The 9th DI Clare Mackay is a tightly-plotted winner, chockfull of Todd’s twists and page-turning events.
Intelligence indicates a serial killer known as the Choker, who targets gay men, is heading for Clare’s corner of Scotland, St. Andrews. Clare’s team swings into action, with covert actions, undercover work, and long surveillances.
Then a young man is murdered near a nightclub with all the hallmarks of this serial killer. Could Theo Glancy’s murder be connected to the nightclub as his family run it, or is this the newest case of the Choker?
Even worse than catching a new murder case, Clare finds the nightclub is attached to her nemesis, Val Docherty, who has shrugged off previous charges like a duck sheds water. Will this be the time Clare finally gets to see Val behind bars, and if so, at what cost?
This is a tight police procedural, with Clare’s team functioning well under her lead. Her personal life is on smooth sailing, too, until her sister brings her attention to her aging father’s issues. It’s time for Clare to have a few moments of personal reflection, all while searching to stop a serial killer before he strikes again.
Auntie M is a huge fan of Todd’s atmospheric series, gobbling up each installment. If you haven’t found this series yet, reach for it now. Better yet, start with the first, See Them Run, to follow Clare’s personal life. And now I have to wait for the next one…
Auntie M’s 2025 gift to you readers. Happy New Year! And three greats to read:
Alan Bradley’s Flavia de Luce Mysteries, set in the 1950s, are currently in production in the UK, based on the first in this wonderful series, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. The books are a revelation, and when Bradley created his young genius sleuth, 11 in the first book, he hit on a magnificent creature, at turns smart and wily.
So Auntie M was delighted to find a new adventure for Flavia, now 15, and her prodigious brain growing in leaps and bounds, in What Time the Sextion’s Spade doth Rust. Mentoring her live-in cousin, Undine, described as “odious” and “moonfaced,” Flavia attempts to channel Undine’s potential for trickery to her own uses in her investigations.
This time a former hangman dies after eating poisonous mushrooms, and the de Luce’s own cook is suspected. With her chemistry expertise (something Auntie M admires add wonders how Bradley gets his information), Flavia sets out to clear dear Mrs. Mullet and uncovers some surprising and disturbing truths about her own family along the way. Clever humor balances the darker bits. Terrific.
I recommend Doug Johnstone’s Skelf series all the time and often give one for gifts. This family of three generations of strong Edinburgh women have been through the wringer and keep chugging along, and that is at the forefront of Living is a Problem.
Running a funeral home and private investigation agency from their home, their personal lives become entwined in the stories. Matriarch Dorothy, a skilled drummer, too, tries to help her boyfriend who is suffering from PTSD, when a Ukrainian member of the refugee choir that Dorothy’s band plays with goes missing.
Her daughter, Jenny, is conducting a funeral when it’s attacked by a drone, and Jenny sees gangland interference. She and Archie, their funeral home helper, are becoming closer, despite their differences. And her daughter, Hannah, a scientist, finds her interests changing, while supported by her wife.
This series is consistent, with an uplifting story that doesn’t shrug away from life–and death–yet leaves the reader uplifted and wanting more Skelfs.
Peter Lovesey closes his long-running Peter Diamond series with Against the Grain. The stubborn Diamond has solved more than his share of cases using his wiles and wit, with some surprises along the way.
In Against the Grain, Diamond travels to the country for a holiday with his partner, Paloma, at the invitation of his former colleague Julie Hargreaves. It’s no secret that Diamond is contemplating life after detecting, and he must decide to retire or solider on.
But he’s no sooner in the lovely village of Baskerville when Julie’s ulterior motive is revealed: a horrific accident at a grain silo has resulted in a manslaughter conviction for the dairy farm’s owner, and Julie is convinced that not only was there a miscarriage of justice, but that the real killer is still at large. He soon finds unfamiliar village customs come to the forefront of his days.
Diamond finds himself up to his elbows, literally, in things he couldn’t begin to imagine, that delight readers and perhaps Diamond himself. And uses his experience and his knowledge of human nature to a stunning climax.
It’s always sad to say goodbye to beloved characters, and readers can only hope Lovesey will keep Diamond going in a story or two. A wonderful series amongst Lovesey’s other fiction, Diamond is but one of Lovesey’s creations who linger with readers and deserve to be investigated.
Elly Griffiths has a treat for fans of her all of her series: a collection of stories that feature some of her favorite characters for readers to gobble up.
And what a collection this is! By turns heartwarming (St. Lucy’s Day), to the wry humor of Ruth’s First Christmas Tree, to a modernized Little Women in Castles in the Air. There are stand alones, too, such as Turning Traitor, What I Saw from the Sky, and others.
And we are treated to seeing Ruth Galloway and her Nelson together again for those readers who miss that series (hint, hint Elly!).
Many have tidbits of the history Griffiths sprinkles into her stories that add to them. And there’s even one from the viewpoint of Ruth’s cat, Flint (Flint’s Fireside Tale; A Christmas Story)
Best of all, the final story, Ruth Galloway and the Ghost of Max Mephisto, brings Ruth across the path of DI Harbinder Kaur, her protagonist from a different series, with the ghost of magician Max Mephisto from yet another of her series. It ties them all together, however briefly, for a delightful moment for readers.
Fiona Barton introduced DI Elise King in LOCAL GONE MISSING, when the detective is recuperating after a mastectomy and called into a case sooner than expected.
At the time I was struck by how this idea of a woman detective recovering from something so many of us will face (I am a breast cancer survivor myself) hadn’t been tackled before; and of how well Barton gave us a picture of a woman reeling after being left by her long-time partner to face this alone, with all of the concurrent things that medically and emotionally are attached to it.
In TALKING TO STRANGERS, Elise is back at work with her chemo hair growing out but still affected by ‘chemo brain’ she hopes her team don’t notice. Her second-in-command and friend, DS Caro Brennan, is aware of the missing memory synapses and helps cover for her as she heals. It’s not a good feeling to think she’s not operating on all of her cylinders, especially when a new case arrives the day after Valentine’s Day.
A body found in Knapton Woods by walkers is soon identified by Elise herself, recognizing local hairdresser Karen Simmons from the small seaside town of Ebbing where she now lives. As the investigation heats up, links to a dating site emerge and the suspects are too numerous to be easily eliminated.
The death resonates strongly with another character, Annie Curtis, former nurse now a part-time medical receptionist, as her young son was found dead in that same woods fifteen years before. But this new killing brings the horror of that time and all of its agony to the forefront of Annie’s mind, and she finds herself drawn back to the woods and to the mother of the young man accused of her son’s murder.
How Barton brings these two threads together will take your breath away. She has a gift for strong characterizations that allow the reader to feel their emotions, whether it’s Elise’s lack of confidence or Annie’s deep searing pain that bind them to the reader.
And in her usual fashion, Barton also manages to create a whopper of an ending–which she then turns of its head. Brilliant and not to be missed.
Canadian Nita Prose’s first Molly Gray book, THE MAID, won all sorts of well-deserved awards, including an Anthony and Barry for best first mystery, as well as the Ned Kelly Award for International Crime Fiction.
Now she returns with Molly, elevated to Head Maid at the prestigious Regency Grand Hotel where she tries for perfection and trains and mentors new maids. The hotel’s tearoom has just undergone a spectacular renovation, and its inaugural event features the famous mystery author, JD Grimthorpe, who manages to spread mayhem of his own when he drops dead during his speech.
This is particularly upsetting to Molly, who has gloried in the tearoom upgrade. She has a credo of cleanliness is stickler for proper manners, and lives by the handbook of her department.
The mystery follows Molly trying to sleuth the murderer, after her success in The Maid, despite the case being handled by Detective Stark, who would like to find a reason to arrest if not Molly, then her new charge, Lily.
And Molly is hiding a past association with Grimthorpe, told in scenes that give readers a glimpse into her upbringing. Even her best friend, doorman Mr. Preston who watches over Molly, seems to have a secret.
This is first class crime writing, with a protagonist who you will come to adore. Molly is likely on the autism spectrum but that is never openly addressed, nor need it be. She is an original creation, one who can lead a series, and who has found a way to open her heart to love and will soon find her way into yours.
Auntie M is one of those people who want to hold a book in hand, hard cover, paperback, it doesn’t really matter. And I get pretty annoyed with people who announce the book is dead and we will all be reading online only in the future.
That’s why I was so heartened to read Ann Patchett’s article in the weekend Wall Street Journal’s Culture page, The Triumph of the Readers.
The author of Bel Canto and the recentnovel Run shares a details of a board meeting from her local Nashville Public Library Foundation. Her library has noted a trend supported by a recent report from the National Endowment for the Arts: for the first time in 25 years, the number of people reading fiction is on the rise.
She goes on to say she’s not the least surprised, as when she travels around the country giving talks, the audiences are packed with readers hanging on her every word about the process an author goes through to produce a novel. They want to talk about literature, they love literature, there is no death of literature.
Patchett adds that whenever she sees someone floundering in a bookstore, she helps them find a good book to read. And she is always giving out lists to others of books she’s read and enjoyed, to spread the wealth of what is out there and share a great find. My kind of gal.
Phew! For a moment there I worried a Kindle was the only way I’d get to read in the future.
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Today Doc ‘hopped’ around our bedroom twice and it’s only afternoon! He’s sleeping better at night, and although the pain is still intense, there is a definite upward movement, after a long, long month.
And for those of you who worried, yes, I DID get to shave my legs this weekend!
Auntie M has been reading a ton lately, mostly at night between doses of pain med to Doc, when he’s hurting and neither of us are sleeping.
Ellie Hatcher is Alafair Burke’s new homicide detective in the second of this Manhattan-based series.
Readers were introduced to Hatcher in Dead Connection, a midwesterner who has grown to love New York except for the killers and crime she finds there. In Angel’s Tip, Hatcher has a new partner and a new killing spree to investigate.
With a suspect quickly in their sights, most New Yorkers start to relax, until Hatcher realizes the murders are far too reminiscent of a string of killings from a decade ago. She does not make friends as she pushes to keep the investigation open.
These thrillers combine a fast pacing and enough quirks and twists to keep you reading to the last page.
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On a different note, thanks to all who have sent good wishes and prayers to Doc, and to all of your for being so understanding that my time is limited right now. He is healing very slowly, much to his chagrin, and in bed 23 1/2 hrs out of 24 most days. Our MN son came in this week for a long weekend and has been doing tons of “Doc” chores around here.
Today Doc walked six steps on his good leg with the walker and that indeed progress. He’s doing arm exercises in bed every few hours, too. Pain is still a big issue but we think we’ve got him on a better regimen now.
Thanks for all the positive energy you’ve sent our way!
Wouldn’t it be nice if we had one someday? But no, this is the title of Reginald Hill’s 560+ page novel I’ve just finished reading. Hill just seems to get longer and better with each outing. He’s a great plotter and his dialogue is a hoot! This is one of the Dalziel and Pascoe series, (also televised at some point years ago on BBC and well worth a look if you ever come across the DVD’s.) When he has Andy Dalziel speak, I have to laugh out loud sometimes, he had that voice nailed so perfectly.
This one centers on a small town on the Yorkshire coast which is trying to build up itself as a health resort. Our Andy finds himself ensconced there as he rehabs from the blast that almost killed him in the last book (The Death of Dalziel). And rehab he does, all of his pertinent parts and then some.
I love reading Hill because he knows so darn much and shares it so willingly through his characters.
Auntie M is in awe of someone who can pull an opus like this together consistently, over and over, can you tell?
so good to me, as the Mama’s and the Papa’s said. Remember them? Mama Cass’s smooth voice, the best of the group, Michelle’s high soprano, those 60’s songs that take me right back to high school and making out with John Maydan, he of the heavy-lidded brown eyes who taught me to French kiss…but I digress. It’s the kind of day I love: sleeping in, great shower, dogs adorable, fundraiser lunch so no cooking a big meal, then home on the porch enjoying the breeze and watching the birds and waves, actually getting work done, pausing only to blog a bit…and Wire in the Blood to watch tonight followed by the cutest blood spatter guy ever, Dexter. I just that sociopath. Last week he started to have, gulp, feelings! So cute. If you haven’t discovered Dexter, Sundays at 10pm on CBS.
Finished the Mgt. Duffy series and now have to wait for the next installment of Ingrid Langley and Patrick Gillard novels. If I have one complaint, it’s that these two don’t seem to spend enough time at home with their kids. But then I realize they HAVE been home and I’m just privy to the bits of time when they go off on one of their jaunts, finding spies or murderers, restoring right to the world, having sex on top of furniture…see where my mind is??? I’m treating myself to brain candy today, Mary Higgins Clark’s newest: Where Are You Now? You can whip out one of these babies in a day without guilt and plunge on to the next one waiting on your bookshelf.
Enjoy your Sunday; I plan to enjoy mine.
Domestically challenged tells me she didn’t know any of the shows I mentioned and is still waiting for the Purple Martini to arrive. Anyone have a recipe? My Purple Martins have chosen their respective apartments and are waiting for their better halves to arrive. Radar the Spinone weighed in at 99.6 lbs on Friday and is asleep on his king-sized ottoman, Murray on her bed. All is right with the world–for this minute.
Auntie M has just returned from the wilds of the midwest, visiting her 4 Grands and far too many hockey rinks…where she picked up a stomach flu…in the middle of a hockey tournament (I leave the details to your imagination, but trust me, the ladies room is NOT like yours at home)…which the 16 mos old had two days later. Reminded me why younger people have babies, as I did those three baths and changes of clothes in one 8AM to 1 PM shift when Mom was teaching. Since 3 of 4 Grands plus Mom play hockey ( you are in serious trouble out here if you don’t), and since hot chocolate wouldn’t stay down, it was not my favorite part of the trip. But I digress.
Being around children who remind me of the natural curiosity and wonder of this world is worth a few trips to the ice rink. Taking a trip to the bookstore was my favorite outing. Along with Green Girl of Wisconsin’s blog last week, I agree that there are plenty of non-fiction books that rival those of the storied kind. My 7 yr old g-dtgr. asked for The Dangerous Book for Girls for her May birthday, and you know it’s coming to her. 9 yr old g-son is reading a series where he can design his own ending for the book! That they are all in love with books is a real delight to this Nana. Reading aloud the original Peter Pan, chapter one, the G’s were astounded to find that “Nana” was the Darling children’s dog nanny. Score one for this Nana.
We also took the three bigs to see “Horton” and where else can a couple laugh with delight at an animated movie with abandon unless they are surrounded by the kids the movie is designed for. Too loud, a pet peeve of mine at cinema’s, but well done.
I did manage to reada few by Claire Curzon, the Mike Yeading series, and R. M. Kinder’s An Absolute Gentleman, which neatly illustrates everything you wanted to know inside the mind of an academic serial killer, as opposed to the purely sociopathic one of the Dexter novels. Which is coming on CBS tonight. So if you want to wander around for a bit with a serial killer, read either or the above or tune in at 10Pm EST. You just can’t make this stuff up.
Auntiemwrites Crime-Mystery Author M K Graff 