| Reviews Inside Northside Magazine By: Terri Schlichenmeyer
It’s always been your daily indulgence.
Every night for years, you’ve ended your day and started your night with a single glass of wine. Maybe it’s red, dry as a sandbox on a July afternoon. Perhaps it’s a sweet white that makes your tongue want to dance around your mouth. Just one glass- rarely more- and you feel your day completing. And hey! they say wine is even good for you.
But for some people, it’s not good at all. In fact, in the new book Blood Vines by northshore author Erica Spindler, a bit of the grape could be very dangerous.
It was a tragedy that wine connoisseurs would mourn: hundred-year-old vines, once lush with fruit, had been stricken with a virus and were to be ripped up, destroyed and replanted. Work was progressing well when the bones were found.
The tiny body was wrapped in a blue blanket with no identification, but rumor swirled that the baby was Dylan Sommer. Little Dylan had disappeared decades before, his abduction never solved, his body never found- until now.
Detective Danny Reed remembered when Dylan Sommer disappeared. Reed was just ten years old, his parents were friends with the Sommers and each family had a winery. He remembered the pain, how Patsy Sommer couldn’t deal with the loss of her son, and he remembered the family splintering. Reed ran into the unfortunate Sommers now and then- it’s hard not to, when everybody who has a vineyard knows everybody else with one.
Alexandra Clarkson’s life was filled with drama. Her mother, Patsy, was erratic and wouldn’t take her medicine. Tim, Alex’s ex-husband, was still in the picture, even though the divorce was final long ago. And those creepy bits of memory and nightmare were sneaking back into Alex’s daydreams. Worse, they were coming back at night too.
When Reed discovered that Patsy Clarkson and Patsy Sommer were one and the same, he tried to get some answers from Alexandra. But Alex had no memory of Sonoma Valley or the Sommer vineyards, so she was of no help. She did have a mysterious heirloom ring, though. And she had those hooded-figure, chanting nightmares...
Like a little scream with your Sauvignon? Some creepy with your Cabernet? You’ll find a whole vat’s worth in Blood Vines, and then some. Soon after visiting a winery, author Erica Spindler took advantage of “love at first sight” by setting this latest mystery in California’s wine country. Authenticity is part of the appeal in this book; wine lovers and vintners won’t scoff at plot points, because Spindler did her research.
What I liked about this book, though, aside from the true-life details, were the intricacies of plot. Spindler makes you pour your suspicions in so many wrong places that even the best armchair detective will have a hard time soaking up enough clues to solve this whodunit early. Fans of the fermented will love this novel, as will mystery mavens of any age. If word and wine go hand-in-hand in your life, Blood Vines is a book to uncork. Review by Harriet Klausner
She earns a living as a San Francisco bartender while working on her thesis and insuring her bi-polar mom Patsy stays on her meds. However, one day Alexandra Clarkson finds Patsy dead from an overdose. She notices that her mother was reading about the mummified remains of a baby found in Sonoma Valley and calls Violent Drime Investigator Daniel Reed to learn more as he was the last known person to speak to Patsy before she committed suicide.
Daniel tells Alex that they used to play around together when her mother was married to Valley winemaker Harlan Sommer. When Harlan and Patsy's his infant son Dylan disappeared, his brother took over the winery. Alex is stunned as she does not recall ever living in Sonoma; for that matter she does not know who her father is either. Needing to obtain closure Alex moves to Sonoma after the cops identify the corpse as Dylan. However she begins to suffer nightmares that might be repressed memories of cowled figures, a baby screaming, the scent of saddlewood and a sende of being trapped in the caves where the wine is stored. Dan and his stepsister Rachel watch over Alex who obsessively tries to get answers. Witnesses are killed, but when someone close to her is murdered, the cops suspect Alex as does her lover Dan.
Readers who like the romantic suspense of Nora Roberts and Karen Robards will thoroughly enjoy Erica Spindler's fabulous thriller. The stars of this solid romantic mystery both seek the truth as to what happened years ago. Additionally, the beleaguered heroine fears she a chip off the maternal block as she feels she must be as crazy as her late mom was; yet she refuses to quit as she displays strength and fortitude with an obsessive need to see the inquiry through to the end. Alex refuses to allow people to run her off so skeletons remain buried as one of them was her baby brother. Lori's Reading Cornerhttp://lorisreadingcorner.blogspot.com BLOOD VINES by Erica Spindler When Alexandra Clarkson starts having terrifying visions filled with blood and ceremonial images, she tries to find a rational explanation – maybe her mind is playing tricks on her, resurrecting creepy tableaux from her research on religious ceremonies and sects. But when Alex’s mother, Patsy, commits suicide without leaving behind any information, Alex is left wondering: could she be haunted by something from the childhood she doesn’t remember? Naked, writhing bodies…Detective Daniel Reed was the last person to speak to Patsy. What he reveals to Alex is shocking. Twenty-five years earlier, Patsy was married to Harlan Sommer, one of Sonoma County’s most prominent vintners, when their infant son disappeared without a trace. The loss destroyed the Sommers’ marriage, causing Patsy to leave and take Alex with her. A dead child…Called on to investigate the identity of a baby’s remains unearthed in a Sonoma vineyard, Reed had picked up a trail that led him to Patsy in San Francisco. Now Reed and Alex both wonder if the cold bones could be her baby brother Dylan, and Alex decides to accompany Reed back to Sonoma for the investigation. No sooner does she arrive, however, than she is drawn deep into the search for a twisted killer… Must Read
Evening Telegraph, UK
BY: Julia Ogden
In this gripping new thriller from the international bestselling author, we are introduced to a tough, new detective duo set to take the crime fiction world by storm.
Kitt is a fifty-something cop whose only child died during the hunt for a psychopath. Kitt has endured the worst life has to offer- and come out stronger.
Detective MC Riggio has led a different life. In her late 20s she has always known the safety net of a big Italian family- a family she has never felt a part of.
For Kitt and MC being partners is more than just the badge. It's about trust. Loyalty. A substitute daughter for one. A mentor for the other.
So when MC's cousin is brutally murdered by a cold, emotionless serial killer- known as Breakneck- the two women's friendship is put to the test.
I loved this book. On the cover it is described as being "as gripping as Karin Slaughter or your money back" but actually I thought it was much better than any Slaughter book I had read. The characters are believable, their friendship endearing and their sense of right and wrong admirable. I was hooked from the first sentence, and read all 342 pages over a weekend.
It was a great read, and I can put Spindler on my growing list of favorite crime-fiction authors. Breakneck Suspense
Ulster Tatler, Ireland
BREAKNECK is a taut thriller, which proves Erica Spindler is still a master of suspense. With adrenaline fused prose, you will find yourself sitting up into the wee hours unable to put the book down until you reach the very last page. A first-class thrilling read Fresh Fiction Review
BY: Betty Cox
We first met Rockford, Illinois Police Department Detectives Mary Catherine "MC" Riggio and Kitt Lundgren in COPYCAT. This dynamic duo is now working a serial case involving young computer whizzes... Ms Spindler's research is impeccable and she maintains a steady pace while layering interesting and necessary subplots into her fascinating story. BREAKNECK grabs the interest immediately and never lets go. This is a timely and enthralling piece of work and has a message for all computer users-- take all safety and security measures possible to protect your personal information. Spine-tingling
Star Magazine
BY: Melissa Cronin Hotshot female detectives MC Riggio and Kitt Lundgren are back, and they're hot on the trail of a serial killer who's picking off quiet young adults as they sleep. It all seems to have no rhyme or reason-- until Riggio realizes the killer is closing in on her own life.
GIRL, INVESTIGATED: The body count rises at a dizzying pace, and Spindler's clean writing style keeps the plot moving along. Plus, the all-female detective team is likable and relatable. 4 1/2 Stars for BREAKNECK!
Romantic Times Magazine BY: Roseann Marlett
TOP PICK! Filled with well-developed, multidimensional characters, Spindler's latest boasts fast-paced action and emotional tension. The high-tech crime is explained clearly, and the background information is imparted in a way that doesn't detract from the pace. The friendship between the lead female detectives adds a very human element that is often short-shrifted in thrillers. The intricately woven plot makes this novel a sure winner for readers who like to keep guessing all the way to the end. Reader to Reader.com
BY: Betty Cox Breakneck is the name given by the FBI to a highly paid professional hit man, because that is the killer's usual way to finish off his terrified victims. Detectives MC Riggio and Kitt Lundgren are in charge of the murder of a young college student living in expensive housing, and who is a computer expert. His neck has been broken and his computer is missing. There are few, if any, clues as to his killer. Information from the victim's family reveals that he was a complete computer nerd, and all of his friends were those he met online. After more killings, including some very personal to MC, it is apparent the detectives are dealing with a serial killer.
FBI Special Agent Jonathan Smith contacts Riggio and Lundgren and tells them that one of the victims, MC's cousin, had called the FBI and supposedly had information that a "friend' might be involved in illegal online activities. Smith and the informant never met face to face before Breakneck killed him, but Smith is willing to share the information he has, which includes a large ring of young geniuses involved in identity theft, among other offenses.
Erica Spindler never disappoints the reader who expects high quality writing, exciting techno-thrillers, and exceptional characters. BREAKNECK literally moves at "breakneck" speed as the body count rises daily and MC and Kitt are just a half-step behind the killer, not knowing that one of them may be the next victim. BREAKNECK Writers News, UK BY: Chris High Tight prose, snappy and believable dialogue, fabulous scene setting and a terrific, unrelenting pace make this a standout novel that should not be missed. Indeed, the only problem with it lies in the fact that once you start it the end will come way too soon. A truly fabulous novel that leaves a reader hungry for more.
LAST KNOWN VICTIM Mississippi Clarion Ledger KATRINA INSPIRES SPINDLER’S HARROWING BIG EASY COP DRAMA BY: JC Patterson Hundreds of New Orleans-area writers were uprooted, re-invented, and hung out to dry after Hurricane Katrina left her scars. Mandeville resident Erica Spindler knew she had some big gaps to fill with her best-selling cop series set in the slowly-recovering Big Easy. Last Known Victim (Mira Books, $24.95) boasts a hurricane of a plot, whipped up weird and spicy as only a Katrina survivor could tell it. Straight arrow NOPD Captain Patti O’Shay receives the shock of her life three days into the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina. There’s been a murder in upscale Audubon Place. Patti’s AWOL husband Sammy, a fellow NOPD captain, is the victim of a shooting. His badge and gun are missing. Weeks later, another grisly discovery is made among New Orleans’ refrigerator graveyards: an icebox containing the remains of six hands; all right hands, all female. Flash forward to April, 2007. No leads have been found in either Sammy’s murder or the media-dubbed Handyman slayings. All that’s about to change. In City Park, unearthed skeletal remains reveal a young female…her right hand absent. The body, possibly buried in Katrina’s wake, is accompanied by a police badge. Yep, you know the one. An emotionally-scarred Patti O’Shay gets her mojo workin’. But Patti’s not the same by-the-book cop she once was. At a sleazy French Quarter bar, officer Stacy Killian goes undercover to help bust a meth dealer. Spindler soon crosshatches plots to reveal a fiend known as the Artist. Might the Artist have a penchant for severed right hands and police badges? Yvette Borger, a dancer at the bar where Stacy is undercover, thinks she’s the Artist’s next target. Stacy and her cop boyfriend Spencer Malone (Patti’s nephew) reluctantly try to help Yvette and a renegade Patti from making a lethal mistake in their zeal to catch the killer. What follows is nothing short of a moldy southern gothic as explosive as K-Ville. In Last Known Victim, Spindler breathes harsh, raw energy into her Crescent City cops, making them damaged survivors of a flooded crime wave that keeps getting deeper. Take a Big Easy tour down Erica Spindler’s mean streets. This lady knows her turf…and her terror.
COPYCAT Publishers Weekly The Sleeping Angel Killer provides the chilling focus to Spindler's 12th bloodcurdling romantic thriller. Kitt Lundgren and Mary Catherine "M.C." Riggio of the Rockford, Ill., VCB (Violent Crimes Bureau) vow to catch a serial killer who sets the suffocated bodies of 10-year-old girls in their own beds, dressed like angels in frilly white nightgowns, hair spread out on their pillows and pink lip gloss applied postmortem to their mouths. Spindler's setting of a "meat-and-potatoes" Midwest town provides a fresh background for two believable and very cool investigators. Kitt, a recovering middle-aged alcoholic, tried and failed to catch the murderer five years earlier, during a 2001 killing spree, while her own child was dying of leukemia and her marriage was falling apart under the strain. Now, when eerily similar crimes recur, someone calls Kitt, identifying himself as the original killer and the new perp as just a copycat. M.C., an ambitious, distrustful newbie, is assigned to help Kitt with the investigation. The detectives must overcome their personal problems in order to catch the monsters, a task culminating in a breathless finale. (June) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Writers Unlimited- Reviewer Dawn Myers Kitt Lundgren, a violent crimes detective, poured her life and soul into her work. She was the detective on the well-published “Sleeping Angel Killer” case. Someone was killing ten-year-old, blond-hair, blue-eyed girls by suffocating them while they were still in their own beds. Her commitment and dedication to the crime cost her, her marriage. While investigating the crimes, her 10-year-old daughter died of cancer. Kitt found solitude in a bottle and followed a downward spiral. Then after three murders, the killer mysteriously stopped. By this time, Kitt had even jeopardized her job. Back on the force after time spent in rehab, Kitt was partnered with no nonsense Mary Catherine Riggio, or MC to her friends and family. Just as the partnership was established, the “Sleeping Angel Killer” murders started again. Something was wrong this time. The hands of the little girls were being posed differently this time. Was the killer trying to tell them something? M.C. was furious when Kitt was made lead detective on the case but the department had no choice. Kitt had an inside lead on the case this time. The real “Sleeping Angel Killer” was angry because someone was copying his technique and he wanted him or her caught. He was willing to drop hints to Kitt to help catch the copycat. M.C. Riggio was not happy to be partnered with the broken-down alcoholic. She had ambition and did not want to be held back by Kitt’s mistakes. Kitt wasn’t her only problem. Her mother expected her every Wednesday night for pasta night. Pasta night was really the night to grill M.C. about her current dating status. While her brothers thought this was hilariously funny, M.C. did not appreciate it attention. Especially when she started dating a man who could make her laugh. M.C. and Kitt have a terrifying job ahead of them and Kitt is determined to catch the copycat killer. Hopefully, with a little luck and a swift brain to unravel the clues the real “Sleeping Angel Killer” was dropping Kitt would be able to put this behind her for once and for all. Copycat is another spine-tingling thriller from the fertile mind of Erica Spindler. She very cleverly drops clues all through the novel to help the reader determine who is the killer. Then she blindsides the reader with a twisted ending. Grab a mug of tea, a comforter, curl up in your favorite chair and lose yourself for hours in the latest thriller of Erica Spindler. Copycat will keep you on the edge of your chair and up for hours turning page after page.
Last Known Victim BookCoveReview.comBy: Chad Erica's new novel is her most stunning and chilling to date. Set in New Orleans, Captain Patti O'Shay tough, unflinching character is fractured when her husband and fellow police captain is found murdered, in August of 2005, Now two years later, Patti still grieving and disillusioned, is called to City Park where skeletal remains have been unearthed, the unknown victim is a female, but what is most shocking is that found beside the victim's bones is her husband's police badge! Spindler turns up the suspense to full, as a fearless Patti starts putting together the past and present and must find The Handyman, a notorious killer, Patti must find him first before she becomes his last known victim! This novel is another sweeping thriller, from a top-notch bestselling author! Erica Spindler weaves a masterful tale of murder and suspense against the backdrop of a city transformed by disaster. It truly is a story you won't soon forget.
Cat 5 chills
Post-K murder on the Mississippi New Orleans Times-Picayune Sunday, September 23, 2007
By Diana Pinckley
After Hurricane Katrina, almost everybody was looking for a good handyman -- just not Erica Spindler's kind. In the Covington author's most recent thriller, 'Last Known Victim' (Mira, $24.95), a serial killer is on the loose in post-Katrina New Orleans, murdering women and chopping off their right hands. The pattern becomes clear to NOPD Captain Patti O'Shay and her detective/nephew Spencer Malone just a few weeks after the hurricane, when they're dispatched to a white-goods dumping ground. Six decomposed right female hands, carefully stored in plastic bags, fall out of a freezer being cleaned for recycling. Progress in the case is glacial. There's little evidence, crime labs are virtually nonexistent, and the police department has succumbed to post-K chaos. Until almost two years later. In April 2007, an engineer and a landscape architect planning the restoration of a City Park golf course stumble, literally, over a shallow grave. In it are the bones of a woman, minus a right hand, on top of Police Captain Sammy O'Shay's badge. Patti's beloved husband had been killed in the line of Katrina duty, shot on Audubon Place during those terrible August days. Police reports said it was a looter; there were no suspects. The surviving Captain O'Shay is a good cop at the heart of an NOPD family dynasty. She's beloved "Aunt Patti" to detective Spencer Malone, whom Spindler fans will remember from 2005's "Killer Takes All " Malone's girlfriend is Stacy Killian, another detective who played a leading role in "Killer Takes All" and "See Jane Die" (2004). Malone's sister-in-law is thriller writer Anna North, the key character in "Bone Cold" (2001) and a bit player in this book. No member of the Malone clan will let Sammy O'Shay's murder go unsolved. Patti O'Shay is convinced that the handyman murdered Sammy. And other strands from other investigations start to point in that direction. The format of "Last Known Victim" propels its blazing pace. The bulk of the book takes place during one month, and each short chapter features a date and time at its beginning. There's some good post-Katrina information here -- about dead refrigerators and a recovering City Park, among other things. However, the hurricane doesn't really have much to do with the plot. And the plot doesn't seem to have much to do with the book's ending, which is indeed a surprise. Spindler, who sets a book in Louisiana about every two years, notes she felt compelled to revisit the Malone clan after Katrina. Her concept of creating an extended family of cops and their criminal justice affiliates allows her to change her character focus while keeping her ensemble cast intact, and it works well. "Last Known Victim" is clear evidence that Spindler is a master at her romantic/thriller art. With two dozen or so books under her writing belt, she's had lots of practice -- and lots of success. Copycat, which has just been issued in paperback, ranked No. 49 on the USA Today bestseller list earlier this month. KATRINA INSPIRES SPINDLER'S HARROWING BIG EASY COP DRAMA BY: JC Patterson —special to the Mississippi Clarion Ledger--- Hundreds of New Orleans-area writers were uprooted, re-invented, and hung out to dry after Hurricane Katrina left her scars. Mandeville resident Erica Spindler knew she had some big gaps to fill with her best-selling cop series set in the slowly-recovering Big Easy. Last Known Victim (Mira Books, $24.95) boasts a hurricane of a plot, whipped up weird and spicy as only a Katrina survivor could tell it. Straight arrow NOPD Captain Patti O'Shay receives the shock of her life three days into the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina. There's been a murder in upscale Audubon Place. Patti's AWOL husband Sammy, a fellow NOPD captain, is the victim of a shooting. His badge and gun are missing. Weeks later, another grisly discovery is made among New Orleans' refrigerator graveyards: an icebox containing the remains of six hands; all right hands, all female. Flash forward to April, 2007. No leads have been found in either Sammy's murder or the media-dubbed Handyman slayings. All that's about to change. In City Park, unearthed skeletal remains reveal a young female…her right hand absent. The body, possibly buried in Katrina's wake, is accompanied by a police badge. Yep, you know the one. An emotionally-scarred Patti O'Shay gets her mojo workin'. But Patti's not the same by-the-book cop she once was. At a sleazy French Quarter bar, officer Stacy Killian goes undercover to help bust a meth dealer. Spindler soon crosshatches plots to reveal a fiend known as the Artist. Might the Artist have a penchant for severed right hands and police badges? Yvette Borger, a dancer at the bar where Stacy is undercover, thinks she's the Artist's next target. Stacy and her cop boyfriend Spencer Malone (Patti's nephew) reluctantly try to help Yvette and a renegade Patti from making a lethal mistake in their zeal to catch the killer. What follows is nothing short of a moldy southern gothic as explosive as K-Ville. In Last Known Victim, Spindler breathes harsh, raw energy into her Crescent City cops, making them damaged survivors of a flooded crime wave that keeps getting deeper. Take a Big Easy tour down Erica Spindler's mean streets. This lady knows her turf…and her terror.
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With Author Shane Gericke at Love is Murder