Title: In My Attic Author: Lina Hansen Publisher: Literary Wanderlust Publication date: July 1, 2020 Genre: Mystery and Thriller Summary: Myrtle Coldron is a very practical and no-nonsense schoolteacher. Until her Aunt Eve dies in a suspicious accident at the Witch’s Retreat, her bed and breakfast in the sleepy British town Avebury. Called back to where she grew up to handle her aunt’s affairs, she learns she’s to inherit the B&B, along with all the…unusual bits and pieces of her family history she had been unaware of. But someone seems to be after her now, because her family hides a secret that someone very powerful wants. There’s something magical about this book. Literally. I mean, the…
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Book Review: Still Death by Shauna Bickley
Title: Still Death Author: Shauna Bickley Publisher: Self-published Publication date: November 8, 2014 Genre: Mystery and Thriller Summary: Lexie is quickly realizing being a full-time mother to three young girls is harder than working a demanding job, but her husband Nathan’s job has moved them from London to the small town Nettleford once she was restructured out of a job. With my mind challenged only by small children, she quickly finds friendship with an elderly lady whose son was possibly involved with the murder of his girlfriend. Until he ends up dead, as well. Lexie, with nothing but time on her hands, sets out to not only find out why he and his girlfriend were killed,…
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Book Review: Who Did You Tell? by Lesley Kara
Title: Who Did You Tell? Author: Lesley Kara Publisher: Ballantine Books – Random House Publishing Group Publication date: June 16, 2020 Genre: Mystery and Thriller, Women’s Fiction Summary: Astrid is back to living with her mum in the small town of Flinstead, somewhere in the UK. An alcoholic, she’s finally promised to put the drink behind her and attend AA meetings, especially since her boyfriend recently committed suicide after she got him back into drinking. At one such meeting, she meets Rosie, who is overly eager to make Astrid into her pet project, and Helen, who seems sad and lonely but seems to get Astrid more than Rosie does. Everything starts to look up for her.…
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Dropping Unannounced Into the Middle of a Book Series
I’ve done this so many times to myself. You’d think I’d have learned by now to thoroughly check to make sure the book I want to read is not part of a series, or is at least the first in the series, before deciding to read it. But I don’t. I guess it’s my weird reading quirk? Or I enjoy being thoroughly confused for a good portion, or all, of a book? When I was a kid browsing in the bookstore, I had the luxury of opening up the book and perusing the front matter to see what else the author had published and to see, right then and there,…
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Book Review: The Worst Lie by Shauna Bickley
Title: The Worst Lie (A Lexie Wyatt Mystery Book 2) Author: Shauna Bickley Publisher: Self-published Publication date: December 9, 2019 Genre: Mystery and Suspense Summary: Lexie’s friend Helen needs her help: Helen’s university friend Eden is coming to visit and wants the whole university group to spend a weekend together in Little Stillford, just as they had days before their friend Madelaine was found dead, something that brings great anxiety to Helen. Lexie is there to soothe her, and soon finds herself enlisted by Eden to find out who murdered Madelaine over a decade before. Before she knows it, Lexie and her husband Nathan become entangled in the group, who have more secrets than Lexie could…
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Book Review: BloodStained Bliss by Elle Limpkin
Title: BloodStained Bliss Author: Elle Limpkin Publisher: February 12, 2020 Publication date: Self-published Genre: Science fiction, Mystery/Thriller Summary: Earth has been crime-free for 300 years. Advances in science and medicine have made it possible to eliminate the violence gene in unborn children, resulting in a world without violence and crime. Until now. Newly elected mayor of the island Roseside Reef Zeno is woken in the early morning hours because a body has been discovered on a beach. Faced with a murder and no clue how to solve it, Zeno and his aides rush to figure out who the killer is before more bodies drop dead, and instead discover Zeno’s own past may hide an important clue.…
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Book Review: The Last Smile in Sunder City by Luke Arnold
Title: The Last Smile in Sunder City Author: Luke Arnold Publisher: Orbit Publication date: February 25, 2020 Genre: Fantasy Summary: Just a few years ago, there was magic in the world. Magical creatures could tap into the river of it. Humans, though, were unable to touch it, so feared it and cut it off from the magical creatures. Now the creatures are suffering, having lost their magic, and are dying or trying to survive. In Sunder City, former soldier turned PI Fetch Phillips is Human, the human responsible for the magic loss. Living with the guilt of what he did, especially since he had loved a being of magic, he only takes cases from non-humans,…
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The Books I Reviewed in 2019
Do note that I said reviewed in the title and not read. I did read some of the books I reviewed in January back in December of 2018 and I am still reading books (of course I am), but those reviews won’t be posted until January and February of next year. I honestly can’t remember which books I started reading this past January, so I’m forced to simply talk about the books I reviewed over the past year. The Stats in Paragraph Form Because I Prefer Words to Numbers I wish I knew how many books I have actually read this year as I’m curious to see how close I…
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Book Review: The Fox, the Dog, and the King by Matt Doyle
Title: The Fox, the Dog, and the King Author: Matt Doyle Publisher: Nine Star Press Publication date: July 23, 2018 Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, LGBT Summary: It was supposed to be date night for Cassie and Lori, but, following the performance, the performer asks to see them, having recognized Cassie as a private investigator. Known only as Kitsune, and outfitted in Tech Shifting gear at all times in public, she asks Cassie to locate her missing dog. Thanks to her interfering girlfriend, Cassie takes the case and is pulled into more than just finding a missing dog, something that involves a king of the criminal world. This is the…
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Book Review: The Venice Atonement by Merryn Allingham
Title: The Venice Atonement Author: Merryn Allingham Publisher: Canelo Publication date: June 27, 2019 Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Historical Mystery Summary: Following her sudden marriage to the much older art professor Leo Tremayne in 1955, Nancy finds herself exploring Venice, with nothing else to do until she witnesses a woman she’d met once before tumble from a balcony at the opera. Ruled a suicide, Nancy isn’t so sure. With nothing else to do and wanting to find her own place in the world and her marriage, she jumps headlong into investigating the mysterious death, convinced it’s a murder. Often heedless of the danger she could find herself in, she’s quickly grateful for the begrudgingly given help…
