The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson

October 15, 2023

In one weekend, I read two Christmas novellas that quoted Dickens’ Christmas Carol. Perhaps it’s appropriate that stories of people haunted by the past would quote from that story. It isn’t until part 2 of Peter Swanson’s The Christmas Guest...

One Puzzling Afternoon by Emily Critchley

October 02, 2023

Emily Critchley’s One Puzzling Afternoon is a heartbreaking book. While it’s a mystery, it also tells of Edie Green Havercraft’s dementia, and the reader watches it grow worse in the course of the book. It’s difficult to read at times. In 2018,...

The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman

September 19, 2023

If you’ve been following the adventures of the seniors from The Thursday Murder Club, prepare yourself for tears ahead of time. Richard Osman’s The Last Devil to Die , while still a mystery with moments of humor, also has some poignant moments that are...

Murder at Midnight by Katharine Schellman

September 17, 2023

September. Isn’t this when we all start thinking of Christmas mysteries? Maybe not, but I’m always ready for an Agatha Christie-style mystery set in an isolated location. Katharine Schellman’s Murder at Midnight just happens to fall during the...

The Raging Storm by Ann Cleeves

September 05, 2023

Bundle up and stay warm as you read the third Detective Matthew Venn novel by Ann Cleeves. The Raging Storm takes readers to Greystone in Devon, a storm-tossed coastal community where townspeople volunteer to work on lifeboats to save struggling sailors. This time,...