This is a great historical fiction mystery featuring Emily Dickinson and her maid Willa in 1856 Amhurst. This is book two in the series, but can be read as a stand-alone. I haven’t read the first book, but didn’t feel like I was missing much because of it.
Continue reading “I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died (An Emily Dickinson Mystery, #2) by Amanda Flower”
My book club chose this book to read, so of course I read it. I always go into overly hyped books with trepidation because I’ve been let down before. Sadly, this book is another popular book that I didn’t love as much as everyone else. It did provide for lively discussions at our meeting, however, especially since there are several lawyers in our group that all had different opinions about the legal side of the story.
Mother Olivia leaves her abusive husband, taking her son Asher with her. They return to her childhood home town and Olivia takes over her father’s beekeeping business. The business starts doing well and Asher is flourishing in school, until he’s arrested and accused of killing his girlfriend Lily. While Olivia doesn’t believe Asher is guilty, deep down she worries that he’s just like his father.
There are a lot of moving parts in this book. The chapters alternate between several characters, often depicting the same scenario but from different viewpoints. Initially this was helpful to build out the characters and storyline, but after awhile became repetitious and annoying. Things look bad for Asher when he’s first arrested, but as we learn more about the months leading up to the murder, we realize several people had motives for killing Lily.
This book was way too long and really dragged in the middle. A lot of fluff could have been eliminated without destroying the story. The pacing was a bit off, with the story focusing way too much on some things, and way too little on others. The ending, for example, was pretty abrupt.
All in all, this book was just ok for me. I’m not mad at my book club for choosing this book. It wouldn’t have been my choice, but several members liked it so that’s good. If you are a Picoult or Boylan fan, you will probably like this one, so definitely check it out for yourself.
On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.
Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule.
Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess.
Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.
Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.
And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High’s notorious gossip app.
I had the pleasure of reading 𝙅𝙖𝙣𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙁𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙈𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙮 by 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲 𝗕𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗻. It’s the last book in the Being a Jane Austen Mystery series, but can be read as a standalone. I haven’t read the previous books but I didn’t feel lost in the book or that I was missing anything. This Jane Austen inspired historical mystery was a pleasure to read. The comfort of reading Austen- like writing was like cuddling with a warm blanket in front of a fire.
Continue reading “Jane and the Final Mystery ( Being a Jane Austen Mystery Book 15) by Stephanie Barron”
I really enjoyed this mystery/thriller focusing on a detective agency. This is the second book in the series but can be read as a stand alone. I haven’t read book 1, but there was enough reference to what happened in that book that I didn’t feel lost. Matt and Steve are the two detectives in the agency. Matt was a police office but took over the agency after the death of his father. As this book begins, the duo hire an office manager, Carol, who is highly qualified. It’s implied that she worked for a highly placed person in the British government, but the author is coy about giving the reader more information. I’m sure Carol’s history will come into play in future books. Or at least, I hope it does.
Matt and Steve are asked to look into a burglary by a divorced mother with two young children. Video is found of the burglars, but the mother claims she doesn’t recognize them, when in fact she knows one of them is the son of a prominent gangster. The woman posts a vague threat to the father of the boy on Facebook, and soon after is found dead. Other strange occurrences in the neighborhood lead Matt and Steve, along with Matt’s girlfriend Karen, an investigator with the police department, to wonder just what is behind everything. To add more problems for everyone to deal with, a woman from Matt’s father’s past shows up claiming she and her father were a serious couple.
I really enjoyed this book. It has private detectives, police investigators, a smart and capable office manager, a cast of dodgy characters and plenty of red herrings to keep the reader guessing. I really liked Matt and Steve. They are smart, honest, and believe in working hard for their clients. I love Carol – who I think has more skills than she’s revealed – and every time she discovers a promising lead, I thought “You go, Carol!” I also liked Karen, who is a tough, but fair, investigator who knows what she’s doing and skillfully leads her team so they get results.
This is an engrossing mystery that will keep you guessing. It’s a quick and easy read (at only 282 pages) that you can easily read in an afternoon. It’s currently available on Kindle Unlimited, so definitely check it out.
I was provided a complimentary e-copy of this book by NetGalley and Boldwood Books. All opinions are my own.
This fast-paced mystery/thriller is set in and around Bath, England and focuses on ex-DCI Luke Sackville. He starts a new job expecting it to be a soft, boring corporate job. Especially when his supervisor tells him instead of being the head of security, he is now the head of a new department investigating internal employees. His team is comprised of misfits and rejects from other departments, but Luke’s instincts and skills brings out the best of this oddball squad and they meld into a competent team.
Continue reading “Taken to the Hills (Luke Sackville Crime Thrillers book 1) by S. J. Richards”
It’s an exciting psychological contemporary thriller about a retired NFL quarterback and his wife and children.
The book alternates POVs between five characters, providing the reader with a well-rounded view of all the moving parts of the story. Danielle believes she has the perfect life with her successful husband and twins. But when her husband becomes distant, disappearing for days without contact, she starts to suspect he’s having an affair. She never dreamed the truth would be so horrific and unimaginable. I liked Danielle and the author did a great job depicting her struggle to love and trust her husband, but to also not just turn a blind eye to issues she notices. She loves her life and doesn’t want to believe that they’re something so wrong that would destroy everything she’s known.
Continue reading “Goodbye Stranger by Blake Rudman”
This is another great mystery focusing on Deputy Mattie Cobb. She and her sister travel to Mexico to visit her mother, but find her gone. She returns home to find a note on her door telling her to find “him” among the standing dead. The sheriff’s race to the forest and they find a dead man tied to a tree. Mattie knows the man, and when she finds another note telling her that her mother is in bad shape, Mattie knows she has to do whatever it takes to save her.
Continue reading “Standing Dead (Timber Creek K-9 Mystery, #8) by Margaret Mizushima”
This is a pretty good epistolary mystery written exclusively as if reading a movie script. In December 2003, Luke Ryder, the stepfather of acclaimed filmmaker Guy Howard (then aged 10), was found dead in the garden of their suburban family home. Luke was babysitting Guy. Luke’s two teenage step-daughters found him dead in the back yard, while Guy slept in his room. The children’s mother was a suspect but she was at a party that night with a solid alibi. His murder remains unsolved.
Continue reading “Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter”
Nerd Girl Loves Books 