The Thursday Murder Club

 The Thursday Murder Club BK 1 by Richard Osman, 384 pages

Synopsis: In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders.

But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it's too late

My Thoughts: This book was a cute little novel about retirees solving murders. However, I would not recommend listening to the audiobook, as I struggled to follow along. The chapters were from different character's POV's, the narrator didn't have enough differentiation between voices, and I got lost a lot of the time. Also they have Americanized the audiobook, vs the true novel. All in all if you like cozy murder mysteries, you will enjoy this book. I also recommend watching the Netflix movie that's based on this book. 

Never Lie by Freida McFadden

 Never Lie by Freida McFadden

296 pages

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Newlyweds Tricia and Ethan are searching for the house of their dreams.
But when they visit the remote manor that once belonged to Dr. Adrienne Hale, a renowned psychiatrist who vanished without a trace four years earlier, a violent winter storm traps them at the estate… with no chance of escape until the blizzard comes to an end.
In search of a book to keep her entertained until the snow abates, Tricia happens upon a secret room. One that contains audio transcripts from every single patient Dr. Hale has ever interviewed. As Tricia listens to the cassette tapes, she learns about the terrifying chain of events leading up to Dr. Hale’s mysterious disappearance.
Tricia plays the tapes one by one, late into the night. With each one, another shocking piece of the puzzle falls into place, and Dr. Adrienne Hale’s web of lies slowly unravels.
And then Tricia reaches the final cassette.
The one that reveals the entire horrifying truth.

Opinion: This was my first book by McFadden. I liked the two different narratives by Tricia and Dr. Hale, as well as the elements of transcripts.  It never got boring. Towards the end, it was hard to put the book down. I didn't like the 'horrifying truth' twist, but it didn't stop me from putting it away either. I was very glad that there were no horror elements in there - since the main character is pretty sure someone is in the house, I was afraid there's gonna be a dramatic, brutal scenario or else.

EVIL BONES (Temperance Brennan #24) by KATHY REICHS

 EVIL BONES (Temperance Brennan #24)  by KATHY REICHS (Pgs 271)

GOODREADS REVIEW: Small creatures—a rat, a rabbit, a squirrel—have been turning up throughout Charlotte, North Carolina, mutilated and displayed in the same bizarre manner. But one day, as Tempe is relaxing at home alongside her aimless, moody great-niece Tory, she’s diverted by a disturbing call. Now, it seems, the perp is upping the ante. This find is larger. Could the remains be human?

Tempe visits the scene and discovers that the victim is a dog. Someone’s pet. As one who has always found animal cruelty deeply abhorrent, Tempe vows to help apprehend the person responsible for the killings, and due to Tory’s especially layered knowledge of animal behavior, the young woman turns out to be a valuable ally in the hunt for answers. Oddly, Tempe discovers that semi-retired homicide detective Erskine “Skinny” Slidell is equally outraged and committed. Needing a better understanding of possible motives, Tempe and Skinny seek input from a forensic psychologist. The doctor has no definitive answer but offers several possibilities, warning that the escalating pattern of aggression suggests even more macabre discoveries—and that the perp’s focus may soon shift to humans.

And then it happens. A woman is found disfigured and posed in a manner that mimics the earlier killings.

As Tempe and Slidell follow the horrifying clues to a shocking conclusion, they’re forced to confront an increasingly terrifying question: “What is pure evil?”

Not my favorite from this series. Main character make some very unprofessional decisions, in my opinion. 

THE CANAL MURDERS: (A YORKSHIRE MURDER MYSTERY BOOK 10) by J.R. ELLIS

 THE  CANAL MURDERS: (A YORKSHIRE MURDER MYSTERY BOOK 10) by J.R. ELLIS 

(Pgs 285)

Goodreads Review: Life moves at a slower pace on the canals. But death always comes when you least expect it. The last thing DS Stephanie Johnson and DS Andy Carter expected during their much-needed canal holiday was a murder. When retired folk musician Annie Shipton is found stabbed through the neck at the helm of her barge, the couple can’t help investigating the seemingly impossible crime. Nobody else boarded Annie’s boat—so how was she killed from behind? With the method a perplexing mystery, DCI Oldroyd is summoned from Harrogate, and it’s not long before the detectives have a long list of potential suspects with a motive to want Annie dead. There’s the young cyclist she argued with over access to the towpath, an ambitious and arrogant local developer she clashed with repeatedly, an estranged husband…and more than a few lingering issues with her former bandmates, most of whom live along the canal. When a second shocking murder sends shockwaves through the community, the locals start talking about a curse on the waterway. It seems the killer will go to any lengths to avoid detection. But can Oldroyd hunt them down before someone else becomes the next target?

BLACK COFFEE (Hercule Poirot Series #7.5) by AGATHA CHRISTIE Adapted by Charles Osborne

 BLACK COFFEE (Hercule Poirot Series #7.5) by AGATHA CHRISTIE Adapted by Charles Osborne (Pgs 304)

An urgent call from physicist Sir Claud Amory sends famed detective Hercule Poirot rushing from London to a sprawling country estate. Sir Claud fears a member of his own household wants to steal a secret formula destined for the Ministry of Defense. But Poirot arrives too late. The formula is missing. Worse, Sir Claud has been poisoned by his after-dinner coffee. Poirot soon identifies a potent brew of despair, treachery, and deception amid the mansion's occupants. Now he must find the formula and the killer...while letting no poison slip 'twix his low lips.

Adapted from an Agatha Christie play, it is one of the few Hercule Poirot books that I hadn't ever read before.

THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE TRAIN (Hercule Poirot Book 6) by AGATHA CHRISTIE

 THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE TRAIN (Hercule Poirot Book 6) by AGATHA CHRISTIE  (Pgs 317)

A mysterious woman, a legendary cursed jewel, and a night train from London to the French Riviera -- ingredients for the perfect romance or the perfect crime?

When the Blue Train stops, the jewel is missing, and the woman is found dead in her compartment. It's the perfect mystery, filled with passion, greed, deceit, and confusion.

Is Hercule Poirot the perfect detective to solve it?

I love all books in the Hercule Poirot series!

A HIGHLAND CHRISTMAS (Hamish Macbeth 15.5) by M.C. BEATON

 A HIGHLAND CHRISTMAS by M.C. BEATON (130 PAGES)

Christmas is an ancient Roman festival, not to be celebrated by decent folk in the Scottish Highlands. Police Constable Hamish Macbeth has always loved the festivities, but this year his family is vacationing in sunny Florida. He is stuck with the long, lonely Christmas shift in freezing Lochdubh. A cranky old lady kicks off the holidays by reporting her cat missing. Then the Christmas lights and tree in a nearby village disappear soon after the local council voted to allow decorations. As Hamish finds a way to bring Christmas to the Highlands and make a little girl's dreams come true, he finds -- to his delight -- that he has the best Christmas ever.

I love the Hamish Macbeth series. This was an enjoyable little novella, an easy read for the holidays.

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

 A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson 433 pages

Summary: Everyone in Fairview knows the story.

Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town.
But she can't shake the feeling that there was more to what happened that day. She knew Sal when she was a child, and he was always so kind to her. How could he possibly have been a killer?
Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn't want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.

My Thoughts: I read this book because there's now a TV series on Netflix based off of this book. The book and the TV Show follow each other very well. Trigger warning... a beloved animal dies and I dislike books like that so much, but i powered through and sobbed both with the book and show. 

THE MAN IN BLACK: STORIES by ELLY GRIFFITHS

 THE MAN IN BLACK: STORIES by ELLY GRIFFITHS (320 pages)

Elly Griffiths has always written short stories to experiment with different voices and genres as well as to explore what some of her fictional creations such as Ruth Galloway, Harbinder Kaur, and Max Mephisto might have done outside of the novels. The Man in Black gathers these bite-sized tales all together in one splendid volume.

There are ghost stories, cozy mysteries, tales of psychological suspense, and poignant vignettes of love and loss.

In the title story, Ruth Galloway crosses paths with a mysterious man in a bookstore, setting in motion a rescue mission that hinges on the legends and lore of Norfolk.

Looking into the past, a young magician in 1920s Leeds wonders just what happened to his missing landlady in Max Mephisto and the Disappearing Act.

In Justice Jones and the Etherphone, a witty girl detective investigates the dire prediction of a fortune teller in dreary postwar London.

A flashback in time reveals Harbinder Kaur as a Detective Sergeant surviving her first day on the job at Shoreham DCI.

To celebrate the holidays, Ruth gets her very first Christmas tree, and her beloved cat narrates his own seasonal story in Flint’s Fireside Tale.

And readers can armchair travel with stories set on the Amalfi Coast, in Capri, and in Egypt as Ruth and DCI Nelson experience their very own version of Death on the Nile.

The Man in Black illustrates the breadth and variety of Elly Griffiths’s talent for blood-chilling, page-turning stories all with her trademark humor and heart.

I read all of Elly Griffiths series, my favorites are the ones with Ruth Galloway and Harbinder Kaur. It was fun to read all these short stories, as I have been having trouble finishing books this year.

THE GHOST ORCHID (Alex Delaware #39) by JONATHAN KELLERMAN

 THE GHOST ORCHID (Alex Delaware #39) by JONATHAN KELLERMAN  (PGS 290)

Psychologist Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis confront a baffling, vicious double homicide that leads them to long-buried secrets worth killing for in the riveting thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling “master of suspense” (Los Angeles Times).

LAPD homicide lieutenant Milo Sturgis sees it all the time: Reinvention’s a way of life in a city fueled by fantasy. But try as you might to erase the person you once were, there are those who will never forget the past . . . and who can still find you.

A pool boy enters a secluded Bel Air property and discovers two bodies floating in the bright blue water: Gio Aggiunta, the playboy heir to an Italian shoe empire, and a gorgeous, even wealthier neighbor named Meagin March. A married neighbor.

An illicit affair stoking rage is a perfect motive. But a “double” in this neighborhood of gated estates isn’t something you see every day. The house is untouched. No forced entry, no forensic evidence. The case has “that feeling,” and when that happens, Milo turns to his friend, the brilliant psychologist Alex Delaware.

As Milo and Alex investigate both victims, they discover two troubled pasts. And as they dig deeper, Meagin March’s very identity begins to blur. Who was this glamorous but conflicted woman? Did her past catch up to her? Or did Gio’s family connections create a threat spanning two continents?

Chasing down the answers leads Alex and Milo on an exploration of L.A.’s darkest side as they contend with one of the most shocking cases of their careers and learn that that some secrets are best left buried in the past.

HOLMES, MARPLE, AND POE: The Greatest Crime-Solving Team of the Twenty-First Century by JAMES PATTERSON

HOLMES, MARPLE, AND POE: The Greatest Crime-Solving Team of the Twenty-First Century by JAMES PATTERSON  (PGS 352)

Brendan Holmes, Margaret Marple and August Poe run the most in-demand private investigation firm in New York City.

The three detectives make a formidable team, solving a series of seemingly impossible crimes which expose the dark underbelly of the city; from priceless art theft, a high-stakes kidnapping, and a decades-old unsolved murder, to a gruesome subterranean prison, and corruption and bribery at the highest levels of power.

But it's not long before their headline-grabbing breakthroughs, unconventional methods - and untraceable pasts - attract the attention of the NYPD and the FBI.

After all, it's no surprise that there's a mystery or two to unravel in the city that never sleeps . . . not least, who really are Holmes, Marple and Poe?

This is the first James Patterson that I have read in year, and sadly, I wasn't too impressed. I give it a 3/5.

THE RUSTED SOULS by CHRIS NICKSON

 THE RUSTED SOULS by CHRIS NICKSON  (Pgs 230)

Leeds, 1920. Chief Constable Tom Harper of Leeds City Police has just six weeks left in the role before his well-earned retirement. But even though his distinguished forty-year career is ending, the crime and mayhem on the city’s streets continues.
 
Council leader Alderman Thompson is being blackmailed. He wants Harper to find the love letters he sent to a young woman called Charlotte Radcliffe and return them discreetly. Elsewhere, masked, armed robbers are targeting jewelry shops in the city, and an organized gang of shoplifters is set to descend on Leeds. As events threaten to spiral out of control, Harper battles to restore justice and order to the streets of Leeds one last time.

This is the last in the DI Tom Harper mysteries, and I have enjoyed all the books in this series.

(Mary Harper is a character in this book)

THE LAST REMAINS by ELLY GRIFFITHS

 THE LAST REMAINS by ELLY GRIFFITHS  (Pgs 357)

The discovery of a missing woman's bones forces Ruth and Nelson to finally confront their feelings for each other as they desperately work to exonerate one of their own.

When builders discover a human skeleton while renovating a café, they call in archaeologist Dr. Ruth Galloway, who is preoccupied with the threatened closure of her department and by her ever-complicated relationship with DCI Nelson. The bones turn out to be modern--the remains of Emily Pickering, a young archaeology student who went missing in 2002. Suspicion soon falls on Emily's Cambridge tutor and also on another archeology enthusiast who was part of the group gathered the weekend before she disappeared--Ruth's friend Cathbad.

As they investigate, Nelson and his team uncover a tangled web of relationships within the archaeology group and look for a link between them and the café where Emily's bones were found. Then, just when the team seem to be making progress, Cathbad disappears. The trail leads Ruth a to the Neolithic flint mines in Grimes Graves. The race is on, first to find Cathbad and then to exonerate him, but will Ruth and Nelson uncover the truth in time to save their friend?

I have enjoyed all the books in this series, and look forward to when a new one is coming out!

The Last Place You Look by Kristen Lepionka

 The Last Place You Look (Roxane Weary #1) by Kristen Lepionka - 323 pages

⭐⭐⭐⭐✰

Sarah Cook, a beautiful blonde teenager, disappeared fifteen years ago, the same night her parents were brutally murdered in their suburban Ohio home. Her boyfriend Brad Stockton - black and from the wrong side of the tracks - was convicted of the murders and sits on death row, though he always maintained his innocence. With his execution only weeks away, his devoted sister, insisting she has spotted Sarah at a local gas station, hires PI Roxane Weary to look again at the case.

Reeling from the recent death of her cop father, Roxane finds herself drawn to the story of Sarah's vanishing act, especially when she thinks she's linked Sarah's disappearance to one of her father's unsolved murder cases involving another teen girl. Despite her self-destructive tendencies, Roxane starts to hope that maybe she can save Brad's life and her own.

I really liked the story and am interested in reading the 2nd book in the series. She could have included more hints about who did it and how Roxane put it together. There were also a few scenes that could have been shortened or excluded. But, especially for a debut novel, she did a good job of building a main character trying to find her own way in spite of the influence of several strong personalities and her own demons.

Night Passage by Robert B. Parker

 Night Passage (Jesse Stone #1) by Robert B. Parker - 322 pages

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

After a busted marriage kicks his drinking problem into overdrive and the LAPD unceremoniously dumps him, thirty-five-year-old Jesse Stone’s future looks bleak. So he’s shocked when a small Massachusetts town called Paradise recruits him as police chief. He can’t help wondering if this job is a genuine chance to start over, the kind of offer he can’t refuse.

Once on board, Jesse doesn’t have to look for trouble in Paradise: it comes to him. For what is on the surface a quiet New England community quickly proves to be a crucible of political and moral corruption—replete with triple homicide, tight Boston mob ties, flamboyantly errant spouses, maddened militiamen and a psychopath-about-town who has fixed his violent sights on the new lawman. Against all this, Jesse stands utterly alone, with no one to trust—even he and the woman he’s seeing are like ships passing in the night. He finds he must test his mettle and powers of command to emerge a local hero—or the deadest of dupes.

The only reason I read this was because it was chosen by our Mystery/Suspense Book Club. But, I'm really glad they did, because I loved it. I usually don't like short chapters, but Parker makes them work well, and the short chapters make it feel like a very quick read. I felt like I got to know the characters, and some of them are pretty unique. I look forward to reading more of the Jesse Stone series.

Some of the books in this series have been made into TV movies starring Tom Selleck. I also enjoyed the movie adaptation even though the plot had been streamlined and some character traits had been changed.

THE ROYAL BATHs MURDER by J.R. ELLIS

 THE ROYAL BATHs MURDER by J.R. ELLIS Pgs 310

A famous writer is found murdered at the Victorian baths in the Yorkshire town of Harrogate. In a crime worthy of one of his novels, Damian Penrose, who was appearing at the town’s crime writing festival, has been ruthlessly strangled. But with no trace of the murderer and no apparent means of escape, how did the killer simply vanish from the scene of the crime?

There’s only one mind capable of unlocking this mystery: DCI Jim Oldroyd. But as he and his team quickly discover, while Penrose was popular with the reading public, he had made plenty of enemies. Feuds over money, accusations of plagiarism, a string of affairs…His route to the top left a trail of embittered rivals—and suspects. But which of them was willing to commit murder?

When Penrose’s shocking death proves to be just the first of many, it becomes clear to Oldroyd that he is dealing with a calculating criminal hell-bent on revenge. He must find and bring them to justice. Before the truth becomes more chilling than fiction…

MURDER ON THE POET'S WALK by ELLERY ADAMS

 MURDER ON THE POET'S WALK by ELLERY ADAMS (Pages 315)

When corpses clutching poems begin turning up around Storyton Hall, resort manager Jane Steward is on the trail of someone exercising poetic license to kill . . .

As Jane eagerly anticipates the wedding of her best friend Eloise Alcott, Storyton Hall is overrun with poets in town to compete for a coveted greeting card contract. They’re everywhere, scrawling verses on cocktail napkins in the reading rooms or seeking inspiration strolling the Poet’s Walk, a series of trails named after famous authors. But the Tennyson Trail leads to a grim surprise: a woman’s corpse drifting in a rowboat on a lake, a crumpled copy of “The Lady of Shallot” in her lifeless fist.

When a second body is discovered, also holding a page from a poetry book, a recurring MO emerges. Fortunately, Jane is well versed in sleuthing and won’t rest until she gives the killer a taste of poetic justice . . .

THE LOCKED ROOM by ELLY GRIFFITHS

 THE LOCKED ROOM by ELLY GRIFFITHS  (Pgs 361)

Ruth and Nelson are on the hunt for a murderer when Covid-19 rears its ugly head. But can they find the killer despite lockdown?

Ruth is in London clearing out her mother's belongings when she makes a surprising discovery: a photograph of her Norfolk cottage taken before Ruth lived there. Her mother always hated the cottage, so why does she have a picture of the place? As she died three years ago, Ruth can't exactly ask her, and her father denies all knowledge of the picture. The only clue is written on the back of the photo: Dawn, 1969.

Ruth returns to Norfolk determined to solve the mystery, but then Covid-19 rears its ugly head. Ruth and her daughter are locked down in their cottage, attempting to continue with work and lessons, but, in reality, becoming lonely and frustrated. Happily the house next door is rented by a nice woman called Sally, who they become friendly with while standing on their doorstep clapping for carers.

Nelson, meanwhile, has no time to be bored. He's investigating a series of suicides that could be the work of a serial killer. It's only when he links them to an archaeological discovery that he thinks of Ruth. He breaks curfew to visit the cottage to find Ruth chatting to her neighbour, whom he remembers as Dawn Lancaster, a carer who was once tried for murdering her employer. When the deaths continue, Nelson vows to take Ruth and Kate to live with him. But they, and Dawn, have vanished. 

A DEADLY AFFAIR by AGATHA CHRISTIE

 A DEADLY AFFAIR by AGATHA CHRISTIE Pgs 272

From the Queen of Mystery—this all-new collection of stories about love gone horribly wrong will get your heart racing.

Love can propel us to our greatest heights . . . and darkest depths. In this new compendium of Agatha Christie short stories, witness the dark side of love—crimes of passion, games of the heart, and deadly deceits. This pulse-pounding compendium features beloved detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, master of charades Parker Pyne, the enigmatic Harley Quin, and the adventurous Tommy and Tuppence, all at the ready to solve tantalizing mysteries.

In “The Face of Helen,” a night at the Royal Opera could reach a fatal crescendo for a woman caught in a dicey love triangle; “Finessing the King” delivers a curious ad in the personals that could mask sinister intentions; who’s in danger of getting stung in “Wasps’ Nest” depends on rounding up suspects and solving a murder—before it even happens. These are just a few of the tales in this collection featuring essential reading that Christie fans old and new will simply love to death.