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Women

Review

Death Do Us

by Dodie Ownes

Bea can’t believe her luck when handsome and well-heeled Jake spots her at a bar, a meeting that which blooms into coupledom, and soon , engagement. He is kind and thoughtful, and she should just put her ex- completely out of her mind. That relationship didn’t end well, and this is a chance for a fresh start. Bestie Joy has her doubts, though:  – Bea, with her green hair and archeology degree, has never been the “blushing bride” type, and fitting in with Jake’s large and wealthy family will be challenging. As soon as Bea puts on her engagement ring, a family heirloom and allegedly a relic from an ancient culture, things start to go awry. Her hair and skin begin to deteriorate, weird visions occur, and worse, her ex- starts texting her with increasingly ominous threats. Then there’s Millie— – Jake’s ex- and her mother-in-law Lorraine’s goddaughter—who thinks she should be the bride, and wants to control every element of the wedding. The hen do, the British term for a bachelorette party, is truly cringe-worthy, complete with blow-up dolls and a stripper/bartender. Flipping back and forth between Bea and Joy’s time at university and present day, this slow burn mystery combines elements of obsession, ancient curses, psychosis and otherness.—Dodie Ownes

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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

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Review

Whidbey

by Dodie Ownes

In her fiction debut, Madden gifts readers with a complex psychological story that explores the lasting effects of violence and who controls the narrative of trauma. The novel unfolds from the alternating perspectives of three women whose lives are linked by one man, Calvin, who has just been murdered. They are Birdie Chang, a woman who was sexually abused by Calvin and is now on the run from him; Linzie King, another victim of Calvin’s, a former reality-TV star who has published a bestselling memoir about her experience; and Mary-Beth, Calvin’s devoted mother, who fiercely defended him throughout his legal troubles and struggles to reconcile the son she loves with the person capable of such actions. Moving across their voices and time, from Whidbey Island’s lush cool green to a sticky, tacky North Pole gas station in Florida, each woman examines what part she played in Calvin’s actions. A cast of secondary characters fills in the blanks. There’s Syl, Mary-Beth’s sister, who wonders why she ever allowed Cal into her home, which put her twin daughters in danger. And Rich, who meets Birdie on the ferry to Whidbey and offers to “take care of” Calvin for her, as well as Trace, Birdie’s girlfriend, who travels to Florida to do that herself. Madden masterfully captures the haze of lost and found memories, the urges to take revenge, and the regrets of those who knew, but did nothing.—Dodie Ownes

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Review

Time Travel for Beginners

by Jeff Ayers

When single-mom Anna gets hit by a car, she makes a life change and accepts a job working for an agency that claims that customers can time travel. Traveling to the past to fix a mistake or witness history seems irresistible, but online reviews of the experience are predominantly accusatory or complain about the high cost. Anna witnesses strange things on the job, including a door she’s not allowed to enter and a recurring visitor who either screams or cries after their trip through time. Then she learns about a mysterious death. Is the company a scam? What is the truth behind what Anna’s supposed to be selling? The reader follows Anna as she tries to uncover the truth along with Teddy, a man whose recent marriage imploded after his wife ran off with his brother; and Jade, who believes the Time Travel Agency is the root cause of her trauma. With compelling characters, a baffling mystery, and an ending that even savvy readers will not see coming, Moriarty’s latest is a winner that explores fate and how we are all connected.—Jeff Ayers

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Review

Mr. and Mrs. Dixon Hide a Body

by Brian Kenney

Book of the Week January 15, 2026

Dreadful yet droll, disturbing but also delightful, this is the tale of one couple so eager to escape from their hopeless marriage that each is secretly planning to “off” the other in the next few days. Daisy is a seamstress and designer who creates her own bizarre clothes using used frocks, castoffs from other residents, while abusive husband James convinces townies to invest in his sleazy cryptocurrency business.  Living in a deteriorating mansion that is as rundown as their relationship, each has a plan to get rid of. Just when they’re  driving home from a party, with ideas for how to murder each other dancing in their heads, Daisy hits a man. She had wanted James to drive as she felt too tipsy. While most people might call the cops, Daisy and James take an alternate route and drag the dying man home so as not to attract attention. His demise comes rapidly, leaving the couple stuck with the age-old dilemma: what to do with a corpse in your house. Then it occurs to Daisy to haul the corpse off to the family mausoleum, as one does, located in the nether reaches of their estate. All goes well until weeks later a huge storm initiates a flood that washes out the village, exposing decades of James’ family members. Gruesome, yes. But don’t you want to know who got to prison first?—Brian Kenney-

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Review

The Model Patient

by Dodie Ownes

In her late twenties, Evelyn left the glamorous world of modeling to marry charming and wealthy Henry, who encouraged her to settle into the good life, Sunday dinners with his family, holidays with the whole Westbrook clan. But now it’s the mid-sixties, London is swinging, and the set-up isn’t working for her—the pressure to get pregnant, Henry’s parents’ constant interference, and the isolation—and horrible dreams begin to plague Evelyn. At the suggestion of a former colleague, she secretly begins psychoanalysis with Dr. Patrick Daley. As the abuse that she suffered at the hands of a family friend while a teen is revealed, sessions with Dr. Daley become increasingly confusing—he seems to be encouraging her to love him, but gives nothing in return. Her best friend, Diana, tries to stabilize and support Evie, but gets pulled into a swirl of allegations that she is not sure she can trust. And someone is trying to make Evie believe that she is a bad, bad person. Ashe’s tight, smart thriller touches on women’s right to birth control, societal pressures to conform, and the changing mores of the modern world against the backdrop of The Beatles and Carnaby Street.—Dodie Ownes

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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

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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