The Murder at World's End by Ross Montgomery

July 15, 2026

The Murder at World's End by Ross Montgomery

On the eve of the return of Halley's Comet in 1910, Stephen Pike arrives to take up a position as a footman at a country house called Tithe House, located on a peninsula known as World's End. World's End off the coast of Cornwall is a tidal island, which means that when the tide comes in, the peninsula is cut off from the mainland and becomes an island for up to 18 hours until the tide goes out again. Stephen also learns that his new employer is an eccentric who believes that the comet's tail is bringing poisonous cyanide gases that will kill off all life forms. He has all the doors and windows boarded up, and issues orders that all guests, residents and staff are to sequester themselves in their quarters until morning when the noxious vapors will have passed. But after what was otherwise a quiet night in the sealed up house, the staff and the family wake up to discover that one of them has been murdered in the night. And not by the comet. Because of his criminal background, Stephen is quickly singled out as the likely culprit. He realizes he has to discover the murderer and solve the crime unless he wants to find himself back in prison or worse.

I love a mystery set in an English country house. The characters are always guilty of something, not to mention eccentric, and the family here is no exception. Ex-con Stephen is young and naive and good-hearted, just grateful to have a job and wanting people to like him. His unexpected sleuthing partner is Aunt Decima, a foul-mouthed octogenarian who is easily the smartest person in the house and a fabulous character. She does not suffer fools gladly and has no qualms about dropping the f-bomb frequently. A cross between an Agatha Christie locked-room mystery and Downtown Abbey or Upstairs/Downstairs. Very enjoyable.

A tidal island with the causeway connecting it to the mainland underwater at high tide

Dead of Summer by Jessa Maxwell

July 6, 2025

Dead of Summer by Jessa Maxwell

After 12 years, Orla O'Connell returns to Hadley Island, her childhood home, to get her family's old house ready for sale. She left the island after her best friend Alice mysteriously disappeared. Orla is shocked to find her teenage crush David Clarke is in residence at his family's summer home, along with his beautiful girlfriend Faith. But David is busy with work, leaving Faith plenty of time to snoop around and investigate the town and David's family.

A quick read, the kind of thing you can read/skim in one day. Atmospheric, although somewhat predictable and it dragged at times. Familiar themes: rich nasty family, poor girl with secrets in her past hooking up with a rich guy, a woman return to her hometown after years away, small town with suspicious residents who know everyone and their business, odd local man who is a natural target, lots of secrets. The characters were all shallow and unlikeable, the narrators somewhat unreliable. The premise appealed to me since I usually like a cold case mystery, so I was disappointed in this one. Suitable for a beach or poolside read, or an at-home read when it's 90+ degrees outside and you're stuck in the house.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghey

June 1, 2025

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghey

Following the death of his wife, Dominic Salt takes a job with the Tasmanian park service and with his three children, moves to an island near Antarctica. They live in the island's lighthouse, and Dom's main job is looking after the international seed bank stored on the island, and maintaining the research station. But climate change is causing the ocean to rise and it is gradually consuming the island. When the government decides to move the seed bank to a safer place, the research team departs, leaving Dom and his children to finish packing the seeds and close down the facilities before a ship comes to take them back to the mainland. But before they leave, during one of the worst storms they have ever witnessed, a mysterious woman washes up on shore, gravely injured but alive.

First, let me say that I realize that the majority of readers LOVED this book, while I am somewhat ambivalent. Whenever a book is subjected to a media storm of hype, I go into it with high expectations and am almost always disappointed. I read a lot of literary fiction and I expect excellent writing and really good characters, since that's what carries the story. This one was only middle of the road. The writing and nature descriptions are lovely, and the setting is unique and interesting, but I did not feel any connection with any of the characters. I guess the island and the weather were the two actual main characters. The plot isn't much of a plot at all, more of a non-mystery based on deliberate miscommunication. Climate change i8s an important topic but the author really beats it to death. No one has a happy ending, it's just all super tragic. Triggers include statutory rape, descriptions of animal abuse, mental illness, graphic sex, and violence in many forms. Just meh.

The research station at Macquarie Island, Antarctica

The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton

April 4, 2024

The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton

The last 122 people on earth live in a village on an island at the end of the world - everyone else has been consumed by a mysterious fog. Technology is gone, the last of it buried somewhere beneath the island. All of the residents work for the greater good, managed by Abi, an artificial intelligence. No one lives beyond the age of 60 - when a villager dies, another appears to take their place. The deadly fog remains at bay, but they all fear that someday, the fog will consume them too. Equilibrium is maintained until a resident is murdered, and the fog suddenly begins to creep closer.

Stuart Turton writes mysteries that are anything but ordinary. I refer to them as "thinking person mysteries," with stories that are complex and original. Like the author's previous books, this one is edgy and a blend of dystopia, sci fi, and mystery. It's a "locked room" mystery, where a group of people are isolated from the outside, and one of them must be the murderer, but it seems to be impossible that any of them did it. Hints of the television series LOST and also The Prisoner. I could have used a map of the island since it was sometimes difficult to picture where the characters were at times in relation to the village and the bay. Not for someone looking for a traditional mystery, but will appeal to readers who like fiction that is "out there."

Many thanks to NetGallery and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

A foggy island at the end of the world

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

October 4, 2021

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

At an exclusive island resort off the coast of Ireland, a magazine publisher and a television star have planned the destination wedding of their dreams. But the wedding party and the guests are more like frenemies than real friends. Things start to go badly wrong shortly after the vows are said and the champagne is opened, when a body is discovered on the grounds.

An homage to Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None." Like Christie's mystery, it's psychological fiction, slow-burning and slow moving, with many different narrators and everyone suspecting everyone else. Many of the characters are not who the others think they are. The solution to the mystery and the conclusion are satisfying. Pay attention to the change in narrators and the subtle clues that are dropped throughout. Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young

August 2, 2022

Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young

A man returns to the island off the coast of Washington state where he grew up, to bury his mother's ashes and sell her cottage, then plans to return to his life in Portland as soon as he has completed those two tasks. But he was a suspect in a death many years earlier, so the townsfolk call a town meeting to "decide what to do about him." But of course the unexplained death isn't the real reason they want to get rid of him.

This book started losing me about 10% in. I've read this plotline many times before: the small town where the residents hate outsiders and will kill if necessary to maintain the status quo. How (un)original. Yawn.

Even the spells/witchcraft in the book are boring. One of the characters owns a teashop, one owns an herbal apothecary, one is the local granny/wisewoman. Again, no originality here. 

Normally this author writes young adult fiction, and this is her first book being marketed for adults. Maybe she should go back to YA. 

I wish the wisewoman in the book had been this interesting

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC.