Category: Mystery

Book Review:: The House in the Pines | Ana Reyes

One summer can alter the course of everything. One new friend. One lost story. One betrayal. One house in the pines.

The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes Book Cover

Maya is convinced the strange boy keeping her company over her last summer before college killed her best friend Aubrey during a disagreement. The only problem is, he never touched her. Maya knows this because she watched it happen. He and Aubrey were talking, then she fell over. Dead.

Seven years later, she sees a viral video online of the same boy in the very same scenario. Another girl, dead. Not a finger laid upon her.

It can’t be a coincidence.

But ever since that summer, with her insistent conviction of his guilt, she’s been repeatedly told she is mentally ill. Delusional. Crazy. She’s even been medicated. And now, having quit her medication cold turkey, she travels back to find out the truth and get justice for Aubrey and all the other women he might have hurt.

I was surprised to see the Goodreads rating so low on this book. At the time, it was 3.10, which is one of the lowest I’ve seen on a book I’ve actually read. There were no major dealbreaker type flaws in my view. In fact, I was quite captivated.

This checked all the boxes of a psychological thriller. The possibly untrustworthy narrator, a strange and compelling mystery to solve, a setting that toes the incredibly thin line of being either idyllic or incredibly creepy, a suspect that could as easily be a murderer or completely innocent and misunderstood…

The narrative is sprinkled with flashbacks from that pivotal past summer where everything ended up so wrong. I thought the flashbacks were handled very well and felt as compelling as the current events. It is in the past that we get to know our suspect, after all.

It all just felt very well crafted to me. The details kept me doubting my own theories, and while there were plenty of clues to the truth that was ultimately revealed, I was never sure until quite late into the story.

I wasn’t as interested in the part of the story that didn’t have to do with the mystery – her current boyfriend and the conflict she felt with spending time with his parents – but it didn’t take up much time and ultimately didn’t bother me.

Overall, I really enjoyed it. If you’re looking for a compelling psychological thriller to add an extra chill to your dark winter evenings, consider this one!

Details

Title:: The House in the Pines
Author:: Ana Reyes
Genre:: Mystery/Thriller
Publisher:: Dutton
Length:: 321 pages
Audio Length:: 8h 34m
Audiobook Narrator:: Marisol Ramirez
Audiobook Publisher:: Penguin Audio
Published:: January 3rd, 2023
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars

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If you liked this book, check out…

The Reappearance of Rachel Price | Holly Jackson
The Truth About the Devlins | Lisa Scottoline
The Haunting of Maddy Clare | Simone St. James

Book Review:: Finlay Donovan is Killing It | Elle Cosimano

What a treat this book is. Perhaps this specific flavor of mystery genre already existed before Finaly Donovan, but I’m having a hard time imagining a better execution than Finlay Donovan is Killing It. Snappy, smart, often unfortunate, but laugh out loud, gripping, and ridiculously layered, this book is a marvel of the contemporary murder mystery genre.

Things aren’t going well. Finlay is under a book deadline for a crappy contract that doesn’t even pay the bills anyway, and can’t summon the muse between dirty diapers, loose scissors (and unexpected haircuts), ailing minivan, and constantly struggling against her douchebag ex-husband who treats her like a sad woman who will be reliant on him forever. Did we mention he’s getting married again? And it’s only been a year.

Anyway, it’s a miracle she makes it to an important meeting with her agent on time, and while discussing some details about a potential murder mystery plot, a nearby voyeur mistakes her for a real life hit-woman and commissions her for a job. Despite trying to explain the misunderstanding, the woman on the other end of the phone calls doesn’t take no for an answer, and $50,000 could really turn things around for Finlay. She isn’t going to actually do anything, but she decides to hit the bar where she knows the target will be, just to see. She needs a night out, anyway. She deserves that much, at least.

From there it’s all a series of implausible but all-too-possible events that lead to a dead body in her garage, a nanny-accomplice, being a person of interest to a mob boss, and two kind-of boyfriends, both of which have the power to ruin everything. Did I mention the crochety old neighbor window-spy who misses nothing?

It’s like a game of cat and mouse except there are cats in every direction and it’s not a mouse, it’s a gerbil that was mistaken for a mouse and now has to pretend to be a mouse because she’s accidentally done a mouse-like thing and also wants to earn the money of a mouse to keep her scumbag ex-husband off her back and she just may be in mortal danger if she doesn’t keep up the mouse ruse at least a little while longer.

In short, it’s a delight, and I think you should read it. Once you start turning pages, I dare you to stop. And the best part? There’s more where that came from. This is just the start of Finlay’s adventures.

Details

Title:: Finlay Donovan Is Killing It (Finlay Donovan #1)
Author:: Elle Cosimano
Genre:: Contemporary Mystery/Thriller
Publisher:: Minotaur Books
Length:: 355 pages
Audio Length:: 9h 59m
Audiobook Narrator:: Angela Dawe
Audiobook Publisher:: Macmillan Audio
Published:: February 2nd, 2021
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

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If you liked this book, check out…

How to Solve Your Own Murder | Kristen Perrin
I Did Something Bad | Pyae Moe Thet War

Book Review:: Beautiful Ugly | Alice Feeney

What is it with tiny little Scottish islands?

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney Book Cover

Grady Green, bestselling author, is struggling to work after the disappearance of his wife Abby. Finally at a breaking point, his agent sends him off to a remote Scottish island, where another famous author used to live, to pound out his next great work. He’s not in a good mental place, and the island and its inhabitants are more than a little strange.

This is a true psychological thriller. Grady is at the end of his wits over what happened to his wife, literally. He never sleeps, he’s drinking far too much, and when he’s given a hallucinogenic tea on the island, we can’t tell what is real and what isn’t. He sees his wife’s face everywhere, and the red jacket she was last seen with. But every time, he blinks and he realizes his error. His mind is playing tricks on him, and he’s about as unreliable a narrator as they come.

This story doesn’t have a lot of action, but it keeps you on the edge of your seat. There are mysteries on the island that he’s sure he’s not imagining. It’s a strange place, objectively. There are no birds there, for example. No phones, and an unreliable ferry is the only way on or off the island.

Even if he wanted to leave, it’s not that simple.

I loved it. I’ve never read a book by Alice Feeney before this, but based on Beautiful Ugly, she really knows what she’s doing. It has a similar tension to a book like The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley. Twisted and sinister, but on another face seemingly pretty innocent. Brilliant. Captivating. Beautiful, and Ugly.

Note:: I received the audiobook version of this book for free via the publisher and netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. (And the audiobook narrators did a fantastic job, as well!)

Details

Title:: Beautiful Ugly
Author:: Alice Feeney
Genre:: Psychological Thriller
Publisher:: Flatiron Books
Length:: 320 pages
Audio Length:: 9h 19m
Audiobook Narrator:: Richard Armitage, Tuppence Middleton
Audiobook Publisher:: Macmillan Audio
Published:: January 14th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

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If you liked this book, check out…

The Midnight Feast | Lucy Foley
Wrong Place Wrong Time | Gillian McAllister
The Truth About the Devlins | Lisa Scottoline

Book Review:: All the Missing Pieces | Catherine Cowles

So, like, romantic suspense is a thing?! If this book is good representation of that, this might be my new favorite genre! Oh my gosh, the mystery, the danger, the intrigue! I was hooked in early on and I was happy to let it reel me all the way in.

All the Missing Pieces by Catherine Cowles Book Cover

When Ridley’s sister disappeared, she started living double. She had to experience the world twice as much, in honor of the life her sister didn’t get to live. She lives life out of the back of her van, traveling the country recording true crime podcasts. She’s good at her job because she can empathize with the grieving family’s and has a bone-deep interest in finding sickos and getting justice for their crimes.

Of course she has been researching the disappearance of her own sister, and she believes it wasn’t just an isolated incident. Her next project is investigating the failed kidnapping of a woman Ridley believes was her sister’s killer’s first victim. When she rolls into town, she finds the victim’s brother is a sheriff, and overprotective at that, which won’t make things easy for her.

First of all, the construction. When an author crafts her characters to fundamentally fit, and then throws in a dramatic question that not only justifies but also inherently creates conflict for story between them, it’s like friggin magic, and Cowles has done it in All the Missing Pieces.

Come on! A crime podcaster and a cop? Both with family members who were victims of the same type of crime? Their goals don’t only align, they’re exactly the same, but there’s so much room for tension and conflict and that’s👏🏼what👏🏼we👏🏼live👏🏼for👏🏼

It’s spicy too, did I mention? *blushes*

We’ve got an active investigation, plenty of suspects, old secrets resurfacing, hot bods, sexual tension, and sparks a-flying. There is real danger, protective instincts, and cute animal sidekicks with quirks that make you go aww. Seriously, I loved every word, and I can’t wait to read more exactly like this. Everyone drop me some recs!

I am so grateful I got to listen to an advanced copy of this title through the publisher and netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are strictly my own.

Details

Title:: All the Missing Pieces (Shady Cove #1)
Author:: Catherine Cowles
Genre:: Romantic Suspense
Publisher:: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Length:: 384 pages
Audio Length:: 10h 50m
Audiobook Narrator:: Andi Arndt, Sebastian York
Audiobook Publisher:: Dreamscape Media
Published:: January 7th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars
Spice Rating:: 3

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If you liked this book, check out…

Burn for Me | Ilona Andrews
In the Likely Event | Rebecca Yarros
The Reappearance of Rachel Price | Holly Jackson

Book Review:: A Sea of Unspoken Things | Adrienne Young

We all have secrets. This is the story of a twin trying to discover the secrets her brother was keeping, which may have led to his unexpected and untimely death. But all she has is what was left behind, and it tells a broken story.

A Sea of Unspoken Things by Adrienne Young Book Cover, Pacific Northwest Coastline

Johnny was an odd duck – dark and mysterious, even to his twin sister, James. Between them was some kind of supernatural connection twins tend to have. But James felt something even more than that in times of great distress. Like she was in both bodies at once, somehow. It is how she explains the crystal clear sensation she got of the bullet that killed him hitting her own chest. And she still has that preternatural feeling. It won’t go away, even though he’s gone, and James is certain he’s trying to tell her something from beyond the grave.

As a mystery, this works really well. There’s a clear objective, there are lots of compelling clues, and a cast that supports the story well. I was hooked. But the little *sparkle* I love about every Adrienne Young book I’ve read so far are her complicated romance plotlines, and this one did not disappoint.

Now, in no way is this a romance novel – this is firmly mystery territory. But there’s this guy, right? And despite their messy history, he’s there and ready to help her figure out what the hell happened to Johnny.

It’s a simple story really, but the writing is skillful and compelling. Another mark of an Adrienne Young story is some kind of magical realism element. With June Farrow it was a foundation of the story and integral to the plotline the whole way through, with Spells for Forgetting it was a little more understated, but still foundational, but with Unspoken, it’s in the little details. The twin feeling. Their pet Smoke. Maybe even the forest itself.

I really enjoyed this book, and I’m honored I was chosen by the publisher and netgalley to receive a free download of the story in exchange for a fair and honest review. I’m sure this isn’t the only time I’ll be visiting this one!

Details

Title:: A Sea of Unspoken Things
Author:: Adrienne Young
Genre:: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Publisher:: Delacorte Press | Random House Ballantine
Length:: 288 pages
Audio Length:: 9h 16m
Audiobook Narrator:: Christine Lakin
Audiobook Publisher:: Random House Audio
Published:: January 7th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

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If you liked this book, check out…

Every Moment Since | Marybeth Mayhew Whalen
I Think I Was Murdered | Colleen Coble & Rick Acker

Book Review:: The Villa | Rachel Hawkins

Rachel Hawkins is my favorite kind of suspense writer. A modern Gothic master. Her stories are somber and interesting and layered. If you enjoy historical mysteries, The Villa is the one you’ll want to pick up.

The Villa Rachel Hawkins Book Cover

Emily (a suspense writer), and her best friend since grade school Chess (the world’s latest most popular self-help guru) decide to get away for the summer and rent a little Italian Villa with a dark and storied history. Emily is in the middle of a messy divorce, coming out of some unknown health issues, and has a stubborn case of writer’s block. She also doesn’t know how much she actually likes her best friend anymore. The place they’ve rented is where the world’s most popular horror novel, Lilith Rising, was penned, and one of the most popular albums of all time, Aestis (forgive me for any misspellings, I listened on audio, which I recommend!) was inspired by. Unfortunately that long lost summer, a man was also killed. Emily feels immediately inspired by their new setting and gets to work researching what happened at the Villa all those years ago. But life imitates art, and history tends to repeat itself. One thing is certain, this summer at the Villa will change everything.

I really loved the slow peeling back of historical layers, and how it merged with the modern timeline. Emily and Chess have a complicated friendship that has strayed into rival territory. They are both writers, and planned to write a book together one day. When Chess sees how invested Emily is in this new story, she wants to jump on board. But it was Emily’s idea, and she wants to keep it. The tone is fraught with tension, and the mystery of the past only elevates it.

While this is not my favorite Rachel Hawkins novel, it is certainly worth a read if you’re in the mood for gothic suspense!

Details

Title:: The Villa
Author:: Rachel Hawkins
Genre:: Suspense
Publisher:: St. Martin’s Press
Length:: 279 pages
Audio Length:: 7h 57m
Audiobook Narrator:: Julia Whelan, Kimberly M. Wetherell, Shiromi Arserio
Audiobook Publisher:: Macmillan Audio
Published:: January 3rd, 2023
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars

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If you liked this book, check out…

The Heiress | Rachel Hawkins
The Wife Upstairs | Rachel Hawkins
The Midnight Feast | Lucy Foley

Book Review:: The Wife Upstairs | Rachel Hawkins

One of my top books of all time is Jane Eyre, so do I think you should read this modern, exaggerated, twisted novel that heavily draws upon it for inspiration?

Hell yes.

The Wife Upstairs Rachel Hawkins Book Cover

Jane has run away from her old life in Arizona and has taken a job as a dog walker in the ultra-chic suburban neighborhood of Thornfield Heights (already getting good, amiright?). One day she runs into a new man, Eddie Rochester. When she finds out he’s a widower and at least intrigued by her, she decides to wiggle herself into his life, which she convinces herself she deserves. His wife, B(ertha), and her BFF Blanch Ingram, disappeared from a boat on a trip to the lake several months back (hello nod to Rebecca). The investigation is ongoing, but Jane doesn’t let that stop her. Eddie gets a new dog (Adele) and hires Jane to walk her. Before long, their affair is hot and heavy and the neighbors are talking. She’s moved out of her dingy apartment she shared with her foster brother John Rivers and has installed herself into Eddie’s house. But that’s not enough. The other women in the neighborhood won’t accept her as one of them until she has a ring on her finger…

I forgot just how many Jane Eyre references there are in this book until I recently reread it. Each one is like a little Easter Egg, but the kind that’s just thrown on the lawn for the youngsters to find instead of actually hidden. This book is loud and proud about what it is. If you have any familiarity at all with the classic gothic romance, you’ll catch on pretty quickly. And we all know the twist from that book…

The Jane in The Wife Upstairs is the exact opposite of Our Lady Jane. She is a kleptomaniac and obsessed with how others perceive her. She manipulates and gaslights and convinces herself when all is said and done, she will be happy. And she gets what she wants…somehow, things come a little too easily to her.

Rachel Hawkins is so good at mastering a tone of something-just-isn’t-right-here. The investigation of the two women’s disappearances put off Daphne DuMaurier’s Rebecca vibes both in the suspicions and manor of…what happened. If you haven’t read Rebecca – come on. That is gothic lit Required Reading (But be forewarned, you won’t get that first read back, so savor it the first time!). Being in a relationship with B’s husband, she begins to wonder what actually happened to her out there. Was it Blanche’s husband? Was it her own?

I am a big fan of Rachel Hawkins, and it all started with this gem of a book right here. The balance of suspense and intrigue and mystery and f***ed up s***…it’s delicious. Feast yourself.

Details

Title:: The Wife Upstairs
Author:: Rachel Hawkins
Genre:: Mystery/Suspense
Publisher:: St. Martin’s Press
Length:: 290 pages
Audio Length:: 8h 57m
Audiobook Narrator:: Emily Shaffer, Kirby Heyborne, Lauren Fortgang
Audiobook Publisher:: Macmillan Audio
Published:: January 5th, 2021
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

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If you liked this book, check these out…

The Heiress | Rachel Hawkins
Wrong Place Wrong Time | Gillian McAllister

Book Review:: The Vanishing Year | Kate Moretti

Tis the season for suspenseful, twisty books, and The Vanishing Year by Kate Moretti will certainly scratch that itch for you.

The Vanishing Year Kate Moretti Book Cover

Zoey has a pretty great life – a life she never expected. After fleeing a dark, haunting past, she didn’t know what she might make of herself, but now years later she’s the wife of a wealthy New York businessman. Since her marriage, she’s drifted away from the friendships she’d made in her new life, and her old goals – for one, discovering the identity of her birth mother. With the help of a reporter who covered a story for her charity (pasting a picture of her in the newspaper), she pulls on that thread. In the meantime, someone from her past is hungry for revenge.

If you are a sensitive thriller reader, you might want to skip this one. This one was pretty gruesome and dark. Psychopathy, human tr*fficking, drugs…it’s a lot. But there are also a lot of very compelling factors: her own hidden identity, the mystery around her birth mother, her husband’s odd behavior, the new friendship with the reporter…I think it was just balanced enough that I didn’t have to put it down. If you like dark stories…I found one!

The tension starts pretty low at the beginning, but once it starts ratcheting up, it doesn’t stop until the brutal end. It held my attention all the way through. It’s the kind of story that leaves you questioning why any and everything is being included. Is it important? Is it going to tie back in? What is happening!

Details

Title:: The Vanishing Year
Author:: Kate Moretti
Genre:: Suspense/Thriller
Publisher:: Atria Books
Length:: 304 pages
Audio Length:: 9h 50m
Audiobook Narrator:: Mandeleine Maby
Audiobook Publisher:: Simon & Schuster Audio
Published:: September 27th, 2016
The Litertarian Rating:: 3-Stars

Linky Links!!

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If you liked this book, check these out…

Wrong Place Wrong Time | Gillian McAllister
The Midnight Feast | Lucy Foley

Book Review:: The Haunting of Maddy Clare | Simone St. James

What a perfect read for spooky season-a historical ghost story mystery, The Haunting of Maddy Clare.

The Haunting of Maddy Clare Simone St. James Book Cover. A decrepit barn with the sun setting behind it and a murder of crows surrounding it.

Ms. Sarah Piper is recruited by an eccentric world war veteran needing an assistant for his latest project: hunting a ghost who’s been haunting an old barn. He’s an academic writer searching for solid proof of the otherworldly, and Sarah rapidly agrees. The spirit is very much alive, and vengeful, especially of men. Sarah turns into an integral part of the investigation into what happened to Maddy Clare, and how they might be able to help her spirit settle.

What is there not to love about this book? Okay, the subject matter is pretty dark. Maddy Clare was horrifically traumatized before she died, and that subject matter is very heavy. I feel like it was brought to justice in the end though, which helps to pacify the discomfort of reading about such difficult events.

I loved the mid-century setting, the ghost hunting characters being respectable (albeit damaged) gentlemen, the supernatural phenomena, the ongoing mystery, and the slow burning romance that simmers beneath it all. I ate it up. I can see myself returning to this book every fall in the future. What a way to set the tone for the season!

What is your favorite ghostly mystery book?

Details

Title:: The Haunting of Maddy Clare
Author:: Simone St. James
Genre:: Historical Ghost Mystery
Publisher:: Berkley
Length:: 318 pages
Audio Length:: 9h 45m
Audiobook Narrator:: Billie Fulford-Brown
Audiobook Publisher:: Penguin Audio
Published:: October 4th, 2022
The Litertarian Rating:: #-Stars
Spice Rating:: 2.5?

Linky Links!!

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If you liked this book, check out…

Haunted Ever After | Jen DeLuca (ghost story rom-com)
Every Moment Since | Marybeth Mayhew Whalen (murder mystery)
The Truth About the Devlins | Lisa Scottoline (murder mystery)

Book Review:: I Think I Was Murdered | Colleen Coble & Rick Acker

I Think I Was Murdered by Colleen Coble and Rick Acker is a thriller that’s unafraid of modern technology. With elements of AI, bitcoin, and blockchain included as major plot drivers, the read somehow doesn’t feel too tech-heavy for a reader who isn’t completely on the up-and-up with these emerging technologies (like me). It maintains its balance with the incorporation of the very organic realm of relationships, family, and friendship.

I Think I Was Murdered by Colleen Coble & Rick Acker Book Cover

The company Katrina works for in Silicon Valley is beta testing a new AI system, and she’s fed in all her recently dead-husband’s electronic records in to test it (but really as a coping tool as she grieves his unexpected death). Texting the program is really communicating with him. He even sends her photographs of their memories. One day she asks him to tell her something she doesn’t know. “I think I was murdered,” he tells her. He died in a car accident, so this is the last thing she ever expected.

Meanwhile, her grandmother died, so Katrina has come back to her hometown, inherited her family’s restaurant, and reconnected with an old friend. Her Silicon Valley career is in shambles and being investigated, and it turns out her husband may have left something behind for her. It turns into a race against time for her to find before whoever killed him for it.

I can’t find anything really to fault in this novel. I thought it was done incredibly well. It managed to surprise me a few times, while I was also able to anticipate a few twists and feel that sense of self-satisfaction, too. There are plenty of plotlines to keep us busy, and all of them play into the main story in some way by the end. There is plenty to capture your interest as a reader, and the story felt very robust.

I was provided with an advanced listening copy of this book by the publisher and netgalley. The audio narration is also very good, if you’re an audiobook listener like me.

On the scale of wimp to true crime fanatic, I am way down on the wimpy side, and though there are moments of violence included in this book, it never gave me that haunting anxiety feeling as I read. I always like to know where thrillers end up on that spectrum because you can’t unread stuff! That’s not to say it didn’t keep me on the edge of my seat-just that I didn’t pee my pants all the way through. ha.

Details

Title:: I Think I Was Murdered
Author:: Colleen Coble & Rick Acker
Genre:: Thriller/Mystery
Publisher:: Thomas Nelson
Length:: 352 pages
Audio Length:: 9h 46m
Audiobook Narrator:: Karen Peakes
Audiobook Publisher:: Thomas Nelson
Published:: November 12th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

Linky Links!!

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Author Website
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[Hardcover] [Paperback] [eBook] [Audible]

If you liked this book, check out…

Every Moment Since | Marybeth Mayhew Whalen
Wrong Place Wrong Time | Gillian McAllister