Review: Novel - "The Body in the Backyard" by Lucy Score

An homage to the Film Noir Detective Dramas with humor and action!

Author Lucy Score's latest, The Body in the Backyard evokes images and plots of the old detective dramas of the forties and fifties, when Private Eyes ruled the screens and pages. And the likes of Humphry Bogart and Robert Mitchum were grizzled veterans when it came to film noir. If not for the modern setting and language, it would be very easy to see this in a noir setting. 

Psychic Riley Thorn and her boyfriend, PI Nick Santiago have been "muscled" into taking a case for her diminutive ex-husband, Griffin Gentry, probably the most disliked man in town. Someone is trying to kill Griffin and "silent" (cough, cough) partner, Mrs. Penny, has roped them into taking the case. Nick is sure it's just Gentry trying to get attention from Riley...that is until a body in Gentry's backyard finally convinces him that maybe someone really is trying to kill the little fart. 

The plot twists, the shenanigans, and the hilarious antics of the octogenarian roommates who've managed to take over Nick and Riley's new home kept this story buzzing along. The pacing was great, no moment wasted, no moment glossed over. I kept my nose buried in this book, laughing my ass off. We get to see both families--the Rileys and the Santiagos--and it's a wonder that the happy couple ever get a moment to themselves. But it's the kind of chaos that makes a novel a tight read and a brilliant plot. 

I love the eccentricity of Score's characters, each one uniquely nuts and loveable. Well, maybe not Bella Goodshine or Griffin Gentry, but then, even they are richly drawn and real. The plot of this book was inspired by Dashiell Hammett's The Thin Man series of books and movies, and if you're remotely familiar with either, you'll know that for the compliment it was meant to be. 

I'm very much hoping there will be more in this series, but we'll see if Ms. Score has more planned. In the meantime, she's got so many other series to read and enjoy. And I will be devouring them as well. 

A five out of five star, great read by an amazing author.

Available through online booksellers:

Amazon

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Review: Novel - "The Blast from the Past" by author Lucy Score

This author came recommended on the Kindle Unlimited page and the description of the book interested me. Little did I know that I was about to get sucked deep into the Knockemout Series and a new author by the name of Lucy Score. 

Then I found the Riley Thorn series and once again, Ms. Score has hooked me from the first word and taken me along for one hell of a ride. I have fallen in love with Riley and her boyfriend Nick Santiago, along with the octogenarians that she called roommates, the combined families and friends of theirs. 

The Blast from the Past is chock full of great plotting, great writing, great characters, great pacing, and lots of little plot twists along the way. I read this in a single day, unable to put it down because I was compelled to know what happened next. The prose is like having your own storyteller sitting in your backyard, sitting around that campfire, and ready to tell you one hell of a yarn. Ms. Score's writing style is so conversational, and her characters are so real. It's just brilliance from an incredibly talented writer. 

Five out of five stars, and another triumph from Lucy Score. Great job!

Find the book through:

Amazon
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Review: Novel - Backfire: A Jaywalker Thriller by James Cutley

 A Surprisingly Good Read That Packs a Lot into a Good Read

Nothing like a good thriller to keep you hooked. And keep you guessing, right up until the last moment. 

Jayden is man of mystery, with a mission and a job to do. And that job leads him to Patricia, a former one night stand who has her own mystery. A dark, deeply wounding past that has left her with soul wrenching scars. The moment these two get together, sparks fly and danger is not too far around the corner for one of them. And maybe both of them. It's up to Jayden to rescue Patricia and solve a complicated puzzle.

The story is a little slow to start, setting up the story usually is. But once the two come together, the story takes off at a gallop. And intermingled with the action is an exploration of who these people are and how they came to be. How they came to land in each other's orbit and the draw that keeps them there. 

James Cutley's prose gets a little clunky in places, but the narrative is smooth and an easy read. His characters are multi-layered, living and breathing in the confines of the story. But always likeable, always deep. Cutley has formed a great thriller with a plausible plot that I could not put down. And that ending was satisfying in a way that I didn't see coming. 

I give this book a 5 out of 5 stars for great read that didn't disappoint and lived up to my expectations.

This book is available from Amazon. 

Review: Novella - "Asa is Mad" by Abigail Keam

 

And let me tell ya, Asa Reynolds is a serious badass!!! 

Another fun side project for author Abigail Keam! Not fun in the way a roller coaster is fun but definitely fun in the way of getting to know a side character and loving the heck out of her.

The last novella gave us Asa wounded from a previous failed job and trying to help a child get away from a bad situation. This novella gives Asa a chance to fix the issue that screwed up that job and make it right. Lots of energy, lots of danger, and lots of action from a character that is as tough as nails and more complicated than a map of downtown Tokyo.

Pacing is perfect, keeping Asa hopping and the prose flowing. No time to sit on her laurels and you don't want it to have any. Anything that gives more depth to this character is a glorious story to me. And there's depths to Asa Reynolds that the author has yet to plumb. I hope we get more Asa stories to dive deep into that pool. Because I can't get enough.

Another five star read. Another short, sweet read into the danger zone.

Amazon - https://amz.run/9MSg

Barnes & Noble -- https://bityl.co/QxLe

Review: Novel -- "The Corpse in the Closet" by author Lucy Score

 

Review: Novel - 'The Dead Guy Next Door' by Lucy Score

 

All I can say is, thank the Gods I was wearing my Depends when I read this. Because I don't think I've laughed this hard in a long while. And I'm convinced that I managed to wet my drawers a couple of times doing it, too.

Welcome to the wonderful world -- and mildly demented mind -- of author Lucy Score. And trust me when I tell you that I say that "demented" part with a great deal of admiration and adoration. Because that woman is my new favorite Goddess of Literature. 

Never in my life have I ever read a book of romantic suspense that made me laugh, cry, and be afraid all at the same time. And yet The Dead Guy Next Door did it to me. The first book in Riley Thorn series runs the gamut and does so with a cast of characters that are off the wall unique. Never once is anyone cliched or trope-ish. In fact, a psychic as the main character led me to believe it might get a little too woowoo for my tastes, but I'm happy to confess, it never did.

Plagued by visions and knowledge that she wishes she didn't have, Riley Thorn gets caught up in an investigation by ruggedly handsome PI, Nick Santiago. He of the sexy dimples in his cheeks. All she wants to be is normal, but with Nick, that ain't going to happen. Especially since she just got a vision of her creepy pervy neighbor across the hall getting shot twice and murdered. No way to get out of this, she embraces her new "normal" and prays that she's going to get out of this alive and with some great sex.

This book starts off in the middle of the action and takes off at a heart racing gallop. There is never a moment wasted. The characters develop into living, breathing people with all the ups and downs a persona can have. Memorable, unique, quirky, and just flat out fun. Even their foibles are defining and endearing. And the ending is satisfying and perfect. Leading to the next book in the series. And trust me, I will be reading. I can't wait.

I give The Dead Guy Next Door a five out of five-star rating and Lucy Score is a definite must-read author. This series is so worth it. 

You can find your copy of ebook or paperback at:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Review: Novel "Death By Betrayal" by Abigail Keam

 Compelling and bold, this 'Dark and Bloody Ground' won't let go until you're done!

I scored myself an advance copy of Abigail Keam's latest, Death By Betrayal, the next in A Josiah Reynolds Mystery series. I settled down in my recliner with a hot cup of cocoa and took to reading. And trust me when I tell you, it was mesmerizing. Instantly unable to stop reading until I'd gotten to the very last word in the novel, I was hooked.

You remember that line from A Few Good Men -- and a common saying -- "And the hits just keep on coming"? Welcome to Death By Betrayal.

It's Josiah -- of course it starts with a dead body. Finding it in the back of an old barn/shed where she's never set foot in the entire time she's lived there and owned the place. But that's just the beginning. Old haunts, old hurts rapidly rise around her. Nothing seems to go right, and Josiah stands to lose everything she holds dear.

Betrayal is darker than the others with is complex plot and characters with a vendetta. You feel Josiah's helplessness as she is surrounded by it. She comes off darker, herself -- and with good reason. A cascading series of one bad thing after enough begins to color her already pessimistic view of the world. A fiercely proud woman who will do it on her own two feet or not at all. And I had to know how she was going to do it. 

Ms. Keam has crafted a multi-layered plot that won't lose you in the telling. There are so many twists and turns that it might be easy to get lost in them, but the details are never so complex that the telling is complicated. The pacing gives you the time to understand, the story keeps along adding another layer but never losing the previous ones. 

The characters help with that. Matt, Franklin, Eunice, and Lady Elsmere act as our surrogates to help us understand by asking the right questions, eliciting the right answers. They keep us grounded in Josiah's reality and act as her sounding boards to keep her grounded as well. 

Death by Betrayal is currently in preorder status -- at the time of this writing -- but will be out for release on June 24th, 2004. You don't have to read the others to be able to enjoy this book, but I definitely recommend the series as a first rate murder cozy series that even Agatha Christie would recommend. And wish she'd written. A must have, a can't put down type of read.

Five out of five stars!!!

Death by Betrayal can be found at all online booksellers and your local bookseller as well. You can preorder at the following:

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Kobo/Rakuten

Review: Novel -- 'Things We Left Behind' by Lucy Score

 Lucian and Sloane make for a dark and bumpy ride, but so worth it!!

I made it my goal to finish this trilogy that began with Things We Never Got Over and followed up with Things We Hide From the Light. I fell in love with the band of brothers, Knox, Nash, and Lucian. Following their rocky roads to romance was a wild ride. Especially the first two. The third, Things We Left Behind was even rockier. And darker than the previous two. But then, so is Lucian. 

Lucian and Sloane had been close friends once upon a time until something happened to destroy that. They won't talk about it and no one else knows, but as the saying goes, hate is just the flipside of the love coin. Things We Left Behind finally tells us the story of what happened and if these two can finally find a way to the romance they've always dreamed of and the love they've always felt. 

Lucy Score writes a tight story of frenemies who always seem to set each other off, rub each other the wrong way. The action gets really intense as it flows through the narrative -- and I'm not talk sexually. The kind of action that keeps you riveted to the page, making this book completely unputdownable!!

The romance is hot and steamy when it finally happens and you just know these two are a match made in...well, somewhere. 

It's been a joy to read this trilogy, something I found by accident. And I want to read more by this author. She's truly amazing. 

Five out of five stars for Things We Left Behind.

You can purchase Things We Left Behind (and the whole trilogy) from:

Amazon
Barnes & Noble

Review: Novel -- 'Let's Pretend This Will Work' by Maddie Dawson

 

This book actually convinced me that there truly is magic in this world. And a skirt beats out a wand any day of the week and twice on Sundays. 

Mimi Perkins has met the man of her dreams and has a wonderful job. Said man--Ren--even proposes to her.  And then it all falls to crap, pretty much immediately afterward. Ren's ex-wife has been in a car accident because she had a severe stroke while driving. A week later, Mimi gets fired from her teaching job. She ends up following Ren to New Haven in a show of support but he doesn't have time for his fiancée because he's taking care of the ex. He's paying her rent in the shabby rundown apartment she's managed to sublet and shows up for amazing sex. When he can. So now, Mimi has no life, no friends, no job, and a fiancé who shows up every once in a blue moon. WTF???

Until she gets a job working downstairs at the daycare. She makes friends with the parents who do their weekly co-op thing at the daycare. And meets Jamie, a lonely widower trying to improve his lot in life with overbearing former in-laws and a four-year-old daughter named Alice who is also grieving the loss of her Mommy. Life just got a whole lot more of a journey that Mimi isn't sure she wanted but the spirit guides her psychic La Starla says she needs. A world of wounded people who need Mimi more.

I started this book thinking, geez, the pacing is taking forever. And then started talking back to the prose and Mimi about getting her head out of her butt and growing up and stop being a doormat. And then another character told her the same thing. And what is it about psychics that can never just come out and say something? Why does it always have to be couched in general terms and talking around things when they could just say it!!!  Which is when I realized the pacing is just fine. It was me wanting instant gratification. 

The story develops in a wonderful way, letting the reader feel every moment of Mimi's pain and alienation. Finding her way in a new world with her own friends and the kind of life she realizes she always wanted. Healing her own hurts along the way.

Maddie Dawson has written a very understated story about finding life and love. The characters are multi-dimensional with all the realities of real people showing. You take them as you find them and love them despite their faults. We are who we are and you don't try to fix us. The story weaves these people into a larger family and that's what makes it so glorious when you get to the Happily Ever After, even when it's not the one everyone expected. I got so lost in this book that I woke up this morning and had to finish it. Because I wasn't going to survive if I didn't. That is the mark of a great story to me. I might have gotten a bit irritated with Mimi and Ren and Jamie and Jerome and Mandy and Judith, but I never got bored with them. I never got tired of their story. And I never stopped liking them.

Absolutely brilliant story and another author that I see great things coming from in the future. A must read and another five out of five star read.

Let's Pretend This Will Work will be released on Friday, June 1st 2024 through all bookstores and online sellers, especially:

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Target

Review: Novel - Things We Hide from the Light by author Lucy Score

 

Book two in the series, Things We Hide From the Light is an amazing follow up to Things We Never Got Over.  

Nash Morgan is trying to recover from his shooting at someone's hands. Oh, his body might be healing but his memory and his heart haven't. He is lost in the darkness of his depression and find his way out is next to impossible. That is, until Knox's ex-girlfriend, Angelina Solavita, shows up. She might be hiding a wealth of secrets but she's a love 'em and leave 'em kinda gal with a hard candy shell covering her soft chocolate soul. Nash needs a reason to feel something, and Lina is the perfect reason. But he has someone trying to kill him, a rogue cop trying to take over and too many people thinking he needs someone to watch over him. Lina included. 

Hell of a story. More twists and turns than a country road in the mountains. Vivid characters that make me wish I lived in Knockemout for real. A plot that just sucks you in and keeps you reading long past the point you need to put it down. Not *want* to put it down, thank you. And I didn't want to put this down until I'd read the last word. And just like the first book, I was cheering loud for these two to find their Happily Ever After and doing a little ugly crying along the way. 

I can't wait to read Lucian's story. And I give this one 5 out of 5 stars.

Find all three novels in the Knockemout Series on

Amazon
Barnes & Noble