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Thea Kozak #10
Death Comes Knocking
A Secretive Neighbor's Disappearance Raises Questions in Death Comes Knocking, a Thea Kozak Murder Mystery from Kate Flora.--Maine, Present Day--Happy to finally be settling into her new home, a heavily pregnant Thea Kozak is rushing to get the baby’s room finished when she’s surprised by a visit from her new neighbor, Jessica, who is equally pregnant.Thrilled to meet another new mother in the neighborhood, Thea and Jessica bond over their mutual condition. But after many cups of herbal tea and cookies, Thea is puzzled by Jessica's unwillingness to talk about her past.A week later, Thea arrives at Jessica's house for a planned shopping trip to discover Jessica is gone, leaving only a trash bag of women's clothing at the end of the driveway.Returning home, there's a disturbing voice mail from "Please, Thea. Don’t worry about me. If anyone comes looking for me, you don’t know me. You’ve never seen me. Don’t tell them anything."Thea’s resolve to avoid getting drawn into any more potentially dangerous adventures crumbles as she sets out to learn who Jessica is and who—or what—she’s running from.Publisher's Kate Flora is known for taking readers on a near breathless experience with a surprise at every turn. Fans of Janet Evanovich, Michael Connelly as well as Faith Martin and Chris Collett will not want to miss this series."...a terrific, in-your-face, stand-up gal...Stephanie Plum and Thea Kozak have a lot to say to each other." ~Janet Evanovich"Kate Flora does what all the great writers she takes you inside unfamiliar territory and makes you feel right at home; you climb in and are along for the whole ride." ~Michael Connelly"I'll follow Thea Kozak anywhere. She is simply one of the most refreshing and original heroines in mystery fiction today. And Kate Flora is the rare, graceful writer who pays close attention to how long it takes the body and the heart to heal." ~Laura LippmanTHE THEA KOZAK MYSTERY SERIES, in orderChosen for DeathDeath in a Funhouse MirrorDeath at the WheelAn Educated DeathDeath in ParadiseLiberty or DeathStalking DeathDeath Warmed OverSchooled in DeathDeath Comes KnockingDeath Sends a Message
- GenresMysteryMystery Thriller
288 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 27, 2020
52 people are currently reading
29 people want to read
About the author
Kate Flora
55 books127 followersKate Flora grew up on a chicken farm in Maine where the Friday afternoon trip to the library was the high point of her week. She dreamed of being able to create the kind of compelling, enchanting worlds of the books she disappeared into every week, but growing up in the era when “help wanted” ads were still sex-segregated, she felt her calling was to go to law school and get the job they told her she couldn’t have.
After law school, Kate worked in the Maine attorney general’s office, protecting battered kids, chasing deadbeat dads, and representing the Human Rights Commission. Those years taught her all a crime writer needs to know about the human propensity to commit horrible acts. After some years in private practice, she decided to give writing a serious try when she quit the law to stay at home for a few years with her young sons. That ‘serious try’ led to ten tenacious and hellacious years in the unpublished writer’s corner, followed, finally, by the sale of her Thea Kozak series.
Kate’s eighteen books will include eight Thea Kozak mysteries, five gritty Joe Burgess police procedurals, a suspense thriller (written under the name Katharine Clark), two true crime books, Death Dealer and Finding Amy (co-written with Joseph Loughlin, a Portland, Maine Deputy Police Chief), a Maine game warden's memoir, A Good Man with a Dog, co-written with Roger Guay, and a book about police shootings from the police point of view, Shots Fired: The misunderstandings, misconceptions, and myths about police shootings, co-written with Joseph K. Loughlin. Finding Amy was a 2007 Edgar nominee as well as a Maine Literary Award finalist, and has been optioned for a movie. Kate’s award-winning short stories have been widely anthologized and Redemption and And Grant You Peace, her third and fourth Joe Burgess mysteries, won the Maine Literary Award for Crime Fiction.
Flora's fiction, nonfiction, and short fiction have been finalists for the Edgar, Agatha, Anthony, and Derringer Awards.
She is a founding member of the New England Crime Bake, the region's annual mystery conference, and the Maine Crime Wave. With two other crime writers, she started founded Level Best Books, where she worked as an editor and publisher for seven years. She served a term as international president of Sisters in Crime, an organization founded to promote awareness of women writers’ contributions to the mystery field. Currently, she teaches writing and does manuscript critiques for Grub Street in Boston.
She has two sons (one into film and the other into photovoltaics) two lovely daughters-in-law, an adorable eight-year-old grandson and five granddogs, Frances, Otis, Harvey, Oscar, and Daisy. When not conducting research for her novels and nonfiction—research that includes riding an ATV through the Canadian woods or hiding in a tick-infested field waiting to be found by search and rescue dogs—Kate can often be found in her garden, waging war against the woodchucks and her husband’s lawnmower, or in the kitchen, devising clever and devious ways to get the men in her life to eat their vegetables.
After law school, Kate worked in the Maine attorney general’s office, protecting battered kids, chasing deadbeat dads, and representing the Human Rights Commission. Those years taught her all a crime writer needs to know about the human propensity to commit horrible acts. After some years in private practice, she decided to give writing a serious try when she quit the law to stay at home for a few years with her young sons. That ‘serious try’ led to ten tenacious and hellacious years in the unpublished writer’s corner, followed, finally, by the sale of her Thea Kozak series.
Kate’s eighteen books will include eight Thea Kozak mysteries, five gritty Joe Burgess police procedurals, a suspense thriller (written under the name Katharine Clark), two true crime books, Death Dealer and Finding Amy (co-written with Joseph Loughlin, a Portland, Maine Deputy Police Chief), a Maine game warden's memoir, A Good Man with a Dog, co-written with Roger Guay, and a book about police shootings from the police point of view, Shots Fired: The misunderstandings, misconceptions, and myths about police shootings, co-written with Joseph K. Loughlin. Finding Amy was a 2007 Edgar nominee as well as a Maine Literary Award finalist, and has been optioned for a movie. Kate’s award-winning short stories have been widely anthologized and Redemption and And Grant You Peace, her third and fourth Joe Burgess mysteries, won the Maine Literary Award for Crime Fiction.
Flora's fiction, nonfiction, and short fiction have been finalists for the Edgar, Agatha, Anthony, and Derringer Awards.
She is a founding member of the New England Crime Bake, the region's annual mystery conference, and the Maine Crime Wave. With two other crime writers, she started founded Level Best Books, where she worked as an editor and publisher for seven years. She served a term as international president of Sisters in Crime, an organization founded to promote awareness of women writers’ contributions to the mystery field. Currently, she teaches writing and does manuscript critiques for Grub Street in Boston.
She has two sons (one into film and the other into photovoltaics) two lovely daughters-in-law, an adorable eight-year-old grandson and five granddogs, Frances, Otis, Harvey, Oscar, and Daisy. When not conducting research for her novels and nonfiction—research that includes riding an ATV through the Canadian woods or hiding in a tick-infested field waiting to be found by search and rescue dogs—Kate can often be found in her garden, waging war against the woodchucks and her husband’s lawnmower, or in the kitchen, devising clever and devious ways to get the men in her life to eat their vegetables.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 23, 2022
DEATH COMES KNOCKING by Kate Flora
Thea, “Jane Wayne,” the human tow truck, the “fixer,” is determined to slow down and be cautious and calm, in deference to baby MOC (Mason, Oliver, or Claudine), soon to be born. Easier promised to her doctor than done, with schools in crisis, staff problems at EDGE, and her mysterious neighbor, pregnant, alone, and frightened . . . and not really named Jessica. Thank goodness for supportive and protective husband Andre, and a flock of loving friends, “a family assembled from friends.” This book wouldn’t let me sleep, that’s how good it is, and resolutions felt right and satisfying. I somehow read DEATH SENDS A MESSAGE out of order, also brilliant, also satisfying, so discovering this missed book felt like a bonus gift.
Thea, “Jane Wayne,” the human tow truck, the “fixer,” is determined to slow down and be cautious and calm, in deference to baby MOC (Mason, Oliver, or Claudine), soon to be born. Easier promised to her doctor than done, with schools in crisis, staff problems at EDGE, and her mysterious neighbor, pregnant, alone, and frightened . . . and not really named Jessica. Thank goodness for supportive and protective husband Andre, and a flock of loving friends, “a family assembled from friends.” This book wouldn’t let me sleep, that’s how good it is, and resolutions felt right and satisfying. I somehow read DEATH SENDS A MESSAGE out of order, also brilliant, also satisfying, so discovering this missed book felt like a bonus gift.
November 29, 2020
Thea is back, settling to the new house she and Andre purchase, and dealing with the latest crisis in her client schools. A new neighbor, also pregnant knocks on her door, and brings death back into Thea's life, then promptly disappears. Thea and Andre are harassed by government agents looking for the neighbor and insisting Thea knows more than she is telling. Are the agents for real? Who can Thea trust? Little by little, clues fall into place, the baby's room gets fixed up and Andre and Thea move on from day to day awaiting the birth of little MOC (Mason, Olivia or Claudine.)
November 13, 2020
Thea's Story
Never have I read a book that so revolved around the life of the central character. She is the plot, story teller, and everything else, with a very minor murder mystery taking up way too little of this book. Thea, Thea, Thea! Enough!
Never have I read a book that so revolved around the life of the central character. She is the plot, story teller, and everything else, with a very minor murder mystery taking up way too little of this book. Thea, Thea, Thea! Enough!
December 22, 2020
I love this series!
What great characters this author has created! I alternate between wanting to laugh and scream at them. I love that this series is set in Maine. I will be checking out other books by this author.
What great characters this author has created! I alternate between wanting to laugh and scream at them. I love that this series is set in Maine. I will be checking out other books by this author.
June 10, 2020
Great suspense throughout this book and I really enjoyed all of the characters (even the bad guys)...they were all well-developed and I liked how each one played a significant part.
March 18, 2021
Great!
Death Comes Knocking was well worth waiting for. I thoroughly enjoy reading about Thea's adventures. I can't wait to hear about MOC.
Death Comes Knocking was well worth waiting for. I thoroughly enjoy reading about Thea's adventures. I can't wait to hear about MOC.
March 19, 2022
Crime in the Country
Such an engaging blend of danger and warmth. Thea is heavy with child, and their new neighborhood mixes grazing deer with a deadly pursuit.
Such an engaging blend of danger and warmth. Thea is heavy with child, and their new neighborhood mixes grazing deer with a deadly pursuit.
February 12, 2024
Very engrossing, could not stop reading until I had read it all in one day!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews