Blurbs and press clippings

They like us. They really, really like us.

American Sweepstakes

"American Sweepstakes is a delightful look back at the first big-time lottery in the United States a half century ago. With the eye of both a historian and an expert story-teller, Kevin Flynn recounts all the passion, controversy and long-forgotten innocence surrounding the New Hampshire Lottery. Flynn does a superb job of making all his characters come alive -- from the ambitious politicians, to the winning ticketholders, to the moralizing naysayers, to even the galloping racehorses! In an entertaining way, Flynn recalls an important time in America, including the Kennedy era of the 1960s. You can bet on enjoying American Sweepstakes." - Thomas Maier, author Masters of Sex

"Thousands of people play the lottery every day in one of 43 states with a legal sweepstakes, pinning their hopes and dreams on a series of numbers. It's doubtful that few, if any, know the story behind the first modern lottery that made their desires possible... the unearthed tale tells of how the state of New Hampshire created a sweepstakes in 1964 as a way to raise funds for education and avoid enacting a sales tax. Flynn found that the first 20th-century lottery stemmed from an unlikely alliance between the state's first Democratic governor in more than 40 years, a celebrated FBI agent, a state representative, and a conservative newspaper that published opposition from the Catholic Church, the U.S. Justice Department, Post Office, and the press. Flynn weaves an engaging story of the New Hampshire Sweepstakes. While historians may lament the lack of footnotes, this work appears to be well researched." - Library Journal

"The short, colorful history of the drive to enact the Sweepstakes is the subject of Kevin Flynn’s entertaining book, American Sweepstakes...Flynn chronicles it all. Like a good news writer, he gets the details without getting bogged down, taking us breezily through the first running of the Sweeps and its short history."- Valley News

"The story had conflict, characters, and best of all, it hadn’t been fully told before...but it's an important story." - the Hippo Press

"The politics of countercurrents held sway for a boisterous decade as New Hampshire led (some say infected) 43 other states to government-run lotteries...Enter Laurence Pickett, mayor of Keene in 1952, a charismatic public servant...Pickett knew how to stage a drama. Kevin Flynn knows how to prime his page-turning book."- The Keene Sentinel

"An entertaining read, this book tells the story of the inception of the New Hampshire Lottery in the 1960s....The story is rather dramtiatic, with twists, turns, and memorable characters." - NH Historical Society

Notes on a Killing

“We won't go so far as to label Kevin Flynn and Rebecca Lavoie's fresh-squeezed true crime book pulp-free...Notes on a Killing certainly won't disappoint devotees of its genre. But among the surprises between its covers - and there are plenty... - are the richly developed characters and, dare we say, artful passages of writing." - Concord Monitor

“For devotees of this literary genre, this is a book that really delivers in spades, and will keep the reader riveted...I was still glued to the pages, and I couldn't turn them fast enough. That's how harrowing a story this is…At its core, Notes on a Killing is much more than a book that tells the story of a roadmap to murder. It’s really about people and the human drama that unfolds as they search for justice." - Telegraph of Nashua

“Flynn and Lavoie wrote Notes on a Killing as a stirring pastiche of the true-crime genre full of forces and counter forces…The frost-heave complications of this conniving case get smooth-road writing by the diligent authors…a plenty good home-town page-turner.” - Keene Sentinel

“An opus…It’s amazing these events happened in a sleepy little Granite State town.” - Springfield Republican

“Their book follows the gritty (but not gory) details in the case, and despite its factual nature, the book reads like a novel.” - Hippo Press

“Co-authors Kevin Flynn and Rebecca Lavoie are steadily growing an audience for their brand of true crime stories set in New Hampshire, specializing in the moments when small-town life fractures into cops-and-courts drama.” – The Wire

"It's intriguing. It's heartbreaking. It's a crime story laced with sentiments of love, triumph, and loyalty among friends. To sum it up, it's a fantastic story you simply don't want to miss." - True Crime Zine

"Harrowing and haunting, Notes on a Killing will have you in its grip. As they proved with Our Little Secret, Kevin Flynn and Rebecca Lavoie illuminate the darkest corners, offering a story not only filled with twists and suspense but is also rich with heartbreak and humanity.” - Megan Abbott, Edgar-winning author of Dare Me and The Fever.

“Kevin Flynn and Rebecca Lavoie's Notes on a Killing is an exemplary character driven true crime thriller that is as crafty and cunning as the killer himself." - Burl Barer, Edgar-winning author of Body Count, Head Shot and The Saint.

“Fragments of bones, mysterious fires, forensic nightmares, psychological knots are the high watermarks of Notes on a Killing, Rebecca Lavoie's and Kevin Flynn's new investigation of a bizarre crime in rural New Hampshire. With their usual narrative panache and an amazing instinct for the dramatic juxtaposition of incongruous lives, the authors have once again nailed a harrowing, larger-than-life conundrum that is too strangely wonderful for fiction and is the quintessential true crime yarn.” - Joseph Olshan, author of Cloudland. 

“Set in a New England community with a cast of characters connected by their membership in Alcoholics Anonymous, Notes on a Killing offers fast pacing, suspense, meticulous research, and much more. The many faces of Betrayal form an overlay that will keep readers turning the pages of this engaging and satisfying crime novel.” - Phyllis Gobbell - author of A Season of Darkness

“Kevin and Rebecca have once again crafted a true-crime classic. As in Our Little Secret, their latest book Notes on a Killing is a hard-hitting tale and fast-paced read.” - Robert Scott - author of The Girl in the Leaves

Finalist: 2013 NH Literary Awards Outstanding Work of Nonfiction

Legally Dead

"Riddled with juicy details and paced like great fiction...the book is flying off the virtual shelves at Amazon and Flynn and Lavoie have become the go-to guy and gal for anyone wanting the inside dope on dirty deeds." 
- New Hampshire magazine's It List

"Bestselling true crime authors Kevin Flynn and Rebecca Lavoie vividly recount the fatal divorce case of Bader v. Bader with its twisted cast of characters: the crazy little man, his demanding princess mistress, brainwashed children, and Italian mobster-wannabes. A lethal combination that in any other would be downright comical. Legally Dead is contemporary true crime writing at its best. A definite must read!"- truecrimebookreviews.com

Winner: Top 10 Best True Crime Books for 2011

Our Little Secret

"Those interested in finding out the details of the story will find the book a compelling tale and an in-depth look at this complicated subject." - Hooksett Banner

"The team brings alive the anxiety, fear and loathing that surrounded the case...The book reads like a real whodunit, especially for those readers who know nothing of the case." - New Hampshire Magazine

"The result is a suspenseful read even if you already know the story. The authors have developed names and facts in police reports into characters and plots." - Concord Monitor

"In my opinion, Our Little Secret is destined to be on this year's top ten truce crime list. So be sure it's on YOUR reading list." - truecrimebookreview.com

"[E]ngrossing and frequently very surprising...Kevin Flynn and Rebecca lavoie tell an extraordinary story with great restraint, skill, and detail...This is a great story, skillfully told." - Dancing with Skeletons blog

"[A]nother 'page-turner'...fascinating...Truth is always stranger than fiction, and this book portrays the beautifully." - Springfield Republican

"A true-crime book that delves into every twist and turn of a case that went cold in the 1980s before heating up again in 2005, complete with the first documented interviews with an incarcerated Windhurst himself." - New Hampshire Villager 

Wicked Intentions

"Flynn takes the reader through LaBarre's disturbing life story, covering her abusive childhood, her failed marriages, her violent rages against the passive boyfriends she charmed and then controlled, and finally the evidence that pointed to at least one murder and perhaps many more. - Library Journal

"A real-life tale looking like it was ripped out of a horror movie . . . an ideal read for true crime and horror readers alike. Five stars" - Midwest Book Review

"Kevin Flynn has done an excellent job assembling researched data to keep any reader turning page after page, even knowing the trial's eventual outcome." - Blogcritics magazine

"Wicked Intentions is a riveting tome full of crime, sex, money and unbelievable evil, and it is as well written a book as I have read in recent years...truly amazing." - Springfield Republican

"Wicked Intentions is a tale about far more than just the facts of the case. It is an insightful exploration of the forces that drive many aspects of human behavior...And, most interestingly, is Flynn himself...Well worth a read." - New Hampshire magazine

"For anyone who enjoys a good crime story, this book is a real page-turner...From the beginning of the book, Flynn sets up a spine-tingling portrait of the killer." - The Wire

"Readers will become obsessed with this case and how it intricately unfolds, one mind-blowing detail after the next. The Sheila LaBarre murders have it all: sex, money and shocking behavior that even a team of top Hollywood script writers could never concoct." -Jane Velez-Mitchell, HLN host and author of Secrets Can Be Murder

"Flynn's research and attention to detail will give true crime junkies something truly spectacular to devour." - Amanda Lamb, author of Deadly Dose

"In Wicked Intentions, Kevin Flynn crafts a harrowing portrait of evil and retribution . . . you have no choice but to turn to the next page." - Gregg Olsen, New York Times bestselling author

"Kevin Flynn delivers a grisly tale of manipulations, murder, madness and mystery…a frightening portrait of a brutal murderess."  - Michael Glasgow, author of The Bridge