STARLESS MIDNIGHT--A Review

 

STARLESS MIDNIGHT

By Lynn Garthwaite

ISBN:9781952976025

Released by

Kirk House Publishers, 2020 

Fourteen years ago, Jadey Evans and her white mother left the small Wisconsin town of Twin Station, in part, due to feelings of mounting racial pressure. Now, years later and a published author, Jadey is back in town. Her grandmother, the one family member she remembers with any real fondness has willed Jadey the family home. Twin Station has grown substantially, but some of the foundation problems have apparently never been resolved.

Jadey is focused on renovating the house, then either settling into a new residence or selling and moving back to the Twin Cities of Minnesota nearer her mother. Jadey is described as a tough young woman, used to the slings and arrows of modern society but she also has many positive and fond memories of her teen years growing up in a small town. And that’s in spite of a few unsettling and unanswered questions about her grandparents. 

The narrative evolves slowly and carefully, from fun-filled homecoming to unsettling clues and events of a darker color all of which coalesce into important questions that lead Jadey to wonder about unexplained events in the past. The author has carefully layered questions, events and partial answers into a revelatory story and eventual exploding action that come together in a well-blended way that entangles a reader. The town, its principal characters and all the events, present and past, raise and maintain growing attention. The author’s ability to present precisely designed and ultimately resolved questions for Jadey and for readers will linger long after the story concludes. Starless Midnight is a fine, intense and satisfying modern novel.

 

MORTAL FLIP

 

REVIEW--MORTAL FLIP

By M.E. Bakos

ISBN: 979-8-9867889-3-7

A 2004 release 

Frequently a house in a nice neighborhood that has a bad reputation is not a desirable asset. For home renovator Katelyn Baxter, who bills herself as a successful Home Rehabber, learning that the place she just acquired in Minneapolis has been the target of a suspected serial killer, is a real set-back. But, she’s committed. Katelyn is stubborn, a real optimist and she has friends. This is book 5 in Katelyn’s varied and unusual adventures in homes she never really lives in. She buys places, rehabs, then flips them over for a profit. It’s not an easy business. Every house has its strengths and weaknesses. Every neighborhood has its recluses and nosy neighbors. In this case the former owner, prominent businessman Arthur Cook was found murdered in a field and rumor links him to several possible targets in the area.  Not helpful for a sale, especially since the murderer is unknown.

Nevertheless, Ms Baxter has purchased the property, battles the reputation and works up the place for resale. She’s engaged to be married to the local sheriff, another complication of her current life, as is a persistent nosy neighbor. The novel skates along with contract egocentric workers, friends, her fiancé and the occasional legal bump. The author knows her area and gives readers an engaging, often fun look inside the rehab business connected to talent, smarts, and mystery. A fun, light-hearted cozy mystery with a careful, well-executed narrative that will satisfy any reader of crime fiction. Accuracy of process, thoughtfulness of character and good dialogue are all foundations of this cozy mystery novel.

 

 

SHADOWLAND -- Review

 SHADOWLAND

by  Karen Engstrom 

ISBN: 978-1-964354-07-1

2025 release from SaltyBooks Publishing 

This one  is a lengthy, sometimes wordy, historical novel of visitors to the northern borders of Minnesota and the nearby wilderness of Canada. The primary setting is magnificent and very well treated by the author. Readers will usually sense the odor of birch and pine, the sounds and movements of the waters and the solitude that permeates the region. Other actions of the characters take place in Chicago, indeed, most of the highly emotional activity results from relationships formed in 1920's Chicago. Although classified as an historical novel, some elements and events have been altered in service to the story. Nevertheless, this novel, entangling Carl and Ella in uncertain links to characters, large and small, active in the early, turbulent days of Twentieth Century United States life, will engage and interest any reader interested in organized crime, Prohibition, and the bucolic and serene life of Northern Minnesota.

 

BURIED IN THE HOUSE--Review

Buried In The House

ISBN: 978194806253

By Christine Husom

A 2024 release from      

The wRight Press

 

Nationally recognized author Husom does it again with a carefully conceived and written crime novel of the sometimes plodding research by the rural and closely connected Winnebago County Deputies. The careful efforts and struggles of law enforcement and crime-scene specialists to collect the evidence from a corpse and the search of a cluttered crime scene become important factors in the story. Personal relationships are many in this close-knit unit. Climbing a tall ladder to a high second floor window as the only entrance to a crime scene is definitely out of the ordinary for these officers. Not only is the physical scene of a suspicious death a contributing factor to a level of confusion, it brings to the strong narrative several forks in the trail to resolution. Complicated and overlapping relationships, on both sides of the law, overlaid with varied settings, enrich the narrative. If the dialogue at times borders on the formal, this team is careful, dedicated, interesting, and they operate in a richly described environment. Readers of this enjoyable experience will complete the reading of this crime novel with a good sense of satisfaction.