The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins

 

The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins  320 pages

Welcome to Eris: An island with only one house, one inhabitant, one way out. Unreachable from the Scottish mainland for twelve hours each day.

Once home to Vanessa: A famous artist whose notoriously unfaithful husband disappeared twenty years ago.

Now home to Grace: A solitary creature of the tides, content in her own isolation.

But when a shocking discovery is made in an art gallery far away in London, a visitor comes calling.

And the secrets of Eris threaten to emerge . . .

A masterful novel that is as page-turning as it is unsettling, The Blue Hour recalls the sophisticated suspense of Shirley Jackson and Patricia Highsmith, and cements Hawkins’s place among the very best of our most nuanced and stylish storytellers.

I expected this to be more of a thriller-type mystery as it started with the discovery of a human bone. It was a little soap opera-y. However I enjoyed it. I liked seeing the character of Grace develope. Her life was a bit sad in how people saw her. The end was a bit unexpected for me but left an end "untied". I'm surprised it did not get higher reviews on goodreads. I enjoyed it. 

An Insignificant Case

 

An Insignificant Case by Phillip Margolin

Charlie Webb is a third-rate lawyer who graduated from a third law school and, because he couldn’t get hired by any of the major law firms, has opened his own law firm, where he gets by handling cases for dubious associates from his youth and some court-appointed cases.

Described as “a leaky boat floating down the stream of life,” Charlie has led an unremarkable life, personally and professionally. Until he’s appointed to be the attorney for a decidedly crackpot artist who calls himself Guido Sabatini (born Lawrence Weiss). Sabatini has been arrested – again – for breaking into a restaurant and stealing back a painting he sold them because he was insulted by where it was displayed. But as Lawrence Weiss, he’s also an accomplished card shark and burglar and while he was there, he stole a thumb drive from the owner’s safe. Not knowing what else Sabatini has stolen, Webb negotiates the return of the painting and 'other items’ for the owner dropping charges against Sabatini. But the contents of the flash drive threatens very powerful figures who are determined to retrieve it, the restaurant owner (Gretchen Hall) and her driver (Yuri Makarov) are being investigated for the sex trafficking of minors, and there are others who have a violent grudge against Sabatini. When a minor theft case becomes a double homicide, and even more, Charlie Webb, an insignificant lawyer assigned to an insignificant case, is faced with the most important, and deadliest, case of his life. 

I had higher expectations for the story with such a great title and premise. Never boring though.

However, the main story stops at (if memory serves) chapter 45 and the story extends to chapter 52 in order to tie up a loose end. I can't say if it was truly necessary as I guessed it early on.

Manhunt by James Patterson with James O'born

 

Manhunt by James Patterson with James O. Born   145 pages

Someone attacked the Thanksgiving Day Parade directly in front of Michael Bennett and his family. The television news called it "holiday terror"--Michael Bennett calls it personal. The hunt is on....

This was just a short story to waste some time. I'm not much into crime novels and this is why. There was no twist. Just a lot of talking.

Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret

 Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson  175 pages

Benjamin Stevenson returns with a Christmas addition to his bestselling, Ernest Cunningham mysteries. Unwrap all the Christmas staples: presents, family, an impossible murder or two, and a deadly advent calendar of clues. If Knives Out and The Thursday Murder Club kissed under the mistletoe.

My name’s Ernest Cunningham. I used to be a fan of reading Golden Age murder mysteries, until I found myself with a haphazard career getting stuck in the middle of real-life ones. I’d hoped, this Christmas, that any self-respecting murderer would kick their feet up and take it easy over the holidays. I was wrong.

So here I am, backstage at the show of world-famous magician Rylan Blaze, whose benefactor has just been murdered. My suspects are all professional tricksters: masters of the art of misdirection.

THE MAGICIAN

THE ASSISTANT

THE EXECUTIVE

THE HYPNOTIST

THE IDENTICAL TWIN

THE COUNSELLOR

THE TECH

My clues are even more abstract: A suspect covered in blood, without a memory of how it got there. A murder committed without setting foot inside the room where it happens. And an advent calendar. Because, you know, it’s Christmas.

If I can see through the illusions, I know I can solve it.

After all, a good murder is just like a magic trick, isn’t it?

I am a fan of Benjamin Stevenson's books. They are cozy whodunits with humor. This one is a very quick read.

Dark Storm Rising

 Dark Storm Rising by Linda Castillo 65pages

Newlyweds Chief of Police Kate Burkholder and John Tomasetti are happily spending their honeymoon at a beautiful Lake Erie cabin that was once part of an historic Amish settlement. But when a violent storm suddenly erupts, Lovina Nisley, the Amish owner of the cabin, goes missing. Lovina is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, so it initially appears the elderly woman simply took the wrong path, but her disappearance takes an ominous turn when her husband reveals that a developer has been threatening them if they refuse to sell him their home. With temperatures dropping and local law enforcement unable to reach them, Kate and Tomasetti must brave the perilous weather to find her. But will they reach Lovina in time to save her life?

This was no more exciting then a forty minute episode of Blue Bloods or CSI. It is super short. This can entertain you at an airport while waiting to board. 

The Judge's List

 

The Judge's List  by John Grisham 357 pages

Investigator Lacy Stoltz follows the trail of a serial killer, and closes in on a shocking suspect—a sitting judge—in “one of the best crime reads of the year.... Bristling with high-tech detail and shivering with suspense.... Worth staying up all night to finish” (Wall Street Journal).

In The Whistler, Lacy Stoltz investigated a corrupt judge who was taking millions in bribes from a crime syndicate. She put the criminals away, but only after being attacked and nearly killed. Three years later, and approaching forty, she is tired of her work for the Florida Board on Judicial Conduct and ready for a change.

Then she meets a mysterious woman who is so frightened she uses a number of aliases. Jeri Crosby’s father was murdered twenty years earlier in a case that remains unsolved and that has grown stone cold. But Jeri has a suspect whom she has become obsessed with and has stalked for two decades. Along the way, she has discovered other victims.

Suspicions are easy enough, but proof seems impossible. The man is brilliant, patient, and always one step ahead of law enforcement. He is the most cunning of all serial killers. He knows forensics, police procedure, and most important: he knows the law.

He is a judge, in Florida—under Lacy’s jurisdiction.

He has a list, with the names of his victims and targets, all unsuspecting people unlucky enough to have crossed his path and wronged him in some way. How can Lacy pursue him, without becoming the next name on his list?

Personally, I think John Grisham stories make better movies than reads. There are slow parts where characters repeat themselves, especially when explaining the circumstances of the case to yet another police official. Also, I  listened to this on Hoopla. I was read by the actress Mary Louise Parker. She did not pause between sections (not chapters) so sometimes I was confused by the sudden change of characters and settings. So, read the book, don't listen. Better yet, watch the movie if one comes out.:((  Also, it felt anticlimactic. 

The Wrong Daughter

 

The Wrong Daughter by Dandy Smith  353 pages

 The phone starts vibrating in my hand. It's my father. He never calls. Pulse racing in trepidation, I sit up in bed and answer. 'Caitlin,' he says. 'You need to come to the house. Right now. It's Olivia. She's back.'
 On the night when Caitlin and Olivia's parents leave them to go to a dinner party both girls are full of excitement about being old enough to stay home alone.
 What they don't see is the figure watching them through the open window. Who, after the girls have fallen asleep, will turn the handle of the unlocked back door.
 When their parents return, they will find Olivia's bed empty. Their eldest daughter gone. Never to return.
 Until now.
 But is the woman who claims to be Olivia really all she seems? And is everything Caitlin said she saw that night really the whole truth?
 Their family have dreamt of this moment. But could Olivia's return be what destroys them...
 The absolutely gripping and page-turning new psychological thriller from bestselling author Dandy Smith, with a killer twist you won't see coming.

I did enjoy the twist at the end. There's more than one really. The story was entertaining all the way through.

.

Heavy Are the Stones by J.D. Barker

 

Heavy Are the Stones by J.D. Barker - 312 pages

Ten days to keep a lie.
Ten plagues if you deny.
Ten ways to watch them die.

Five years ago, when Detective Jena Campbell put the Leviticus Killer behind bars, she locked her darkest secret away with him. Something never meant to surface. Something better left to rot with the madman who had destroyed so many lives.

When a strange man calling himself Azrael appears on social media with threats to unleash ten plagues, ten deaths, in ten days, unless Leviticus is released, Jena is forced to reopen that door and face her past.

Unable to share what she knows, she turns to the only man who can help her find Azrael before he kills again, the man she condemned. Jena quickly learns the only thing more terrifying than facing him, is facing herself.

J.D. Barker does it again-another awesome book!  This is a great read-if you like thrillers I would highly suggest checking out his books.  There is not a dull moment!  

None of This is True by Lisa Jewel

 

None of This is True by Lisa Jewel   370 pages

Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.

A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.

Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realize that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.

But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.

Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?

I would recommend this book. There are twists galore!!

The Fourth Monkey

 

The Fourth Monkey by J.D. Barker  404 pages

For over five years, the Four Monkey Killer has terrorized the residents of Chicago. When his body is found, the police quickly realize he was on his way to deliver one final message, one which proves he has taken another victim who may still be alive.

As the lead investigator on the 4MK task force, Detective Sam Porter knows even in death, the killer is far from finished. When he discovers a personal diary in the jacket pocket of the body, Porter finds himself caught up in the mind of a psychopath, unraveling a twisted history in hopes of finding one last girl, all while struggling with personal demons of his own.

With only a handful of clues, the elusive killer’s identity remains a mystery. Time is running out and the Four Monkey Killer taunts from beyond the grave in this masterfully written fast-paced thriller.

This book kept me guessing. I enjoyed the diary entries the most. It was almost like three stories in one. I recommend it. 

Some Danger Involved

 

Some Danger Involved by Will Thomas  290 pages

When a student bearing a striking resemblance to artists' renderings of Jesus Christ is found murdered -- by crucifixion -- in London's Jewish ghetto, 19th-century private detective Barker must hire an assistant to help him solve the sinister case. Out of all who answer an ad for a position with "some danger involved," the eccentric and enigmatic Barker chooses downtrodden Llewelyn, a gutsy young man whose murky past includes recent stints at both an Oxford college and an Oxford prison.
As Llewelyn learns the ropes of his position, he is drawn deeper and deeper into Barker's peculiar world of vigilante detective work, as well as the dark heart of London's teeming underworld. Together they pass through chophouses, stables, and clandestine tea rooms, tangling with the early Italian mafia, a mad professor of eugenics, and other shadowy figures, inching ever closer to the shocking truth behind the murder.

If you like historical fiction, I recommend this book. It did not grab and hold me where I couldn't put it down but it was good enough to pick t back up.

I've Got My Eyes on You

 

I've Got My Eyes on You by Mary Higgins Clark  256 pages

After a party when her parents are away, eighteen-year-old Kerry Dowling is found fully dressed at the bottom of the family pool.

The immediate suspect is her boyfriend who had a bitter argument with her at the party. Then there is a twenty-year-old neighbor who was angry because she didn’t invite him to the party.

Or is there someone else who has not yet been seen on the radar?

Kerry’s older sister Aline, a twenty-eight-year-old guidance counselor, is determined to assist the Prosecutor's Office in learning the truth. She does not realize that now she is putting her own life in danger...

I've never read a Mary Higgins Clark novel. It was a cozy mystery with likable/hateable characters. It was okay. Good if you like cozy mysteries. 

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

 

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton  432 pages

Evelyn Hardcastle will be murdered at 11:00 p.m.

There are eight days, and eight witnesses for you to inhabit.

We will only let you escape once you tell us the name of the killer.

Understood? Then let's begin . . .

Evelyn Hardcastle will die. Every day until Aiden Bishop can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest. And some of his hosts are more helpful than others . . .

I picked up this book with a lot of excitement. What a concept! 

There is a cheat sheet of characters in the front because there are quite a few of them and you have to keep them straight. Very helpful. 

I just couldn't keep up. He switched bodies numerous times. Also, he moved back and forth in days AND the time of day, so when he interacted with another character, he had to point out to the reader if the other characters knew certain clues yet. 

The 'what is really going on here?' question is unanswered until page 381. 

I stuck with it, but I just let it carry me to the end. I stopped trying to follow somewhere in the middle.

I'm curious how other readers do.

Her Father's Secret by Kate Wiley

 

Her Father's Secret by Kate Wiley - 312 pages

The sun is beginning to set as Margot watches the dive team haul the girl’s body from the lake, untangling the bag that had been used to weight it down among the rocks and the reeds. But it isn’t the cool evening air that chills Margot to the bone as the bag is opened up. It is the glimpse of its contents. The old toys. Margot’s toys.

Detective Margot Phalen has spent years running from her father’s shadow – and the awful truth of her own past as the daughter of a serial killer. But then she receives a message from him. He’s willing to share his darkest secret – but only with her.

>Now, as she sits across from the empty chair waiting for Ed Finch to be led in, Margot closes her eyes and steels herself for what lies ahead. The key to solving one of California’s most infamous missing persons cases is here, in the one place she fears her father’s cell.

But she knows that the deeper she delves into her father’s twisted mind the greater the risk he’ll get under her skin. And retracing the missing girl’s last steps will mean questioning everything she thought she knew about herself and her family's dark history…

I didn't realize that this book is #2 in a series.  I don't feel that I missed anything by not reading the first book; I wasn't confused about anything happening in the book.  Overall I would say this was just "ok".  It seemed to ramble a bit sometimes and I found it hard to really get invested, but I didn't hate the story.

The Bounty by Janet Evanovich and Steve Hamilton

The Bounty by Janet Evanovich and Steve Hamilton -- 320 pages

Straight as an arrow special agent Kate O’Hare and international con man Nick Fox have brought down some of the biggest criminals out there. But now they face their most dangerous foe yet—a vast, shadowy international organization known only as the Brotherhood.

Directly descended from the Vatican Bank priests who served Hitler during World War II, the Brotherhood is on a frantic search for a lost train loaded with $30 billion in Nazi gold, untouched for over seventy-five years somewhere in the mountains of Eastern Europe.

Kate and Nick know that there is only one man who can find the fortune and bring down the Brotherhood—the same man who taught Nick everything he knows—his father, Quentin. As the stakes get higher, they must also rely on Kate’s own father, Jake, who shares his daughter’s grit and stubbornness. Too bad they can never agree on anything.

From a remote monastery in the Swiss Alps to the lawless desert of the Western Sahara, Kate, Nick, and the two men who made them who they are today must crisscross the world in a desperate scramble to stop their deadliest foe in the biggest adventure of their lives.

The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose

The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose  337 pages

Sarah Morgan is a successful and powerful defense attorney in Washington D.C. At 33 years old, she is a named partner at her firm and life is going exactly how she planned.

The same cannot be said for her husband, Adam. He is a struggling writer who has had little success in his career. He begins to tire of his and Sarah’s relationship as she is constantly working.

Out in the secluded woods, at Adam and Sarah’s second home, Adam engages in a passionate affair with Kelly Summers.

Then, one morning everything changes. Adam is arrested for Kelly’s murder. She had been found stabbed to death in Adam and Sarah’s second home.

Sarah soon finds herself playing the defender for her own husband, a man accused of murdering his mistress.

But is Adam guilty or is he innocent?

I enjoyed this story. The ending was unexpected and well explained though you're strung along for two chapters before it is explained.

The Job by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg

The Job by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg -- 289 pages

Charming con man Nicolas Fox and dedicated FBI agent Kate O'Hare secretly take down world’s most-wanted and untouchable felons, next job Violante, the brutal leader of a global drug-smuggling empire. The FBI doesn’t know what he looks like, where he is, or how to find him, but Nick knows his tastes in gourmet chocolate.

From Nashville to Lisbon back alleys, from Istanbul rooftops to Thames, they chase clues to lookalike thefts. Pitted against a psychopathic bodyguard Reyna holding Kate hostage and a Portuguese enforcer getting advice from an ancestor's pickled head, they again call driver Willie for ship, actor Boyd for one-eyed Captain Bridger, special effects carpenter Tom, her father Jake - retired Special Forces, and his talented - machete-wielding Somali pirate Billy Dee. This could be their biggest job - if they survive.

The Chase by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg

The Chase by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg -- 303 pages

Internationally renowned thief and con artist Nicolas Fox is famous for running elaborate and daring scams. His greatest con of all: convincing the FBI to team him up with the only person who has ever caught him, and the only woman to ever capture his attention, Special Agent Kate O’Hare. Together they’ll go undercover to swindle and catch the world’s most wanted—and untouchable—criminals.
 
Their newest target is Carter Grove, a former White House chief of staff and the ruthless leader of a private security agency. Grove has stolen a rare Chinese artifact from the Smithsonian, a crime that will torpedo U.S. relations with China if it ever becomes public. Nick and Kate must work under the radar—and against the clock—to devise a plan to steal the piece back. Confronting Grove’s elite assassins, Nick and Kate rely on the skills of their ragtag crew, including a flamboyant actor, a Geek Squad techie, and a band of AARP-card-carrying mercenaries led by none other than Kate’s dad.
 
A daring heist and a deadly chase lead Nick and Kate from Washington, D.C., to Shanghai, from the highlands of Scotland to the underbelly of Montreal. But it’ll take more than death threats, trained henchmen, sleepless nights, and the fate of a dynasty’s priceless heirloom to outsmart Fox and O’Hare.

The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson

The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson -- 448 pages

Lights. Camera. Lies. 18-year-old Bel has lived her whole life in the shadow of her mom’s mysterious disappearance. Sixteen years ago, Rachel Price vanished and young Bel was the only witness, but she has no memory of it. Rachel is gone, long presumed dead, and Bel wishes everyone would just move on.

But the case is dragged up from the past when the Price family agree to a true crime documentary. Bel can’t wait for filming to end, for life to go back to normal. And then the impossible happens. Rachel Price reappears, and life will never be normal again.

Rachel has an unbelievable story about what happened to her. Unbelievable, because Bel isn’t sure it’s real. If Rachel is lying, then where has she been all this time? And – could she be dangerous? With the cameras still rolling, Bel must uncover the truth about her mother, and find out why Rachel Price really came back from the dead . . .

The Fury by Alex Michaelides

The Fury by Alex Michaelides -- 298 pages

This is a tale of murder. Or maybe that’s not quite true. At its heart, it’s a love story, isn’t it? Lana Farrar is a reclusive ex–movie star and one of the most famous women in the world. Every year, she invites her closest friends to escape the English weather and spend Easter on her idyllic private Greek island.

I tell you this because you may think you know this story. You probably read about it at the time ― it caused a real stir in the tabloids, if you remember. It had all the necessary ingredients for a press sensation: a celebrity, a private island cut off by the wind…and a murder.

We found ourselves trapped there overnight. Our old friendships concealed hatred and a desire for revenge. What followed was a game of cat and mouse ― a battle of wits, full of twists and turns, building to an unforgettable climax. The night ended in violence and death, as one of us was found murdered. But who am I? My name is Elliot Chase, and I’m going to tell you a story unlike any you’ve ever heard.