Former actor Lenz (Hello, Rest of My Life) delves into Hollywood film lore with his immersive latest, about a personal assistant’s quixotic 1970s quest to complete an obscure unfinished film rumored to have costarred John Wayne and James Dean. Emily Bennett first hears about Showdown’s 1955 production from a fellow extra on a 1973 TV shoot. A few years later, while working for an actor on the set of The Shootist, Wayne’s final film, she works up the courage to ask the taciturn star about Showdown but fails to convince him to finish it (“I’m too old to play myself,” Wayne says). After Wayne dies in 1979, she recruits Wayne impersonator Tom Manfredo and Dean impersonator Jimmy Riley to act in the film, and a love triangle develops as she falls for Tom while Jimmy nurses his feelings for her. Things get a bit unwieldy in the melodramatic third act with a pair of shoehorned and occasionally confusing Oedipal motifs (one character has killed his father and another may have had sex with his mother), but for the most part Lenz, who also appeared in The Shootist, offers a fascinating perspective on Hollywood’s Golden Age and its pull on his cast. This is worth a look. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 07/04/2025 | Details & Permalink

Fogle (City of Liars) offers an enchanting narrative of the tumultuous friendship between composers Erik Satie and Claude Debussy. In 1890, 24-year-old music school dropout Erik meets the older and more successful Claude in a Paris music shop. Claude, recognizing the young man’s talent, invites him to become a Rosicrucian, and the order performs one of Erik’s pieces at a salon. Still, Erik struggles to make ends meet until he finds success incorporating American popular music into his compositions, while Claude takes a break from his own work to care for his wife after a miscarriage. Their relationship turns sour after Erik learns that Claude, who has grown resentful of Erik’s success, has used part of his work without permission in the 1908 piece “Children’s Corner.” Some of the prose is awkward (“I never wanted to perform dreary sauerkraut to their standards of mechanical perfection,” Erik narrates, describing his dismissal from a conservatory as a teen), but Fogle effectively captures the composers’ innovations and respect for each other’s work (“Somewhere between a chant and a recitative.... The music blurs the temporal boundaries, drawing me into another world,” Erik remarks on Claude’s 1902 opera, Pelléas et Mélisande). Those with an interest in classical music will find this hard to put down. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 06/27/2025 | Details & Permalink

Boyer’s second Carolina Tales mystery (after Big Trouble on Sullivan’s Island) is another charming cozy set in the sleepy beach town of Sullivan’s Island, S.C. At the outset, Sarabeth Boone has just thrown “the Titanic of all neighborhood parties” in hopes of mending multiple interpersonal rifts between her acquaintances, but the event quickly became so heated that the police arrested several guests. Hours later, a disappointed Sarabeth is awakened by a neighbor who reports that there’s a corpse in her front yard. Initially, Sarabeth assumes it’s a drunk stranger, but she eventually realizes that she knows the deceased, who was bludgeoned to death—possibly by one of Sarabeth’s own shovels. Flashbacks to five years earlier flesh out the events leading up to the murder, which Boyer resolves with aplomb. En route to the solution, she keeps readers in the dark about who died for far longer than the typical cozy, without sacrificing suspense. It adds up to a unique and satisfying whodunit. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 06/27/2025 | Details & Permalink

An emotional reunion animates bestseller Ryan’s steamy third Dark Horse Dive Bar contemporary (after Wilde for You). As children, Fox Bridges and Melody Wilde were inseparable. After Melody’s dad stepped in to save Fox from his abusive parents, Fox ended up in foster care, taking him far from Blackrock Falls, Wyo.—but he’s never forgotten Melody. Sixteen years later, Fox, now a successful computer programmer, is back in town to take care of his mother, who has terminal cancer. Though Fox has been messaging Melody online, she doesn’t realize who he is until they meet up at the bar she owns. Their relationship quickly heats up, though Fox is initially worried that Melody is only attracted to him because of his money, having been burned before. Their evolving romance leads Melody to contemplate how they will work as a couple when Fox moves back to Boston. Meanwhile, a secret from Fox’s past may land them both in danger. Sensuous love scenes and a touch of mystery will draw in returning readers and new fans alike. This is a winner. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 06/27/2025 | Details & Permalink

Carr debuts with a charming story of three lonely Minnesota women who find a renewed sense of purpose during preparations for their town’s 1976 bicentennial celebration. School lunch ladies Crystal, Sheila, and Coralene are tasked by their ambitious boss, Gordon, with putting together meals for the town’s Independence Day parade. The plan draws each of the women out of her quirky routines. Crystal is fixated on reading obituaries and imagining who among her acquaintances might have made a good match for the deceased, a habit that distracts her from worrying about her ailing grandmother who raised her. Coralene, who’s very happily married, frets over her 20-year-old nephew, whom she raised after her sister’s death from cancer eight years earlier. She worries that his drifting lifestyle means she failed her promise to her sister to set him on the right path. Sheila holds everyone at arm’s length except for Lexie, a waitress at the Denny’s where she dines every Friday night. When Lexie tries to set Sheila up with a school plumber, she surprises everyone by agreeing. As the holiday approaches, each woman’s story line builds to a climax. Along the way, Carr develops a colorful portrait of grief in its varied forms, shot through with just the right amount of humor. It’s a satisfying slice of life. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 06/20/2025 | Details & Permalink

Freeman (The Blackwell Files) kicks off a new series set in Renaissance-era Italy with this stylish espionage thriller. Ship captain Niccolo Corsini is summoned by banker Lorenzo de’ Medici, the de facto ruler of Florence, after a fleet of ships bearing the mysterious sign of a black cross on their sails attacks the coast of San Vincenzo. Believing that a flotilla of Florence’s armed ships would be quickly overwhelmed by the unknown assailants, Medici hopes that Corsini’s merchant vessel will be able to get near enough to the fleet to learn who’s leading it and what their intentions are. The mission proves hazardous when Corsini’s own crew is infiltrated by a spy for the mysterious fleet. Eventually, Corsini grows conflicted about his role as an enforcer for the often-cruel Medici. Freeman brings the period to vivid life (though a cameo from Leonardo da Vinci feels somewhat out of place) and provides enough runway to keep readers on the hook for a sequel. Historical fans should give this a look. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 06/13/2025 | Details & Permalink

Goodwin debuts with a sleek political thriller that imagines the long-term consequences of legislative gridlock. In 2044 America, frustration about the impotence of the Democratic and Republican parties has led to the rapid growth of the SoMAD movement (“somebody make a decision”). When a SoMAD rally in Washington, D.C., turns violent, one of the movement’s activists, law student Max Peller, ends up in a coma. His father, tech CEO Ethan Bessette, persuades Max’s mentor, former prosecutor Jack Sanborn, to run for president. Bessette’s offer to donate billions to Sanborn’s campaign convinces him to get in the race, but Sanborn faces formidable opposition from Clay Overton, the Republican Speaker of the House, who’s dreamed of winning the Oval Office for decades. Meanwhile, Sanborn’s sudden emergence as a public figure makes him the target for an aggrieved man who believes he botched an old case involving a teenage victim. Goodwin pulls strong suspense out of both the impending election and the question of whether Sanborn’s legal past will catch up with him, and he dodges a heap of near-future clichés with levelheaded worldbuilding. Admirers of Andrew Yang and Stephen Marche’s The Last Election will be entertained. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 06/06/2025 | Details & Permalink

Yearwood (Peyton and Isabelle) delivers a heartrending story of two women linked by a child custody battle in Philadelphia. University professor Rebecca, 40, has longed for children her entire life, but her husband, Will, has put off the question. Still, Rebecca holds out hope until their marriage finally cracks and Will leaves for a new job in New York. In a parallel narrative set across town, 22-year-old Brittney has two toddlers and is pregnant with her third child. Her conservative cop husband, Chris, encouraged her to be a stay-at-home mom, but after he’s fired, he abandons her, and she flounders. Neighbors complain she’s neglecting the children, and all three are taken by child protective services. Rebecca becomes their foster mother and attempts to adopt them, and initially the two women compete for custody. But after they meet during Brittney’s CPS-approved visit with the children, Rebecca sympathizes with her desire to get her kids back, while Brittney realizes Rebecca genuinely wants the best for the children, and the two work together to provide the best possible outcome. Yearwood tackles the complex issues of family planning, motherhood, and adoption head-on, and the story works as well as it does because she offers no easy answers. This is a winner. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 06/06/2025 | Details & Permalink

Idaho homesteader Thomas guides readers through freeze-drying food at home in this comprehensive manual. Initially skeptical about trying a freeze dryer, Thomas became a believer after processing a surplus of eggs from her 80 hens: “When I did a test run with these eggs and made a big pan of scrambled eggs for my family, no one could tell they were not fresh.” She lays out the benefits of freeze-drying, including its convenience as well as the fact that it saves space and cuts back on food waste. In her brief history of the method, she explains that people in South America used to expose food to freezing temperatures at high altitudes to make it last longer. Elsewhere, Thomas shares tips for shortening the process by pre-freezing food; explains how freeze-drying differs from dehydrating; outlines what to know before purchasing a freeze dryer; and offers a step-by-step guide to the process, starting with prepping food and ending with rehydration. Thomas doesn’t skimp on details, and she encourages readers to learn from her mistakes, admitting that “my path to learning to freeze-dry was not all rosy. I think I lost about 50% of those early jars of eggs.” This is essential reading for those looking to up their food preservation game. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 05/30/2025 | Details & Permalink

Webster’s gonzo second romp for L.A. PIs Stan Stein and Bud Randolph (after American Nonsensical) is a rewarding ride. Bud, envious of Stan’s engagement to the pair’s assistant, Melanie, decides to seek his own wife through a service called Russian Brides Unlimited. Meanwhile, their detective agency gets a pair of new clients. Emelia Clark, who works in a bank’s fraud department, wants photos taken of anyone entering or leaving a particular house between the hours of 8 a.m. and noon. She won’t explain, but the request appears to have some connection to a shadowy federal investigation. Then reverend Clem Dudas, a snake-handler, hires Stan and Bud to retrieve two of his beloved rattlesnakes, Dobie and Maynard, whom he believes were kidnapped by his wife. Dudas shares Bud’s devotion to Donald Trump, and he asks Bud to mail a letter to an unknown recipient once he’s in Russia to meet women. Webster manages to fit each of the story’s outlandish pieces together, largely thanks to his mischievous sense of humor (at one point, Bud states he was at the Capitol on January 6, identifying himself as “the one in the red cap”). Carl Hiaasen fans will hope to see more of Stan and Bud soon. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 05/30/2025 | Details & Permalink