Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Review - Spun Tales by Felicia Donovan


Spun Tales
Written by: Felicia Donovan
Fiction / Mystery
Rated: Excellent (*****)
Review by: Lisa Haselton

Linda Jordan just needs a little more time to put the finishing touches on her newest medical thriller before submitting it to her publisher by the deadline, but life isn’t that easy.

The Black Widow Agency accepts a case involving a well-known and easily recognizable author. While trying to keep Linda Jordan secluded from fans and protected from foes while she finishes her latest novel, the Black Widows need to figure out how to deal with a required upcoming speech the author needs to give in a highly public location.

Also challenging the Black Widows is a co-worker who is continually absent and unavailable without explanation. The women balance worry with work as they struggle without their computer geek and hunt down the mysterious person or persons who don’t want the controversial medical novel manuscript to ever see print.

Author Felicia Donovan uses her computer forensics experience to create an intelligent and fun story line with women of varying skill sets (from finance to cyber geek), and ages (from twenty-something to sixty-something) righting the wrongs done to their clients. Her writing balances crime-solving with insight into the lives of the four main characters. She portrays strong women with soft sides and weaknesses.

Felicia Donovan began writing stories early on and completed her first novel before graduating high school. She became a teacher, but always felt compelled to return to the joy of writing fiction. Felicia left teaching to join a New England-based police department where she discovered the fascinating world of computer forensics. She resides in the bucolic countryside of NH with her two children and three dogs. She has a deep affection for her family, her friends, fine chocolates and well-spun tales.

Spun Tales is a wonderful continuation of the Black Widow agency series. Like the first novel, this is an engaging read. It is entertaining, suspenseful, fun, and fast paced. The four main characters are further developed and overcome new challenges. I highly recommend this novel to any mystery lover, especially those interested female leads.

Spun Tales is available through: http://www.amazon.com/, http://www.bn.com/, other online outlets, and local book stores. Keep an eye out for the third in this series, Fragile Webs.

Title: Spun Tales
Author: Felicia Donovan
Publisher: Midnight Ink
ISBN: 978-0-7387-1310-6
Pages: 234
Price: $13.95