Carolyn Haley

“thanks to the author’s skill, the plot is tight, the scenario plausible, and the narrative tidy and intelligent, conveyed with a wry undertone throughout.”

“Arapaho Summer provides a constant stream of adventures woven through with romance and idealism.”

When you read a few hundred novels a year, you learn to tell from page one who’s got the storyteller gene. Or at least the storycrafter skill.

“an engaging story. . . . an experienced author at the peak of her craft.”

“If you’re the right reader, you’ll have a soaring experience. If you’re the wrong reader, it will be a crash landing.”

Lady Georgie Rannoch has come a long way since the Royal Spyness series began.

When you’re a dedicated novel reader, it’s hard to switch to short stories. That format is just too . . .

“a galloping good yarn peopled with realistic characters operating in an intimately evoked environment, perpetually dynamic. Such is the stuff that makes good stories . . .”

“This ability to satisfy multiple audiences while presenting something fresh makes The Black Jersey a definite winner.”

The aerial drones that have emerged in recent years are just like any new technology: a two-edged sword that can help or harm.

“[I]f you relish seeing how ordinary people of good heart and intentions can get twisted off the right path, and sink deeper into serious trouble while they wrestle with their consciences,

“The Mad Hatter Mystery is credible and enjoyable, and makes readers hungry for the next opportunity to match wits with Dr. Gideon Fell.”

Rocky Mountain National Park Ranger Tim McIntyre thinks best when he’s fly-fishing. The best scenes in this book are when he does exactly that.

Feel-good stories abound, but this one offers a fresh and creative context: crop circles.

This novel is promoted by the publisher as “a dramatic and moving re-imagining of the characters from Ibsen’s The Lady from the Sea,” albeit in a different location and context.

“It’s a perfect book for people who just want to read an intelligent, informative, and satisfying story.”

Love epic space adventure? Then this doorstop-size novel is for you.

People talk a lot about “voice” when discussing fiction. In this book, voice comes at you loud and strong from the moment you open the cover.

The generally accepted wisdom in fiction, particularly in novels involving action and crime, is to keep turning the screws on the main characters, tighter and tighter, until the reader can’t imagin

Some titles capture the book’s contents well. This is one of them, as the whole murder mystery revolves around being an English gentleman in 1924.

When you’re a cop, it’s darn hard to get a real day off. Dave Cubiak, Door County sheriff way up on Lake Michigan in Wisconsin, thinks he finally can enjoy himself on a perfect summer afternoon.

This intense character-exploration story draws you along wondering, What the heck happened to Kit to make her so closed to human relationships?

Markswoman introduces a bright new series to fantasy fiction. It’s a strong start, but it comes with a hitch.

After reading this book, you’ll want to tape over the camera eye on all of your devices and go back to paying for things in cash and communicating on paper.

Usually crime novels end when the villain is captured or killed, the victim saved, or justice served.

“gripping and entertaining, and suitable for both its teenage target audience and adults.”

“a well-written contemporary YA novel with likable characters and a few moral lessons that are obvious but not heavy-handed.”

It seems ironic to wait in high excitement for a calm and quiet novel to come out.

There’s a log of big in this book: the Big Sky country of Montana, where a big family runs two big businesses on a really big spread; and when the problems come, they’re big ones.

“Celine is the portrait of a remarkable woman: a plausible super-granny with endearing panache who helps heal broken hearts and wounded souls.”

“a feel-good debut novel that’s hard to walk away from.”

In this cozy police procedural set in the cozy French town of St. Denis, we have book nine of the cozy series about Bruno, Chief of Police.

Author Cartmel has combined the tropes of the several genres into a surprising, refreshing story centered around old-fashioned records—the “vinyl” of title.

“a winner read that should appeal to a variety of literary and genre tastes.”

The heir is Evie, an American college girl sent on a quest through her dead mother’s letters. It leads her to Oxford University in England and discovery of her surprising birthright.

“if you like your novels dark and stormy, this one is a winner.”

Ann Cleeves is a busy gal, working on two concurrent series and having four overall, plus a few stand-alone novels.

Anyone familiar with Nora Roberts’ work will find no surprises in this one.

“genuinely sweet . . .”

This book gets off to a rough start, both for the heroine, who gets railroaded out of business by hostile locals and becomes desperate for money, and for the reader, who has to endure her aggressiv

“light in spirit and tone, and abundant in levity.”

“a stimulating thinking-person’s read . . .”

“All the right foundation stones are there on which to build a solid series.”

“a rollicking young adult novel loaded with action! adventure! romance! danger! while turning both genre and social conventions upside down.”

“Images are so clear it’s hard to believe you’re not in the story yourself, and people are so well drawn you’d swear you know them personally.”

“a beautifully written story that takes some effort to buy into. If you can flow with its subtle pace, then a satisfying read follows . . .”

“a winning combination from an expert storycrafter.”

“. . . pretty much everyone can take away something positive from this book.”

“The book satisfies one’s appetite for a good story, salts and peppers it with scandal, and provides a tome’s worth of education . . .”

It’s hard to imagine that anyone who reads fiction hasn’t discovered this series. For those who know and love it, here is number 15, in all its gentle delight.

“. . . the story contains the intrigue, amusement, and intellectual challenge that Ms. Andrews reliably delivers.

“The ‘everyone’ characters in the book help the central characters weather their personal storms, making the novel heartwarming and inspiring. . .

“The series is renowned for its accurate and often devastating presentation of Victorian London—a world of stark polarities between rich and poor.”

“This volume, like its predecessors, can be read for sheer joy of the prose.

“The fact that Ms. Haynes already has three suspense novels under her belt shows in her solid, clear, and, yes, suspenseful writing. . . .

“Rickman’s writing style reflects his subject matter: spooky and indirect, elegantly crafted but always a sense of shadow behind you, that you’ve missed something you should have seen.

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained—but in venturing, all could be lost. Some people just can’t accept that risk, and Clover is one of them.”

“. . . entertaining reading many levels above fluff.”

If you read a lot of mysteries, you’ll recognize elements of several subcategories in this reissue of a 1983 Carolyn Hart classic.

“. . . provides too little about too much, filling in a hole in the WWII record while shedding little light on its chosen subject.”

The trouble with Sharyn McCrumb’s work is that it’s so finely wrought you get immediately sucked in and can’t put the book down.

A book doesn’t need action in order to be dramatic as proven by this deceptively quiet second novel by Chloe Aridjis.

“. . . a true thriller.”

This book would more appropriately be titled The Edge of Abnormal, for that’s what it’s about.

“. . . an original adventure . . .”

In any long-running series, the characters must grow or change in order to remain credible and hold reader interest.

There have been many charming rogues through literary history, and Mr. Doig brings us another one: Morrie Morgan (nee Llewellyn), a gentleman opportunist and trouble magnet.

“. . . best read in small sessions to avoid the armchair traveler’s inevitable reaction: ‘What were they thinking?’”

“. . . it works because of the originality and the fascinating detail wrought in the author’s capable prose.”

“. . . a straightforward, beautifully written thriller . . .”

Elizabeth Lowell has mastered the art of writing romantic suspense.

“. . . a superb literary novel.”

“Don’t be surprised if Linda Barnes gets an award for The Perfect Ghost, . . .”

The Perfect Ghost is a bundle of surprises.

“Ms. Hart conceives a fascinating situation and lays out its complexities in careful, graceful prose.”

“The prose is what makes this novel enjoyable . . .”

Ms. Clark debuts with a sharp novel combining all the right elements into a page-turner.

This book is exactly what it appears to be: A collection of horse stories written by a Who’s Who of literary stars over the past century.

“. . . both charming and touching . . . [a] fresh take on an old and venerable institution . . .”

“. . . hard to put down.”

This is a cool book, not in the hip way or the frosty way, but in a low-amplitude, dispassionate way.