It takes a lot of guts to write a book based on one of America’s most beloved novels, one that’s the inspiration for several major films and is assigned reading in high schools across the country: Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. But Wheeler successfully takes the original setting, Jay Gatsby’s mansion in West Egg during the summer, and the same cast of characters (Gatsby, Daisy and Tom Buchanan, Nick Carraway, Jordan Baker) and shifts the narrative into a work of crime fiction. The biggest surprise is the arrival of Greta Gatsby, Jay’s much younger sister. Greta is finally done with finishing schools, has moved into Jay’s mansion, and is ready to take on the world. But the suicide—or was it murder?—of one of the leading characters, and the response of most of the residents (one more Gimlet, please?) inspires Greta to become a sleuth, if no one else will. Greta’s new role is hardly acceptable for a young lady, but she just barrels through the criticism, investigating the household staff, the cops, even Gatsby’s guests. A fresh and exciting take on America during the roaring ‘20s, with feminism and class tensions taking center stage, and sure to be a pleasure for readers who enjoy historical mysteries. It would be a delight to have Greta return in all her nosy glory
Cozy
Irish step dance can kill in the first of what is hopefully many books in this series. Single mom to two young girls and the daughter of a police chief, Kate Buckley receives an urgent text from her sister, Colleen. She packs up and drives to Shamrock, Massachusetts to learn what is wrong. Upon their arrival, Colleen tells her it’s no big deal, but Kate knows otherwise. Stumbling upon the body of Colleen’s best friend, Deirdre, unveils family secrets and hidden motives from people Kate thought she knew. This cozy is perfect as Mathews creates a visual world of great characters and setting, ex-loves, pets, and Irish step dance. She also adds a dose of domestic suspense, but it doesn’t have too much of a psychological bent, keeping the book in cozy territory. With more surprises than usual, this is a step above much of this genre. Readers will be eager for book two; let’s hope it won’t take too long.
For glitz, drama, and mystery, there’s no better setting than a fancy hotel, and it doesn’t come fancier than London’s Savoy. It’s the swinging ‘60s in the late Emery’s (Death at the Savoy, Scandal at the Savoy) last book, her third starring a quiet champion of the hotel’s steely reputation, press officer Priscilla Tempest. (Emery was herself a press and public relations officer at the hotel.) The young Canadian is used to the casual sexism that is women’s lot in the era, but Europe’s classism is harder for her to take, and when two dueling cousins, Italian princes, arrive as guests, her patience is sorely tested. One of the princes fears he will be the subject of a story by “that blighter Percy Hoskins at the Evening Standard,” and stopping the muckraking story at the behest of her boss leads Priscilla into the lairs of London’s underworld gangsters and some decidedly upper-class ones, with England’s very way of life on the line. A fast-moving story whose initial frothy air is a clever mask on the serious stakes soon underway. Readers will want to go back to the first two books in the series, and after that can try Nita Prose’s hotel-set Maid series.
A classic “locked-mansion” mystery set on Michigan’s actual Mackinac Island, which in off-season has a population of a mere 500. And the only way to get on or off the island is by boat or chartered plane. Mimi—as curmudgeonly as she is humorous—is a well-established resident who’s invited to an opulent party cum auction by Jane Ireland, a super-rich neighbor (who’s dating her own son-in-law). Mimi decides to bring her granddaughter Addie, hoping to use the party as a way to mend their fractured relationship. Wouldn’t you know, a big storm blows in, effectively cutting off the partygoers from the rest of the population. Anxiety producing for sure, but when Jane is found dead—and she’s only the first victim—all hell breaks loose. Lots of the fun in this book is thanks to granddaughter Addie, a gamer who produced Murderscape, a hugely popular video game, while her fiancé claims to have done most of the work. See you in court, Mr. Wrong! Addie’s expertise helps solve many of the problems while moving the story along. Also, like a cloud hanging over the evening, is the blackmail threat that Jane sent to Mimi and that Mimi hasn’t shared with anyone. Does Jane’s murder invalidate the blackmail? Closed circles are hugely popular these days, but this title puts an unusual and playful spin on the proceedings.
Set in the rarefied atmosphere of a Cambridge college, this excellent mystery has Detective Chief Inspector Arthur St. Just interrogating a wide assortment of characters—from the college porters to art historians, from curators to super-rich American graduate students—all to discover who killed Sir Flyte Rascallian, the master of his college and a renowned art historian. Why kill Rascallian? Because, we are led to believe, he may have recently inherited a Rembrandt, unleashing no end of speculation. Excellent art mysteries are always rich in atmosphere and complex in plot, and Death and the Old Master does not disappoint, bringing the reader as far back as the Monument Men (and Women) who worked during World War II to recover and restore stolen cultural treasures. A sophisticated and effortless read that is one of Malliet’s very best.
Settle in for a truly wonderful read as Geneva Bay, Wisconsin prepares for the holidays. For pizza chef Delilah
O’Leary, and her crew, a glitzy Chrismukkah catering gig in one of the local mansions gets things started, but when Delilah’s family shows up out of the blue with their own set of hostilities and anxiety-producing behavior in tow, things take a decidedly unpleasant turn. And any hopes that the next day’s annual snow-sculpting championship will cheer everyone up—Delilah attends with now-boyfriend Detective Calvin Capone (yes, that Capone family)—are dashed when a corpse is found frozen in the ice. Quigley employs a large cast of characters, from the formerly incarcerated and now dishwasher “Rabbit” (where did he disappear to?) to Sonya, Delilah’s bestie who helps Delilah sort out her relationship with Capone, to Delilah’s grumpy sister Shea, who most definitely has something up her sleeve. The miracle is that we can follow each character with ease, their identities are so well drawn, while caring about each of them. Add to this a bucketful of red herrings sure to send readers in a dozen different directions. Fire up the pizza, cue Mariah Carey, and make sure the cat is comfortable: cozies just don’t get better than this.
It’s wonderful to be back in the graves of academe, especially when we are in the expert hands of Victoria Gilbert, series serialist (meaning she writes several series!). This book launches a new series, and it’s just a wee bit meta. Jen Dalton, mystery author and English professor, gets tangled in a real crime—the murder of a colleague—while, of course, writing her own mystery. If she doesn’t manage to solve the crime happening in real life, then one of her students, a talented writer in her own right, will likely be proclaimed guilty. Lucky for Jen, she has a gang ready to help her out—who needs the police?—from a cafeteria manager to a librarian to Zachary Flynn, the incredibly annoying campus shrink whom Jen can’t help but find attractive (it’s right out of Smart Women, Foolish Choices. Wonderfully paced, brimming with great characterization, and with a terrific lead in Jen, this novel will appeal to many mystery readers, from cozy lovers to those just seeking a good, traditional read.
“Lou” Thatcher runs a ghost-tour company in New Orleans, and it’s popular with both the residents and tourists. The tours are so in demand that Lou is contemplating hiring help to run two per night. Lou has the perfect resume for the job, since she can see ghosts. A competitor who consistently clashes with Lou, Adam Brandt, declares her a fraud and wants nothing more than to shut her down and steal her clients. When he’s found murdered, she’s not surprised, but that’s when her life turns upside down. The cute cop considers her the prime suspect, and the ghosts she can see are not very talkative. You would think that Adam would steer her in the right direction of the person responsible for killing him, but he didn’t see who it was, and he also thinks Lou is responsible. The backdrop of New Orleans shines in this fun and chaotic tale of Lou, her gift, and her efforts to prove her innocence without looking like she needs to be hospitalized for talking to folks who are “not there.” This reviewer is dead serious that this haunting and homicide is a terrific series start.
Are you one of the many fans of Molly the maid? Then you’ll love Prose’s latest work, a novella—this reader finished it on the flight from Boston to New York—centered on the holidays. Since Molly’s much-quoted grandmother has died, the holidays just haven’t been the same. This year, though, boyfriend Juan Manuel is determined to bring joy to Molly every day of Advent. But when a few shadows pass over Molly’s work life in the Regency Grand Hotel, she’s suddenly doubting Juan, love, and their future. What a perfect stocking stuffer!
Christmas and cozies just go together. And the setting of this particular cozy series, Sea Isle in rural Scotland, is even more perfect than most for a Christmas tale. The seaside town where American doctor Emilia McRoy has made her home celebrates in a big and inclusive way, with traditional Christian festivities rubbing elbows with celebrations like Viking Yule and the Swedish St. Lucia Day. This year, an internationally famous band with roots in the town is visiting, adding at first to the excitement and then to Emilia’s tradition of investigating killings in Sea Isle. Taking the criminal side of the investigation is the doctor’s nemesis/crush Constable Ewan McGregor. Their future possibilities are already happening in the burgeoning, and cute, relationship between Emilia’s assistant, Abigail, and Abigail’s love interest, Henry. The four have their work cut out for them as they pry into secrets in the band’s relationships while dodging the media in a town that wants to help but is naive to the dangers afoot. The great cozy setting is matched here by the lovable but flawed characters and the tricky whodunit element. Readers won’t see the ending coming and will be eager to get Connelly’s two earlier books in the series (An American in Scotland and Death at a Scottish Wedding, both published earlier this year) while they wait for this one.