Category:

Review

Review

Murder Most Delicious

by Henrietta Thornton

Someone with no taste seems like the last person who would enjoy Paris, but Olivia Beech has a good reason for a trip. She’s a master sommelier—a highly expert wine taster—whose sense of taste has been destroyed by COVID. Before this catastrophe, she was a rising star in the wine world, and, trying to maintain her New York Michelin-star-restaurant career using only her sense of smell and the help of a trusted coworker, she has kept her malady secret. But the problem was revealed and Olivia was humiliated, and now she’s trying for a job at a Paris bistro. There’s only one problem: her arrival sees the poisoning death of the chef who might hire her, and she’s the main suspect. Thus starts a delightful mystery set in a cozy Paris neighborhood that houses friends for decades. They have formed a quirky neighborhood watch and are determined to find the killer, bringing Olivia into their kindly fold. The clever storytelling and vibrant language that Postel-Vinay brings to the books that she writes as Danielle Trussoni are here on clear display, along with intriguing glimpses of the high-end wine and perfume worlds. Lovers of European-trip books and friends solving mysteries à la Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club will especially enjoy this whodunit.—Henrietta Thornton

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Children of the Savage City

by Willy Williams

“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.” Those classic lines spoken by Michael Corleone in The Godfather, Part III are a running theme in Heider’s terrific follow-up to her acclaimed debut, May the Wolf Die. Shaken by the traumatic events of the previous book, Nikki Serafino, a liaison between the Italian police and the U.S. military stationed in Naples, is lying low, teaching a self-defense class, when she’s rescued from a shakedown and mugging by Benedetto De Rosa. He is the right-hand man of Tito Calandra, Nikki’s childhood friend who has become a powerful figure in the city’s underworld. Not wishing to be drawn back into that world, Nikki refuses De Rosa’s request for a favor. But it’s not so easy to disconnect from the corrupt il Sistema (the System) of organized crime that is so much a part of Neapolitan life, as Nikki discovers when she agrees to help undercover cop Valerio Alfieri (who has his own issues with the Comorra) investigate a murder. The victim is a young nanny at the historic Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo, with the crime witnessed by Valerio’s mother and the daughter of the U.S. ambassador. Once again, Heider brings the beautiful and complicated city of Naples to life in all its elegant and squalid splendor while telling an exciting, dark, and violent tale with a high body count. Readers will eagerly await Nikki’s next quest for justice.—Willy Williams

 

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

A Will to Kill

by Danise Hoover

Book of the Week January 29, 2026

In a classically framed and styled mystery set in India rather than the English countryside of classic novels past, readers start off with our wealthy head of family, Bhaskar Fernandez. He’s so sure that someone is trying to kill him he has written two wills: one if he dies of natural causes, the other if under suspicious circumstances. Athreya, famed solver of crimes, has been invited to the country house to be charged with the task of solving the murder should it occur.  As the family is all gathered, there is a landslide that traps all within the compound and thick pea-soup fog that heightens confusion and adds to the intrigue. Confusion and intrigue are the least of it, though, and while murder does occur, it is not what or who was expected. In a lovely throwback to tradition, the book includes area maps and floorplans, and our investigator sorts things as methodically as Poirot might have. This is charming, character driven, and great fun to read.—Danise Hoover 

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

The Body in the Kitchen Garden

by Brian Kenney

Pudding Corner in the quaint parish of Pepperbridge. The name says it all, doesn’t it? The sleepy village, a bit twee. The regular offerings of teacakes or fruitcakes. The sharing of what can only be described as gossip, and quite excellent gossip at that. But then there is the shocking smell of smoke, seemingly coming from the gardens of the very grand Darlington Hall. Could it be a fire, set off by the homeless man who had taken up residence on the property, Daphne wonders? Yes, indeed! Closer inspection by Daphne—an antiques dealer helping to renovate the Hall—reveals the horrible end the man experienced, burnt to death in the Hall’s gardens. But as traumatizing as this incident might be, it does not stop Daphne from trying to determine who the man was and why he was murdered. Suffice it to say that Daphne is like some heat-seeking missile—kids, husband, even friends are pretty much moved aside while the search is on. “These villages had been the silent witnesses to secrets both harmless and grim, they had been the background of love trysts and betrayals, of an abundance of happiness and the stage set for a deluge of tears and hidden mystery.” Readers who appreciate S. J. Bennett, Janice Hallett, or Anthony Horowitz will be delighted by Sutton’s latest.—Brian Kenney

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

The Paris Files

by Brian Kenney

“Slow burn” has become quite the cliche, but sometimes it’s all too accurate in describing fiction consisting of passionate, romantic narratives; the layering of tension between characters; and letting protagonists develop at their own pace. Forty-year-old Genie St. Onge has lived through several heartbreaks, but her affair with thirty-year-old Jacob Ford gives her a renewed feeling of confidence. One American, the other Canadian, they met in Asia and parted with the intent to meet up in Paris’s 11 arrondissement. And to both of their delight, they each actually show up. Days are filled with dining out, seeking pastries, and making love…until one morning Genie wakes up to find Jacob gone, and concern about his absence grows from anxiety to near hysteria, with the search extending for days. Police interviews, interviews with neighbors, and conversations with friends back home all barely scratch the surface. When Jacob’s corpse is finally discovered, his story makes little sense and the truth remains on the verge. Who killed Jacob Ford?—Brian Kenney

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

The Confession Artist

by Jeff Ayers

An unidentified sketch of a person’s face appears online with a message saying they have six days to confess or die. At the end of the week, someone who looks like the person in the sketch is murdered. When it happens a second time, the media dubs the killer “The Confession Artist.” The latest sketch looks an awful lot like cop-turned-PI Crosbie Mitchell, who lives and works in a small Montana town. The FBI believes it’s Mitchell, and if she’s being honest, Mitchell believes that too. But what secret does she have to confess, and how devastating is what she’s hiding?  While other people post confessions on social media, worrying it might be them, Mitchell tries to track down the killer before she’s forced to reveal all. Carbo brings Montana’s landscape and small-town dynamics to life in this gripping page-turner. The mystery of the sketches and whether or not it’s Mitchell in the latest one keeps the intrigue going up to the very end. This is a book you will want to confess to reading.—Jeff Ayers

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

A Disorganised Death

by Brian Kenney

Lively, sophisticated, and chock full of red herrings, this is the fifth in Brett’s decluttering novels featuring Ellen Curtis. She normally refuses to do house clearings, but in her current case, Ellen does take on a clearing job because the work is largely focused on locating a will that must be hidden somewhere in the family’s house. As with the earlier volumes in the series, the book features a small handful of returning characters, including Ellen’s daughter Jools, who now lives in London and is working, to great success, in her mothers decluttering company, while her artist son continues to struggle with mental illness. These family members and friends that pop in and out of the book provide a richness and a vitality that gives the novel real depth. Readers of Richard Osman, Jesse Q. Sutanto, Olivia Black, M. C. Beaton, and many more readers will be delighted.—Brian Kenney

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Blunt Instrument

by Danise Hoover

Disgraced and unemployable academic Dela, short for Delarobia, has taken over her uncle’s PI business. Her father, a grumpy academic who’s drifting into dementia, railroads her into solving a murder at a small college–a crime that’s two weeks old with no solution in sight from the local police. Oh, what a cast of characters is presented! Conniving academics, drunken faculty wives, smarmy college presidents, Dela’s aged and blind godfather (is he an asset or a complication?), to say nothing of the police force. Dela takes them all on, with an understanding of the situation that comes from her having experienced campus politics first hand, and from a deep, if jaded, comprehension of the human psyche. She doesn’t always see things clearly, but she is smart and dogged. The ending is not exactly just, and somewhat lumpy, but readers learn the truth. What sets this apart from most is that the author, a novice at mysteries, is an accomplished novelist who brings her talent to creating texture and nuance that is not usually found in even the finest genre fiction. Blunt Instrument is a pleasure to read.—Danise Hoover

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Harmless Women

by Henrietta Thornton

Book of the Week January 22, 2026

Avalon Dale is a nonchalant, accomplished hacker and thief. She has spent months tracking her latest wealthy target, Primrose, or Prim, Meath. She knows Prim and her husband, Ruben’s, online lives inside out: their conversations, their habits—including Ruben’s lurid affair—and especially their financial lives. She tempts them with lavish trips for ridiculously low prices, and when they take the bait and their home is empty, the game is on. But this time doesn’t go like Avalon’s other heists. She discovers a dead body at Prim’s home, upending the plan and setting Avalon on the run with none other than Prim herself. As they both fear being accused of murder, they’re forced into a tight though antagonistic partnership, one that as it’s pummeled by tough times on the run will lead readers to unexpectedly root for this thief and her new sidekick. It’s a treat to find such an absorbing thriller starring two women; adding to it is the feeling of ambiguousness as Sharpe’s cutting illustrations of each protagonist’s mental struggle—and that of a third woman lurking in the book’s background—leave the reader wondering who the victim is here, if anyone.—Henrietta Thornton

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Thirty Feet Under: A Mystery

by Willy Williams

When an ancient marble sphinx is stolen from a small museum in Italy, the Carabinieri enlist the assistance of the FBI Art Squad in recovering the piece, which may have been smuggled into the United States. Lowly agent Kate Taylor, who has spent the last three years doing dull computer and filing work, is thrilled to be finally assigned to a real case, especially since she’ll be partnering (although via Zoom) with her Italian counterpart, the gorgeous Luca. Meanwhile, failed New York art dealer Paul Krugman has resigned himself to working for his dollar-store-tycoon father until he receives an intriguing call from his British dealer friend, Harry, that will change his life. Both Kate and Paul gradually find themselves involved with an international art-smuggling ring and the lost tomb of Alexander the Great. Ignore the publisher’s blurb; this debut mystery, which was a finalist for the 2024 Crime Writers of Canada Best Unpublished Crime Manuscript, is not the next Dan Brown thriller, and that is a good thing. Wodhams writes with more style and humor than the plodding Brown, and his characters, despite their sometimes irritating and foolish actions, have more appeal than the preachy Robert Langdon. Although the ending feels rushed and a few geographical errors raised this New Yorker’s eyebrows (the 9 subway train was discontinued in 2005), this promising thriller offers an entertaining and insightful look at morally ambiguous art-world trading in looted artifacts. (The book’s title refers to the depth at which significant archaeological findings have often been uncovered).—Willy Williams

Add Pub Date to my Calendar
0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail