Beware impersonation scamsters!

TODAY, I RECEIVED the second email from an impersonation scamster in three days. This one was from a Charley Burlock, who says she is an editor at Oprah's Book Club, raving about my new mystery novel, Riversong, wanting to include it in a special book club feature, and offering to give me a "roadmap" of the book club's plans.

I discovered that Burlock is a real editor at Oprah Daily, but I'm sure this real editor didn't send this email which came to me from a gmail address. If I had wanted to see Oprah's "roadmap," I would no doubt be asked to forward money.

The email I received three days ago was from a Michelle Nathan, claiming to be a marketing manager at Penguin Random House. Also a real person, I discovered, in her case working at Penguin in London. Her alias also reaching out from a gmail address. She gave Riversong another rave, with wording very similar to Burlock's, such as "blending emotional depth with page-turning suspense." And both signing off with "warm regards."

Nathan offered to give me an Amazon Visibility Audit. Now why would a Penguin marketing manager want to make my book a success on Amazon?

When something sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

What bothers me is how these people--or person--got hold of my email address. They didn't send their messages through the contact-me page on this website/blog. They used my personal email address.

Fave Reads of 2025!

ANOTHER YEAR, another list of favourite reads. Some were works of crime fiction, some mainstream. Some were released in 2025, such as Anthony Bidulka’s Home Fires Burn, the final book in his charming Merry Bell trilogy, and Giles Blunt’s Bad Juliet. Others have been around for a few years. I caught up on Colm Toibin’s offerings, and read four more of the Irish novelist’s works last year.

A friend introduced me to two outstanding American writers. Rebecca Makkai’s I Have Some Questions for You and Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods, both literary mysteries, were my top favourite reads of 2025.

Here's the list:

• Donna Jones Alward, When the World Fell Silent

• Kate Atkinson, Death at the Sign of the Rook

• Anthony Bidulka, Home Fires Burn

• Giles Blunt, Bad Juliet

• Gail Bowen, The Solitary Friend

• Richard Chartrand, Bad Karma

• Lisa de Nikolits, Mad Dog and the Sea Dragon

• Joy Fielding, The Housekeeper

• Barbara Fradkin, Shipwrecked Souls

• Bruce Gates, Regan’s Ghost

• Claire Keegan, Small Things Like These

• Paul Lynch, Prophet Song

• Rebecca Makkai, I Have Some Questions For You

• Hannah Mary McKinnon, Only One Survives

• Liz Moore, The God of the Woods

• Liane Moriarty, Here One Moment

• Desmond P. Ryan, Dangerous Assumptions

• Colm Toibin, Brooklyn

• Colm Toibin, The Heather Blazing

• Colm Toibin, Nora Webster

• Colm Toibin, The Blackwater Lightship

• Angela van Breemen, Revenge is Not Enough

• Jacqueline Winspear, Leaving Everything Most Loved

RIVERSONG's TORONTO LAUNCH