Writing from her home studios in Iowa and the Florida Keys, mystery fiction writer Dorothy Francis also is a reviewer, a writing instructor, and a guest speaker.  She is a member of Mystery Writers of America where she has served as chairman of the reading committee for the Edgar awards, juvenile division; Sisters in Crime; The Short Mystery Fiction Society; and the Key West Writer's Guild. 

Dorothy Francis' most recent mystery novel, Pier Pressure, was released January 2005; the large-print version came out in July.

Direct correspondence to Dorothy Francis or to Editor.

Love is Murder by Linda Palmer

Thorndike Press, 2004
339 pages, 1-58724-769-0

           Following her husband’s death, feisty Morgan Tyler has returned to New York City after spending several years helping her husband do wildlife photography in Africa.  Now in her thirties, she lives with a woman friend while trying to reinvent her life.  This time Morgan learns script writing from a pro and then hires on as head writer for a prestigious New York firm that produces, not soaps, but "daytime dramas."  No love is lost between Morgan and her boss, and when he’s murdered, she’s the chief suspect.  To clear her name and save her life, she decides to find the murderer by pretending her situation is one of the TV plots she writes.   She examines character relationships and investigates suspects until at last she faces and confounds the person who murdered her boss and who now intends to murder her, too.

           Written with much tongue-in-cheek humor, this book makes you laugh as it keeps you in a state of high suspense until the last page. Love is Murder also gives the reader a behind-the-scenes picture of the world in which script writers create "daytime dramas." Put this book at the top of your TBR stack.

Uncommon Grounds by Sandra Balzo

Wheeler Publishing, 2005
358 pages, 1-58724-892-1

           Sandra Balzo’s Uncommon Grounds has been nominated for both a Macavity and an Anthony for Best First Novel of the year.

           Being equally well educated as her husband, Sir Robert, Susanna Appleton plays a subtle game of one-upmanship that enables her to reach her goals. An herbalist at work writing a book , Susanna knows about herbs and what they can and cannot do for humans. When the Queen Elizabeth orders Sir Robert to deliver her greetings to the new French queen, Queen Mary, Robert plans to travel alone. And he plans for Susanna to stay at home. His job was to evaluate the political situation at the French court. And then meet with the rebel leader and access his strength. Once Sir Robert leaves her alone, Susanna disobeys him. She travels to Appleton Manor in Lancashire, Sir Robert’s neglected ancestral estate. Susanna doesn’t believe in ghosts and she plans to investigate rumors that a ghost murdered Appleton Manor’s steward, John Beckwith.

           In trying to learn whether Beckwith had been murdered , perhaps poisoned, or had died a natural death, Susanna meets with many Appleton Manor servants as well as servants from a neighboring Manor. Using her knowledge of herbs, Susanna conducts investigations that unearth many family secrets as well as the identity of John Beckwith’s murderer. This results in a don’t-ask-don’t-tell situation between Robert and Susanna, a situation in which Susanna enjoys freedoms known only to unmarried ladies and widows. Lift a tankard in honor of an early women’s libber!

           Set in Elizabethan times, this story will give you a look at the accoutrements and customs of those long-ago years while you chuckle at the humor and shiver in suspense until you find out who-done-it.

Poisoned Pen Press, 2004
426 pages, 1-59058-092-3

           Readers, suspend your disbelief early on if you want to get full enjoyment from the story of Douglas Pearce’s trip from Pottsville, Pennsylvania to the Far East. Douglas has been laid off from his brewery job, and has received a letter from a stranger, Edna Bowers, who claims to have been a friend of Doug’s uncle, Russell Pearce who was murdered years ago in Singapore. Edna offers Douglas the return of some possessions that Uncle Russell left with her. When Douglas picks up the possessions, he and Edna mingle wine and chatter until Edna offers him an all expense paid trip to the Far East if he’ll search for the man who murdered Uncle Russell and for Uncle Russell’s missing jewels. Edna’s offer sounds more interesting than finding a new job. Doug accepts.

           I assume your disbelief is still suspended as Douglas travels to Casablanca, Cairo, Bahrain (Google that one), and Singapore. In this can’t-turn-the-pages-fast-enough debut novel, Benoit takes you vicariously with Douglas Pearce on his hilarious and suspenseful journey, to market places, to hotels, both fancy and austere, to restaurants, and even to jail.

           Does Douglas find his uncle’s murderer? Does he find the missing jewels? To find out, read the story to its surprising ending. It will have you waiting and watching for Charles Benoit’s next novel. He is a writer on his way up.

           In the year 1270 England was involved in a civil war. King Henry III, as a political favor to her parents, appointed Eleanor of Wynethorpe as prioress of Tyndal Priory. Both monks and nuns lived in separate quarters at this priory as was the custom in certain parts of the realm. Eleanor’s arrival to assume her position as prioress stirred jealousies among its long-time inhabitants.

           While facing social unrest at the priory, Eleanor also faces having to investigate the recent murder of Brother Rupert, committed on priory grounds. Brother Thomas has been transferred to Tyndal Priory to investigate financial shortages that are forcing Tyndal’s occupants to face a grim winter. Brother Thomas’s life is far from lily white in the eyes of the church, but now in addition to his other duties, he also helps Eleanor investigate the murder until he is attacked on priory grounds. He survives this attack and Eleanor also survives an attempted attack in her bedchamber. What evil is afoot in these sacred grounds?

           The convoluted plot turns this way and that until Brother Thomas corners the culprit and entices him to confess to Brother Rupert’s murder as well as to cooking the priory books. At the story’s end, Eleanor has risen in the estimation of her peers and peace reigns again in Tyndal Priory.

           Readers who tend overlook books set in historical times may be drawn into a new type of reading after enjoying this book. The setting is historically correct. The characters are carefully drawn and presented. There’s suspense on every page. You are there. Using a strong theme, author Priscilla Royal points up the fact that while humans from past ages may differ greatly in their thoughts and actions, they differ hardly at all in their feelings — fear, hate, jealousy, resentment, but most of all in joy, pleasure, thankfulness, and love.

           Be on the lookout for another book by Priscilla Royal. She’s only just begun.

Thorndike/Chivers, 2004
301 pages, 0-7862-6807-7

           Kelly Conover hasn’t heard from her twin sister, Kim, for two weeks. Worried, Kelly leaves her successful real-estate business and Brad, her want-to-be-rid-of-him boyfriend, in New York City and drives to check on Kim at her home in Colorado’s rocky mountain ski country.

           Arriving two weeks earlier than expected, Kelly finds that Kim has disappeared and that someone has ransacked her home. An investigating policeman reminds Kelly that this is ski country where many homes are left unattended and where vandalism is frequent. Nor will he believe that Kim is missing, assuring Kelly that her twin has probably gone on a ski trip and will return in due time.

           Boyfriend Brad flies to Alpine Village to win Kelly’s love. Kelly welcomes his help and comfort, but she has no desire for marriage and wants Brad out of her life. He refuses to leave. Kelly learns that Kim has made enemies in Alpine Village and that those enemies think Kelly is Kim. After being threatened at an abandoned gold mine and again on the ski slopes, she welcomes Brad’s protection. Although determined to lead the single life, Kelly succumbs to Brad’s charms in bed frequently enough to keep him on the scene and hopeful of winning her hand and heart in marriage.

           So what has Kim done to win deadly enemies? Where is she now? Will Kelly die due to mistaken identity? The answers lie deep within the story’s characters and also deep within the history of Colorado and in the ways old mining towns have grown and developed into ski resorts and tourist attractions.

           Read the book for a realistic picture of ski country as well as for a plot that moves with mystery. Readers will also find enough breath-taking suspense and affairs of the heart to keep them turning the pages and hoping for the release of another romantic suspense by Dee Stuart.

Wheeler, 2004
310 pages, 1-58724-999-5

Poisoned Pen Press, 2004
457 pages, 1-59058-123-7

           Rough and rebellious, Jack Doyle has never been known as Mr. Congeniality, but he feels blindsided on the day he goes to work and finds both his desk and his advertising job gone. A former middle-weight boxer, a two-time loser in marriage, and a near alcoholic, he stops to take stock of his life and comes up with the reality that so far at age forty-something he’s a loser — a loser without a job. Where have I gone wrong, he wonders.

           An acquaintance he met at the gym befriends him in this time of need and offers him a job "fixing" a horse race. Doyle accepts and job and the easy money — and thus he’s on a down-hill slide. Seemingly innocent people involve him in schemes he regrets becoming involved in. These new friends turn on him, leave him savagely beaten and broke.

           When the FBI agents come knocking at his door, they persuade (blackmail?) him to work on their side of the law. In so doing, he tries to identify wealthy men working a horse insurance fraud. This involves not only the killing of excellent horses, but it also brings about the near-death injury of a friend also trying to identify the horse killers. The heart-stopping ending of the story shows Doyle wondering where he went right.

           Presenting well-drawn characters, subtle humor, and a tightly written plot full of chilling suspense, John McEvoy gives the newcomer to the horse racing world a look at some of the grim off-scene happenings that might take place that sport. It’s a book every horse lover and race track aficionado will want to read.

         Former policeman Evan Maitland, having resigned the Chicago police force, now is part owner of Collette’s Antiques. This furniture store features l7th and l8th century Italian and French furniture. Maitland enjoys the business and working with his partner Bianca Garibaldi. He also enjoys negotiating the price of authentic antiques with wealthy North Side Chicagoans, yet he misses the excitement of police work. To keep some suspense, action, and excitement in his life, he works on the side as a bounty hunger for Charlie Mead, a bail bondsman.

         In the course of apprehending on-the-lam Barry McDermott, who is accused of statutory rape and is out on a $300,000 bond, Maitland endeavors to earn his $30,000 fee. On a tip, he travels to Oklahoma City, learning after arriving that a Jamaican posse also searches for McDermott who has their share of almost a million dollars in drug money. In a shootout, McDermott and a Jamaican die and Maitland loses a lung. After Maitland’s recovery, the chase goes on, the Jamaicans thinking Maitland has the drug money in his possession.

         In this urban noir with a tough hero and a tough drug gang, readers will find an action packed plot that keeps them on the edge of their chairs until the last page. This is British born Hunt’s first novel and readers will be eagerly anticipating a series of Maitland adventures.

 Dorothy Francis' books are available at Amazon, directly from the publisher
Five Star Publishing, as well as most bookstores.