Off To A Good Start: Early Praise For Fool Her Once

I’m still a little shell-shocked by the early praise for Fool Her Once. Just last week, Publishers Weekly (the bible of the publishing industry) featured my new thriller as a “notable” new release for Spring 2022.

Well-Known Names

I’m in illustrious company in the Mysteries/Thrillers section of the Spring 2022 Adult Announcements Issue. Among other notables are bestselling authors Fiona Barton, Rob Hart, Greer Hendricks and Sara Pekkanen, Chris Bohjalian, Tarryn Fisher, Julie Clark and Rachel Howzell Hall.

This is the second time Hall has made the list. She was featured in the Publishers Weekly “notable” Mystery/Thriller releases for Fall 2021 with These Toxic Things. That thriller became an Amazon Best Book of the Month earlier this year.

Notable? How?

When I first saw Fool Her Once nestled among these names, my eyes did the proverbial “popping out of my head.” Then, I went back a couple of pages to PW’s intro to see how the magazine had arrived at its lists of notables in the various sections.

This is what it said : “We followed our usual program, inviting publishers to submit information on titles publishing between Feb. 1 and July 31, 2022. Our editors pored over the thousands of submissions to put together what we have here: our takes on the big, surprising, and promising books—as well as those with a certain je ne sais quoi about them—set to hit shelves in the coming months. Our picks are broken down into 15 categories, each of which has a top 10 and a longlist of notable titles.”

Early Praise

My eye alighted on this phrase: “Our editors pored over thousands of submissions.” Really?  You picked Fool Her Once out of thousands of submissions?

It made my day — coming as it did after several reviews/blurbs from established authors had already landed in my inbox. I’ll share those on this blog in upcoming weeks.

They include a review from Barry Levine, author of The Spider and All the President’s Women, and  a Pulitzer Prize- nominated veteran investigative reporter and editor; and Huffington Post “Game Changer” award winner.

Also, from Susan Ouellette, award winning author of the thriller, The Wayward Spy, who has posted the first five-star review for Fool Her Once to the Goodreads.com website. Please check it out. Perhaps, you’ll even want to click on the Want To Read button?

In the meantime, here is a link to my Books page  on this website where you can find the very first author endorsement I received for Fool Her Once from R.G Belsky. He’s the author of Beyond The Headlines, #4 in the bestselling mystery series featuring Clare Carlson, a New York City TV journalist.

First Three Chapters Excerpt

And if you’d like to read an excerpt from Fool Her Once, here is a link to the three first chapters which appeared on the Criminal Element website when they published the cover reveal back in October.