After a long gap, Jance brings back former Seattle Homicide Detective, now Private Investigator, J.P. Beaumont, and, like a fine wine, Beaumont ages well. He lives in Bellingham with his wife, and when his grandson arrives out of nowhere and wants to live with them to finish school, Beaumont realizes that his family is not living the idyllic life he thought. His daughter and her husband are separated, his son-in-law has a new girlfriend, and the living arrangements were too much for his grandson to handle. When a friend from his past asks for help, he can’t say no. A death ruled accidental due to a fentanyl overdose was officially closed by the authorities, but those who knew the victim say he would not touch drugs. As Beaumont investigates, he discovers that there are more “accidental” deaths, and the truth is more complicated than he can imagine. It doesn’t help that he’s also investigating the new girlfriend who broke up his grandson’s parents, and records show she is not who she claims to be. All of this plays out in February 2020, as the world is about to shut down, creating an impending doom in which the reader knows what is about to happen and longs to warn Beaumont and his family. Jance’s mysteries are like comfort food, guaranteeing readers a great story with authentic and realistic characters that will leave them wanting more after the last bite.
Suspense
I could have sworn that Tami Hoag had an Oprah Book Club pick years ago. That’s what spurred me to pick this up–I usually like Oprah’s picks, and if one of those authors has something new, I’m intrigued. It seems I was wrong, but the happy mistake led me to meet the steadfast Sheriff’s Office Detective Annie Broussard and watch her doggedly investigate three maybe-interlinked crimes in her small south Louisiana town. Local fishermen find a body in the water, its face shot off. There are soon two possibilities as to whom it could be, as two local men are found to be missing. One, Marc Mercier, is a former high-school football star in a town where the sport is everything, who’s returned from time away to his doting mother’s embrace. His Yankee wife is none too happy to be stuck in “Ass Crack, Louisiana,” and might be getting “comforted” by a suave coworker. Also nowhere to be found is Robbie Fontenot, a doctor’s son who has gone off the rails due to Oxycontin addiction. His own doting mother believes he’s on the mend and is desperate for someone to care about where he could be, but not having much luck till she storms the sheriff’s office and meets Annie. Rural loyalties, mothers’ love, sibling rivalries, a hefty dose of Cajun language and slang (glossary provided), and swampy humidity steaming off the pages combine to make a memorable and affecting read. Oprah, take note!
Friends Lauren, Kelsey, and May call themselves the Canceled Crew. Each has been vilified in the media, Lauren, who’s Black, because it’s assumed that she slept her way to her job as director of the Houston Symphony; May, who’s Chinese American, for a terrible incident on a subway platform that was filmed and went viral; and Kelsey, who’s white and rich, for being suspected of killing her husband. The women are now on a girl’s weekend in the Hamptons, trying to put it all behind them and let their hair down a bit, but the note of the book’s title throws them back into chaos. It’s a prank that isn’t so funny after the recipient goes missing and the three women are firmly back in the spotlight, a situation that widens every crack in their relationship with one another and their partners and families. Burke makes every character hyper real here, portraying the effects of privilege, thoughtlessness, and poor decisions with deft precision. The strong ties we feel to old friends, no matter current circumstances, are also shown in sharp relief. Add to this a page-turning whodunit element and it all adds up to a cracking read.
Marr’s thrillers have a knack for getting inside the minds and lives of modern women, and this one continues that run, here in the high-flying (and sometimes just high) world of celebrity PR. Addison Stern is a bitchy, ruthless PR star to the stars. She’ll do anything for her clients, including ruining junior media employees who might be naive enough to try to look beneath the surface of the stars’ fake tans and Botox. She’s vying for a partnership at her firm, and finding her pharma-bro client, Phinneas Redwood, dead is not what she needs, especially when that murder is followed by other crimes that all lead investigators to Addison. She never thought she’d see the day, but she partners with her private-detective ex, Connor Windell—he’s only too happy to leave a losing streak in Las Vegas—to get to the bottom of things and save herself. The two are off on a jet-setting investigation that takes them to Monaco and other more-money-than-sense places in search of the truth. The touch of Jackie Collins here–the ridiculous riches if not the steaminess—adds a deliciously over-the-top touch to a fast-moving, satisfying whodunit.
Small-town struggles meet CIA relentlessness in prolific author Abramson’s latest thriller. It stars two likable protagonists, FBI Special Agent Amberlyn Reiner and Marine Captain Luke Steele. As the book opens, former school psychologist Amberlyn is planning to see her best friend, but plans are derailed when her skills are needed in the investigation of an Oklahoma City bombing-like event. Also entangled is Luke, who’s normally tasked with carrying the nuclear “football” in his role as a military aide to the President, but who is asked to help after he recognizes a connection to his hometown in photos of the event. Amberlyn has been bereaved by the bombing and Luke is loath to return to the town where he was relentlessly bullied, not to mention the high school reunion that will offer valuable investigative opportunities but one for the now-grown bullies to continue their abuse. So neither wants to be there, a feeling that’s more than vindicated by the danger visited on them in the town by the bullies…and perhaps by others. But they also find in the town kindnesses and even a fledgling romance, which entwine well with the criminal side of the story to create a gripping and satisfying series debut.
The village of Teetarpur, on the outskirts of Delhi, has been known for nothing for decades. Grittiness yes, but no crimes, no scandals. Until the unthinkable happens and an eight-year-old girl, Munia, is murdered, discovered hanging from the branch of a tree. Munia may have been shy, but she was much loved by her father, the widowed Chand, and the rest of her community. Part police procedural, part literary thriller, this beautifully written narrative brings rural India to life. The novel is told in the third person, with vivid characters richly developed and time that moves back and forth as we see Chand in his youth, living by the Yamuna, the black river of the book’s title. We follow local inspector Ombir Singh, under pressure from the rich and the political elite to resolve the killing, and Chand, calm on the exterior, but whose blood boils with revenge, not trusting the police. Roy is a journalist, and it’s tempting to attribute that to what makes this book so magnificently successful: the range of society, the moral complexity of many of the characters, and the terrifying brutality. Sure to be one of the best books of the year.
Leo Balanoff’s skills as an attorney are assisted by his tendency to pathologically lie every chance he can. His unscrupulous methods caused the love of his life to walk away, and his horrific family background has him seeking revenge. When the target of his retribution is killed, and Leo’s DNA is found at the scene, he finds himself on the verge of losing everything. So when an FBI agent offers a chance to go undercover to avoid prison, the attorney jumps at the opportunity, not realizing it will put him in the crosshairs of his ex. Twist after shocking twist comes nonstop in this engaging and fun thriller. The story is not just like a twisty pretzel, it’s like an entire pretzel factory. Ellis has written one of those rare books in which every single word cannot be trusted, resulting in an ending that no reader will see coming. Paranoia, chaos, and shocks await.
Life inside a cult, and the uncertainty after escape, are chillingly chronicled in Shepard’s latest psychological suspense. At first, high schooler Danny is scornful of Infinite Spiritual Being, or ISB, the self-help group that her friends are so enamored of. But its narcissistic leader, Ben, knows just the right ways to manipulate a lonely teen into joining his band of acolytes. The young women, and some men, who are gaslit by Ben into eating very little—so as to gain more control over themselves—are over time convinced to leave their families and join Ben in a rural Oregon compound. Accounts of that life alternate with looks at the current day, nine years later, when Danny shows up at her ISB friend Rebecca’s house unannounced. Rebecca’s now living with her husband, Tom, and children in much more pleasant circumstances and is stricken to see Danny, as Tom knows nothing of her old life. Danny’s appearance puts Rebecca and her family in terrible danger, and as readers move back and forth in time, and secrets and terrible abuse, including of pregnant women, are revealed, the story ramps up to a tense-as-can-be ending. The legions of fans of Shepard’s Pretty Little Liars will read anything by her and will be well rewarded here; those new to the author will also race through this riveting tale.
Relatives: you never know what they might be up to. Until you read the will. For Nina—whose beloved father recently died—it’s the discovery of a lavish home in the British Virgin Islands that he left her. Her father was a civil engineer and the home he created—where did he get the money?—is modern and marble, cool and glass. But there’s something a bit off about the house, which slowly begins to come alive. Like some massive escape room, it engages Nina in a game that starts playful but soon becomes terrifying. Then there’s the concurrent story of Maria, a former medical student who now works as a nanny for the immensely rich. She’s able to sock away thousands of dollars while living in gorgeous resort-like mansions. But at her most recent job, the children never show up; in fact, days go by and no one appears, just an electrician to fix a malfunction in the system. The only rule? Don’t enter a room in the basement, which Maria, naturally—after days of boredom—can’t help but do, setting off a life or death struggle that spreads over days. Steadman gets a 10 for creating a puzzle/pawn like novel of terror that starts fast, only to gain even more speed as the reader inevitably rips through the short, action-packed chapters. Prepare yourself for something very new and very disturbing.
Like a lot of New Yorkers before her, Alex Marks came to the city to escape her past and forge a new identity. She finds work as a copy editor, but remains withdrawn, no dating!, with her only friends the staff at her neighborhood coffee shop. But when her hero, Francis Keen, the famous editor of the advice column, “Dear Constance,” doesn’t just die, but is murdered, Alex finds herself applying for her job—surprising herself at her ambition. Alex adored Francis, and even though they never met, she was beholden to Francis’ advice over the years. Miraculously, the paper’s editor in chief recognizes the kinship they share and gives Alex the job. But then she starts to receive sinister, vaguely threatening letters that motivate her to find Francis’s murderer. Fast, frightening, and ultimately fulfilling, the narrative takes a full 180 degree flip. Anticipate several brutal episodes of domestic violence.