Mystery

Jess’ End of The Year Mini Reviews

December 28, 2022 2 Comments

No One Will Miss Her by Kat Rosenfeld

A vicious murder-suicide at an idyllic lake house leaves a small town reeling. and a society housewife on the run.

I found this to be an enjoyable quick read. It’s a study in class and the choices afforded to those with money and privilege. Rosenfeld does deep dives into her characters, which can sometimes leave the plot wanting.

I hate to be that person but I clocked the twist in this book by the 4th chapter. I read this on audio and print– the print makes the twist very obvious. I think the author is somewhat aware of this and the ‘reveal’ actually comes in the middle of the book instead of the end.

Now that we are firmly in the 2020’s I’m finding more books are having to consider social media when delving into the character’s past. If a character is between 18-30 years old you can’t talk about their high school experiences without considering what their high school Facebook or Instagram looked like.

Heartbreak Symphony by Laekan Zea Kemp

My first impression of this book was wow…this feels like it could be a prestige television show. It was this down-to-earth and character-driven book with an ominous narrative twist. Aspiring DJ Aarón Medran embarks on a series of clandestine humanitarian missions around his small barrio at the behest of La Maquina, a celebrity DJ and hometown hero Aarón is never alone on these missions as La Maquina’s 7-foot-tall robot mascot has been following him since his mother’s death. This seemingly friendly robot has a foreboding nature and leads to some of the more poignant and moving parts of the story. I liked this strange aspect of the story. I always enjoy YA books that go for a high or unusual concept.

We also follow Nina, a high school senior whose self-doubt has kept her from pursuing her dreams and performing the trumpet she loves dearly. Her story honestly felt like it could have been a companion book. I felt like both stories could have stood on their own.

Kemp masterfully balances grief, hope, and forgiveness in this emotion-packed read.

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

March 15, 2022 3 Comments

On a wild secluded Irish island, friends and family gather for an exclusive celebrity wedding. As the big day approaches, secrets are revealed and one person won’t make it off the island alive.

I picked up The Guest List because all the marketing described Foley as a modern-day Agatha Christie. I went in expecting a parlor room whodunit mystery but that wasn’t what I got. Instead, it plays out more like a modern-day grip-lit thriller.

I was kind of annoyed that all the women’s stories are rooted in motherhood or their relationship with men. Meanwhile, the men’s stories focused on their ambitions and careers.

The setting is key to this story and Foley nails the ominous and desolate setting of the island. It’s very foreboding.

This book is character-driven and therefore lends itself well to audio. Each of the narrators embodies their characters. Narrator Olivia Dowd in particular nailed Jules–the cold, determined, and successful bride–who accounted for everything when planning her perfect wedding except murder.

Overall a gripping slow-burn mystery with a twist I didn’t see coming.

The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda

March 6, 2022 Leave a Comment

One of my favorite book settings is small New England beach town (bonus points if it’s an island) brimming with secrets, class anxiety, community, and melancholic unease. Littleport, Massachusetts fits this to a tee. Littleport is a tourist town run by the hard-working residents but it’s the wealthy Lowman family–and their real estate empire–that truly runs things. When The Lowman’s daughter, Sadie, is found dead on the bluffs it’s up to her best friend Avery to unravel the Lowman family’s darkest secrets.

Through flashbacks, we learn how Avery, the former town screw-up, was pulled into the Lowman’s orbit. The way this book moved through time and played with class reminded me of one of my favorite procedural TV shows Cold Case–which handles the subject of class quite often. This book was filled with cliffhangers and thrilling moments but the mystery is rather predictable for avid mystery/thriller readers.

I feel like this book could easily be categorized as New Adult. The main characters are all under 25 and are just starting out in their careers while figuring out adulthood and relationships. I think Miranda nailed writing from this point-of-view.

I listened to a portion of this on audio and narrator Rebekkah Ross is a good fit for Avery and did a great job crafting voices for all the townsfolk.

The Last House Guest was my introduction to Megan Miranda and I can’t wait to check out more of her work.

Side Note

There is sort of an “I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE” moment when you realize why this book is called this. Very clever.

Audiobook Review: Someone We Know by Shari Lapena

October 21, 2020 Leave a Comment

7 hours 50 min. | Penguin Audio | Mystery| Release Date: 7/30/2019

An idyllic upstate New York neighborhood is shaken when a flirtatious young wife is found brutally murdered in the trunk of her car. Her shady husband is the number one subject but in this neighborhood, everyone has a secret worth killing for

And by secret I mean cheating. Like, there is a lot of mentions of cheating in this book.

This my first foray into domestic mystery/thriller after Big Little Lies--which was one of my favorite reading experiences–and this one just didn’t work for me. I didn’t get the racing to the end feeling I wanted and it may have had something to do with the fact that I figured out the killer at 60%.

…

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How It Happened by Michael Koryta

December 31, 2018 Leave a Comment

10 hrs. 39 min. | Hachette Audio | Release Date: 5/15/18

I love a good mystery thriller and I picked this one up because I saw Christine Lakin was the narrator. Lakin only performs the first chapter of this book and her performance of Kimmy Crepeaux, a guilt-ridden down on her luck, small town twenty-something opioid addict confessing her role in a double murder, was a stand out and chilling performance. Robert Petkoff takes the lead for the rest of the book and captures the anguish and heartbreak that follows the gruesome confession. They both commit to the distinct New England accent without overdoing it.

In most crime stories getting the confession is the end of the story, but for FBI agent Rob Barrett it’s just the beginning as he scours the small town of Port Hope, Maine to prove nothing about this crime is what it seems. Koryta makes excellent use of the setting and current events about class, false confessions, and opioid addiction to weave a mystery that forces Barrett to come to terms with what the truth really means.

I’ve never heard of Michael Koryta and based on what I’ve read online and seen in bookstores, at just 36 years old, he seems to be part of the new generation of authors behind the so-called “Dad Books” a la Dean Koontz, Lee Childs, and David Baldacci.

I also see on his website that Kroyta is an award-winning journalist, which is probably why Barrett’s journalist love interest was portrayed realistically, HOWEVER this means the book fails the Audie Cornishtest where the female journalist sleeps with a source.

Next time I need a page-turning read I know exactly where I’ll turn.

A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas (Lady Sherlock #1)

October 8, 2018 Leave a Comment

Release Date: 10/08/16 | Historical Mystery | 323 Pages | Berkley Books

In this reimagining of Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective Sherlock Holmes is the pseudonym of Charlotte Holmes, an overly practical and hyper-observant member of the gentry who doesn’t quite fit into society’s standards. She spends her time solving everyday mysteries via letters, but when scandal strikes and Charlotte’s life is turned upside down, she finds herself solving her biggest mystery yet–a murder.

This is a fun origin story and functions as a kickoff for the rest of the series. All of your favorite Sherlockian characters are present but are introduced in new and interesting ways that I don’t want to spoil. Thomas gets into the nitty-gritty of the kinds of hoops a Victorian woman would have to go through to get to do any kind of detective work. There is definitely a feminist thread throughout the series, particularly when you look at how the circumstances of the main mystery are changed from the original story.

This is my first foray into the mystery genre and hopefully not my last.

Can we talk about how Sherry Thomas is slaying everything?She writes award-winning historical romances, YA fantasy and mysteryall in English–which is her second language! There are lot of romance authors who write more than romance, but she seems to be the only one to have a name for herself in so many genres.