Our Lady of the Overlook, by R.L. Carpentier III is a police procedural.
Mike Ellis is a rookie cop, working under the shadow of his father. Charles Ellis had been the police chief in the little town for years.
Now it looks like history is repeating itself. Mike Ellis finds the body of a woman murdered, at the overlook, just like his father had forty years ago. Although Mike’s investigation takes a heavy toll on him, he pursues it to the end. Mike’s character evolves and changes as he faces truths that are, at best, uncomfortable.
The mystery takes a little while to get started but once it does, I couldn’t put the book down. I’m glad Carpentier has planned a trilogy as I have already ordered the second one in the series.
I am a big fan of the Shetland mysteries (Vera and Jimmy Perez.)Several years have passed and Jimmy has settled into his new home in the Orkneys with his partner Willow Reeves.
One night, during a terrible storm, a close friend disappears and is found murdered. A Neolithic story stone is found next to his body. Jimmy is heartbroken. Archie Stout was as close as a brother. And Jimmy is too close: questioning Archie’s wife and family is difficult.
And rumors – about Archie’s relationship with a young artist, as well as concerns about a television star and his wife, swirl about the island. But Jimmy, assisted by Willow, preserves to the tragic solution.
Amy Patricia Meade is becoming one of my favorite authors. In this outing, she offers us Rosie the Riveter.
Rosie has taken on the job at the Brooklyn shipyards, along with several other women, because of the pay. The more ‘ladylike’ jobs do not pay as well and Rosie is supporting her widowed sister and baby. The male riveters don’t want the women there but Rosie is managing.
When her foreman makes a pass at her, promising a promotion, she clocks him in the head with the telephone. The next day his body is discovered in a nearby alley. Rosie is the prime suspect. She begins to investigate, finding a surprise ally in the police lieutenant investigating the case.
Roșie discovers several people wanted the foreman dead. The solution rests in a very nice twist. I would love to read the sequel but unfortunately it is unavailable.
Highly Recommended.
I also read Million Dollar Baby by Meade. Marjorie, an attractive mystery writer, catches the eye of wealthy British heir, Creighton Ashcroft. The house he is renovating is the site of a suicide, a mysterious death, and a missing diamond. When Ashcroft invites Marjorie to tour the house, they find a body.
A handsome policeman arrives to investigate – and Marjorie is immediately interested. Ashcroft is jealous and annoyed, but the three must work together to solve the mystery.
I finished the final two entries for the Wren Winters series, at least up to now.
In the second outing, Wren and her friends are thrilled at the invitation to appear on the podcast of a popular influencer. But Noelle collapses and by the time the police arrive, she is dead. Noelle, it becomes clear, was being threatened online. Further investigation turns up a jealous ex, a former business partner, and a sister determined to force Noelle offline.
Then Wren’s. pink haired librarian friend begins to display similar symptoms. Now Wren and her friends have to hurry before Esther follows Noelle to the grave.
Wren and her friends head off to a gaming con. Wren is reluctant, because this was the exact convention her beloved husband Marcus attended before his death. Wren soon realizes that the jealousies and rivalries between the members are dangerous and when two of the women are murdered, and then Wren herself is attacked, she realizes the case goes all the way back to Marcus and his death. Once declared an accident, it is obvious he too was murdered. Was it by the same person? And why?
I really enjoy these books. The gaming world is a fresh and original setting (and one I, a former D&D player revel in) and the mysteries are complicated and intriguing. I hope this is not the last we’ve seen of Wren Winters and her posse.
The two books I read this past week couldn’t be more different.
Turkey Trot Murder takes place as Tinker’s Cove, Maine, is gearing up for Thanksgiving. But the community is rocked by the murder of a young college student, Allison Franklin. Her father, the wealthiest man in town, puts the blame squarely on the immigrants. He includes a restauranteur, although his family could trace their heritage pre-United States. Emotions run high and soon Allison’s father is also found murdered.
Who could be the murderer of both Franklins? The immigrants? Or the many other people in town, including Franklin’s estranged wife, with whom both battled?
I thought Turkey Trot Murder would be cozier than I usually read. And it did follow several of the cozy rules: the violence takes place mostly off scene and there are plenty of homey domestic touches throughout. But the depiction of the opioid crisis gave the story much more weight. I found this aspect very realistic and really more interesting than the mystery. In fact, the mystery ended up being overshadowed by the rest of the story.
Recommended with that caveat.
Wasp Trap couldn’t be more different.
In 1999, 6 students are chosen by a charismatic teacher to work on a special project, developing a test to discover psychopaths. But Sebastian shuts down the project very suddenly. No one knows why.
The six students, now adults in their forties, meet at a dinner party planned by two of the so-called revolutionaries. The visit quickly goes sideways when the six are isolated in the house by two genuine psychopaths and told to confess a secret from 1999. The situation rapidly spirals into murder.
I thought this book started slowly but once it picks up steam, it is unputdownable. There are several surprising twists before the secret is revealed and the psychopath is revealed. Recommended.
Sam, Candie and the gang are involved in another adventure. In this outing, Hank’s brother Aaron (Hank is Sam’s squeeze) is in town and involved with Joy, the daughter of the owner of the diner. A barbecue contest sees a bank manager make a pass at Joy. Aaron leaves in to defend his girlfriend. When the bank manager is found squashed to death by a pumpkin, Aaron is a prime suspect.
But there are many suspects, all with strong motives for wishing Edgar dead.
Lots of fun. The pet parade with all the pets in fancy costumes was a highlight. And I have to give Kazlo credit for finding some of the strangest methods of murder ever. Not only the 2000 pound pumpkin, but an outhouse, a bag of dogwood and so on.
At Death’s Dough is the fifth in Mindy Quigley’s deep dish mysteries. Delilah runs an upscale pizza restaurant. But it is winter, and custom is slow. She is gearing up for Valentine’s Day, and hoping for a good turn out. Dominick Capone, Delilah’s boyfriend’s cousin, has a plan. But a few days later, his body is discovered frozen in the frozen lake outside.
Even more than who murdered him is the why. As Delilah pokes into it, she discovers his murder leads to a long ago death, and a treasure.
I did not even come close to identifying the killer. The characters are engaging and the recipes are good too. Recommended.
I read the Lace Widow on the recommendation of a friend. This is a historical mystery that takes place just after the American Revolution and involves the duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton.
Eliza Hamilton, Alexander’s widow, is almost prostate with grief at the death of her husband. But she is convinced her husband was murdered and is determined to bring Burr to justice for it. Her questions bring her into contact with a house of widows on Pearl Street, but also to the notice of a band of conspiracists. A brick with a warning note is hurled through her window. And her son, Alexander Junior, is targeted as the murderer of several other men, all friends of his father.
I found the details of early New York City fascinating. The Hamiltons lived in Harlem, which was the country then! Each trip back and forth takes hours. But I didn’t love the main character who, although she is praised for her strength, is always falling into tears, fainting, and sleeping. I would give this a mixed review. Parts are very good, others not so much.
The Dog who knew too much is the third in Spencer Quinn’s Chet and Bernie series. I was hesitant to read it since I disliked The Right Side, also by Quinn, so much. But I was encouraged by a friend to try one of the Chet and Bernies and I loved it.
Bernie is hired by Anya for an odd body guarding job. Bernie reluctantly takes it, and the job quickly spirals into an old mine, that may or may not still have gold, a kidnapping, and yes, a murder. Anya’s son is away at camp and disappears from an overnight. When the search does not turn up the boy, Bernie is arrested for the kidnapping. Of course nothing is simple and, after several twists and turns, the case is solved. Highly recommended.
Murder takes a vacation, by Laura Lippman, is another fun book. Mrs. Blossom, formerly seen in a Tess Monaghan mystery from 2008, stars in this outing. Muriel Blossom finds a stray lottery ticket in a parking lot which turns out to be the winning ticket for 8 million dollars. She offers her best friend Elinor an all expenses paid vacation a Viking cruise.
From the beginning, the trip goes sideways. First, she meets a dapper man on the plane who is the first man to spark something since the death of her husband. When she misses her plane connection, Allan puts her on the train through the Chunnel to France where she will pick up her cruise. After a day spent in Paris, she returns to her hotel to find the French police waiting for her. Allan is dead, fallen from a balcony in Paris. But that is not what Allan told her his plans were. What is going on?
And who is this Danny who keep turning up and tells Mrs. Blossom one story after another and then turns up on her cruise?
Lots of fun. I especially enjoyed this book because I have taken the very cruise that forms the heart of the book. And, as someone who has struggled with weight since childhood, Mrs. Blossom’s own struggles resonated. Highly recommended, both for the characters and the mystery.
Vera Wong runs a failing tea shop in Chinatown with only one regular customer. Then, one morning, she discovers a dead body lying on the first floor. The police come and are not grateful she tried to help by drawing an outline around the body with a Sharpie!
Other people arrive to view the location with the body, all, it turns out, with a connection to the dead man. And all, Vera decides, suspects in his murder. An artist, an app created, the dead mans’s wife and his brother.
But the mystery unreels differently than Vera, or the reader, expects.
The murderer is someone totally unexpected. Well plotted, with interesting characters (especially Vera!) and a heart warming conclusion. Highly recommended!
The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt is almost uncategorizable.
After a lifetime of emotional abuse levied upon Harriet by her father, he disappears. She is left alone in a shadowy house with am amazing garden, Harriet’s refuge. The roses, the ivy respond to her, comforting her.
Then Inspector Stokes arrives to question her. He clearly suspects her of murdering her father and besides, she is not a proper lady. To escape Stokes, Harriet marries Mr. Comstock – and jumps from the frying pan into the fire.
A plot against Harriet mixes with a little magic. Recommended.
Spencer Quinn writes mysteries involving dogs and is probably most famous for his Chet and Bernie series.
The Right Side is a standalone. We first meet LeAnn at Walter Reed, recovering from injuries sustained in Afghanistan. She lost her eye and her memory is patchy at best. (She is the definition of the unreliable narrator.) And she is very very angry, so angry every comment sets her off. She is far too angry to let anyone help her. One day she gathers up her things and walks out of the hospital.
She purchases a car and travels west, finally coming to rest in a small town. A large stray dog literally saves her life. LeAnn is not a dog person but she can’t bear to give up the dog to a shelter.
Two parallel stories run side by side. First, her experiences in Afghanistan, told mostly in flashbacks. Second, the disappearance of Mia, daughter of Marci, a fellow injured vet LeAnn meets in Walter Reed.
I did not care for this book. Significantly more than half is taken up with LeAnn’s physical and mental struggles. She does not meet the dog until probably 70% through. I also would not have described this book as a mystery since only the final quarter has any mystery about it. Although LeAnn does not know what really happened the day of her injury, her commanding officer does. He explains it, and, sure enough, that was it. Plus, the cause of the disappearance of Mia is obvious to the reader well before it is to LeAnn.
