Book Review: The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid
After listening to her nonfiction book, Forensics, reading Val McDermid’s psychological thriller series was an easy choice. I liked her detailed writing style, and was glad to see it here also. The Mermaids Singing is told from two points of view. First we have the...Book Review: Dark of the Moon by John Sanford (Virgil Flowers #1)
I’ve been a fan of John Sanford mystery / thrillers for many years. My brother-in-law introduced me to the Prey series, featuring Lucas Davenport, back when there were just a few books in the series. Dark of the Moon is Sanford’s first entry in a spin-off series...Book Review: Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Delia Owens crafts a genrebusting debut novel. It’s primarily a Bildungsroman—coming of age story. But Owens throws in elements of romance, adds a treatise on nature, plus a strong mystery and courtroom procedural.Her main character Kathryn Danielle Clark, nicknamed...Book Review: Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Taylor Jenkins Reid creates an iconic—and entirely fictional—band in Daisy Jones & The Six. It’s set in the wild and wooly 1970s in California. Daisy is everybody’s spoiled little sister, and a singer songwriter. The band is six musicians trying to collectively...Book Review: Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Bel Canto, published in 2001 by Ann Patchett, is a melodic story of an extreme case of Stockholm Syndrome. It’s an elegant and meaningful exposition of kidnapping, but also of love. A group of businessmen, diplomats, and important people gather in an unnamed...Book Review: Murder in the Marais by Cara Black (Aimee Leduc #1)
This was my first venture into the Aimée Leduc series from Cara Black. So, I started with book one and took an armchair trip to the neighborhood in Paris called the Marais. Aimée is the owner of a small private detective agency in Paris. She’s the daughter of a French...Book Review: Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver
In Unsheltered, Barbara Kingsolver mixes two story lines chapter by chapter. The first focuses on Willa Knox and her present-day family. The second focuses on Thatcher Greenwood, who lived in the same neighborhood as Willa in the 1870s. Both are faced with...Book Review: Paris Time Capsule by Ella Carey
Like imaginative authors everywhere, Ella Carey based Paris Time Capsule on a real-life occurrence. In late 2010, a Paris apartment that had been uninhabited for 70 years was opened after its owner’s death. She had left Paris during World War II and never returned....Book Review: Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew J. Sullivan
In Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore, Matthew J. Sullivan introduces us to Lydia. She’s a bookseller just trying to live an uneventful life. I’m envious of her bookstore life, if not the rest of it!Sadly, one of her customers takes his own life in the...Book Review: The Girl in the Spider’s Web by David Lagercrantz
I feel sorry for author David Lagercrantz, who wrote the fourth book in the Millennium series. The Girl in the Spider’s Web is just an okay thriller. But Lagercrantz could never live up to the trilogy created by Stieg Larsson, who died at just 50 years old. The story...Book Review: Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke
In Bluebird, Bluebird, Attica Locke introduces us to Darren Mathews, a highly conflicted Texas Ranger. He’s been to law school, but has chosen law enforcement over legal work. He’s married, but separated. He wants to solve two murders in a tiny East Texas town, but...Book Review: Hope Never Dies by Andrew Shaffer
Hope Never Dies from Andrew Shaffer was my antidote to last week’s fear and tragedy. It’s both mystery and humor, featuring fictional versions of Joe Biden and Barack Obama. If you like all the memes that feature the imagined tomfoolery of those two, you’ll enjoy this...Book Review: The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
Rebecca Makkai tells two intertwined stories in The Great Believers. One starts in 1980s Chicago, the other in 2015 Paris. Held within are the lives of two friends, Yale and Fiona, along with many others. In the mid-1980s, the world was just beginning to understand...Book Review: The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn
A.J. Finn introduces us to Dr. Anna Fox, child psychologist and agoraphobe, in her debut novel, The Woman in the Window. As my friend said upon seeing the cover, it’s a mashup of The Girl on the Train and classic movie Rear Window. Finn dives deep into the...Book Review: The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (Cormoran Strike #2)
Robert Galbraith skewers an author who skewers the people in his life—and gets killed for it—in this C.B. Strike mystery. Of course, Galbraith is actually J.K. Rowling under a pseudonym. And she’s published many books and sold zillions of copies. There’s some irony in...Currently reading
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