A finalist for the 2026 Spur Award for Best Western Contemporary Novel, Well of Deception (Stoney Creek Publishing 2025), by Cynthia Leal Massey, is a historical fiction novel taking place in south central Texas in the late 1950s. Inspired by true events, this story is about the murder of Maggie Schneider at her turkey farm […]
“Well of Deception” by Cynthia Leal Massey
March 30, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Well of Deception (Stoney Creek Publishing 2025), by the multi-award-winning author Cynthia Leal Massey, is a new take on the classic small town murder mystery. A bullet shot in broad daylight seemingly out of nowhere kills turkey-breeder Maggie Schneider, and the prime suspect is missing. Everyone thinks they know who shot Maggie, but they can’t […]
Read of the Month: “The Wretched and Undone” by J. E. Weiner
September 3, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Author J. E. Weiner kicks off her debut novel, The Wretched and Undone (HTF Publishing 2025) with a rattlesnake falling from the rafters of a church onto the congregation below. That’s a tough scene to follow, but Weiner keeps ramping up tension and introducing unexpected events, each scene propelling the story forward as we follow […]
“The Ballad of Karla Faye Tucker” by Mark Beaver
May 4, 2025 by 1 Comment
Reviewed by Addison Summers As an avid reader, few books have ever fully captivated me quite like The Ballad of Karla Faye Tucker (University Press of Mississippi 2023) by Mark Beaver. This emotional and deeply moving work tells the true story of Karla Faye Tucker, the first woman executed in Texas since 1863. Tucker and her […]
Read of the Month: “The Bright Years” by Sarah Damoff
April 30, 2025 by Leave a Comment
The Bright Years (Simon & Schuster 2025) by Sarah Damoff shimmers as an exquisite, poignant portrait of a family crumbling as their painful pasts push their way into the present. It is a story of addiction and recovery. Of love and loss. Of forgiveness and redemption. Set in Texas, The Bright Years takes readers on […]
Books of Note: “Queen of the Clouds” by Taylor C. Phillips and “Greed at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort by Leslie Noyes
March 18, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Queen of the Clouds by Taylor C. Phillips First woman to fly around the world—Amelia Earhart, right? Wrong! Yet most of us remember Earhart’s name rather than the two women who did complete that amazing solo journey. Queen of the Clouds: Joan Merriam Smith and Jerrie Mock’s Epic Quest to Become the First Woman to […]