Rocket Girl

Kick Johnson Mystery, #1

by

Diane Vallere

A riveting space race mystery in a nostalgic Dallas setting.

Rocket Girl is the first book in Diane Vallere's delightfully nostalgic Kick Johnson Mystery series, set in an exciting, booming 1960s Dallas, Texas, during the first year of the Kennedy administration. Kathleen "Kick" Johnson, a recent widow, soon discovers her new life as a single woman is an unfair, uphill battle without a male head of the household. Banking, credit, and major appliance purchases were suddenly beyond her reach, and ready funds were soon to run out. While Trudy, her older sister, urged her to return to her old job at the airplane parts firm and find another husband there, Kick longed for independence and equity as she charted her own course for the future. Thinking she may have finally found her niche as a math aide at the top-secret Center for Rocket Science Research, Kick's dream career is almost over before it has even begun when she stumbles across the body of one of the research engineers. Things get even dicier when Kick discovers the murdered man may have had a connection to her late husband, who died in a tragic workplace accident at the airplane parts firm. 

Kick is an engaging, sympathetic main character, thrust into the unpleasant realities of women's financial plight in the 60s. Equality for women has come a long way when comparatively viewed, yet there are still ridiculous constraints and prejudices at play today. Kick flourished under her older sister's care and sacrifices, and while she is aware of this on a superficial level, it takes deep consideration to understand what this meant for Trudy. Her older sister had, in effect, given up her teenage and young adult years to provide a secure home for her when their widowed mother had passed away at an early age. The sisters' relationship is evolving, and the changes are painful for both young women. Still, they keep returning to each other to work through their feelings and shape their shared vision for the future. 

Growing up, Kick's interests and strengths lay in science and math, uncommon for girls of the era, so they were ignored or discouraged rather than nurtured. It was satisfying to watch this character blossom as she found a comfort zone with the people and in the tasks supporting the NASA missions. It may be surprising to some to note the racial integration among the female staff then, though the directors and managers were solidly all white males. 

The plot gets edgy right away with Kick experiencing the financial discrimination against women and the quick discovery of a murder victim at her new workplace. With the divisive political climate and the rocket center's absolute need for secrecy in their work, rumors of stolen plans and traitors add another layer of mystery and danger. Kick doesn't know who she can trust as she investigates a secret connection between the dead man and her late husband, whom she's coming to realize kept his own secrets. As she gets closer to the truth, she also gets closer to a new relationship with a handsome, friendly engineer also working at the rocket center. 

The 1961 Dallas setting is fresh and still nostalgic, with the author imbuing the city with the excitement and explosive growth of an up-and-coming urban center. Mentions of real locations and historic figures were fun, though some were sobering, as they couldn't help but foreshadow the tragic history to come two years later. The author creates a solid framework of clues that sharp-eyed armchair detectives will enjoy putting together, and the final resolution proves highly satisfying. 

I recommend ROCKET GIRL to readers of historical mysteries. 

For this and other book reviews, visit by blog, Boys' Mom Reads!

All That Was Left Unsaid

by

Danielle Dragona

Long-held secrets come to light after the death of a woman's spouse.

All That Was Left Unsaid is a new women's fiction novel by Danielle Dragona that explores how a new widow is forced to face her new future, and I was glued to every page, so immersed in the story that I read it in one evening. After the death of her husband from cancer, Katrina Johnson must come to terms with the secrets he had been keeping throughout their long marriage. While working through her grief, she comes face to face with betrayal, disillusionment, and, eventually, her own mortality. 

Katrina, the main character, met and married Sam Johnson during the Vietnam War, and theirs was what people called "a traditional marriage": he was the breadwinner, and she was the stay-at-home mom and homemaker. Never holding a job outside the home, except for an exceptional level of volunteerism for their small community, and not the one paying the bills, she is shocked when she uncovers some of Sam's secret financial activities. Katrina is also forced to confront the evidence of Sam's infidelity, the pain of which still lingers in her and their two grown children. Each has handled their father's long-ago betrayal in different ways, the damaging effects of which have long impacted their relationships with each other and potential partners as well. 

The story is riveting. Just as you think Katrina's situation has hit rock bottom, a new twist comes along to dig the hole a little deeper. However, I wasn't surprised when one of the hits she takes involves her health, as I've seen this happen time and time again in real life. The descriptions of the medical treatments she undergoes are vivid and realistic. I was worried she would face additional complications as more details about Sam's infidelity were revealed. 

The best part of the story for me was the evolving relationships between Katrina, her friends – old and new, her adult children, and herself. Katrina experiences such growth, which felt especially amazing considering her age. She starts out so lost, hurt, and angry, and through her experiences becomes the woman she always wanted to become. It is all that she goes through to get to her destination, her journey, that makes this book such a satisfying page-turner. You may need tissues. 

I recommend ALL THAT WAS LEFT UNSAID to readers of women's fiction. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours.

Holmes Away From Home

Althea Adler Mystery, #1

by

Samantha Larsen

Despite not wanting to follow in the footsteps of her mother, Althea follows in the footsteps of her mother!

Holmes Away From Home is the first book in the fun, new Sherlockian Althea Adler Mystery series by author Samantha Larsen, featuring the daughter of Irene Adler, Holmes’s only adversary to get the better of him. In this charming debut, Althea, called upon by her mother to break into a safe in Holmes’s study but with no idea of what she is to retrieve, ends up at a weekend country house party, building relationships and looking for clues. But among the other guests is a troublesome young nobleman, Lord Sheffield, who has his own secret agenda for being there and a knack for getting in her way. 

The story is delightful, and the main characters, Althea and William, are so engaging that I was easily and completely drawn in from the start. Larsen tells a compelling tale, and I would have loved to binge the book if I could have! While William is hiding his true nature and motives for wanting entrée to Lord Slough’s orbit, Althea gets dragged along, really only wanting to curry favor with Slough’s sister, Lady Sarah, and her best friend, Rosie Watson, the daughter of Holmes’s Watson, whose personal journals may hold the key to Althea’s past: the identity of her father. 

I recommend HOLMES AWAY FROM HOME to historical cozy mystery readers, especially those with a tendre for Sherlock Holmes pastiches.

For this and other book reviews, check out my blog - Boys' Mom Reads!

Darkness Falls

Detective Nathan Parker, #5

by

James L’Etoile

Parker is thrust into a riveting personal battle to save his family.

Darkness Falls is the fifth book in author James L’Etoile’s riveting Detective Nathan Parker series, and its main character is locked in the ultimate battle to save his loved ones. Called to a remote drug lab and the scene of a double homicide in an unsavory corner of Maricopa County known to law enforcement as “Tweaker Heights,” Nathan and his partner, Barry Johns, discover one of the bodies is that of ‘The Birdman,’ a mysterious and, until now, elusive drug supplier, whose product has been all the rage among the more affluent college students and clubgoers in the greater Phoenix area. But smack in the middle of the crime scene, Nathan finds a familiar blue backpack, filled with the college textbooks and cellphone of his foster son, Miguel. 

The underlying political goals driving the action make for a shocking motive. A county outsider with ties to an out-of-control private militia, the Night Watch, wants to win the coming election for sheriff, and drugs, migrants, and illegal immigrants are hot topics, both locally and nationally. The story is an absolute page-turner as Nathan and Barry try to get in front of the plans of the manipulative candidate and his cronies, who have infiltrated not only their own department but also the local offices of critical federal agencies. From the start, the partners can’t be sure who to trust or who is leaking vital information to the bad guys. The plot has shocking twists and turns, and I was quickly and deeply drawn in by both the suspense and the relatable concerns of a parent with grown sons. 

While all the series books have been cases with deadly personal ties for Parker, this one manages to up the ante, involving both Miguel and Linda, Nathan’s pregnant love interest. This story hits on so many parents’ nightmares with Miguel becoming the target of powerful but hidden forces, his son’s complicity in the danger, and the senseless deaths of several young students barely into their teen years. Nathan doesn’t want to believe Miguel is involved, but the clues are not adding up in his favor. It is up to Barry Johns to be the more detached, uninvolved investigator, leaving Nathan to do what he can to find who and what are really behind the murders and the influx of deadly contaminated drugs into their community. Nathan has been a target before, but with his son in the crosshairs and a new baby on the way, the stakes are so much higher than ever before. 

I recommend DARKNESS FALLS to readers of thrillers, mystery, suspense, and especially fans of the previous novels in the series. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours.

Invisible Justice

Kyle McMann & Graham Kurland Medical Thrillers, #1

by

Gary Brown, MD

A riveting tale of dedicated doctors and vigilante justice.

Invisible Justice is the first book in author Dr. Gary Brown's electric new Kyle McMann & Graham Kurland Medical Thrillers series, and readers will be glued to their seats as this exciting story unfolds. The story is so well done and polished that I was surprised and delighted to learn this is the author's fiction debut! 

After losing her younger brother in an unsolved crime of violence, Dr. Kyle McMann struggles with guilt that she failed to save his life when he showed up in the ER where she was working. Other medical professionals who have also suffered similarly tragic losses join together to form the secret group called The Tribunal, where the members agree to enact retribution for victims whose perpetrators have escaped justice. Made up of medical doctors and two former Navy SEALs, The Tribunal's methods of punishment are ingenious, undetectable, and strive to fit the crime they are avenging. But a new doctor at the hospital where Kyle works has brought his own brand of brilliance to his job and is often only steps behind Kyle in figuring out what is wrong with the patients who were The Tribunal's targets. Relying on The Godfather's adage, "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer," Kyle sets out to get close to Dr. Graham Kurland, only to discover a real connection forming between them. 

After her devastating loss, Kyle McMann suffers her own medical emergency and is lucky to have survived. But as soon as she's able, she makes up any lost time, thriving while researching, writing, and advancing her career until she's one of the youngest department heads at her teaching hospital in Philadelphia. Graham Kurland, a decorated veteran, enters the medical profession after successfully preserving his family's business and serving in the military. He gives his new career his all, and it shows. I loved that these two middle-aged go-getters are both in a position to pursue their mutual attraction freely. They make a great couple, and their scenes together are fun and flirty, but with an underlying tension as Kyle tries to keep Graham from discovering her secret agenda and the true nature of The Tribunal's targets' afflictions. 

The story is told through multiple points of view, and not just those of the two main characters. Good guys and bad guys alike have a part of the narrative, so readers know, without a doubt, who's who. The good guys have moments where they struggle with their actions but are convinced they are doing the right thing. The bad guys are overtly evil people, and the deeds attributed to them are heinous and shocking at times. The ingenious methods of retribution that the doctors on The Tribunal develop will take your breath away. The author writes with authority but explains medical details so clearly that even untrained readers can follow the plot: gripping and graphic, without delving too deeply into the science or relying on jargon that might go over the layperson reader's head. 

With its compelling plot and engaging, complex characters, I recommend INVISIBLE JUSTICE to readers of medical thrillers.

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