No Stone Unturned, by James W. Ziskin

Uncover a series of mysteries from the 1960s. In this second novel, small town news reporter Ellie Stone is the first news person on the scene, camera in hand, to witness the biggest story of her short and already stagnant news reporting career. She leaves No Stone Unturned investigating the leads, and fighting to show the newspaper owner that she is ready to report on the events that will shake the town to its foundation. She’s in competition with the well-established staff reporter, and it’s the true legwork and solid journalism that will win the byline.

In the meantime, there’s a grieving family and a murderer on the loose in New Holland, New York. Driven by ambition, and haunted by complicated family dynamics, Ellie is willing to take exciting risks with her investigation. This leads to some dangerous encounters, and you’ll be gripping the pages tightly at times over what Ellie is pitted against. The more clues discovered, the more we learn about the victim, her family, and the other people in the town. Ellie’s own recent family events start to blur into the emotions of the grieving family. Does this compromise, or energize, her sleuthing abilities?

It’s fascinating to time travel back to the ’60s and visit the workplaces of that time, the environment, and the small-town characters. The author skillfully immerses you in the details of that era, and the mindset of the population. In some ways the reader is time traveling along with Ellie Stone, who is no shrinking violet. Just the opposite, this reporter is independent, mouthy and self-liberated. The award-winning author, James Ziskin, admits that Ellie shares a lot of his own attributes, especially his love of scotch.

There are six books in the series, with the next — Stone’s Throw — due out June 5 next year. James Ziskin has an interesting career background, trained as a linguist specializing in the Romance Languages, and spending 15 years in Hollywood doing post-production work, running large international operations in subtitling localization and visual effects. He’s also well traveled, particularly in Italy, France and India. Elements of his experiences enhance and entice the suspense in his stories. He’s a winner of the Anthony award for Best Paperback Original and the Macavity Award for Best Historical Mystery.

And if you want to hear more from the author, tune into Kendall & Cooper Talk Mysteries with James Ziskin.

– By Wendy Kendall

Wendy Kendall is a writer, project manager and volunteer at the Edmonds Library. Follow her via her blog here or on Twitter @wendywrites1.