The Missing Pages” by Alyson Richman is a perfect title for a novel about love, loss, and those who adore books. Bibliophiles are smitten by the scent of paper and ink; they love to sit in the peaceful silence of libraries and peruse vast selections of books; they love to meet other bibliophiles and talk books. And sometimes, as in this beautifully narrated story, they fall in love. There is much loss in these pages, but there is also much love.
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In her seventh book, “The Deadly Book Club,” author Lyn Liao Butler presents a thrilling murder mystery filled with likely suspects, all of whom might have had a reason to kill the victim. Five women, prominent book influencers, meet online once a month to talk business and books, drink cocktails, and dish dirt. During one meeting, when several of them happen to be in Hawaii, the screen freezes. But the audio continues, and those in the meeting hear bloodcurdling screams as one of them is surely being murdered.
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Author Paul Bradley Carr has written a scary novel called “The Confessions.” It will not make you jump out of your seat or scream. There’s no Count Dracula, no one-eyed monsters, no murderous criminals suddenly appearing behind their unwary victims. But “The Confessions” is more frightening than all those traditional horror tropes put together — because it demonstrates all too clearly the simple fact that we human beings are in the process of destroying ourselves. And reading this novel also makes clear that that simple fact is not a prediction, not an opinion. It is clear proof that our self-destruction is happening right now.
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David Rosenfelt’s 32nd (!) Andy Carpenter Mystery novel, “And to All a Good Bite,” strikes again with classic suspense, violence, and Rosenfelt’s trademark humor. Attorney Carpenter’s first person narrative is typically and hilariously on display on virtually every page — even when violence is involved — and the dialogue is consistently equally funny, all of which leads to as enjoyable a mystery novel as you are likely to find. Anywhere.
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There are so many reasons to recommend “Other People’s Houses” by Clare Mackintosh; when a mystery features characters who are so likable and relatable that their situation and relationships become equally as important as the actual mystery, you know it’s going to be a winner. And on top of that, jumping in to read the third book in the series without having read the first two books did not feel as if anything was missing.
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A novel is at the heart of “The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes,” the lost story being a book that one of the main characters, Eva Fuentes, wrote; but this heartfelt story is really about many things. In it, author Chanel Cleeton creates three main characters who live at different times but all of whom share a deep, abiding love of books.
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“A Dark and Deadly Journey,” may be the third installment of Julia Kelly’s Evelyne Redfern Mysteries, but it’s the first time Evelyne travels internationally in her job with British Intelligence. She must investigate the disappearance of a trusted informant from Portugal. Because the novel is set in the middle of WWII, and Evelyne and her partner David are sent to Lisbon to find this important informant, Evelyne’s first person narration gives us an on-the-ground look at what life was like in Portugal because of its neutral status during the war.
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Inspired in part by author Sandie Jones’ teenage devotion to the 80s band Duran Duran, her new novel “I Would Die for You” features a different boy band, but a groupie who was even more devoted and crazy about following the band than she was. While Nicole Forbes is the main character and it’s her first person narration that tells the story of the “present” in Coronado, California in 2011, the other thread is the narration about her family in London, 1986, and revolves around her sick mother and her band-crazy sister Cassie.
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A really good series, like Melinda Leigh’s Bree Taggert series, has novels that stand alone but also has characters who grow and change from the first novel through the procession and the progression of stories. This series story arc, combined with the individual gripping novels, is what keeps readers coming back to read book after book. With this series, author Melinda Leigh manages to accomplish all that and more. In addition to a really likable, vulnerable but strong main character, sheriff Bree Taggert, there is a romantic partner, and a family. And one of the things I love about this series is the dogs, lots of dogs. Rescue dogs. Rescue dogs who save lives.
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Author William Kent Krueger’s latest novel, the twenty-first entry in his Cork O’Connor series about that small-town sheriff and detective, is filled with fascinating, superbly drawn characters, but it’s certainly more than just a character study. It’s a complex and puzzling murder mystery featuring so many likely suspects that we readers are as stumped as O’Connor himself in trying to figure out not only who committed the murder, but where to even begin the investigation. The most confusing situation is that the murder he must solve happened twenty-five years before the present day.
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In “The Art of a Lie,” Laura Shepherd-Robinson takes us back to London in 1749, when women had few rights, and the clever ones learned to use their wits to survive. We meet Hannah Cole a few weeks after the murder of her husband, Jonas. The confectionary shop that had been in her family for generations is struggling now that suppliers have learned a woman is running the shop. They are overcharging her, and she’s not sure how long she’ll be able to stay in business.
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Like many others, I love James Ponti’s City Spies series, and “City Spies: London Calling” is no different. There’s so much to like about the novels, including two wonderful adults and the six spy-children, the clever plots that take them around the world, the strengths and vulnerabilities of all the characters, and the unexpected twists that keep us turning the pages.
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