Cabals be caballing. In The Crooked Staircase, Jane Hawk is hunting more of the cabal that used brain nanobots to force her husband to kill himself. In this series entry, Simon Yegg is the so-mean-it-is-unbelievable type of villain. He tortures his ex-wives up to, and including, gang rape to getContinue Reading
Page-turner is so overused that it has become trite. Here is how I felt about Obscura by Joe Hart. I…COULDN’T…PUT…IT…DOWN! Literally! I was reading my kindle at stop lights, during boring parts of a telephone conference call at work (with my office door closed of course) and when I shouldContinue Reading
Romance, history, southern charm, friendships, family and secrets swirl in the High Tide Club. At 99, Josephine is dying on her half of an island off the coast of Georgia. She calls Brooke, an attorney, to help search for her best friends, Ruth, Millie and Varina, from over 80 yearsContinue Reading
Characterization is sacrificed for plot in Bats in the Belfry. There are a multitude of characters in Bats in the Belfry. Most are only vaguely fleshed out. We first meet the main players at a funeral where they begin to discuss how they would hide a dead body. Old AgathaContinue Reading
An eerie ambience suffuses The Broken Girls. It is a mystery wrapped in a ghost story or perhaps the other way around. “Ghosts and dead babies and murdered girls. What next?” Roberta, Katie, Cece and Sonia were all dumped at Idlewild Hall, an all-girl boarding school in 1950 Vermont. RobertaContinue Reading
The Marmalade Murders is an enjoyable cozy mystery set in a small North Wales village. Penny and Victoria are partners in the village spa. When they get roped into checking in contestants for the local food competition, they discover some irregularities. Why did someone call Florence telling her to checkContinue Reading
Only Sherlock Holmes unites the unique and disparate tales within Baker Street Irregulars The Game is Afoot. The 13 stories within this collection take wildly different approaches in their homages to Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock is a girl, a native American, a student, a teacher, a librarian, a rabbi and aContinue Reading
Not for modern readers, The Leavenworth Case will made the reader appreciate Sir Arthur Conan Doyle all the more. Bestselling 1878 amateur detective mystery. It sold 750,000 copies in the 15 years after its publishing. Arguably the first full length mystery written by a woman, The Leavenworth Case is narratedContinue Reading
Fifth in the Flaxborough Mystery series, Charity Ends at Home is another late Golden Age small English village cozy. The village coroner, constable and editor of the local paper each receive an identical unsigned note stating that the writer is fearful of being murdered. The note references a photo ofContinue Reading
Then She Was Gone is recommended to thriller rather than mystery readers. Mothers especially will relate to this moving family story. Fifteen-year-old Ellie Mack disappears one day. Did she run away or was she kidnapped? Her disappearance tears apart her family. Laurel, Ellie’s mom, has two older children and aContinue Reading
Maggie and Noah were married and happy as they could be After Anna arrived, chaos occurred as all will agree Range Rovers, sexual allegations Inappropriate pics on vacations Within the court and out, there are two sides to the couple’s tale Hopefully this one won’t end with Noah locked upContinue Reading
A complicated and engaging thriller incorporating modern technology, a real-life unreadably manuscript and Romanian legends. The fifth in the Brit in the FBI series, The Sixth Day brings together a serial killer, drones, computer viruses, falconry and Dracula. Nicholas, Mike and the Covert Eyes team return in the latest BritContinue Reading
Any new Lincoln Rhyme book is a cause for celebration. However, too much information about diamonds makes The Cutting Edge one of the least interesting books in the long-running series. Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs are chasing a serial killer targeting engaged couples in The Cutting Edge, the 14th bookContinue Reading
Cozy mystery Scot Free is my #FrugalFriday short review this week! Marriage counselor Lexy Campbell moves to California to marry and quickly divorce. The husband of her client, Visalia, is murdered by fireworks. Visalia is arrested. Lexy decides to solve the crime since she co-signed Visalia’s bail bond. Born and livingContinue Reading
The fourth in the Flaxborough Mystery series is much better than the third. Lonelyheart 4122 is the anonymous number of the enigmatic man who possibly murdered two lonely women and may be working on his third. Inspector Purbright and Sergeant Love are searching for two missing middle-aged ladies. Mrs. BannisterContinue Reading
Nothing is as it seems in the new top-notch thriller Too Close to Breathe by debut Irish novelist Olivia Kiernan. Detective Chief Superintendent Frankie Sheehan is back to work after being stabbed in the line of duty. Frankie is placed in charge of a large team looking into the deathContinue Reading