Tag: Mystery

Kate’s Review: “Bury the Lead”

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Book: “Bury the Lead” by Kate Hilton & Elizabeth Renzetti

Publishing Info: Spiderline, March 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from Zg Stories

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: A big-city journalist joins the staff of a small-town paper in cottage country and finds a community full of secrets … and murder. Cat Conway has recently returned to Port Ellis to work as a reporter at the Quill & Packet . She’s fled the tattered remains of her high-profile career and bad divorce for the holiday town of her childhood, famous for its butter tarts, theatre, and a century-old feud. One of Cat’s first assignments is to interview legendary actor Eliot Fraser, the lead in the theatre’s season opener of Inherit the Wind . When Eliot ends up dead onstage on opening night, the curtain rises on the sleepy town’s secrets. The suspects include the actor whose career Eliot ruined, the ex-wife he betrayed, the women he abused, and even the baker he wronged. With the attention of the world on Port Ellis, this story could be Cat’s chance to restore her reputation. But the police think she’s a suspect, and the murderer wants to kill the story―and her too. Can Cat solve the mystery before she loses her job or becomes the next victim of a killer with a theatrical bent for vengeance?

Review: Thank you Zg Stories for sending me an eARC and an ARC of this novel!

Well, I think that it’s time that I just admit to myself that I am going to be the resident cozy mystery reviewer on this blog, because at this point I have three or four series that I am actively seeking out and following and reviewing on here. Perhaps it’s a bit of a contrast given my usual focus on the darker elements of genres, but you know what, I’m going to own it. I contain multitudes!! After all, when “Bury the Lead” by Kate Hilton and Elizabeth Renzetti ended up in my inbox, I was drawn to it. A cozy mystery that has a reporter of small town newspaper as the lead, who has to investigate the on stage death of a famous but ultimately abusive leading man, well that just catches my eye. I am wholly on board with becoming the resident cozy mystery reviewer, and “Bury the Lead” is the start of what will hopefully be another series I can follow. Because I enjoyed it!

At the heart of any good cozy mystery is a relatable and enjoyable protagonist, and in “Bury the Lead” we have Cat Conway, a reporter for a small town newspaper who is trying to pick up the pieces of multiple fallouts from her life. If it’s not the divorce she has had to endure from her nasty ex husband, it’s the recent loss of an illustrious journalism job, and she is now rebuilding as best she can in a small town. Cat is a great main character to follow, because she has a lot of baggage that she is carrying with her, and being able to break the story on what happened to Eliot Fraser would certainly get her reputation (and self perception) back on track. I liked her rough edges, I liked she snark and her glimmers of pain and resentment, and I liked that her complications never bogged her down. I also liked that she was an ‘older’ protagonist, as while that’s not exactly a novel thing when it comes to cozy mysteries, as someone who is approaching 40 herself, seeing women in books be able to be in an older age bracket and still have the spotlight is always a treat. I was very invested in Cat and would definitely read more books about her should this series continue.

The mystery itself is well done, and crafted in a way that laid out clues at a good pace and had plenty of means, motives, and opportunities for a large swath of suspects. Like many cozy mysteries, Hilton and Renzetti have a charming community that serves as a setting, and a charming cast of characters, some of whom will probably be seen as the series continues, and others who make for solid villains. As Cat investigates for her story we meet the people at the newspaper, as well as plenty of people who may have wanted Fraser dead for some pretty legitimate (and in some cases upsetting) reasons. I found myself guessing for awhile as to what the solution was going to be, and even though I solved it a bit before I was supposed to, I still greatly enjoyed the ride and found the plot well thought out and presented. And hey, I love the idea of the main ‘hook’ (as so many cozy mysteries have hooks) being a small town newspaper with a sometimes quirky but always intrepid set of reporters, with Cat leading the way.

“Bury the Lead” is an enjoyable cozy mystery to add to my ever growing series list that I intend to follow forward. I’m still very amused that cozy mysteries ended up in my lap on the blog, but with books like this they are an enjoyable beat to have.

Rating 8: A well conceived plot with a comfy setting and a charming cast of characters makes “Bury the Lead” another cozy mystery series I intend to keep my eyes on.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Bury the Lead” isn’t on many specific Goodreads lists as of yet, but it would fit in on “Cozy Crimes”.

Kate’s Review: “Peril in Pink”

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Book: “Peril in Pink” by Sydney Leigh

Publishing Info: Crooked Lane Books, March 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I was sent an eARC by the author via NetGalley.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: Everything is coming up rosé for innkeeper Jess Byrne until a murder on opening weekend gives her B&B’s killer vibe a whole new meaning. Schitt’s Creek meets Only Murders in the Building in this sparkling debut mystery.

It’s the grand opening of The Pearl B&B in Hudson Valley, and owner Jess Byrne has prepared the ultimate, Insta-worthy welcome, complete with her ex-boyfriend—reality singing sensation Lars Armstrong—performing live. As guests check in and mimosas are poured, Lars arrives with his stepdad-turned-manager Bob in tow. But things go south when Bob is found dead, and Lars is the prime suspect.

After a desperate plea from Lars, and knowing the reputation of her B&B is at stake, Jess agrees to help clear Lars’ name, but the more she digs, the less sure she is that he’s innocent. Especially when he’s found at the scene of another murder.

With the guests under lockdown, the B&B in the press for all the wrong reasons, and a killer on the loose, Jess is in over her head. With the help of her best friend and business partner Kat, Jess is determined to uncover the truth before Lars is put behind bars and The Pearl is permanently cancelled.

Review: Thank you to Sydney Leigh for sending me an eARC of this novel via NetGalley!

It may seem kind of funny that the blogger whose focus tends to trend towards horror, thriller, and the darker things in literature, is the one who has some consistent cozy mystery reviews going through her posts. It seems kind of funny to me, even! But I realize that I do like to cast a wide net in my genres, and if a book works for me, it works, even if it’s not as expected. So when Sydney Leigh reached out with her novel that was being compared to both “Schitt’s Creek” and “Only Murders in the Building” (both comfy and cozy shows I really enjoy) I felt like I had to read it! Thus I was sent a copy of “Peril in Pink”, a book about a cute bed and breakfast, an eccentric small town, a charming set of heroines, and a scandalous murder at the opening of their new business venture.

The mystery itself is fairly straightforward with familiar beats for a whodunnit. Jess Byrne and business partner/best friend Kat have opened up The Pearl, a bed and breakfast in their small town of Hudson Valley. When Jess manages to book her ex boyfriend Lars to perform, whose star is on the rise due to being on a popular musical reality show, she hopes it will serve as a fantastic opening weekend, but when Lars’s manager/stepfather George is found dead on the property, it sets off a murder investigation where her new business is a crime scene and her ex boyfriend is the main suspect. Leigh has a huge cast of characters, many of whom are suspects, and knows how to throw in clues and red herrings and multiple twists to create a mystery that kept me guessing. I always love an amateur sleuth who can be a BIT in over their head, and Jess and Kat fit that trope to a T. I also loved the descriptions of The Pearl and their business model, as hey, a cozy mystery needs a hook and this one has a really bubbly one in this adorable Bed and Breakfast.

But it’s the characters that really sell this story for me, as any cast of players in a cozy mystery should. I really enjoyed Jess as our main character, with her hopes and ambitions being lifted up in the story and her investment in this first murder making her easy to root for and become invested in as readers. I really loved her relationship with business partner and best friend Kat, who is a fun sarcastic foil to her earnest nature as they team up to try and save their business as well as Jess’s ex boyfriend from a murder charge. Leigh is very much paying tribute to true crime bestie dynamics here, even referencing “My Favorite Murder” as inspiration for Jess and Kat in their amateur detective ways (as a kind of dormant Murderino myself it made me nostalgic for the show and I may pick it back up!). But even the supporting characters have a certain charm about them, whether it’s Jess’s pragmatic brother Nate and his zen-minded yoga instructor wife Sarah, or Jess’s hippy aunt, or some of Jess and Kat’s high school rivals, and may more. One of the things that I do like about cozy mysteries is that if you have a sparkling cast of familiar characters, it makes for an all the more engaging story.

All in all, I found “Peril in Pink” to be charming and fizzy, an entertaining mystery that sets the stage for the potential for more bed and breakfast adventures with two fun heroines. I hope we see more of Jess and Kat and whatever crime befalls Hudson Valley!

Rating 8: A fun and cheeky cozy mystery with some Murderino flair, “Peril in Pink” is an entertaining series debut that I intend to follow forward for more charming capers.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Peril in Pink” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of yet, but it would fit in on the list “Hotels, Motels, Inns, B’nBs and Guesthouses”.

Kate’s Review: “Blood Sisters”

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Book: “Blood Sisters” by Vanessa Lillie

Publishing Info: Berkley, September 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: I own it.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: A visceral and compelling mystery about a Cherokee archeologist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs who is summoned to rural Oklahoma to investigate the disappearance of two women…one of them her sister.

There are secrets in the land.

As an archeologist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Syd Walker spends her days in Rhode Island trying to protect the land’s indigenous past, even as she’s escaping her own.

While Syd is dedicated to her job, she’s haunted by a night of violence she barely escaped in her Oklahoma hometown fifteen years ago. Though she swore she’d never go back, the past comes calling.

When a skull is found near the crime scene of her youth, just as her sister, Emma Lou, vanishes, Syd knows she must return home. She refuses to let her sister’s disappearance, or the remains, go ignored—as so often happens in cases of missing Native women.

But not everyone is glad to have Syd home, and she can feel the crosshairs on her back. Still, the deeper Syd digs, the more she uncovers about a string of missing indigenous women cases going back decades. To save her sister, she must expose a darkness in the town that no one wants to face—not even Syd.

The truth will be unearthed.

Review: During the holiday season, I took a Saturday where I spent the whole day doing shopping for my loved ones, and while I was wandering around Target trying to find gifts that would stand out as winners, I saw the book “Blood Sisters” by Vanessa Lillie. While I was supposed to be finding gifts for others, I bought it for myself, which I acknowledge is ironic but what are you gonna do? It took me a bit to get to it (as that tends to go with books I own), but I did eventually get to it at the start of the month, not sure what to expect. This was definitely one of those roll of the dice reads, but it was a gamble that mostly paid off!

I really loved the mystery of this book. It was part procedural, part social commentary, part family drama, part self discovery, and Lillie mixed it all together and balanced all of the elements pretty handily. There is a fairly straight forward hook for our investigator Syd Walker, a BIA archaeologist who has left her hometown in Oklahoma for the East Coast, but is called back when a skull is found in her hometown and she is recruited to go investigate. But when she does return home, a place where she herself was almost murdered along with her sister Emma Lou, she not only has to face the trauma she left behind, but also the fact that Emma Lou is now missing. This would already be enough to go with, but Lillie adds in the past violence, in which Syd has blamed herself for her friend Luna’s death, who was also at the sleepover in which Syd and Emma Lou were nearly killed, as well as the very true and bleak truths about small town poverty, systemic oppression of Indigenous people and how that is seen in communities, missing and murdered Native women, meth, and the beginnings of legalized drug abuse in the form of pill mills and the opioid epidemic, as Oxy is being prescribed quite a bit in Picher (as this takes place in 2008). It’s a lot, but Lillie strings it all together and connects the dots pretty well, setting up motives, red herrings, suspects, and an undercurrent of violence while people are trying to survive. There were lots of surprises that caught me off guard, and it really kept my interest.

I also liked how complicated Syd’s background was due to the aforementioned trauma, as well as other factors of growing up in Picher and the difficulties that came from that. Syd is a serious and driven investigator, who is more than happy to call out the bullshit of people, but is also hindered by her own single mindedness in some ways. She is also plagued by her own insecurities, and it comes through in her relationship with her wife Mal, who is newly pregnant right as Syd has to go back home. I tend to have a hit or miss reading experience with female protagonists who have a tortured background that has continued to affect them and affects their storyline in a book I’m reading, especially thrillers, but I thought that Syd was compelling and earned her complexity and the bad decisions that come out because of it.

There is a bit of a flip side with the character of Syd, however. While I liked her background, and I liked how complex she was due to her trauma and disconnection with her family and identity, I found the first person voice to be pretty simplistic. At times it read more like a YA protagonist with how she would always be explaining exposition or spelling out implications that could have stood on their own for the reader. This doesn’t necessarily apply to the details that were about Indigenous culture and history, as there are many, many people in this world who are completely unfamiliar with those themes (as someone who used to do interpretation of the history of the Dakota in Minnesota at Fort Snelling, I can assure you MANY people don’t know or don’t care to know this stuff), so spelling it out in simpler or blunt terms is warranted. But other things, like Syd’s anxieties about parenthood, or frustrations with Emma Lou and her assumptions about that, or even just thoughts about what is going on mystery wise, didn’t read like a seasoned BIA archaeologist/investigator, but like a total greenhorn. It made for more telling rather than showing, and I much prefer the latter, especially in mysteries.

“Blood Sisters” was a solid thriller mystery. If Vanessa Lillie were to continue the adventures of Syd Walker, I would definitely keep going. At the very least I will pick up Lillie’s next novel to be sure.

Rating 7: A really well done mystery and an interesting perspective and main character is hampered a bit by a narration that does a lot of telling and not as much showing.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Blood Sisters” is included on the Goodreads list “52 Book Club 2024: #46 Featuring Indigenous Culture”.

Serena’s Review: “The Tainted Cup”

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Book: “The Tainted Cup” by Robert Jackson Bennett

Publishing Info: Del Rey, February 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: Edelweiss+

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: In Daretana’s most opulent mansion, a high Imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree spontaneously erupted from his body. Even in this canton at the borders of the Empire, where contagions abound and the blood of the Leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death at once terrifying and impossible.

Called in to investigate this mystery is Ana Dolabra, an investigator whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities.

At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol. Din is an engraver, magically altered to possess a perfect memory. His job is to observe and report, and act as his superior’s eyes and ears–quite literally, in this case, as among Ana’s quirks are her insistence on wearing a blindfold at all times, and her refusal to step outside the walls of her home.

Din is most perplexed by Ana’s ravenous appetite for information and her mind’s frenzied leaps—not to mention her cheerful disregard for propriety and the apparent joy she takes in scandalizing her young counterpart. Yet as the case unfolds and Ana makes one startling deduction after the next, he finds it hard to deny that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective.

As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the safety of the Empire itself, Din realizes he’s barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra—and wonders how long he’ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect.

Featuring an unforgettable Holmes-and-Watson style pairing, a gloriously labyrinthine plot, and a haunting and wholly original fantasy world, The Tainted Cup brilliantly reinvents the classic mystery tale.

Review: There were many reasons this book quickly ended up on my TBR list. For one thing, I really enjoyed Bennett’s “Divine Cities” trilogy when I read it years ago (I enjoyed those books so much that I’ve toyed around with the idea of trying to sneak a re-read in here on the blog). I also somehow never got around to reading his most recent series. So I was pleased to see this book coming out as it was a way to re-acquaint myself with a favorite author without having to commit to a series with a number of pre-existing books. But, almost as important as the author, I’m pretty much always interested in reading a book that is a play on Sherlock Holmes and Watson. And this one sure sounded like a unique take! Not only do you have the classic brilliant detective/assistant character dynamic, but somehow that is then superimposed on a fantasy world that is besieged by kaiju like creatures?? What an odd mix and also count me in!

Let’s start with the world-building first! I was impressed by how fleshed out this world was, and by the careful balance the author struck between the various aspects of the story. It would have been very easy for the entire plot and world to be sucked up by the grandiose nature of the Leviathons. Obviously, gigantic creatures that besiege a continent during certain seasons are an intriguing focal point for a story. However, I was impressed by the way these gigantic threats were held largely in the shadows, serving as a looming threat which inspired more dread than anything else. Used carefully in this manner, the book was then better able to focus on the kind of society and world that would be built up under these sorts of conditions. Not only do you have the balance of constant military action needing to mingle with civilian life, but the Leviathon bring extreme contagions that affect the environment. In many ways, it was these contagions that served as the greater point of horror throughout the story. Not only is the central murder gruesome (a tree bursting out from within a living body), but as the story unfolds, we see many examples of the ways that humanity has had to work to survive in a environment and ecological system that is actively adapting to kill them off.

For all the excellent fantasy elements that went into the world-building as I described above, this book is truly a mystery story at its core. You could take almost the entire plot, adjust the manners of death and a few other small details, and plop it down in any old real-world story and it would largely work as it stands. And, again, the fact that the mystery itself is not over-shadowed by these, at times literally, larger-than-life fantasy elements is proof of the tight control that Bennett has over all of the elements that make up this book. While the fantasy stuff was, well, fantastical, as the story unfolded, my investment was largely focused on these two main characters and the increasingly complicated mystery that they were slowly working through. There were all of the good red-herrings and misdirections that one looks for in a mystery novel, as well as the satisfying payoff when all is finally revealed.

The third point of success came down to our two main characters. The story is told from the perspective of Din, our “Watson-like” character, as he works with a brilliant, but eccentric investigator, an older woman named Ana. I think Bennett did a brilliant job with these two, perfectly honing in on many of the dynamics that make the “Sherlock/Watson” duo such time-tested favorite. Din is endearing and an approachable “everyman” type character. He is at times bewildered by his strange boss and her ways, but loyal and devoted to supporting her in their investigation. I also liked the hints of his own struggles and secrets that are slowly revealed over the course of the story. We also see the strengths that he brings to this team and that, while brilliant herself, Din has unique contributions that are crucial to their success. In this instance, he has a unique skill (pulled from some of the magic systems of the world) to essentially permanently memorize everything he sees. But, even here, not everything it as it seems.

For her part, Ana is an excellent character in that she is used effectively but sparingly. The risk is always to overplay a character like this, but Bennett wisely and carefully chose his scenes and moments during which to play up Ana’s strange, but brilliant, approaches to investigation. The author also nailed the perhaps predictable, but no less appreciated, moments where Ana effectively lays out all of the pieces of the puzzle as if they were oh, so obvious. While anyone who reads a mystery novel with a detective like this at its heart knows that these sorts of scenes are coming, these moments are somehow always just as satisfying as ever. Especially when the author has been sparing with the build up, as Bennett is here.

I really enjoyed this book! I could probably go on and on praising it, but I think we all get the idea. I’ll say perhaps that the pacing, especially in the first third of the book, was a bit on the slower side. But as that time is spent laying down the building blocks of this world and who both Din and Ana are as characters, I think the slower start is earned. If you enjoy mystery novels as well as unique fantasy settings, definitely give this one a shot!

Rating 9: Genre-blending at its finest, Bennet’s brilliant take on the Sherlock/Watson character duo is only one part of many that makes this creative fantasy novel a must-read!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The tainted Cup” can be found on a lot of generic Goodreads lists like this Can’t Wait Sci-Fi/Fantasy of 2024, but it should be on Sherlock Holmes Retellings and Reimaginings.

Kate’s Review: “The Night of the Storm”

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Book: “The Night of the Storm” by Nishita Parekh

Publishing Info: Dutton, January 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: Hurricane Harvey is about to hit Houston. Meanwhile, single mom Jia Shah is already having a rough week: her twelve-year-old son, Ishaan, has just been suspended from school for getting in a fight. Still reeling from the fallout of her divorce—their move to Houston, her family’s disapproval, the struggle to make ends meet on her own—now Jia is worried about Ishaan’s future, too. Will her solo parenting be enough? Doesn’t a boy need a father?

And now their apartment complex is under a mandatory evacuation order. Jia’s sister, Seema, has invited them to hunker down in her fancy house in Sugar Land, and despite Jia’s misgivings—Seema’s husband, Vipul, has been just a little too friendly with her lately—Jia concedes it’s probably the best place to keep Ishaan safe during the hurricane. With Jia’s philandering ex scrutinizing her every move, all too eager to snatch back custody of Ishaan, she can’t afford to make a mistake.

When Vipul’s brother and his wife show up on Seema’s doorstep, too, it’s a recipe for disaster. Grandma, the family matriarch, has never been shy about playing favorites among her sons and their wives. As the storm escalates, tensions rise quickly, and soon someone’s dead. Was it a horrible accident or is there a murderer in their midst?

With no help available until the floodwaters recede in the morning, Jia must protect her son and identify the culprit before she goes down for a crime she didn’t commit—or becomes the next victim. . . .

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an eARC of this novel!

Even though Minnesota has some pretty brutal cold and snow events in the dead of winter, I know that I would prefer this over hurricanes. I know people who have been in pretty intense situations surrounding hurricanes, and have even had relatives flee up to Minnesota to escape danger during particularly bad ones. But I do love the idea of a hurricane being a situational factor in a murder mystery, so when I read the description of “The Night of the Storm” by Nishita Parekh, I knew that I had to read it. I went in with high hopes, wondering how a combustible family and extended family unit would fare coming face to face with a potential murderer during Hurricane Harvey, and while I chugged along through it, it didn’t quite meet said high hopes.

But first the good! One of the most important things about a thriller, for me, is if it keeps me reading and keeps me questioning what is going on, especially if it has some outside the box elements. “The Night of the Storm” is a locked room mystery, but the locked room aspect is the fact that this family is trapped in a house during Hurricane Harvey, and they can’t leave due to the dangers and can’t contact anyone very well due to the power issues and the general chaos during a natural disaster. If you find a creative way to isolate people in a story like this, I am automatically going to have to give it some props. I also liked that in this thriller, a genre that can be pretty white, we have an Asian Indian American family at the heart of it, and how some aspects of the culture Jia and Seema were raised in brings other conflicts that could potentially exacerbate the dangers in the moment (Jia’s divorced status making her seen as less than or unreliable by family, the tension between a judgmental mother in law and her daughter in law, the narrow definitions of what success can look like for sons). It makes for a bit of a fun family drama on top of the very pressing ‘trapped in a hurricane with a murderer’ situation.

That said, I think that a way that this book stumbles is that outside of Jia the other characters weren’t as fleshed out as I would have liked them to be. I like that we got insight into their back stories through Jia’s perspectives, but I would have liked to see more depth to a few of them. As it was, I wasn’t as invested in them as characters, and that makes the stakes not as high as I would like them to be in a thriller. I really liked Jia, and I was worried about her and her son Ishaan (and even on an existential level, as she is in the midst of a divorce from a toxic husband whom she thinks wants to take Ishaan away from her), but as more danger cropped up for everyone I wasn’t super nervous about the outcomes of the actual mystery and more about whether or not Jia would maintain custody of her son after all was said and done. Add into that a thrill ride that doesn’t tread too far from what is usually expected from the genre and familiar tropes that aren’t too unexpected, and it’s solidly okay, but not something that blew me away too much.

“The Night of the Storm” is fine. I am curious to read more thrillers by Nishita Perekh in the future. There is lots of promise that she can wow me down the line from glimmers in this book, even if as a whole it was average.

Rating 6: It’s a perfectly serviceable thriller, but pretty familiar tropes and pretty flat characters make for a generic read.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Night of the Storm” is included on Goodreads list “2024 Mystery Thrillers Crime To Be Excited For”.

Kate’s Review: “The Nigerwife”

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Book: “The Nigerwife” by Vanessa Walters

Publishing Info: Atria Books, May 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: The library!

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: This twisty and electrifying debut novel about a young woman who goes missing in Lagos, Nigeria, and her estranged auntie who will stop at nothing to find the truth is perfect for fans of My Sister, the Serial Killer and The Last Thing He Told Me.

Nicole Oruwari has the perfect life: a handsome husband, a palatial house in the heart of glittering Lagos, Nigeria, and a glamorous group of friends. She left gloomy London and a dark family past behind for sunny, moneyed Lagos, becoming part of the Nigerwives—a community of foreign women married to wealthy Nigerian men.

But when Nicole disappears without a trace after a boat trip, the cracks in her so-called perfect life start to show. As the investigation turns up nothing but dead ends, her Auntie Claudine decides to take matters into her own hands. Armed with only a cell phone and a plane ticket to Nigeria, she digs into her niece’s life and uncovers a hidden side filled with dark secrets, isolation, and even violence. But the more she discovers about her niece, the more Claudine’s own buried history threatens to come to light.

An inventively told and keenly observant thriller where nothing is as it seems, The Nigerwife is a razor-sharp look at the bonds of family, the echoing consequences of secrets, and whether we can ever truly outrun our past.

Review: “The Nigerwife” by Jessica Walters is a thriller that had been on my list for awhile, but the wait at the library was long. Then when it finally did come in, my stack was so high that I had to send it back and re-request it as there was no way I could get to it. But once it did come back, I was pretty eager to check it out, as the cover and the description definitely made it sound like my kind of thriller, as well as one that had a setting I am not as familiar with. And overall, it was a pretty good reading experience.

There are a lot of things that I really enjoyed about this book. The narrative structure is one of those things, as we follow two perspectives, in two different moments in time. The first of the perspectives is that of Claudine, an English woman who has come to Lagos to search for her missing niece Nicole, who married into a wealthy Nigerian family and seemed to have it all. The other is of Rachel, in the weeks leading up to her disappearance, and seeing what her life was ACTUALLY like behind the veneer of perfection and wealth. Through both of these women we see the social structures, both of England AND Nigeria, and how they, in their own ways, keep women under the thumbs of violent patriarchy and misogyny. The mystery of what happened to Nicole slowly unfolds in her timeline, with a building suspense and dread as she finds herself more and more trapped due to her complicated marriage and some of the choices she makes when trying to push back against it, while in Claudine’s timeline we see just how precarious Nicole’s situation was from the outside. I liked seeing the perspectives of them both and how they had different clues to give the reader.

But unfortunately, after a really interesting dual perspective mystery with slowly peeled back layers and a nice bit of ambiguity along with closure, we had one of those ever-loathed moments where a last final reveal completely derailed my experience of reading this book. I’m not going to spoil anything here, but it’s one of those things that maybe works for some people, but REALLY didn’t work for me, as I didn’t understand what the point of it was. Why did this need to be tacked on in the last two pages? And it also left little explanation as to how we got from point A to point B, and since it was a literal ‘last pages’ twist there was no room to explore and expand upon it. I really hate it when stories do this unless you have REALLY set something up and earned this kind of narrative choice. Unfortunately I didn’t feel like “The Nigerwife did that.

So once again we get a thriller that goes off course due to a strange last moment choice, but up until then I really enjoyed the layers and ruminations of “The Nigerwife”. I will definitely be seeing what other mysteries and thrillers Vanessa Walters brings us in the future.

Rating 7: A complex and layered thriller that has a lot of interesting beats and details, though a strange and abrupt ending left a weird taste in my mouth.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Nigerwife” is included on the Goodreads list “Good Morning America Book Club List”.

Kate’s Review: “The Professor”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “The Professor” by Lauren Nossett

Publishing Info: Flatiron Books, November 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: On a spring afternoon in Athens, Georgia, Ethan Haddock is discovered in his apartment, dead, apparently by his own hand. His fatality immediately garners media not because his death reflects the troubling increase of depression and mental health issues among college students, but because the media has caught the whiff of a scandal. His professor, Dr. Verena Sobek, has been taken in for questioning, and there are rumors his death is the result of a bad romance. A Title IX investigation is opened, the professor is suspended, and social media crusaders and trolls alike are out for blood.

Marlitt Kaplan never investigated love affairs. A former detective turned research assistant, she misses the excitement of her old job, but most of all the friendship of her partner, Teddy. When her mother, a professor at the university and colleague of the accused professor, asks for her help, she finds herself in the impossible position of proving something didn’t happen. Without the credentials to interview suspects or access phone records, she will have to get closer to a victim’s life than ever before. And she quickly finds herself in his apartment, having dinner with his roommates, even sleeping in his bed. But is she too close to see the truth?

In her relentless pursuit to uncover the mystery behind Ethan’s death, Marlitt will be forced to confront the power structures ingrained in the classroom against the backdrop of a historic campus and an institution that sometimes fails its most vulnerable members.

Review: Thank you to Flatiron Books for sending me an eARC of this novel via NetGalley!

Now that we are out of October I’m trying to catch up on my other genres outside of horror. I feel like even outside of Horrorpalooza I’ve been neglecting my thriller tastes, and am actively trying to turn that around. So after “The Intern”, we now turn to another thriller with a professional label in the title: “The Professor” by Lauren Nossett. I do love a juicy scandalous read, and on paper it seemed like this book would deliver on that. Disgraced former detective? An academic scandal? A potential affair? Well all of that sounds pretty sudsy to me! But “The Professor” didn’t really go in that direction. Which was mostly a good thing.

As a thriller, “The Professor” checks a lot of boxes I’ve come to expect and it generally does them pretty well. As our protagonist Marlitt investigates a potential affair in the aftermath of a college student’s suicide, we learn about her disgraced departure as a detective and how she feels a need to prove herself as well as feels a need to do a favor for her mother, who is a colleague of a professor who is under investigation in the aftermath of the student’s death. As she tries to learn more about Verena, the professor who is surrounded by rumors, and tries to learn about Ethan, the student who ended up dead, she treads closer and closer to obsession. Marlitt has a lot of the features of a damaged female protagonist of the genre, but I liked that we don’t dwell on it too much within the narrative, nor did we get a lot of repetitive moments of how she’s damaged and why she’s damaged and OH LOOK HOW DAMAGED SHE IS. Her actions can be reckless, but they speak for themselves and never feel overwrought. I also found myself surprised by a number of reveals within the mystery of what happened to Ethan, be it from Marlitt’s investigation or the perspective chapters we would get from both Ethan and Verena in flashback form. Nossett lays out the clues and knows when to reveal them or piece them together. I will say, however, that sometimes the pace was a little slow and the story could drag, getting bogged down in these different investigations. But that said, things do speed up the closer we get to the big climax.

But the theme that really resonated with me in this book is how we slowly get to see just what was going on with Verena, and how due to who she was and the prejudices that come with that made her the perfect target for gossip and hostility in the wake of her student’s death. Through flashbacks we get to know Verena as a new German professor, and how her heritage of being Turkish and German and as an immigrant to America Other her not only with her students, but also with the public when rumors start to swirl. Marlitt’s investigation is being done at her mother’s behest, and as she learns more and as we learn more about Verena through her own experiences and flashbacks one starts to wonder if the hostility towards her is possibly due to misogyny and xenophobia and the way that academia hasn’t quite reckoned with the ways that it enforces these things. It’s an interesting angle that I don’t always expect from thrillers of this nature, and I found that refreshing.

“The Professor” is a solid thriller that goes outside the box in unexpected ways. It’s a bit slow at times, but I did think that the payoff was ultimately worth it.

Rating 7: Some pretty good reveals, a complicated protagonist, and a look at the toxicity thrown due to rumors and prejudices make for an enjoyable thriller (albeit at times a slow one).

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Professor” is included on the Goodreads list “2023 Dark Academia Releases”.

Kate’s Review: “Murder and Mamon”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Murder and Mamon” (Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mysteries #4) by Mia P. Manansala

Publishing Info: Berkley, September 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: When murder mars the grand opening for Lila Macapagal’s aunties’ new laundromat, she will have to air out all the dirty laundry in Shady Palms to catch a killer…

Lila Macapagal’s godmothers April, Mae, and June—AKA the Calendar Crew—are celebrating the opening of their latest joint business venture, a new laundromat, to much fanfare (and controversy). However, what should’ve been a joyous occasion quickly turns into a tragedy when they discover the building has been vandalized—and the body of Ninang April’s niece, recently arrived from the Philippines, next to a chilling message painted on the floor. The question is, was the message aimed at the victim or Lila’s gossipy godmothers, who have not-so-squeaky-clean reputations?

With Ninang April falling apart from grief and little progress from the Shady Palms Police Department in this slippery case, it’s up to Lila and her network to find justice for the young woman.

The Calendar Crew have stuck their noses into everybody’s business for years, but now the tables are turned as Lila must pry into the Calendar Crew’s lives to figure out who has a vendetta against the (extremely opinionated yet loving) aunties and stop them before they strike again.

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an eARC of this novel!

We are so close to Autumn, or at least to that point in Autumn when you feel a chill in the air and smell leaves and woodsmoke. For horror fans like me that means I immediately think of scary stories, but I also kind of associate Autumn and Fall aesthetic with cozier literature. So it’s appropriate that one of the cozy mystery series I follow has a new book out, and it’s the one with recipes I can experiment with as the weather starts to cool down! That’s right, the next book in Mia P. Manansala’s “Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mysteries” series, “Murder and Mamon”, has arrived! And I was super glad to have it on my Kindle for the first chillier days of Fall.

We are still following the pretty familiar formula of the other “Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mysteries” books, but when it comes to a cozy mystery series that’s usually what’s to be expected. Lila is still in Shady Palms, running her coffee shop with her friends, and dealing with the kooky ins and outs of her family and extended family, all while a murder takes place and she finds herself in need of solving it. It’s still pretty enjoyable and engaging, as Lila is a fun protagonist and amateur sleuth who has fallen into the role pretty comfortably over the past few books. I like that she has found her footing, and that we are no longer dealing with love triangles for her or other pot stirring just to have some personal drama along with the crime she is after, and I like seeing her interact with our cast of characters whether they are good friends, frenemies, or people we have seen before in other cases but have fallen to the wayside in favor of newer plots. It really makes you feel like you are getting to know the small town and the people who live there.

That said, I do think that the mysteries are starting to get a little bit repetitive. This time the central mystery involves a close family member of Lila’s, as it’s now her godmothers, The Calendar Crew as they are known, that are connected to the crime, as their laundromat is the crime scene and Ninang April’s niece is the victim. It definitely makes sense for Lila to have investments in the cases when it’s people close to her that are involved, but we are running low on family members who are at stake, and I’m hoping Manansala starts to branch out a bit as the series goes on. It also probably didn’t help me that I don’t particularly care for the Calendar Crew in general, as it feels to me like their catty and gossipy behavior is always written off as more endearing than toxic. So that may be more reflective of my own preferences. But I will say that there has been a perfect set up to get Lila to perhaps have an in to becoming more of a sleuth when her immediate family isn’t involved, so I have hope that there will be a bit of that in future books.

And once again: we have recipes!! I know that it’s expected now that cozy mysteries centering around food have recipes, but I am always going to highlight this part of these books because WOW do they still sound amazing. Hell, all of the food parts of this book sound amazing, and Manansala really knows how to describe food and beverage in ways that make me very, very hungry.

“Murder and Mamon” continues the adventures of Lila Macapagal and the eccentric town of Shady Palms. The territory feels a bit well worn now in some regards, but I still enjoyed this new entry in this cozy mystery series.

Rating 6: This series remains charming and entertaining, with another engaging mystery with kooky and fun characters. I’m hoping the next outing branches out from the formula a bit next time, however.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Murder and Mamon” is included on the Goodreads list “Cozy Mysteries 2023 New Releases”.

Previously Reviewed:

Serena’s Review: “Murder at Midnight”

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Book: “Murder at Midnight” by Katharine Schellman

Publishing Info: Crooked Lane Books, September 2023

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Previously Reviewed: “The Body in the Garden” and “Silence in the Library” and “Death at the Manor”

Book Description: Perfect for fans of Deanna Raybourn and Ashley Weaver, when a body is found shot to death after an unexpected snowstorm, Lily Adler quickly realizes that some people will stop at nothing to bury their secrets this holiday season.

Regency widow Lily Adler is looking forward to returning to Hertfordshire to spend time with the family of her late husband. She is also excited that Captain Jack Hartley, her friend and confidante, will be visiting his own family after a long voyage at sea. With winter quickly approaching, Lily is most excited at the prospect of a relaxing and enjoyable Christmastide season away from the schemes and secrets she witnessed daily in London.

At a neighborhood ball, she soon becomes reacquainted with a friend of her late husband, Peter Coleridge, a wealthy man who not only manages Irish investments, but also a fund that most of the locals of Hertfordshire take part in. There, she also learns Jack’s sister, Amelia, is the subject of much of the neighborhood gossip—although Amelia refuses to explain if there is any truth to it. For a brief moment, Lily wonders if she ever really left London.

When a snowstorm forces several guests, including both the Adlers and the Hartleys, to stay the night, Lily quickly deduces that all is not well this holiday season. In the morning, a maid discovers the body of a guest in the poultry yard, shot to death—and he is the same man that is scandalously linked to Amelia.

Lily accepts the offer to assist in the investigation, but will she find more than what she bargained for the more she digs? Or will she herself be buried deep within the snow?

Review: Time for another historical mystery review! At this point, I’m really only up-to-date with this series and Sherry Thomas’s “Charlotte Holmes” series. There’s just not enough time in the day to get to all of the books I want, and, unfortunately when push comes to shove, I’ll often prioritize SFF over historical fiction and mysteries. But I do seem to be able to manage to keep up with these two series. I was particularly interested in this latest Lily Adler book due to the fact that while I had enjoyed all of the books up to that point, I had real problems with the latest one. So in my mind, the quality of this latest book would be really telling for my continued enjoyment of the series! And I’m happy to report that while we may not have recaptured the highs of the first book or two, this one is a solid entry in the series and enough of a return to form to ensure my continued reading of these books.

There was a lot to like in this new Lily Adler book. For one thing, I really love this style of mystery, where a large group of suspects (and victims!) are trapped in a location together and must solve a murder. The format allows for a large cast of characters, tons of red herrings that are believable, and much emphasis placed on interpersonal relationships, something that I always focus on in my reading. I also enjoyed the exploration of the group dynamic, which we see done expertly here. As Lily and her companions go longer and longer trapped together in this house, we see the breakdown of conventions and norms, the reduction of individuals to their more basic instincts, and the tendency for people to circle the wagons and “other” anyone who doesn’t fit within strict definitions of right and wrong. For her part, Lily Adler sweeps through these tensions with grace and a practical eye for how these dynamics can relate to guilt and innocence, misplaced fear or rightfully felt concern to hide one’s involvement in a crime. I also really enjoyed the fact that while I was able to piece together some clues to the mystery, there were many other twists and turns that I didn’t spot coming!

I also really enjoyed the continued interpersonal and romantic dynamics. In the previous book, a new love interest was introduced, and while I didn’t have any issues with this character on his own, I was already firmly in the corner of Lily and Jack. So of course I was beyond pleased when Jack himself returned in this book and played a fairly central role. But I also was surprised by how much I enjoyed the continued exploration of Lily’s relationship with this other suitor. The relationship took a few surprising turns, and I was impressed by the way the author used this relationship to highlight the true choices that women faced in this time, even when partnered to a good man by every definition.

I also really enjoyed meeting some new characters, notably Jack’s younger sister Amelia who plays a central role in this story. We also get some POV chapters from her, which I very much enjoyed. Fans of the series are sure to enjoy this one!

Rating 8: All in all, this was an excellent entry in the series. I was glad to see the return of fan favorite characters, and was pleased to see an improvement in the mystery itself.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Murder at Midnight” can be found on this Goodreads list: Historical Mystery 2023

Kate’s Review: “Missed Cue”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Missed Cue” by Lynn Slaughter

Publishing Info: Melange Books, August 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from the publisher.

Where You Can Get This Book: Amazon

Book Description: When ballerina Lydia Miseau dies onstage in the final dress rehearsal of Romeo and Juliet, homicide detective Caitlin O’Connor is faced with the most complicated case of her career. She strongly suspects that someone murdered the ballerina, and her investigation uncovers several people close to the star who had reasons to kill her. But the autopsy reveals no apparent cause of death. If Lydia Miseau was murdered, who did it, and how?

Meantime, there’s Caitlin’s hot mess of a personal life. She has a bad habit of getting involved with married men. She knows it’s wrong, so why does she keep entangling herself in unhealthy relationships? She’s finally decided to go into therapy to find out.

Review: Thank you to Melange Press for sending me an ARC of this novel!

This is going to sound really sick, but if I am being honest and vulnerable, I am almost always going to be totally interested in a mystery or thriller or what have you if it involves a dead ballerina. As someone who has always been clumsy and on the, shall we say, more ample side, ballet was NEVER going to be in the cards for me. But I have always been SO interested in ballet as a medium and as a culture that could be rife with drama due to competitive and cutthroat undertones. So when I was offered “Missed Cue” by Lynn Slaughter, I was pretty intrigued. I had read another book by Slaughter (“Deadly Setup”) and had enjoyed it for the most part, so I was more than happy to give her another go, especially since this time it involved a dead ballerina and a complicated female detective.

As a concept I thought that “Missed Cue” was compelling. We all know that I do have a soft spot for crime procedurals, and I did enjoy the character of Detective Caitlin O’Connor with her skills as a competent detective as well as a bit of a mess in her personal life. It may be a bit of an old reliable character trope in many a detective procedural of someone who is great at their job but a bit bad at recognizing their own emotional pitfalls, but it works for the character and I’m not sick of it yet! Caitlin is not only having to deal with a strange and complicated new case, she is also dealing with some fallout from an affair she had with a married colleague, and ALSO dealing with her partner dealing with his own messed up personal life that is leaking into their partnership, and it makes for some interesting beats that can tie into the mystery at hand. I do think that it felt like at times that were were jumping into a characterization that was already halfway through its journey, as at times I was thinking ‘are there previous books that set up these dynamics and plot points and relationships?’ when, in fact, there are not. And this made it feel like some of the things presented weren’t as realized as they could have been.

I thought the mystery was pretty well developed, with some good suspects with understandable motives, and some fairly well done misdirections to boot. While it was mostly from a third person POV involving Caitlin, there were occasional insights into other characters where we would get their perspectives in certain moments that served to either give more clues that Caitlin wouldn’t have, or to muddy the waters a bit. I think that, like with the characterizations mentioned above, there could have been some expansion on the mystery and the details of everything, as as it was it was very straightforward and linear in how it all unfolded. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does leave me wanting more.

The most interesting and effective part of the story for was actually the moments that we got to see Caitlin in therapy. It is so rare, at least in my experience, in procedurals to see characters, protagonists or not, getting mental health help, even if they desperately need it. And seeing Caitlin in her sessions as she works through some of her issues, whether it’s bad choices she’s made or anxieties about her partner and her love life, was a refreshing addition to the story. It added another dynamic to the story, and it felt pretty original and interesting.

So overall, “Missed Cue” is pretty solid. A thriller with some curveballs and some unexpected upending of tropes thanks to the hard boiled detective actually trying to better herself. It’s nice seeing that kind of thing in a genre where damaged characters are the norm.

Rating 7: A solid thriller with a compelling plot, but I would have loved for the mystery to have more drawn out complexities.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Missed Cue” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of now, but it would fit in on “Women Who Solve Crimes”.