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“The Ridge,” by Peter Eichstaedt (Sunstone Press)

Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. Sure, you could read advertising blurbs on Amazon, but wouldn’t you be more likely to believe a neighbor with no skin in the game over a corporation being fed words by publishers? So in this series, we are sharing these mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer? Email bellis@denverpost.com.

“Weyward,” by Emilia Hart (St.

SILVERTHORNE, Colo. — Tieghan Gerard was busy lighting pumpkin spice-scented candles when I arrived at her sunlit studio in October. After more than a year of negotiations with the representatives who guard her schedule and her image, she’d agreed to cook two recipes I’d chosen from the thousands on her immensely popular recipe site, Half Baked Harvest.

Colorado’s Rebecca Yarros was already a staggeringly successful New York Times best-selling author when Amazon announced Monday that it is planning a TV series based around her latest fantasy novel, “Fourth Wing,” and its sequel, “Iron Flame,” which is due out Nov. 7.

“Jane and the Final Mystery,” by Stephanie Barron (Soho Crime)
In her last Jane Austen Mystery, “Jane and the Year Without a Summer,” Denver author Stephanie Barron revealed that Jane was suffering from an unknown illness (possibly Addison’s disease).  It seemed the end was near for the Regency-era writer.
And so it was. The title of the just-published Jane Austen mystery, “Jane and the Final Mystery,” makes it clear that death will claim Austen — and end the popular series.

Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. Sure, you could read advertising blurbs on Amazon, but wouldn’t you be more likely to believe a neighbor with no skin in the game over a corporation being fed words by publishers? So in this series, we are sharing these mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer? Email bellis@denverpost.com.

When John Williams penned the gritty, Colorado-set novel “Butcher’s Crossing” in 1960, he faced a herd of Western writers stampeding in the other direction.
Seminal novelists of the genre such as Zane Grey and Louis L’Amour had already idealized the American Frontier in hundreds of best-selling books and stories. But Williams, a University of Denver professor for 30 years, took a darker view of U.S. expansion, one that dissected the heroic myths of archetypal cowboys, ranch hands and outlaws.

“After That Night,” by Karen Slaughter (William Morrow)

Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. Sure, you could read advertising blurbs on Amazon, but wouldn’t you be more likely to believe a neighbor with no skin in the game over a corporation being fed words by publishers? So in this series, we are sharing these mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer? Email bellis@denverpost.com.