How’s this for a new way to get over a broken heart? The Himlafall Clinic promises to use new therapy techniques to help you heal. Set deeply in the Swedish woods, the Clinic appears to have many ways to help you move on.
But for some of the women, they don’t move on. In fact, they’re never heard from again.
Into this setting arrives Isobel Anderssen, eager to make her name as a freelance journalist by exposing the Clinic and it’s founder, Dr. Martina Hastings. Isobel has her own fake story ready to go, and is set to record interviews, but her contact and oldest friend goes missing.
Worse, Dr. Hastings seems to understand Isobel’s intent, and soon it’s Isobel who is worried about disappearing. She watches how the doctor pressures her clients, at times belittling them to undermine their self-confidence. There are medications handed out and abused, and a doctor who fails to see that she cannot help everyone.
Throw in a storm with a trashed generator and downed phone lines, and the tension rapidly rises. And so does the body count.
An absorbing and terrifying look inside the mind of a killer who will stop at nothing to achieve what she wants.
A trio of strong Black women head up West’s Chicago-set thriller.
Gio Mason, the head concierge at The Ivory Hotel, is dealing with her mother’s illness and entitled guests who drive her batty, when a new guest checks in that sets her on alert. Her former best friend, Natalie Moore, is an influencer which means she has a large following. Their reunion ends poorly with the two women publicly arguing.
Redding Stark is the detective who has been carting around a growing list of missing Black women from the city. When Natalie goes missing, and her trashed hotel room is found, Gio’s bruises and a memory lapse make her the main suspect in Natalie’s disappearance.
But Redding has a growing suspicion that this case is linked to the other missing women. Together, REdding and Gio race to find Natalie as the threats against them grow.
Their investigation will bring them into many unexpected circles, and just when it seems the perpetrators are caught, another twist sends this to a startling conclusion.
Strong characterizations and backgrounds of the women add to the depth of this story.
Penney’s second Ravensea Castle mystery takes place as herbalist Nora Asquith’s brother, Will, has set up a Viking festival on the castle’s grounds the following week. Now running the castle as a bed and breakfast, her actress sister Tamsyn arrives to lend hand at the festival. Also arriving a few days before are a crew of ghost hunters, filming for the BBC for Britain’s Got Ghosts.
With her detective boyfriend, Finlay, coming to dinner to see the first filming, Nora is in a great mood when her father introduces the sisters to an unexpected guest: Professor Norman Tweedy from the University of York. Tweedy has found research that indicates Rusla, the Red Maidan Viking, may have left a treasure hoard at Ravensea. He proposes to assist Nora’s father in searching, for a split of the profits once sold to a museum, of course.
But things get off to a rocky start when the four members of the film crew arrive and realize they have their own history with Tweedy, and it’s not positive. Then the accidnets start. Two of them along with Nora find themselves locked into a dungeon under the castle; one of the filmmakers suffers from an odd poisoning, and soon after, despite wonderful ghost sightings and great footage for the series, a murder occurs during the Viking festival.
Penney uses the history of the area, along with Finlay’s expertise, to aid Nora’s sleuthing as she fears continuing accidents at the castle foretell yet more death to follow.
Penney’s recurring characters are well drawn and provide a nice background to the newer participants as the mystery deepens. Will a murderer be found? And what of the hoard, which would provide nicely for the repairs needed to other castle?
Two Order of Canada recipients combine their formidable forces to bring us The Last Mandarin, a fast-paced thriller that centers on an estranged mother-daughter duo who suddenly become the focus of world events.
Human rights activist Vivien Li escaped China after Tiananmen Square and is known worldwide for her advocay for a democratic China.
Her daughter, Alice, is a first generation Chinese-American, who has lived in her mother’s shadow and turned to food blogging to escape the political process.
When Alice receives a photo from a friend who is found murdered, she becomes caught up in an international scheme of coordinated attacks.
Because of growing up with her mother, Alice understands more than the average person about the cybeattacks. And soon Vivien and Alice are brought to the attention of the White House when ties to China are exposed and a sense of urgency takes over.
Blending in Chinese history adds to the depth of the usual political thriller, as does the tension between mother and daughter, who become a globe-trotting duo. Tight characterizations add to the depth of their relationship.
A different but intriguing offering from two talented women.
Using the technique of revisiting the same day in the lives of two entwined teens, Finlay slowly spools out their stories over the years after the events of one fateful night.
Quinn Riley’s intent is to break up a fight, but instead the youth from a poor family ends up in juvenile detention when it all goes horribly wrong. His release coincides with the murder of his mother, something he’s determined to figure out.
Jules Delaney, from a far wealthier home, lives with survivor’s guilt, haunted by weathering an attack of the May Day Killer, who is still striking on that same anniversary.
With both young lives impacted by the events of that day, Finlay creates an escalting thriller as he follows them over the next decade, weaving their stories as they each uncover long-held secrets.
Remember Lynne Truss’s book Eats, Shoots & Leaves? In it, she argues for the importance of proper punctuation, especially commas.
In Kemp’s new book, I, Spy, the cleverly placed comma takes away the notion of the childhood game and alludes to the identity of the protagonist.
Kendal Carter left her spy life behind when her lover was killed and she became a mother. She has embraced raising her daughter, Rosie, away from what she calls “The Game.”
Then her quiet life is upended when her safe location is exposed, and running with Rosie for their lives, she turns to her old contact Rico for help and security.
Ensconced in London in a tony safe house with Rosie, with the perfect school nearby, Rico extracts his quid pro quo for Rosie’s safety: mentoring a rookie in his Bon Temps espionage agency who he’s placed at a tech firm. Using her ‘mother’ cover, what starts out as an easy cover job soon turns fraught with PTA dates wrapped up in its own form of betrayals and secrets.
It soon becomes a top-notch high stakes thriller connected to Rosie’s school, putting them both in danger yet again.
This first in a planned new series promises feminine skills and thrills galore with a dose of humor and lots of action.
Bannalec’s Commissaire Geroges Dupin series brings readers to delightful Brittany, this time October, where the days are still sunny. I’ve known readers of this series who have traveled to some of Bannalec’s settings due to his descriptions.
This case hits close to home for Dupin and his team. After several supersititous omens of death, his second in command, Inspector Kadeg, has lost his aunt. The old abbey where the woman lived is the perfect yet tense setting when Kadeg visits and is seriously attacked.
Dupin brings his team to get to the bottom of the mystery at the beautiful abbey, filled with luscious gardens, a paradise of sorts, with it famous for its special apples. Only as the team scrape beneath the surface, they uncover secrets that belie the lovely setting, with family intrigue into the wealthy dead woman’s estate and secrets around those who will inherit.
Did Aunt Joelle die of natural causes, or was she helped along by someone desperate for their part in her estate? And what do rare birds have to do with it all?
It’s a classic Dupin mystery, with the glories of the region highlighted, and rich with character development.
The series is known for its love letter to the region, in this case, the Cote des Legendes region that springs to life under Bannalec’s talented pen with his team tracking down the truth. A most satisfying case with a lovely and tender ending awaits readers.
Gillian McAllister might have been a lawyer, but since she became a full time writer, she has a string of thrillers to claim: Wrong Place Wrong Time; Famous Last Words; Just Another Missing Person, and The Good Sister are just a partial list of her hits.
When her newest, Caller Unknown, was offered to me for review, Auntie M jumped at the chance to read it.
Simone has left her husband, Damien, in England to run their restaurant so she can meet their daughter, Lucy for a week together, after Lucy has spent the summer at a Texas camp learning to sing before her RADA course starts. It’s mother-daughter time Simone is looking forward to, as the thought of watching her daughter start the next stage of her life courses through her. She knows this is the natural order of things, but she’s having a hard time letting go.
Then the unthinkable happens: after one night together in a cabin, Lucy is kidnapped, a ransom demanded, and Simone’s entire life changes. Damien flies over, but she lies to him that she’s called the police in, as the kidnappers assured her that doing so would cause her daughter’s death. She’s sent a sad proof of life video, showing Lucy with her hands bound behind her back.
This is when McAllister swiftly turns the plot on hits head, with Simone as Mother Warrior, desperately trying anything to save her daughter. There will be shootings, murder, and a drug deal before the heady climax. The twists come fast as the action ramps up until an unbelieveable climax leaves the reader feeling almost bereft, but in awe of Simone’s strength—until a brilliant last sharp turns brings everything into focus.
A meditation on a mother’s inexhaustible love, and the length’s she will go to for her daughter. Stunning.
The third Cal Hooper novel finds the intrepid Chicago detective, now retired, thick in the midst of an unwanted investigation in his rural West Irish town of Ardnakelty.
A lovely young woman, Rachel Holohan, is on the cusp of an engagement to Tommy Moynihan’s Eugene. The local business man has his fingers in so many projects he has half the town beholden to him and the other half scared of him.
So when Rachel’s body is found in the river, her death sets off a chain of events that will have the town, Cal and his fiancee, Lena, and his ward Trey Reddy, more involved than any of them want.
And when Cal’s investigation gets too close to revealing Tommy’s underhanded machinations that threaten the entire town, the gloves are off as the two men match wits, with Tommy having the weight to spread rumors about Cal and Lena, while his grief-stricken son watches from the sidelines.
French’s ability to weave these disparate characters is on full display here, with the townspeople aiding or detracting, depending on whose side they’re on. Cal’s loyalty to his new neighbors will be severely tested, and impact his relationship with Lena. The emotions run high as Cal continues to find out the truth, and find justice for Rachel, sometimes forgotten as a pawn in the fight that ensues.
No one creates atmosphere and uses her setting to her advantage as much as French. Her use of language pulls the reader in to the unfamiliar landscape, and she evokes a mood with words. Her plot is cleverly constructed, too, and as the pain of loss doubles, a sense of impending doom falls over the town. It will take Cal and his mismatched band of supporters to find the real justice at the end of the day.
A brilliant end to the trilogy of Cal Hooper stories. While The Keeper certainly can be read as a standalone, if you haven’t read them all, (The Searcher, The Hunter) Auntie M urges you to do so if you are a fan of well-written, absorbing stories about people who jump off the page.
I’d forgotten how much I enjoy Quinn’s Chet and Bernie Mysteries until I opened the first page and was immediately sucked in.
It takes a master author to write an entire book—or should I say series, as this is the 17th in this creative series—in the voice and point of a view of a dog.
Now I hasten to add right up front that Chet is not just any ordinary dog, not at all, a point he makes repeatedly. He is one half of the Little Detective Agency, the other half being his owner, Bernie Little, veteran war hero and private investigator.
Together, in a finely tuned partnership, Chet reads Bernie’s signals, using his prodigious nose to scent things out in their cases, including where people have been, and who they’ve been in contact with—which makes this particular new case right up their alley.
The internet sensation Miss Kitty and her owner, young Bitty, are bereft when Miss Kitty disappears. Chet and Bernie are soon on the hunt to find her as her huge following and new sponsors demand more content featuring the suave cat who sits on a purple pillow. A house cat, has Miss Kitty escaped and found freedom intoxicating? Or is there a more sinister reason for her disappearance, namely, a catnapping . . .
With one witness a pig named Señor Piggy, and the human witnesses all as likely to tell a lie as the truth, Chet and Bernie have their work cut out for them. Along the way there will be a murder or two, a few Miss Kitty scents and sightings, and an undersheriff who at first suspects Bernie of at least one of the murders.
The plot is a classic kidnapping mystery, with characters all finely drawn, including a pair of cowgirls. One of my favorite scenes in the book is how Chet describes their relationship: “Sisters or not sisters? What that all about? . . . Maud and Tish did not smell like sisters. They both smell somewhat oldish, but with more than a little juiciness to them, which you usually don’t get with oldish types. They were both also nice to look at, although their faces were not alike. In fact the closer you looked the more unalike they got…Human love has a special scent. Did you know that? It was the air right now.”
Somehow, Quinn manages to sustain this humorous but often philosophical mental narration of Chet throughout the entire book. His examines human emotions, relationships, moods, and his observations are on point.
No wonder then that I’m smitten with Chet, and you will be, too. Stephen King calls this: “Without a doubt the most original mystery series currently available.”
Auntiemwrites Crime-Mystery Author M K Graff 