Tag:

Women

Review

Darkrooms

by Willy Williams

Book of the Week 12.15.25
The disappearance of nine-year-old Roisin O’Halloran on the night of the summer solstice in 1999 has haunted two emotionally damaged women for 20 years. Deedee, Roisin’s grieving older sister, has joined the Gardai in her small Irish town of Bannakilduff so she can more easily investigate what happened after Roisin vanished into the mysterious Hanging Woods. Although she’s engaged to Sean, scion of the prominent Branagh family, DeeDee is barely holding it together, drinking too much and having a casual fling with a fellow officer. Caitlin Doherty, Roisin’s childhood friend and the last person to see her alive, is also living a chaotic life, surviving as a petty thief in London and trying to escape painful memories. But the death of her estranged mother forces her to return to her hometown and her dark past. As Caitlin and DeeDee warily circle each other, they gradually uncover secrets that expose long-buried shocking crimes. Winner of the UEA/Little Brown Crime Prize, Hannigan has written a twisty, atmospheric debut that captures the claustrophobic small-mindedness of a community willing to close ranks against the innocent to protect the guilty.

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Review

She Made Herself a Monster

by Dodie Ownes

Book of the Week 12.11.25

When Kiril returns to his village of Koprivci after getting medical training in the city, he is struck once again how superstition and the Captain, the man who adopted him, control the townspeople. Preparing to set up a practice in town, he feels betrayed by Anka, his adopted sister; and friends Margarita and Simeon, who are betrothed. And Anka, just 16, will be married to the Captain as soon as she begins to menstruate, which only her caretaker Yulia can help her hide. An eviscerated chicken is found on the church steps and blood is found in eggs, all terribly bad signs for a village that is already known to be cursed. When Yana, a vampire hunter and seer, arrives, the Captain sets her the task of finding a cause for all the misfortune. Who, or what, is responsible? Could it be the pregnant widow Nina, whose husband, the village smithy, was killed by a blow from the Captain’s horse? Or maybe the Devil himself? Anka is seeking a purpose, and believes Yana can provide her with it, if she can escape the Captain. This heady Gothic debut dabbles in witchcraft and superstition while still tackling themes of betrayal and domestic abuse, weaving in stories from Slavic folklore. Eerie, haunting, and captivating.

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Review

Ruby Falls

by Dodie Ownes

Times are hard everywhere in 1928, but when Leo Lambert discovers a huge underground waterfall in a cave system outside Chattanooga, he is convinced it can be a moneymaker and names it after his wife, Ruby. There are curiosity seekers, but Ruby Falls needs something sensational to bring the crowds and their coins to town. Enter Professor Jeremiah Hagathorn, known all over the Midwest for his mind-reading skills, whom Leo challenges to find a hatpin hidden somewhere in the six miles of caves around Ruby Falls. With a small entourage in tow, including a newspaper reporter and Hagathorn’s wife, Editha, Hagathorn embarks on his mission. Unbeknownst to the group, Quinton, a cave guide, and Ada, a recent widower who has been secretly roaming the caves, have been charged with following the professor and others to ensure their safety. When the reporter is found dead after their first night in the caves, Hagathorn insists on continuing his quest before returning to the surface to report the murder, despite knowing that the killer is among them. No one is to be trusted, and as supplies dwindle, suspicions grow. Phillips gives readers two stories here—the sensational hatpin search amidst the danger and grandeur of Ruby Falls, and Ada’s grieving for a life never lived, not knowing about the one that lies before her. A historical mystery in a unique setting, adding “locked cave” to the genre vernacular.

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Review

The Insomniacs

by Henrietta Thornton

Scotch, Allison Winn. The Insomniacs. April 14, 2026. 400 pages. Berkley.

The three insomniacs who first meet online and then at an all-night New York City diner have more in common than their tossing and turning. They’re each living a life that’s a lie. Famous baseball player Zeke believes he can only do one thing well—pitch—but isn’t sure he wants to do it anymore. Quiet older gentleman Julian is hiding his stressful past as an FBI agent. Sybil, a protective mom to the group, wants more than the stay-at-home life she quit medicine for. And the biggest lie of them all is that of the waitress they befriend, Betty, who pretends her parents are dead and her past is unremarkable. Flashes to her younger years reveal that she grew up the child of an abusive cult leader, and how she found her way to New York is a gripping plot point that grows in prominence as her insomniac customers try to help her. You’ll stay up late reading this cross between Maeve Binchy-esque strangers-becoming-family story and Tara Westover’s Educated, and fall in love especially with the Zeke and Sybil dynamic.

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Review

The Dinner Party

by Dodie Ownes

It doesn’t take long for van de Sandt’s plot and writing to grip readers’ attention in this debut. Two timelines interweave around the circumstances of a single dinner party, set to celebrate the launch of Franca’s fiancé, Andrew’s, latest project, a canon of sorts inspired by time capsules. Franca once aspired to have a career, but it is clear that Andrew prefers a more domestic arrangement for her. Her father died while she was quite young, and her mother is distant, so her life with Andrew feels safe, initially. In his discussion with Franca over what should be served at the dinner party, Andrew throws off a mean vibe, even insisting that Franca get fresh rabbit to prepare, despite knowing she is a vegetarian. Kitchen disasters up the tension, and when one unexpected guest arrives, a friend of hers from Utrecht, the wrenching details of Franca’s relationship with Andrew are slowly revealed as the timeline shifts forward and back. Claustrophobic and thrilling at the same time, the book allows readers to follow Franca’s unwinding as she seeks revenge against the man who says he loves her, when he just wants to own her, body and soul. Readers will feel every bit of Franca’s female rage as she attempts to extricate herself from her untenable situation. At a time when “tradwife” movements are on the rise, which prioritize homemaking and caring for the husband, trusting him to provide and protect, this story is particularly relevant.

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Review

The Tutor

by Henrietta Thornton

The tutor is Isabel, a young woman who’s just started her new job at a rich Florida private school. Readers know that she’s angling to meet the Caldwells, a family whose son, James, attends the school; we follow along as she visits their palatial home for the first time, snooping while there—but what’s she up to? In the meantime, we meet Evelyn, James’s mean-spirited grandmother. Her daughter-in-law Rose, the female lead here, can’t do anything right, and in Evelyn’s view is a gold digger who needs to be out of the picture. The man between these two women is too busy with his finance work to be of any help, and the situation disintegrates as Isabel reveals the reason she wants to know the Caldwells and Rose finds out that her mother-in-law is rumored to have too many mysterious deaths in her tony circle. With secrets and twists coming fast, not to mention emotional stakes that build to fever pitch, this is psychological fiction at its best.

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Review

The Dead Husband Cookbook

by Dodie Ownes

Maria and Damien Capello hit the big time when they opened their oh-so-chic restaurant Polpette della Nonna in upstate New York. Chef Damien was the darling of the foodie circuit, known for his incredible creations—until his sudden disappearance, officially ruled as a suicide. But since no body was ever found, suspicion abounds, and rumors swirl that Maria had something to do with it. Which might involve a freezer, a cookbook, and a secret ingredient. When publisher Hanes House gets one scant chapter from Maria, promising to tell the real story, junior editor Thea is shocked when she is assigned to the project and whisked off to meet Maria to flesh out the rest of the book, on an extremely tight deadline. Thea’s phone is taken away, wifi access is highly controlled, and as she is doled out one chapter at a time by the enigmatic Maria, with the mystery of the vanishing chef slowly revealed in one delicious twist after another. Nothing is as it appears in the Capello family, and their secrets will soon collide with Thea’s world. With its humor, touch of domestic angst, and possibly unreliable narrators and recipes, foodies who love a good mystery in a kitchen setting will devour this tale.

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Review

Dark Sisters

by Charlotte Del Vecchio

The small Southern town of Hawthorne Springs holds a dark and twisted history of witchcraft and sin, carried through generations of the women who live there. In this historical thriller, we meet three women whose fates, spanning hundreds of years, have been bound to the magic that flows from this town. Anne Bolton is a healer in 1750 fleeing with her daughter from persecution for witchcraft, placing her faith in a powerful natural entity and encouraging others to do the same. Mary Shepard is a housewife in 1953, entertaining a sapphic affair as an escape from her monotonous life in a restrictive community. Camilla Burson is the defiant daughter of a preacher in 2007, fighting against the community and the church to discover the truth behind the sinister and mysterious disease that plagues the women of Hawthorne Springs and how it connects to the Dark Sisters, a parable of two wayward women that may be all too real. Is there truly a source of magic in this town, or are the Dark Sisters simply a story preachers share to incite fear and keep women in their place? Visit three different time periods as DeMeester addresses generational trauma, cult-like religious practices, and the collective power of women who are willing to take down the patriarchy.

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Review

A Killer Getaway

by Charlotte Del Vecchio

For the past five summers, Lily Lennox has left her successful business in Cincinnati to work as a lifeguard at elite Caribbean Island wellness resort the Riovan. But no one knows why. They also don’t know about the string of deaths attached to the Riovan that conveniently align with Lily’s annual stay. As the protagonist returns to her annual island lifestyle, she exposes the truth behind the Riovan’s problematic wellness practices and her own reasons for returning. But this year, Lily’s plans are interrupted by a mysterious journalist, Daniel Black, who is intent on chipping away at any crack in the resort. Their attraction to each other only grows as Lily resists and attempts to divert his attention away from the resort’s secrets. This summer-vacation thriller provides a witty outlook on wellness culture and exposes the harsh impacts of body-image obsession while following a female antihero along a dark path of revenge, reflection, and romance. For fans of Emily Henry’s feel-good nature and Jeneva Rose’s twisted thrills, who will be uncovering its mysteries until the very end.

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Review

The Botanist’s Assistant

by Danise Hoover

Margaret, large, 50ish, probably neurodivergent, is a remarkably good assistant in a university lab doing botanical research into possible cancer cures. The bottom drops out of her world when she discovers the body of her beloved boss, Dr. Deaver, in his office, quite dead. In true scientific fashion, she notices the small details that no one else, especially the bumbling campus police, takes account of. Her comments are quickly dismissed and she is pressed into rewriting an important grant application to credit someone who deserves no credit at all. There are deans grasping for academic glory, scientists looking to make big bucks, and only Margaret who wants to know the truth. She finds a friend in Joe, a new custodian whose personality seems out of keeping with his job. Together they work to discover what is truly going on, and not only find a murderer, but also save the cutting-edge research study. Margaret is a delight, and the situation requires her to open herself to friends and new possibilities. The ending leaves the possibility for more from Margaret and Joe, which would be a fine addition to the genre.

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