Tag:

Mystery & Detective

Review

Turning the Page on Murder

by Danise Hoover

Bookstore-themed mysteries are cozies, right? Well, not this one. Bookseller Kate is in a complicated relationship with security-specialist Gary, who has taken a new job guarding a high-tech company run by an extremely secretive woman. Kate lives with her great-aunt Roselyn, who is losing herself to Alzheimer’s and no longer has a firm grasp on reality. Kate follows her aunt through the orchard late at night to the neighbor’s house, and finds her standing over the neighbor’s body with a knife in her hand. Gary arrives, as do the local police, and Kate cobbles together a false story that ends with her fingerprints on the knife. She is convinced that the only thing that will save her aunt is for her, Kate, to solve the murder. Car chases, cyber-crimes, hidden codes, and of course more blood follow in this bookstore mystery that, though we barely visit the store, sees a book plays a leading role in solving the knotty puzzle. Unexpected, fast paced, and somewhat confusing, this is hard to put down.—Danise Hoover

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Murder at the Hotel Orient

by Brian Kenney

It may claim to be set in contemporary Vienna, but this novel reverberates far more with hotels–and their staff—from years ago. Visitors arrive at the Hotel Orient for many reasons, but the most likely are to enjoy a sexual tryst, appreciate a real good dalliance of yore, or just to hide their secrets. Cameras, along with all technology newer since the lightbulb, are banned. And guests are expected to adopt an alias, whether for three hours or 30 days. At the center of the hotel is American Sterling Lockwood, the cool, queer concierge and “keeper of the secrets.” She is ready to make every visit memorable no matter what it takes, as is Fernando, her best friend and bellhop. But, shockingly, the unmanageable happens: a double murder is discovered one morning, a first in the Orient’s history. Without technology and with a ledger full of falsehoods there is no way to decipher who the victim was or where they were going. What can be determined is that Fernando and Sterling must become  detectives, if only to save their own skins.—Brian Kenney  

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

It Happened One Murder

by Dodie Ownes

Harriet is a mess. She has just been fired from her job at HUMANS magazine (think People, with more scandal) and is forced to skulk back to her suburban home from NYC. Not that it’s so bad there—her mother’s most recent marriage to George George (yes, that is his name) has elevated her living conditions to a beautiful beach home, and her hometown friends Steven and Maggie are there to console and support her. When her mother decides to throw a lavish party for Harriet’s 26th birthday, all seems to be going well until there’s an outburst in the kitchen—Mr. George confronts Sara, the head chef for All Bright Catering, about an off-tasting canape, and all hell breaks loose. Then Har lays eyes on Nic, Sara’s brother, and swoons. This is when all the fun starts! Nic has changed a lot since he and Harriet had a two-week shagging affair after high school, and she left him just as abruptly, but doesn’t seem to remember him. Then Mr. George is found dead on the beach, with Sara kneeling over him, and her chef’s knife in the sand. What follows is a crazy race to clear Sara’s name by turning over every skeleton in town, run-ins with local police, breaking and entering, a trip to a shady excavating company, and yes, increasingly hot moments between Nic and Harriet. Lawson’s adult debut will have you laughing and guessing until the very end.—Dodie Ownes

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

A Murder Most Camp: A Mystery

by Danise Hoover

In an unlikely combination of coming of age, family saga, gay romance, and cold-case mystery, we have Mikey (what almost 30-year-old is still called Mikey?), who’s compelled by his father to serve three months at a rustic summer camp as counselor to save his access to his outrageously huge trust fund. He needs to supervise Annabelle, his 12-year-old aunt (family drama), as part of his penance for his wastrel lifestyle. His special group of campers latches onto the story of Rose, a camper who went missing back when Annabelle’s mom was a counselor. The cabin at the center of the mystery is still there, but it’s long unoccupied and decrepit. The intrepid kids and Mikey, a born rule-breaker, work to find answers. Jackson, Mikey’s hunky cabinmate and camp lifeguard, aims to be the voice of reason between steamy sex sessions with Mikey. Do they find the answers? Does Mikey survive the grime and spiders of camp life? Does he actually grow up? Does anyone figure out why they are there in the first place? Confusing and somewhat silly, but ultimately fun.—Danise Hoover

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

The Shadow Step

by Willy Williams

Book of the Week February 19, 2026

In ballroom dancing, a shadow step involves a pair of dancers facing the same direction, one of them standing behind and slightly to the left. In Blackpool, detective (and ballroom aficionado) Declan Miller’s third outing (after The Last Dance and The Wrong Hands), Afghan-war veteran Barry Cheshire and his wobbly dachshund, Ruby,  find themselves in this position when they are menaced in a local park by a teenaged drug dealer and his two very large XL Bully dogs. Cheshire accidentally pushes the knife-wielding lad into the lake, unwittingly setting off a chain of escalating disastrous events that include murder and kidnapping. While Miller works to connect the dots between the crimes, he continues to mourn his late wife (he frequently chats with her ghost), parent as best he can his drug-addicted stepdaughter, attend his weekly dance classes, and torment his police colleagues with his cheeky and sometimes tactless humor. This series is lighter in tone (although there’s still some grim violence) than Billingham’s DI Tom Thorne mysteries, and there is enough backstory to inform newcomers. Quirky humor, strongly developed characters, and plenty of exciting twists make this a refreshing read for fans of British crime fiction.—Willy Williams

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

The Oxford Guide to Scandal and Lies

by Brian Kenney

A delightful take on espionage fiction, laced liberally with wit, mystery, romance, and a bit of Muriel Spark. It’s 1951, and England is busy putting itself back together, from physical infrastructure to its notorious class system. The setting is Oxford, where we are introduced to two students who couldn’t be more unalike: Honorable Ginevra Bishop (destined to wear red lipstick and earn top marks) and Sidney Braithwaite (from a mining family and now a war veteran who wants a successful career). The two are brilliant at ignoring each other, but M15 has its ways, and soon enough Gin and Sidney are working together to track down a poison victim and seek out a Soviet spy. Who could be next? While there is plenty of antipathy between the two, there’s also quite a bit of romantic tension, which rears itself from times to time. For fans of historical cozies and fun-yet-frightening spy capers.—Brian Kenney

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Scorched Line

by Danise Hoover

It can be nearly impossible and certainly annoying to jump into a well-established series, a category that fits this title exactly, however, Baker is skilled at telling her story with sufficient detail to bring a new reader into the picture without bogging down the rest of the novel. Kate is faced with multiple family issues. She’s one of nine siblings and there are always issues, but these seem more intense than most. Their mother, someone with a nefarious past, disappeared three years ago, and strange clues seem to indicate her return. The FBI agent with a personal stake in capturing the fugitive is back in town; items of Kate’s clothes disappear from her house; and feathers, the mother’s signature, show up in odd places. Some of Kate’s siblings are willing to do anything to help their mother, others want her to turn herself in to the authorities. The landscape and cultural quirks of the Nebraska sand hills play an important part in the story, as do the family’s strong personalities, all of which contribute to the tumultuous ending. A really solid read.—Danise Hoover

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

In the Spirit of French Murder

by Brian Kenney

Book of the Week February 5, 2026

The fourth in Cambridge’s series is a deeply compelling work of historical fiction that’s sure to appeal to a broad range of readers. Set in Paris in the years after the Second World War, these books have 30-year-old Tabitha Knight at their center, living with and cooking for her elderly uncles. She also enjoys occasional visits from her good friend, and Cordon Bleu student, Julia Child (who has just a few cameo appearances, but makes up for that by being loads of fun). In this volume, Tabitha is pulled deep into the world of the Resistance fighters, whose work often went unnoticed after the war, although the differences they made in many people’s lives were enormous. Nonetheless, not everyone is ready to celebrate their work, and when one of the Fighters is murdered, followed by another, and Tabitha’s beloved uncles are threatened, it is time for her to step up and investigate. Fortunately, she has the handsome Inspecteur Merveille on her side, and while he may look critically at Tabitha’s crime solving activities, her bravery and smarts incrementally win him over. Might we be getting close to a kiss?—Brian Kenney

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
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 comment
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 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail