Be an Honorary Mysterian

Thanks to Village Books in Bellingham--their motto is "building community one book at a time"--I have started a mystery book club--The Bellingham Mysterians. We will be meeting for the first time in May and our first book up will be Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris. This is the first in a series of mysteries set in Saudi Arabia, the tale of a missing girl who is found drowned in the desert. the book has been praised for its sense of place, and I'm looking forward to reading it. If you'd like to be a part of the Mysterians, please follow us @bhammysterians. And I'll be posting here about what everyone thought of the book.

QUEEN MAB by Kate Danley

I am a sucker for beautiful book covers (Why yes, I do judge a book by its cover) so when I saw the cover for Kate Danley's fantasy novel Queen Mab in one of my newsletters this morning, I immediately clicked on the link. I looked her up and realized that this is a woman whose books I need to read NOW. (On her Amazon author page she includes the information that she went on Hollywood Squares and lost.) You can just tell she doesn't take herself too seriously despite her impressive credentials.

Queen Mab has garnered a slew of awards and when I went Googling around looking for information on it, I discovered that it has gone through three covers. The crown/arrow one here is the most recent but she's also tried out several others, including one that (sorry Kate) looks like every cover of a paranormal romance ever created with a stock photo. (I use stock photos and illustrators myself. So do we all. But that cover did not POP. Not the way the other two did.) So, I CANNOT wait to read this book. Has anyone else read it? If you want to know more about Kate and her books, check out her website here. You can also follow her on Twitter (@katedanley) or find her on Facebook.

For the TBR pile

As I promised, it's going to be all mysteries, all the time soon here at Kattomic Energy, but life has been interfering. For one thing, I've been busy finishing DAUGHTER OF THE MIDNIGHT KING, the sequel to my debut fantasy romance, BRIDE OF THE MIDNIGHT KING. Bride started out as a lark--write a vampire version of Cinderella--and to my surprise, it's turned into my best-selling book. Who knew? The sequel weaves "Sleeping Beauty" into the mix. It's been a lot of fun. But I digress. Coming very soon, I will have reviews of the following:

Eve Paludan and Stuart Sharp's "witchy detective" series, which sounds like way too much fun. Dale Phillips' books A Memory of Grief and Fall From Grace. Fireproof by Gerard Brennan. Fireproof is another book from Blasted Heath, which consistently offers interesting fare. Also upcoming is the first book that my new bookclub--the Bellingham Mysterians--will be reading. It's Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris.

It's going to be a great month for reading mysteries.

The Big Thrill is available

And as always,this publication from The International Thriller Writers is packed with goodies, Go get it.

the Stats Don't Lie! Women Love Thrillers

there's an interesting article over at The Telegraph today, a story by Rebecca Whitney filled with facts and figures about how many women read thrillers. (Spoiler--way more than men.) This is interesting in the face of the ongoing frustration among women crime fiction writers being dismissed or ignored when it comes to things like...annual anthologies of best stories. Read the story here.

Eric Beetner's The Year I Died Seven Times--coming next week

It's the beginning of March mayhem@! Coming next week from Eric Beetner and Beat to a Pulp Press!

Free Historical mystery--for your Saturday reading

A Layer of Darkness by R. A. Niles is set in 1945 San Francisco. Get it here. Here's the book's description: In 1945 during the closing months of World War II, British statesman Nigel Cunningham lies dead, burnt and smoldering in the fetal position on a cold garage floor in San Francisco. As the crime scene begins to reveal numerous irregularities, Police Inspector Andrew Johnson senses a twisted case of appearances and realities and a frightening truth ultimately revealed by the grisly corpse at his feet. After FBI agent Ryan Kinahan is brought in with a rush of justice to convict local war veteran Mario Romano, Johnson becomes convinced of federal corruption. He finds himself pitted against his lifetime nemesis of dirty cops, but at a new level as the case opens links going up the chain of command in war time politics.