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Review

The Sister’s Curse

by Henrietta Thornton

In Solvinic’s debut, The Hunter’s Daughter, readers met Detective Anna Koray, daughter of a forest-god worshipping serial killer, who was in therapy to bring back childhood memories (this latest book can stand alone, but it’s worth going back to the first to get to know Anna better). She’s still an expert at her father’s curriculum—wilderness tracking—a skill that comes into play when there is new upheaval in the area, starting with the near-drowning of a boy who’s rescued by Anna. She suspects that the almost-tragic event may not have been an accident, and the investigation brings in the long-cold crime of a local woman who disappeared 25 years before and wrongdoings of the town’s rich thugs, all tinged with supernatural elements. In the meantime, Anna’s continuing her relationship with a young, devoted ER doctor who has problems of his own. Anna is a complex character with a well-hidden dark side that, combined with her steadfast kindness and smarts, will keep readers rooting for her to come out on top. For fans of wilderness thrillers and all who enjoy a thrilling police procedural.

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Review

Hole in the Sky

by Jeff Ayers

An astrophysicist, Dr. Mikayla Johnson, uncovers evidence from the Voyager spacecrafts that an enormous object of some type will crash into Earth. Jim Hardgray lives in Oklahoma, and his estranged teenage daughter is visiting. No matter what he does to try to make amends, it only makes her angrier. The possible meteor’s trajectory that Johnson discovered leads directly to Hardgray’s backyard. When others in the scientific community and government realize that what’s coming is actually a vessel, it provides the world with an opportunity for first contact with an alien species. But when a communication with the object produces a sound like screaming demons scratching long nails on a chalkboard, it quickly becomes evident that what is about to crash is beyond human understanding. Real-life theoretical physicist Michio Kaku once compared mankind meeting beings from another world to humans trying to teach ants about the internet—it’s impossible to comprehend a species so truly unlike anything we have ever imagined. Wilson combines the best classic alien films, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Arrival, with the glue that holds even dysfunctional families together, the strength of love and heritage. Readers will not think about our place in the cosmos the same way again.

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Review

The Second Son

by Jeff Ayers

Chase Burke works as a sommelier for a restaurant in New York’s Chrysler Building and has put his military life behind him. He’s about to ask out a pretty government official, Tanya, who is visiting him on the job, when armed men attack, and she seems to be their target. Chase kills some of the men, but Tanya is hurt. Detective James Campbell and his partner, Detective Alice Doyle, are assigned the case and are told to work closely with Federal authorities. They soon determine that Chase has a lot of skeletons in his closet, and he immediately becomes the prime suspect. Chase realizes he must uncover the truth if he’s not going to rot in jail for the rest of his life, but digging for answers puts him in the crosshairs of a secret group of killers that thinks he knows too much. Whom can he trust while his face is plastered all over every news channel? From the opening page to the last, this book is a relentless force of non-stop action and thrills. Gervais and Steck write great books and have crafted a stellar story together. Comparisons to Mark Greaney and Jack Carr are warranted, but this first in a series might be even better. The next one cannot come fast enough.

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Review

Everyone in the Group Chat Dies

by Brian Kenney

This is one of those binary books. As darkly funny as it’s poignant and moving. Light and cozy, except when it’s suspenseful and horrifying. In short, there’s a whole lot going on, yet Chilton, author of the delightful Swiped, succeeds in keeping it all afloat. Kirby Cornell, a failed Nepo Baby, lives in the bleak town of Crowhust in an even bleaker apartment with a gaggle of roommates. It takes a desperate message to their old group chat to get Kirby and her chums to put down the beer. But the message isn’t what’s so scary. It’s that the message comes from Esme, an ex-roommate who died a year ago. Creepy, no? The novel moves between a year ago and the present day, with plenty of Crowhurst, including the local “fayre,” in between. Because it turns out that Crowhurst was the killing ground of a terrifying serial killer who was active in the 1980s, may have never been fully identified, and who provides Kirby and chums with plenty of speculation. A fast-moving, clever thriller that uses social media to keep the narrative thriving. Teens and twenty-somethings should love this.

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Review

Revenge, Served Royal

by Henrietta Thornton

I confess, I don’t know where to start this review, there’s so much to the novel that will draw in readers. Should I mention that Regency era-set novels are usually romances, so a mystery that unfolds in the era is a particular treat? Or maybe that the main character, Lady Petra—in her third series outing here—wears lock picks and a dagger beneath her gowns? (Feisty!) How about the baking competition that will attract lovers of The Great British Bake Off and cozies featuring baking? Well, I’m still no closer to an answer, but I will say that readers should pick this up and be ready for delicious treachery, lies, and scandal when everyone who’s anyone in Regency Britain descends on Windsor Castle. They’re excited for a week of diversion that includes a competition to decide the best cook in any aristocratic house in the kingdom. Lady Petra’s stint as a judge is interrupted by the murder of one of the other judges and the sleuthing is on. Try Connally’s previous works in the series (All’s Fair in Love and Treachery; Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord) while waiting for this one.

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Review

The Intruder

by Henrietta Thornton

Casey just wanted a quiet life in the New Hampshire woods. That’s mostly what she’s got, despite the neighbor that seems a bit off and the icky landlord whose suggestive comments she could do without. When a massive storm bears down, her cabin’s failing roof is a worry but turns out to be the least of her problems. Then she sees someone outside. It’s a teenage girl who’s been hiding in the garden shed, and when Casey tries to help her, Casey soon becomes captive in her own home while the storm rages. The girl, who seems enraged at Casey for reasons that are a mystery to readers and the hapless captive alike, is ready to make this night a violent one. Alternating with that story is the tale of Ella, a girl who lives with her abusive, hoarder mother, and her desperation to escape that life and the bullying at school. McFadden brings her usual tight plotting and twists to this massively absorbing work of psychological terror, which will be a winner with her fans and all who enjoy a tense, character-driven read.

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Review

How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder

by Willy Williams

“The Ayyars dipped into our lives like a tea bag into the whiteness of a porcelain cup. They muddied the water and made our house feel small….” In the summer of 1986, tween narrator Georgie Ayyar Creel; her sister, Agatha Krishna; and their amma (mother) welcome newly arrived relatives from India to their cramped home in rural Wyoming. Moving into Agatha Krishna’s bedroom are Vinny Uncle, Amma’s beloved but useless younger brother, whom she has not seen in 14 years since marrying geologist Richard Creel; Auntie Devi, Vinny’s bossy wife; and their son, Narayan. Tensions quickly arise, and so does the sexual abuse when their uncle targets Agatha and then Georgie: “Vinny Uncle made us shadow people.” Forced into silence by their abuser, the sisters decide he must die. The accidental death of a cat provides the murder weapon and sets the siblings’ deadly plot into motion. This highly original debut novel by the author of the award-winning short story collection Cowboys and East Indians is a darkly funny coming-of-age tale with a touch of murder and a haunting twist. Celebrating girlhood and sisterhood in the 1980s, it’s also a touching portrait of Indian-American teens, caught between cultures, in the American West.

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Review

Sugar and Spite

by Brian Kenney

Fortunately for M.C. Beaton (aka Marian Chesney) fans, this sixth Agatha Raisin novel created since Beaton’s demise, and written by R. W. Greenby, provides all the fun they are looking for. Mrs. Bloxby, the Vicar’s wife, convinces Agatha to attend a lecture by the Carsely Ladies Society to be delivered by three bird watchers (they call themselves twitchers). Agatha expects a dull evening but it turns out to be quite the opposite as a local farmer breaks up the lecture and threatens the women for trespassing on his land, and then the trio of twitchers ends up having a full-on war among one another. The next day, Agatha learns that one of the women has been discovered dead, and the rather dumb police chief insists it isn’t murder. So off we go, as Agatha takes up the search for the murderer, using the staff of her detective agency, friends, and inside knowledge from the police themselves. A pleasure, but brace yourself for a very surprising ending.

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Review

What about the Bodies?

by Henrietta Thornton

Their messiness portrayed with cringe-inducing accuracy, hapless characters strive to survive what life throws at them—and it’s a lot—in Edgar-nominated Jaworowski’s latest. Reed, a young man who’s autistic, has just lost the person at the center of his life. He wants to do the right thing, and…kind of…wants to do what his brother, who is his guardian, asks, but surely a little excursion to keep a promise won’t hurt anyone. Then there’s Billy, another resident of Locksburg, PA, who needs his single-mother’s help to hide one of the bodies of the title. It’s not a fresh body, leading to some gruesome scenes but mostly to edge-of-your-seat moments as the two struggle to stop their lives from sliding even deeper into darkness. Trying to escape the town is Liz, a musician who’s taken up with a local bad boy who, you guessed it, gets both of them into trouble just as she’s on the brink of getting out. These all-too-realistic lives collide in a memorably character-driven story whose dialog—especially that of Liz—will make readers laugh even as they despair that anything can ever go right in Locksburg. Plenty of readers love a small-town thriller and this one’s just the ticket.

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Review

The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer

by Brian Kenney

Considering the title, you could be forgiven for thinking this is a frothy, fun-filled mystery akin to Only Murders in the Building. And while there is some droll humor here, this book also tackles serious social issues, including domestic violence and a murder that reverberates through the decades. The plot is both simple (Elín S. Jónsdóttir, a famous, older, mystery writer disappears) and complex (she has many friends who would be willing to help her vanish). But what’s the motive? That question lies in the hands of young detective Helgi Reykdal, who should be familiar to many readers from Jónasson’s Death at the Sanatorium. The two books share much in common, including multiple timelines and a rapid pace that keeps the readers on their toes. As the onion gets peeled, and the pieces start to fall apart, the book becomes increasingly transparent. Exhilarating and gripping; fans of Agatha Christie and Nordic Noir will find much to enjoy here.

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