Older Reviews
An archive of past book reviews in mystery, thriller, crime, horror, and other suspense-related genres.
The Best Lies
He might be the FBI’s only shot at taking down the syndicate
Echo Road
Two bodies stuffed inside the luggage
The Blind Devotion of Imogene
Pay up or get firebombed
House of Glass
Her past and present are set on a collision course
Wordhunter
The daughter of a local mayor is abducted
Talking to Strangers
Getting a scoop in the murder would do a lot for her career
Agony Hill
He seems to have set fire to his barn and himself
Dog Day Afternoon
Book Reviewreviewed by Sandra Hoover Goodreads | CrossmyheartbookreviewsDog Day Afternoon is the twenty-ninth book in the Andy Carpenter series. For long time fans of the series, each book feels like a good old-fashion homecoming with lots of hugs, laughter and...
The Wrong Hands
A man has appeared on his doorstep with a briefcase containing severed hands
What Lies in Darkness
A missing family and a traumatized detective
They All Fall the Same
His daughter overdoses on heroin and one of his employees is murdered
Holy City
The tangled history of a region and its people that leaves no one innocent
The Lost Coast
A case of simple fraud rapidly explodes into a web of deception
The House by the Cemetery
She is the number one suspect in his murder
Shanghai
Even lucky refugees have to confront the reality of Shanghai
One Big Happy Family
Not everyone who checks into the hotel will be checking out
A Death in Cornwall
Her murder appears to be the work of a diabolical serial killer
Bad River
His brother had something in common with the frozen body in the ice cellar
Shades of Mercy
She is locked up with no computer access at the juvenile detention center
What Lies in Darkness
She will do anything to find out what happened
One of the Boys
These women will go to any length to protect their sons
The Paris Widow
He goes missing after an explosion in the city square
Passions in Death
The level of violence suggest a mix of passion and ice-cold calculation
The Burning
She must dive deep into the Anabaptist culture
Don’t Let the Devil Ride
He angered some very dangerous people before he disappeared
The Instruments of Darkness
A house that should never have been built
The Out-of-Town Lawyer
He’s a criminal defense attorney who roams the country in his campervan
On Her Watch
The killer is escalating
Beyond Reasonable Doubt
She is accused of murdering her former partner and lover
The Eyes Are the Best Part
In her dreams she walks through bloody rooms full of eyes
Follow Her Down
The murder of her sister shattered her family
Do What Godmother Says
She becomes convinced she’s being stalked
Echoes of Memory
She sets out to find a killer she doesn’t remember, but can’t forget
A Clean Kill
Five dismembered bodies are found along the roadside
A Talent for Murder
Five unsolved cases of murdered women
The Hermit Next Door
He isn’t actually from this world
Clete
They hear rumors of a dangerous substance with catastrophic effects
Sentinel
Stability proves to be fleeting when the Chinese plan to destroy the dam
This Is Why We Lied
Normal rules don’t apply at McAlpine Lodge
The Cornish Campsite Murder
The body of one of the band members is found not far from the campsite
Don’t Ask, Don’t Follow
She uncovers what her sister was trying to expose
The Burning Rooms
There is just one other person who saw what he did thirteen years ago
The Wildfire Girl
His aunt fails to provide an alibi
The Chamber
One of them is found dead in his bunk
Double Tap
She saves her son from a sniper’s bullet
Pitch Dark
The killer possesses skills surpassing his own
Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies
She just wants to kill her protagonist
P. A. DePaul
The Publishers Weekly Bestselling Author on CROSSING THE LINE
Maria
A Novel of Maria von Trapp
I Died on a Tuesday
In one swift moment, her life is forever changed
Our Little Secret
An affair that should be in the past, but isn’t
The Expectant Detectives
A dead body is discovered at their local prenatal class
Kubrick: An Odyssey
A biography that punctures myths about the reclusive filmmaker
Katharine, the Wright Sister
Tragedy forces her to make an impossible choice
The Gathering
Two disparate communities circle each other for blood
Of Hoaxes and Homicide
She receives a letter from “A Heartbroken Mother”
Granite Harbor
The town’s secrets―past and present―begin bubbling to the surface
Liar’s Point
She is certain the witness knows more than she’s revealing
The #1 Lawyer
He stops trading on his power-lawyer identity and creates a new one
Ladykiller
The sole clue to her whereabouts is the manuscript she penned
Black Wolf
A dangerous contract killer, known as the Black Wolf, is also on her trail
Mind Games
They have no idea they’re about to cross paths with a ticking time bomb
Cast a Cold Eye
A suspected IRA cell is at large, embedded within the criminal gangs
The Five Year Lie
Her gut says it can’t be real, but she goes to the tree anyway
Storm Child
There is only one survivor, who tells police their boat was rammed
A Calamity of Souls
What is at stake is far greater than the outcome of a murder trial
Lying Next to Me
The lives of the two couples are converging in unpredictable ways
One Liar Left
He’s silencing these women
Three Drowned Girls
The body of a dark-haired young girl is pulled from the river
Disturbing the Dead
Their host is missing when it comes time to unwrap the mummy
Nonna Maria and the Case of the Lost Treasure
A mystery unfolds at the deathbed of one of her old friends
A Beginner’s Guide to Breaking and Entering
A perfect house and a dead body
The Alliance
The very fabric of society threatens to unravel
Indian Burial Ground
The facts about the death just don’t add up
A Murder Most French
A chef pours himself a glass of wine and promptly drops dead
Four-Alarm Homicide
She shows up at the fire station, then collapses, never to recover
A Forgotten Kill
Stopping a killer becomes more personal with each new twist
Coconut Drop Dead
The police think it may be a tragic accident
The Infiltrator
Intelligence points to one final camp in the remote Kentucky wilderness
Crime Novels of the 1960s
Nine timeless novels, including four lost classics restored to print
The President's Lawyer
He attempts to defend an authoritative man with a taste for infidelity
Ill-Fated Fortune
One customer’s ill-fated fortune results in his murder
The Intruder
Everything is called into question, including who the real intruder is
Heroine Withdrawal
A seminal collection of classic pulp and mystery comics
Public Anchovy #1
She will have to top all of her previous crime-solving accomplishments
Borgata: Rise of Empire
The social, economic, and political forces that powered the mafia’s rise
Cold to the Touch
When the body of another woman is found, a serial killer is suspected
Matterhorn
He learns his son died following in his footsteps
Point Zero
She discovers that he had been a police officer in Tokyo after the war
If Something Happens to Me
On a summer trip abroad to Italy he gets a call from his father
Blessed Water
The Sister struggles to stay on the righteous path
Sanctuary
No matter how far she runs, her past is always just a few steps behind
The Hunter
The teenager’s long-absent father reappears, bringing along a millionaire
Cheater
A resident’s body is found brutally stabbed and his apartment ransacked
Long Time Gone
A discovery leads her to a small town, the site of her disappearance
The Hunter's Daughter
A serial killer emerges who is copying her father
Galway Confidential
He cannot stay away from the mystery surrounding these vicious attacks
What Happened to Nina?
Facts are lost in a swirl of accusation and counter-accusation
Nothing But the Bones
A local crime boss runs everything on the mountain
Murder by Lamplight
Another body is found with links to the first
Three-Inch Teeth
A rogue grizzly bear has gone on a rampage
The Lock Box
She wakes up across the country, trapped in her own personal nightmare
Zenith Man
Those who don’t fit societal norms can be castigated and misunderstood
One Wrong Word
Sometimes one wrong word can kill
The Deepest Kill
His pregnant daughter washed up dead on a nearby shore
The Unquiet Bones
The investigation takes a sharp turn when she discovers a second body
Murder Road
They soon learn that there is something supernatural at work
The Chaos Agent
Someone is killing the world’s leading experts on robotics and AI
Three Kinds of Lucky
They seek out the one person who might be able to help
Missing Before Daylight
The more she digs, the longer her list of suspects becomes
The Price You Pay
Someone has stolen notebooks full of incriminating secrets
Exit Black
The Reckoners demand a ransom from their wealthy hostages
Dark Dive
A discovery in a storage shed raise the stakes even higher
Extinction
A billionaire’s son and his new wife are kidnapped and murdered
Nothing Without Me
A body is floating in her swimming pool, all signs pointing to suicide
Nowhere Like Home
When a newcomer arrives, her worst fears are confirmed
The Triumph of the Lions
Her golden existence is threatened by the blows of a cruel fate
The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels
A true crime author is looking to revive her career by writing a book on the case
Nothing But the Bones
The glimpse they had of getting away scot free suddenly seems elusive
The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye
There is a grander, darker scheme of treachery at play
At the River
He has no memories of what happened in the Oregon forest
Lone Wolf
This unlikely, tiny job quickly explodes into his biggest mission yet
The Boy Who Cried Bear
The ten-year-old swears the bear had human eyes
Village in the Dark
Shocking clues have emerged that foul play was involved
One of the Good Guys
Two young women vanish in a seaside town
Out of the Ashes
She might not be able to escape the town alive
The Phoenix Bride
There is no easy cure for melancholy
First Lie Wins
She must stay one step ahead of her past
The Tainted Cup
A detective whose reputation is matched by her eccentricities
Midnight Climax
A race to find a soldier before the rival gangs shed more blood
Nightwatching
Her situation is even more dire than she had feared
Lethal Vengeance
There is a serial killer loose in London
Deep Freeze
There was no expectation of survival
The Romanov Brides
Their fateful decisions to marry will lead to tragic consequences
The Diabolical
A shooting has just occurred at El Gato Gordo nightclub
The Teacher
Nobody knows the secrets that could destroy her
The Excitements
This trip to Paris is not what it seems
Knife Skills for Beginners
The only thing he expects his students to murder is his taste buds
The Busy Body
Her political career, has made her an expert at recognizing lies
A Sign of Her Own
He betrayed her and other deaf pupils in pursuit of his own ambition
Radiant Heat
The blaze came out of nowhere one summer afternoon
Resurrection Walk
A David fighting Goliaths to vindicate his client
The Clinic
The best way to find out what happened to her sister is to check in
The Hurricane Blonde
The police are convinced this death was an accident
The Last Resort
Tensions rise as one by one, the family start to point the finger at one another
Wander in the Dark
In no time, he becomes the only suspect
Northwoods
The body of a teenage boy is found in the lake
The Deceiving Look
they soon realize the killer may be closer than they thought possible
Finding Margaret Fuller
Her restless soul needs new challenges and adventures
Necessary Deeds
He falls in love with a suspect, then discovers truths about his past and hers