Long time no see!

I’d like to say I’m writing thousands of words every day, but alas, that’s not so. I’m writing, but slowly, about 40,000 words so far on my WIP.

Today I’d you to meet my new characters in Book 2, Stones of the Ancients. They’re a rather dark bunch, darker than I intended. (You’ve been warned).

Main characters Samantha and Nicholas are back, along with Aunt Bella and the Council of Elders. As the story opens they’re all on a plane on the way to London. The Council, composed of the eight original witch families, have requested that Sam and Nick appear before them to explain how they managed to let the leader of Los Oscuros escape from their clutches in Sedona.

And, by the way, Samantha is pregnant!

She took a pregnancy test right before leaving Sedona. Aunt Bella, who knew about the pregnancy with her witchy senses, has trumpeted the news to the entire Council, including Nicholas. Boy, was he shocked!

In the meantime, the couple has been dispatched to meet a mysterious stranger and find out how much he knows about the gang they’re chasing. Bella sends one of the Council members, Chevalier Arnu, with them.

Turns out, the stranger, Draxius Bane, is a necromancer. He says he will help the trio, but he requires something from each of them in return.

From Nicholas, a sample of his blood.

Samantha must find an ancient artifact currently in the possession of a rival necromancer.

Chevalier must promise to share some information imparted to him in the near future.

Let the ticking clock begin….

Draxius gives Nicholas a shade, named Calum. He is an undead that that necromancer reanimated and then gave to Nicholas. The shade ends up proving his worth later by pointing out that they need to travel to Scotland to find the artifact Samantha is searching for. 

​They head off to Orkney in the Hebrides. While there, they meet an eccentric archeologist, Fergus Pemberly, who directs them to the Ness of Brodgar, where much of the story takes place.

While investigating the Ness of Brodgar site in secret one night, Samantha meets Duncan McLeod, a novice necromancer who has been trying to raise his dead girlfriend without much luck. He eventually joins the crew, and they set out to defeat and capture Draxius, whom they now believe is the head of Los Oscuros, the one who got away.

Here's a photo of the real Ness of Brodgar, which we visited a couple of years ago.

Above is a photo of the current dig site at the Ness of Brodgar.

Unfortunately, this is the last year for this dig. The site will be closed, and covered, after this 2024 dig completes.

So, that’s the character intros for this book Lots of new people! Hopefully I’ll be reporting to you next month with 50k plus done!

I’ll be working on character photos while finishing the book. If you have anyone to suggest, just reply and send a photo for me to consider.

See you in May.

I am heartbroken to say that after 17 wonderful and eventful years, we said goodbye to our beloved cat Shadow Moon last week.

Shadow came to us through the owner of an occult bookstore called Pandora’s box. That bookstore was my first introduction to magic and witchcraft, and I went over several times a week to browse and play with the kittens as they grew up.

My son Ian had just lost his three-legged pal, Dennis the Menace, who was killed by a feral cat. He wanted another kitty, so I took him over to meet the litter at the bookstore when they were ready for adoption.

He picked out Shadow, and we named him Shadow Moon because we adopted him on the day of a full lunar eclipse.

Shadow loved us all, but you’ve heard the saying that cats pick their owners? He became my best friend, familiar, and writing companion. 

He loved to jump up on my manuscript and fall fast asleep when I wrote in the kitchen. In fact, he jumped onto every surface in our house, whether we had company or not. Since he had since grown into an 18-pound cat, the guests weren’t always pleased. I never stopped him, figuring he was family and had a right to sleep wherever he pleased.

He was a bully, demanding attention by pulling down my newspaper with a paw so I couldn’t read.

At 5:00am, he’d walk across Paul’s face to tell him it was time to get up and feed him.

But he would always come to us, even if he was outside. All we had to do was whistle ‘Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay.’  Even in Shadow’s last days, Paul could get him to raise his head by whistling his song. 

When I was going through my brain surgery issues, I felt it was time to make final funeral arrangements. Paul and I toured a beautiful forest ‘burial’ site called Better Place Forests in Flagstaff. We will be cremated and our ashes spread below a lovely Ponderosa Pine we are purchasing, along with Shadow Moon and Teak. Our family will all be together again.

I featured Shadow and his daddy Magic in my first book, Song of the Ancients. They were so much fun to write, and I’ll miss them.

But in this next book, I think I’ll feature our Border Collie/Aussie dog Teak. He’s super smart and has traveled with us extensively, so I’m sure I can get him in all kinds of shenanigans—maybe even a rescue.




If you have a moment this week, please wish Shadow Moon a peaceful crossing and a long, restful nap in his next life. What is remembered, lives. We will remember you always, and love you forever, my dark prince.

​Every year I look through the attendees of Left Coast Crime and decide which of their books I want to read and review this year.
Following are five authors I plan to read, and why.
Enjoy!
 
I signed up for a lunch with Matt Coyle. Have never met him and never read one of his novels. Shame, shame. So, I picked the first book in his best-selling crime series. I have high hopes—it was the winner of the Anthony Award for Best First Novel, as well as two or three others that year.

Yesterday’s Echo by Matt Coyle
A dishonored ex-cop's desperate chance for redemption

While never convicted of his wife's murder, Rick was never exonerated either. Not by the police. Not by the media. Not even by himself. Eight years later, police suspicion and his own guilt remain over his responsibility in his wife's death.

When he meets Melody Malana, a beautiful yet secretive TV reporter, he sees a chance to love again. When she is arrested for murder and asks Rick for help, the former cop says no, but the rest of him says yes and he grasps at a chance for love and redemption.

Rick's attempt to help turns terribly wrong, and he, too, becomes a suspect in the murder and the target of a police manhunt. On the run, Rick encounters desperate people who will kill to keep their pasts buried.

Before Rick can save himself and bring down a murderer, he must confront the truth about his own past and untangle his feeling for a woman he can never fully trust.
Coyle’s most recent novel is Doomed Legacy, the ninth and final book in the series.
 

Don’t Know Tough by Eli Cranor
In Denton, Arkansas, the fate of the high school football team rests on the shoulders of Billy Lowe, a volatile but talented running back. Billy comes from an extremely troubled home: a trailer park where he is terrorized by his mother’s abusive boyfriend. Billy takes out his anger on the field, but when his savagery crosses a line, he faces suspension.

Without Billy Lowe, the Denton Pirates can kiss their playoff bid goodbye. But the head coach, Trent Powers, who just moved from California with his wife and two children for this job, has more than just his paycheck riding on Billy’s bad behavior. As a born-again Christian, Trent feels a divine calling to save Billy—save him from his circumstances, and save his soul.

Then Billy’s abuser is found murdered in the Lowe family trailer, and all evidence points toward Billy. Now nothing can stop an explosive chain of violence that could tear the whole town apart on the eve of the playoffs.
This book is a 2023 Lefty nominee for Best Debut Mystery Novel.

Shutter by Ramona Emerson
Longlisted for the National Book Award

This blood-chilling debut set in New Mexico’s Navajo Nation is equal parts gripping crime thriller, supernatural horror, and poignant portrayal of coming of age on the reservation.

Rita Todacheene is a forensic photographer working for the Albuquerque police force. Her excellent photography skills have cracked many cases—she is almost supernaturally good at capturing details. In fact, Rita has been hiding a secret: she sees the ghosts of crime victims who point her toward the clues that other investigators overlook. 

As a lone portal back to the living for traumatized spirits, Rita is terrorized by nagging ghosts who won’t let her sleep and who sabotage her personal life. Her taboo and psychologically harrowing ability was what drove her away from the Navajo reservation, where she was raised by her grandmother. It has isolated her from friends and gotten her in trouble with the law.

And now it might be what gets her killed.
This book is a 2023 Lefty nominee for Best Debut Mystery Novel.

In Place of Fear by Catriona McPherson
Edinburgh, 1948. Helen Crowther leaves a crowded tenement home for her very own office in a doctor's surgery. Upstart, ungrateful, out of your depth - the words of disapproval come at her from everywhere but she's determined to take her chance and play her part.

She's barely begun when she stumbles over a murder and learns that, in this most respectable of cities, no one will fight for justice at the risk of scandal. As Helen resolves to find a killer, she's propelled into a darker world than she knew existed, hardscrabble as her own can be. Disapproval is the least of her worries now.
This is Catriona’s most recent novel.

In Twilight’s Hush by Laurie Stevens
Detective Gabriel McRay investigates a cold case from 1988 involving a missing teenager named Nancy Lewicki. Evidence is sparse and Gabriel has no leads. Much to his dismay, a celebrity psychic, Carmen Jenette, hypes the unsolved case on her television show. Gabriel warns Carmen not to interfere. 
 Meanwhile, strange dreams of water and corpses haunt Gabriel's sleep. They unnerve him as he plans his wedding to LA County Medical Examiner, Dr. Ming Li. 
When the psychic's life is threatened, Gabriel connects the dots back to the missing girl and realizes his cold case is burning hot. Someone doesn't want Nancy found and will kill to keep her hidden.
This is the fourth book in the award-winning series that Kirkus Reviews calls, "A skillfully woven tapestry of subplots and character development" and what The Huffington Post refers to as "frighteningly great." It stands alone, but if you read one, you'll want to read all four. I want to! 

If you're an avid reader and you've never attended Left Coast Crime, I'd recommend attending. The conference is unique. It caters as much to readers as it does to authors. It's a great way to meet new and favorite authors and score some free books. Next year the conference moves to the Seattle area in April.

I attended a group Samhain ritual last night. We journeyed to the Underworld to commune with Persephone and Hades, who led us to leave our corporal bodies to die and talk with our loved ones before becoming ancestors ourselves.

It was a moving (and enlightening) journey. I have been so worried about my pending surgery, but this labyrinth meditation calmed my anxiety and  reminded me of the support I have on this earth.

It also reminded me of the poem that follows. 


Feel me now as dark crone woman. I am death and transformation.
I am ending and regeneration.
Queen of the Underworld,
I stir my cauldron of inspiration.
I must travel my dark yonic passage
Into my womb of rebirth.
For in death I give life.
Be still in the darkness
and feel my presence.
I hold the mystery 
of rebirth.

~Wendy Andrew

The Samhain poem below was written by a talented friend in our Reclaiming AZ group, Jane Phoenix. 

​

​ORDER your copy of Crescent Moon Crossing and WIN a FREE Kindle copy of Song of the Ancients.
Just show me proof of your order for Crescent Moon Crossing, and I’ll give you a free kindle copy of my first novel, Song of the Ancients.
It’s a 2-for-1 deal good for the month of August.
Act now!
P.S. Good reading

Staff Sgt. Jace Merrick's two short-term goals: Join the Army Intelligence Unit, and kill his wife.

But before he can carry out his plan, Abby is murdered—and he's the prime suspect.

The further Sheriff Coop  Jones digs into the case, the less the facts add up for any of his known suspects.

Someone has a grudge against Jace Merrick. A life and death grudge. And it's time for pay back.

ORDER your copy of Crescent Moon Crossing and WIN a FREE AUTOGRAPHED COPY of Song of the Ancients from author Sandy Wright.

 I’ll give you a signed copy of my original novel, Song of the Ancients.
It’s a 2-for-1 deal good for the month of August.
Act now!
P.S. Offer available only in the domestic United States.

So order Crescent Moon Crossing before August 1 and win a FREE ebook copy of Song of the Ancients!!

Don't delay. Place your advance order HERE and post it in the comments sections for a free second  book. 

THE NEW COVER IS HERE!!

Finally, the new cover for Crescent Moon Crossing is here, and I’m so excited to share it with you.

Many thanks to designer Kim Killion, and to photographer David Winn, who shot the background cover art here in Arizona.

I initially wanted to have images of the Naco, Mexico, border wall on the cover, along with an unknown migrant worker. Plus, the solitary saguaro cactus that’s mentioned in the book. The sheriff dug around in this old guy and was lucky to find a bullet slug left behind by the killer.

To get your copy, select HERE.

I’ll be announcing a giveaway promotion later this week, so check back here tomorrow to answer a question for YOUR chance to win a free autographed book!
​
My Pinterest site will also be featuring photos of Rumor Vargas, Sheriff Cooper Jones, and the other main characters featured in the book. If you’d like a second chance to win a FREE book, leave a comment here describing what you think the characters look like. I will announce the winner who comes the closest to describing their favorite character.

You may select from any of these characters:
Rumor Vargas
Alberto Vargas
Abby Merrick
Staff Sgt. Jace Merrick
Sheriff Coop Jones
Senora G
The killer
Sadie Jones (Coop’s 10-year-old daughter)

In the meantime, here is a story teaser to get your creative juices flowing. Good luck!
Crescent Moon Crossing back cover blurb:

Staff Sgt. Jace Merrick's two short-term goals: Join the Army Intelligence Unit, and kill his wife.

When his bleeding-heart spouse, Abby, begins volunteering at Hope House, a group that leaves supplies in the Arizona desert for illegals crossing the border, he hatches a plan to make her murder look like a coyote smuggling gone wrong.

But before he can carry out his plan, Abby is murdered—and he's the prime suspect.

Rumor Vargas is first on the witness list of Deputy Sheriff Cooper "Coop" Jones who’s investigating her friend's murder. Rumor finds his methodical mind attractive and she's curious about his battle-weary eyes. But when he turns that inquiring mind on her big brother as a prime suspect, Rumor has a reason besides attraction to keep Coop close.

The Sheriff suspects Alberto Vargas has Cartel ties, and this certainly looks like the Sinoloan gang's work. On the other hand, Abby's husband—and his lover--have their own motives for murder.

The further Coop digs into the case, the less the facts add up for any of his known suspects.

Someone has a grudge against Jace Merrick. A life and death grudge. And it's time for pay back.

I’m in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for this year’s Left Coast Crime conference. It’s been a while. Two years ago the state of California shut down all conferences in the state, and we all went home after 2 days. So, it’s exciting to be back to meeting, albeit masked, in person.
​
As part of my “conference experience” I’m dedicating my blog to the authors I’d most like to meet, based on their books I want to read.
Here, in alphabetical order, are my top 13 authors and why I want to read them.

Daisy Bateman Murder Goes to Market and Dismal Harvest
Claudia Simcoe has left the tech world of San Francisco to start a new, quiet life in the peaceful coastal town of San Elmo Bay. Now she owns a market specializing in artisanal, locally-made goods. But then Lori Roth, one of her market's vendors, is strangled to death with a wire. And all of a sudden San Elmo stops seeming so peaceful. Especially when suspicion for the murder falls upon Claudia.

Things don't get any simpler when a second victim turns up. The body count is rising, and Police Chief Lennox thinks Claudia's the killer. There's friction between her and her weirdo neighbor. Lori's past yields some worrisome questions. A massive pickle jar seems to have played a role in the murder. And as if things weren't complicated enough, Officer Derek Chambers, Chief Lennox's new hire, is pretty cute.
 
Why I’m reading – I love the setting of these cozy mysteries, and I enjoyed the short excerpt I read. Going to start with the first book.

1. Shannon Baker

The Desert’s Share
When rookie agent Michaela Sanchez receives a tip from her sister that someone has gone missing in the Tucson desert, she thinks she’s searching for a lost immigrant. What she finds is the murdered defendant of a high-profile local trial.
 
Lacy Hollander was a humanitarian aid worker, on trial for harboring felons after she sheltered illegal border crossers. When a conflict erupts with a local vigilante group, her murder ignites a political firestorm.
 
Concerned about her sister’s involvement, and taking heat at home from her activist daughter, Michaela takes it upon herself to investigate.
 
But repeated run-ins with the commander of the vigilante group and a series of escalating threats against aid workers make one thing clear…the violence hasn’t ended with Lacy’s death.
 
There is a killer on the loose. And Michaela must untangle the mystery before he strikes again.
 
Why I’m reading – I haven’t read any Shannon Baker yet, even though she lives in my state. I’m going to go back and read her first book in the series, Echoes in the Sand, first. 

Connie Berry
A dream of Death
 
On a remote Scottish island, American antiques dealer Kate Hamilton investigates a brutal killing, staged to recreate a centuries-old unsolved murder.

Autumn has come and gone on Scotland’s Isle of Glenroth, and the islanders gather for the Tartan Ball, the annual end-of-tourist-season gala. Spirits are high until an unexpected turn of events takes the floor.

A recently published novel about island history has brought hordes of tourists to the small Hebridean resort community. On the guest list is American antiques dealer Kate Hamilton. Kate returns reluctantly to the island where her husband died, determined to repair her relationship with his sister, proprietor of the island’s luxe country house hotel, famous for its connection with Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Kate has hardly unpacked when the next morning a body is found, murdered in a reenactment of an infamous unsolved murder described in the novel—and the only clue to the killer’s identity lies in a curiously embellished antique casket. The Scottish police discount the historical connection, but when a much-loved local handyman is arrested, Kate teams up with a vacationing detective inspector from Suffolk, England, to unmask a killer determined to rewrite island history—and Kate’s future.
 
Why I’m reading - This is the first book in her Kate Hamilton Mystery series. Because the next novel I’m going to write (this summer) is based in Scotland, most of my summer reading is going to focus on that country. Call is enjoyable research. 

Pamela Beason 
Borderland

Wildlife photographer Jade Silva’s last text message is a photo of a rare jaguar at the US-Mexico border wall. When Jade vanishes, her fellow Southwestern Research Station volunteer, Sam Westin, agonizes that something terrible has happened. But finding Jade seems an almost impossible mission in a rugged area overrun by undocumented immigrants, Border Patrol agents, vigilantes, construction crews, human traffickers, drug smugglers, and violent cartel thugs. Meanwhile, the ever-increasing militarization of the Arizona-Mexico border is destroying ecosystems and trampling the rights of US citizens. Trying to rescue her friend, Sam is sucked into a maelstrom of desperation, deceit, and danger.
 
Why I’m reading - This is the last of her wilderness suspense series, but it sounds so interesting. Plus, my novel has a lot of border wall conflict, so I’d like to read her version of the area. 

David Boop
Straight Outta Tombstone

Here then are seventeen stories that breathe new life in the Old West. Among them: Larry Correia explores the roots of his best-selling Monster Hunter International series in "Bubba Shackleford’s Professional Monster Killers." Jim Butcher reveals the origin of one of the Dresden Files' most popular characters in "Fistful of Warlock." And Kevin J. Anderson's Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I., finds himself in a showdown in "High Midnight." Additional stories from Alan Dean Foster, Sarah A. Hoyt, Jody Lynn Nye, Michael A. Stackpole, and many more. 
Why I’m reading – This anthology is not new but it contains so many of my favorite authors that I don’t want to miss it. Plus, you know, westerns. 

Rhys Bowen
Above the Bay of Angeles
 
A single twist of fate puts a servant girl to work in Queen Victoria’s royal kitchen, setting off a suspenseful, historical mystery by the New York Times bestselling author of The Tuscan Child and The Victory Garden.

Isabella Waverly only means to comfort the woman felled on a London Street. In her final dying moments, she thrusts a letter into Bella’s hand. It’s an offer of employment in the kitchens of Buckingham Palace, and everything the budding young chef desperately wants: an escape from the constrictions of her life as a lowly servant. In the stranger’s stead, Bella can spread her wings.

Arriving as Helen Barton from Yorkshire, she pursues her passion for creating culinary delights, served to the delighted Queen Victoria herself. Best of all, she’s been chosen to accompany the queen to Nice. What fortune! Until the threat of blackmail shadows Bella to the Riviera, and a member of the queen’s retinue falls ill and dies.

Having prepared the royal guest’s last meal, Bella is suspected of the poisonous crime. An investigation is sure to follow. Her charade will be over. And her new life will come crashing down—if it doesn’t send her to the gallows.
 
Why I’m reading – I don’t read much historical fiction, but this premise is so interesting. Rhys Bowen has written more than 40 novels, and is a Left Coast Crime winner, plus earning multiple Agatha and Maccavity Awards. 

Claire Booth
Dangerous Consequences
 
Elderly tourists visiting Branson, Missouri for a fun time instead become so sick and disoriented they end up in the ER with Dr. Maggie McCleary. She asks the sheriff to investigate and, because he happens to be her husband, Hank Worth readily agrees.

When the tour operator denies responsibility, Hank digs deeper leaving Chief Deputy Sheila Turley to handle a simmering revolt within the ranks. Their policy to eliminate overtime pay has infuriated many long-time deputies. Those fired for insubordination have filed a lawsuit, while those still there sabotage Sheila at every turn.

With pressure mounting, they're called to a hit-and-run accident. But the victim's injuries haven't been caused by a car . . . she's been beaten to death and dumped by the side of the road. And she was someone they knew.

Will the victim's aggressive business dealings come to haunt them all? And can Hank and Sheila save their department from destruction?
 
Why I’m reading – Interesting premise in Branson, Missouri, one of my favorite little, quirky towns. 

Mick Herron
Slow Horses
'The most exciting development in spy fiction since the Cold War.' 

Slough House is the outpost where disgraced spies are banished to see out the rest of their derailed careers. Known as the 'slow horses' these misfits have committed crimes of drugs and drunkenness, lechery and failure, politics and betrayal while on duty.

In this drab and mildewed office these highly trained spies don't run ops, they push paper. Not one of them joined the Intelligence Service to be a slow horse and the one thing they have in common is they want to be back in the action.

When a boy is kidnapped and held hostage, his beheading is scheduled for live broadcast on the net. And whatever the instructions of their masters at the Intelligence Service headquarters, the slow horses aren't going to just sit quiet and watch.
There are bad actors everywhere, and they usually get their comeuppance before the credits roll. But politics is a dirty business, and in a world where lying, cheating and backstabbing are the norm, sometimes the good guys can find themselves outgunned.

Why I’m reading – This book is the first in a series that is now a major TV series starring Gary Oldman.
The latest book in the series is Bad Actors, out May 10. 

Anne Hillerman
The Sacred Bridge

Sergeant Jim Chee’s vacation to beautiful Antelope Canyon and Lake Powell has a deeper purpose. He’s on a quest to unravel a sacred mystery his mentor, the Legendary Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, stumbled across decades earlier. 
 
Chee’s journey takes a deadly turn when, after a prayerful visit to the sacred Rainbow Bridge, he spots a body floating in the lake. The dead man, a Navajo with a passion for the canyon’s ancient rock art, lived a life filled with many secrets. Discovering why he died and who was responsible involves Chee in an investigation that puts his own life at risk. 
 
Back in Shiprock, Officer Bernadette Manuelito is driving home when she witnesses an expensive sedan purposely kill a hitchhiker. The search to find the killer leads her to uncover a dangerous chain of interconnected revelations involving a Navajo Nation cannabis enterprise. 
 
But the evil that is unleashed jeopardizes her mother and sister Darleen, and puts Bernie in the deadliest situation of her law enforcement career. 
 
Why I’m reading – I’ve read most of the Tony Hillerman novels and am ready to jump to daughter Anne. The hype says The Sacred Bridge is Anne Hillerman’s best novel yet featuring Leaphorn, Chee, & Manuelito, and that Anne has done an amazing job of continuing the series that her father began. 

Molly MacRae
Plaid and Plagiarism

Set in the weeks before the annual Inversgail Literature Festival in Scotland, Plaid and Plagiarism begins on a morning shortly after the four women take possession of their bookshop in the Highlands. Unfortunately, the move to Inversgail hasn’t gone as smoothly as they’d planned.

First, Janet Marsh is told she’ll have to wait before moving into her new home. Then she finds out the house has been vandalized. Again. The chief suspect? Una Graham, an advice columnist for the local paper—who’s trying to make a name for herself as an investigative reporter. When Janet and her business partners go looking for clues at the house, they find a body—it’s Una, in the garden shed, with a sickle in her neck. Janet never did like that garden shed.

Who wanted Una dead? After discovering a cache of nasty letters, Janet and her friends are beginning to wonder who didn’t, including Janet’s ex-husband. Surrounded by a cast of characters with whom readers will fall in love, the new owners of Yon Bonnie Books set out to solve Una’s murder so they can get back to business.
 
Why I’m reading - Plaid and Plagiarism is the start of an entertaining new Scottish mystery series, so I’m starting at the beginning. I’m emphasizing books based in Scotland, remember. 

Also really want to read the latest book, Argyles and Arsenic (March 1,2022), about a 93-year-old woman who decides to simplify her life by throwing a decluttering party at her manor and let her friends help themselves to whatever they want. There’s also a murder by poisoning, one of my favorite methods of dispatch. 

Gigi Pandian
Artifact: Book 1 of the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mysteries
 
When historian Jaya Jones receives a mysterious package containing a jewel-encrusted artifact, she discovers the secrets of a lost Indian treasure may be hidden in a Scottish legend. But she's not the only one on the trail.

From San Francisco to the Highlands of Scotland, Jaya must evade a shadowy stalker as she follows hints from the hastily scrawled note to a remote archaeological dig. Helping her decipher the cryptic clues are her magician best friend, a devastatingly handsome art historian with something to hide, and a charming archaeologist running for his life. When a member of the dig's crew is murdered, Jaya must figure out which of the scholars vying for her affections might be the love of her life - and which one is a killer.

Jaya travels from San Francisco to the British Library in London to a Pictish archaeological dig in the Highlands of Scotland, piecing together the secrets of a lost Indian treasure hidden in a Scottish legend from the days of the British Raj.

Why I’m reading – I’ve read several of Gigi’s books in her Alchemist series, and now I’m ready to try her Treasure Hunt series. She’s a good writer and her subjects are fascinating. I’m also looking forward to hearing what archaeology sites she’s covering in Scotland, as I have a site in my next book. (As you can tell, personal research is the main way I justify reading for fun). She’s traveled to Scotland, so I can’t wait to pick her brain. 

Jason Pinter
A Stranger at the Door
 
Rachel Marin is in a good place. After years of struggle, the single mother has found both a stable, loving relationship and a new purpose: putting her investigative skills to work solving crimes for the local PD. But just as the pieces of her life are finally starting to fall into place, her teenaged son’s teacher is gruesomely murdered, starting a domino effect that shatters her peaceful existence.

When Rachel discovers an ominous email the teacher sent to her just before his death, she knows she must help bring his killer to justice. But soon a figure from her past reappears, threatening to expose Rachel’s darkest secrets if she doesn’t tread lightly. And when her son is recruited by a shadowy businessman who may be connected to the murder, Rachel knows this has just gotten very, very personal.

Someone out there is dead set on keeping this grisly cover-up good and buried, which means if Rachel’s not careful, it’s only a matter of time before her dream life becomes her worst nightmare.
 
Why I’m reading - I read and enjoyed his first book, Hide Away, immensely. It was a true edge of the seat thriller. I’m hoping his next book will be just as scary. 

Gregory C. Randall

• White Rabbit

Fifty years ago, Cate and Joe Davis’s family was torn apart by the Vietnam War, the protests, and the disappearance of their older sister, Bobbie. It left their mother and father dead. It left what remained of their family fractured almost beyond repair. And for fifty years it also left dozens of questions unanswered. 
 
Fifty years later, Cate has become a successful novelist and Joe an important artist. Then the FBI comes to her door demanding to know where their sister is, the sister the two Davis’s believe has been dead for a half century. Joe, damaged by the war, fights to keep what sanity hasn’t been destroyed by his memories, And Cate wants nothing more than to mourn the recent loss of her husband. All because the outrageous truth about what happened that day in 1968 that destroyed their family won't stay hidden forever.
 
Why I’m reading –
I’m a child of the Vietnam era and still enjoy reading about it. This book is said to be packed with twists and turns. Time to find out. 

Do you set annual reading goals?

While my novel draft of Crescent Moon Crossing is with my developmental editor, I’ve had a few days’ break from writing, so I compiled a list of the best books I read this year.

Goodreads has a popular app that keeps track of books that you read each year, if you’d like to try your hand at goal-setting. Don’t be intimidated by the voracious readers there. (Seriously, who can read a book a day? Evidently, a lot of people!) Ignore them, set your own pace, and enjoy!

I always try to read around 20 books each year, and post reviews of my favorites on NetGalley, Amazon and Goodreads. If you sign up on NetGalley as a reviewer, you get to request Ebooks to read for free (and well before they’re published), in exchange for a fair and honest review. Of course, not all of your favorite authors submit their upcoming books to the site, but you can read the ones that do before anyone else. Granted, I’ve found a few DNF (Did Not Finish). But many more gems.

Here are some of my favorites from 2021:

Around the World in 80 Trees
by Jonathan Drori, 2020 (Non-fiction)

This author and environmentalist follows in the footsteps of Phileas Fogg as he tells the stories of 80 magnificent trees from all over the globe. The entire book’s presentation is engaging. I learned a LOT and was thoroughly entertained as well.

The Book of Magic
​by Alice Hoffman, 2021 (Paranormal) 

In the latest book in her Practical Magic series, author Alice Hoffman has finally returned to the Owens family to fill out the family backstory on the mysterious “aunts” Francis (called Franny), and Bridget (known as Jet). And—surprise! They had a baby brother! There’s magic, yes. But it’s set against the historical backdrop of real events like the Vietnam War, draft evasion and San Francisco’s Summer of Love. The whole novel is a comingling of dreamy, lyrical fairy tale and real-life struggles.

Cloud Warriors
by Rob Jung
​2019 (Paranormal suspense)

Anthropology professor Terry Castro, leading a summer-school program in the Peruvian rain forest, stumbles upon a lost tribe of tall, white-skinned warriors from the time of the Incan empire.

Greedy humans being as they are, the problems pile up from that discovery. 

This is Jung's first book, published at 75! I'm impressed.

​The Corpse Queen
by Heather Herrman, 2021 (Historical thriller) 

A macabre historical thriller. Molly Green, an orphaned girl, is plucked from a life of misery and abuse by her newly-discovered and extremely wealthy aunt Ava, the infamous Corpse Queen. She has built her empire by robbing graves and selling the corpses to medical students who need bodies to practice surgical procedures. And she wants Molly to help her procure the corpses.

You’ll learn a lot about the barbaric surgical procedures at the turn of the century.

The Distant Dead
by Heather Young, 2020 (Suspense)

I’d describe The Distant Dead  as a literary mystery. But this book transcends genre. The story begins with a horrific discovery, but expands to explore the weight of family obligations and how drug addiction and tragic decisions can rip those families apart. 

The characters resonate and you will care deeply about them.

Girl in Ice
by Erica Ferencik, available March 1, 2022 (Suspense) 

Valerie Chesterfield is a linguist trained in the most esoteric of disciplines: dead Nordic languages.

Her brother was killed while researching in Greenland, and one of his coworkers asks her to travel to the Arctic to investigate a scientific impossibility. A young girl, found frozen in a glacier, woke up when they thawed her out, and is now speaking a language no one understands. 

If you're willing to fill in the plot holes on your own, this is an interesting read.

The Guide
by Peter Heller, 2021 (Thriller)

You don’t have to love fly fishing the way Heller and his character Jack do to enjoy the mystery, murder and romance in The Guide.  Although if you do love to fish, I’m guessing you will be enthralled by this book.

Heller makes the river a central character, one I was eager to explore. He's a superb writer. I've enjoyed all of his books.

The Keeper of Lost Things
by Ruth Hogan, 2017 (Suspense)

Anthony Peardew is the Keeper of Lost Things. Once a celebrated author of short stories, now in his twilight years, Anthony has sought consolation from the long-ago loss of his fiancée by lovingly rescuing lost objects—the things others have dropped, misplaced, or accidently left behind.

Realizing that he’s running out of time, he leaves his beautiful house and all the collected treasures to his unsuspecting assistant, Laura, the one person he trusts to fulfil his legacy and reunite his lost objects with their rightful owners.  
A sweeter read than I usually do, it hits all the right feels.

The Last
by Hannah Jameson, 2019 (Dystopian thriller)

This breathtaking dystopian psychological thriller follows an American academic and twenty other survivors stranded at a Swiss hotel as the world descends into chaos after a nuclear bomb hits.

As supplies dwindle and tensions rise, the narrator becomes obsessed with discovering the truth behind one girl’s death at the hotel.
But the important question is, who will be with you at the end of the world? And what kind of person will you be?

The Physics of Grief
by Mickey J Corrigan, 2021 (Fiction)

A cover blurb describes The Physics of Grief as, “Good Fellas meets T.S. Eliot for a drink in an Irish pub.”  It’s a good description for this novel’s quirky view of a topic typically shrouded in sadness: death and grieving.

It’s clear that author Corrigan knows people as well as any high-dollar shrink. It’s an original and fast read that will leave you thinking about it long after you’ve finished the book. 

Seasons of Moon and Flame
by Danielle Dulsky (Pagan non-fiction), 2020

The yearning to slow down and simplify, return to the earth, and maybe even “rewild” what has been tamed in ourselves persists even though that dream may seem ever more remote in contemporary life.

Danielle Dulsky shows that even in our high-tech and high-pressure lives, it is possible to manifest your own “year of the wild” and to tap into often-forgotten holy wisdom.

​Stranded
by Sarah Goodwin, 2021 (Thriller)

Eight people sign up for a reality show where they are to spend a whole year on the island of Buidseach, a remote, uninhabited island, surviving with limited resources. Think Bear Gryll's The Island/Survivor/Castaway/Lord of the Flies!

But when the day finally came for them to leave and the boat didn't arrive, the book was still only halfway through so I knew things were going to get worse … and they did...a lot worse.

The Searcher
by Tana French, 2020  (Suspense)

Cal Hooper thought a fixer-upper in a bucolic Irish village would be the perfect escape. After twenty-five years in the Chicago police force and a bruising divorce, he just wants to build a new life in a pretty spot with a good pub where nothing much happens.

But when a local kid whose brother has gone missing arm-twists him into investigating, Cal uncovers layers of darkness beneath his picturesque retreat, and starts to realize that even small towns shelter dangerous secrets.

Witching Herbs: 13 Essential Plants and Herbs for your Magical Garden
by Harold Roth 2017 (Pagan non-fiction)

An in-depth exploration of 13 essential plants and herbs most closely associated with witchcraft--13 because it's the witching number and reflects the 13 months of the lunar calendar. The plants are poppy, clary sage, yarrow, rue, hyssop, vervain, mugwort, wormwood, datura, wild tobacco, henbane, belladonna, and mandrake.

Roth writes simply and clearly on a vast amount of esoteric information that is not easily found elsewhere.  Each chapter focuses on one plant and includes information on its unique plant spirit familiar, clear how-to instructions for magical projects, and pragmatic information on growing and cultivating.
The author says, “This book is a great choice for intermediate-to-advanced witches who would like to work more closely with the traditional witching herbs, especially the baneful plants with their rather difficult spirits. Working directly with spirits is one of the fundamentals of the Craft." 

This is the book that inspired me to attempt a poison garden. (Still working on that, by the way. He's also made me hyper-wary of poisonous plants.)

The Witching Tree
by Alice Blanchard, 2021 –(Suspense)

Welcome to Burning Lake, a small, isolated town with a dark history of witchcraft and false accusations.

This third book in Burning Lake series starts off with a gruesome murder of a popular Wiccan priestess, dressed up and tied to the train tracks to face her death alone in the middle of a winter snowstorm.

Detective Natalie Lockhart is called to investigate the scene. She gained unwanted notoriety when she and her family became the center of not one, but two sensational murder cases (in Books 1 and 2).

The mystery is atmospheric and Natalie and the other characters in Burning Lake keep the story and its occult occurrences suspenseful. However, be forewarned: The ending leaves the reader completely and abruptly hanging.  I don’t know if/when the next book will be written. Maybe go back and read the first two books in the series while you're waiting. That's what I'm gonna do.

What books are you looking forward to reading in 2022? Give me your top 5 new books and I’ll add them to my TBR list as well.

I’ll slip that list to you soon. I’ve been adding unpublished titles from NetGalley like crazy!

I’ll also have more news on Crescent Moon Crossing next week. The editor’s proof is due back Feb. 4. Then the next round of hard work begins! 

​Until then, good reading.