Snow’s dark thriller begins and ends with a missing child, thought to be drowned.
Set along the Montecito coastline noted as the “American Riviera,” Roxie Starr is four years old when she disappears at the beach, and despite not being at work that afternoon, her nanny Colleen is haunted by guilt that she could have saved her.
It also destroys her parents with their tony lifestyle and open marriage. Is this a situation which any of them can survive?
Then Colleen returns to the beach house before moving away and the impossible happens: she sees a child down by the water who is the spitting image of Roxie.
Post-traumatic syndrome, guilt, trauma all are reacted to differently by the involved characters. Long-held secrets are exposed.
And then a swooping ending that contains more than one twist makes this psychological suspense novel a winner.
French introduced fingerprint analyst Shaw Connolly in her thrilling first in this Maine series, Shaw Connolly Lives to Tell. Along the way, readers learn the intricate work these analysts perform and how involved they become in their cases.
Still reeling from the events of that novel, where she faced down her sister’s killer after years of hunting for him, she finds herself in the midst of a new case of missing woman discovered in a submerged car.
Her only clue is a single fingerprint belonging to a dead ex-con, which leads Shaw to investigate, with startling results.
In the midst of this, still grieving and trying to find peace in her life for her remaining sister, her two sons, her elderly father, and her estranged husband who wants to reconcile, a new wrinkle occurs: she’s asked by he state police contact if she will be willing to talk to her sister’s killer, in prison awaiting trial. The diabolical Anders Jansen claims he has information on two other cold cases, both of young women, but refused to talk to anyone about them unless Shaw agrees to participate in the search for their bodies.
Pulled in many directions, and with her own misgivings at the forefront, Shaw knows the years she and her family suffered by this man’s maliciousness, and reluctantly agrees.
This is a multi-layered plot that starts out hard and has a relentless pace. Add in characters so real they jump off the page and grab you by the throat and readers will find a book that’s hard to put down.
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.
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.
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.
Higashino is one of Japan’s best-known novelists, and I’ve read and enjoyed many of his books. The translations retain the intricacies of social customs, while his plotting is diverse and engaging.
While the others I’ve read have featured either Detective Galileo (The Devotion of Suspect X) or the intricate mind of Kyoichiro Saga (Malice), Guilt brings homicide detective Godai of Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police to the case of a murdered lawyer.
Kensuke Shiraishi’s body has been found on a riverbank, and after much detecting, Godai finds an older man named Tatsuro Kuraki is involved. Then a strange turn of events cause Kuraki, who at first claimed only minimal knowledge of the dead, to confess to not only his killing, but that of a cold case murder twenty years before.
Despite being congratulated that he has solved two cases at once, Godai fears Kuraki’s confession doesn’t ring true, and continues to investigate, all the while facing stubborn resilences from the man in jail, whose son takes up his own parellel investigation.
Both men will delve into the history of the deceased men, as well as the man who claims to have killed them, with surprising results.
There is a tension that rises as the reader sees what Godai sees–an unraveling of lies and half-trrths, until a final, surprising truth is attained.
Guilt and redemption are the two main themes explored in this highly readable novel.
As a crime writer, Auntie M is always interested when another writer uses a creative way to tell a story.
This is a book-within-a-book, told in alternating chapters between a young London detective, back at work after a medical leave and trauma, and the author of a tell-all primer supposedly, written by a serial killer who is now teaching others how he literally has gotten away with murder for years.
DI Samantha Hansen wants in on the case of a 14 yr-old girl murdered in Holland Park. Found lying against a tree in the park, a copy of the book is left beside her. While Sam recognizes the importance of this huge clue, she is also suspicious of it.
What follows is a cat-and-mouse game with the book’s author, Denver Brady, as Sam races to find him before he kills again. She will face criticism from her colleagues as her shaky anxiety sometimes impedes her. She will realize that people she’s trusted in the past have not deserved that from her, a wake up call that’s as difficult to swallow as the realization that perhaps Denver Brady isn’t who he claims to be.
Philipson explores the celebrity of serial killers in our society, as well as violence against women, while treating readers to a wild ride with great plot twists. A terrific read~
Berry’s sixth Kate Hamilton mystery keeps the series fresh, utilizing Kate’s antiques expertise and that of her business partner, Ivor Tweedy, in a unique way. Being married to DI Tom Mallory means Kate has an above-average knowledge of murder investigations, too, and has helped Tom in the past.
When an extremely well-preserved body is found at an archeological dig, it’s determined to be from the 14th century, and Kate and Ivor are asked to examine and evaluate the grave goods found buried with the woman’s body, which include a huge, valuable pearl. They meet the team who found the body, composed of varied personalities and talents.
Additionally, Kate is tasked as part of her private investigators work by the wealthy landowner, whose property contains the dig, with unearthing the idenity of the buried woman, who was pregnant at the time of her death. His own wife went missing nine years ago, and a museum of the plague-ridden village was her project, one he has continued in her absence as he struggles with his grief.
Then the lead archeologist, Dr. Simon Sinclair, is found murdered on the site with pearls stuffed in his mouth, and Tom becomes involved while also trying to track a killer in an unrelated death. Sinclair’s murder has numerous suspects, and with Kate on site, Kate works in concert with Tom to obtain inside information that might not surface in a formal police interview.
Berry does a grand job of showing how Kate uses resources and ancient documents to track down the identity of the murdered woman in the midst of Tom’s investigation into the modern murder. Then another set of bones are found to ratchet up the tension. Throw in Kate’s pregnant friend, the local vet and vicar’s wife, and you have a nicely rounded plot with local threads.
The interspersion of the cold cases with the new murder unraveling give rising tension to a well-done climax that makes sense. Don’t miss Berry’s author’s note at the end about the real-life discovery of a medieval body that gave her the storyline idea.
Auntiemwrites Crime-Mystery Author M K Graff 