Lesa's Book Critiques: Dover, Ohio and Author Linda Castillo
Showing posts with label Linda Castillo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Linda Castillo. Show all posts
Sunday, July 19, 2026
Saturday, July 11, 2026
Friday, August 22, 2025
Tuesday, July 08, 2025
Publication Day Review: Rage: A Novel by Linda Castillo
Rage: A Novel by Linda
Castillo is the latest in the long running Kate Burkholder series.
A series that, while still very good, is becoming increasingly graphicly
detailed in terms of the violent murders and the aftermath. In this case, the
aftermath of what was done to the first victim.
Painters Mill
Chief of Police Kate Burkholder and Officer Chuck “Skid” Skidmore are out at
Painters Mill Elementary School as the books begins. Chief Burkholder loves
doing the annual presentation for the kids. Officer Skidmore is not enjoying
himself as he is cooking alive in the costume he must wear to play the role of
“Kip the Cow.” It is late August, the first week of school, and unbelievably
hot.
During their
presentation, Chief Burkholder gets a call from dispatch regarding the fact
that some kids have found something very disturbing. They think they have found
pieces of a body. Before long, Burkholder and Skidmore are on their way to the
scene.
Upon arrival at
Sweet Potato Ridge Road, an area known to flood, Burkholder is still hoping it
isn’t what the kids, and now their dad, thinks it is alongside the creek. That
hope is quickly dashed by Officer Rupert “Glock” Maddox who has confirmed the
presence of body parts.
The kids were
playing down in one area next to Painters Mill creek when one of them found
things that no child should have ever see. The kid found a severed hand and a
foot. Soon, more parts are discovered and it becomes abundantly clear this was
no accidental drowning and somehow the body just fell apart.
It won’t be the
last killing either.
The latest read
in the series is another good one with a lot going on throughout the book. It
also goes into incredibly graphic detail about the murders as well as the
disposal of the bodies. Those who were disturbed by that in The Burning
are sure to be bothered here. This reviewer, who did not have that much of a
reaction to that stuff in that read, was considerably bothered here. Especially
in terms of the depiction here of the recovery and later autopsy of the various
body parts of the first victim.
With that caveat
in mind, Rage: A Novel by Linda Castillo, is a good one and well
worth your time. I have been a fan of this series since the very beginning with
Sworn to Silence. Still am. But, I just don’t really need things
to be as graphic as they are here with the first body. Even though I read a ton
of mystery and crime fiction each year, in this case, it was a bit much.
Amazon Associate
Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3G8EV4k
My digital ARC came by way of the publisher, Minotaur Books, through NetGalley, and with no expectation of a review.
Kevin R. Tipple
©2025
Sunday, July 06, 2025
Tuesday, January 14, 2025
SleuthSayers: My Favorite Read of 2024
SleuthSayers: My Favorite Read of 2024: I have become an audiobook devotee. When I first started listening to books about fifteen years ago, I did it only when driving. Listening a...
Friday, August 02, 2024
Sunday, July 14, 2024
Review: The Burning: A Novel by Linda Castillo
I usually do not run reviews on Sunday. But
recent health issues including, several falls over the last couple of weeks, as
well as a just diagnosed left ear infection of both the drum as well as the ear
canal, threw me off. I can assure everyone that the planet’s gravity still
works, nothing broke as I just have assorted bumps and bruises, and I am on
both a pill antibiotic and drops in the ear deal so one hopes one is on the
mend. I am also back doing news posts for SMFS so the fat man is playing
catchup as best as he can. This came out back on Tuesday so I am a few days
late with my spoiler free review.
The latest in the series, The Burning: A Novel
by Linda Castillo, finds Kate Burkholder and John Tomasetti two months into
their marriage. The newlyweds are blissfully happy. Especially Kate Burkholder
as life is pretty good these days.
It wasn’t for Milan Swanz. Especially his last few
minutes as he was, basically, burned alive at the stake. It is a 2:47 am wakeup
call for Painters Mill Chief of Police Kate Burkholder like no other and a
horrific crime scene. A scene that gets into your mind and body in more ways
than one.
As her and her team dig for answers, it is clear
that Milan Swanz was a deeply flawed human being. One that the Amish tried to
handle internally. He was disciplined repeatedly and finally recently excommunicated.
His situation may have been permanently solved as somebody seems to be a following
a book from long ago in the Ana Baptist culture.
What follows is a complicated and twisted novel that
puts Kate pretty much against everybody else in her search for the truth. Along
the way, we find out a little more about Kate’s history and just how important
family is to her.
Strongly recommended, as is the entire series.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3S5nN2j
Make sure you read Lesa Holstine’s recent review at Lesa’s Book
Critiques. Lesa also sent me an ARC for the book a few weeks ago before I
was approved for it by NetGalley so that was how I read this book.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2024
Monday, July 08, 2024
Monday, April 29, 2024
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Short Story Wednesday Review: Dark Storm Rising: A Kate Burkholder Short Story by Linda Castillo
It has been a long time coming but it finally happened as Dark Storm Rising: A Kate Burkholder Short Story by Linda Castillo begins. Kate Burkholder and John Tomasetti are married. The two are on their honeymoon and are going to spend time at an area on the shores of Lake Erie. It is a rare stretch of time off from their jobs as Chief of Police Painter’s Mill, Ohio, and BCI agent respectively.
On the drive in, both note that there are
abandoned farms in the area. When Kate was last here, back when she was twelve,
it was a thriving Amish community. Now twenty years later, not so much. The
burnt remnants of a cabin on the property they will be staying at is also a
sign that something bad recently happened.
Fortunately, their particular cabin at
“Sugar Maple Cabins” is fine and awaiting their arrival. Mrs. Lovina Nisley and
her husband, Enos, are wonderful hosts. Mrs. Nisley remembers Kate, as does
Kate remember her, so soon they are getting all the news about what is going on
in the area.
They are also the first people Enos
contacts just a few hours later when Lovina goes missing during a snowstorm.
What follows is a fastmoving short story
where Kate Burkholder and John Tomassetti do more than just help find Lovina.
Readers learn a bit more about Kate and a certain summer when she was twelve.
Events of that summer helped shaper her into the woman she is today. Readers
long familiar with the series are sure to enjoy Dark Storm Rising: A Kate
Burkholder Short Story as it is a good one.
The read closes with excerpt from this
summer’s release, The Burning: A Novel.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3VUvaN3
My reading copy came by way of a
purchase using funds that were recently donated via the PayPal widget on the
left side of this blog.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2024
Thursday, July 13, 2023
Review: An Evil Heart: An Kate Burkholder Novel by Linda Castillo
While I reviewed this book back in late March, the book dropped on Tuesday so I am reminding you again. Make sure you read Lesa Holstine's review as well.
An Evil Heart: A
Kate Burkholder Novel by Linda Castillo opens just a few days before Chief
of Police Kate Burkholder is to be wed to John Tomasetti. Fall has come to the
Amish country side Surrounding Painters Mill, Ohio, and the land is pretty as
the trees take on their fall colors. Kate’s on the wedding is soon destroyed as
she has a case to work. What might have been a simple hit and run is instead a
murder. Not just a murder, but a brutal and savage execution.
Aden Karn is the
victim of being shot twice by a crossbow. A bolt was fired into his abdomen a
couple of inches above his navel. Then, with the twenty-year-old man gravely
wounded, the shooter manually pushed the bolt through his body and out his
back. That freed bolt was retrieved, and then is forced deep into his mouth before
being fired again through the back of the throat and back of his head. The
person who did this wanted to inflict a lot of pain and terror to kill in such
a brutal way.
Aden Karn
initially seems to have been a great guy. But, nobody’s perfect. As Chief
Burkholder and her team work the case, it becomes clear that Karn was hiding a
lot of dark things. Plenty of folks had a reason to kill him. Isolating who did
it gets increasingly complicated and more difficult in An Evil Heart: A Novel.
After the events
of The
Hidden One took Kate Burkholder away from home, An Evil Heart
keeps her local and makes the tale stronger thanks to the inclusion of the
usual secondary characters. All the regulars are fully involved in this brutal
and violent case. The latest in this long running series as a complicated and
detailed read that works on all levels. Well worth your time, it is nice to
have Burkholder and the gang back together in the powerfully good, An
Evil Heart: A Novel by Linda Castillo.
My reading copy
came by way of an ARC by way of NetGalley. The currently scheduled release date
is July 11th.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2023
Monday, July 10, 2023
Saturday, May 13, 2023
Wednesday, May 10, 2023
Short Story Wednesday Review: Hallowed Ground: A Kate Burkholder Short Story by Linda Castillo
It is Fall as Hallowed Ground: A Kate
Burkholder Short Story by Linda Castillo begins and the annual Pumpkin Festival is just
days away. Eddie Chupp is harvesting his pumpkins when his dog finds an old
bone. A jawbone to be exact. He would have thought it was a from a long dead
sheep until he spotted the sliver in one of the molars.
That means this was a person.
It isn’t long before Chief of Police Kate Burkholder
and her fiancée, John Tomasetti, of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation are
at the scene. A place known for pumpkins and its location next to the annual
corn maze is now a crime scene. The land frequently floods and that might be
how the odd jawbone wound up amongst the pumpkins.
There might be more bones. There is a victim to identify. There certainly is a lot to do and it happens in Hallowed Ground: A Kate Burkholder Short Story. A fast moving read with a lot going on. This is a solidly good tale. It also serves as a nice way to introduce Linda Castillo’s upcoming book, An Evil Heart: A Kate Burkholder Novel, coming out on July 11th.
My reading copy came via a purchase as my local library system was not picking this one up. Make sure you read Lesa Holstine’s review of Hallowed Ground.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2023
Sunday, April 30, 2023
Thursday, March 23, 2023
Review: An Evil Heart: A Kate Burkholder Novel by Linda Castillo
An Evil Heart: A
Kate Burkholder Novel by Linda Castillo opens just a few days before Chief
of Police Kate Burkholder is to be wed to John Tomasetti. Fall has come to the
Amish country side Surrounding Painters Mill, Ohio, and the land is pretty as
the trees take on their fall colors. Kate’s on the wedding is soon destroyed as
she has a case to work. What might have been a simple hit and run is instead a
murder. Not just a murder, but a brutal and savage execution.
Aden Karn is the
victim of being shot twice by a crossbow. A bolt was fired into his abdomen a
couple of inches above his navel. Then, with the twenty-year-old man gravely
wounded, the shooter manually pushed the bolt through his body and out his
back. That freed bolt was retrieved, and then is forced deep into his mouth before
being fired again through the back of the throat and back of his head. The
person who did this wanted to inflict a lot of pain and terror to kill in such
a brutal way.
Aden Karn
initially seems to have been a great guy. But, nobody’s perfect. As Chief
Burkholder and her team work the case, it becomes clear that Karn was hiding a
lot of dark things. Plenty of folks had a reason to kill him. Isolating who did
it gets increasingly complicated and more difficult in An Evil Heart: A Novel.
After the events
of The Hidden One took Kate Burkholder away from home, An
Evil Heart keeps her local and makes the tale stronger thanks to the inclusion
of the usual secondary characters. All the regulars are fully involved in this
brutal and violent case. The latest in this long running series as a
complicated and detailed read that works on all levels. Well worth your time,
it is nice to have Burkholder and the gang back together in the powerfully good,
An Evil Heart: A Novel by Linda Castillo.
My reading copy came by way of an ARC by way of NetGalley. The currently scheduled release date is July 11th.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2023
Tuesday, March 14, 2023
Tuesday, December 20, 2022
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