Lesa's Book Critiques: Dreamers of the Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki
Friday, September 04, 2026
Mystery Fanfare: LABOR DAY AND LABOR UNION MYSTERIES: Updated Lists
SleuthSayers: Going After Publicity for Your (small, precious) Book
Happiness Is A Book: Friday’s Forgotten Book: An Oxford Tragedy by J. C. Masterman
In Reference to Murder: Friday's "Forgotten" Books: Speaking of Murder
Jerry's House of Everything: FORGOTTEN BOOK: FAITHFUL
Review: First Chance by Kasey Lansdale
It is summer in deep Southeast Texas and
all that entails as First Chance by Kasey Lansdale begins. Heat,
humidity, drought, and a side of murder. It has been 10 months since 16-year-old
Patience Milroy had been found with her throat cut, missing a shoe, and her
clothes on backwards. She had not been raped. So why was she killed. And why
were her clothes put back on her backwards? Local police have not figured out
either question and are no closer to doing so than the day she was found tossed
into the high grass along a roadside.
Darla Weaver, married, and sister to
Patience, has come to see Chance Kirby. She wants to hire her to look into the
case and find the killer of her baby sister. This is going to be her first case
as a fully licensed private investigator, but Chance has worked cases before for
her step mom, Harper Jones. So, she knows some things. Her dad, John Kirby,
also does investigative work, and it seems that the apple did not fall far from
the tree.
As the local private eye in Hopeful,
Texas, down near Houston, Chance Kirby knows some people. While Chance knew a
bit about the Patience case, she did not know about the case, in a nearby small
town, where another young woman was found dead in nearly identical circumstances.
That case seems to mirror what happened a few months later with Chance.
According to Darla, the respective police departments didn’t tell each other
about their cases. The cops now call it all a coincidence, but Darla does not
buy that. She also does not think much of the cops, or even Chance now that she
has met her.
Yet, Darla is desperate, and at her
whits end. She decides to go ahead and hire Chance to try and get some answers.
Good thing Chance has contacts in her local police department and some other
folks she can count on in the weeks ahead.
Finding the truth about what happened to
Patience and others is going to take considerable time. Chance also has her
hands full with a teenage foster daughter, a dog that gets loose, and a
complicated relationship with her family. All of those situations provide an
enjoyable backdrop to the main story line of
Chance finding out what happened to Patience and trying very hard not to
get killed doing it.
While it reads to me as this could be
the first book of a planned series, I have no idea if that is the plan or not.
It could just be a really good stand alone, but there are a lot of support
beams here for the floor of a series. Either way, First Chance by
Kasey Lansdale is a complicated and really good mystery. It is very much worth
your time.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/46Ctrjm
My digital reading copy came from the
publisher, Blackstone Publishing, through NetGalley, with no expectation of a
positive review.
Kevin R. Tipple 2026
Thursday, September 03, 2026
In Reference to Murder: Mystery Melange
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Books Read in June and July 2026
A Writer's Life....Caroline Clemmons: The McClintocks: A Family to Visit Again
Thursday Treats: 9/03/2026
Some reading opportunities of interest this week.
SMFS
list member Pam Ebel announced that her short story, Happy Hour at the Holy
Grail Bar, was published online at The Yard: Crime Blog. You can read it for
free here.
Pistol
Jim Press has announced their published short stories for their most recent
call. “Doors, Gates, & Portals” was edited by M. E. Proctor of the SMFS. You can read,
for free, the ten stories as well as vote on them at the Substack.
SMFS
list member David Hendrickson
announced that his short story, If Only I Were Pretty, appears in the recently
released Mystery, Crime, and Mayhem: Spring Break. Published by Knotted
Road Press, you can pick it up at the publisher
and Amazon.
Black Cat Weekly #261 is out and focuses more on short stories this week. You can pick up the latest issue here. The cover made me snicker as I think somebody was thinking fire ants on steroids. The only good thing I can see here that the drought has done has it has seemingly killed off a lot of the hideous fire ants in the yard here at Casa Tipple and Home Eatery Library.

Quite
a few SMFS list members are in the new anthology, Hooked on Urban
Legends—and Murder! The members are Editor Barb Goffman (Into the Woods), Shari Held (The House of Blue Lights
Revisited), Alan Orloff (Face to Face), KM Rockwood (They Lurk In The
Lake), Shannon Taft (The Cave Man),
and Joseph S. Walker (The Things We
Remember). Published by Wildside Press,
the read is available in digital format now at Amazon with the print version coming out on September 8th.

I
have been a fan of author Frank Zafiro
for quite a few decades now. His latest read in his River City police
procedural series, The Quick of the Night, is coming out on September 15th.
Published by Code
4 Press, the read is available now for
preorder at Amazon and will be part of the Kindle Unlimited program at time of
publication.
Also
out on September 15th is the latest read from author C. W.
Blackwell. The Cold Dark Forever: A Novel, published by Shotgun Honey Books,
is a crime fiction read set in 1942. The read is now available for preorder at Amazon.
Also
out on the 15th is the young adult read, It Should Have Been
You: A Novel by Lynn Slaughter. Now published by Picarones Press, an
imprint of Misti Media Publishing,
the book is available for preorder at the White City Press.
Until next time….
Kevin R. Tipple ©2026
The recent lunar eclipse photographed by another Dallas area resident. I could not see it at all in my part of NE Dallas.
Wednesday, September 02, 2026
Mystery Fanfare: The Detection Club: A new Golden Age Mystery series
George Kelly: WEDNESDAY’S SHORT STORIES #286: The Crime Machine: The Jack Ritchie Stories from Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine (1957-61) Edited by Jeff Vorzimmer
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THE COFFIN BEARER
Review: Tear the City Down: A Novel by Andre Hardy
One last deal and then get out. Coltrane
Davis had already been thinking about pulling up stakes and leaving San Diego.
That idea gained momentum in Florida recently as his teen daughter competed in
a tournament. She did not win. But, she did really well. She has the chance to
be somebody great in the tennis world with the right coaching and support. It
would also give her a chance to put some physical distance from a tragedy that
has haunted them both these past few months and caused incredible grief in
their lives.
All he has to do is manage his boss,
Saul Sollman, for one more deal. The problem is Saul Sollman is certified nuts.
He’s the crooked kingmaker who allowed Coltrane Davis into his world. That
decision has financially rewarded them both. Saul is not pleased with Coltrane
Davis right now. Getting summoned to Saul’s in the middle of the night,
especially on a date night, is the latest reminder that it is time to get out.
Coltrane is also less than pleased. Not
only because he was summoned to Saul’s place like he is some sort of indentured
servant working for his white king, Dylan Banks also arrived. Coltrane has to
work to hide his disgust as Dylan Banks is one of those white guys who appropriates
language, culture, and mannerisms not his own when speaking to others outside
of his race. Then, when there are consequences, hides behind the wall of privilege.
The agent has a huge problem. His
client, Anthony Riddell, an all-pro running back for the Chargers, is in a
situation that could cost him everything. Riddell has his own history and it is
not good. In the here and now, Riddell is being extorted because of a picture
that shows him in a sexually compromising position with another man. Coltrane
wants no part of any of it at all and the hard sell by Saul and Dylan begins in
earnest.
Dylan is sure that his client was set up.
That the whole deal is a plot by the GM to low ball him as they argue about the
next contract. The Chargers already declined his fifth-year option, didn’t negotiate
a fair market deal, and then put the franchise tag on him. Then stories started
getting leaked to the press about health issues, domestic violence, and gang
ties.
Being black in the NFL brings issues
that white players don’t have to deal with at all. Things between the Chargers
and the player are very heated. Now this problem. If word of it, let alone the
pictorial proof, go out he could lose his football career, his endorsements,
everything.
Coltrane grudgingly agrees to poke
around and try to clean up the matter. He soon gets involved deeper than ever
intended, as he looks for a way out for the player as well as the people Coltrane
loves.
Along the way, readers are treated to a
side of San Diego they never see and how race plays a major factor in the NFL
and far beyond. It’s a complicated tale, a debut novel, and a good crime
fiction read.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4zopxHZ
My ARC digital reading copy came by way
of the publisher, Grand Central Publishing, through NetGalley, with no expectation
of a positive review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2026
Tuesday, September 01, 2026
Mystery Fanfare: The Art Heist: Guest Post by Claudia Hagadus Long
SleuthSayers: Writing Changes
Publication Day Review: Hidden Currents: A Sheriff Hank Worth Novel by Claire Booth
Branson County Sheriff Hank Worth is
always trying to help people. He’s been trying to help Gursey Rugg, a 23-year-old
meth addict, and very well known to all for his very low-level shoplifting. As Hidden
Currents: A Sheriff Hank Worth Mystery by Claire Booth begins, he has
been arrested yet again.
But this time he stole enough in one
take to rise to a felony level. He swiped 14 hand tied feather lures from the
local Reel Life Outfitters store. A two-store chain with stores on the opposite
ends of the Lake Taneycomo. The chain is now managed by the new owner, Gene
Willard, who seems very much determined to press charges.
The same Gene Willard who has no chance
to pursue charges, or change his mind, and he is soon very much dead in one of
his stores. That means Sheriff Hank Worth, Deputy Sheila Turley, and the others
have to figure out who did it and why. The fact that Gene Willard was going
through a contested divorce just means the suspect pool is even bigger.
While that case is the main storyline,
quite a lot is going on in secondary storylines. Among the various threads is the
fact that the attackers of Chief Deputy Sheila Turley are finally about to
stand trial. It’s been a long time coming, thanks to the pandemic and other
issues. Just seating a jury is going to be hard enough in the small community
where everybody knows you and your business. Having to deal with being a
witness in a trial is bad enough, but trying to investigate a murder at the
same time means she and everyone in the department will have a lot on their
plate
The latest installment in a great series
that began with The Branson Beauty is another good one. Much is
going on in Hidden Currents: A Sheriff Hank Worth Mystery and
things remain complicated and evolving. This is a series that must be read in
order as events happen, create consequential ripple effects just like in real
life, and people change. These characters have been through a lot in these
books, so I very much recommend reading
them in order.
I also encourage you to read the
“acknowledgments” section at the end of the book as the author goes into some
background detail on location and other issues.
I also encourage you to read Lesa Holstine's review here. And, if you are not already paying attention to her site, slap yourself with a wet noodle, and get onboard.
Strongly recommended as is the entire series.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4d5CLzR
The read will also be added to the Kindle
Unlimited program on publication day.
I picked this up through NetGalley by
way of the publisher, Severn House, which has me on their preapproved reviewer
list. A fact I am very grateful for as the ability to instantly download and
get reading, as I did here, is a wonderful thing. There was no expectation of a
review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2026
Monday, August 31, 2026
In Reference to Murder: Media Murder for Monday
Beneath the Stains of Time: Murder at the End of the World (2022) by Akane Araki
Little Big Crimes: Treat or Trick, by Mark Thielman
Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: The Ninth Circle: A Billy Boyle WWII Mystery by James R. Benn
The 21st
appearance of Billy Boyle is scheduled for 1 September 2026. How is it possible
this series has trundled along for 21 books? A book a year consistently since
the introduction of Billy and his colleagues in 2006. With publishers dropping
outstanding authors and wonderful series right, left, and center, James Benn
continues to turn out solidly researched, strongly plotted, and beautifully
written historical crime fiction and wonder of wonders, Soho Press stands back
and lets him do it! Readers everywhere owe Soho their gratitude.
The Ninth
Circle (Soho, September 2026) is the latest outing of Billy, part of a
large Boston cop family and cousin by marriage to General Eisenhower. Only
months before Germany surrenders, Billy and his sidekick Lieutenant Piotr
Kazimierz go to Havana where ostensibly Billy is to liaison with the Cuban Army
and Piotr is a business man seeking to establish himself in the busy capital
city. Really they are to investigate the death of Lieutenant Commander Hugh
Sinclair of the Royal Navy, who was shot while outside drinking his morning
coffee. Someone is suspicious of them even with the plausible cover stories, as
within days of their arrival a bomb is set off in a bar where they are waiting
for an informant. While they escape, their informant is not so lucky, turning
their job into a double homicide investigation.
Royal Navy Lieutenant
Commander Ian Fleming, crime boss Meyer Lansky, and the Duke and Duchess of
Windsor all appear in the story, as do increasingly desperate German spies.
Fleming is anxious to capture one of the new German U-boats before the Russians
can, conscious of the respect he would earn by doing so. Lansky has established
a popular and profitable casino in Havana and has targeted Bermuda as a
potential extension of operations, even though gambling is illegal there. The
Duke was appointed governor of Bermuda during the war, where he and the Duchess
were relatively safe.
Billy ends up
working with the local thugs and Lansky himself before the homicides are
resolved. Lansky assures him that he is as committed to the Allies as anyone
and demonstrates that loyalty, even as he maneuvers to expand his gambling
empire. Billy isn’t sure if Fleming is help or hindrance at first; he turns out
to be a bit of both.
The Havana
setting and its people are vividly described with historical details worked
invisibly into the narrative. Faultless research, I always appreciate the
author’s notes at the end. Another very good entry in the series. Historical
crime fiction fans will want to add this title to their reading lists.
Recommended.
·
Publisher: Soho Crime
·
Publication date: September 1, 2026
·
Language: English
·
Print length: 400 pages
·
ISBN-10: 1641297484
·
ISBN-13: 978-1641297486
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4gFcZDA
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2026
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night
Sunday, August 30, 2026
Mystery Fanfare: How 20 years of Southwest Backcountry Hiking Inspired a Mystery About a Grieving Archaeologist: Guest Post by Skye Griffith
SleuthSayers: See You in the Funny Pages
Guest Post: The Detective Prays with His Eyes Open by D. L. Gray
The
Detective Prays with His Eyes Open
When
I tell many of my friends and potential readers that my detective is a lay
Dominican brother who unlocks a Cleveland church at seven and runs skip-traces
by nine, I see the flinch arrive. It is a perceptible and honest flinch. I
imagine they have been burned before. They bought a crime novel and got handed
a tract with a body in it, and they have learned to smell an altar call three
chapters out. So let me put my working rule on the table first: if the reader
can smell the sermon coming, I have already failed twice. Once as a novelist,
and once as a man selling a book under an honest label.
Here
is the thing, though. The praying detective is not a trespasser in this genre.
He helped found it. Father Brown was solving murders decades before Philip
Marlowe took his first retainer, and Chesterton’s whole trick was that the
little priest’s religion was not a message but a method. The confessional had
taught him what people actually are. Harry Kemelman ran the same engine on
Talmud with Rabbi Small, and Ellis Peters ran it on the cloister with Brother
Cadfael. None of those books preach, because in none of them is the faith
decoration. It is the lens. So the craft question was never whether a praying
man belongs at the center of a crime novel. The question is what the praying
does on the page.
I
gave myself three rules when I wrote ARTICLE 7.
First
rule: the
prayer has to do detective work, not be his work. My Brock H. Winters is a
pardoned felon, a forensic accountant by instinct, and the sacristan of
St. Joseph’s. The night before the worst day of his life, he walks the
arena district at one in the morning and prays the perimeter. By name, where he
has names. For the candidate asleep in her hotel. For the old cop walking a
sector on bad knees. And for a would-be shooter he believes he has never met.
He prays for that unknown young man, as the book says, with real love and total
blindness, not knowing he has already taught that boy the bells. That prayer is
a surveillance sweep, a threat inventory, and a piece of dramatic irony wearing
a devotion. My test is simple: If I can cut a prayer and the case does not
change, the prayer goes.
Second
rule:
the code must cost, and never pay. Every private eye worth his license carries
a code. Marlowe had one. Spenser recited his. Brock’s is just older and better
notarized: the Rule of the Dominican Brothers of Saint Joseph, thirteen
articles, seven centuries old, and the seventh article is the reason he takes a
case he knows better than to take. On the page, a code is only interesting when
it removes options. Brock cannot hand a grieving woman the comforting lie that
would end her questions, because, in his words, a laundered lie is a forged
entry, and he went to prison once for exactly that. Faith that solves the
hero’s problems is a cheat code. Faith that creates them is an engine. Nobody
has ever called Marlowe’s code a sermon, and the reason is that it never once
paid him either.
Third
rule:
keep the actual sermon offstage – don’t preach to the reader. There is exactly
one homily in my novel, and the reader never hears a word of it. What the
reader gets is the review Brock hands his pastor in the sacristy afterward:
“Three points and a boat. Bishop Sheen sleeps secure.” God, meanwhile, keeps
His own counsel during business hours. Prayers in this book get interrupted by
the case, go unanswered for weeks, or get answered sideways and late, and the
interruptions are the honest part. There is a scene where Brock kneels for his
nightly examen and the stakeout rolls in uninvited and, as he puts it, parks
itself between two sins he was fonder of. Any praying reader will recognize
that man. Any noir reader will recognize him too, because prayer occupies the
exact slot the genre has always kept for what a detective does with his
solitude. Marlowe played chess against dead masters. Bosch has his jazz. Brock
has a kneeler, a notebook, and a habit of praying the way a prison guard eats:
fast, standing up, before something happens.
Underneath all three rules is the one conviction I carried over from my first writing life, which was Catholic theology. Theology tells you what is true. Fiction gives you a beautiful image of what it costs. A doctrine can be stated correctly in one sentence and still leave a man with no idea what it would do to him. Crime fiction has never had that problem. Cost is our native currency. The whole genre is a ledger where we tally what our codes charge us, which is why a praying man does not break a crime novel. He balances it.
ARTICLE 7 is the first novel of the Brock H. Winters series: a man vanishes from an ordinary Cleveland job, nobody comes looking except the woman who lit a candle for him, and the pardoned felon she asks to find him has seventeen days to learn who is watching whom in an American city. D. L. Gray is the fiction byline of David L. Gray, whose books on Catholic history and doctrine run under his own name. He comes from the Cleveland area and writes from Germany. ARTICLE 7 is available in paperback, hardcover, and ebook. Follow the series at BROCKHWINTERS.COM.
D. L. Gray ©2026
Saturday, August 29, 2026
SleuthSayers: If You Don't Know Your Burro from a Burrow
KRL Update
Up on KRL this week a review and giveaway of "A Murder at the Mansion" by Ellie Alexander https://kingsriverlife.com/08/29/a-murder-at-the-mansion-by-ellie-alexander/
And reviews and giveaways of 2 more fun historical mysteries-"The Abduction of Rosalind Thorne" Rosalind Thorne Mysteries by Darcie Wilde & "Murder at Rosecliff" by Alyssa Maxwell https://kingsriverlife.com/08/29/pair-of-historical-mysteries-by-darcie-wilde-alyssa-maxwell/
We also have the latest Queer Mystery Coming Attractions from Matt Lubbers-Moore https://kingsriverlife.com/08/29/queer-mystery-coming-attractions-september-2026/
Up on KRL News and Reviews this week we have a review and giveaway of "Purple, Blame, Game" by Joanna Campbell Slan https://www.krlnews.com/2026/08/purple-blame-game-by-joanna-campbell.html
And a review and giveaway of "Either Enchanting Elixirs" by Lynn Cahoon https://www.krlnews.com/2026/08/eight-enchanting-elixirs-by-lynn-cahoon.html
For those who enjoy fantasy with their mysteries, we have a review and ebook giveaway of "Dark Secrets" by Keri Arthur https://www.krlnews.com/2026/08/dark-secrets-by-keri-arthur.html
Happy reading,
Lorie
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 84 Calls for Submissions in September 2026 - Paying Markets
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Middlemarch: George Eliot
In Reference to Murder: Friday's "Forgotten" Books: The Ethnic Detectives
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Murder at World's End (2025) by Ross Montgomery
Scott's Take: Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum by W. Maxwell Prince and artist Martin Morazzo
Superman: The Kryptonite
Spectrum by W. Maxwell Prince and artist Martin Morazzo is a Black
Label Elseworlds tale. Black Label is supposed to be for more mature Elseworlds
tale so this is a non canon adult story, but usually despite the Black Label
they are not really that mature. In this case, the Black Label is not really
used to its full extent.
Superman is dealing with 4 new
Kryptonite variants and has the brilliant idea to test them on himself to
figure out what kind of threat they represent. Yes, there are safer ways, but
this is what he decides to do. Batman goes along with this idea. So, a buddy
cop adventure ensues exploring trauma, the damage caused by home (since
Kryptonite is made from Krypton), grief, and more. Making things more complicated
is that Lex Luthor has his own plans to take advantage of Superman’s idea to do
this testing.
This is a five issue miniseries
with action, comedy, and character exploration. The art is strange and Lois
Lane looks the worst she has ever looked in my opinion. Her story arc is
dealing with the fact that she is forty and wants kids. Something which,
depending on the version of Superman, he can or can’t provide. Somehow, she is
drawn more like she is fifty plus. The ending of her story arc is divisive.
Also, I don’t get why Bruce, Alfred, Lex, and Jimmy,
look the same as they typically look. If Lois is way older than usual, they
should be too. This version of Lex is quirky and never feels like Lex. His
version of Superman and Batman are the closest to what one would expect, but
they are off too. Supergirl never plays any role in this story which one would
expect. Krypto does. I think Krypto might have been the smartest character in
the book.
The ending sets up the potential for more series, but I am not sure if there will be more. This is a sliver age inspired wacky adventure with an ending that left me with mixed feelings. I don’t know how I feel about the very strange ending. It is really weird.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/458LWv3
I read this through the DC Universe Infinite app.
Scott A. Tipple ©2026




















