Reviewed by Claire Hamner Matturro Karen Spears Zacharias writes with remarkable sensitivity and insight. She is so profoundly in touch with her fictional people that she can present a tale from multiple points of view with an acuity and heart-felt honesty that soon makes her characters feel like close friends to the reader. Because of […]
November Read of the Month: “Christian Bend,” by Karen Spears Zacharias
November 1, 2018 by Leave a Comment
“All the Lovely Children,” by Andrew Nance
September 26, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Claire Hamner Matturro Andrew Nance does two difficult things in All the Lovely Children (Red Adept, 2018), and he does both exceptionally well. First, he infuses the often formulaic serial killer subgenre with fresh, new energy by providing innovative twists, a setting that juxtaposes beauty and horror, and sharp, clean writing. Second, he […]
“Undercurrents,” by Mary Anna Evans
September 13, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Claire Hamner Matturro Author Mary Anna Evans never disappoints. That’s rare for authors of a long-running mystery series because the confines of the genre, compounded with the repetition of characters, often leads to staleness. But Evans’s Faye Longchamp archaeological mystery series is emphatically not stale. Evans proves as much in her eleventh novel […]
“All the Lovely Children,” by Andrew Nance
August 9, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Claire Hamner Matturro Andrew Nance does two very difficult things in his new book, All the Lovely Children (Red Adept, 2018), and he does both exceptionally well. First, Nance infuses the often-formulaic serial killer subgenre with fresh, new energy by providing innovative twists, a lush setting that juxtaposes beauty and horror, and sharp, […]
June Read of the Month: “The Last Trial,” by Robert Bailey
June 6, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Claire Hamner Matturro In a literary landscape increasingly littered with mediocre (or worse) legal thrillers, Alabama attorney Robert Bailey did something impressive: He wrote an excellent, classic legal thriller with The Last Trial (Thomas and Mercer, May 2018). Its brilliantly complex plot portrays compelling, intriguing characters, pretrial murder and mayhem, courtroom drama, edge-of-your-chair […]
“Specter of Seduction,” by Carolyn Haines
April 18, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Claire Hamner Matturro In Specter of Seduction (KaliOka Press, November 2017),” the third book in Carolyn Haines’s Pluto Snitch series, human villains, living and dead, and a demon from another sphere collide with force and sparks. At the center of the storm, a talented young girl child appears to be possessed, or merely […]