Patricia Stoltey

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Review: Chasing Justice by Kathleen Donnelly

April 23, 2022 By: Patricia

When Maya Thompson returns stateside after serving in the Marine Corps and losing her K-9 partner in a traumatic event Maya feels was her fault, she joins the law enforcement arm of the U.S. Forest Service. To add to her service-related PTSD, she is present when her best friend, another officer and K-9 handler, is killed under suspicious circumstances in a bombing as they investigate crimes on forest service land. The orphaned K-9, Juniper, is suddenly in Maya’s care, even though the last thing she wanted was another dog to worry about.

This excellent debut in a new series by Kathleen Donnelly made me a very happy reader. My favorite mystery and thriller series are those that feature dogs, especially K-9 certified Malinois and German Shepherds. In Chasing Justice, I noticed tiny facts or actions that pointed to Donnelly’s own expertise with dogs and the extra research she did regarding the K-9 animals. For one thing, Maya Thompson does not give her dog a lot of human snacks fed under the table. The animal is also crated when appropriate and not treated like the pets we all love to indulge, even though Maya grows to love the animal.

There’s a reason for these types of details in Donnelly’s book. She’s a dog handler and the co-owner of Sherlock Hounds Detection Canines, LLC in Colorado.

“Sherlock Hounds is an effective, proactive program that deters the potential existence of drugs, alcohol & gunpowder in schools, businesses and private homes by the use of non-threatening detection canines.”

Chasing Justice has all the ingredients for a successful series: an interesting protagonist who faces challenges from her past that complicate her present, a charming and competent love interest, and a setting that can be both beautiful and threatening, depending on the humans who inhabit or visit. I’m looking forward to book two in this series from Carina Press.

You can learn more about Kathleen Donnelly and Chasing Justice on her website. She can also be found on Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter.

Highly recommended.

Category: Books and Authors

Book(s) Review: The Judas Files

March 24, 2022 By: Patricia

The five books in The Judas Files series present an original concept of Hell with Judas Iscariot leading a not-so-merry band of hellish souls who are supposed to sow discord and disaster Topside. There’s a secret mission, however, to thwart the evil and save humanity. Gabe is that double agent. What’s even more difficult is …Read More

Category: Books and Authors

Book Review: The Storm Crows by Jenny Sundstedt

December 19, 2021 By: Patricia

In Jenny Sundstedt’s novels, Passing Through and The Storm Crows, counselors in an afterlife waystation provide advice and therapy for people who’ve died but have unresolved issues that prevent them from moving on. In The Storm Crows, Eugenia Kratt is the supervisor who tries to keep everyone, both clients and counselors, on the right path. …Read More

Category: Books and Authors

Featured Book: Not Guilty by C. Lee McKenzie

November 1, 2019 By: Patricia

It’s not easy for a writer to tell a story without sounding preachy when there are numerous lessons  to be learned from the characters and events. C. Lee McKenzie pulls it off beautifully in the young adult novel, Not Guilty. Dialogue and narrative keep the reader in the story without a moment’s pause, and yet …Read More

Category: Books and Authors

A House of Men by Sumner Wilson is More Than a Western

August 29, 2017 By: Patricia

I recently had the privilege of reading an advance copy of Sumner Wilson’s A House of Men, a Five Star Frontier Fiction novel scheduled for release in December 2017. Many thanks to the author for the opportunity to read and review this excellent story. A House of Men is about Steel Fixx and his family …Read More

Category: Books and Authors

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Meet Patricia

I read, I write, I blog, and sometimes I do the laundry and cook. My 2014 novel, Dead Wrong, was a finalist in the thriller category of the 2015 Colorado Book Awards. Wishing Caswell Dead (Five Star/Cengage, December 20, 2017) is a historical mystery set in 1830s Illinois in the fictitious Village of Sangamon. The novel was a finalist for the 2018 Colorado Book Awards for General Fiction. Read More…

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