The Girl on the Train has been a bestseller for years, and for a good reason. It is a mystery, a psychological thriller, and a story about secrets that can ruin relationships. There are three narrators, all unreliable, but most of the story is told by Rachel. She means well, but her drinking, her obsessiveness, her self-pity, and her self-destructive … Continue reading →
The Searcher is a modern-day western set in Ireland. Cal Hooper is a divorced, retired American who has moved to rural western Ireland, looking for peace, trying to leave behind a lifetime of police work and a broken marriage. He picks a run-down house on the lower slopes of the mountain and sets about to fix it up, go fishing, … Continue reading →
The Ruin is a crime story set in Ireland. The story starts strong with a young policeman (Cormac Reilly) investigating the death of a woman who appeared to have killed herself with an overdose of heroin. He takes the two apparently-abused/neglected children into custody. The main story shifts to 20 years later when Jack, one of the children sent to … Continue reading →
The Snowman by Jo Nesbo is a Norwegian crime novel in which Detective Harry Hole investigates and tries to find a serial killer dubbed The Snowman. The novel follows the police procedural model/format, and the plot has many twists and turns, false leads, and it develops into a thriller in the last chapters. There are some clever sections and … Continue reading →
Magpie Murders is a whodunit story, but it has a mystery inside a mystery structure, all told in a classic Agatha Christie story mode. There are a number of introduced characters, any of which could be the suspects. The plot is expertly developed and there are red-herrings, twists, surprises, and clever detection work by two different investigators. It is an … Continue reading →
Michael Connelly’s latest book is the 23rd book in the Bosch Series and the 4th book in the Renee Ballard series and it is one of his best detective stories. This is one of his best stories and is highly recommended Over the years the characters have evolved and, at the same time, so has Connelly’s writing. The stories are … Continue reading →
P.D. James’ novels are part of a classic British tradition crime authors. The Murder Room was published in 2003 when she was in her 80’s. It is her 12th book in the Inspector Dalgleish series and is set in London, specifically at the Dupayne Museum, a Gothic mansion dedicated to the Interwar Years. It was built by the now-deceased father … Continue reading →
Camilla Lackburg is the most popular novelist in Sweden. She writes crime novels and has published 18 books since 2003. The Hidden Child is the 5th book in the (detective) Patrik Hedström and (writer) Erica Falck series. Lackberg’s stories tend to have complex plots and strong characterization. In this story, there are several mysteries to solve and a number of … Continue reading →
Next to Last Stand is the latest book (#16) in the Walt Longmire series. The series follows the same characters and the same location, Absaroka County in Wyoming, and each one has a murder mystery which Sheriff Longmire and his staff investigate. The stories all have a “folksy” tone with light dialogue. Integrated into every story is local color, Indigenous … Continue reading →
Murder in G Major is a murder mystery set in Ireland. The premise is that a music teacher can communicate with a ghost of a musician murdered 25 years ago. Gethsemane Brown finds herself as a reluctant investigator, tracking down evidence for an old cold case, and as she does so more murders multiply as the details start to emerge. … Continue reading →
1979 by Val McDermid My rating: This book did not work for me. I found it to be a little formulaic and cliched. The characters seemed a little thin and the development was slow and uninspired. But, I have enjoyed other Val McDermid stories. Part of the problem for me was that I had just finished a series of engaging … Continue reading →
Cover Her face was the first book of the Adam Dalgliesh murder mystery series by P. D. James. For many writers this would be the premier work, but P.D. James had set high standards in her writing career and this book shows great promise, but does not engage the reader fully. The author herself wasn’t happy with this first venture. … Continue reading →
The Dead Zone is a psychological thriller, a crime story, and a science fiction story in a slow-burning mystery format. Stephen King’s protagonist, Johnny Smith, awakens from a coma after 5 years and finds that he has some psychic powers. He can read some people and see the future, but he also has had some brain damage so he has … Continue reading →
Squeeze Me is a satirical novel set in South Florida. It is also a murder mystery with bouts of action and and it is full of humor and edgy dialogue. At times it is raucous and absurd. At other times it has scathing political satire. The characters are interesting and the story moves along well. There are a series of … Continue reading →
Eight Perfect Murders is a murder-mystery set in the world of the historical mystery literature genre. The main character is Malcolm Kershaw, a bookstore owner and a blogger who writes about murder mysteries. One of his articles is called “Eight Perfect Murders”, a meta-analysis of the the most perfect murder methods found in famous mystery novels. Each murder is different … Continue reading →
Two Girls Down is a mystery-crime-thriller novel about an investigation into two girls who went missing from a car when their mother was in shopping. With no leads the mother hires a bounty hunter – detective, Alice Vega. With a police department unwilling to work with her, Alice hires ex-cop Max Caplan, who has lots of contacts. They work together, … Continue reading →
