Amateur spies attempt to foil a 1933 Nazi plot in this high-voltage thriller from Landsem (All That Glitters). After German-born single mother Liesl Weiss is fired from her secretarial job at MGM Studios, she’s desperate to find work to support her children. Her search leads her to Leon Lewis, a Jewish attorney, who offers her handsome pay to spy on the Friends of New Germany, an organization he suspects is plotting against American Jews. Despite her misgivings, Liesl is driven by her Christian sense of morality to accept the offer. Soon, Leon, Liesl, and the mysterious Agent Thirteen uncover Joseph Goebbels’s plan to transform Hollywood into a Nazi propaganda machine. As they work to foil the plot, Liesl confronts fears for her own (and her children’s) safety; guilt at hiding her double life from her family; and latent sorrow over her policeman husband’s disappearance two years earlier. It adds up to a riveting spy story and a nuanced look at the way religion can either justify prejudice or fuel moral action. Liesl’s adventures will keep readers hooked to the last page. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 02/10/2023 | Details & Permalink

Wright (The Souls of Lost Lake) captivates with a thrilling tale of two women who get caught up in the secrets of a Wisconsin castle. It’s April of 1870 when Daisy François seeks out employment at Castle Moreau, an imposing structure built by a French trapper. Orphaned at a young age and abused by her adoptive parents, Daisy sees a job as housekeeper at the castle as a chance at a new life. As women from the area go missing, Daisy is unwillingly drawn into a mystery that involves Ora Moreau—the castle’s mysterious owner and the author of dark works of fiction. Meanwhile, in the present day, Cleo Clemmons, on the run from both her family and the law, accepts a job at Castle Moreau and hopes to stay under the radar. She’s been hired to help Ora’s granddaughter Virgie deal with her hoarding problem, but soon discovers artifacts that threaten to resurrect old secrets. Both Daisy and Cleo must draw on faith in God in order to protect themselves. The twisting, fast-moving plot is loaded with secrets, and the characters remain morally ambiguous until the end. Readers won’t want to put this down. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 02/10/2023 | Details & Permalink

In Sloan’s gripping follow-up to Rescuing Rose, a romance develops between a Southern woman and a Confederate sergeant. It’s 1864 and Lydia Gibson lives with stepdaughter Millie in Georgia. As rumors swirl about the Union’s approach, the two prepare to leave town, but are captured by Northern soldiers and housed in an abandoned home. One day, while exploring the house, Lydia finds Confederate soldier Seth Morgan hiding in the root cellar, and sparks quickly fly. Seth, though, is heartbroken over his wife’s murder by a jealous cousin nearly two years before, and seeks to avenge her death. The two are separated when Seth escapes, and reunite a few months later in Kentucky (where the war’s taken them both)—but things remain complicated because Seth’s still burdened by loyalty to his dead wife, and some ghosts from Lydia’s past arise. The two must trust in God as they learn to forgive and make peace with the past. The action-packed plot is fueled by complex characters with rich backstories and no shortage of secrets to hide. Fans will eagerly await the next in the series. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 02/10/2023 | Details & Permalink

In this gripping entry, Green (Drawn by the Current) follows a pair of reunited friends as they try to get to the bottom of a spate of artifact forgeries in 1925 Manhattan. Egyptologist Lauren Westlake and detective Joe Caravello met at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as adolescents and formed a deep connection. As adults, they’ve drifted apart, but when Joe suspects a link between a recent speakeasy shooting and the rash of forged Egyptian antiquities plaguing the city’s art collectors, he turns to Lauren, now assistant curator of Egyptian art at the Met, for help. Meanwhile Lauren, aching for the father she’s never been close to, works to improve their distant relationship, though she’s beginning to wonder if he might be connected to Joe’s case. As the two work through layers of the mystery, Lauren draws on her faith to navigate the case, her complicated past with her father, and her growing feelings for Joe. With a convincing backdrop of Prohibition-era New York, Green carefully weaves historical detail and complex relationships into a tense narrative that doesn’t let up till the close. The author’s fans won’t be disappointed. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/27/2023 | Details & Permalink

In this affecting entry from Henry (Once upon a Wardrobe), a woman stumbles onto a lead in the decades-old cold case of her sister’s disappearance. It’s 1960, and Hazel Linden is astonished when the bookstore she works at is shipped a volume entitled Whisperwood, which depicts a fantasy realm Hazel dreamed up as a teenager and shared only with her younger sister. Twenty years ago, 14-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora were evacuated from London during WWII and took refuge in the idyllic Oxford countryside with Bridie Aberdeen and her teenage son, Harry. There, Hazel told Flora stories about Whisperwood, a make-believe world where the two could seek comfort. Months into their evacuation, Flora disappeared and was presumed drowned in the River Thames. Back in the novel’s present, Hazel, still haunted by her sister’s disappearance, embarks on a faith-fueled, sometimes-reckless quest to discover if her sister might still be alive, one that involves tracking down the American author of the book and visiting Bridie and Harry for the first time since Flora’s disappearance. Though framed by a mystery, Henry’s offering shines most in its exploration of the ways relationships grow and adapt to time and trauma, making for a poignant meditation on the bonds of sisterhood. This captivates. (May)

Reviewed on 01/20/2023 | Details & Permalink

In this propulsive series opener from Bradley (Deception), two police officers begin a romance as they track down a serial killer. Alexis Stone is undercover searching for the Queen’s Gambit Killer (so-called because each victim has been found holding a white chess pawn in their hand) when she runs into Pearl Springs police chief and former boyfriend Nathan Landry at a bar. Though they haven’t been in touch since high school, Nathan maintains deep feelings for Alexis, and later that night, he drives by her house to make sure she safe. Instead, he finds her unconscious on a street corner and learns from a witness that a man attempted to abduct Alexis and then shot her as she tried to escape. Alexis stays with her grandparents while recovering, but soon her grandfather, who is chief of the local police, appoints her as his chief deputy, leading her to work closely with Nathan. As more murders plague the area, they struggle to uncover the killer’s identity. Meanwhile, Alexis harnesses her faith to navigate the investigation and her growing feelings for Nathan. Balancing a slow-burning romance with a twisty mystery, this will keep Bradley’s fans hooked till the final page. (May)

Reviewed on 01/20/2023 | Details & Permalink

Cabot (The Spark of Love) unravels the secrets of a Texas town in this intriguing late-1800s romantic mystery. After Emily Vaughn’s abusive husband dies in a bar fight, she returns to her Texas hometown, eager to begin life anew. But disaster strikes on her first day back when her minister father dies by apparent suicide, while across town, the widowed Mrs. Carmichael’s home burns down. Recalling Jesus’s commandment to “care for widows and orphans,” Emily offers shelter to Mrs. Carmichael and her boarders, and quickly becomes fond of kindhearted schoolmaster Craig Ferguson and his two-year-old son. Emily soon opens her large home as a boarding house, taking in the new minister’s family and Beulah Douglas, a mentally disabled 12-year-old whom Craig welcomes into his school despite townspeople’s protests, and whom Emily likewise defends as a child of God. But Beulah has some unexpected secrets that come to the surface as Craig and Emily seek the truth behind Emily’s father’s death—which she’s convinced wasn’t a suicide. As the two grow close, they uncover more beneath the town’s placid surface than anticipated. Cabot skillfully links diverse plotlines in a tightly woven narrative, putting forth an uplifting message about the value of all human life that’s moving without detracting from the plot’s suspense. Readers will eagerly await the series’ next installment. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/20/2023 | Details & Permalink

In the mixed third installment of Camden’s Blackstone Legacy series (after Written on the Wind), a steel company board member and a businesswoman team up to foil a deceitful banker. Liam Blackstone has just landed a powerful position on the U.S. Steel board of directors in 1902 and has an agenda based on workers’ rights. The cause is close to his heart: at three, Liam was kidnapped from the moneyed Blackstone family by a man who raised him in poverty and forced him to work at a steel mill. (Liam only reconnected with his family—and found God—as an adult.) But corrupt board member Charles Morse believes Liam is hurting profits by negotiating workers’ raises, and is trying to run him off the board. When Liam learns Morse has cheated Maggie Molinaro, the co-owner of an ice cream factory, out of a payment, he decides to help her seek justice. Upon digging into Morse’s business dealings, the pair uncover a sprawling web of corruption, and a romance builds between them. While Camden’s prose is zippy, her underdeveloped characters—and Liam’s elaborate backstory—make for an unrealistic, overwrought plot. Camden’s post–Gilded Age romance has its moments, but the subpar execution will leave readers wanting. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 01/06/2023 | Details & Permalink

Connealy (A Model of Devotion) kicks off the Wyoming Sunrise series with a spirited, suspenseful romance. It’s 1870 in Pine Valley, Wyo., when Mariah Stover’s brother and father are killed during a stagecoach robbery and she’s left pinned under the carriage and presumed dead. Since the “Deadeye Gang” is notorious for killing witnesses, Mariah’s friends bury an empty coffin marked with her name. They also urge her to flee town, but Mariah’s dedicated to her work as a blacksmith, so she prays to God for protection and returns to the forge. Meanwhile, she becomes closer with Clint Roberts, a friend who helped tend to her as she recovered, and though they develop feelings for one another, Mariah balks at the idea of marriage, which would require her to give up her career. There’s not much time to focus on romance, though, as a string of accidents—a freak explosion at the forge, a break-in at her house—suggest the Deadeye Gang hasn’t forgotten about her, leading Mariah, Clint, and friends to work together to keep her safe. Connealy’s memorable characters—especially tough, gun-toting Mariah—are easy to root for as they propel a richly-detailed adventure that captivates till the end. Readers will eagerly await the series’ next entry. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/06/2023 | Details & Permalink

The uplifting latest from Carlson (A Quilt for Christmas) follows a 40-something empty nester who moves from her stylish Victorian to a fixer-upper. After Mallory Farrell’s husband walked out almost two decades ago, she raised their three kids alone and built a profitable interior design business. Now that her children are adults, Mallory’s seeking a change. When she discovers her late grandmother has left her a tourist shop and apartment in the seaside Oregon town where Mallory spent childhood summers, she initially plans to sell. But after visiting the town, she’s overcome by nostalgia and, convinced that God is nudging her toward making a leap of faith, decides to turn the property into a home decor shop. She also runs into former crush Grayson, who’s angling to buy her shop and turn it into part of a mall. Though she soon wins his support (and romantic interest), Mallory worries she’s bitten off more than she can chew: the renovation is demanding and costly, and pressure rises when there’s a chance to feature the property on a home design show. Mallory’s an enterprising character, and readers will eagerly follow her litany of construction challenges as her relationship with Grayson develops. This is perfect for fans of clean romance. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/06/2023 | Details & Permalink