Reviewed by Jane Allen Petrick for Readers' Favorite

“A deliciously intriguing place to read about, but I won’t want to live there.” Those were my thoughts as I finished reading the six sagas that comprise the latest 'Falcon’s Bend chronicle', "Falcon’s Bend Case Files II". A normal life always seems to be just one psychopath away in the tiny Wisconsin town. Valiantly, detectives Pete Shasta and Danny Vincent and their families carry the reader through horrors that pass as every day occurrences in the Falcon’s Bend. Authors Karen Wiesner and Chris Spindler do a solid job of stoking and sustaining what I have come to call “the Falcon’s Bend Creepies,” even when the book’s characters are not in Falcon’s Bend. The first story, for example, 'Murder on the Heart Strings', finds Pete and Lisa Shasta heading for a romantic Valentine’s get-away at an isolated and distant mountain resort. But murder finds them there anyway. Shut in by a blizzard, the spot is so remote that Pete is the only law on the scene, and Lisa finds herself working as her husband’s right hand sleuth. You get the picture: Honeymoon Haven Inn morphs into The Orient Express. Meanwhile, back at The Bend, Danny Vincent attempts to hold his nerves together while managing his wife’s first pregnancy and a case in which a husband claims his wife has come back from the dead. 'Flashback' emits such an unsettling, bizarre atmosphere I didn’t close my shower curtain for two days. On the other hand, 'Up in Smoke' had me laughing throughout all of its wacky fifteen pages. And when the Shastas return to Falcon’s Bend from their “relaxing” vacation, Lisa continues to hone her gumshoe skills in 'Retribution'.

Wiesner and Spindler have perfected the fine art of developing characters while not slowing down the plot. For example, in “Double Take”, the interaction between Patrol Officers Amber Carfi and Warren Jensen gives us deeper knowledge of their personal lives without diverting off into a romance novel. The couple remain cops focused on the main narrative: finding an insatiable art thief. "Falcon’s Bend Case File II" is like a box of six small candies. Each story (with the exception of the one sour ball) is a tasty morsel, just enough, complete and fulfilling. And the wonderful thing about this batch of goodies? When you finish reading them, you can go back and read them again. They are just that good.