Brittney’s 7th installment in her Mayfair 100 series, set in London during World War 1, brings the same attention to historical detail as the rest of this fascinating collection of stories that encompass a murder investigation while examining the societal constraints and mores of the era.
With a special task force set up to include women, DCI Peter Beech, invalided out with an injured leg, leads the team that includes two other policemen, Sgt. Arthur Tillman who has come out to retirement to help, and invalided constable, Billy Rigby. The competent women who assist them are Women’s Hospital physician Caroline; Pharmacist Mabel; and solicitor Victoria, who is qualified but unable to practice law as a woman. They are aided by Billy’s mother and aunt, while the team is headquartered in Victoria’s mother’s house. Lady Maud Winterbourne has allowed her Mayfair home to be the center for the team, whileher society connections often prove invaluable.
It’s February of 1916 and The Military Service Act has been passed, which in the US would be called the draft, making military service compulsory for single men between 18-41. The first victim, which Victoria had encountered shortly before her murder, is a young woman who shamed a man for not signing up by handing him a white feather.
The White Feather League used these women to indicate they regarded the men as cowards. While often that was not true, as a man might have served and been invalided out, the league’s actions raise the ire of Victoria, already widowed, who fears her new love will be conscripted.
The dead girl is found with her throat cut in a distinctive way, and soon a young art student designing recruitment posters is murdered with the same unusual implement. When a third woman is attacked but wards her murderer off, there is hope she can identify her would-be killer, but at first she is kept in a medical coma, unable to be questioned. The Mayfair team is tasked with warning women involved in promoting this kind of propaganda, but the numbers are heady and the task difficult, while at the same time they search for details in each killing for leads.
Woven into the investigation, Caroline and Mabel are asked to inspect a factory contructing aircraft where women are falling ill, and there is a suspicion that the chemicals used in their process are causing permanent health damage to the workers. This fascinating subplot will capture readers attention as it leads to new restrictions.
Then the search for the killer ratchets up when one of the team disappears without a trace. Could the killer have taken their member off the street? The compelling story rises to a riveting and surprising climax.
The hallmark of the series is Brittney’s consistent and realistic historical detailing, reflecting the enormous research she must undertake in many areas to bring this kind of multi-layered story to readers.
How does a multi-award-winning author keep a series interesting through 39 books?
By developing varied, quirky, and interesting characters, then placing them in a charming rural setting, and filling her stories with tidbits about nature, all wrapped up in a mystery that is not so much needing to be solved as proving what lead protagonist Meg Langslow suspects all along.
The blackmsith is hoping for some forge time when her family’s good friend Ragnar Ragnarsen calls with an urgent plea: can she and her family help with the many volunteers needed to care for fifty horses suddenly displaced from their equine rescue?
All of Meg’s family become involved, including her twin teen boys, her zookeeper father, her doctor dad, and her theatre director husband. Ragnar’s estate closely resembles a moated castle, complete with many of Meg’s gothic iron decorative and useful items on display. The huge fields surrounding the estate are soon broken into staging areas for the horses, many who have just been rescued from auctions and need to be triaged, while others need room to roam.
The rescue farm’s owner recently died without leaving a will, forcing Hoof and Hearth to temporarily rehome the horses as his two sons argue the legalities. While older son Abel is in favor of the rescue on the land, the younger, George, wants to sell the land for development, and isn’t above using threats and shady characters to reinforce his position.
Meg’s family camp out to keep watch over the horses after George’s thugs appear—until one of them is found murdered, and suspicion falls squarely on Abel.
Now Meg must juggle watching her family and the horses, while she helps to unmask a killer, and learns how to care and cajole horses of all personalities, including one due to deliver any minute.
The research Andrew’s brings into every aspect of a horse’s life make this story, along with its humorous bent, an entertaining read with this satisfying entry.
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.”
I recently met Sonny Hudson at the Williamsburg Book Festival, an event I thoroughly enjoyed. If you live anywhere near that lovely area in Virginia, I urge you to attend next year’s event, which featured four speakers plus rooms filled with authors and their books. Since my talk was on what makes a good book cover, I was attracted to those on Sonny’s books.
I’ve asked him to tell us how he came to write his series. Please welcome Sonny Hudson to Auntie M Writes:
Readers ask me all the time where I find the inspiration for my stories, and it’s easy to respond with something generic like ‘inspiration is all around us’. While that’s certainly true, I usually cite two events, one that inspired me to want to write, and the other that was the inspiration for the first book in my Jessica Jansen Thriller series, The Murder Game.
I didn’t grow up dreaming of becoming a writer, but early in my technology career I took on a new role supporting our global sales force. A small but key part of the job for my team was creating and publishing a newsletter distributed to almost 7,500 people. This quickly became my favorite part of the job, and my teammates took to calling me ‘the guy who never met a blank page that he didn’t want to fill.’ Guilty!
I’ve always been a big fan of murder mysteries, and when a particularly bizarre incident happened to me while traveling for business, it became my inspiration for The Murder Game. I actually used this incident, or at least a fictionalized version of it, in the opening chapters.
While traveling back to Virginia from a trip to California, I was changing planes in Dallas and moving between terminals on the SkyTrain when another passenger dropped their wallet. I was unable to catch them, so I decided to turn it in to the DFW police or TSA when I reached my stop.
I decided to look in the wallet to see if I might find information to have the person paged, and when I looked inside, I was stunned: the wallet was empty except for three different IDs from three different states, with three different names, and three different pictures of the same guy.
My mind immediately went to something criminal—naturally—and I started drafting the book before I even boarded my next flight. That one strange incident inspired a book, which inspired an entire series. I’m glad I was there to experience it!
Sonny Hudson is the acclaimed author of the Jessica Jansen Thriller series, which includes The Murder Game, Glitz. Glamour. Murder., Blood & Vengeance, and Divine Deception. Taut, fast-paced action and incredibly strong, smart, and capable female lead characters grab readers from the very first page. Readers have compared Hudson’s books to top authors like Patricia Cornwell (Scarpetta series), J.D. Robb (In Death series), James Patterson (Women’s Murder Club series), and David Baldacci (Mercy series).
Fans of political action and spy thrillers by top writers like Robert Ludlum, Vince Flynn, and Brad Thor will love Hudson’s debut novel, Let the Truth Be Told. This perennial favorite has captivated audiences at events year after year.
Currently residing in Williamsburg, VA, Hudson has transitioned from a long and successful career in the technology sector to providing business and technology consulting to Global 1000 companies and their extensive network of channel partners. When not working or writing, Hudson enjoys cruising on the Chesapeake Bay or exploring the world-class wineries and restaurants of California wine country.
Auntie M has just interviewed her writing colleague, Lauren Small, who specializes in historical novels. Brickhouse Books has published her latest, an odyssey centering on the First Crusade. Welcome Lauren!
Auntie M: You’ve written many historical novels in different eras. What inspired you to choose this particular time period?
LS: My books always come out of my passion for social justice and my belief that by exploring the past, we can better understand the present. I’ve been very concerned in recent years about the rise of white Chirstian nationalism and antisemitism. People seem to be talking a lot about the Crusades. I was prompted to look more into the topic, and became hit with the bug to write about it.
AM: I know you’ve done exhuastive research for Radegonde. Can you describe your research process?
LS: I read everything I can get my hands on, in this case, both histories of the Crusades and testimonials that have come down to us. Luckily, I’d already had the chance to travel to many of the main places where the Crusades took place, such as France, the Rhine Valley, and Jersusalem. I also visited museums to look at artworks and artifacts, and of course the Internet provided information through maps, images, and so on.
AM: Can you explain your character development for Radegonde and the other main characters who tell this story? Did you have difficulty narrowing your focus to her and her circle?
LS: I felt from the beginning that we would experience that Crusade through Radegonde’s eyes. She’s only fifteen years old, with a curiosity to explore the world. I expanded the story by including different kinds of people who took part in Crusades like this: a Jewish scholar, a runaway monk, a Muslim girl, and a formerly enslaved African woman. I especially wanted to focus on women, since I think their voices are often overlooked in history.
AM: Let’s talk process. When you finally sat down to write this, did you work from an outline of high points, write scenes out of order that you knew you’d need, or did the story develop as you wrote?
LS: The story developed as I wrote it, although I always knew it would follow the journey of the Crusade, from northern France to Jerusalem.
AM: How much revision did you have to do for this book?
LS: A ton! I always do a lot of revision—it’s one of my favorite parts of the writing process. This book went through four major drafts, in addition to my reworking individual scenes.
AM: Is there a scene or passage you’re particularly proud of writing?
LS: One of the most important scenes I wrote was the massacre at Mainz. We have a lot of historical information about it, so I had much to draw on. It was a terrible atrocity at the time, but has largely been forgotten. The scene was very hard to write, but in the end I was proud to have done it, to honor the people who died there.
AM: What do you hope wil resonate with readers once they’ve read Radegonde?
LS: I hope they will see how much we can understand about the present by delving into the past. In particular, I hope they will understand why the Crusades are still relevant today.
AM: Please tell us about some of your other historical novels, as they range over different periods.
LS: I do range widely in my work! For instance, I’ve written about my hometown of Baltimore during the First World War era, and about the Nuremburg Doctors’ trial.
AM: What’s your next project? Will it be historical in nature?
LS: Yes, I’m writing a novel inspired by the Medieval Jewish scholar named Maimonides. He lived a fascinating life!
AM: Where can readers find Radegonde and the First Crusade?
LS: I’m very grateful to my publisher, Brickhouse Books, which has done a beautiful job with my book: http://www.brickhousebooks.com.
Lauren Small is a novelist with a strong interests in social justice and the power of historical fiction to illuminate the present. She earned a PhD in Comparative Literature, and is an adjunct assistant professor in pediatrics in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD, where she teaches medical humanities. She has been a guest contributor to the “On Being” blog of American Public Radio and is a Pushcart Prize nominee. Her previous novels include The Hanging of Ruben Ashford (Brickhouse Books, 2022), and The Eye Begins to See (Ethics Press, 2023).
After bringing Nicola Upson’s The Christmas Clue and Mandy Morton’s Six Tails at Midnight to your attention, I’m adding two new releases that would make great gifts for the readers on your list that are not set on Christmas but are delightful reads:
Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club is a favorite series of many readers with good reason. The vastly different foursome of Joyce, Elizabeth, Ron, and Ibrahim have spent the past year differently after the events of the last installment, The Last Devil to Die.
But with The Impossible Fortune, a wedding (Joyce’s daughter, Joanna, long-yearned for by Joyce) brings the group together for a happy occasion. Then a wedding guest, Nick Silver, who knows of Elizabeth’s history, asks for her help . . . and disappears soon after.
Hoping to grill his business partner, Holly Lewis, only leads to a devastating result, and soon the group are mired deeply in this investigation which revolves around an uncrackable code that leads to riches.
Joanna feels she should help as Nick is a pal of her new husband, and soon adds her help. Ron’s daughter, Suzi, needs help, too, in getting rid of her abusive thug of a husband, and soon her son Kendrick is added to the population. And Ibrahim’s client Connie, newly out of prison, is mentoring a young woman, Tia, in a highly unusual manner.
It’s a wild ride that manages to come together with startling results along the way. Intricately plotted, and with Osman’s trademark humor but clear-sighted view of human nature, this will please any reader on your list.
Sophie Hannah, the gifted author chosen by Agatha Christie’s family to resurrect Hercule Poirot, gives us a convoluted mystery, The Last Death of the Year, set on New Year’s Eve, 1932, when Poirot and his detective inspector cohort, Edward Catchpool, travel to a remote Greek Island at the the behest of the owner.
The island of Lamperos contains tiny horses, goats, and few buildings, but it does have an unusual house on Liakada Bay called Spiti Athanasiou, The House of Perpetural Welcome, set right on the sea, an attraction for Catchpool, who loves to swim at any time of year.
Their host, Nate Athanasiou, has opened his home to a phalanx of different supporters of the community project he and his good friend Matthew Fair are developing: a place where welcome and forgiveness are given to all who live there, without consideration for past actions.
While the premise seems optimistic, Nate’s nervous demeanor hints at the threat of danger as the reason he’s called for Poirot to attend. That becomes obvious when the game played after dinner, where each of the residents writes a New Year’s resolution that isn’t signed, includes one that there will be “the last and first death of the year.”
With this declaration hanging over them, it should be no surprise when it comes true . . .
A masterful look at the psychology of each character in a complicated classic mystery, where the drawing room has been replaced by a craggy house on a Greek isle.
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 