I’m a big Jane Harper fan, so I was thrilled to pick up her new book on NetGalley. Harper writes mysteries set in remote parts of Australia. In this third book of the Aaron Falk series, investigator Falk is visiting friends in the fictional Marralee Valley, in Southern Australia’s wine country. I’ve actually been to…
Angeline Boulley is a former co-worker of mine, and though I don’t know her well, I was excited for her first novel to come out, and even more excited to receive an advanced review copy. I hoped I wouldn’t be disappointed, and I wasn’t. In fact, this book was everything I could ask for, with…
I read this for my book club and really enjoyed it. This is the kind of book you put down and then you find yourself thinking about long afterwards. This author won the Nobel Prize in 2018, and I can see why. It’s kind of a strange book, but then I always find translated works a little difficult…
As mystery/thrillers go, The Herd has an interesting premise. Eleanor is a beautiful and successful woman who created The Herd, which is a woman-only workspace and social clique. It’s basically a boy’s club without the boys. Her three closest friends, Hana, Katie and Mikki, both work for her and semi-worship her, in what is clearly…
I read these two books nearly back to back, and their plots and characters were amazingly similar, though I had no idea when I chose them. I love a totally random reading coincidence. Here’s a comparison of the two novels. The story: both The Dry and Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter are mystery/thrillers about an unsolved…
I read this book for the Read Harder 2019 Challenge. I needed an #ownvoices book set in Oceania: the #ownvoices part means by an indigenous author, and Oceania is Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific islands. The Things She’s Seen is by brother and sister Ambelin and Ezekiel Kwaymullina, from the Palyku people of…
I don’t often write about books in series, but I read a few recently and thought it might be helpful to discuss them together. For those who haven’t read these series, or aren’t caught up, I’ve avoided spoilers and focused more on the series in general than on specific plot details. I should also say…
I really enjoyed this debut novel that combines courtroom drama with a moving story about a Korean-American family. Even better, the author is local and writes about a small town in Virginia that doesn’t exist but felt very real. The Yoo family runs a a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, a submarine-like contraption that people sit in to…
This is a book that’s gotten a ton of praise, and has been described as Agatha Christie meets Groundhog Day. As a murder mystery, it’s great fun, playing on the great murder mystery tropes: a group of wealthy, bored socialites in a dark and dusty mansion somewhere in the middle of nowhere (a little like…
I picked up this book from NetGalley because I loved Ritter in Jessica Jones. I know that acting and writing are completely different, but I feel like she must have brought a lot of herself to the role, so I was curious about her first novel. I should say first off that the modern-day mystery-thriller…
Readers of Anne Perry will enjoy this mystery set in Victorian England. It’s a mystery that concentrates more on social and historical issues of the time, in this case railroad safety. The characters are interesting and the story is fast-paced and engaging. Set in the 1870’s, Elizabeth Fraser is returning home from her “Fourth Season”…
One of my favorite reads of 2015 was Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer. I don’t generally read modern-day mysteries, but I loved everything about that book. So I was excited to get a copy of The Shut Eye, Bauer’s latest release. The Shut Eye tells the story of two parents whose young son disappeared about six…
The Book Stop 