19 Actors You Never Knew Guest-Starred on Murder, She Wrote

 

One thing you need to know about me... I love Murder, She Wrote. Even though the series ended when I was only four years old and I didn't start watching it in reruns until I was a preteen/teen it immediately became one of my favorite binge-worthy shows, long before Netflix or Hulu or streaming services became a thing. But as I was rewatching it this past year I noticed actors I recognized that I never realized were on the show in guest-starring roles. 

19 Actors You Never Knew Guest-Starred on Murder, She Wrote

1. Joaquin Phoenix (Walk the Line, Joker)

2. Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) 

3. Hayley Mills (The Parent Trap)

4. Dick Butkus (Chicago Bears Football Player)

5. Rue McClanahan (Golden Girls)

6. Michael Constantine (My Big Fat Greek Wedding)

7. George Takei (Star Trek)

8. Charlie Daniels (Country Music Singer)

9. Macdonald Carey (Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of A Doubt)

10. Jeffrey Tambor (How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Transparent)

11. Teresa Wright (Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt)

12. Meagan Mulally (Will and Grace)

13. Betsey Palmer (Friday the 13th)

14. Farley Granger (Strangers on a Train, Rope)

15. James Coburn (Snow Dogs)

16. Gail O'Grady (Various Lifetime Movies)

17. Amy Brenneman (Judging Amy, Private Practice, The Jane Austen Book Club)

18. Jonathan Scarfe (Nora Robert's Carolina Moon)

19. Anthony Michael Hall (Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club)

Other actors you'll recognize who guest-starred: George Clooney, Marcia Cross, Tippi Hedren, Mickey Rooney, Bruce (Caitlyn) Jenner, Janet Leigh and Courtney Cox

I Can't Wait For... The Wife Who Knew Too Much

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they're books that have yet to be released.

I found this author's books this year and when I saw her next book that comes out next year I immediately added it to my TBR...

The Wife Who Knew Too Much

Standalone 
by Michele Campbell
Thriller
eBook, Hardcover, Audiobook (presumed), 352 Pages
June 9, 2020 by St. Martin's Press


Blurb

Tabitha Girard had her heart broken years ago by Connor Ford. He was preppy and handsome. She was a pool girl at his country club. Their affair should have been a summer fling. But it meant everything to Tabitha.

Years later, Connor comes back into Tabitha's life—older, richer, and desperately unhappy. He married for money, a wealthy, neurotic, controlling woman whom he never loved. He has always loved Tabitha.
When Connor’s wife Nina takes her own life, he’s free. He can finally be with Tabitha. Nina’s home, Windswept, can be theirs. It seems to be a perfect ending to a fairy tale romance that began so many years ago. But then, Tabitha finds a diary. "I’m writing this to raise an alarm in the event of my untimely death," it begins. “If I die unexpectedly, it was foul play, and Connor was behind it. Connor – and her.”

Who is Connor Ford? Why did he marry Nina? Is Tabitha his true love, or a convenient affair? As the police investigate Nina’s death, is she a convenient suspect?

As Tabitha is drawn deeper into the dark glamour of a life she is ill-prepared for, it becomes clear to her that what a wife knows can kill her.

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Book Depository | Snowbound Books (Support My Favorite Indie)

What do you think? Will you be checking this one out? 

The Saturday Review - 26 January 2019

The Saturday Review is a weekly meme hosted by me (Taylor Fenner's Bookish World where fellow book bloggers and readers can share what books they've recently reviewed. 

Only A Breath Apart by Katie McGarry

Blurb:

Bestselling author Katie McGarry’s trademark wrong-side-of-the-tracks romance is given a new twist in the gritty YA contemporary novel, Only a Breath Apart.

Jesse Lachlin is cursed.

So the town folklore says, but while Jesse’s had his fair share of tragedy, the only curse he believes is in his grandmother’s will: in order to inherit his family farm he must win the approval of his childhood best friend, the girl he froze out his freshman year, Scarlett Copeland.

Scarlett Copeland is psychic.

Glory Gardner tells Scarlett she has hidden psychic abilities, but Scarlett thinks Glory is delusional. What is real is Scarlett’s father’s irrational fears, controlling attitude, and the dark secrets at home. Scarlett may have a way to escape, but there’s a hitch: she’ll have to rely on the one person she used to trust, the same boy who broke her heart, Jesse Lachlin.

Each midnight meeting pushes Jesse and Scarlett to confront their secrets and their feelings for each other. But as love blooms, the curse rears its ugly head…

My Review:

I love Katie McGarry's books, but this one is a bit of a departure from her usual writing style - and I have to tell you, I LOVED IT! Yes, there's still romance, yes it still had the ability to make me feel strong emotions and even cry a little, but the whole idea of curses and psychic characters was up a different but equally awesome alley than McGarry's usual books about trauma and kids-from-the-wrong-side-of-the-tracks-falling-for-a-good-girl/guy.

Up until now Echo and Noah were my favorite of McGarry's couples, but Jesse and Scarlett were pretty fantastic. I couldn't get enough of them together - their past, their reconnecting at Jesse's grandmother's funeral, their chemistry, and the potential for their future together... just gah. So good!

Overall, I highly recommend this book for both those familiar with this authors books and those just reading her for the first time. It's gritty, emotional contemporary romance... with a twist!

My Rating:

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

5 of 5 Stars!

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

Blurb:

Satire meets slasher in this short, darkly funny hand grenade of a novel about a Nigerian woman whose younger sister has a very inconvenient habit of killing her boyfriends.

"Femi makes three, you know. Three and they label you a serial killer."
Korede is bitter. How could she not be? Her sister, Ayoola, is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic. And now Ayoola's third boyfriend in a row is dead. Korede's practicality is the sisters' saving grace. She knows the best solutions for cleaning blood, the trunk of her car is big enough for a body, and she keeps Ayoola from posting pictures of her dinner to Instagram when she should be mourning her "missing" boyfriend. Not that she gets any credit.
A kind, handsome doctor at the hospital where Korede works, is the bright spot in her life. She dreams of the day when he will realize they're perfect for each other. But one day Ayoola shows up to the hospital uninvited and he takes notice. When he asks Korede for Ayoola's phone number, she must reckon with what her sister has become and what she will do about it.

Sharp as nails and full of deadpan wit, Oyinkan Braithwaite has written a deliciously deadly debut that's as fun as it is frightening.

My Review

I first read about this book on BuzzfeedBooks and decided to check the ebook out on Overdrive. 

MSTSK is a short, dark, occasionally humorous novel. Korede is the good girl type with a major case of OCD and Ayoola is this flaky, self-absorbed character that basically just has to look at a guy to rope him in - but Ayoola has a dark, deadly side. She claims she's killed her boyfriends in self-defense, but have any of them really done anything wrong to her? It's unclear, though unlikely as Korede begins to cyber stalk Ayoola's most recent victim's poetry blog. But when Ayoola sets her sights on Korede's boss and secret crush, will she stand by and let it happen? Or sabotage the relationship in the name of saving her boss from Ayoola's knife.

I liked this book but at times found the dialogue hard to understand. It's written heavily in Nigerian slang and as an American I had no idea what the characters were saying to each other. I also kind of felt that Korede was condoning - or at the end encouraging - Ayoola's murderous tendencies. As she herself says, Ayoola is beautiful so she gets a free pass. No, Ayoola is manipulative and good at playing the innocent act. 

Overall, I do recommend this book and I'm glad I read it, but it's not a high-ranking love for me.

My Rating:

🌟🌟🌟1/2

3.5 of 5 Stars!

The Breathless by Tara Goedjen

Blurb:

No one knows what really happened on the beach where Roxanne Cole’s body was found, but her boyfriend, Cage, took off that night and hasn’t been seen since. Until now. One year—almost to the day—from Ro’s death, when he knocks on the door of Blue Gate Manor and asks where she is.

Cage has no memory of the past twelve months. According to him, Ro was alive only the day before. Ro’s sister Mae wouldn’t believe him, except that something’s not right. Nothing’s been right in the house since Ro died.

And then Mae finds the little green book. The one hidden in Ro’s room. It’s filled with secrets—dangerous secrets—about her family, and about Ro. And if what it says is true, then maybe, just maybe, Ro isn’t lost forever.

And maybe there are secrets better left to the dead.

My Review:

This book has been on my TBR list since before it came out in 2017, mainly because of the cover - but also because of the blurb.

I finally got a copy from the library and started reading. I was hooked from the beginning mainly because of the weird feeling of this book. I liked the alternating chapters between Mae and Cage and even the chapters from Grady in 1860 but one thing didn't make sense to me, who were the "We" that were always watching over everyone? Were they spirits? Ghosts? It was never really explained.

I kept reading, dying to know who had killed Ro. Was it Cage? Lance - honestly I had a bad feeling about him from the first time he appears in the book. I even considered Sonny. 

I thought the ending was satisfying but I was left with one question - [spoiler alert].

Overall, if you love Southern Gothic settings, old run-down antebellum mansions, murder, and magic, you'll want to read The Breathless!

My Rating:

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

5 of 5 Stars!

Book Review: BROKEN THINGS by Lauren Oliver

Broken Things by Lauren Oliver

Blurb:

It’s been five years since Summer Marks was brutally murdered in the woods.
Everyone thinks Mia and Brynn killed their best friend. That driven by their obsession with a novel called The Way into Lovelorn the three girls had imagined themselves into the magical world where their fantasies became twisted, even deadly.

The only thing is: they didn’t do it.

On the anniversary of Summer’s death, a seemingly insignificant discovery resurrects the mystery and pulls Mia and Brynn back together once again. But as the lines begin to blur between past and present and fiction and reality, the girls must confront what really happened in the woods all those years ago—no matter how monstrous.

My Review:

What first drew me to this book, even before I knew what it was about was the awesome cover. Then, as a Wisconsinite, the blurb immediately drew parallels to the Waukesha Slender Man Case so I knew I had to read it. 

This book is not a play on that case, there are of course similarities whether the author planned on that or not but this book is an engrossing mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat trying to figure out: Who really killed Summer Marks? 

It's a gorgeously written tale of a small town that persecutes three teenagers with little proof, misconceptions, how the scars of the past have shaped the lives of those left behind after a grisly crime, and learning to heal from it all. 

This is my first Lauren Oliver book and after finishing I kind of (completely want to) want to go out and auto-buy all of her other books. The big reveal in this one blew me away, I never would have suspected it and the ending left me satisfied.

Overall, this is a perfect October read, or an anytime read when you're looking for a pulse-racing thriller.

My Rating:

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

5 of 5 Stars!

Book Review: Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

Blurb:

Seventeen-year-old Audrey Rose Wadsworth was born a lord's daughter, with a life of wealth and privilege stretched out before her. But between the social teas and silk dress fittings, she leads a forbidden secret life.

Against her stern father's wishes and society's expectations, Audrey often slips away to her uncle's laboratory to study the gruesome practice of forensic medicine. When her work on a string of savagely killed corpses drags Audrey into the investigation of a serial murderer, her search for answers brings her close to her own sheltered world. 

My Review:

Stalking Jack the Ripper fictionally solves a mystery that has remained unsolved for 129 years. 

Our heroine, Audrey Rose Wadsworth, is a peculiar girl for her era of London society. She'd much rather study forensic science and help her uncle perform autopsies than sit down for afternoon tea with other young ladies of society, much to the dismay of her father. 

And what a time to be studying forensic science it will be, when a woman is found brutally slain. Neither Audrey Rose, nor her uncle or his insufferable assistant, Thomas Cresswell could have predicted this will be only the first in a series of gruesome murders that will become infamous and be sensationalized across the morning headlines. 

Who is Jack the Ripper? As their lives are turned upside down and startling secrets are revealed in Audrey Rose's family she must join together with Thomas to stop a mad killer. What is the killer's motivation? Will they find out before the killer sets his sights on Audrey Rose? Or will the case remain unsolved?

Audrey Rose is a fantastic heroine! She chose to step away from society's expectations of that era to pursue her passion, showing that women can be feminine and fearless, even in Victorian England. Thomas's quick wit and deduction skills are awesome and his flirtiness with Audrey Rose is entertaining. I love how she fights her feelings for him in this book. They really paired well together.

The author really did her research both into the case and the forensic practices of the era and I thought the creative liberties she took fit in well with the story, making them feel authentic to the amazing world building and the true history. 

This is a wonderful debut novel and I can't wait to read more by this author. What adventures now await Audrey Rose and Thomas at their new school in Romania? I can't wait to find out! 

My Rating:

5 of 5 Stars! 

"What I'm Reading" Wednesday #81

I can't tell you how addicted I am to the book I'm reading this "WIR"-Wednesday! It's the sequel to a book I haven't yet read but I was able to jump right in with no problem! I'm reading...

Hunting Prince Dracula (Stalking Jack the Ripper #2) by Kerri Maniscalco

Blurb:

In this hotly anticipated sequel to the haunting #1 bestseller Stalking Jack the Ripper, bizarre murders are discovered in the castle of Prince Vlad the Impaler, otherwise known as Dracula. Could it be a copycat killer...or has the depraved prince been brought back to life?

Following the grief and horror of her discovery of Jack the Ripper's true identity, Audrey Rose Wadsworth has no choice but to flee London and its memories. Together with the arrogant yet charming Thomas Cresswell, she journeys to the dark heart of Romania, home to one of Europe's best schools of forensic medicine...and to another notorious killer, Vlad the Impaler, whose thirst for blood became legend.

But her life's dream is soon tainted by blood-soaked discoveries in the halls of the school's forbidding castle, and Audrey Rose is compelled to investigate the strangely familiar murders. What she finds brings all her terrifying fears to life once again.

Why I Chose This Book | What I Think So Far:

I've been dying to read this book since I first saw the cover and when I read an excerpt online I was even more eager. I was lucky enough to win an ARC in a giveaway and I started it almost as soon as I received it! It's such an easy book to read and I love the story. 

#BookMail Thursday #23

As last week's post was posting I received a bargain books order from the Edward R. Hamilton Book Club where I had found some great buys, most under $5.00!

Bargain Books Order:

Wicked by Joanne Fluke

Midnight Crossing by Charlaine Harris

One Week Girlfriend by Monica Murphy

Wicked Ways by Lisa Jackson and Nancy Bush

The Mermaid Collector by Erika Marks

The Silver Witch by Paula Brackston

Death by Pumpkin Spice by Alex Erickson

I also was lucky enough to get an eARC of...

Trust by Kylie Scott

June (Still) Waiting On:

Signed Copies of:

- Roar by Cora Carmack

- The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

- The Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh

- Ivory and Bone by Julie Eshbaugh

-Obsidian and Stars by Julie Eshbaugh

-Sexy Stranger by Kendall Ryan

Book Review: The Architect of Song by A.G. Howard

The Architect of Song by A.G. Howard

Blurb:

A lady imprisoned by deafness, an architect imprisoned by his past, and a ghost imprisoned within the petals of a flower - intertwine in this love story that transcends life and death. 

For most of her life, Juliet Emerline has subsisted - isolated by deafness - making hats in the solitude of her home. Now, she's at risk to lose her sanctuary to Lord Nicolas Thornton, a mysterious and eccentric architect with designs on her humble estate. When she secretly witnesses him raging beside a grave, Juliet investigates, finding the name "Hawk" on the headstone and an unusual flower at the base. The moment Juliet touches the petals, a young English nobleman appears in ghostly form, singing a song only her deaf ears can hear. The ghost remembers nothing of his identity or death, other than the one name that haunts his afterlife: Thornton. 

To avenge her ghostly companion and save her estate, Juliet pushes aside her fear of society and travels to Lord Thornton's secluded holiday resort, posing as a hat maker in one of his boutiques. There, she finds herself questioning who to trust: the architect of flesh and bones who can relate to her through romantic gestures, heartfelt notes, and sensual touches ... or the specter who serenades her with beautiful songs and ardent words, touching her mind and soul like no other man ever can. As sinister truths behind Lord Thornton's interest in her estate and his tie to Hawk come to light, Juliet is lured into a web of secrets. But it's too late for escape, and the tragic love taking seed in her heart will alter her silent world forever. 

My Review:

After a childhood case of the mumps took her hearing Juliet Emerline has spent her life in silent isolation at her mother's side helping with her millinery business. But now her mother is gone leaving her alone in the world, save for her uncle Owen and her trusted maid Enya.

On the day of her mother's funeral Juliet spies an anguished man banging his head against a gated grave. Flustered, she falls and the man, interrupted in his solace, helps her to her feet. After he leaves, Juliet takes a closer look at the grave and finds an unusual silver-petaled flower blooming in front of the grave. Stealthily she digs it up and hides it in her clothing.

Upon returning to her uncle's carriage, Juliet learns the man that came to her aid is none other than Lord Thornton, the viscount that's been trying to buy her family home for months.

When she returns home Juliet discovers the plant holds the spirit of an attractive young man, Hawk - a man that has no memory of his life or how he died. How is the handsome ghost connected to Lord Thornton? Juliet vows to uncover the truth and help Hawk remember his life.

As Juliet is drawn into the mystery of Hawk's past and thrust into a future she doesn't want with the young, attractive viscount she finds herself falling for both men. But which man can really hold her heart? Could Juliet ever really have a future with a ghost? Or could she allow herself to imagine a future with the last person she ever dreamed she would fall in love with?

Soon it becomes all too clear that there were sinister circumstances surrounding Hawk's death. Is it possible that Juliet has been spending her time with a violent, rogueish murderer?

The Architect of Song is a beautiful, gothic romance full of mystery, secrets, misconceptions, and hope. Of all of A.G. Howard's books, I think The Architect of Song might be my favorite. It reminds me of both RoseBlood and Splintered in certain ways and in the story-weaving that is unique to the author.

I found Juliet to be likable and her instant chemistry with Hawk was steamy. It was interesting watching both Hawk and Chaine's characters, in particular, evolve and change throughout the book. In the beginning, I definitely felt devotion for one and skepticism for the other but then it switched up and suddenly I was apprehensive for the first and totally head over heels for the other. Without giving anything away I can say, just when you think you have everything figured out the plot twists, throwing you for a surprised loop.

I loved the setting and storyline of The Architect of Song and unraveling the mystery of Hawk and Chaine kept me hooked. Overall, The Architect of Song is a great read that reminded me personally of gothic romances from Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey era and a splash of the movie Crimson Peak (without the blood, gore, and horror). I would definitely read this book again and recommend it to everyone that enjoys a gothic, romantic, historical mystery. I can't wait to read the next book!

My Rating:

5 of 5 Stars!

Book Review: The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee

The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee

Blurb:

New York City as you’ve never seen it before. A thousand-story tower stretching into the sky. A glittering vision of the future, where anything is possible—if you want it enough.

Welcome to Manhattan, 2118.

A hundred years in the future, New York is a city of innovation and dreams. But people never change: everyone here wants something…and everyone has something to lose.

Leda Cole’s flawless exterior belies a secret addiction—to a drug she never should have tried and a boy she never should have touched.

Eris Dodd-Radson’s beautiful, carefree life falls to pieces when a heartbreaking betrayal tears her family apart.

Rylin Myers’s job on one of the highest floors sweeps her into a world—and a romance—she never imagined…but will her new life cost Rylin her old one?

Watt Bakradi is a tech genius with a secret: he knows everything about everyone. But when he’s hired to spy by an upper-floor girl, he finds himself caught up in a complicated web of lies.

And living above everyone else on the thousandth floor is Avery Fuller, the girl genetically designed to be perfect. The girl who seems to have it all—yet is tormented by the one thing she can never have.

Debut author Katharine McGee has created a breathtakingly original series filled with high-tech luxury and futuristic glamour, where the impossible feels just within reach. But in this world, the higher you go, the farther there is to fall….

My Review:

Fast-forward 102 years in the future to the Tower, stretching 1000 stories above New York City, shadowing and dwarfing everything below. 

The Tower is really a city unto itself, holding everything a person could need or want - schools, hospitals, stores, churches, restaurants, clubs, and of course apartments. New York City has essentially become obsolete thanks to the Tower. 

Step into the tower and there are social classes just like everywhere else. People on the lowest floors are poor, and the highest floors reserved for the rich and glamorous. In this 2118 world there are a lot of amazing technological advances, but only for those who can pay the price, yet another way the rich distinguish themselves from the poor. 

But no matter what floor you live on, everyone has something to hide. Insert the teens from the Tower - 

Living on the thousandth floor is Avery, who by all accounts is perfect on the outside, but the taboo secret she holds close to her heart, her feelings for the one person in her life she definitely shouldn't love, make her more twisted than anyone knows. 

Down on the 224th or was it 244th? floor is tech geek Watt with the illegal supercomputer in his brain. What's going to happen when spying for a client places him in the path of the most beautiful out-of-his-league girl he's ever met?

On the 32nd floor, Rylin is doing everything she can to keep her younger sister from entering the foster care system after the death of their mother even if it means stealing pills from her sexy new boss, who might be the guy of her dreams. Will Cinderella get her prince? Or will reality and social classes get in the way?

Eris had it all until a heavily guarded family secret comes to light and ruins her perfect little world. Can she learn that there are more important things than money and status?

And then there is Leda, possibly the most insane, vindictive character in the whole book. Everyone is about to learn that you do not get in between Leda and what she wants. 

The Thousandth Floor is OMG AMAZING! I've been holding off on reading this book for a while because I was afraid I wouldn't like it, but now I wish I had started it the day I got it. I loved this book. The technology was seriously cool, and the new modern world was fantastic. 

This book really does remind me of a futuristic Gossip Girl (although the structure itself reminded me of the doomed tower in the movie The Towering Inferno for some reason. I kept waiting for it to burn to the ground at the end), where the secrets are more scandalous and the stakes are higher. When you start the book you know that one of the characters is going to take a dive off the thousandth floor, but which one? Is it suicide or murder? 

You move backward two months and meet all the characters, moving steadily forward toward the moment when everything clicks into place. At first, I couldn't tell which character I liked the most. Avery was a sweetheart, even though her secret was the most scandalous of all, so I liked her instantly. I loved and disliked Eris throughout the novel, but once she got past the rich snob phase she became one of my favorites. Ultimately the characters I fell the hardest for were Rylin and Cord. Watching them interact was enjoyable and I felt all the feels for them. 

That only leaves Watt and Leda. Watt was your typical computer nerd who only wanted to make other people happy. But someone should tell him, the nice guy never gets the girl. And Leda. *sighs* Leda was truly a masterful villain and watching her descent into madness was truly interesting. The fact that I hated that character so much shows how great the writing is in this novel. 

Overall, I was addicted to this story from the first page and I enjoyed every minute of reading The Thousandth Floor. I found myself picking it up whenever possible and trying so hard not to read ahead to see what would happen next. I can't wait to see what comes next in book two, and what repercussions will come from the epic scene atop the Tower. 

My Rating:

6 of 5 Stars