Denise Swanson
In Murder of a Stacked Librarian, ordinary people in an average town find themselves faced with the shock of an actual murder among them. But who on earth would do…
Diana Palmer
Diana Palmer's contemporary romances connect through locations and characters, though each one is a satisfying story unto itself. Since my first encounter with her long, tall Texans in a book…
Scifi
Another genre in which whole new worlds may be imagined, Science Fiction and its offshoot Science Fantasy have taken the world by storm. Science Fiction specifically refers to stories based…
Tales Dark and Light
Terms like "Chick Lit" and "Romance" suggest light reading, though these genres include serious stories as well. Other book categories automatically call up visions of brooding characters, bleak settings, and…
Jack Whyte
From Scotland and now living in Canada, Jack Whyte writes fictionalized accounts of historical events and thereby brings long-dead figures to life. In Uther, he describes a realistic Camulod (Camelot)…
Dialogue
One online guru I know has advised writers to avoid using a lot of dialogue in a book. But being a person reliant on auditory as well as visual input,…
Paula Quinn
If you like tales of historic Scotland, you'll adore Paula Quinn's books. Although each book stands alone, the collection follows the adventures and loves of related men and women, many…
Thoughtful Characters
Stories have an advantage over real life in one respect: Writers can express what the characters are thinking―at least the primary characters if not all of them. Sometimes this is…
Horror
A cross between Fantasy and Thriller might describe this genre. Zombies and other nasty mythical creatures are often featured as the plague that we ordinary humans must escape, if not…
Tom Clancy
My personal favourite Clancy books are the Jack Ryan tales, though I have sampled his other series as well. While I have not read The Hunt for Red October, I…