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Review

Review

The Potting Shed Murder

by Brian Kenney

Might this book be a cozy mystery? Let’s run it through my cozy-meter and find out. One, do we have much empathy for the lead character? Absolutely. Daphne Brewster, a Black woman—in fact, the only person of color as far as the eye can see—has moved her husband and family out of south London to a Norfolk town called Pudding Corner to escape urban woes. She’s become so successful at selling antiques that she’s now known as the vintage lady. Still, it turns out that things are as complex in Pudding as they are in London. Two, isn’t the book too slow? No. If you want faster, go find James Patterson. The characters in this town are so absolutely delightful as they roam about the town that I would happily spend another day or two with them. Again, the name: Pudding Corner. Might that be a hint as to what we can expect? Three, is it sexy and violent? Much more yearning than sexy. And if there had been any sex, it was years ago. As to the violence, it is offstage, involving a corpse that keels over in his allotment patch—a little garden the size of a postage stamp where Brits go and plant rutabaga on the weekends. Four, is this book a stand-alone? We hope that the publisher is sensible and Ms. Sutton will be back to delight us again with Daphne and Book Two.

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Review

The Backwater

by Henrietta Thornton

Sabine Kelly has been on the run for years. As a teen she was accused of arson that killed nine people, including her mother and sister. The Sabine whom readers meet seems hardened by her years on the road—or rather, on the river, hiding as she does in a houseboat on the same rural Australia waterway she grew up by, with her drug-addicted mother and a sister she had to parent. But she doesn’t seem capable of the crime she’s running from. Instead, she seems scarred by it and desperate for the truth to come out, but powerless to make that happen. Enter Rachel Weidermann, a journalist who lives next to Sabine’s grandfather, a complicated character called Pop. She’s been obsessed for years with getting Sabine’s story, and when she sees the fugitive visiting Pop, she is excited to both get answers and save her fading career. Following the women, as Sabine learns to trust someone and Rachel to let things unfold imprecisely, offers both an engrossing journalism procedural tale and a look at what can happen when goodness meets desperation. Setting is as prominent as characterization and plot here, with all combining to create a memorable tale of redemption.

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Review

The Betrayal of Thomas True

by Brian Kenney

It is 1715, and young Thomas True has managed to escape from his parent’s home, arriving in London, where he takes up residence with his uncle, a candlemaker to whom he becomes apprenticed. But that’s hardly the story. Eighteenth-century London was home to a flourishing, if risky, gay subculture, a world that seduces Thomas and that was centered around the molly houses. “Molly was a slur used for effeminate, homosexual men and the term was adopted to describe the clubs, taverns…where they met up in secret”, according to The British Newspaper Archives. And although the houses were called mollies, they attracted a range of men, from workers to aristocrats. It was a world where Thomas felt a sense of belonging, made all the more immediate with his discovery of beefy carpenter Gabriel Griffin (AKA Lotty), the doorman at Mother Clap’s Molly House. But when a young molly is found murdered, Gabriel goes in search of the rat who is exposing the men to the judicial system. Could it be someone he is close to? This book is that rare thing: both a strong historical novel that drops you into a richly rendered early 18th century and a powerful mystery that remains at the center of the book.

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Review

Welcome to Murder Week

by Brian Kenney

An utterly heartfelt, entertaining, and beguiling sophomore effort from Dukess, author of The Last Book Party (2019). Cath is finally going through the possessions of her recently deceased mother. Cath was raised by her grandmother, and her relationship with her hippy mom consisted of intermittent and impulsive visits throughout her Buffalo childhood, with mom disappearing nearly as fast as she would arrive. So it’s a shock when Cath finds among her mother’s possessions the tickets for “murder week,” in which a quaint British town is staging a fake murder to bolster tourism, with all the locals taking on a role. But even more remarkable is that Cath’s mother—who as far as Cath knows never left the U.S.—planned for them to go together. What was she thinking? Nevertheless, Cath can’t quite shake the idea of murder week, and in several weeks time, she finds herself in England’s Peak District, sharing a cottage with Wyatt, who back in the States works in his husband’s birding store, and Amity, a divorced romance novelist who is suffering from writer’s block. Dukess deftly handles multiple narratives: the search for clues to the hamlet’s fake murder; the unearthing of shocking revelations about Cath’s family; and a slow-moving, present-day romance. A joy for Anglophiles and chock-a-block full of humor, this coziest of cozies will delight fans of Vera Wong, Finlay Donovan, and The Thursday Murder Club.

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Review

One Sharp Stitch

by Danise Hoover

Shelby is returning home, not by choice. Her career managing a graphic-arts company is over as the company was sold, taking with it her hopes for romance with her boss. She’s had a pretty soft landing, though. Her parents are taking a month-long road trip, leaving her to manage the family needlework shop with the free apartment above. Why isn’t she happier? She feels the judgment of nearly everyone around her, from her practically perfect older sister to her old high school mate Kat who has been vying to take over the shop herself. Kat runs her own business, sharpening knives and scissors and designing and selling needlepoint canvases and high-end scissors. The first weekend that Shelby will be in charge, the shop will hold a trunk show of Kat’s merchandise. When Kat doesn’t show up to help prepare, Shelby goes looking for her, finding her in her mobile sharpening van with a knife in her chest. The police and all others rule this a terrible accident, but not our Shelby. Her unauthorized sleuthing isn’t the only tension in the story. She needs to run the business, maintain the proper position in the community and deal with her sister’s tacit criticism of whatever she does. To assist her, Shelby starts building a community of needlepointers of her own age group, men included, and of course adopts a stray cat. The charming town, Shelby’s renewed love of needlework, and her growing group of friends will have readers eagerly awaiting the next installment. Just as many cozy mysteries include recipes, this one ends with needlepoint patterns.

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Review

Kills Well with Others

by Henrietta Thornton

They’re back! The trained assassins readers first met and loved in Killers of a Certain Age (2022) are on another mission, but things are odd this time. The group of women, which resembles nothing so much as a book club that’s enjoying itself a bit too much, is summoned to a new job, but given tickets for coach airfare…decidedly not the style they’re accustomed to. The usual impeccable preparedness is lacking in other ways, too—no backup murder weapon provided? What is this?—and things go completely off the rails—pun intended, as the worldwide escapades after looted art and to flee revenge end up with the women on a lethal train journey through Montenegro. The Bond-type exploits are exciting and the art-history details absorbing, but as in the previous book, it’s the realistic friendships and love—including same-sex romance—that will keep readers wanting more from Raybourn. An invigorating read that will lift readers’ spirits.

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Review

When the Moon Hits Your Eye

by Jeff Ayers

A strange discovery in an Air and Space Museum makes the scientists in Scalzi’s (Starter Villian, 2023) latest think a theft has occurred: a moonrock on exhibit is switched with something that appears soft and squishy. When scientists and astronomers realize the moon has somehow grown in size, but the mass is the same, the truth dawns on them. The moon itself is no longer made of rock, but of cheese. Scalzi takes this absurd scenario and showcases the various related people and occupations to highlight how a cheese moon would affect the world. Scientists can’t explain it. Conspiracy theorists see this as proof that man never landed on the moon. Astronauts scheduled for a lunar landing must now scrap their plans, and even cheese-shop owners have their hands full, given the increased interest in their products. Factor in global complications with possible changing tidal patterns and the religious aspects with questioning if God somehow made this happen, and, no surprise, chaos reigns. If you are ever curious whether drowning by cheese is worse than drowning by molasses, this book is perfect. Scalzi’s trademark humor and a genuinely baffling puzzle keep the pages turning. This fun, engaging read is perfect for these tumultuous times.

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Review

Glitter in the Dark

by Danise Hoover

We are taken back to the roaring ’20s, to speakeasys and the Ziegfeld Follies, in this gritty noir with Ginny Dugan as our main character and sleuth. She and her dancer sister have come to New York from Kansas. Dottie, the sister, dances for the Follies, and is engaged to Charlie, a financial guy from home; Ginny writes an advice column for Photoplay, though keeps angling for real, hard-nosed reporting. Ginny is out partying at a speakeasy when she’s a witness to the kidnapping of Josephine, a headliner who is Black, but her story is not believed. People are dying of heart attacks in Harlem dance clubs, and dancers are reporting ghosts in the dressing rooms of the Follies, young women who have been murdered. There are drug stashes and secret crime bosses. Ginny partners with Jack, a detective, but it is Gloria, a Follies star, who calls to her heart. The level and complexity of the crime speaks to a mastermind: the Eagle, whose identity is unknown until the end. This debut turns back the clock with authentic detail and sharply drawn characters and a strong sense of violence and lawlessness. A challenging book.

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Review

A Fashionably French Murder

by Brian Kenney

Expat Tabitha King—formerly of suburban Detroit—is living, as the kids would say, her best life. She’s upped and moved to post-war Paris—she’s bilingual thanks to her mother and French grandmother—and this third, and best, in the mesmerizing “American in Paris” series finds Tabitha hanging out with her chum Julia Child, from whom she picks up some much-needed cooking tips. She’s also settling disputes between her Grand-père and his partner, Oncle Rafe (they are reopening a restaurant, thus the agida) and dipping her toe in the heady world of haute couture, with Christian Dior, who makes a cameo appearance, leading the way with his “New Look.” But when Tabitha discovers a body in one of the exclusive fashion ateliers, all the frothy fun comes to a halt, or at least a sputter, as Tabitha, with the sometime help of the all-too-handsome Inspecteur Merveille, throws herself into the search for the murderer. It’s a search that takes Tabitha back to Paris during the Occupation and the work of the Resistance against the Nazis and the French Vichy government, as well as those whose role was less clearly defined. Rich in history, full of the value of friendship and family, and with a very, very slow-growing romance (we want more, Colleen!) this is certain to be one of the best mysteries of 2025.

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Review

Parents Weekend

by Jeff Ayers

Santa Clara University hosts an annual Parents Weekend for students’ families. In Finlay’s latest thriller, he showcases five families with baggage, from students hiding secrets to their parents with facades created to ignore reality. This generational mess creates a drama school larger than anything New York or Los Angeles universities have ever seen, with dysfunction ruling the day. The parents and youngsters are supposed to attend a dinner event together, but only the adults show up. Numerous calls and texts to the kids go unanswered, and the worries grow. An accidental drowning of a student a couple of days earlier may hold the key. FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller arrives to find answers. Keller was seen in Finlay’s earlier novels Every Last Fear and The Night Shift, and fans will be thrilled to see her again, while newcomers will fall in love with her. As Keller talks to the parents of the missing students, she begins to uncover the truth of what each family wants to avoid. Finlay tells the story from the parents’ perspective, occasionally peering into the five missing students’ lives without revealing too much. He crafts a genuine page-turner with a cast of flawed and realistic human characters. Plan a weekend to devour this terrific thriller.

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