Week 5: Debut Mystery Is Amusing and Absorbing + Abit Bradshaw's Bluegrass Playlist + Mystery Recommendations
July 3, 2025
SPOTLIGHT
THE NOT SO AVERAGE LIFE OF AVERAGE JANE by Marissa Malson
Ed.: The Spellbounders want to help authors promote their debut books. Marissa Malson recently published The Not So Average Life of Average Jane. Jane has recently discovered that being average is now her “superpower.” As a private eye solving murders, she can get in and out of dangerous places undetected. Which sets up a premise that promises all kinds of mayhem and mischief. CONTINUE READING …
I LOVE THIS BOOK: Lynda’s pick
The Killing Hills is the real deal. The first book in a four-book (so far) series, it introduces Mick Hardin, a brooding-yet-obliging combat veteran and Army CID agent. Home on leave, Hardin is faced with both personal problems and escalating culture wars. Then he gets embroiled in a murder investigation to help his sister, who has recently risen to sheriff. CONTINUE READING …
FAVORITE BLUEGRASS TUNES
The mandolin and fiddle/violin have their notes in the same spots, which is why Abit Bradshaw can play so many bluegrass fiddle tunes on his mando. You can find all of these tunes on YouTube. Give them a listen while you’re reading my Appalachian Mountain Mysteries. You’ll swear you can feel the cool mountain breeze as it rustles the leaves of the yellow buckeyes and sugar maples some 4,000 feet above the sea. CONTINUE READING …
TBR: Peter likes the chemistry of this series
I never got on very much with chemistry at school. Going into the chemistry lab – a place of peculiar smells – involved putting on a white coat. At the age of 11, we all looked like a posse of very young doctors searching for reluctant patients.
I was reminded of this the other day when I started to read again a favorite series. CONTINUE READING …
READING ROOTS
Readers share reflections on how they became bibliophiles. CHECK IT OUT!
NEXT WEEK:
A new short story is coming your way from Lynda’s trove of Appalachian mystery stories. Plus book recommendations and a special Spotlight from the Editor.
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