Happy New Year: 2025!

What to Expect in January Part II

 

Beautiful Ugly

by Alice Feeney

A year after Grady's wife disappears, he travels to Scotland where he sees a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife.

 

The Oligarch's Daughter

by Joseph Finder

Paul Brightman makes the mistake of falling in love with a woman whose father is a Russian oligarch that US intelligence agencies are very interested in. When he goes to work for the father of his girlfriend, he finally realizes what the father really is and is forced to go on the run and change his name. His new alias doesn’t hold up for long and he once again finds himself trying to escape the Russians.

 

See How They Hide

by Allison Brennan

This is the sixth book in the Quinn and Costa series. Two people are murdered on opposite sides of the country in the exact same way at the exact same time. Detective Kara Quinn is investing in Oregon while Special Agent Matt Costa investigates in Virginia. The Mobile Response Teams tries to uncover the link between the two murders and why each was targeted. The team finds Riley Pierce and a place called Havenwood. Both have secrets they hold which might help Quinn and Costa uncover the keys to the puzzle that these murders have become.

 

Abduction of a Slave

by Dana Stabenow

This is the fourth book in the Eye of Isis historical series. Cleopatra’s most trusted agent Tetisheri asks for permission to visit the Kingdom of Cyrenaica which is a web of intrigue. Cleopatra grants permission sending Tetisheri into a pre-war debacle and a murder mystery.

 

Pro Bono

by Thomas Perry

This standalone thriller from Perry is a legal thriller with attorney Charles Warren trying to uncover the missing money from a widow’s late husband’s investment accounts. Within hours of taking the case, Charlie is shot at and his briefcase stolen. Charlie isn’t easily discouraged from finding the truth and finds himself in the middle of a dangerous conspiracy.

 

Clever Little Thing

by Helena Echlin

This is Echlin’s second book which revolves around the death of the babysitter of Charlotte’s daughter Stella. After the babysitter Blanka dies, Stella’s personality changes and begins to mirror Blanka’s personality.

 

Happy New Year: 2025!

What to Expect in January

 

Presumed Guilty

by Scott Turow

This is the third book in the Presumed Innocent series. Judge and lawyer Rusty Sabich is back in the courtroom defending his stepson against a murder indictment.

 

The Crash

by Freida Mcfadden

 

In this standalone novel an eight-month pregnant Tegan is running away from her life only to be stranded in a blizzard on a roadside in rural Maine with a broken ankle and a dead car. A nice couple offers her sanctuary in their cabin until the storm clears. Unfortunately, her place of safety turns into a nightmare.

 

The Note

by Alafair Burke

In Alafair Burke’s latest standalone mystery, three friends get together for a holiday in the Hamptons and a drunken joke lands the group in the middle of a missing persons investigation in which all their secrets are revealed.

 

The Big Empty

by Robert Crais

This is the 20^th novel in the Elvis Cole and Joe Pike series. In this installment Elvis is hired to find out what happened to influencer Traci Beller’s father when he disappeared ten years ago. Elvis follows the clues which lead him to a gang of vicious criminals, and he must call on his friend Joe Pike for help.

 

 

Grave Danger

by James Grippando

This is the 19^th book in the Jack Swyteck series. Defense attorney Jack Swyteck takes on the case of a single mother accused of kidnapping her child and taking her from Iran to Miami. Dealing with international law and Jack’s FBI Agent wife who is getting pressure from above to have Jack drop the case isn't easy.

 

 

 

First Lie Wins

by Ashley Elston

I’m not going to tell you anything about this thriller from Ashley Elston – except read it because it is an unusual and surprising thriller. This book immediately catches you off guard. Don’t read anything about it, just read it and be surprised.

 

 

The Dark Wives

by Ann Cleeves

I’ll say right off that this was not my favorite Ann Cleeves’ mystery, but still worth reading. This is her 11^th book in the Vera Stanhope series. This book starts out with two murders and the disappearance of a young girl. What the book is really about is the horrors of what we might call foster care but what in England is a “care home (called Rosebank) for troubled teens.”

Vera and her team made up of Joe Ashworth and the newest team member Rosie Bell (the replacement for Holly Clarke who died in the previous novel) take up the case after one of the staff members of Rosebank, Josh, is found dead. At the same time, one of the home’s resident’s Chloe Spence has disappeared. A second body of a young man connected to the case is found near the Three Dark Wives monument. Vera is convinced that if they find Chloe they will have solved the case.

I felt that there was too much concentration on Chloe. Many things that were being done behind the scenes remained behind the scenes and weren’t revealed until the end of the novel. Knowing what was going on behind the scenes would have made the novel more interesting and three dimensional.

 

Look in the Mirror

by Catherine Steadman

There are two women in this novel whose lives we are following. One is Maria and the other is Nina. Both of these women are bright and beautiful and in the middle of a terrible situation in which they will need every ounce of their intelligence, courage, and tenacity to survive.

One of the outstanding characters in the novel is the house called Anderssen’s Opening. It is a beautiful home in the British Virgin Islands with an outstanding view of the beach.

 

See Less

When Nina's father dies, she inherits Anderssen’s Opening which seems like a dream vacation home in a tropical paradise - one she had no idea existed. Desperate to uncover why he hid such a big secret; she decides to visit the home which she now owns only to find that the house contains secrets she never imagined her father would or could be involved in.

Maria was the last women to stay in the house before Nina become the owner. Maria usually worked as a live-in nanny, but her job in her new home seems a little puzzling. For some time, she is on her own but gets bored and decides to explore an area of the house that she was told not to enter. Mostly not her fault because the door mysteriously opens one day and of course she is curious.

Both Nina and Maria are drawn into the mystery that is Anderssen’s Opening. Nina knows that the house is named after an opening move in chess. While exploring the house, she receives notes warning her to leave. Since no one else is in the house, it is unsettling to wonder how the notes are delivered and who is warning her.

Nina and Maria are smart women drawn into a bizarre situation that no one would imagine would happen to them. Their lives are twisted and threatened by whoever is manipulating the events within the house. Both must use their intelligence to try to escape a situation in which one or both could well end up dead.

 

What Have You Done?

by Shari Lapena

High school senior Diana Brewer’s body is found in a farmer’s field in the small town of Fairhill, Vermont. Her possessive boyfriend Cameron Farrell comes under suspicion as the last person known to have seen her alive, but as the police investigate there seem to be many people who were using and abusing Diana. Her father is separated from the family and her mother works nights to support them. Diana’s mother thought that her daughter was home in bed on the night she was murdered. She finds out quickly that she had no real idea of what her daughter was up to. Diana and her friends Riley and Evan spend time hanging out at the local graveyard telling ghost stories and drinking. Cameron thinks that Diana is just going to go to the same college with him and get married. Very few people know that Diana is planning to break up with the very short sighted and controlling Cameron to have the life she wants.

This book presents the many points of view of the characters from her friends to those people who may have killed her. Diana’s ghost is also given a voice and gives the story a paranormal aspect. The book is about a small town that thinks of itself one way but is shaken by what hides underneath the surface. It is also a novel about the control men still hold over women (especially young women) and how hard it is to escape that abusive control.

 

SCARY ENOUGH FOR HALLOWEEN?

Reading a scary book is much like watching a scary movie in that what scares us is personal. What scares me may not be what scares you. For instance, I like the Saw movies. I don’t find them really scary; I find them intriguing which makes my husband very scared. Some people hate being scared and will not get involved in anything that might scare them from horror movies to haunted houses or frightening costumes over Halloween. There is an abundance of Halloween novels available to read that are cozies and not scary. However, there are many scary books and suspenseful thrillers for those inclined to be frightened in both large and small ways.

Sir Arthur Colan Doyle’s “The Hound of the Baskerville” is always worth reading for scary light. Dan Simmons has written both terror novels and mysteries including “Black Hills.” Peter Straub’s terror series Blue Rose starts with “Koko.” You can never go wrong with Stephen King and to me one of his scariest is “It” and if you want to stay in the mystery genre try “Mr. Mercedes.” Shirley Jackson scared people to death with her 1959 release of “The Haunting of Hill House.” John Ajvide Lindqvist is a horror author who wrote “Let the Right One In” and several other shivery novels worth reading.

For scary fun I would recommend “This Cursed House” by Del Sandeen which just came out this month. A young woman takes a job in New Orleans to try to escape her life only to find herself living in a cursed house with a family plagued by their secrets.

Chuck Palahniuk’s latest novel is “Shock Induction” which came out in October. His latest is called a literary fiction novel, but “Fight Club” is called a mystery by some. Personally, I just think his books are rather horrifying especially “Haunted.”

Alex North has written some rather scary mysteries including “The Whisper Man.” Stuart Neville’s “Blood Like Mine” just came out last August and is definitely a scary mystery. Dennis Lehane’s “Shutter Island” is hardly a straightforward mystery. Riley Sager writes mysteries and horror. Sager’s “The Only One Left” is a terrifically suspenseful horror novel to start with. I loved “The House Across the Lake.” You cannot go wrong with a Simone St. James’ mystery or horror novel. St. James’ latest is a horror novel named “Murder Road.”

Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None” is a suspenseful thriller. One of my favorite suspenseful thrillers is Alex Michaelides’ “The Silent Patient.” M.L. Rio has written horror, and a mystery called “If We Were Villains” which might prove satisfyingly scary enough for some readers.

One of my favorite mystery writers is Lisa Unger who in September wrote “The Doll’s House” which is a horror novella. The book revolves around a widowed mother who moves into the family home with her new fiancé and his teenage daughter. They immediately find a doll and you have to know the story goes sideways from there.

Delilah S. Dawson writes a bit of everything including mysteries. Her latest “It Will Only Hurt for a Moment” is a chilling mystery thriller about a woman who runs away from her narcissistic ex-boyfriend and alcoholic, abusive mother to Tranquil Falls, a secluded artists’ colony on the grounds of a closed hotel with a chilling past.

Hailey Piper is a horror novelist with the best titles ever. The latest is “All the Hearts You Eat.” You have to love that title! Don’t miss “Queen of Teeth” and “The Worm and his King.” “All the Hearts You Eat” starts out with the main character finding a dead body on the beach and a mysterious poem nearby.

Kelley Armstrong writes a variety of genres including mystery and horror. Her mystery series Rockton started with “City of the Lost” and is excellent. Her latest standalone is a horror novel called “I’ll Be Waiting.” 

 

House of Glass

by Sarah Pekkanen

 

When a young nanny dies after falling through an upstairs window of her employer’s home, an investigation opens with best interest attorney Stella Hudson coming into the case to decide on the placement of the nine-year-old girl who perhaps witnessed the possible murder. To those on the outside the family appears happy and well-adjusted. They are well off and living a life of luxury in a household which includes the child Rose Barclay, her parents, and Rose’s grandmother.

If the nanny was murdered, the question becomes is Rose safe in the home. Immediately many problems appear that indicate Rose may need to be removed from the home. The parents are in the middle of divorcing. The nanny was pregnant with her employer’s child. Rose refuses to speak at all and is no help as a witness. Everyone in the family appears to be lying and covering up, but who are they covering up for?

Stella is reluctant to take this case because of her own traumatic childhood and usually only takes clients that are teenagers. Once she becomes involved, however, she is determined to help Rose even if Rose herself is the killer. Rose is either covering up for someone or is herself guilty of pushing her nanny out the window. Rose seems to be hording pieces of glass to the point that her family has removed most of the glass in the house and put in plastic. Is Rose hoarding weapons to protect herself or to kill someone else in the household?

The atmosphere in the house is unnerving for Stella and perhaps dangerous. Everyone inside the house is suspicious as is the nanny’s boyfriend. It seems impossible to decide how to protect Rose or who to protect her from so Stella puts herself in danger and sets a trap for the killer.

Stella is a smart and interesting hero with an unusual job. I was interested in how she would handle the investigation which had to be done quickly. While her past played a part in the story, I didn’t feel that it overwhelmed the main storyline. Rose’s intelligence is obvious but so is her fear. The question is who is she afraid of or is she just afraid of being caught. Definitely a mystery and a thriller and one that keeps you guessing. I think this character would make a great subject for a series.

 

Halloween Fun:

Perhaps frightful

I love all types of mysteries including fantasy, science fiction, and paranormal novels that have a mystery bent. Because we give something a name doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t jump out of our comfort zone once in a while to explore other genres. Even Sir. Author Colan Doyle had Sherlock Holmes explore the paranormal. Many fantasy books have a mystery element to them and are excellent reads. Perhaps the Halloween season is a time to try something a little out of our comfort zone. Some of these authors are fantasy heavy and some are fantasy light or paranormal light. I’ve included books that are Halloween themed, but not necessarily paranormal or fantasy in nature (in case you don’t want to go all out into fantasy just yet.) All are fun to read if you give them a try!

Esme Addison this year came out with “An Intrigue of Witches” which is the first in her new series the Secret Society Mysteries. Her hero is Sidney Taylor, a early American historian, looking for an important artefact, but finds her way blocked on every side. She doesn’t give up and starts to find her own history of witchcraft. I really enjoyed her other series Enchanted Bay Mysteries which includes “A Spell for Trouble” as the first in the series.

If you want to delve into a heavier duty fantasy series, you could start light with Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files. The first book in the series was “Storm Front.” Harry Dresden is a private investigator and a professional wizard. This is a terrific series and was turned into a television series. Jim’s son James Butcher is following his father’s footsteps with his series Unorthodox Chronicles which started with “Dead Man’s Hand.”

Patricia Briggs’s Mercy Thompson series is a great starter series to drag mystery readers into the fantasy genre. “Moon Called” is the first in the series. I cannot say enough about how great this series is and how the characters grab your interest.

Jennifer Estep’s Elemental Assassin series is another fantasy series which I love to read. “Spider Bite” was the first book in the series. “Spider” is an assassin who is always on the right side.

Leigh Bardugo’s series with Alex Stern started with “Ninth House” and is absolutely a murder mystery series with a fantasy twist.

Keri Arthur has a wonderful fantasy series called Crown of Shadows. The first book is “Relic Hunters” wherein Bethany Aodhan searches for godly artifacts in the midst of murder and the threat of chaos being released in modern-day England.

Many mystery authors who don’t necessary write paranormal books have an occasional Halloween themed novel and obviously a Halloween themed book is a natural for anyone writing a paranormal mystery series.

Emmeline Duncan’s new series started with “Chaos at the Lazy Bones Bookshop” which is her first book in the Halloween Bookshop Mystery.

Alyssa Day’s Tiger’s Eye Mystery series started with “Private Eye” and her latest is the 14^th book in the series “A Dead End Halloween.” Private investigator Jack Shepherd and pawnshop owner Tess Callahan work their magic to solve the latest mystery to hit the town of Dead End, FL.

Addison Moore’s latest in her Brambleberry Bay Murder Club series is “Nightmare in Halloween Hollow.” Kathi Daley’s first book in her Zoe Donovan mystery series was “Halloween Hijinks” and the series has grown to include 36 books.

Leslie Meier’s Lucy Stone mystery series revolves around holidays and includes many Halloween themed books including “Trick or Treat Murder” and “Halloween Party Murder.” Isis Crawford also has many holiday themed books including “A Catered Halloween” in her Mystery with Recipes series.

Victoria Tait’s tenth book in her Dotty Sayers Antique Mystery series is “Halloween Parade Peril.”

I’ve read several of Tonya Kappes’s mysteries that I’ve enjoyed. She has a couple Halloween books and paranormal books. Her series Magical Cures Mystery started with “A Charming Crime.” Her Ghostly Southern Mystery series started with “A Ghostly Undertaking.” One of her books in the Camper and Criminals Cozy mystery series is “Jackets, Jack-o-lantern, and Justice” (she has other fall related books in that series). Her holiday cozy mystery series includes “A Halloween Homicide.”

Paula Darnell’s fifth book in the Fine Art mystery series is “Halloween Hue-Dunit.”

Morgana Best’s latest book is “The Halloween Mystery Spell” which is part of her Kitchen Witch series.

This list could go on forever! Most of the books I’ve included are cozies. Perhaps next year, I will step it up and include Horror.

 October Releases:

Delightful, not frightful

“The Drowned” by John Banville is the fourth book in the Strafford and Quirke mystery series. An Irish author with a long history of writing fascinating mysteries.

“A New Lease on Death” by Olivia Blacke is a new standalone mystery. Olivia Blacke has written several cozy mysteries in two series and now has a standalone mystery to sink your teeth into.

“In Too Deep” by Andrew and Lee Child is the latest Jack Reacher thriller. Reacher novels never fail to keep one awake.

“The Waiting” by Michael Connelly is the sixth book in the Renee Ballard series. Connelly is still writing terrific books although I must admit that Renee Ballard has not been my favorite series.

“Beyond Reasonable Doubt” by Robert Dugoni is the second book in the Keera Duggan series. Dugoni is a prolific American author who has written four difference mysteries series and seven standalone novels.

“The Blue Hour” by Paula Hawkins is a standalone mystery. Hawkins has written four excellent mystery novels including her first which was “Girl on the Train.”

“The Restaurant of Lost Recipes” by Hisashi Kashiwai is the second in the Kamogawa Food Detectives series.

"Gathering Mist” by Margaret Mizushima is the ninth book in the Timber Creek K-9 series. I love books with dogs in them especially working dogs.

“The Night Woods” by Paula Munier is the sixth book in the Mercy Carr series. Another great working dog series!

“The President’s Lawyer” by Lawrence Robbins is a standalone legal thriller and his first book. Robbins knows the law because of his years of working as a trial and appellate litigator. This one should give Grisham a run for his money.

“The Puzzle Box” by Danielle Trussoni is the second book in the Mike Brink series. Trussoni has written five books altogether in two series and one standalone. Her other series is a fantasy series.

 

Non-Fiction that might be of interest to mystery readers:

“Framed” Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions
A non-fiction book by John Grisham and Jim McCloskey.

 

In John Grisham’s first work of nonfiction since The Innocent Man, “the master of the legal thriller” (Associated Press) teams up with Jim McCloskey, “the godfather of the innocence movement” (Texas Monthly), to share ten harrowing true stories of wrongful convictions.


“Each of these stories is told with astonishing power. They are packed with human drama, with acts of shocking villainy and breathtaking courage. But these are more than just gripping true stories—they are a clarion call for reforming the tragic flaws in our criminal justice system.”—David Grann, New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flow