One of the most important reviews for any author comes from the Library Journal. With Show Me the Gold to be released December 17, I started searching for the review, only to discover it came out October 1, 2014.

I’d missed two months of feeling good. The reviewer, librarian Viccy Kemp, put Phoenix Smith in the company of three of my favorite mystery protagonists: Marcia Muller’s Sharon McCone, Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Milhone, and J. A. Jance’s Joanna Brady. Those three writers pioneered in introducing intelligent, tough female investigators.

Here’s the review: “Ex-spy Phoenix Smith and Sheriff Annalynn Keyser respond to a call from a neighboring county in rural Missouri and kill two bank robbers trying to escape an abandoned farmhouse. Now they are the No. 1 targets of the surviving members of the Cantree clan. The third entry (after Show Me the Deadly Deer) in this character-driven series will intrigue fans of female PIs such as Sharon McCone, Kinsey Millhone, or Joanna Brady.”

The December issue of Gumshoe Review delighted me by posting two reviews. Both reviewers gave the nod not only to Phoenix and her two old friends but also to her canine sidekick, Achilles.

Verna Suit concluded, “The complex plot of Show Me the Gold finds Phoenix getting into lots of tight corners as she hunts down the elusive Cantrees. Frequently she is saved at the last second by the alertness of her Belgian Shepherd, Achilles, who easily earns his place in the series’ cover art. This very satisfying book traces the exploits of a 50-something single woman creating a new life for herself in small-town America; a CIA agent’s second act.” (See http://www.gumshoereview.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4513.)

Mel Jacob focuses on how Phoenix and her friends, Acting Sheriff Annalynn Keyser and singer/musical comedy director Connie Diamante, deal with crime and personal problems and what Achilles contributes. Jacob endorses Show Me the Gold by writing, “Readers will be looking forward to [the] next installment on Phoenix, Annalynn, Connie, and, of course, Achilles.” (See http://www.gumshoereview.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4682.)

Nothing beats knowing that readers enjoy my books.

—Carolyn Mulford