Tuesday, February 24, 2026
Mystery Fanfare: MYSTERY READERS JOURNAL NEWS FOR 2026: Subscribe now!
SleuthSayers: Sixteen Lives
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 34 Marvelous Writing Conferences and Workshops in March
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Vows and Villainy by Elizabeth Penney
Jerry's House of Everything: INCOMING
In Reference to Murder: Media Murder for Monday
Publication Day Review: The Crossroads: A Joe Pickett Novel by C.J. Box
Marybeth Pickett always knew that being
the wife of a Wyoming Game Warden meant the worse could happen at any time. She
knows from the start of The Crossroads: A Joe Pickett Novel that it
has almost happened. At least her husband is still alive, if only by a
thread.
That November morning a Wyoming Game and
Fisheries Department pickup was found smack in the middle of Antler Creek Road
by a hunter. It was riddled with bullet holes. Her husband, Joe Pickett, was
also hit and suffered severe trauma.
She soon makes her way to the isolated scene
where the ambulance crew is prepping him for an emergency helicopter ride to
Billings, Montana. Shot, including once in the head, he needs a trauma unit and
far more medical care that the small community hospital in Saddlestring,
Wyoming, can provide. First, he has to survive the half hour plus chopper
flight to get to the trauma unit.
With a newly elected sheriff in town,
and other local law enforcement challenges, their three daughters decide that
they will figure out who ambushed their dad. Sitting in the hospital with their
mom isn’t going to help. Sheridan, April, and Lucy are known in the community
which means people will talk to them. They know how to investigate having grown
up in a household where both parents have investigated a lot of cases over the
years. They know they can do this. To
figure out who did it, they have to figure out why he was on the road and where
he was headed. They are going to figure it out.
And Nate Romanowski might get involved
as well.
The Crossroads: A Joe Pickett Novel is the latest book
in the long running series. It is also a mighty good read. In addition to the reminder
of how Marybeth and Joe met and details of their marriage, readers are given a
long glimpse into the lives of their adult daughters. Ladies that have seen a
thing, or three, as they grew up and have the scars and internal resources to
deal with any problem.
The Crossroads: A Joe Pickett
Novel
is an intense and very good read. This one will keep you up late-night reading,
if you are not carful. Strongly recommended.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4qBcI8G
My digital ARC came by way of the publisher, G.P. Putnam's Sons, through NetGalley, with no expectation of a review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2026
Monday, February 23, 2026
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Murder of a Lady: Anthony Wynne
Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: The End of the Sahara by Said Khatibi
The End of
the Sahara is set in the late summer and early autumn of 1988 in and around
the central Algerian city of Bou Saada. It tells of multiple crimes, both
significant and petty, but the focal point is the murder of Zakia Zaghouani,
the young and attractive singer at the Hotel Sahara. Zaza had many admirers and
others were jealous of her successes. In addition, her family was appalled at
her refusal to lead a conventional Muslim life.
Written by Said
Khatibi, who grew up in Bou Saada, the narrative incorporates a backdrop of local
corruption, administrative incompetence, and wrenching deprivation. The memory
of the Algerian War of Independence, which Algeria waged against France from
1954 to 1962, is still strong but the governance structure that replaced French
rule has not been successful. With little water, food, or electricity, the
country’s long-suffering residents finally rose in a mass protest a few days
after the end of this book with devastating results.
The author’s
note at the beginning of the book states that “It is a tribute to the more than
five hundred people who died fighting for freedom on October 5, 1988, and to
women who fought on this day and every day, resisting a violent patriarchal
system that aims to control them.”
Originally published
in Arabic as Nihayat Al-Sahra by Hachette Antoine, Beirut, in 2022, the
book won the Sheikh Zayed Book Award in the Young Author category in 2023. The original
text has been translated beautifully by Alexander Elinson, Associate Professor
of Arabic at Hunter College in New York, for publication by Bitter Lemon Press
of London. Bitter Lemon Press has an impressive catalog of crime fiction in
translation from all parts of the world. Their finalist designation for the
2025 Crime Writers’ Association Publisher’s Dagger recognizes Bitter Lemon
Press’s efforts to deliver quality books in English from uncommon sources.
Interestingly,
we never hear from the victim directly. We only know what others thought of her
and their experiences with her. About six narrators explain individually what
they knew of the singer and the events leading up to her death and perhaps
twice that many characters support the story; keeping track of who is who can
be challenging. A helpful roster of characters is found at the end of the book.
With only
minimal knowledge of Algeria’s history, I realized I was missing the subtext of
the story as I read. An article by M. Lynx Qualey in ArabLit was most
helpful in that regard: Looking
for Ghosts: On Said Khatibi’s ‘End of the Sahara’. I recommend a review of
this essay before beginning the book.
Kirkus
starred review.
·
Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press
·
Publication date: March 24, 2026
·
Language: English
·
Print length: 336 pages
·
ISBN-10: 1916725228
·
ISBN-13: 978-1916725225
Amazon
Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4cb3USB
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2026
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
Sunday, February 22, 2026
Mystery Fanfare: Writing Beyond The Fields You Know: Guest Post by Christopher Huang
Little Big Crimes: Hard Luck Penny, by Scott McKinnon
SleuthSayers: Grabbing the Third Rail
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Leopard Died Too (1957) by Nigel Brent
KRL Update
Up on KRL this week a review and giveaway of "The Devil in the Details" by Vicki Delany https://kingsriverlife.com/02/21/the-devil-in-the-details-by-vicki-delany/
And a review and ebook giveaway of "Devil's Gambit" by Jeri Westerson https://kingsriverlife.com/02/21/devils-gambit-by-jeri-westerson/
And a review and giveaway of a mystery with a supernatural twist, "Death and Other Occupational Hazards" by Veronika Dapunt, along with an interesting interview with Veronika https://kingsriverlife.com/02/21/death-and-other-occupational-hazards-by-veronika-dapunt/
Looking for something fun to watch? Up on KRL this week a review of the 5th season of "My Life is Murder" and the first season of "Art Detectives," both on Acorn TV https://kingsriverlife.com/02/21/my-life-is-murder-season-5-art-detectives/
Up during the week we posted another special midweek guest post, this one by mystery author Elaine Faber about writing and her new book "Black Cat and the Immigrant Child" https://kingsriverlife.com/02/18/the-framework-of-a-good-book/
Up on KRL News and Reviews this week we have a review and ebook giveaway of "Dog's Kitchen" by Neil Plakcy https://www.krlnews.com/2026/02/dogs-kitchen-by-neil-plakcy.html
And for those who enjoy fantasy with their mystery, we have a review and ebook giveaway of "Of Blood and Fire" by Keri Arthur https://www.krlnews.com/2026/02/of-blood-and-fire-drakkon-kin-trilogy.html
Guest Post: Excerpt from Ruth Snyder: The Real-Life Murderess Inspiring The Modern Femme Fatale by Justin L. Murphy
Please welcome author Justin L. Murphy to the blog today
as he shares an excerpt from his new book, Ruth Snyder: The Real-Life
Murderess Inspiring The Modern Femme Fatale.
Introduction
One Christmas, I received a collection entitled The
Four Novels of James M. Cain. It was an out-of-print item released in 1988,
purchased on Amazon, and consisted of the author’s classic works. Among them
were The Postman Always Rings Twice, Mildred Pierce, Double Indemnity, and
Serenade. I’ve also watched the film Body Heat, starring William Hurt and
Kathleen Turner, a few times.
A few nights after I watched the film again, I also
saw the 1946 adaptation of The Postman Always Rings Twice. When I earlier read
the novel, I felt Frank Chambers was an asshole for wanting Cora Papadakis to
take the rap for the murder of her husband, Nick. I noticed how much the story
resembled Body Heat. Both depicted a married woman and her male lover plotting
to kill her much older husband.
I dug around online to find any connections, and not
only were The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity written by Cain,
but they were also based on the same real-life murder. In 1927, Ruth Snyder and
her lover, Henry Judd Gray, murdered her much older husband, Albert. These two
were executed at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York. For almost a century,
this event and its participants affected the culture and helped shape true
crime and tabloid fodder in the modern era. It also helped form the hardboiled
crime genre and defined its visual counterpart, film noir.
My aim with this book is to examine the case, its
cultural influence, and the real-life family members it affected, despite their
choices to remain silent. I hope those who read this come away with a better
understanding of why Ruth Snyder and Henry Judd Gray committed this horrible
act and what drove them to murder her husband, Albert. Above all, learn and
examine the traces they leave behind, even a century later.
Regards,
Justin L. Murphy
A Writer Who Remains Curious
Chapter 1
The Art Editor and Telephone Operator First Meet
“Please excuse me.”
May Ruth Brown in the first conversation between her
and her future husband, Albert Schneider.
Albert Edward Schneider was born in Brooklyn, Kings
County, New York, on October 11, 1882, and was described as very intelligent
with a passion for sports and the outdoors. One of six siblings, he maintained
a close relationship with his mother, Mary Elizabeth Mealio Schneider, to the
point that he painted and papered her walls. The man often tanned as an adult
from hours of boating and fishing, which resulted from his love of the sea and
the wind blowing in his curly hair. He was also interested in bowling and
served as the art editor of Motor Boating Magazine, owned by William Randolph
Hearst.
He fell in love with and became engaged to Jessie
Guishard, even considering her the finest woman he ever met, but she contracted
pneumonia before they could marry. She passed away on November 21, 1912, and
Albert never got over her death. While working one day, he was irritated with a
telephone operator who wanted to call a manufacturer to ease the situation. He
spewed a great deal of harsh language at her expense, but soon regretted his
behavior and apologized in person within a few hours. It was love at first
sight between him and May Ruth Brown, the blonde-haired and blue-eyed
nineteen-year-old everyone called "Brownie.” She was born on 125th Street
in Manhattan on March 27, 1895. This woman quit school in the eighth grade, but
attended night classes in shorthand, typing, and stenography. Soon, he visited
her at work regularly. Albert offered her a reader and copyist job at his
magazine; two weeks later, she jumped at the chance. It paid better, and Ruth
quit the New York Telephone Company after two years.
They dated often, as Albert wanted to get her in bed,
but premarital sex was looked down upon in the 1920s. Ruth was the daughter of
old-fashioned Scandinavian parents, Harry Sorenson of Norway and Josephine I.
Anderson of Sweden, and hoped to remain a virgin until the night she married.
He proposed, and Ruth accepted. Her European heritage was ironic, as there were
claims she wanted Albert to Americanize his name to “Snyder,” as “Schneider”
sounded too German. Her father was a sailor who became a carpenter and changed
his name to Brown for similar reasons. Other sources disputed that Albert did
this of his own free will, and his application for military service in World
War I also listed his last name as Snyder a decade earlier.
She longed for the finer things in life, a contrast to
her frugal upbringing with her parents and a brother, Andrew, born on October
17, 1889, in Norway. During her childhood, several items she wanted couldn't be
afforded. A blonde-haired doll, a Shetland pony, a wristwatch, a white bedroom
set, or a party dress. Ruth passed by the storefront window to see the doll
each day and was upset when someone else bought it. Her parents also couldn't
afford to take in plays at the theater.
However, Harry and Josephine Brown spent money on
Ruth's medical procedures since she had seizures due to epilepsy. The
six-year-old girl underwent intestinal surgery before her appendix was removed
a few years later, and the botched operation left her with internal issues. Her
family attended the Methodist Episcopal Church, and she was raised to pray each
night before bed, but her faith wasn't strong. The girl even questioned the
existence of God. She also had no high academic achievements in school or career
goals.
Ruth desired marriage and got it with Albert. She was
a housewife who cleaned, sewed, and cooked. Her wish was that he would provide
“the good life,” not the humdrum existence of her immigrant parents. After they
married in 1915, she realized she and her husband were two different people. He
was introverted, deaf in one ear, and preferred conversations about artwork and
books. He wanted to sit back and smoke a pipe while in a smoking jacket and
slippers. She desired to socialize, play bridge, flirt, and dance at
speakeasies like the flappers who emerged during the Jazz Age. The extrovert
also never took to his main passions, sailing and hiking, but instead wanted to
see movies.
Not only did his in-depth conversations bore her, but
Albert compared Ruth to his dead love each time she turned around. He sported a
necktie pin with the initials J.G., named his sailboat “the Jessie G.,"
and had an entire photo album featuring pictures of the beloved he lost on
vacations they took. He topped this off by hanging her portrait in the living
room. She was angry and took it down. This led to many arguments between the
couple as he wanted it back up. At her insistence, his boat was renamed
"Ruth.”
Ruth soon learned she was pregnant, although Albert
didn't want to be a father. He was even more upset that it was a daughter.
Lorraine Snyder was born on November 15, 1917. This further drove a wedge
between them, as she became a devoted mother while Albert grumbled at the sound
of a baby's cry early in the morning. He also detested the smells of diapers
and how she ruined her body after childbirth, though some claim she agreed with
him on that matter.
As things progressed, he spent more time on his boat
or tinkering with his Buick while Ruth tended to the child. He allowed her to
spend eighty-five dollars of his paycheck, one hundred and fifteen dollars a
week, to teach her how to pay their bills and save money, but she blew every
penny. By some accounts, he subjected them to emotional and physical abuse if
she didn’t keep house the way he wanted.
The couple moved to an apartment in Brooklyn and then
a larger one in the Bronx after Lorraine was born. Once Albert got a promotion
at Motor Boating Magazine, they settled into a muted pink two-and-a-half-story
house with green trim in the Queen's Village section of Queens in 1923. A
driveway to its right led to a rear garage, not far from a birdfeeder made from
a saucepan and a pole. Five-year-old Lorraine often filled the pan and awaited
them. Sure enough, Jessie Guishard's portrait was installed in the new living
room. While Ruth sewed curtains, slipcovers, and clothes for herself and
Lorraine, her mother Josephine soon moved in to care for the grandchild.
This at last enabled her free-spirited daughter to
party, dance, and drink. She even earned the nickname, “Gay Tommie.” Friends
often said, "Ruth’s a lot of fun; let’s have her over, but Albert’s kind
of a stick.” She lunched on a smorgasbord buffet with a girlfriend at the
Swedish restaurant Henry's in 1925 when the thirty-two-year-old wife and mother
met a Corset and brassiere salesman named Henry Judd Gray, who wore glasses and
sported a chin cleft. Concerned about her weight since having a child, she asked
for his help, and fell in love on their second meeting. A phrase he used to
entice buyers in upstate department stores was, “Here’s a new line of bandeaux
we’re putting out.”
Born in Cortland, New York, on July 8, 1892, the
beloved son of Charles Beach and Margaret Ursula Carr Gray, he had an older
sister, also named Margaret. Like Albert Snyder, he bonded with his mother and
loved sports, like tennis and football. Like Ruth, his family was religious and
attended church, but cared little for education. Judd, as he preferred to be
called, left high school after two years thanks to a bout with pneumonia, while
some claimed he graduated. He worked with his father at a jewelry store, but he
soon found employment with the Ben Jolie Corset Company. A great guy who played
golf and bridge, and motorboated, also much like Ruth and Albert. He also loved
to drive his prized vehicle, served as a Red Cross volunteer during World War
I, and belonged to the Orange Lodge of Elks, as well as the Corset Salesmen of
the Empire Club.
He married his wife, Isabel Kallenbach, a shy woman
who stayed at home, after they had dated for several years when he was
twenty-two, and she was twenty-one. Many of his co-workers had no idea he was
married to her. Ironically enough, they wed in 1915, the same year as Albert
and Ruth Snyder. They attended a First Methodist Church, but some contended he
was Episcopalian, not too different from his secret lover and her parents. The
corset salesman was also involved in their Sunday school, and they resided in
East Orange, New Jersey. The two couples even had daughters at almost the same
age. Judd and Isabel's child, Jane, was born on August 25, 1916, in Albert's
birthplace of Brooklyn, Kings County, New York.
Justin L. Murphy ©2026
Justin L. Murphy has self-published numerous works of fiction and non-fiction through Amazon Kindle and Audible. His book Gene L. Coon: The Unsung Hero of Star Trek has been featured at events in Coon’s birthplace of Beatrice, Nebraska. Other books he has written and released include Jack Kirby: The Unsung Hero of Marvel, The Original Night Stalker: Portrait of A Killer, and Joseph James DeAngelo: His Reign of Terror Is Over. He enjoys Photography and sells his work through Adobe Stock and enters his photos in contests through Gurushots. He travels to Florida campgrounds with his mother and brother.
Saturday, February 21, 2026
SleuthSayers: February Stories
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Brownout Murders by Luke C. Jackson and Kelly Jackson, illustrated by Maya Graham
Friday, February 20, 2026
In Reference to Murder: Friday's "Forgotten" Books: A Bleeding of the Innocents
Jerry's House of Everything: FORGOTTEN BOOK: THE MOUSE ON THE MOON
Thursday, February 19, 2026
Mystery Fanfare: LA TIMES BOOK PRIZES: Finalists -- Mystery/Thriller and more!
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Evan Warlow, Key Trilogy, Theo of Golden
Thursday Treats: 2/19/2026
Welcome back to “Thursday Treats.” Thank you to everyone who commented here and elsewhere in support. Often times, it feels like anything I do does not matter. The support means a lot. So, thank you.
Enough jibber-jabber from me. On to the news….
The free to read e-zine, Yellow Mama,
has been updated with issue #114. It includes works by Pam Ebel, Shari Held, Joan
Leotta, J. M. Taylor, Ed Teja, John A. Tures, and Elizabeth Zelvin. The newly
redesigned website has a new look as well. You can read the issue for free at
their website. And, if you are on Facebook,
follow their Facebook page.
Frank Vatel’s short story, The Macaw, appears online at Revolution John. You can read it for free at the website.
Kings River Life Magazine publishes a lot of free to read short stories. Last weekend, Just Desserts, by Gregory Meece went up. It features the Summer Olympics and is a mystery. You can read it on the website for free.
Also, last weekend, the new issue of Black
Cat Weekly dropped. John M. Floyd’s short story, Mutiny in the County, is
featured on the cover of Issue 233. You can get the issue at the website.
M. E. Proctor, who has been a guest before on this blog and always has stuff coming out, has a tale in the inaugural issue of Dog Named Dog Press Quarterly Review. With her story, The Museum Girl, she joins a slew of authors in DNDP Quarterly: Issue 01. You can get the paperback issue on Amazon.
Scott McKinnon announced that his tale, Hard Luck Penny, appears at The Yard: Crime Blog. You can read it for free here. After you do that, poke around the site for awhile and check out the other crime fiction reads. Year after year, they do good work.
I mentioned before that John A. Tures
has a story up at the new issue of Yellow Mama. His story, The Detainees,
appears online at Suddenly… And Without Warning. You can read it for free here.
Gary Phillips announced that his short story, The Man With the Golden Racket, appears in the recently released anthology, Tennis Noir: Crime Fiction Anthology. Published by Level Short, an imprint of Level Best Books, this appears to be the first book in a line of “Sports Noir” reads based on the Amazon listing for the book.
By the way, two other short stories in the book have been reviewed by Robert Lopresti at his Little Big Crimes blog in recent weeks. "The Summer Tournament," by Jason Starr was reviewed here and "The Right to Lose" by Wil Medearis was reviewed here.
Until next time….
Kevin R. Tipple ©2026
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
Mystery Fanfare: The Professor and the Prisoner: Guest Post by Andrew McAleer
Beneath the Stains of Time: Time Wants a Skeleton: C.M.B. vol. 9-10 by Motohiro Katou
SleuthSayers: Pyramid Schemes
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: KID CARDULA
Tuesday, February 17, 2026
Mystery Fanfare: CHINESE NEW YEAR MYSTERIES: Year of the Horse
SleuthSayers: Red Herrings Can Still Stink
Jerry's House of Everything: ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS: BAD ACTOR (JANUARY 9, 1962)
Review: Diversion: A Probation Case Files Mystery by Cindy Goyette
Diversion: A Probation Case Files
Mystery
is the third book in the highly enjoyable series that began with Obey
All Laws. While you could start here, it would be best to read that
book and the second one, Early
Termination,
before embarking on this read. There are backstory and character development
aspects in this read that build on storylines of the previous books.
Pulled from very boring mandatory staff
training, Phoenix probation officer Casey Carson teams up with Betz, her
ex-husband and cop, to pay a visit to one Martin Phills as the read begins. He
is a murder suspect and hasn’t been on parole supervision long. Her plan is to tell
him she needs to conduct the usual home visit. Her home is that with his guard down,
Betz and his partner, Anita Moody can get the double murder suspect in custody
before he knows what hit him.
For Casey Carson, it is her last day
before she takes a vacation. Not that her time off is really going to be that
relaxing or even a vacation. She is going to go on a diversion program to
support her sister, Hope, on her new job. (What happened is just one of several
reasons to read the earlier books, so I am not telling you why.) the program is
aimed to help kids with issues better ways of getting high on life instead of
drugs and alcohol. They will be hiking in the mountains around Flagstaff and on
their own.
Because Martin Phillips is very much
armed at the time of custody, as well as his violently resisting arrest, it
should be easy to keep him in custody, regardless of how the murder
investigation pans out. She can go on vacation secure in the knowledge that everything
is handled.
It does not take long for everything on
the diversion program vacation has gone wrong in every way possible. Casey Carson,
Hope, and others face a lack of supplies, an out-of-control wildfire, and,
among other issues, a killer who wants what he wants and is stalking one of
them order to get it.
An interesting and fast-moving read, Diversion:
A Probation Case Files Mystery by Cindy Goyette is also a mighty good
book and well worth your time. This read is published by Level Best Books, as
are the earlier installments of the series.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: ????????? The publisher still does not have this up at Amazon.
My digital ARC came by way of the author
with no expectation of a review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2026
Monday, February 16, 2026
The Rap Sheet: Revue of Reviewers: 2-16-26
Always amazed to make the list. My review of The Hadacol Boogie: A Dave Robicheaux Novel by James Lee Burke gets the roundup started this time.
Mystery Fanfare: PRESIDENTIAL MYSTERIES: Presidents Day
In Reference to Murder: Media Murder for Monday
Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: The Carousel of Time by Bernard O’Keeffe
The
Carousel of Time by Bernard O’Keeffe, the fifth book in the DI Jim
Garibaldi series, will be released in the UK by Muswell Press on 19 February
2026. Unfortunately the books are not yet published in the US.
All of the
books are set in Barnes, that upscale suburb southwest of London, where the
Barnes Fair is always held on the second Saturday in July. Games, stalls
staffed by local nonprofit groups, food of all kinds, and rides are plentiful.
This year, though, murder taints the event. Shelley Granger, a local resident
and owner of a popular card and gift shop, is found dead with a severe head
wound near the carousel the morning after the fair.
DI Garibaldi
and DS Milly Gardner learn that the victim had spent the last day of her life
at the fair, working at various stalls. In the late afternoon she met school
friends in a years-old ritual to remember their school friend who died the year
they graduated by riding the carousel, which Esther had loved. Granger had last
been seen at a post-fair party, another annual ritual, attended by dozens of
Barnes residents. Surprisingly, CCTV cameras were not set up around the fair,
so Garibaldi and Gardner had to piece together the dead woman’s movements the
hard way: through interviews.
Everyone said
that the victim was well liked, had no disagreements with anyone, and her shop
was profitable with a strong repeat customer base. Careful questioning and
cross-questioning yielded information to the contrary. Granger was upset that
her university son had joined a group of activists known for defacing
businesses and they had loud arguments about it. She had also developed a line
of anonymous cards that offered critical comments about the recipient and
apparently she had been sending some of them. For instance, the local would-be
star of the drama society received one that called her “No Talent”. The school
friends all said the group was on excellent terms with each other but Garibaldi
felt they were withholding information. So instead of no suspects in the
murder, there are many.
Garibaldi’s
penchant for obscure information lets O’Keeffe work in plenty of detail and
history about carousels, such as those carousels with horses that move up and
down are more properly called “gallopers”. Horses remain stationary on true
carousels.
A traditional
detective, Garibaldi reminds me of Inspector C. D. Sloan of the Calleshire
Chronicles by Catherine Aird. Patient and persistent, although Sloan is not
given to the pedantic asides that pepper Garibaldi’s conversation. And Milly
Gardner is far preferable to Constable Crosby, that traffic cop wannabe. Still,
there’s a similar feel to the books.
Recommended
for fans of character-driven police procedurals with equally strong plots.
·
Publisher: Muswell Press
·
Publication date: February 19, 2026
·
Language: English
·
Print length: 336 pages
·
ISBN-13: 978-1068684494
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2026
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal
It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
Sunday, February 15, 2026
Little Big Crimes: The Right to Lose, by Wil Medearis
Mystery Fanfare: MARDI GRAS MYSTERIES
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Ring of Innocent (1952) by Brian Flynn
Guest Post: Excerpt from Something Prowling in Paradise Park: A Kate Tessler Amateur Sleuth Mystery by Kris Bock
Please welcome back author Kris Bock to the blog
today with an excerpt from her new mystery, Something Prowling in Paradise
Park: A Kate Tessler Amateur Sleuth Mystery. This is the seventh book in The
Accidental Detective Mystery Series. Published by Tule Publishing, this
book is scheduled to be released on March 2nd in eBook format.
In The Accidental Detective humorous mystery
series by Kris Bock, a witty
journalist solves mysteries in Arizona and tackles the challenges of turning
fifty. Something Prowling in Paradise Park: A
Kate Tessler Amateur Sleuth Mystery
(Book 7) is out March 2!
Three cases. One body. Zero
chance of staying out of trouble.
Kate Tessler may have
thought her days of chasing danger were over. But the former war
correspondent’s “retirement” in sunny Paradise, Arizona, is anything but quiet.
With her eccentric circle of friends and colleagues, Kate has built a new
life—full of mysteries, mayhem, and the occasional stakeout—as she works
towards earning her PI license.
After wrapping her last case,
Kate wonders what’s next when three cases—all brought by friends—fall into
her lap. Squatters in a snowbird’s house, local pedigree dogs disappearing, and
smash and grab burglaries at local pot shops. Kate juggles the cases with help
from her usual cast of amateur crime solvers, including the teen sons of
Paradise’s mayor. As she digs, Kate suspects at least two cases are
connected.
But things turn deadly when a
late-night stakeout leads Kate and one teen sidekick, interested in
investigative work, straight to a body. Was it a gruesome accident—or something
far more sinister?
With humor and high
stakes, The Accidental Detective mysteries prove that
danger and friendship don’t retire quietly.
Learn
more about The
Accidental Detective humorous mystery series, or go
straight to the order link for Something Prowling in Paradise Park.
Excerpt:
Sleuth
sisters Kate and Jen are investigating squatters who have taken over Bob and
Leslie’s house.
We returned to Bob and Leslie’s neighborhood
and followed the winding streets. As we came around a curve, we got a clear
view of the Standish house.
“Uh-oh.” I leaned forward to see better.
Bob and Leslie stood on the front lawn of
their house. Bob and a bearded guy were yelling at each other, faces close and
body language one step from violence. Another man stood about ten feet away,
watching them, and a woman I didn’t recognize stood in the open doorway of the
Standish house.
Jen pulled the car to the curb. “Do we care
if they see us?”
“Yeah, if we want to surveil them later. You
guys stay here.” I got out. I’d long since learned that most people couldn’t
tell one short, gray-haired woman from another.
Bob and the bearded guy were yelling over
each other. I did catch the word police from Bob, and “Just try it” from
the other guy.
I went up to Leslie. “What on earth
happened?”
She dropped her hand from her mouth. “We
thought we’d go over while they were gone, throw out their stuff, bar the door.
But that woman was inside.” She shot a furious look at the woman watching the
action, wearing a bathrobe and a smug look. “She’s wearing my bathrobe. I tried
to take it off her.”
I winced. “That was probably not the most
useful thing you could do.”
“I was so mad. Bob tried to drag her out of
the house, but she struggled like a cat getting a bath. We’d barely made it to
the front door when the men came back. So much for getting in there and
defending our territory from them.”
“Yeah.” I wanted to point out that they’d
asked for our help but weren’t taking our advice. The least they could do was
give us time to make a plan that used logic and didn’t break any laws—or at
least any laws that we were likely to get caught breaking. They didn’t seem to
realize that even if the squatters were in the wrong, Bob and Leslie couldn’t
legally do violent things to them.
The most we could do now was diffuse the
conflict. And maybe get going on this case quickly before Bob did something
regrettable.
“Okay, we need to get those names and see
what we can learn about them. And you two need to go back to Odelia’s or find
someplace else to stay. Keep your heads down for a day or two while we work
this out.”
Her expression turned mulish. “We shouldn’t
have to.”
“I know. Try to have a little patience. Do
you think you can get Bob back there before someone gets hurt?”
She gave a long-suffering sigh and went to
her husband. She finally got his attention by grabbing his arm.
I strolled over to the door. The woman was
about thirty, with stringy brown hair and a thin face. Probably a thin body as
well, but it was hard to tell with the fluffy bathrobe. It had to be over
ninety degrees outside, hardly fluffy bathrobe weather, but cold air poured out
the open door. Most Arizonans set their thermostats relatively high to control
their utility bills, but of course these people weren’t paying those bills.
“Hi, I’m Kate. You must be new in the
neighborhood. I don’t think we’ve met yet.”
She gave a cautious nod. “Rita.”
“Do you know what all this is about?” I
gestured toward the fighting men.
“Oh, they’re crazy, the old guy and his
wife. We have a rental agreement for this house, but they decided they wanted
to come back to Arizona for the summer, and now they’re trying to kick us out.”
“Really?” I opened my eyes wide. “Wow, that
is unbelievable. But if you have a legal agreement, they can’t boot you out
early, right?”
“They can try. That’s why we have to make
sure one of us is here all the time. They’ve been threatening to change the
locks.” She stared into my eyes, a good sign she was lying, or possibly high.
“That’s what the fight is about. They waited until Jason and Zeb left, and they
came over to, like, throw all our stuff out or something, but I was still
here.”
“So the three of you live here?” I gestured
toward the two younger men.
“My boyfriend”—she nodded toward the younger
guy with the beard—“and his friend.”
Leslie was tugging Bob’s arm without much
success.
“Do you think you could get your boyfriend
to back off before that other man has a heart attack or something? He looks
like he’s about to keel over.” Actually, while Bob’s face was red, he looked
healthy enough. But younger people were often ready to believe anyone with
white hair was a step from death.
She hesitated a moment, giving me a
suspicious look, and called out, “Jason. Hey, Jason.”
He either couldn’t hear her over Bob’s
bellowing or was too caught up in his own comments. Rita stepped away from the
open door but kept a wary eye on me.
Then Bob threw a punch. It was slow and
clumsy. Jason dodged easily, but Rita rushed over there as Leslie started
screaming.
I took that opportunity to slip through the
open door. I didn’t want to get in the middle of a physical fight over who
could access the house, and a physical fight wouldn’t end things anyway if the
squatters stuck to their story and had a forged rental agreement. But since
they’d provided a nice distraction, I wouldn’t pass up the chance for a quick
look around. Maybe I’d find some useful evidence.
Amazon
Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3M89nil
Kris Bock©2026
Kris Bock writes novels of mystery, suspense, and
romance, many with outdoor adventures and Southwestern landscapes. Her Furrever
Friends Sweet Romance series features the employees and customers at a cat
café. Her romantic suspense novels featuring treasure hunting, archaeology, and
intrigue in the Southwest are perfect for fans of Mary Stewart or Barbara
Michaels. Learn more. As Chris Eboch, she
writes for young people, including ghostwriting for popular children’s
mystery series. The Eyes of Pharaoh, a middle grade
mystery set in ancient Egypt, brings the past to life as three friends
investigate a plot against Pharaoh.
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