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Tag: Shelley Coriell

Author Post: Shelley Coriell

08/19/2018 / / 0 Comments

Local Arizona author Shelley Coriell started out working as a journalist and restaurant critic. Now she writes mysteries, romantic suspense, and young adult novels.

 

The Apostles romantic suspense series 

I’ve met Shelley several times at local events. At one workshop she told a heartbreaking story about how The Apostles series came about. She was at the hospital where her father was recovering from a stroke and a bad accident with an ATV. Shelley’s sister was taking care of his health issues and her brother was taking care of the financial issues, so Shelley felt at a lost about what to do. She decided to provide a distraction by getting her father to help her flesh out a story idea she had. The three books below are the result of that hospital stay.

The Apostles are a special group of handpicked FBI agents who work for a reclusive FBI legend named Parker Lord.

I really like this series. The books are a bit darker than typical romantic suspense and probably are closer to thrillers. (Links are to my reviews)

Mystery Short Story Collections featuring Detective Lottie King

Coriell introduced Detective Lottie King as a minor character in the first book of The Apostles series, The Broken. Lottie was so popular that Shelley decided to write more about her. By the way, Shelley is a bit of a foodie and she includes some Lottie-inspired recipes.

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About Author Posts:

Because I read a lot of mysteries, I’ve been trying to come up with a better system to keep track of which novels I’ve finished. I thought blogging would help, which it does, but I don’t always review everything I read. To get more organized, I’ve decided to create a series of author posts with lists of novels and links to my reviews. I plan to edit these pages as needed.

#BookBeginnings Rough Day by Shelley Coriell

01/20/2017 / / 4 Comments

Today we’re reading a collection of short stories, Rough Day by Shelley Coriell for Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Book Beginnings is a fun meme hosted by Rose City Reader blog. To participate, share the first sentence or so of a novel you are reading and your thoughts about it. Then add your URL to the Book Beginnings page linked above. Hope to see you there!

 

book-beginnings-button-shelley-coriell
Rough Day: Detective Lottie King Mystery Short Stories*

(*Amazon Affiliate link)

Summary:  Author Shelley Coriell introduced Detective Lottie King as a minor character in the first book of her Apostles series, The Broken (reviewed here).  Lottie was so popular, Shelley decided to write more about her. By the way, Shelley is a bit of a foodie and she includes some Lottie-inspired recipes in this volume, as well.

The stories range from Lottie working with her granddaughter’s Girl Power group to solve a locked room mystery, to helping a twelve-year-old boy find his missing grandfather.

First Sentence:

Forty years ago Lottie King buried a Smith and Wesson 9mm under a peach sapling in her back yard.

Discussion:

Given that Lottie is a police detective, we have to wonder what’s going on here. What else has the author told us about Lottie in a subtle way?

I started this book last year, but other obligations got in the way and I never finished it. How many books do you read at once? Do you think collections of short stories are easier to put aside than novels?

@ShelleyCoriell’s The Apostles Series: The Blind

06/27/2016 / / 0 Comments

After a brief hiatus, today we’re going to discuss the third book in The Apostles series, The Blind by Shelley Coriell.

 

(Affiliate link to Amazon)

In what has been described as the best of the series, The Blind features a strong female protagonist, FBI bomb specialist Evie Jimenez. Evie is thrown in with art expert Jack Elliott to solve a bizarre series of bombings where the killer poses people in real life replications of famous art works and then blows them up. Will Elliott be a major help or a major distraction? Will they catch the killer before Evie becomes his next victim?

How on earth does Coriell come up with these twisted serial killers? Her villains are certainly unique and complex, pulling off bizarre, one-of-a-kind crimes. You certainly won’t recognize these bad guys (and gals) from last week’s news.

Once again, Coriell gives us a wonderful behind the scenes look at the writing of this book on GoodReads. The story behind the book is as compelling as the book itself. For example, she revealed the title of the book was almost The Burned, but she thought that was too close to The Buried.

On a personal note, I was sad to finish the last page of The Blind because Shelley Coriell has indicated she has no plans for further books in The Apostles series at this time. They were so good, I suspect I will be rereading the series again soon. Plus, hopefully the Lottie King short stories will help stave off withdrawal symptoms.

If you are a fan of well-written romantic suspense that leans heavily toward suspense, then pick up Shelley Coriell’s The Blind today.

Related:

Book 1, The Broken Review

Book 2, The Buried Review

 

Series: The Apostles (Book 3)
Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Forever (July 28, 2015)
ISBN-10: 1455528471
ISBN-13: 978-1455528479

 

art-supplies

(Public Domain Photo via VisualHunt.com)

Disclosure: This book was my personal copy. Also, I am an affiliate with Amazon so I can provide you with cover images and links to more information about books and products. As you probably are aware, if you click through the highlighted title link and purchase a product, I will receive a very small commission at no extra cost to you. Any proceeds help defray the costs of hosting and maintaining this website.

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@ShelleyCoriell’s The Apostles Series: The Buried

06/07/2016 / / 0 Comments

Today we are continuing with Shelley Coriell’s romantic suspense series The Apostles. The second book, The Buried, FBI Agent Theodore “Hatch” Hatcher and his state prosecutor ex-wife, Grace Courtemanche race to find a serial killer who buries victims alive.

(Affiliate link to Amazon)

As a member of The Apostles, Hatch Hatcher specializes in crisis negotiations. His office is a sailboat where he retreats between jobs, ready to respond to a call on his satellite phone at a moments notice. When the call comes to tell him he has a son he didn’t know about, things start to tumble out of control. Running into his ex-wife who is chasing a serial killer further complicates matters. Can the two of them put their personal feelings aside long enough to catch the killer?

Because each book in The Apostles series features a different set of characters, they could be read as stand alone titles or in any order. In The Buried the romance side is less steamy and more of a slow burn than in book one. Once again, the suspense side is dark, complicated, and the author throws in a whopper of a plot twist at the end.

As with The Broken, the setting helps add to the atmosphere of the book. The Buried is set in Cypress Grove, a town in the Florida panhandle. The background oozes swamps and alligators, adding to the suspense.

At the workshop I attended, Shelley disclosed that she actually put off working on this novel for two years. It wasn’t until she added a teenage character did she find the right mix to move the plot forward. I would say the teenager was a brilliant touch because he adds backstory and conflict in a way that ignites Hatch as a character. She also revealed it was difficult to write about the killer, who has a complicated and painful/sad backstory. She talks more about writing the book on GoodReads.

This title won’t remain “buried” in your TBR pile. The Buried is a compelling story that will keep you hooked to the very end.

Related:  Review of The Broken by Shelley Coriell

Series: The Apostles (Book 2)
Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Forever (October 28, 2014)
ISBN-10: 145552851X
ISBN-13: 978-1455528516

 

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(Public domain photo via Visual hunt)

This review is based on my personal copy of the book.

@ShelleyCoriell’s The Apostles Series: The Broken

06/06/2016 / / 0 Comments

Having spent an inspiring day at the Arizona MysteryCon yesterday, I’m ready to review some of the mystery and romantic suspense novels I discovered.

Let’s start with Shelley Coriell’s romantic suspense series featuring members of a special FBI unit known as The Apostles. In book 1, The Broken, FBI Profiler Hayden Reed is trying to catch a serial killer who brutally stabs broadcasters. Hayden’s best lead might be a former broadcaster who went into hiding after she was attacked. Will he be able to find her?

(Affiliate Link to Amazon)

Romantic suspense can be a difficult genre to pin down. In this case, the suspense part is a dark, complicated mystery that will leave the reader guessing until the end. Without revealing too much, on the romantic side a relationship between Hayden Reed and victim Kate soon heats up.

The author introduces several characters who the reader will want to see again. Besides Hayden Reed, we meet other members of The Apostles, some of whom will be the main characters of later books in the series, as well as a feisty Sergeant named Lottie King. Once you encounter bighearted Lottie King and her outrageous shoes, you will see why she needed to be the protagonist of her own series of short stories (reviews coming).

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The setting for the story roams throughout the West, with scenes in Colorado, Nevada and Tucson, Arizona. The wide open expanses add to the feeling of isolation in some of the scenes.

During her presentation, Shelley gave a heartrending account of how this novel was born from a tragic event in her life. Her father had a stroke and then an accident that nearly cost him his life. During his difficult recovery, Shelley began telling the story as a way to distract him from his health problems. Soon they were working out the details together. She told us her father is the model for one of the characters and helped her decide what he would do in a certain scene. More about how the book came to be is included in the back matter in a section called “The Dish:  Where Authors Give You the Inside Scoop.”

The Broken is an entertaining read with a complex and twisty plot, plus characters you will want to root for. Find out why Shelley Coriell is an award-winning author and pick up a copy today.

Related:

Book 2:  The Buried Review

Book 3:  The Blind Review

Series: The Apostles (Book 1)
Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Forever (April 29, 2014)
ISBN-10: 1455528498
ISBN-13: 978-1455528493

 

(This book is my personal copy)

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