Roz Shea has reviewed books for Bookreporter.com since 1998. She was a BookPage chat room moderator for the online book chat room Bookacinno, sponsored by Bookreporter in its earliest days in the ‘90s. She writes for and edits local publications. She authored a historical memoir of Julian and Lucy King, who built King's Ranch in 1946, a dude ranch far from civilization in one of the last places in the American west where one could break ground. She lectures on the book and other historical events in the Phoenix area.

Roz lives in, and works to preserve, the Sonoran desert at the base of the Superstition Mountains in Arizona. She is the former Executive Director of a land trust, and is married with three grown children and one grandson in whom she wants to instill her passion for the desert and reading. She grew up and was educated in Iowa, where she was active in conservation, then moved to Arizona and never wants to leave. In her spare time, she builds trails, writes grant proposals and, of course, READS.

An eclectic mix of nonfiction, historical fiction, biographies and detective thrillers, fantasy and sci-fi are stowed on the many bookshelves throughout her home. John Irving, Herman Wouk, Harriet Doer, Annie Proulx, Robert Ludlum, John le Carré, James Michener, Martin Cruz Smith, Homer Hickam, Ken Follett, Bill Bryson, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Barbara Kingsolver, Lisa See, Paul Theroux, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck and most of the classics are among them. She has every book written by Terry Pratchett, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein and Douglas Adams. Mysteries dark to mysteries cozy are her secret vice. She collects James Lee Burke, Linda Fairstein, Elizabeth George, P. D. James, Craig Johnson, Patricia Cornwell, John D. MacDonald, Louise Penny, Kathy Reichs, M.C. Beaton, S.J. Rozan, Tony Hillerman, Sue Grafton, J.A. Jance, Elizabeth Peters, Robert B. Parker, Steve Martini, John Dunning, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, John Grisham, Janet Evanovich and Alexander McCall Smith.

Reviews by Roz Shea

The Boston Girl

by Anita Diamant - Fiction, Historical Fiction

Eighty-five-year-old Addie Baum tells the story of her life to her 22-year-old granddaughter, who has asked her “How did you get to be the woman you are today?” She begins in 1915, the year she found her voice and made friends who would help shape the course of her life. From the one-room tenement apartment she shared with her parents and two sisters, to the library group for girls she joins at a neighborhood settlement house, to her first, disastrous love affair, Addie recalls her adventures with compassion for the naïve girl she was and a wicked sense of humor.

Teatime for the Firefly

by Shona Patel - Fiction

TEATIME FOR THE FIREFLY is a charming tale of unexpected romance between two misfits in traditional Indian society. Shona Patel's debut novel is a fish-out-of-water love story told partially through letters, and set within an exotic and enchanting world where social upheaval and the threat of World War II lingers on their doorstep.

Winter of the World: Book Two of the Century Trilogy

by Ken Follett - Fiction, Historical Fiction

WINTER OF THE WORLD picks up right where FALL OF GIANTS left off, as its five interrelated families --- American, German, Russian, English and Welsh --- enter a time of enormous social, political and economic turmoil, beginning with the rise of the Third Reich, through the Spanish Civil War and the great dramas of World War II, up to the explosions of the American and Soviet atomic bombs.

The Angel's Game

by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

In One Person

by John Irving - Fiction

Billy, the bisexual narrator and main character of IN ONE PERSON, tells the tragicomic story (lasting more than half a century) of his life as a “sexual suspect,” a phrase first used by John Irving in 1978 in his landmark novel of “terminal cases,” THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP.

The Forgotten Affairs of Youth: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel

by Alexander McCall Smith - Fiction, Mystery

In the eighth installment of Alexander McCall Smith's Isabel Dalhousie series, our inquisitive heroine helps a new friend discover the identity of her father.

The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party: The New No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Novel

by Alexander McCall Smith - Fiction, Mystery

At a remote cattle post south of Gaborone, two cows have been killed, and Precious Ramotswe, Botswana’s No. 1 Lady Detective, is asked to investigate. It is an intriguing problem with plenty of suspects --- including, surprisingly, her own client.

The World According to Garp

by John Irving - Fiction

Small Island

by Andrea Levy - Fiction

Not Fade Away

Laurence Shames and Peter Barton - Nonfiction