At first, Hank Phillippi Ryan’s “Mother Daughter Sister Stranger” seems pretty straightforward. In fact, after the first few chapters, I was wondering how she would make this really suspenseful when it’s about a woman who is taking care of her 11-year-old niece for a week while her sister is on vacation. And her sister doesn’t show up on the day she was supposed to.
Author Karsten Dusse’s new novel, “My Inner Child Wants to Kill,” is a worthy successor — and sequel — to his previous, extremely successful work, “Murder Mindfully.” Both novels in the “Mindful Murder” series feature protagonist Bjorn Diemel, lawyer to several men of questionable honesty and character; his wise and clever therapist, Joschka Breitner; several of Bjorns gangster clients; and Bjorn’s estranged wife Katharina and their beloved child, Emily. Bjorn had committed two murders in the first novel, both victims murdered mindfully, mind you, and both necessarily eliminated because if he hadn’t murdered them, they would certainly have killed him. He has also managed to capture another killer and to keep that one in a cell in his basement. Better than killing a third person, we suppose. In any case, he has promised himself never to kill again.
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For those looking for a brilliantly crafted thriller, “Three Reasons for Revenge,” by Dervla McTiernan will suit perfectly. The main character is deliciously imperfect as are all the other characters. Detective Sergeant Judith Lee is a single, forty-year-old woman with only one good friend. She’s not close with her mother, who married an abuser. When the abuser also beat Judith at the age of fifteen and then tried to kill her mother, Judith took a golf club and killed him.
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“Sea of Charms” by Sarah Beth Durst is her latest fantasy and part of a series of books set in a fantasy realm, each of which easily works as a stand-alone novel. Each one is a romance, and each one is filled with magic, magical creatures, flying cats, and lots of magical love. This novel focuses on a character we met in “The Enchanted Greenhouse,” Marin, a woman who has a magic sailboat and delivers supplies to the various islands that make up the Crescent Islands Empire.
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From almost the first page, Sarah Pekkanen’s “The Women in White” is both compelling and gripping. From the start we feel connected to the main character Riley. Her first person narrative in the present grounds us as we read some chapters narrated in third person about the four other women who are also at the center of this fascinating story about research into psychic abilities.
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To really understand Paul Yoon’s new novel, “Etna,” I went back and read his tribute to his dog Oscar, which was one of the short pieces in the collection “The Best Dog in the World: Essays on Love.” And while I didn’t cry while reading “Etna,” I did cry when I reread the essay “Oscar,” substituting the fictional Etna for Yoon’s actual dog, Oscar.
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In “Mist and Malice,” the second book in Rachel Howzell Hall’s exciting “Haven Thriller” series, the action starts right up where the first book ends. For those who haven’t read the first book, it could be confusing. I would definitely suggest reading this novel after reading the first one because a lot of the backstory of the characters is delineated in “Fog and Fury,” the first novel.
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In Jo Piazza’s “The Parisian Heist,” we don’t meet the brilliant artist Vincent Van Gogh, but we learn a lot about him through the fictionalized character of his sister-in-law Jo Van Gogh and the completely fictional character of a friend, Claire Donadieu. Piazza alternates the narrative between Jo Van Gogh’s real battle to get Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings to be seen and admired and — ultimately — valued, and a modern day thriller about three art students who find they’ve been invited to participate in one of the strangest heists in history.
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In Lisa Jewell’s newest psychological thriller, “It Could Have Been Her,” she brings back a character from her last thriller, “Don’t Let Him In.” In that novel, Jane Trevally was a minor character, an older woman who helped solve the mystery. In this new release, Jane makes a fabulous, complex, very relatable main character, and her Jessica Fletcher-like investigation into a missing woman uncovers chilling secrets that a family had desperately tried to hide.
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There are several very good reasons that David Rosenfelt has now produced thirty-three extraordinarily successful Andy Carpenter Mysteries, including the latest entry, “Dead Men Don’t Play Fetch.” In the big picture, that success is due to the author’s unique talent at combining solid and suspenseful mystery plots with a sense of humor that jumps off every page. An analysis of those two qualities can provide, I think, more information that clarifies Rosenfelt’s techniques.
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With “A Sociopath’s Guide to a Successful Marriage,” author M. K. Oliver delivers a shining example of a novel that is so clever and filled with really funny lines that in spite of ourselves, we can’t help but root for Lalla Rook, the main character, who also happens to be (as the title discloses) a sociopath.
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Beatriz Williams’ novels set on Winthrop Island are a perfect combination of fabulous stand-alone reads, as well as part of the Winthrop Island books; they return Williams’ fans to Winthrop Island, where many of her books are set, and bring back the fabulous characters we met in those previous novels. “When You Loved Me,” introduces Lucy Cooper, whose father has lived on the island his whole life. Bud Cooper stayed on the island because he was determined to find the legendary pirate’s treasure that was rumored to be buried somewhere on the property.
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