Losing yourself in a book is magical, enlightening, and entertaining.
My interest in a book may be different from yours. Choosing a novel requires the right mood, time, and head space.
My tastes change throughout the year. Recently, I have drowned my literary palette in historical and techno-thrillers, action-packed adventures, and cozy culinary mysteries.
I discovered these stories at different times of the month, especially when I was winding down from a busy work week or writing my novels for deadline. I varied my reading experiences before bedtime from settings in far-flung locales in action-packed thrillers to small-town whodunits and locked-room mysteries.
One of the books I chose to cuddle up with this month is a small-town bakeshop mystery set in the foothills in Ashland, Oregon, in Ellie Alexander’s satisfying whodunit, “A Batter of Life or Death.”
The popular series’ protagonist, Jules Capshaw, sets out to help promote her family’s bake shop, Torte, by competing in the Pastry Channel’s reality show Take the Cake. A generous award of $25,000 is on the line, but Jules soon learns that everybody will kill for that kind of dough.
As Jules enters her Bavarian Chocolate Cake recipe into the stiff competition and sets out to beat her tough competitors, a fellow contestant dies on set.
What started as a fun, lively competition among culinary enthusiasts turns into a reality show crime scene, where everybody involved in production has become a suspect.
The series is light, breezy, and a delightful escape.
My usual reading experience consists of suspense and action-packed thrillers. Thomas Mullen and Ben Winters know how to keep the pages flying steadily and entertain their readers.
Thomas Mullen, best known for his Darktown series (“Darktown, “Lightning Men,” and “Midnight Atlanta”), returns with another gripping historical thriller, “The Rumor Game.”
Set in Boston during WWII, Mullen transports readers through the tumultuous times of fascism, brutality, and violence against Jews.
Dogged reporter Anne Lemire writes a newspaper column called The Rumor Clinic that refutes fabricated information like abortions in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps and Nazis poisoning lobsters off the coastline. Rumors spread across the city, which gain momentum, creating tension and intensity among the community and impact Special Agent Devon Mulvey’s investigation into the death of a factory worker.
When both stories intersect, a dangerous cat-and-mouse game of espionage, organized crime, and fascism ensues, engulfing a city brimming with unrelenting violence.
Mullen writes white-knuckle stories and delivers a decisive, timely-debated issue with his latest tour de force.
Ben Winters (“The Last Policeman Trilogy” and “The Quiet Boy”) is one of my favorite go-to authors. His recently published original, mind-bending thriller, “Big Time,” is a breathless homerun. Crime, science fiction, mystery, and espionage are the main elements in Winter’s newest nail-biter.
The kidnapping of a young woman propels this riveting plot from page one to the very end. Winters is known for his riveting adventures, and “Big Time” incorporates many philosophical questions about life and death. The novel centers around a mother consumed by a mid-life crisis who stumbles upon a dark conspiracy to collect and sell people’s time.
Well-plotted, fully fleshed-out characters and solid pacing make Winters a master of the technological thriller.
Reading should challenge, enlighten, and, most importantly, entertain you—regardless of the genre.
Take some time for yourself. Make tea or coffee and settle in with a good book. Lose yourself in the magical world of words, characters, and settings.
— Thomas Grant Bruso is a Plattsburgh resident who writes fiction and has been an avid reader of genre fiction since he was a kid. Readers and writers are invited to connect and discuss books and writing at www.facebook.com/thomasgrantbruso