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Merissa (13149 KP) created a post

Feb 26, 2025  
"Is Virginsky getting closer to the truth or walking straight into a deadly trap?

Excerpt: Death Of A Princess (Empire of Shadows #3) by R. N. Morris - #TheCoffeePotBookClub, #BlogTour, #Russia, #Historical, #Crime, #Mystery, available in #KindleUnlimited,

https://archaeolibrarian.wixsite.com/website/post/excerpt-death-of-a-princess-empire-of-shadows-3-by-r-n-morris
     
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Merissa (13149 KP) created a post

Jul 28, 2025  
"A quiet cabin getaway turns into a fight for survival when a haunted past collides with a deadly present."

Guest Post, Excerpt, & #Giveaway: They Came At Night by Westley Smith - #Psychological, #Crime, #Thriller, #Action, available in #KindleUnlimited,

https://archaeolibrarian.wixsite.com/website/post/guest-post-excerpt-giveaway-they-came-at-night-by-westley-smith
     
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
1967 | Classics, Drama, Mystery
Characters – Virgil Tibbs is one of the best homicide detectives in his home city, he has earnt this position with hard work and higher education. He finds himself stuck in a racial divided town that does require his help, but doesn’t want to accept it. Virgil is strong and creates some of the most iconic scenes in film history. Gillespie is the chief that must reluctantly accept Virgil’s help, he is racist, but knows he needs Virgil’s help when it comes to solving this case, he must learn to be accepting of Virgil while being put under pressure by the supremacist that live in he area to rid the town of Virgil. Sam is the deputy that takes an instant dislike to Virgil, but he is mostly just a lowlife cop that gets past doing the basics of the job. The cast is filled the generic racist characters that don’t want to accept a black man helping with the investigation.

Performances – Sidney Poitier gives us one of the most memorable and powerful performances in any crime film, one that has iconic scenes that will forever stand the test of time. Rod Steiger is brilliant to, he shows us just how conflicted his character is to do the right thing and to keep his backwards mind on racial differences. When we look at the rest of the performances, we see good work from the whole cast.

Story – The story here follows a black detective forced into helping solve a murder in Mississippi while the racial hate between the two whites and blacks still comes off strong. There is two ways to look at this story, first we see how crime takes place and must get solved, which is interesting to keep us guessing throughout because of the large number of potential suspects. That however, isn’t the main story here, the racial divide between the people of town makes this more interesting because seeing how different characters interact with Virgil, some with open smiles, some with gritted smiles and some with pure hate. This shows us how we must witness how America was still filled racial hate in certain states that can point fingers before solving the crimes.

Crime/Mystery – The crime in this movie is murder, though trying to solve this opens up plenty of smaller crimes and deals with the racial hate still going on at the time in Mississippi, the mystery keeps us guessing to just who was the one the committed the crime in the first place.

Settings – The film takes place in Mississippi which for the time was still facing the divide between black and whites, this ups the tension for Virgil trying to solve the crime while also showing us the smaller crimes going on through the town.


Scene of the Movie – They call me Mister.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The locals can feel too generic.

Final Thoughts – This is one of the greatest crime movies you will ever see, it keeps you guessing from start to finish and deals with the racial hatred that was still going strong in the 1960s America.

 

Overall: Must watch crime mystery.
  
I’m obsessed with true crime novels. There, I said it. I just find them so fascinating, especially when you find a book about a crime / criminal you’ve never heard of before… Introducing Jean-Claude Romand. A narcissistic liar and cheater who swindled his family out of all their money, lied to them about who he really was for 18 years and then murdered them. This sounds like something out of a fictional novel, but ladies & gents, this is all 100% real.

Maybe my 5 star rating is a little bias because I love true crime so much, but this book ticked all the boxes for me. Firstly, it was about such a bizarre and extraordinary crime, I was enthralled by every part of it, and secondly Carrère writes in such a simple and beautiful way that you forget you’re reading fact.

What astounds me so much about this novel is its subject. Jean-Claude Romand lived 18 years of his life (that’s only 2 years younger than I am right now) living a lie. How does a person get away with lying about everything for 18 years without getting caught? I can’t go into much detail in this review, otherwise I’m just going to spoil the whole thing, and once I get talking about it, I’ll never stop. But I mean really, how his friends & family trusted this man so much as to believe everything he said… amazes me. However, it’s also made me very aware that you don’t question the people you trust, I’m sure people could get away with so much before anyone noticed!

This book is incredible, shocking and mind-boggling. It reads like poetry but it packs a very real punch. I loved it! If you’re a true crime fan, like myself, pick this one up quick!

<i>Thank you to Penguin Random House UK & Vintage for sending me an arc copy for review.</i>
  
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Ross (3284 KP) rated Perfect Prey in Books

Sep 14, 2018  
Perfect Prey
Perfect Prey
Helen Fields | 2017 | Crime
9
8.3 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
The second in the DI Callanach series, Perfect Prey starts off with a murder in broad daylight in the middle of a music festival crowd. The investigation into this struggles along with next to no information arising, as more and more murders are committed.
This is a definite step up from the somewhat "crime-by-number" first book, with a very clever, intricate plot that simply cannot truly be guessed at until quite late on.
One of my main gripes about the first book (that the main character has to be present for every single discovery and crime scene for it to be included) is not present here. Action is told from a number of different viewpoints to enable the reader to appreciate the whole story in the best way possible.
The character development here is good too, with main characters growing in personality and side characters that were barely mentioned in the first book now given a backstory.
A few crime clichés still present here (the old "knocked on the back of the head, everything went black", and the "this is clearly an important plot point, please sound the klaxon, even though we're going to ignore it as a minor detail for now") but they don't stand out anywhere near as much as in other books, and are somewhat necessary to create that tension where the omnipresent reader knows more than the characters.
All in all, an excellent crime story and a very intriguing plot that keeps the reader gripped well into the night.
  
The Sliver Shadow (True Colors #11)
The Sliver Shadow (True Colors #11)
Liz Tolsma | 2021 | Crime, Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Do you enjoy crime stories? Maybe a bit of true crime but with some fiction. This book "The Silver Shadow" is book eleven in the True Colors series. What a plot this is. There seems to be a mysterious person that keeps hitting women on the head.

We mean you introduced the main two characters—some of the crime that is going on. We meet a mysterious male that wants to teach women their place in the time of the 1900s. The woman is a reporter for the Denver Post. Edwin is the other main character; He works at the Denver Police department.

The more we get into the story or plot. It is more interesting. Polly gets another dressing down from her boss. She still wants this story and to solve these crimes. The detective has to get the runaround, and these bosses seem to think it nothing to be concerned about these crimes. The story is getting more twists and turns. The man shows up once more and remains described as the Silver shadow. Will he be caught?

This book has quite a few twists and turns. Who could be the mysterious Silver Shadow? When will they stop? It is a good book for adults if they want a little history and some crime and a mystery to go along with it. I hope to be able to read more of these True Color series books. I have read a few of them and enjoy them.