Tag Archives: mystery novel

Deadly Burden: Winner of a Word Award

Gold and black seal: The Word Awards Winner

Deadly Burden won a Word Award!

These annual awards, sponsored by Canada’s The Word Guild, recognize “unpublished work as well as work published in 2023 for both Christian and general market audiences. Entrants from across Canada received awards in over 40 genres and categories.” [From the official press release, found here: https://thewordguild.com/media/]

Each of my other novels have been shortlisted for the awards, which I count as validation in its own right. But this win is sweet, and it encourages me to keep going with the next Green Dory Inn mystery.

If you haven’t read Deadly Burden, you can find it online in paperback and digital versions. All buy links are here: https://books2read.com/deadly-burden.

Follow me on BookBub

3 Fun Mysteries Set in Nova Scotia

Out of the many mysteries set in Nova Scotia, here are three I’d suggest you try (in alphabetical order):

Book cover with crafting supplies, dressmaker's form, and a large dog.

Crafting for Murder, by Barbara Emodi

Secrets and schemes and small-town murder. Read my review.


Book cover with small yacht and crime scene tape.

Murder in Hum Harbour, by Jayne E. Self

Mystery and romance in a small coastal town. Read my review.


Book cover with ocean waves, trees, locket.

Oak Island Revenge, by Cynthia d’Entremont

Coming of age in the 1950s. Small-town secrets–with rumours of treasure. Read my review.


Hmm… sensing a “small coastal town” theme here… and that’s what I write in my Green Dory Inn mysteries too. I’d better go on record as stating that Nova Scotia is more than just a string of villages along the Atlantic coast! We have a city, Halifax (current population 423,000), as well as a number of large towns and inland agriculture.

Come see what we’re all about at the Nova Scotia tourism site, then maybe plan a visit! Or at least you’ll be better able to picture the settings when you read our fiction.

Follow me on BookBub

Review: A Cast of Falcons, by Steve Burrows

Cover art: A Cast of Falcons, by Steve Burrows

A Cast of Falcons, by Steve Burrows (Dundurn, 2016)

Detective Chief Inspector Domenic Jejeune is a Canadian serving on the local police force in Norfolk, England.

By this point in the series (book 3) his colleagues are beginning to trust that however erratic his methods, he’ll solve the crime. Except this time he seems distracted by an unconnected death that’s not even local.

This time the mystery centres around rival research groups and a controversial plan to mitigate global warming. The murder victim had switched sides and is found on the property of his former employer. With the company owned by wealthy internationals, Jejeune’s superintendent insists he not turn the investigation into a political crisis.

As the story plays out, it’s interesting to watch the developing relationships between the characters. And as always, readers will find richly detailed natural settings and sightings of birds both rare and common.

There are some continuing threads from previous books, but a person could begin here and not be lost.

A Cast of Falcons is book 3 in the Birder Murder Mystery series, which is at least 7 books long. Book 1 is A Seige of Bitterns. For more about the book and about Canadian author Steve Burrows, visit steveburrows.org.

[Review copy from the public library.]

Follow me on BookBub

Included in the Angel Book Awards!

I’m excited to share that my newest release, Bitter Truth, received second place in the Angel Book Awards (mystery/suspense category)!

Congratulations to first-place Carrie Stuart Parks with Woman in Shadow and third-place Mary Dodge Allen with Hunt for a Hometown Killer. I feel like my characters are in good company!

You can see the full list of winners at the Faith & Fellowship Book Festival page on Facebook. Here’s the link to the announcement post.

Follow me on BookBub

Review: False Pretense, by Heather Day Gilbert

False Pretense, by Heather Day Gilbert (WoodHaven Press, 2022)

Missing persons, unexpected power flickers, and sightings of a creature from West Virginia folklore… except the huge grey Mothman is being seen by trustworthy witnesses. And the winged creature isn’t just a guy in a costume, because it flies. More troubling still, its appearance seems to coincide with the disappearance of two local women—women who look a lot like Tess Spencer.

Mysteries keep finding Tess. She’s solved three as an amateur sleuth, earning enough respect from the police in her small town that Detective Zeke Tucker has hired her as admin assistant. Sure, it’s a desk job, but Zeke values her insights on active cases.

As Tess begins to suspect this case may be personal, she’s also concerned about her mother-in-law’s health and the dirty politics being played by her husband’s rival. As readers of the series know, Tess isn’t one to allow anyone to mess with her family.

I’ve liked Tess from book one. She’s a smart, brave, loyal, self-reliant woman of faith. Since she lives in a state where it’s allowed to conceal-carry a weapon, she takes a handgun and sometimes a knife into danger.

Favourite line:

I’ve always felt the woods are my native environment, a place I can be protected from the pressures of life. Now something—maybe some age-old evil, if I let my imagination run wild—has invaded our area. [Kindle location 539]

The mystery in False Pretense offers enough clues for readers to feel like we’re part of the investigation. I came up with a few ideas, but they were definitely off-base. Fans of the series will be glad to spend time with Tess and her family again, and will be hoping to finally learn the truth about the mysterious Axel Becker. And while this finishes the series, it left me wanting to go back and read again from the beginning.

Readers of the author’s Barks ‘n Beans mystery series will recognize a few mentions of those characters. I enjoy seeing nods like this to other fictional friends. 

False Pretense is a satisfying finale to a mystery series filled with heart and truly likeable characters. If you’re new to the Murder in the Mountains series, you could start here without feeling lost. But I’d encourage you to start with book 1, Miranda Warning, and enjoy the development of characters and relationships through the full series.

Author Heather Day Gilbert writes contemporary mysteries and Viking historicals. To quote her bio on the Goodreads site, “She brings authentic family relationships to the page, and she particularly delights in heroines who take a stand to protect those they love.” For more about the author and her work, visit heatherdaygilbert.com.

[Review based on an advance reader copy provided by the publisher, because I couldn’t wait to read the copy I’ve preordered. My review is voluntary and my opinions are my own.]

Follow me on BookBub

Less than 30 Days!

The clock is ticking down! With Bitter Truth releasing later this month, I had the chance to chat with blogger Jeffrey C. Reynolds about the novel, writing in general, and a few other things. And I may have let slip something about the print version that’s not yet been shared… come join the conversation!

Follow me on BookBub

Review: The Knitting Fairy, by Jaime Marsman

The Knitting FairyThe Knitting Fairy, by Jaime Marsman (Shade Tree Publishing, 2012)

Librarian’s Assistant Molly Stevenson has her life planned out. In fact, The Plan is stuck to her fridge where she can review it regularly. She loves her job, and if she can survive until her abrasive boss retires, she’ll inherit the position.

Until a woman who looks just like Mother Goose comes into the library with a long-overdue book. And then Molly gets fired. And then Mother Goose (whose real name is Carolyn) finds her and offers her a  job in a knitting store.

A knitting store? Molly had no idea such things existed or could turn a profit. As Carolyn would say, she’s been “denying her inner knitter.”

On impulse, Molly turns her back on The Plan and takes the job. And discovers she loves to knit. (Learning is an understandable condition of employment.)

The Knitting Fairy is a light-hearted mystery that knitters are sure to love. It’s not a murder mystery, but Carolyn’s store, Crabapple Yarns, has been receiving threatening calls. And shortly after Molly starts work there, people’s knitting projects begin getting mysterious “help”. Customers joke about a knitting fairy, but who’s behind this? When the “help” changes to sabotage, it has to be stopped. But how?

The story is told in first person, and Molly makes a cheerful and funny narrator. Suspects abound, and I completely missed the clues about the Knitting Fairy’s identity. How the culprit gets access to the knitters’ projects doesn’t really work for me, but it’s a minor point. And the book has a few more copyediting errors than average. I read the Kindle version, but it’s also available in print.

The Knitting Fairy is book 1 in the Crabapple Yarns series, so I hope to see book 2 in the future. Jaime Marsman is a knitwear designer as well as a novelist. Visit her website to learn more about the book and author (scroll down the page to see the options) or stop by the Yarns From Crabapple Yarns blog to see what the novel’s characters have to say. You can also find Jaime Marsman on Facebook.

[Review copy from my personal library.]