Maggie Hope is back and better than ever.

This (#8) may just be my favorite installment of the Maggie Hope Mystery series yet.

Maggie finds herself in a cooler for agents returning from missions or agents that may know too much. With their superiors afraid they may share secrets, these spies become prisoners on a island west of Scotland.

When her fellow prisoners begin dying one by one, Maggie must figure who among her peers is the killer. And why? Can she reach out to SOE in time to be saved?

Note: I believe this series must be read in order so that you can get the full experience of character development.

I’m anxiously awaiting #9!

1. I feel like the title of this book is misleading for readers. Yes, faith is including in the subtitle, but it should be included in the main title as it really is the main theme of the book.

2. I was expecting a lot of facts about BTK, his life before he killed, the trial etc. Instead I got 60% faith, 20% events in Kerri’s life that could be possibly related to her dad being a murderer, and 20% actual facts about the case.

3. I did get a lot out of her struggle with mental illness and her going to others for help.


If you’re looking for a book full of facts about BTK, this isn’t it.

If you’re looking for a book about a daughter over coming mental illness after her father’s arrest, this would be good for you. If you’re looking for faith and coming to Christ as a young adult and after your father is arrested for murder, this would be good for you.

This is the first installment of the Art Deco Mystery series that I have read. Thank you Kensington Books and Netgalley for this e-ARC for an honest review.

As the is the first installment of the series that I have read, I was a little confused at first about character background. However, I do not think it is necessary to read the other two installments first.

The Pearl Dagger follows Lane Sanders, the aide to NYC Mayor La Guardia. However, there is more to lane than just her day time job at a desk. Pearl Dagger starts out with Lane and her investigator report friend Rourke following and later being chased by two men. After climbing out on a ledge about Grand Central Station, The Pearl Dagger shifts to Lane later being sent to London with her boyfriend and NYC Cop Finn by Mayor La Guardia to dig into what is going on with a troublesome woman named Daphne, who is apparently the heir to a gang/mob/troublesome group called the Red Scrolls.

Along the way, Finn has to battle with family drama that he left behind in England after coming to New York. While there, Lane and Finn find about more about not just his family, but hers as well as they meet with people from her parents' passed that are also connected to Daphne.

In London we see cameos from Mr. Winston Churchill (before he was PM), J.R.R Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.

Things heat up as Lane and Finn return to NYC, where they are both targets of Daphne and her crew. Between a coworker's funeral, Valentine's Day and some Voodoo MacBeth, will the two live to see another day?

As someone who loves cozy little art deco mysteries, like this I am glad that I got the opportunity to read and review this book.

It reminded me a bit of Susan Elia MacNeal's Maggie Hope series set around the same time in London. I can't wait to read the first two installments of this series in order to understand more of the character development.

Unpopular opinion it seems. The last book that made me this uncomfortable was All the Ugly and Wonderful Things. Don’t get me wrong, I love books with murder and possible stalkers, but Joe as a stalker obsessed with sex and killing anyone who gets in the way of the woman he wants just made me feel disgusting for reading it.

Also, I found Beck and all of her friends, especially Peach to be so annoying.

I doubt I’ll be picking up the next book.

This is the fourth romance that I’ve read this year and it may be my favorite. How am I just now getting to Christina Lauren books?

The duo has the ability to craft amazing books with quirky, fun romances.

I mean who doesn’t have a dream to marry a guy from abroad?

I loved it, but needed more of Nina and Lennox.

Wow. When I first saw the synopsis for this book I thought, “this seems right up my alley”, and it was.

After Kilimanjaro is a coming of age story for a young doctor nearing the end of her surgical training when she takes a research position in Tanzania. After her fiancé David has to back out after his funding dries up, Sarah departs for a life changing journey.

Enter Pieter, Margo, Ameera, and Rasheed: the group of people that will pave the way for huge life changes for Sarah.

When Sarah’s research becomes entangled with training traditional birth attendants to do more with their patients, she also learns more about female genital mutilation and why is happens.

Dr. Gayle Woodson combined medicine, romance, and a virus outbreak into one great novel. I recommend this to anyone who has thought about taking a year to do research or anyone who wants to get away in their mind to a land where there are beautiful birds, leopards, and life changing events.

Thank you Book Sparks, She Writes Press, and Dr. Gayle Woodson for a copy in return for an honest review.

I listened to the audiobook and sadly had to force myself to finish it solely because of the narrator.

This four star rating is just for the content of the book. John Douglas shared several cases that have stuck with the crime community for years with several more details than we may have previously known. The sections on Jack the Ripper and Lizzie Borden were especially interesting as I did not enjoy the book, The Trials of Lizzie Borden, which I previously read this year (2019).

I do agree with other reviews that at times, especially in the section on JonBenet, Douglas seemed a little too self absorbed. However, he does make a good point that while the case of JonBenet still gets publicity to this day, there are other deaths of children that get nowhere as much attention as her case does.

3.5-4 star rating.

Lilly Singh is hilarious. With her personality and her experience in the entertainment industry, she shares with readers (or audiobook listeners) some tips on how to conquer life while not forgetting YOUR own goals.

I listened to the audiobook and highly recommend.

David Grann covered a story of the Osage Nation that has seemed to be buried under other stories that the country deems more important.

The Osage are a Midwestern Native American tribe that were driven from their lands in Kansas into Oklahoma. The land they then settled on would change their lives forever.

The land was oil rich and that brought greedy white men into their world. Tribal members had rights to what money came from the oil, and that is what became the plague to a nation.

The United States didn't deem the Osage could handle their own money. Therefore, a handler was assigned to each person who had head rights in the the land to handle money flow.

This law would lead to the greed of an uncle and a nephew to take out members of their own family.

Read this and follow David through his research into what really happened in the years surrounding the time when dozens of Osage were killed.

I just heard that there is a documentary movie that will be made, which is backed by the Osage, and I am interested to see how to turns out.