Category: Contemporary

Vortex by Catherine Coulter

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Contemporary, Mystery3 Comments

Vortex (FBI Thriller #25)Barbara’s Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Series: FBI Thriller #25
Publication Date: 8/10/21
Period: Contemporary Washington DC & New York
Number of Pages: 400

I always look forward to the next release in this series and I am absolutely never disappointed. This book, as always, was well-written, well-plotted, well-delivered, and had engaging and relatable characters. We follow Sherlock and Savich as they wade through the clues and solve two different cases. The cases are very different and both are very interesting.


Sherlock’s case with Mia/Thomas/Julia

I quickly came to admire Mia Briscoe. She is so very brave and once she gets her first clue, she is doggedly determined to solve the mystery of what happened to her best friend seven years ago. Serena disappeared without a trace from a frat party she and Mia had attended, and there hasn’t been a trace of her or what happened since then. Then, out of the blue, a blurry picture is unearthed and it sets everything in motion. Mia does most of the investigation on her own and Sherlock isn’t involved until closer to the end of the case – once Mia has nearly been murdered. Mia has many obstacles in her path – some of those obstacles are very rich, powerful, politically inclined, families. You’ll love Mia and those she enlists to help her and you’ll love the way the case unfolds and wraps up.


Savich’s case with Olivia

When a foreign national tries to murder CIA agent Olivia Hildebrandt, the case falls under the jurisdiction of the FBI – particularly Agent Dillon Savich, head of the Criminal Apprehension Unit. To say the CIA is unhappy with that turn of events is putting it lightly. The CIA’s unhappiness doesn’t faze Savich in the least and he proceeds to protect Olivia and solve the case of the missing CIA agent, Mike Kingman, and the flash drive he carried. The CIA is inclined to believe Kingman is a traitor and has stolen the flash drive, but Olivia is absolutely sure that isn’t the case – and Savich believes Olivia. What is on that drive that is worth a foreign entity hunting down and murdering a CIA operative? Is there a traitor in the CIA? Who compromised the mission to retrieve the flash drive? Leave it to Savich and his intrepid crew to solve it all and see to the appropriate punishment.

I can highly recommend this book and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. Have you read all of the books in the series? For a while, the author made much use of Savich’s ‘sixth sense’, but that hasn’t been mentioned in the last several books. I have to wonder if that just wasn’t a popular thing or if it was just easier to write the stories with it. It certainly doesn’t detract from the stories, but – you have to wonder – if someone has a sixth sense, why wouldn’t they use it all the time?

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Blog Tour – Death Comes To Bishop’s Well by Anna Legat

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Contemporary, MysteryLeave a comment
Publication Date: August 26, 2021

Death Comes to Bishops Well

When Sam Dee moves to the beautiful Wiltshire village of Bishops Well, he expects a quiet life of country walks and pub lunches. OK, so his new neighbour, Maggie Kaye, is a little peculiar, but she’s very nice – and his old pal Richard Ruta lives just down the road.

But when Richard throws one of his famous parties, things take a sinister turn. Sam, Maggie and the rest of the guests are dumbfounded when Richard falls down dead. A horrible tragedy – or a cunningly planned murder?

With a village full of suspects – and plenty of dark secrets – just who exactly would want to bump off their host? Is there a connection to another mysterious death, nearly twenty years before?

Armed with her local knowledge, Maggie – with Sam’s reluctant but indispensable help – is soon on the case. But when the body count starts to rise, will sleepy Bishops Well ever be the same again?

Purchase Links

UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Comes-Bishops-Well-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B093XV385N

US – https://www.amazon.com/Death-Comes-Bishops-Well-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B093XV385N

Author Bio:

Anna Legat is a Wiltshire-based author, best known for her DI Gillian Marsh murder mystery series. Murder isn’t the only thing on her mind. She dabbles in a wide variety of genres, ranging from dark humorous comedy, through magic realism to dystopian. A globe-trotter and Jack-of-all-trades, Anna has been an attorney, legal adviser, a silver-service waitress, a school teacher and a librarian. She has lived in far-flung places all over the world where she delighted in people-watching and collecting precious life experiences for her stories. Anna writes, reads, lives and breathes books and can no longer tell the difference between fact and fiction.

Social Media Links – Anna’s News, Rumours and Scandalous Revelations at https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/j6b7k1
To find out more: https://annalegat.com/
Follow Anna on Twitter: www.twitter.com/LegatWriter
Join Anna on Facebook: www.facebook.com/AnnaLegatAuthor/

Barbara’s Review

Bishops Well is a quaint market town populated by some eccentric citizens. The author does an excellent job of painting a picture of Bishops Well for us, as well as fleshing out each of the citizens as they are introduced. Several of those citizens are directly involved in our murder investigation, and, of course, we learn a whole lot more about them. Actually, we have two murders to solve – are they related?

Our main characters are Maggie Kaye and Samuel (Sam) Dee who became neighbors a few months ago when Maggie divided her grandparent’s large home in two and sold one half of it to Sam who was moving to Bishops Well from London. Both characters are middle-aged and generally pretty staid. Maggie is a spinster; a busybody; a part-time school teacher; a bit larger and jigglier than she’d like; an avid gardener; and perhaps, an alcoholic given the amount of alcohol she consumes in this story. Sam is a recent widower who is still in deep mourning for his wife. He decided to retire from his law practice and move from London because he needed to be someplace where he wasn’t constantly reminded of his wife, Alice. Oh – by the way – did I mention Maggie sees dead people? Well, she does. They don’t communicate with each other in any way, but she sees them nonetheless. She even sees Sam’s dead wife.

One of the residents of Bishops Well is the famed movie director Richard Ruta and his current (third) wife Penny. Richard and Sam have been friends for a great many years, so it is nice to have a friend within the town. Sam still isn’t really ready for socializing, but Richard insists that Sam attend his sixty-eighth birthday party. Since Richard also insists on him bringing a plus-one, Sam invites his neighbor to attend with him. Little do they know that Richard will be dead before the night is over – and right before their eyes.

Maggie and Sam (particularly Maggie) can’t seem to keep their curiosity under control and are constantly butting in and asking questions. Then, there is a second murder. Someone in their village must be a murderer – or is it someone from the village?

I liked that the characters in this book were older, but, overall, it just wasn’t an exciting read, nor was it fast-paced. There were lots of red herrings and lots of people with motives for wanting to commit the murders, so you could be guessing until the end – but it isn’t likely. You’ll probably figure out who it was very early on, but you won’t know the full why of it until the end when it is revealed. I wasn’t particularly enamored with nor excited about either of the lead characters. I will probably read the next title in the series, At Death’s Door, and see where things go from there.