Everyone on This Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson

October 28, 2025

Everyone on This Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson

When the Australian Mystery Writers Association invites him to speak on a panel at their annual conference, Ernest Cunningham and his girlfriend find themselves on the Ghan, the famous historic train that runs from Darwin to Adelaide. Almost all of the other conference participants appear to hold some sort of grudge against each other. What could possibly go wrong?

Set shortly after the events of the first Ernest Cunningham book, this is another fun and clever mystery. Like the first book, it's a locked-room mystery with a lot of characters. I sort of guessed who the murderer was, if not the why. The writers and publishing people weren't as endearing as Ernest's family in the first book - I would have been okay with a few more of them being killed off. I recommend the audiobook - make sure you listen or read the epilogue. And Juliet says yes the second time.

The opal mines at Cooper Peady that play a part in the last section

The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes by Chanel Cleeton

September 26, 2025

The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes by Chanel Cleeton

Margo is a rare collectibles dealer in London, accustomed to sourcing items for wealthy clients. When a new client hires her to locate a rare book, she assumes it will be just another job. But when a friend who is a rare book dealer is murdered, Margo discovers that there are others searching to the book, and they will stop at nothing to find it first.

One of my selections for Hispanic & Latino Heritage Month. Triple timeline with three female main characters: present day London, and Havana in 1900 and 1966. A rare book ties all three storylines together. I kept reading to find out what was so special about the book that someone would kill for it. Some mystery, some intrigue, some romance. Will appeal to readers who enjoy books about books.

Havana in the 1960s - they are still driving those kinds of cars today

The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark

August 3, 2025

The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark

Olivia Dumont is a ghostwriter, working with the rich and famous to craft memoirs that can be marketed as being written by the famous subject. But she is blackballed and her career has tanked after being sued for publicly slandering a fellow ghostwriter. About to lose her home to pay the settlement and legal fees, she is desperate for work and agrees to take on the memoir of a famous horror writer who was accused of murdering his two siblings. Now, 50 years later, he claims he is ready to reveal what really happened. The only problem is, the writer is Olivia's father who she has been estranged from for two decades.

Slow moving. It takes Olivia a looooong time to get to the heart of her father's manuscript. Ultimately unsatisfying, as there is no real resolution to the mystery. A cast of unreliable narrators and unlikeable characters. It does have a cool cover graphic.

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

Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz

July 21, 2025

Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz

After breaking up with her partner Andreas, editor Susan Ryeland returns to London to take up her career as a freelance editor. She is hired by a small publisher, and to her dismay, she is asked to edit the newest Atticus Pund mystery, a continuation of the late author's mystery series by a younger somewhat unstable writer. Susan hates the series but she needs the job, so she agrees to work with the author, hoping she isn't going to be putting her life in danger. Again.

The third and possibly the last book in this series. This one was long, over 500 pages, and some of the descriptions could have been eliminated or shortened. I clocked Elaine a lot sooner than Susan did. Or maybe I'm just suspicious by nature. It will help if you've read the two previous books before taking up this one, since there are references to characters and the solution to the mystery in the first book.

Crouch End, London, where a lot of the action in the novel takes place

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

January 5, 2025

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

Grady Green is at the top of his writing career, with his latest book climbing The New York Times bestseller list. The his wife Abby, an investigative journalist, goes missing while driving home, and his life goes to hell. He has no idea what happened to her: no goodbye letter, no suicide note, no ransom note, no body. After a year of drifting and not writing a word, his agent offers him the use of a cottage in the Hebrides off the coast of Scotland. He and his dog Colombo make the long drive north from London, and once he arrives, he begins to see Abby everywhere.

The good news: Colombo the black Lab is safe all the way through the book. I have enough people who call me while reading a book, asking if the dog is okay at the end, because otherwise they won't be finishing the book, that I know to include this right away. Feeney's trademark suspense featuring the ever-popular unreliable narrator. It's a slow plot for almost 2/3 of the book. The twist and the island's backstory start at this point. The real twist is at the 90% mark. This is the third Alice Feeney book I've read and I always figure out at least part of the "twist" well before we get there - with Daisy Darker, I think I figured it out by page 20. The only reason I keep reading is to see if I'm right or to fill in the gaps. Maybe I read too much. I think I'm done with Feeney. Readers who enjoy Freida McFadden will enjoy Alice Feeney's style as well.

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

Outer Hebrides village

Return to Wyldcliffe Heights by Carol Goodman

September 28, 2024

Return to Wyldcliffe Heights by Carol Goodman

Ever since her bestselling romantic suspense novel was published, fans of reclusive author Veronica St. Clair have been clamoring for the author to write a sequel. When editorial assistant Agnes Corey loses her job at the publishing house that published the novel, she secures a position as the author's assistant to help her write a sequel. Little does she know that the job will open up a window into her own life story.

When I was in high school, I was a huge fan of Victoria Holt's gothic novels. The cover and description reminded me of those books (in fact, at least one is referenced in the text), but this one is no where near as well written or engaging. It's a book within a book, a trope which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. There are too many dreams that repeat the same thing, too much falling asleep in the bathtub. The plot is really slow moving and the characters are unlikeable as well as confusing. All the narrative threads are jumbled together at the end in a confusing heap, with the characters proving to be exceptionally stupid. It was a slog to get through, and a good editor should have deleted at least 25 pages. It will appeal to readers who are big gothic fans - maybe.

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

I remember this being one of my favorite Victoria Holt novels

Yellowface by R. F. Kuang

July 10, 2024

Yellowface by R. F. Kuang

June Hayward and Athena Liu have known each other for almost a decade, since they met as freshmen at Yale, but you wouldn't call them friends. Their lives have take dramatically different directions: Athena is an amazingly successful author with several bestsellers and a new one in the works, while June's single book was published by an independent press and barely sold a few thousand copies, and she struggles to pay the bills by ghostwriting college essays and tutoring lackluster students. When Athena dies in front of June, June makes a split second decision to steal Athena's latest manuscript and pass it off as her own work.

This book has gotten a ton of hype. A plot about plagiarism isn't new or original, and yes, the publishing world can be vicious, and writers can be jealous and sneaky. But there is more going on here than jealousy and intellectual theft, including racism, social media attacks, and the argument about who is entitles to tell a story, i.e., do you have to be of Asian descent to write about Asian history? I found most of the characters to be really unlikeable. The story reminded me a lot of Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne, which I really enjoyed and recommend to readers interested in writers and the publishing industry, rather than this one. Did not like the cover.

The Seventh Veil of Salome by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

June 26, 2024

The Seventh Veil of Salome by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

A mid-level  movie studio decides to make a film called The Seventh Veil of Salome. Every actress and starlet in Hollywood auditions for the role of Salome, but everyone is surprised when the director selects an unknown Mexican actress for the part. A struggling actress believes the part was stolen from her and is convinced that if she can get rid of the other actress, she will be able to step into the part.

This is a different direction for Moreno-Garcia, purely historical fiction with nothing mythical or supernatural. Three women, all struggling to find their identities and be heard in a male-dominated world: Salome, daughter of Herodias, niece of Herod Antipas, Princess of Idumea; Vera, a Mexican actress and newcomer to Hollywood; and Nancy, a struggling extra who has been trying to get her big break in Hollywood for ten years, convinced that she could be a major star. Two parallel storylines, one the life of Salome, the other the movie being made about her. Although there are multiple POV and narrators, I did not find it at all confusing. We are supposed to hate Nancy, the villain of the piece, but really she is her own worst enemy, sabotaging herself at every turn, so it's hard not to feel sorry for her for her dumb choices. Highly recommended for readers of historical fiction, especially about the golden age of Hollywood.

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

Traditional depiction of Salome

Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle

June 3, 2024

Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle

After 20 years of struggling, writing mostly B-level horror films, Misha has been nominated for an Oscar for one of his short films and has finally landed a gig as a screenwriter on a successful television show. He has a boyfriend that he is crazy about and friends who care about him. But as soon as two gay characters fall in love, the studio heads instruct Misha to kill them off since they think it will improve the show's arc. Misha is pissed about this and refuses to kill off the characters, which may cost him his job. But that's not the worst of it -- characters from Misha's horror films (The Smoker, Mrs. Why, Black Lamb, The Bride) are stalking him and his friends.

This was one of my selections for Pride Month 2024. I'm not a huge horror fan (although I do seem to read more horror than I think I do) but this was pretty entertaining. BTW, the Bury Your Gays trope is a literary trope where a gay character dies tragically, usually right before or right after declaring their love for another gay character. The really screwed up part is that the surviving gay character "realizes" that they're not really gay at all, and they console themselves by falling in love with a straight character. Horror fans will enjoy the dark humor as well as the creepy characters.

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

Movie studio

Set for Life by Andrew Ewell

December 4, 2023

Set for Life by Andrew Ewell

A nameless creative writing professor who is on a deadline to get something (anything, really) published has major writer's block. He is a failure at writing, at teaching, at being a husband, at life in general. His wife is a successful novelist and she encourages him at every turn. In typical male midlife crisis fashion, he begins an affair with one of his wife's friends, thinking that this is the answer to all of his problems. When his now-estranged wife publishes another novel with a character based on him, his envy knows no bounds and he feels he is entitled to some kind of compensation. After he manages to implode his entire life, he retreats to Florida where his parents (who he has always looked down on as failures) own a small beachside hotel.

All of the characters in this novel are unlikeable, with the exception of Carlos, the visiting writer. The main character is immature and a complete snob - everyone and everything is beneath him, and he feels that success should be just handed to him rather than having to work for it. It's always someone else's fault. Also, the main character drinks WAY too much, in fact many of the characters drink almost constantly. It's fairly obvious that he is depressed and everyone knows it but him, and several of the characters try to throw him a lifeline (including the department chair, who he despises, who not only doesn't press charges after the main character almost burns down his office, but he tries to help him find a new job). The writing is good, there is some dark humor, and it's a quick read - like a train wreck, you can't look away. I sincerely hope this novel isn't autobiographical.

Is it just me or does anyone else think this is a really boring cover?

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

Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style by Paul Rudnick

May 20, 2023

Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style by Paul Rudnick

Wealthy Farrell Covington and Jersey Jewish boy Nate Reminger met during their first term at Yale and fell in love, and stayed that way for the next 50 years. Farrell has buckets of style - of course, he has the mega-millions to pay for style - and Nate can't quite believe that Farrell wants to be with him. But Farrell's family refuse to accept that their son is gay and go to great lengths to separate the pair. But their love persists, overcoming everything that comes their way.

The first two thirds of the book were good, very entertaining, but then it started to go off the tracks. One of the characters develops AIDS (it's the 1980s) and then the story starts to get loopy. Really - if you're diagnosed with AIDS or any terminal disease, would you run off and leave your long-term beloved partner for TWO YEARS? And the reason the character goes off is actually pretty stupid - you have to be a mega-rich person to think that it's important. I wouldn't but I'm hetero, so I checked with some of my gay friends and they all agreed they would never do that. Falls kind of flat at the end. Disappointing.

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

Less is Lost by Andrew Sean Greer

May 14, 2023

Less is Lost by Andrew Sean Greer

Arthur Less returns for another entry in the continuing saga of his life. He and his partner Freddy Pelu are in a steady relationship, his novels are moderately successful, and overall, life is going well. But then the death of a former lover causes not only emotional blow but a financial crisis as well. Arthur is forced to find a way to pay the back rent on The Shack, their tiny but beloved San Francisco home. So while Freddy is away on a three month sabbatical in New England (where Arthur was supposed to join him), Arthur is instead racing around the southwest with an eccentric author trying to complete an interview for which he'll get paid, while also serving as a judge for a gay literary prize (also for money), accompanying an acting troupe performing a play adapted from one of his books (yes, and got paid for it), and returns to his Delaware home town for a speaking tour, all with somewhat disastrous results. And his long-estranged father decides to get in touch.

Light and entertaining. Even at the age of 50+, Arthur is sweet, hopeful and earnest. I actually think this sequel is better than the first book. Freddy is the narrator of the books and we learn more about his life. Arthur is constantly being confused with another writer by the same name, which makes for some entertaining confusion. One complaint is that the chapters are VERY long - I would have preferred breaking them up into shorter segments.

Rossina, the VW minibus that Arthur travels the South in

A Line to Kill by Anthony Horowitz

December 6, 2022

A Line to Kill by Anthony Horowitz

Hawthorne and Horowitz return for another case, this time at a small literary festival on one of the Channel Islands. Horowitz is invited to be a guest speaker and Hawthorne decides to go along. But when one of the festival sponsors is found dead, Hawthorne is enlisted to assist the local police. As they investigate the conference attendees and the island residents, they discover a lot more than literary rivalries.

Horowitz appears as a character in his own mystery, playing Watson to Hawthorne's Holmes. Not a good as The Magpie Murders but still has some good twists. Like most mysteries, it's one of the less likely characters who done it. I find Hawthorne to be an unlikeable character, who has his own sense of justice (not sure if other readers feel the same way). I enjoyed listening to the audio version.

One of the Channel Islands

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

November 28, 2022

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

Emily Sheridan and Chess Chandler have been friends since elementary school. Both are writers: Emily writes cozy mysteries and Chess writes self-help books. Following a bad period in Emily's life, Chess suggests they spend the summer at a villa in Italy where both can work on their writing. At first, the house seems like the perfect place to spend the summer. But when Emily learns that a murder occurred at the villa 50 years earlier, she begins to dig deeper into the story.

There are two timelines here, set 50 years apart, that mirror each other to a certain extent. I figured out the plot about one third of the way into the story. But there were some unexpected twists as well as two different endings, and the reader is left wondering about the truth. Quite a few of the characters are unlikeable, so it didn't bother me when they died or got killed. This is enjoyable escape fiction, well-written, that is perfect for vacation, and readers of psychological or suspense fiction will be drawn into the story.

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

Orvieto, Italy, the setting for The Villa

The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths

March 19, 2021

The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths

A 90 year old woman named Peggy Smith is found dead in her flat by her caregiver. At first, it seems the woman died of natural causes (she IS 90, after all), but when the caregiver is cleaning out the flat, she notices a large number of crime novels dedicated to Peggy:  PS: to PS.

It turns out that Peggy was a murder consultant for a number of popular writers, with a knack for thinking up clever and unusual ways to kill someone. But this time, someone wanted Peggy dead. The caregiver, an elderly (but very dapper) neighbor, and the owner of the local cafe team up to solve the crime with one of the local detectives, DS Harbinder Kaur. But then other writers start turning up dead, and the amateur sleuths pursue a lead to a popular book festival in Edinburgh.

This is the second book in the Harbinder Kaur series, but it can be read as a stand-alone. The characters are charming and the police detective is nicer than a lot of crime fiction cops.

The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz

September 10, 2019

The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz

Screenwriter Anthony Horowitz is once again approached by P. I. Daniel Hawthorne (both last seen in The Word is Murder) with a new case.  A wealthy and well-known divorce lawyer has been murdered by being hit over the head with an expensive bottle of bottle, and then stabbed with the bottle shards.  The number 182 is painted on the wall of the room where he was killed.  There are numerous suspects, all with secrets and good reasons to murder the lawyer, including the lawyer's husband, a couple of clients, and an old school friend.  Hawthorne wants writer Horowitz (who appears as a character in his own mystery) to once again be Watson to Hawthorne's Sherlock Holmes.

I loved Magpie Murders and was so disappointed that there weren’t really any Atticus Pund mysteries - Atticus Pund was a wonderful character.  While the Hawthorne mysteries are clever, they just aren't as good because P. I. Hawthorne is abrasive, racist, homophobic, and unlikeable.  Horowitz tries to make him sound mysterious but he’s not – he’s a secretive anti-social loner who treats other people with disdain.  There are a number of minor characters and side plots that really didn't add much to the mystery (the characters at the book club, Horowitz's agent, Lenny the informant, a couple of really brutal constables, etc.).  By the end of the book, even Horowitz is trying to break off his relationship with Hawthorne.

While this was an interesting mystery with a couple of good twists, I listened to the audio version and I disliked the reader – all of the characters except Hawthorne sound shrill and whiny.  I think I’ll stick to the print version for any future titles in the series.