More of a “what happened?” than a whodunnit, The Silent Appeal turns classic mystery tropes on their head. A small amateur theater group puts on an Agatha Christie play while shenanigans occur backstage. Affairs, love stories, embezzlement, stalking, crime and murder are all covered. It is a cornucopia of gossipContinue Reading
I love the family and friends populating the Meg Langslow cozy mystery series. Reading the two new books published each year is usually a highlight for me. While Probable Caws does have the whole gang involved in horse rescuing, the mystery is kind of a miss. There weren’t enough redContinue Reading
The Women in White are four young women in the 1960s who participate in experiments involving their psychic abilities at a prestigious university. Riley is the modern day caretaker of one of the woman. As she digs into their history, she uncovers an untold story that has been buried, intentionally,Continue Reading
Bubble, Bubble, Tea and Trouble is the seventh book in the popular Tea by the Sea cozy mystery series. This time tearoom owner Lily and her trusty writer/hacker friend Bernie have to contend not just with murderers but also ghostly presences. A medium and her believers are visiting Lily’s grandmother’sContinue Reading
Are you sick of horror plots being reused over and over again? If so, Carry Me to My Grave will be a refreshing surprise. No ordinary ghosts, vampires or zombies here. Instead an ancient evil awakens from beneath an equally ancient tree. Its goal is simple, get Maggie Wise’s bodyContinue Reading
A girl fell, jumped, or was pushed from a balcony during a college sorority rush party. Whodunnit? Find out in the twisty Sisterhood Above All. Having never been, and having no interest, in a sorority, this book didn’t really work for me. The characters were not fully fleshed out andContinue Reading
A Quiet Place is a twisty but slow moving psychological thriller. It is not a traditional mystery at all. And that is what I liked most about it. Asai’s wife has died young from a heart attack. She had a previous attack so her cause of death was no surprise.Continue Reading
The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts is another great Marlow Murder Club Mystery. Get ready to challenge your armchair detecting skills! Minor celebrities are dropping like flies in Marlow! Judith, Suzie, and Becks investigate, as usual, but don’t have the police’s support this time around. With plenty of twists andContinue Reading
Small town Texas beauty pageants. Can anything be more dramatic? Or fun? Well, fun for most—not so much for the dead bodies piling up. During this one, murders occur and blackouts happen. Mysteries and rivalries thought long dead arise. It is just another day in Texas with its Pretty DeadContinue Reading
Dead Men Don’t Play Fetch is another fine entry in the Andy Carpenter cozy mystery series. Andy really wants to retire from his defense attorney practice. But just when he thought he was out, they pull him back in. A homeless vet staying in a rehab facility is accused ofContinue Reading
Adventure to an Indonesian rubber plantation and search for an escaped murderer. Or stay local in the lunchroom of a NYC diner in the 1950s. Either way, adventures await in Golden Age Suspense Stories, the latest Otto Penzler collection of vintage short stories. This collection includes fifteen stories with mostContinue Reading
Agatha Christie mysteries are my Sweet Spot. This book takes the tropes from those plots and subverts them for its own ends. It is a very original way to honor Dame Agatha, while winking steadily at the reader from beyond the fourth wall. Belle is a ghostwriter hired to assistContinue Reading
In Whose Body in the Library, Nichelle is the new librarian at the lighthouse library on the shores of the Outer Banks. This is her first job after graduating with a library science degree after a late career change. On the morning of her first day, she finds a bodyContinue Reading
Childhood bffs Zoe, Stef and Jade are backpacking along a rural trail listening to a podcast in Backstabbers. The podcast describes the still uncaught serial killer who mysteriously stopped rampaging along the same trail many years ago. Little do they know their friendships and very lives will be soon tested.Continue Reading
Stuart Woods’ Deep Water stars Stone Barrington, millionaire lawyer and playboy. However, in this installment, he is much less arrogant than in previous books. He is still richer and smarter, in his mind at least, than everyone else in the room. But he doesn’t shove it down everyone’s throats inContinue Reading
Edison Bixby has been shot in the face. Now he can’t keep any unkind thoughts in his head but instead spews them out. His insurance investigator boss hires down-on-his-luck actor, Wally Nash, to smooth over any awkward moments. For Edison is rude but a fantastic investigator. His cases are solvedContinue Reading