Dreams In Incarceration By Cillian Dunne

David Spivey is a former inmate and member of the notorious Crip gang in LA.  When Spivey was 17 years old, he murdered an 18-year-old member of a rival gang in 2006 during a turf war. Spivey has since turned his life around and is currently a motivational speaker. Cillian Dunne tells Spivey’s story.  First of all, I would like to encourage the reader to go all the way through the book.  Research David Spivey for yourself and ask questions.  The amount of time, research, patience, understanding and pure heart that it took from all parties involved is mind blowing.  It is easy to google a prison sentence.  It is easy to follow the news. To know and to understand the journey that someone like David Spivey is often unheard of and not written or spoken of.  There are several players in the game of life and how one acts and interacts with them changes that individual’s future.  Life in LA in 2006, gang violence, growing up, how to handle the battles inside of prison – those are not always accurately portrayed in made for tv movies.  This is unlike anything I have ever read before and it makes me wonder, if we all took time to understand each other like Dunne did with Spivey, how would that change the outlook of our future?

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The Vixen Amber Halloway By Carol LaHines

The Vixen Amber Halloway, is Ophelia’s jailhouse confession as she retells her story and prepares for a parole board meeting to decide if she will be released from prison. Her husband Andy had an affair and fell in love Amber Halloway and Ophelia did not take that well.  The definition of an unreliable narrator could easily be described as Ophelia in this book (my favorite of 2024 - so far). 

Dante’s Commedia (Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso) has clearly been studied, as it is seamlessly integrated into this novel. I found myself bookmarking passages and then going to look them up. I loved that!  After the affair comes out, “the hole in my (Ophelia) heart the size of a shotgun wound” would have to be filled.  She filled it with anger, revenge, punishment (“fetid bog of the irredeemable”) and obsession. 

Ophelia claims to be shy and does not like to “unburden” herself or make a “spectacle” of herself, but broken heart be damned.  While dealing with what a psychiatrist calls “a break from reality” she doles out her punishment as she sees fit per her infinite wisdom of Dante’s Commedia. My favorite part of this book was that I found myself cheering on Ophelia. It’s not that I agree with what she did, but she made it seem right and just. 

This is a must read for a book club, for any woman who has ever been wronged, and for any one who needs a page turner full of obsession and rage. Bravo Carol LaHines. I loved this. 

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The King Street Affair By Jon Sealy

Wyatt Brewer is a journalist trying to ‘get a story’ and keep the newspaper alive in Charleston, South Carolina.  He is assigned to cover a story of an unidentified Estonian who washed up on Folly Beach.  What started as a usual day at work awakens memories of things that happened in his past.  Wyatt pulls on a string and unwinds a story that he wasn’t expecting.  People connected by love, corruption, money and possible nefarious activity.  Because greed is always a big player hiding in the dark. 

Jon Sealy will be an author that I will read from here on out.  He has taken a spy thriller and mixed it with a Southern mystery perfectly.  Love, duplicity, insinuations and coincidence play a part in every chapter.   If you need a book that has a deceased benefactor, global instability, agency operatives, international scandals, Estonian gangsters, economic opportunity zones and more, this is a must read.  I know that sounds like a lot, but Sealy places each topic perfectly together and the pages will continue to turn. This one left me with my mouth hanging open, wanting answers and knowing that there could easily be more to this story.

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The Poisoned Pen

Moneymaker By Josh Boldt

This was my first book by Josh Boldt and my first journey with Mack Abbott.  Little did I know that Moneymaker is a prequel to Slurry and how Mack ends up in Kentucky. As soon as I finished, I wanted to see what was next for Mack.  Lucky for me, no waiting!!

Set in 1997, Mack Abbott, Navy Veteran and surveillance specialist, has an unknown employer who wants him to watch and follow a drug shipment that is coming into Savanah.  Sounds easy enough, right?  No guns, just keep an eye on it, follow it and well….. you will see.   Have you ever walked into a big spider web, and you can’t get it off?   That is exactly what happens to Mack when he gets to Savanah.  The longer he stays and watches the more he becomes entangled in a web of secrets and lies and money. 

This is a gritty and seedy crime thriller that is filled with morally grey characters and takes you back in time where a criminal underbelly hides in a beautiful Southern town.  Boldt’s prose both immerses and pulls the reader along with perfect pacing always wondering who can Mack trust? Who are his allies and foes; and what will happen next for Mack?   

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A Better World By Sarah Langan

A Better World is a dystopian psychological thriller that will have you thinking about your future and asking yourself a lot of questions.  What secrets are being hidden from us?  How easy are we all led around?  What will you do for your family?

Richard, Linda and their twins are living in turmoil.  During the ‘Era of the Great Unwinding’ all things that people came to depend on (ie healthcare, government, roads) were falling apart. The world was split between the haves and the have nots, the colonies, and the cities, the clean and the dirty, the fed and the hungry.

Richard had the ability to get his family into a colony, Pleasant Valley (PV).  PV and other colonies are owned by Better World, the producer of Omnium and the only way to survive. BetterWorld offered everything they needed to stay alive, to raise their family and to prosper.  However, outsiders are not easily welcomed.  There are conditions to be met, barters to be made and traditions to learn. 

Once they get to PV, everything is not how it seems and fitting in does not seem possible.  They must learn, accept, and participate in a series of customs, events and beliefs called The Hollow.  Adapting must be quick and quiet without fanfare.  The family must break into the right clique to get their ‘Golden Ticket’ (a lifetime pass into the colony).  Linda breaks into the right group of women and is able to practice medicine.  However, she doesn’t like to take things at face value.  Linda is a doctor, her husband does research, they have lived outside the walls and the numbers are not adding up.  Linda is warned over and over again to stop asking questions.  The more answers she gets, the more frightened she becomes.  Can they ever leave PV?

Let me leave you with this… Cognitive dissonance is real.  Should you accept the discomfort you feel and get in line with the others, or do you do what aligns with your morals?

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The Book Dragon
The Poisoned Pen

Relentless By Michael Maloof

I will be recommending Relentless—period. No questions asked. I absolutely loved this book. Michael Maloof has delivered a high-octane thriller that balances breakneck pacing with emotional weight, and I was not prepared for how deeply it would hit me. I don’t cry over books, especially not thrillers—but this one got me. To have a male author write a female protagonist with such authenticity and depth that it breaks through my emotional armor? That’s a winner in my eyes.

Kate Preacher is the kind of lead you instantly root for: tough, brilliant, and emotionally complex. From the opening pages, the story never lets go—packed with high-stakes action, globe-trotting danger, and a conspiracy centered on a chillingly plausible piece of tech. Despite the shifting players and international locations, nothing feels overwhelming; it all clicks together seamlessly. And the supporting cast? I loved every single one. They’re more than just background—they’re distinct, fleshed out, and integral to story.  The linear timeline keeps the momentum strong, while the standout dialogue breathes life into every scene. And just when you think you have the plot figured out, it flips again.

Relentless reads like the second or third book in a series—in the best way. You’re dropped into Kate’s world mid-stride, and as the pages turn, her backstory begins to unfold naturally, adding layers without info-dumping. This makes her feel lived-in, real, and fully formed from the start. It’s rare to find a debut that’s this polished, this emotionally resonant, and this unrelentingly gripping. I’m already diving into book two, because Kate Preacher is a force, and I’m all in.

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Chapter 2 Books
Murder By The Book
Once Upon A Crime
The Book Dragon
The Poisoned Pen

The Hollywood Con Queen By Scott C. Johnson

Hargobind Tahilramani was able to cause at least 500 victims to lose around $2 million over the course of his (yes I said it – his) run.  While long believed to be a female, that was in fact wrong.   Tahilramani was able to impersonate both male and female Hollywood executives in order to take advantage of makeup artists, stunt actors and members of private security details.  There is an Apple TV docu-series based on this novel by Scott Johnson that is out now.

Scott Johnson didn’t just blog about this.  He spent years uncovering this scandal.  Even from the first page of the novel, you know that this investigative reporter went above and beyond to detail everything from weather and climate in areas that he was writing about to detailed conversations. 

Tahilramani didn’t just stop when one scam blew up.  He continued on.   Johnson’s extensive research and travel and hard work pays off when he gets to interview Hargobind after a decade has passed during which he was running this operation. 

For those of you who like books by Gregg Olsen, David Gran and Katheryn Miles this is for you.  True crime podcast junkies – yep – for you.  I love it when a nonfiction book reads like fiction and tells the facts.  I find it mind blowing the amount of time and effort that goes into something like this. 

Follow Teresa on Twitter or Instagram or contact her via the site.

Purchase The Hollywood Con Queen
(Note: most indie bookstores can fulfill an order as quickly as larger retailers. Please consider contacting them for your next purchase.)

Barrington Books
Chapter 2 Books
Murder By The Book
Once Upon A Crime
The Book Dragon
The Poisoned Pen

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