On this Sunday, V chats with Norman Woolworth about his book series "A Bruneau Abellard Novel"

latest book

"The Bolden Cylinder: A Bruneau Abellard Novel"

When Buddy Bolden died in a Louisiana insane asylum in 1931, a quarter century after his reign as the undisputed first “king” of jazz, he left behind no known recordings. But when quirky New Orleans antiques dealer Bruneau Abellard listens to a vintage phonograph cylinder he found in the secret compartment of a sideboard, he wonders if he has stumbled upon an important piece of musical history. In researching his discovery, Bruneau runs headlong into an arson investigation led by his childhood friend, NOPD Detective Bo Duplessis, which in turn may hold the key to a 50-year-old unsolved missing person’s case.

To untangle their present-day mysteries, Bruneau and Bo must first piece together a perplexing string of puzzles from the distant past. Their parallel investigations immerse them in the rhythm-and-blues subculture of 1960s New Orleans, and transport them to the dawn of the 20th Century, when a brash young musician introduced a new sound to the city, forever changing the course of music history.

Fast-paced and vividly drawn, The Bolden Cylinder introduces a memorable cast of eccentric characters, including a malodorous collector of early R&B memorabilia, a sultry nightclub singer, a reputed mob boss, a 12-year-old tap dancer, and an inscrutable peddler of voodoo paraphernalia. Together, they serve up a savory gumbo of suspenseful intrigue set against the seductive backdrop of a city in which past and present are forever interwoven.

On this special Thursday episode, V chats with Alice K Boatwright about her "Ellie Kent mystery series"

latest available in the series "In the Life Ever After: Ellie Kent mystery (Book 3)"

The cold, dark winter in the Cotswolds is finally coming to an end, so Ellie and Graham Kent celebrate with a belated honeymoon in Paris. But news from Little Beecham casts a shadow over their holiday: convicted murderer Corinna Matthews has been released from prison and turns up in the village asking for Mrs. Kent. As Ellie soon discovers, it was Louise Kent, Graham's late wife, Corinna wanted to see, but she steps in to help and finds herself not only coping with villagers who still want "an eye for an eye," but also with baffling questions surrounding what really happened on the night Corinna murdered her brother Pindar and why.

On this special Tuesday episode, V chats with Monté Hill about her book "Catbird Winter".

A battle within and without. When dreams collide with desperation, can a wounded soul find a path to truth, fulfillment, and redemption?

1916. Trevor Middleton is crushed. After a freak accident shatters his leg, the American Great War ambulance driver fears he’ll never be able to climb into the cockpit of a French bi-plane to fight the Germans. Convalescing in Hickory Nut Gorge, North Carolina, the disconsolate veteran can hardly believe it when he catches the eye of a Bible-thumping minister’s daughter.

Moved by the disappearance of the young woman’s brother, Trevor agrees to help her search for him in a nearby cave. But after their efforts turn up only a hidden still, a night of drunken passion may alter his destiny irrevocably.

Still longing to take to the skies, can this would-be pilot outrun a fate that seems determined to ground him?

Digging deep into the forgotten past, Monté Hill renders an eye-opening tale of ordinary people trapped by geography, tradition, and the fickle whims of chance. Her compassionate prose and intimate character development will transport readers to another time and place, immersing them in the fascinating life of early 20th-century Appalachia.

This Sunday, V chats with Mike Vance about his book series "Duckworth Historical Crime"

latest book

"A Convenient Scapegoat (Duckworth Historical Crime Book 2)"

Criminal defense attorney J.B. Duckworth is accustomed to clients ready to aid in their own defense, but Louie Swearingen can recall nothing about the night of the murder for which he stands accused. The eyewitness to the crime is adamant and unwavering. As more killings unfold around them, things look bleak for the defendant.

One night a secret cabal of local elites hands Duckworth a seemingly easy way out. The result, though, would send another innocent man to the gallows. Is his first duty to his client or to the ethical grounding of his profession? It’s not an easy question for a man with a history of relying on moral fluidity.

On this special Thursday episode, V chats with Iris March about her "Succulent Sleuth Series".

The latest in the series "Twinkling Tree Trouble: A Succulent Sleuth Mini Mystery (Succulent Sleuth Series Book 4)"

A truckload of Christmas trees. Mysterious string lights. A most festive secret.

It’s the holiday season, and Molly Green, the manager of Patty’s Plant Place, is busy selling fragrant firs, teaching holiday crafting workshops, and eating all the holiday desserts. But when mysterious string lights appear on Christmas trees for sale at the garden center, she can’t help but wonder who snuck through the fence to create such festive mischief.

With the help of her twin sister May and their quirky crew of employees, Molly sets out to solve this cheerful mystery. Will she untangle the mystery of the twinkling lights before snow blankets the ground—or will the secret remain hidden among the Christmas trees?

On this special Tuesday episode, V chats with Lew Paper about his book "Legacy of Lies: An Historical Thriller".

As we mark the 50th anniversary of Jimmy Hoffa's disappearance on that sultry afternoon in July 1975, Lew Paper has crafted a fast-paced historical thriller which raises new questions about the reasons for the abduction.

The book commences with a startling premise: What if a former FBI special agent-turned-private investigator had been hired to trail Hoffa in that summer of 1975 and saw him get in a car with three other men, all of whom the investigator knew from his prior experience with the FBI were in the Mafia? Would that investigator tell the FBI what he knew when he later learned Hoffa was reported missing?

Sam Silver, the former FBI special agent, is that investigator. But he is reluctant to contact the FBI. From his prior experience with the FBI, Silver knows all about the Mafia's practice of eliminating witnesses to its crimes. Sam's only child, a high school student, just lost his mother (and Silver's wife) to cancer, and Sam cannot bear the thought of leaving his son without any parent.

Fast forward eleven years. Sam's son, now a young lawyer in Washington, DC, embarks on an odyssey to determine whether his father's untimely death on a sailboat ten years earlier was, as the coroner determined, an accident. Or was it something more sinister?

In a story filled with unexpected twists and turns, Legacy of Lies brings into focus the forces surrounding Hoffa's disappearance: Bobby Kennedy's vendetta against Hoffa when he was Attorney General, President Richard Nixon's bid for re-election in 1972, and, last but not least, the Mafia.

This Sunday, V chats with Beth Ford about her book "After the Spirits Come: A Continuation of Dickens's A Christmas Carol"

Have you ever tried to completely change your life?

One week after the events of A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is celebrating New Year's Eve at his nephew Fred's house, ready to embark on his new life as a gregarious, generous family man with a more charitable business model. However, it soon becomes clear that his transition will be more difficult than predicted on Christmas Day. At the New Year's Eve party, Scrooge meets a doctor who requests to interview him about his experience with the spirits, an interview that leads to others in positions of power doubting Scrooge's mental faculties. And when Scrooge returns home from the party, a threatening note awaits him from men whose lives he ruined in the past and who will not let him be forgiven so easily. Can Scrooge learn to rejoin society? And will the forces converging around him allow him to succeed?

If you enjoy atmospheric historical fiction, read now to laugh, love, and cry with these beloved characters in the next chapter of their lives.

On this special Thursday episode, V chats with Anna Dalhaimer Bartkowski about her book "DEAD RECKONING: A Rosalind Schmidt Genealogical Mystery"

In a web of genealogy, murder, and karma, Rosalind Schmidt, the sole survivor of her family, uncovers a dark ancestral secret.

Fate turns sinister when she finds a co-worker dead and suspicion points directly at her. As she wakes from restless dreams of her ancestors, Rosalind questions her sanity. Are these glimpses remnants of past lives or echoes of a karmic destiny? When Rosalind learns of a long-lost relative connected to a haunting murder, she turns amateur sleuth to track two killers and unravel her bloodline.

With two unsolved murders bearing down on her, she must dig deep to uncover hidden truths.

Rosalind races to unearth the secrets within her ancestral roots. Will she untangle her family history and clear her name? Her survival hinges on a race against time. Can she live long enough?

"Dead Reckoning" explores the interconnectedness of generations, the relentless pursuit of justice, and the chilling consequences of a legacy steeped in darkness as Rosalind unearths the truth and confronts the ancestral forces that exhaust her existence.