I'm celebrating this afternoon's launch party a bit early, after receiving this insightful and lovely review from one of my favorite booksellers, Fran Fuller, from the Seattle Mystery Bookshop. This was sent out to their mailing list yesterday - and I couldn't appreciate it more! 

I wanted to share because it addresses exactly the same issues I was worried about with this book. She's alleviated my fears. From Fran:

I have got to start trusting my authors. I really do, even when they step outside my usual expectations for them.

The new J.T. Ellison, Where All The Dead Lie (Mira, $14.95) takes Taylor Jackson away from Nashville and drops her in the middle of a gothic story. I love J.T. Ellison’s writing, I love Taylor Jackson, and I admittedly love gothics, so you’d think this would have been something I would have looked forward to, but darn it, I’m used to Taylor being a Nashville police officer! I was skeptical, I admit it.

I was also wrong.

If you’ve been following this series, you know that with The Immortals (Mira, $7.99), Taylor’s had some bad things happen, and has made some dangerous choices. It makes perfect sense for Taylor to get away from Nashville to try to figure out what’s going on in her head, which is what is going on in Where All The Dead Lie. And J T. Ellison has blended together her police elements into a gothic atmosphere that really works brilliantly.  

The other concern I had (and didn’t realize I had until it was alleviated) was that I was afraid I wouldn’t enjoy a book without all of Taylor’s support characters, especially Baldwin and Sam. Fortunately, Ellison has woven them into the story so I am content.

If you haven’t read the Taylor Jackson series, let me recommend that you begin with All The Pretty Girls (Mira, $7.99). If you have read the series, I promise you’re really going to enjoy Where All The Dead Lie. And J.T. has hinted that she might make it out to the shop next year, which would be a total blast!

Seattle Mystery Bookshop
 117 Cherry St., Seattle, WA  98104
206-587-5737  staff@seattlemystery.com www.seattlemystery.com
21 Years of Mayhem: 1990 - 2011

Thank you, Fran, for both "getting" my intentions, and for being such an amazing support over the past four years.