This big, complex, sprawling, novel—complete with a large cast and plenty of backstory—is perfect for when you need to lose yourself for a few days. At the center of the book is the murder of Saori Namiki, a talented young woman who is about to launch her musical career. Jump three years to the present, when her remains are discovered in the rubble of a burnt-out shanty. Finding her murderer would seem impossible, but a similar death over 20 years ago helps Chief Inspector Kusanagi identify the killer, only to see him released for lack of solid evidence. But if the legal system won’t punish the murderer, Saori’s friends, family, and fiancé are more than willing to step up, and an immensely complex scheme is created to do away with the man. As the story unfolds, we are privy to the same information Kusanagi has, keeping the reader in an ongoing state of anxiety. But the real fun in this book is the return of Detective Galileo, last seen in the first book in the series, The Devotion of Suspect X. Physics professor by day, police consultant by night, Galileo enters near the book’s conclusion to upend everything we have come to believe, creating a new narrative that is oh so very satisfying
Right on the heels of the first book in the series, It Takes Two to Mango, ex-New Yorker Plum Lockhart is trying to make a go of life on the Caribbean island of Paraiso. Having set up her own agency to rent vacation homes, she’s struggling to succeed, when she gets a call from Gerald, a former publishing buddy in New York. He wants her to look after an heiress, Arielle, his boss’s daughter, who’s vacationing on the island and gotten into a scrape with the law. Plum doesn’t have a choice, as she owes Gerald for a major profile he published about her new company. But just 24 hours after she saves Arielle—who’s accused of stealing from other guests—the poor little rich girl is found murdered. There’s a lot for readers to appreciate here, from a wonderful cast including a Keith Richards-like rock star, a reclusive billionaire, and a couple of B-list celebrities to Plum’s in-your-face, confrontative, New York City style. Add a budding romance with the dishy Juan Kevin Munoz, head of security at the nearby resort, and you have a series that cozy readers will want to return to again and again.
Some books you read for plot. Others for setting. But this dazzling debut is all about voice, specifically that of Ruby Simon, lovable murderer. The book opens with 30-year-old Ruby at the Miami Beach Police Department, being interrogated about the recent death of her husband Jason—the one murder she isn’t responsible for—as well as three earlier deaths she did commit, but got away with. “Four is beyond a pattern. Four is beyond bad luck or coincidence. Four means I’m at the center of it all, these deaths orbiting around me like the planets around the sun.” Ruby takes us back to her first murder at five years old, when she drowned another little kid, her teen years in Miami Beach (one more murder), college at Yale, then back to Miami for graduate school in psychiatry (another one bites the dust), and finally Jason’s accidental demise. It’s tempting to think Ruby is a sociopath, but no, she experiences a full range of emotions, from empathy to regret and from compassion to sympathy. It’s the rare book that has you rooting for a multiple murderer, but that’s just part of screenwriter Rothchild’s magic. The most engaging novel I’ve read yet this year.
The third in the series featuring the former detective Daniel Hawthorne and his sidekick, Anthony Horowitz—yes, he’s written himself into the series—sees our duo heading off to a literary festival on Alderney, the northernmost of the Channel Islands off England’s south coast. Joined by a best-selling children’s writer, a well-known chef who’s now a cookbook author, a psychic, a French poet, and more, they expect a weekend of literary chit-chat and bookselling. But the residents of Alderney are up in arms over a power line that will cross the island, threatening to wreak havoc. Things have reached such a pitch that the island’s leading citizen, a proponent of the power line, is found murdered, and the island is locked down. Inevitably, Hawthorne and Horowitz are drawn into the case. From the array of characters to the relationship between Hawthorne and Horowitz, from the many riddles and clues to the denouement, this novel is sure to delight fans of the traditional mystery, especially lovers of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.
Avery Chambers is one wonderful narrator. A therapist who has developed a controversial methodology that promises to cure clients in just 10 sessions—and who has lost her license because of it—she’s selective in whom she takes on. But Marissa and Mathew Bishop, well-heeled and in their late 30s, are a quick yes. Marissa has cheated on her husband and is hoping that Avery can help patch things up. But that singular betrayal unlocks one secret after another, and the creepiness factor gets stronger and stronger, until we reach that sweet spot where we don’t know whom to believe or whom to fear. Unlike most domestic thrillers, Greer and Pekkanen’s work summons a wide range of suspects, all with their own nasty secrets. Fortunately, we have Avery, who guides us through the narrative and sub-narratives, and despite her wacko practice, lends the novel a great deal of credibility. This is the best book yet from the Hendricks/Pekkanen duo, and fans of B. A. Paris, Gillian Flynn, and Paula Hawkins are sure to devour it.
At a time when Hollywood stars are bribing the way for their offspring to attend prestigious colleges, the over-the-top antics of teachers, parents, and students at the elite Belmont Academy are nearly credible. While told from multiple points of view, the novel centers around the deeply disturbed Teddy Crutcher, Belmont’s reigning teacher of the year, and Zach, the only reliable narrator, whose straight-A record is in jeopardy thanks to Crutcher. Harkening back to mysteries of the Golden Age, the Belmont community’s weapon of choice is poison—successful, providing it reaches the right recipient. There’s lots to appreciate in this absolutely delicious book, and Zach’s painful conversations with his arrogant, self-obsessed, and Ivy-focused parents are a tour de force. Teen readers suffering through the admissions process will also enjoy this novel. By the author of the much appreciated My Lovely Wife.
Here’s a conundrum. Series readers love returning to the familiar: the nosy next-door neighbor, the long-term fiancé, the super intelligent dachshund, and, above all else, our detective. At the same time, readers expect the newest book to shake things up, presenting our hero with changes and challenges. Authors looking to pull this off would do well to consult Jane Austen’s Lost Letters—the 14th book in the Josie Prescott series—a textbook on how to balance the old and the new. Josie, an extremely successful antiques dealer, meets an elegant older woman who presents her with a box, then disappears. The box, from Josie’s father, dead these twenty years, contains two of Jane Austen’s letters. The missives set off a series of events that pulls us into the worlds of academia, rare manuscripts, television production, historical-autograph authentication, and Josie’s relationship with her dad. At a point, the book shifts, and Josie is no longer just investigating, she’s fighting for her life. A traditional mystery with a soupçon of the thriller, this book will appeal to a large swath of mystery readers. And despite the many previous volumes, it works beautifully as a stand-alone
Molly Gray struggles to decipher social cues. Her speech is formal and old-fashioned. She’s obsessed with cleaning—a real advantage in her job as a maid in a grand old hotel. Gran, who always helped her navigate the world, recently died, leaving 25-year-old Molly an orphan. Readers may be quick to diagnose Molly as being on the autism spectrum, but Prose wisely avoids such language, forcing us to make sense of Molly on her own terms. Then comes the day when the maid goes to clean the room of the wealthy and loathsome Charles Black, only to find him dead, likely the victim of murder. Molly’s world is turned upside down as she finds herself the lead suspect. Suddenly, she has to do the unthinkable: reach out to others for help in saving herself. The Maid is a lovely, uplifting exploration of friendship and the power of difference. As Gran would say, “We are the same in different ways.”
A midsize Catskill resort in the 1950s provides a rich setting for Delany’s latest series. Elizabeth Grady manages the resort, while her mother, Olivia—a retired theater and film star who inherited the venue—loafs about, deigning to occasionally show up at cocktail hour to dazzle the guests. Keeping the Haggerman’s Resort profitable is serious work, and Grady doesn’t think things can get any busier, when the body of one of the guests—loner Harold Westenham, a former college professor—is found floating in the lake. If that doesn’t cause enough of a ruckus, the police find a copy of The Communist Manifesto in Westenham’s cabin, bringing in the FBI and fueling a red scare among the guests. Faced with a hostile police force, Grady ends up taking on the investigation herself. While the detective work is low-key, and the resolution falls pretty much in Elizabeth’s lap, the real pleasures of this book lie in its setting, period, and characters, all of which are wonderfully realized. Cozy readers will be happy to return to Haggerman’s Catskill Resort any time.