Auntiemwrites Crime-Mystery Author M K Graff

James Oswald returns with his second DC Constance Fairchild novel in Nothing to Hide, as strong and compelling an entry as his first in this new series, No Time to Cry. Fans of Oswald’s Inspector acClean series will recognize Oswald’s touch with creative characters and bringing his settings to life, with an added touch of something ‘other.’

On paid leave after her last case ended with several high-profile arrests within the police system, and including one of Britain’s wealthy power men, Con finds herself at loose ends trying to keep a low profile until a big trial, when she returns from time in the Highlands to her London flat, and comes across a mutilated young man who’s barely alive.

This is the first of a string of such mutilations which leave most of its victims dead, and Con is determined to find out who is responsible for these horrific acts, even as she receives the cold shoulder at work from some colleagues and strict instructions from her higher-ups to leave the investigation alone, especially when the National Crime Agency becomes involved.

Worse still, she’s hounded at home by the tabloid press and often can’t sleep in her own bed when her privileged upbringing comes back to haunt her. Oswald brings readers strong women to surround Con, from her neighbor who makes great coffee, Mrs. Feltham, to her Aunt Felicity; from a PC assigned to her, Karen Eve, who just might be a friend, to the fabulous Madame Rose.

But staying out of trouble and not investigating is not Con’s way, and soon she’s embroiled in a case that will take her to the most unlikely places, including Scotland, and even worse, back to her own home, with her title of Lady Constance.

While the evil is there for all to see, taking down the responsible parties is complicated. Con’s mother is involved; her brother is trying to keep the press away from his wedding; and then a friend in Scotland offers her an unlikely refuge to keep her face out of the papers and helps her go undercover.

Oswald doesn’t shirk from today’s issues plaguing young people, but balances them with Con’s sly humor. The Daily Mail calls this “A cracking story beautifully told,” and Auntie M heartily agrees. Highly recommended.

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Translated from the French, Fred Vargas’s This Poison Will Remain beings Commissaire Adamsberg his most devilish and complicated mystery yet.

The four-time winner of CWA’s International Dagger, Vargas has a creative bent with an imagination that makes the books as whimsical as her protagonist while at the same time detailing a complex plot and storyline.

Adamsberg is called back from a trip to Iceland for a hit-and-run investigation, but his imagination is caught by the deaths of three men killed by brown recluse spider bites.

With the first case ingeniously and quickly solved, the detective must fight some members of his own team while pursuing what some feel is a ridiculous investigation as he follows his hunch.

Yet his own research has assured him that these spiders haven’t mutated or suddenly been transformed. To die the way these men have died would have been a Herculean task of collecting their venom.

Adamsberg is convinced these are murders. He has his team set out to find what the possible link there could be between these three men, and finds more than he expected. Is it possible these are revenge murders for incidents that took place decades ago? And the murders continue.

The members of Adamsberg’s team are an unlikely bunch, from a narcoleptic to a strong female lieutenant, from a childhood friend of Adamsberg’s to a naturalist who’s eel stinks up their offices.

There’s no question that Adamsberg’s thought processes range from quirky to odd, but his brilliance in making connections makes this an imaginative read that Auntie M found captivating.

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It’s no secret Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache series is a favorite of Auntie M’s with good reason: she manages to write a different complex mystery with every novel while entertwining the strengths and weaknesses of the human spirit.

With A Better Man, she brings Gamache back to where he began, as head of the homicide department. For a short time, until he moves to start his new job, he will share this job with his son-in-law Jean-Guy Beauvoir, his daughter Annie’s husband.

It could be an awkward time, with the boss taking orders from his former right-hand man, but Gamache is determined to make it work, even as flood waters rise in the province of Quebec and threaten dams, bridges, lives.

Adding to the tension are social media slights that thrust Gamache into the limelight and gossip he loathes, and threaten his ability to do his job, any job.

Then a father begs Gamache to find his daughter. Married to an abusive husband, Vivienne Godin was to meet with her father and never showed up. Knowing he should leave her search until after the flood waters recede, Gamache understands and feels the need of this father to find his daughter.

But at what cost? And how will Gamache handle the cruel things being said about him?

With her usual strong plotting, the characters we’ve grown to love of Three Pines buttress this fine addition to the series. Penny is a master of balancing the dark and the light, and always manages to move this reader–multiple times. Highly recommended.

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Keller’s returns with Bell Elkins in The Cold Way Home, and proves that the stories of Bell and her compatriots are still compelling even though their individual situations have vastly changed over the arc of the series.

Family is at the heart of this one, pride in one, what makes up one, and what we will do for ours. One of the strengths of this series is the realistic characters of rural West Virginia and Acker’s Gap, Bell’s hometown.

The former prosecutor is now a private investigator, helped by two other friends and compatriots: Nick Fogelsong and Jake Oakes, former sheriff and deputy respectively. There’s a missing girl they need to find, but there’s also a murder, with the body found on the burned-out grounds of a former psychiatric hospital.

Wellwood had a notoriety even before it burned to the ground, which is where the body of Darla Gilley, sister of Nick’s best friend, Joe, is found. These woods are where Bell and her sister Shirley played as children, and she knows them well, down to the nickname for a twisted tree.

Trying to find the root of the murder of Darla means going through all of her connections in town. It also means looking into the death of her grandmother, a former employee of Wellwood when it was functioning. Is it too much to believe there’s no coincidence between both murdered bodies being found at Wellwood?

While just a burned out shell now, the ghosts or Wellwood hang over the story and inhabit the investigation. And help will come to Bell from an unlikely source.

One of the best in a strong series, this could easily be read as a stand-alone if you aren’t already a fan of Bell Elkins and her crew.

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