I loved Tess Gerritsen’s “The Spy Coast,” and her sequel, “The Summer Guests” makes this a series that is sure to be one of my favorites. There’s so much to enjoy—especially for readers of a certain age. We love reading about main characters who are our (Boomer) age. Main characters whose aches and pains might be there, but don’t stop us from enjoying life and doing our best to be active and actively participants in the world around us.
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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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“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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In Sarah Pekkanen’s latest, suspense-filled novel “The Locked Ward,” we meet two sisters, Georgia and Amanda, twins actually, who were separated at birth but now find themselves entangled in a web of deceit. The writing is ingenious as Pekkanen uses two different points of view to share the sisters’ stories. Amanda’s story is told in first person, each chapter labeled with her nickname “Mandy,” while Georgia’s narrative is shared in second person narrative. The second person narrative is a bit unsettling at first, but it quickly becomes apparent that by relating Georgia’s story as if it is happening to us, we feel deeply involved and a part of the action.
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Kendra Elliot has written twenty-three thrillers, and her newest novel, “Her First Mistake,” is the start of a new series. This new series is based on one of the minor characters from her Columbia River series, Noelle Marshall. If you have not read that series, rest assured that you will still completely enjoy this novel.
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Matt Goldman begins his new novel, “The Murder Show,” with a million dollar first sentence. The kind of first sentence that guarantees readers will be hooked. The first sentence is blood drippingly gory, and that, combined with the humor on the rest of the first page, means we are in for a treat.
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“The Vanishing Kind” is definitely the kind of book that you might want to read in one sitting to find out how the enthralling action ends, yet I found myself doing the opposite. Alice Henderson creates characters so likable, a plot so gripping, and a setting so idyllic, that I just didn’t want it to end. I kept putting off finishing the book because I wanted to stay with main character Alex Carter in the New Mexico desert setting just a bit longer.
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While “Track Her Down” is the ninth book in Melinda Leigh’s Bree Taggert series, like all the mysteries featuring sheriff Taggert, it works well as a stand alone novel. Of course, starting with the first mystery gives readers a chance to understand Taggert’s whole backstory and how she came to be the sheriff in upstate New York. But each mystery, featuring, of course, a murder that Taggert must solve, provides enough about all the main characters to ensure a satisfying read, and each mystery is unique enough to keep our interest.
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Women of a certain age (of whom I am one) loved Deanna Raybourn’s “Killers of a Certain Age,” and its sequel, “Kills Well With Others,” is just as brilliantly conceived, wonderfully executed, and thrilling as its predecessor. It features the same deadly sexagenarians, Mary Alice, Helen, Natalie, and Billie.
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Take a tough, intelligent, competent woman and have her butt heads with a handsome, rugged, maverick detective, and you get what Sandra Brown does best in her newest release, “Blood Moon.” In addition to the usual ingredients that make us devour her novels quicker than a box of handmade Belgian chocolates, she adds a time element in this thrilling novel. Another murder will happen in four days if the killer is not found.
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“Cold As Hell” is a title that is extremely appropriate for Kelley Armstrong’s newest addition to her gripping “Haven Rock” series. Not only is the novel set in the Yukon in March, but there are events in the story that bring the title to mind as we read. “Cold As Hell” is the third book in this series, and while it could be read as a stand alone novel, there would be so much missing from the backstory that it makes more sense to either start with the first novel in the series, “Murder at Haven’s Rock,” or go back to the first novel in the previous series, “City of the Lost,” and read forward from there. That way you’ll be able to savor how Armstrong expertly develops the characters and uses the unique setting as almost another character, because it’s so much a part of each novel.
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