure trackers and weapons because you’re being stalked by a cult.

This book will be a hit with readers of cozy murder mysteries, not because it’s cozy exactly, but for the way it revolves around a small group of bookshop friends in a situation that pulls them out of their regular social circle and requires they use each of their interests, hobbies, and connections to complete the mission successfully. I loved the playful chapter titles (Chapter 14: “Yeah, I Had Visions;” Chapter 57: “Uh-oh” Chapter 34 “Aunt Joan’s Creepy Frigging Basement,”) and I’d recommend this book (from personal experience) for readers with ADHD or brain fog, because the short chapters each include one fast-paced, focused scene, which enables readers who struggle with focus to dive into this story effortlessly.

I was often struck by the brilliance of the prose while reading even the most shocking, gory scenes. On rainy days outdoors, I’ll forever think of Izzy standing at her father’s graveside, in thick mud “that sucked at her shoes.” I could hear the sickening squelch as the guts dropped out of the bodies in one of the most unsettling scenes of the book.

Author Morgan Mourne somehow keeps this subject matter dark and upbeat. There are many amusing moments in this fierce adventure, like when Izzy learns that the seven mystical bones would wake at any signs of human destruction to the earth and damage to the planet’s natural state, and she blurts out “Okay, so the bones are definitely awake.”

While there are a few unanswered questions once you sit and think about it (and which I’m growing hopeful means a sequel), The Bone Collector’s Daughter is a thrilling, heartwarmingly horrifying tale that is gory and gruesome and a complete joy to read. An entertaining journey with genuine heart, unexpected friendships, disturbing darkness, shocking twists, and a cast of people you’d like to hang out with—if they weren’t officially on the radar of a vicious, murderous cult and the literal and hallucinated monsters they can unleash.

Thank you for reading Andrea Marks-Joseph’s book review of The Bone Collector’s Daughter by Morgan Mourne! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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Reviewed by Melissa Suggitt

This is what happens when women lead the resistance—the revolution is personal.

It’s 2086 and the world is cracked dry. Power is gone, cults rise, and two women—one born a protector, the other shaped by vengeance—are the only ones who stand between what’s left of humanity and total collapse.

The Fox and the Dragons is the second book in Norman Luce’s Future History trilogy, and it hits like a sunbaked fist to the chest. It blends post-apocalyptic grit with character-driven emotional depth, serving up Mad Max energy with a soulful undercurrent of fierce female resilience.

Set nearly fifty years after “The Wave” strips the planet of all non-biological electricity, society has fractured into tribalized pockets of survival. Maya, the no-nonsense leader of Douglass Ranch, is called back into action when her closest ally, Kali, sends a desperate message: the Trade Post is under attack by a brutal cult known as the Dreaded Dragons. What follows is a taut, fast-paced journey of loyalty, trust, and power—not just the kind we lost, but the kind we find in each other.

Maya and Kali are the fire and steel at the heart of this story. Their bond is earned, raw, and deeply human. Maya’s strength lies in her compassion and clarity; Kali, in her pain and grit. The evolution of their dynamic is one of the book’s most satisfying arcs. “She’s… She’s my friend,” Kali says at a critical moment, and those four words carry the weight of battlefields and betrayals.

And then there’s Inari. 

Oh, Inari. The nonverbal fox companion who communicates through presence, empathy, and body language that somehow speaks louder than words. That a character with no dialogue feels this vivid is a testament to Luce’s skill. If anything, my one quibble is that I want more Inari.

Despite its novella length, this story is absolutely packed with immersive action and thoughtful worldbuilding. The combat scenes are lean and gripping, never flashy for the sake of spectacle. It reads like Luce trusts your imagination to do the work and you’ll thank him for it. The imagery is brutal but never gratuitous. “The guards open fire at the cultists with everything they have: arrows, spears, old firearms… Even Molotov cocktails.” It’s a chaotic ballet of desperation and survival.

But make no mistake, this isn’t just action for adrenaline’s sake. The story explores power, both the electric kind and the personal kind. It’s about giving people choices when they’ve had them stolen. Maya and Kali’s dynamic captures this perfectly: trust built from trauma and hope kindled in shared decision-making.

The Fox and the Dragons doesn’t waste a single beat. It’s a story about choice, about reclaiming agency in a broken world. And while it continues the threads from Come See the Light, it stands strong on its own. The ending leaves the door open for the trilogy’s conclusion, but this chapter delivers its own full arc—and a hell of a good time.

Come for the desert cults and hidden blades. Stay for the resilience, the reckoning, and the fox. 

Thank you for reading Melissa Suggitt’s book review of The Fox and the Dragons by Norman Luce! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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Reviewed by Peggy Kurkowski | Content Warnings: homophobia

A diabolical plot sends an all-gay Army unit into harm’s way in this speedy thriller. 

Lieutenant Colonel Trent Barnes is puzzled by his new orders to report to Fort Bend, North Carolina. He is to take command of a newly formed unit that will train for two months before deploying to a small town in the Balkans. When he arrives, however, the 105-person unit reveals a common theme among its members: every person in the company is gay, including them.

Happening while the U.S. military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was still on the books, Barnes and his trusted First Sergeant Emma Leadman must assess the readiness of the unit and train to deal with biological agents before they are deployed to a village called Tiva in the Balkans. 

Their mission: enter Tiva posing as a group called Humanity for All Nations to spy on the government and acquire evidence of their building a biological weapons program. It’s then that Leadman tells Barnes that one of their company is not gay: a man known only in the story as “the mechanic.”

Meanwhile, two powerful officials back in Washington, D.C.—Senator Payne and Major General Andy Wells—eagerly await the evidence that will catapult their careers at the expense of the clueless company. 

It’s true. The entire mission is to kill two birds with one stone: confirm the existence of a biological weapons program and decimate the gay people in the ranks. To ensure mission success, Wells has placed a mole in the company that is revealed in the early pages. The nature of the mission is highly dangerous, no matter how skilled the company is, but the gay servicemembers are expendable in his eyes.

“The selected officers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers were top-notch in their fields. The mortality rate was expected to be ninety percent, unacceptable for a routine or even a special mission.”

As Barnes, Leadman, and their company infiltrate Tiva and begin collecting evidence, the straight and homophobic mechanic gets into a literal scrape with a toxin known as Agent Z, but fellow soldiers step in with paramedic lifesaving skills. Thanks to the intervention of a lifelong friend and fellow officer, Barnes then begins to understand the true scandalous nature of the mission.

Early This Morning is an affecting read that captures what life felt like for soldiers during the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell period. Barnes is worried his dear friend will not accept his sexuality, and his thoughts and fears are authentic and resonate. 

However, some characters are issued some harmful gay stereotypes, like Karen, a butch lesbian, and Bill, a “flamboyant” gay man. Karen chews tobacco, smokes cigars, and swaggers like a man, while Bill dangles limp wrists and lisps his sentences. Berry’s story is meant to support gay soldiers, but these conventions contradict that. As a content warning, the language used to slur the gay servicemembers is ugly and overused. The hatred of homosexuals is readily apparent, and this can make for some tough moments to read.

Early This Morning is an interesting character study, theorizing to what lengths some bigots will go to execute their hate against others, and a novel that sheds light on a problematic time.

Thank you for reading Peggy Kurkowski’s book review of Early This Morning by Darrell Berry! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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