I’ve turned lessons from a 30-year career with the Central Intelligence Agency into crime fiction loaded with intrigue and deception. My Detective Emilia Cruz mystery series pits the first female police detective in Acapulco against Mexico's drug cartels, government corruption, and social inequality. Readers will love Detective Cruz’s complex plots, fast action, and exotic location. I’m originally from upstate New York, the setting for the upcoming Galliano Club thriller series. My family tree includes a mayor, a Mensa genius, and the first homicide in the state of Connecticut with an automatic weapon. After killing two people, including his wife, my great-grandfather eluded a state-wide manhunt. He was never brought to justice.
The tropical atmosphere of contemporary Medellin,
Colombia is the setting for the first book in the Nikki Garcia corporate
espionage thriller series. Still reeling from her young son’s tragic death,
savvy international auditor Nikki Garcia accepts an assignment to investigate
fraud allegations at the Colombian affiliate of a multinational corporation. I
loved Nikki’s sharp-edged inner voice and canny observations.
The impeccable cultural details really caught my attention.
For example, right in the first scene, Nikki watches a wealthy businessman
light a cigar. From the Churchill brand to the way he lights it with a strip of
cedarwood to the way he makes her wait, not only could I see the scene in my
mind’s eye, but I could smell the tang of burning wood and tobacco and resent
his snobby attitude. So. Well. Done.
Infamous drug kingpin Pablo Escobar is long gone from
Medellin, but his dangerous legacy is not forgotten. As the plot unfolds, Nikki
heads into a maze riddled with dark money, high stakes corruption, and concealed
motives, as well as a possible love interest. When she is kidnapped, the odds
of survival are not in her favor.
I met author Kathryn Lane, who is originally from Mexico, at
a writer’s conference where we discovered a mutual love of writing strong
female protagonists and all things Mexico. I’m not the only fan of her books: Waking Up in Medellin won 2017’s Best Fiction Book of the Year from the Killer
Nashville International Mystery Writers' Conference.
Named Best Fiction Book of the Year, 2017, by Killer Nashville!
Handsome Colombian men and life-threatening danger were not normally a part of Nikki's auditing job, but this assignment was anything but normal. Despite her emotional wounds, she accepts the challenge as a way to overcome the loss of her young son in a tragic event.
In the midst of the male-dominated business world in Colombia, she investigates mismanagement allegations and uncovers a sinister plot involving fraud . . . and possibly murder. She also discovers an attractive man who seems to have feelings for her. As her relationship with…
This book really came as a surprise; the kind of surprise
where you can’t turn the pages fast enough. For one thing, the setting is
completely unique. It’s China, but not Beijing or another location that Western
audiences would easily recognize. No, the first Inspector Lu Fei mystery
takes us to Raven Valley, outside Harbin, China in a cold and unlovely
part of the country.
Lu Fei is the deputy chief of the Public Security Bureau
there, where a young woman’s murder upends the cycle of boredom and drinking.
Both security and Communist Party officials from Beijing descend on Raven
Valley and Lu is soon caught between his old boss in Harbin, who hates his
guts, and the upwardly mobile Beijing officials who will take credit for his
work if he solves the murder and stick a knife in his ribs if he doesn’t.
Having studied China during my 30-year career as an
intelligence officer, I was awed by the way author Klingborg absolutely nailed China’s
labyrinthine political system. No one believes in the system’s own propaganda
but it’s a steamroller that crushes dissent and imagination.
China’s modernization is also critical to the plot. A family
can have designer clothes but not indoor plumbing. Not only is Thief of Souls a
riveting whodunit, but in my view, it’s an insider’s view of today’s paradoxical
China, written in a lush, gripping style.
In Brian Klingborg's Thief of Souls, the brutal murder of a young woman in a rural village in Northern China sends shockwaves all the way to Beijing―but seemingly only Inspector Lu Fei, living in exile in the small town, is interested in justice for the victim.
Lu Fei is a graduate of China’s top police college but he’s been assigned to a sleepy backwater town in northern China, where almost nothing happens and the theft of a few chickens represents a major crime wave. That is until a young woman is found dead, her organs removed, and joss paper stuffed…
I love the combination of a historical mystery with a
little-known location, but this book also charmed me with a spare but fluid
writing style. Ceylon in the 1930s under British rule (today Ceylon is
the independent nation of Sri Lanka) sets the first book in the addictive Inspector Shanti de Silva mystery series
in a riveting yet mostly overlooked moment in history. Add a superbly written
cast of characters and set them at odds against each other, and I’m hooked on
the whole series.
De Silva is the head of a 3-person police force in the
smallish city of Nuala where he must straddle the divide between the local
population and his British bosses. Reports of a cruel tea plantation owner lead
to a missing worker and the owner’s suspicious debt. A dubious business
associate, a frazzled wife, and a chatty mynah bird all combine to add layers
of complication.
As I read Trouble in Nuala, I couldn’t help favorably
comparing it to the Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency series set in Botswana. But
Nuala in the 1930s offers more depth as the end of the colonial era simmers
just over the horizon. Overall, I simply fell in love with the unique setting and
this subtly clever crime fighter.
Meet Inspector Shanti de Silva, the new chief of police in Nuala, a sleepy town in the beautiful tea country of colonial Ceylon. He moved from the big city in search of a quiet life, but now that he’s faced with the suspicious death of an arrogant plantation owner, it looks like Nuala won’t be as peaceful as he’d hoped. He’s going to need all his experience to unravel the mystery and prove his worth to his new British boss. A vintage-style mystery set in the 1930s, spiced with colourful characters and a dash of humour.
Having travelled in Africa, I’m always keen to find books
set on the continent. It’s a bonus if suspense is involved and a double bonus
if the story hinges on the setting. This book gets high marks in both
departments. It was a better immersive experience than if I’d rented an Airbnb
and watched the action unfold from the front porch.
Rural South Africa is home to advice columnist and
cooking authority Tannie Maria (Tannie meaning Auntie, the respectful
Afrikaans address for a woman older than you) in the first book in this unique
and extraordinary series. A middle-aged widow, she offers advice and recipes to
the lovelorn and others who write the local newspaper.
One letter-writer is a woman desperate to escape her abusive
husband: an echo of Tannie Maria’s own fraught past. When the woman is
murdered, Tannie Maria becomes dangerously entwined in the investigation,
despite the best efforts of one striking detective determined to keep her safe.
From clothing to food to the animals who lurk in the night,
this book brings you inside Tannie Maria’s world and makes you welcome. The descriptions
were sensational. Basically, I absolutely loved it.
'Vivid, amusing and immensely enjoyable . . . A triumph' Alexander McCall Smith
Meet Tannie Maria: the loveable writer of recipes in her local paper, the Klein Karoo Gazette.
One Sunday morning, as Maria stirs apricot jam, she hears her editor Harriet on the stoep. What Maria doesn't realise is that Harriet is about to deliver a whole basketful of challenges and the first ingredient in two new recipes - recipes for love and murder.
A delicious blend of intrigue, milk tart and friendship, join Tannie Maria in her first investigation. Consider your appetite whetted for a whole new series…
The South Pacific nation of Fiji is a magical place, as
I found out many years ago on a scuba trip that evolved into a circuit of the main
island of Viti Levu. For tourists, the island chain offers the gold standard of
tropical paradise resorts, but the story for the Fijians is considerably more
complicated. The islands are widely scattered, race relations led to government
coups, economic opportunities are limited, and old ways are under pressure from
modern expectations.
Using cultural elements like canoe racing, as well as a
foreboding sense of the conflict inherent in Fijian life today, Fiji becomes a
marvelous place for trouble. I could almost smell the hibiscus! And the
sunscreen! This story nearly had me booking a flight before I was halfway
through.
Fiji’s complexities are woven into the plot, which would be
impossible to set anywhere else. Modern beach fun and age-old traditions collide
as detective Josefa “Joe” Horseman investigates the murder of a young
housemaid at a resort on one of Fiji’s remote islands. From the victim’s cast
of admirers to shady characters exploiting the location, the case is an endless
mess.
Joe is a former national rugby star just returned from a
year of police training abroad. He’s the entire country’s local hero. His elevated
position in Fijian society, and the expectations he must contend with, are just
another way this book did such a fabulous job of taking me on the trip of a
lifetime.
An island paradise. A grisly murder. Can a detective put his rugby days behind him to tackle a killer case?
Josefa “Joe” Horseman holds out hope for a comeback. But after riding high in top class rugby, returning to the Fiji detective force with a bum knee and a promotion-hungry new partner wasn’t what he had in mind. So he knows he'll have to up his game when guests at an island resort discover a young maid’s corpse snagged on the reef.
Sorting through the victim’s list of jealous admirers, Horseman's under pressure to solve the case before the high-end…
In the explosive start to the series that puts the highs and lows in Mexico on full display, Emilia Cruz is the first female police detective in the iconic Pacific coast resort city of Acapulco, Mexico. Every day for her is a cocktail of drug cartel danger, official corruption, and Mexican machismo.
When Emilia’s lieutenant is murdered, she is forced to lead the investigation. Soon the man’s sordid sex life, money laundering, and involvement in a kidnapping double-cross combine to create an ugly mess no one wants exposed, including Acapulco’s ambitious mayor and the powerful head of the police union. Clearly, the high-profile murder case could wreck Emilia’s career and that’s why she got stuck with it. Yet as a rival detective emerges as the prime suspect, keeping her job could be the least of her worries.
About myself: As a novelist I’m crazy for detail. I believe it’s the odd and unexpected aspects of life that bring both characters and story worlds to life. This means that I try to be an observer at all times, keeping alert and using all five – and maybe six – senses. My perfect writing morning begins with a dog walk in the woods or on a beach, say, while keeping my senses sharp to the world around me and listening out for the first whisper of what the day’s writing will bring.
This book is a literary historical novel. It is set in Britain immediately after World War II, when people – gay, straight, young, and old - are struggling to get back on track with their lives, including their love lives. Because of the turmoil of the times, the number of losses, and the dangerous and peculiar circumstances people find themselves in, sexual mores have become shaken and stirred.
But what happened after the war, in the time of healing and settling down? This novel examines the emotional, romantic, and sexual lives of three characters searching for a way to proceed.
Love never dies in this novel by “a writer of addictive emotional thrillers” (The Independent).
Told from three perspectives A Particular Man is about love, truth and the unpredictable consequences of loss.
When Edgar dies in a Far East prisoner-of-war camp it breaks the heart of fellow prisoner Starling. In Edgar’s final moments, Starling makes him a promise. When, after the war, he visits Edgar’s family, to fulfil this promise, Edgar's mother Clementine mistakes him for another man.
Her mistake allows him access to Edgar’s home and to those who loved him, stirring powerful and disorientating emotions, and embroiling him…