Tag:

Women

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

The Lost Passenger

by Henrietta Thornton

Elinor Hayward and her rich, widowed father, a textile millionaire known as the cotton king, are surprised and thrilled to be invited to a high-society ball. Mr. Hayward is a self-made man—the horror!—instead of having been born to wealth like those who usually snub him. At the ball, shy Elinor is rescued by Frederick Coombes, AKA Lord Storton, who seems interested. As is the way in 1910 upper-class London, a formal courtship is soon followed by marriage. Elinor expects a romantic whirlwind like in the Jane Austen novels she adores, but right from the lackluster proposal, things are off, and after they marry, things only get worse. Frederick has no interest in his wife, except as a vessel for the all-important heir. When the couple and Elinor’s father finally board the Titanic along with their baby, it seems like a welcome break from the rules, but we all know what happens. The characterization here is superb. Readers will root for Elinor before she ever arrives on board and will be rapt as she’s thrown into peril while the nightmare unfolds (Quinn offers a wealth of details about the disaster and its aftermath). What follows—Elinor taking the chance to remake herself, always struggling and waiting to be discovered—is also gripping, and this is one of those books that will leave readers bereft once it’s over. A triumph, and surely a movie must be in the works.

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Review

Claire, Darling

by Brian Kenney

Yes, her childhood was terrifying, with a mother who made Mommie Dearest seem like milquetoast. But, these days, Claire has really got it together. Now she’s 30, with a job in PR that she always wanted and a fiancé, Noah, who’s handsome and loving; life couldn’t be better. Even her horrible mother died a few months ago, freeing Claire, although leaving her nothing in her will. Until one day when she decides to drop off lunch for Noah at his office—it’s their anniversary—and the receptionist won’t let her in. In fact, she claims that Noah hasn’t worked there in three months. Whaaaat? That night, Noah doesn’t show up at the apartment they share. He’s not picking up her calls. Not answering her texts. In the days to come, and with the help of her friend Sukhi, Claire tracks Noah through every channel possible, getting repeatedly blocked along the way and transforming from a happy young woman to a stalker, obsessed with the beautiful blonde woman who keeps showing up in Noah’s socials. A psychological thriller that will delight readers who enjoy fiction that’s thoughtful but also reads like a rocket. If you appreciated Kimberly McCreight’s Like Mother, Like Daughter, you may well like this.

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Review

If Two Are Dead

by Jeff Ayers

Luke Conway and his wife, Carrie, are moving from LA back to Clear River, Texas, where they grew up, so they can help Carrie’s father, who is gravely ill. For police officer Luke, it is a chance to escape a shooting that has traumatized him, and he’s now a county deputy. Carrie has baggage as well, but she is heading towards it. When she was a high-school junior, she was the sole survivor of an incident that left two girls dead and her with a chip in her skull. She barely survived and can’t remember any details of that day. One evening, while off-duty, Luke appears to hit someone while driving home in the pouring rain. Inspecting the area provides no evidence of a body, so he leaves and doesn’t report it. Luke tells himself that he hit a tree branch, but deep down, he knows he hit someone and decides to keep it a secret. Carrie arrives in town to find a not-so-warm welcome and soon learns that some there believe she killed the two girls years ago and is faking amnesia. Luke and Carrie need each other’s support, but running from the truth only makes matters worse for their marriage and their lives. Mofina generates suspense in unexpected ways and crafts a compelling, genius story that ends in a manner not even savvy readers will see coming. His background as a newspaper reporter allows him to craft realistic characters who face overwhelming odds. Harlan Coben and Alex Finlay fans should already have Mofina on their to-read pile, and this one is another guaranteed bestseller.

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Review

Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (On a Dead Man)

by Brian Kenney

Many readers will be delighted at the return of Vera Wong, a great cozy hero if there ever was one. In Vera’s first book, we saw her discovering the body of a dead man in her San Francisco tea house. A tragedy, yes, but one that led to quite a transformation for Vera, who discovered a whole new world thanks to that one death. She has a growing social life, her tea shop is burgeoning, and there are plenty of friends to enjoy her cooking. Except that life is growing a tad dull, compared to a murder investigation. But lucky for her, Vera comes across a young woman outside the police station who appears quite upset. It turns out that the woman’s boyfriend has recently died, possibly by suicide, and she fears that she may have had a role in his death. Well, did this young woman come across the right person. Through her own research, Vera discovers that Xander, the young man who died, was a well-known influencer, with an extravagant lifestyle. So how did he end up in Mission Bay? That question pushes Vera into a story that’s quite a bit darker than the first book. Vera is still a fun and lovable character, but here she takes on some challenging social issues. In other words, Vera grows. And readers will be happy to follow her.

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Review

Such a Good Mom

by Henrietta Thornton

There’s more medical follow up for a sprained wrist than for having a baby, Brynn Nelson notices. She tells everyone she’s fine after her son’s birth though she’s very far from it. Every other sleepless new mother does just fine, she thinks, so there must be something wrong with her. Her husband, Ross, loves the time he spends with his son but it’s a few moments here and there and he has no idea of the deep pit of fear his wife is in. Brynn has more or less lost touch with her own mother since staying on Martha’s Vineyard with her well-off new in-laws while her poorer parents moved off-island. She’s now firmly a Nelson, and when Ross tells her a family secret after a young woman’s body washes up on the beach, Brynn finds that she has much more facing her than the exhaustion and fear of new motherhood. This thriller excels in portraying the social dichotomy that is life in an expensive resort town, a split that’s echoed throughout the book in breaks between Brynn and her family of origin, the break between the life she could have had if she had chosen another boy and this one, and her life pre- and post-motherhood. Absorbing and satisfying.

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Review

This Book Will Bury Me

by Henrietta Thornton

The world of amateur true-crime investigators—and what a populous world it seems to be!—is given its own investigation in Winstead’s (Midnight is the Darkest Hour, 2023) latest, with the author using murders at a sorority house to show who benefits from and who’s destroyed by the trend of podcasters as police. Readers enter through the screen of Janeway Sharp (Star Trek fandom plays a big role here), the youngest of a group that calls itself the Real Crime Network. She’s drawn to the work after the sudden death of her beloved father and grows an obsession with true crime even though she feels it is wrong. In the Network, she finds forgiving and encouraging brethren who are only too happy to accompany her into the frightening details surrounding the murder of three sorority sisters who were stabbed and left in a bloodbath. Jane, now called Searcher, and her companions can’t stay away from the college town in question, Delphine, Idaho. Readers are taken to new viewpoints along with them, meeting the families in question, the townspeople who are suddenly besieged by murder groupies, and the police and FBI, who are willing to take the help when the Network starts to be successful. Suspects, twists, and danger add to the media-cult side of the tale, adding up to a smart whodunit with a side of contemplation.

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Review

Drop Dead Sisters

by Henrietta Thornton

Camping with her crunchy-granola parents, nit-picky sisters, and assorted also-exhausting family members is Remi Finch’s idea of torture. But it’s her parent’s 40th wedding anniversary and they plan to renew their vows, so fine. She can put up with these people for a few days, especially when she sees that a handsome park ranger is part of the package. Also part of it, though, is Guy, the loathsome son of family friends, who when he was younger held Remi underwater so long she thought she’d drown. Grandma’s reaction, “even when I could still taste chlorine in the back of my throat,” was that horrible Guy obviously had a crush on her. So she’s not expecting much assistance when she finds herself in danger on the trip, a prediction that comes both true and not, as her family steps up but sometimes doesn’t know when to stop. Readers will find the Finches both a lovable and a very real family, with affection and exasperation battling for top spot in Remi’s feelings for them. The story dips into cozy territory, with the law-enforcement love interest, the off-screen killing, and the slapstick family antics, enriching a puzzling whodunit in the process. A great choice for cozy fans who enjoy a wilderness element.

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Review

The Quiet Librarian

by Brian Kenney

As a single, 47-year-old librarian in Minnesota, Hana Babic leads a quiet life. Until one day when a police detective stops by the library to inform her that her best, and really only friend, Amina, has been murdered. Hana and Amina share a history that extends back to the Bosnian War, when Hana witnessed the rape and murder of her entire family by Serbian soldiers, murders Hana swore to avenge. Joining Bosnian militia fighters, Hana transformed herself into a fierce warrior who became known as the deadly Night Mora—a legend among Serbian troops. But with a price on her head, she eventually poses too much of a risk to her fellow soldiers, and is sent to the Bosnian community in St. Paul to reinvent herself. Amina’s murder decades later does more than just reawaken Hana’s horrible memories. It convinces her that she is being hunted, and to survive, she must reawaken the Night Mora, drawing Amina’s murderer into a trap. Written in chapters that alternate between Bosnia in the 1990s and present day Minnesota, the book eventually merges into one astonishingly powerful narrative that is nothing less than genius. Like Eskens brilliant The Life We Bury, this would make an excellent choice for a book discussion, especially since many participants will know nothing about the Bosnian War. Eskens includes scenes of sexual violence and other war crimes.

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Review

The Queens of Crime.

by Henrietta Thornton

In this marvelous locked-room puzzle, we’re treated to a masterclass in solving mysteries from the grand dames of the form: first-person narrator Dorothy Sayers (Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries) and fellow Queens Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot et al), Baroness Emma Orczy (the Scarlet Pimpernel), Ngaio Marsh (Inspector Allen), and Margery Allingham (Albert Campion). As a way to be better accepted into the Detection Club, the members of which have expressed “a certain hesitancy…around having ‘an abundance of women’ in the ranks,” the women undertake the investigation of a real crime, the disappearance of a young English nurse while on a trip to France. Dorothy’s journalist husband has been assigned the story and his work gives her a reason to go to the crime scene, the other women secretly in tow–and they’re off. Meticulously following the nurse’s activities before she disappeared, as well as her life before, leads readers into a delicious look at writing conventions of the day as well as how women skirted the low expectations that sought to hold them back. Fans of the writers in question as well as of childhood favorites such as Enid Blyton’s Famous Five will enjoy the old-timey air of innocent sleuthing, while the women’s growing determination to do right by the young victim adds a satisfying air of kindness and steadfast morality. A delight from beginning to end.

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