Howdy, Michael here,

Getting ready to send my new Travelers crime thriller, Grifters’ Hopscotch, to the editor.

In the meantime, two crime books I read last month.

Recently I read Hot Six, one of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum books, which made me curious about her other series, so I downloaded The Big Kahuna (Fox and O’Hare book 6, 2019). As I was reading it, I kept thinking that the characters seemed somehow familiar. Turns out I read The Job (Fox and O’Hare book 3) back in 2021.

Anyway, Kate O’Hare is an FBI agent. Nicholas Fox is a con artist. In typical Evanovich screwball comedy fashion, they partner to solve difficult crimes. On this outing, they’re searching for a missing tech billionaire whose spouse and business partner want him declared dead so they can get control of his company, each for their own purposes. Murder and mayhem quickly ensue as Fox and O’Hare go to Hawaii to find the billionaire and discover the reason he’s in hiding. A fast-paced read full of twists and turns.

I also read Truth Kills (Angelina Bonaparte Mysteries book 1, 2017) by Nanci Rathbun. I was cleaning up my Kindle when I found it. Don’t know when I downloaded it. Decided to give it a try.

Angelina Bonaparte is a middle-aged, divorced PI who can be prickly and judgmental at times, but she has a big heart to go with her big Italian Milwaukee, Wisconsin, family. And she’s very carefully looking for a relationship with a man who can pass muster with her dad and her grown-up children. (But this is not a romance book; romance is a sub-plot.)

She usually doesn’t involve herself in murder investigations, but when her client on a cheating husband investigation asks her to prove her husband didn’t murder her mistress, she decides to go all in.

Well-written, effective who-done-it where the relationships between the characters generate a lot of energy. A fun read.

It’s $0.99 (US) right now. https://www.amazon.com/Truth-Kills-Angelina-Bonaparte-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B0721R2KNF

Happy reading!