Tag Archives: mystery

Interview with My Fellow Pets Blogger and Mystery Author Courtney Mroch

Recently, Courtney and I decided it would be fun to interview each other. After all, we’re both writers and pet lovers. So read on, and learn something you maybe didn’t know about my awesome blogging partner, Courtney Mroch! Aimee: What kind of things do you write about? (Genre, subject matter, themes, what have you.) Courtney: I’m not prejudiced to any form of writing except maybe poetry (and that’s only ’cause I suck at it) so I pretty much write everything. Essays, short stories, novels, articles… Whatever notion my muse strikes me with, I run with it. As far as genre … Continue reading →

The Deep End – Traci Hunter Abramson

In “The Deep End” by LDS author Traci Hunter Abramson, CJ Whitmore has been in the Witness Protection Program for three years, ever since she saw her good friend Chase killed. He had been investigating some shady dealings involving government corruption and diamonds, and was killed before he could share what he knew. The bad guys have been hunting CJ ever since, not wanting her to testify, but also believing that she has the missing diamonds, and they want them back. Matt Whitmore, CJ’s husband, is a baseball player and in the public eye. He and CJ can’t openly be … Continue reading →

Tangled Roots – G. G. Vandagriff

“Tangled Roots” is the third genealogical mystery by LDS author G.G. Vandagriff. When we last saw Alex Campbell, she and her business partner, Briggie, had been to Oxford to solve a question of lineage. While there, Alex began to develop feelings for one of the players in the case, a handsome man named Charles who ended up being a distant cousin. Upon her return to the States, Alex realized that her old friend Daniel was interested in her as well, causing feelings of confusion. As we go into “Tangled Roots,” we see that RootSearch Inc. has been hired to do … Continue reading →

Reasonable Doubt – Marcia Mickelson

Julia was the victim of rape while in law school, and she can’t help the feelings of anger and hatred she feels whenever she has to interact with men. Now as a promising lawyer in a firm comprised entirely of men, she is working extra hard to earn her place as partner, not wanting to be held back because of her gender. It doesn’t make things any easier that her boss is a sports fan and likes to take the guys out for a round of golf from time to time, leaving her out in the cold. At night, Julia … Continue reading →

A Kiss before Dying (1956)

“A Kiss before Dying” is a murder mystery/suspense movie starring Robert Wagner and Joanne Woodward as college lovers Bud and Dorie. When Dorie tells Bud she’s pregnant, he sees his dreams for his future go up in smoke. Dorie comes from a rich family, and his plan had been to worm his way into her father’s heart, become the darling of the family, and take over the financial interests of the family mine. But now, with Dorie pregnant, he knows he’ll never get on the father’s good side. (Too bad he didn’t think about that before . . . ) … Continue reading →

Author Interview: G.G. Vandagriff

We are joined today by LDS author G.G. Vandagriff. G.G., thank you for granting me this interview. It’s a pleasure to have this opportunity. I’ve reviewed your first two novels, “Cankered Roots” and “Of Deadly Descent” here on Families.com, and will be reviewing your latest release, “Tangled Roots,” this next week. Each of these books feature a genealogist as the main character, and you’re obviously a genealogist yourself. How long have you been interested in genealogy? I got interested in genealogy in the late eighties after a strong impression that I should do so. It was so fun, it was … Continue reading →

The Mysterious Benedict Society – Trenton Lee Stewart

Reynie Muldoon is an orphan, but he doesn’t feel particularly bad about it because he’s never known anything different. He lives in a large orphanage filled with children who ignore him, and his only friend is his tutor. She’s a kindly older woman who has taken Reynie into her heart, and it’s a good thing, too, otherwise no one would love him at all. One morning while reading the paper, they spy an ad for children of unusual abilities. Just what these abilities are supposed to be, the ad doesn’t say, but Reynie is curious. He decides to go in … Continue reading →

Murder on a Girls’ Night Out – Anne George

“Murder on a Girls’ Night Out” is a slightly irreverent but completely hysterical cozy mystery. Patricia Anne is our point of view character, a sixty-year-old woman of slight stature who is often called by her childhood nickname of “Mouse” by her sister, Mary Alice. Mary Alice is the exact opposite of Patricia Anne in every way. She’s big and brash, uses terrible grammar, and has lots of money. Together these women are an unstoppable team, reading each other’s minds and finishing the other’s sentences. This premiere book in the series won the Agatha Award for Best First Mystery Novel, and … Continue reading →

The Second Time Around – Mary Higgins Clark

In “The Second Time Around,” we meet Carley DeCarlo, a journalist who writes financial advice columns. Her baby died ten years ago from a heart defect, and her husband couldn’t take the stress and left. Now alone and supporting herself, Carley feels like she’s put her life back together, but she hesitates to trust again. Her mother has remarried, and her step-father’s daughter, Lynn, is cool and distant. Lynn’s husband, Nicholas Spencer, is everything Lynn is not. He’s charming, warm, and personable. He owns a company called Gen-stone which is devoted to seeking out a cure for cancer. He believes … Continue reading →

Serpent Tide – K. L. Fogg

”Serpent Tide,” a young adult adventure novel by author K. L. Fogg, is an exciting read. Wesley Vandergriff is a rich twelve-year-old who is coddled and protected to within an inch of his life by his mother, Imogene. His father isn’t in the picture, but Imogene makes up for that lack with toys, games, lavish birthday parties, tuition at an exclusive private school – in fact, the only thing Wesley doesn’t have is a life. His mother keeps him so safe and so protected, he never gets to go anywhere or have any fun. One day he finally gets the … Continue reading →