Category Archives: Reviews

Swipe by R.G. Belsky and Connie Traymore

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SWIPE, is a tense, smart and page-turning psychological thriller where life and love on a dating app goes from strange, and sometimes desperate, to menacing. And deadly.

SWIPE, by R.G. Belsky and Bonnie Traymore is a tense, smart psychological thriller. Life and love on the fictional dating app MetMee goes from strange, and sometimes desperate, to deadly when two strong, sympathetic and believable characters looking for connection in life get more than they asked for or expected. The same may be said for lucky readers.

I’m a huge fan of Belsky’s previous work, while Traymore is new to me. On the strength of this book, I’ll definitely want to check out more of her work, too. So, though I should have known better, I expected this novel, given its subject matter, would have the whimsical elements of a cozy. While it has some (dark) humor, the authors do a remarkable job of introducing tension and menace from the very start. And ratcheting it up.

SWIPE, “The perfect match, the perfect murder”, by R.G. Belsky and Connie Traymore
EAN/UPC 9798230469544 – Pages 278 – Paperback
Pub. date – April 27, 2025 – BISAC Categories: Mystery, Thrillers & Crime

Jake Parker is a former high-flying reporter now writing puff pieces for an online magazine obsessed with clicks, reposts and viral reports, called The American Scene. Sonya Romano, by her own admission, is something of a vigilante. She bears the scars of a troubled childhood–a philandering father who drove his fragile wife to suicide, along with a dark grudge against the two-faced, and often philandering cheaters she encounters on the dating app site “MetMee.”

The story unfolds chapter by chapter from the alternating points-of-view of Jake and Sonya, who quickly track together. Jake has been assigned to write a click bait expose about dating apps, while Sonya worries that an accident resulting from the payback she’s been dealing out to the genuinely horrible men she has encountered will put her in the frame for murder. Jake, with his nose for news, scents a bigger, more important story than the piece his online editor commissioned. Quickly, the two are searching for information about each other that is far outside the normal likes and dislikes. There is an appealing and suspenseful feeling of cat-and-mouse in the early chapters as Jake closes in on what he thinks the story is, and Sonya works to cover her tracks.

There is also a satisfying cat-and-mouse being played with identity here: each character has aliases and multiple personas on the app. This could have been very confusing to read, but Belsky and Traymore carry it off very well.

The alternating viewpoints between Jake and Sonya does an extraordinary job of creating pressure and anxiety about what will happen next. Early on, their courtship is conducted over MetMee’s texting app. This could have been cooly distancing but it actually increases tension as it creates a sense of an inevitable collision. As a reader, I was breathlessly turning the pages to find out just how bad this pile-up would be, only to find…well, I won’t spoil it.

Five *s – Highly recommended!
Available on Bookshop.org, Amazon, Barnes & Noble

I received a review copy for a free and fair review.


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James McCrone is the author of the Imogen Trager political suspense-thrillers Faithless Elector, Dark Network , and Emergency Powers–noir tales about a stolen presidency, a conspiracy, and a nation on edge. Bastard Verdict, his fourth novel, is about a conspiracy surrounding a second Scottish Independence referendum. His novel-in-progress is called Witness Tree, a (pinot) noir tale of murder and corruption set in Oregon’s wine country.

All books are available on BookShop.org, IndyBound.org, Barnes & Noble, your local bookshop, and Amazon. eBooks are available in multiple formats including Apple, Kobo, Nook and Kindle.

James is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Int’l Assoc. of Crime Writers, and he’s the current president of the Delaware Valley chapter of Sisters in Crime. He lives in Philadelphia. James has an MFA from the University of Washington in Seattle.

For a full list of appearances and readings, make sure to check out his Events/About page. And follow this blog!

You can also keep up with James and his work on social media:
Mastodon: @JMcCrone
Bluesky: @jmccrone.bsky.social
AND MORE, on the links page

The Big Lie is smart, surprising and beautifully rendered.

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The Big Lie, the latest Shane Cleary novel from Gabriel Valjan is smart, surprising and beautifully rendered. This is the fifth book in the series, and Valjan’s keen eye for detail, strong characters and narrative control, shine through this tale. Cleary, an ex-Boston cop, now a PI, is that rare person, an honest man in a world of shadows, lies and crime. Fans of Valjan’s Shane Cleary series (and I count myself as one!) know that things are complicated for Cleary. But as compelling as the unfolding plot is, there’s immense satisfaction in the way he does the job and finds his way through to something honorable.

The story begins when Southie’s most dangerous criminal hires Cleary to find his lost dog. Cleary is willing to refuse the job, except Jimmy says that he has information about Cleary’s father’s death years earlier. But only if he finds the dog.

Everything screams he shouldn’t take the job, but Shane can’t resist Jimmy’s added ‘incentive.’ Add in some other favors he’s asked to do, some rival gangsters, dirty cops and an overzealous DA, and you have the kind of tasty recipe only Valjan can bring to the table. The notion of “the big lie” looms throughout, touching on various aspects of the evolving case. And Shane can’t help but think his client just might kill him anyway after he finds the dog. To say much more would be to spoil the fun.

Highly recommended!

(I read an advance copy of The Big Lie via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review)

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James McCrone is the author of the Imogen Trager political suspense-thrillers Faithless Elector, Dark Network , and Emergency Powers–noir tales about a stolen presidency, a conspiracy, and a nation on edge. Bastard Verdict, his fourth novel, is about a conspiracy surrounding a second Scottish Independence referendum. All books are available on BookShop.org, IndyBound.org, Barnes & Noble, your local bookshop, and Amazon. eBooks are available in multiple formats including Apple, Kobo, Nook and Kindle.

He’s a member of Mystery Writers of America, Int’l Assoc. of Crime Writers, and he’s the current president of the Delaware Valley chapter of Sisters in Crime. He lives in Philadelphia. James has an MFA from the University of Washington in Seattle. His current, work-in-progress is a mystery-thriller set in Oregon’s wine country…A (pinot) Noir, called Witness Tree.

For a full list of appearances and readings, make sure to check out his Events/About page. And follow this blog!

You can also keep up with James and his work on social media:
Mastodon: @JMcCrone
Bluesky: @jmccrone.bsky.social
Facebook: James McCrone author (@FaithlessElector)
and Instagram/Threads “@james.mccrone”

The Best of 2023

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Well, it’s only the second day of 2024, and Bastard Verdict has made it onto two “best-of-2023” lists. I’m grateful and humbled to be included with such rarefied work, particularly for a dark tale that “weaves high stakes and low politics.”

Roughly seven months after Bastard Verdict came out (May 14), the intensity of activity–reviews, shares, notes from readers–has tended to subside. Stories are meant to endure, to last well past the initial surge at the bookstores, so its gratifying to know that for many, the book stood out. Check them out!

The Crime Book Girl’s Books of the Year, 2023

TG Wolf’s podcast Toe Tag’s Five-Star Books of 2023.

Other reviewers had kind things to say, both here in the US, and in Scotland, where Bastard Verdict is set:

(Scotland) Grab This book: “An utterly absorbing read” – https://grabthisbook.net/?p=7348

(Scotland) Craig Kelly at Tangled Web/Inspiring Fiction: “Will have you shouting, ‘just one more chapter’!” – https://www.inspiringfiction.com/post/bastard-verdict-by-james-mccrone

(US) Midwest Book Review (Diane Donovan): “McCrone keeps the tension high and psychological depth on track.” – https://www.midwestbookreview.com/mbw/jun_23.htm#dianedonovan

For more reviews, check out the Review Page on jamesmccrone.com

<<In Bastard Verdict, a second referendum on independence looms…
A Scottish official enlists elections specialist Imogen Trager, a by-the-numbers, if rarely by-the-book investigator, to look into irregularities in the 2014 Scottish Independence referendum. She has neither standing nor any investigatory powers in the UK, but moth-to-a-flame, she takes on the case, where she uncovers a trail of criminal self-dealing, cover-ups, and murder leading to the highest levels of power. None but a very few know the truth. And those few need it to stay hidden at any cost.

YOU DON’T NEED TO WIN, JUST DON’T LOSE
In politics, people cheat to win, or because they’re afraid to lose. The difference can be deadly.

Imogen will risk what’s left of her standing, her career–and maybe her life–to get at the truth.>>

Bastard Verdict is available now at Bookshop.org, Amazon-US, Amazon-UK, Waterstones, Barnes & Noble and local, independent bookstores. It’s also available on Kindle, Nook, for Kobo and Apple Books.

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James McCrone is the author of the Imogen Trager political suspense-thrillers Faithless Elector, Dark Network , and Emergency Powers–noir tales about a stolen presidency, a conspiracy, and a nation on edge. Bastard Verdict, his fourth novel, is about a conspiracy surrounding a second Scottish Independence referendum. To get the details right for the new thriller, he drew on his boyhood in Scotland and scouted locations for scenes in the book while attending Bloody Scotland.

All books are available on BookShop.org, IndyBound.org, Barnes & Noble, your local bookshop, and Amazon. eBooks are available in multiple formats including Apple, Kobo, Nook and Kindle.

He’s a member of MWA, Int’l Assoc. of Crime Writers, and he’s the new president of the Delaware Valley Sisters in Crime chapter. He lives in Philadelphia. James has an MFA from the University of Washington in Seattle. His current, work-in-progress is a mystery-thriller set in Oregon’s wine country…A (pinot) Noir, called Witness Tree.

For a full list of appearances and readings, make sure to check out his Events/About page. And follow this blog!

His most recent short fiction is below. The first is available for online reading.

“Eight O’Clock Sharp” in Retreats from Oblivion: the Journal of NoirCon. (free online)
Set in Philadelphia’s 9th Street Market, Thomas is a man outside of time, forgotten, but trying to do the right thing while contending with avaricious forces.

“Ultimatum Games” in Rock and Hard Place magazine issue #7
A rare book heist, bad decisions. The narrator and his partner-in-crime clash over evolving bourgeois norms.

“Nostalgia” in Low Down Dirty Vote, vol. 3
An armed group tries to resurrect a past that never was as they struggle with change.

Getting the story

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BROADCAST BLUES – R.G. Belsky

R. G. Belsky’s newest Clare Carlson mystery, Broadcast Blues, is a compelling and superbly human story of justice and corruption.

Approaching her 50th birthday, Clare Carlson finds that “getting the story” becomes increasingly dangerous in Belsky’s latest, tense mystery-thriller, Broadcast Blues. The trail she follows in her reporting on the horrific death of Wendy Kyle, a high-profile private investigator specializing in divorce cases, has a multitude of suspects who wouldn’t mind seeing her dead.

But it’s the little clues, the things not said (or suppressed) that call out to Clare Carlson. Not only does she have to navigate among a group of suspects–any of whom might be the killer–but she remains at odds with her managing editor, and the TV station where she works is up for sale to a hedge-funded media/entertainment colossus that couldn’t care less about news and the big stories that matter.

The deeper Clare digs, the more she identifies with the dead PI, a conflicted, driven investigator. Highly recommended.

NOTE: I received an advance review copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.