I almost did after reading the opening pages of this terrific novel. That’s how strong the opener is, and explains why I kept flipping pages long after the light should have gone out…
I’ve been a huge fan of the Poe and Bradshaw series from Day 1 and follow them avidly. Each of the previous books have genius plotting, really well-done characterizations, and an ironic humor that contrasts nicely to some of the darker bits. Because there are darker bits.
But the stakes are raised in this one. A sniper had been shooting individuals with no apparent pattern. Then a bride is killed on her wedding day, and her influential father aids Poe’s investigation in a rare way, desperate to find his daughter’s killer.
The pressure on Poe and Tilly is sharp and relentless, and it doesn’t help that Poe is due to be married shortly. There will be sleight of hand, psychological reasonings, and above all, Tilly’s uncanny ability with maths to bring them closer to an invisible killer.
A thrilling read, this is an extraordinary book, perhaps Craven’s finest, from someone who’s loved them all.
From time to time, Auntie M likes to let you in what she’s been reading, not for review, but for her own personal choice. These are some of my favorites, the ones I reach for again and again for a satisfying read:
Steve Cavanagh knocks it out of the park with his new Eddie Flynn legal thriller, Two Kinds of Stranger, which may be his most perfectly twisted plot yet, and he’s a master at it. Eddie is a conman turned lawyer who won’t hesitate to step outside the law to bring justice.
This case comes too close to home when a stalker client threatens his daughter, ex-wife and her new lawyer husband. At the same time, he and his team have taken on the case of a young woman whose life had been about espousing random acts of kindness. In an ironic twist, that same instinct has led to her being poisoned, while her cheating husband and his lover are also poisoned. While the duo die, Ellie Parker manages to survive but is soon charged with their murders, as no one can find the stranger she says she helped who poisoned her, a sociopath working behind the scenes to manipulate her life.
No one except Eddie Flynn. And then his ex-wife’s stalker is killed, and his daughter’s mother and her husband are on trial for that murder. His team is managing two serious trials at the same time, and lines will be crossed with life-changing outcomes. At times you can’t see how he can pull this one off, and Eddie isn’t certain he can, either.
There’s a final extra ending twist that makes it all come full circle—you won’t be able to put this one down. Cavanagh gets NYC and its environs perfectly, which is all the more surprising when you learn he and his family live in Belfast, Ireland. Don’t miss this brilliantly layered novel.
The Marlow Murder Club is currently showing on my Masterpiece Mystery, and Auntie M snapped up the newest installment, a locked room (boat) mystery that weaves a killing around the Marlow Amateur Dramatic Society in Murder on the Marlow Belle.
Verity Beresford enlists Judith Potts and her friends to track down her missing husband after the drama society had hired The Marlow Belle for an evening on the river. But no one remembers seeing Oliver Beresford leave the boat.
Then Oliver’s body, complete with bullet holes, washes up downriver, and the three women amateur sleuths are on the hunt. Soon they are knee-deep in the personal lives of the main players, whose secrets they must unearth, as it seems Oliver had a host of enemies.
Cosy mystery crime at its finest with a returning ensemble we’ve grown to love.
Queen Camilla let it be known that Peter James is her favorite author, and so his October book, The Hawk is Dead, has scenes at Buckingham Palace. But One of Us is Dead is out now, so readers who follow Brighton Superintendent Roy Grace can gratefully indulge.
Grace and his familiar team are investigating a series of murders that appear unrelated, but Grace has a that twitch of instinct that tells him they are, despite mushroom poisoning and accidents that may not be what they seem.
At a local funeral, a man enters the church late to see a fellow a few rows ahead of him he knows to be dead–because he gave that man’s eulogy. What these disparate incidents have in common becomes the latest chase to find a canny killer.
Grace’s respect and detail of police procedures is at full mast here, as is his frustration at being behind the desk too much. Another great installment in a long-running series that never disappoints.
I had fears that SJ Bennett’s series featuring Queen Elizabeth would come to an end with the passing of the monarch, but Bennett’s Her Majesty the Queen Investigates series continues with A Death in Diamonds by heading back in time to 1957 with a young Queen finding her voice. And now she’s opened up a host of years to pull from as the series continues.
When two people are murdered and the Queen finds herself used as the alibi for one of the murders, all the while trying to learn her job and her nation’s place in a modern world, it seems that the very advisors she must trust may not always have her best interests at heart.
Her ally becomes Joan McGraw, an ex-Bletchley Park code breaker, discreet and loyal to the Queen, and soon this dynamic duo are running their own investigation. A clever and intriguing way to continue this series, Bennett gets the personalities of the royals involved down pat with nice asides we can well imagine might really have been said. A jewel~
Skelton’s well-plotted series featuring investigative reporter Rebecca Connolly continues with The Hollow Mountain.
Filled with the kind of ironic humor Auntie M enjoys, Rebecca is challenged by Alice Larkin, a dying millionaire and former reporter, to unearth what really happened when her lover died while working as a tunnel tiger on the Hollow Mountain project years ago.
With Alice parsing out her story, Rebecca must use her talents and those of her colleagues to unearth the truth of the hazardous construction as the workers blasted through mountains, under rivers, to create a pass, but she soon finds herself in jeopardy when the secrets she is finding threaten the reputations of those left behind.
Skelton’s series at highly atmospheric in their Scottish settings and the entire series comprise great reads.
Nita Prose’s maid Molly Gray is a wonderful character with a unique take on life whom Prose first debuted in The Maid. Now planing her wedding to chef Juan Manual, she’s been promoted to Head Maid and Special Events Manager at the Regency Grand Hotel, a delightful setting for much of the action of the series.
In The Maid’s Secret, the antiquities show Hidden Treasures is filming an episode at the Regency Grand when a decorated egg Molly brings in to be valued is found to be an antique treasure. At the same time as the television world and Molly’s life is turned upside down, excerpts from her grandmother’s diary explain how the egg came to be in her possession. And then the egg goes missing . . .
It’s a nice device that alternates with the madcap part of the auction process and gives a glimpse–and surprising information–to Molly. As usual, there is a sense of a heartfelt lesson being told.
Auntie M has been back to reading up a storm this summer and over the next posts, I’ll give you a my top picks for readers who won’t be disappointed in any of these choices. Each of these authors are a joy to read and these top four are all highly recommended.
Any novel by Elly Griffiths is a cause for celebration, whether it’s from her series with Det. Harbinder Kaur, her Brighton Mysteries, or her Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries (which I live in hope she will resurrect at some point in the future).
But as a writer I understand the desire to explore new characters and situations, and The Frozen People is as unexpected as it is suspenseful. She introduced cold case officer Ali Dawson, whose new assignment is to literally head back to the Victorian era to clear the name of an ancestor of a Tory MP.
Ali soon becomes involved seeking a group called The Collectors, whose membership required killing a woman. Under Griffiths skillful pen, 1850 London comes alive, and as a new body is found, Ali finds her cover almost blown and her life in danger. And just how is she meant to return to the present?
It’s a neat concept carried out to perfection, filled with Griffiths trademark eccentric characters and sly humor, as creative as it is imaginative.
Billingham’s much-awarded series featuring Tom Thorne is always chock full of surprises and no more so than in his newest offering, What the Night Brings.
Always a master at plotting, Thorne and DI Nicola Tanner are thrust into a nightmare of epic proportions, when a box of donuts given to four officers at a crime scene by a “thankful” member of the public poisons them all. Three die soon after, with the fourth hanging on to life.
Who is the intended victim? Or is it a swipe at all police? Thorne and his team must delve into each of the officer’s lives, treading a fine line with the grieving families of the officers involved.
But this soon turns out to be only the first the attacks on police, leaving everyone scrambling to make connections that don’t seem to be there. Could the reason lie deeper in a betrayal?
Thorne’s partner, Helen, makes an appearance, as does his pathologist friend saddled with the post mortem, Phil Hendricks, bringing a feel of normalcy to this completely shocking tale.
Billingham is a master of twists but even seasoned reader Auntie M was shocked at the turn of events. You won’t be able to put this one down.
Every Michael Robotham novel Auntie M has read has surprised and moved me in unexpected ways, and I’ve read and recommend them all: The wonderful Joe O’Loughlin series, The Cyrus Haven series, ad several standalone. So it’s no surprise that his newest series featuring London PC Phil McCarthy is an instant favorite. Debuted in When You Are Mine, the daughter of a crime boss is constantly fighting preconceptions of her team against that of her family.
When Phil discovers a child wandering alone at night in her PJs, she will uncover that tough realization that the child has been a witness to a deadly home invasion. At the same time a jeweler found in his store, strapped to a an explosive vest, is found to be tied to the child.
And soon ties are also discovered to Phil’s family, setting up a tense situation that will test her loyalties and her career. It’s a tight plot with plenty of action as things turn and unravel, with Phil at the center of it all.
One of the hallmarks of Robotham’s book is his ability to create characters readers will care about, and this is no exception. Grab yourself a copy.
Who isn’t a fan of the creative Anthony Horowitz? His Susan Ryland series has been adapted into a wonderful television series he also writes, and Marble Hall Murders is the third in that series, rumored regrettably to be the last.
Susan has decided England is where she must be planted and is working as a freelance editor for a publisher when she’s handed her worst editing nightmare: someone has written a continued of the Atticus Pund series that got her into her prior troubles.
It doesn’t help that the author, Eliot Crace, quickly annoys Susan, but she concedes his book has merit–until she realizes he’s hiding clues in it about the death of his grandmother, who he is convinced was poisoned.
As Eliot’s behavior becomes more and more unstable, a murder makes Susan the prime suspect.
Auntiemwrites Crime-Mystery Author M K Graff 