I thoroughly enjoyed this historical fiction mystery involving the Jane Austen characters we love, and love to hate. This is the second book in the series, but there was enough backstory provided throughout the book for me to understand the history of the characters’ relationships and their actions. However, this is a standalone mystery, and can be read without having read the first book.
Continue reading “The Late Mrs. Willoughby (Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney, #2) by Claudia Gray”
Three young girls go missing in 2012 in separate and unconnected circumstances. Their disappearances are investigated, but the girls are never found. Ten years later, DCI Priest receives a confession to their murders from a prisoner already serving time in HMP Manchester. The prisoner is willing to lead DCI Priest to their bodies, but he wants something in return. After a pivotal milestone, and despite the confession, the evidence starts to unravel. DCI Priest initially assumed this was an open and shut case. He could not have been more wrong
Continue reading “Where Darkness Lies (DCI Priest #4) by Mark Pettinger”
This was a pretty good science fiction mystery/thriller set in the near future after a mysterious illness caused the entire population of the planet to go blind. A device was created that approximates vision, downloading visual data directly to people’s brains. Mark Owens, a homicide detective, investigates a murder in which the witness claims that the murderer was blacked out of her vision. He doesn’t believe her until the same thing happens to him. Mark realizes that someone is manipulating the data everyone receives from their tech. This starts Mark down a dangerous path in which more lives are in jeopardy and Mark can’t trust what he sees with his own eyes.
Continue reading “Blind Spots by Thomas Mullen”
This is a slow burn story about two widows, 50 years apart in age. Evelyn is a 71 year old spunky, nosy busybody who isn’t afraid to dispense her opinion about someone else’s life. Evelyn is a recent widow & she befriends 27 year old Lena, who is also a recent widow. Lena is everything Evelyn is not. She is meek, mild, & numbly stumbling through life after the sudden death of her husband. As the two women strike up an unlikely friendship, we begin to learn more about each woman’s life. Lena begins to realize that her marriage wasn’t as idyllic as she thought, & that if she has any chance of a happy life, she needs to deal with her tragic past.
Continue reading “The Widows’ Pact by J.L. Cole”
This is a twisty, engrossing historical fiction mystery/thriller set in 1881 Oxford that captured my attention from the start. The author developed two great characters in Basil Rice, an intelligent, nervous Jesus College fellow with a secret to hide (he’s gay), & Rhiannon “Non” Vaughan, a wickedly smart, fearless, outspoken, determined young Welsh woman newly admitted to university lectures at Jesus College.
Continue reading “A Bitter Remedy (The Oxford Mysteries #1) by Alis Hawkins”
This is an interesting Mystery/Thriller . Tamsyn & Ed barely make a living. They live in a cramped camper van with their teenage daughter Scarlett. The last year she’s been drinking, taking drugs & lashing out at her parents. One night as Scarlett flees home she’s hit by a car. She is on life-support & not getting better. Then a miracle happens. Ed & Tam are approached about a medical trial in Switzerland. An AI replacement will live with the couple as their daughter & if Scarlett gets better she will replace the AI in the family. They jump at the chance of a new life & are whisked away to Geneva where they are set up with everything they need to live a comfortable life. Better yet, the AI replacement, Sophie, looks & acts just like Scarlett before she changed into a hostile moody teenager. But, all is not as it seems, & as cracks in their new life begin to appear, they must decide if they want to know the truth, or stay in their blissful new life.
Continue reading “The New One by Evie Green”
This was a fun, twisty mystery about three adults that grew up together in an abusive group home. After several kids went missing the group home was shut down and they all went their separate ways. All three became successful but troubled adults and had no contact with each other until someone started trying to kill them. They eventually get together to solve the mystery, causing them to re-live some of the trauma they endured growing up.
Continue reading “What Have We Done by Alex Finlay”
What the heck did I just read??? I finished the book a few days ago and had to just sit with it for awhile before I could write my review. The book is a a fascinating mystery/thriller/romance that I couldn’t stop reading it.
Sissy is one of a set of identical triplets. They were abandoned when they were newborns and lived their youth in separate foster homes until they aged out. Fiercely protective of each other, once they were free of the system they were determined to never be separated again. No matter what. When Iris is hurt by her boyfriend and kills him in a fit of rage, Sissy steps in to clean up the scene and the triplets’ plan to love men and leave them….dead, is born.
Continue reading “How I’ll Kill You by Ren Destefano”
This is a fun historical fiction mystery/romance set during the Victorian era. Lady Mary Montagu Douglas Scott has spent years creating a mousy persona that allows her to go overlooked and underestimated. This allows her to use her keen intellect and power of observation to discreetly assist her peers with matters they want to keep secret. During a dinner party in her family’s Scottish home she quietly works to help a friend, but runs into trouble when the handsome war veteran Colonel Walter Trefusis (Tre) sees her partaking in a dangerous adventure during dinner. Mary tries to do damage control and finds herself drawn to the Colonel. As the duo get to know each other they find their purposes intertwined and help each other out.
Continue reading “A Most Intriguing Lady by Sarah Ferguson”
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