The Mystery Starts Here

Don’t you love it when you find a book you absolutely positively cannot put down? "Love Kills" by Edna Buchanan is one of those mysteries. I sat up until the wee small hours this morning to finish reading it. I had to! I had to find out what happened in the end.

Buchanan has two series going: The Britt Montero series and the newer Cold Case Squad series. In "Love Kills," she brings the two together in alternating chapters. Britt is the unifying catalyst. There is one scene in the Cold Case section that had me howling with laughter.

There are two huge twists in "Love Kills" and I didn’t see either of them coming. With the second one, near the end of the book I had to stop reading I was so surprised. Buchanan puts her protagonist, Britt Montero in dangers and just when you think things can’t get worse – they do, again and again until the climactic end.

Buchanan, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist has written 16 books. I’ve read them all, AND they’re all good. She worked as a crime reporter for the Miami Herald before retiring to write full time. Her books are sharp, fast-paced and great fun to read. She brings great authenticity to her writing because of her background as a journalist working with the police in Miami. Buchanan’s non-fiction book, "The Corpse had a Familiar Face" is fabulous.

If you’re looking for a new author to read, I urge you to try Edna Buchanan. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.