One Girl Missing

One Girl Missing is the 11th Detective Gina Harte crime thriller from Carla Kovach but the first that I have read. I must say that I have been missing out on alot of good reading. One Girl Missing was a fantastic read. The series takes place in Britain during the present era and this installment of the series was published on March 4, 2022.

The publisher's summary:  

Five-year-old Cally waits in her pretty pink bedroom for the sound of the front door opening and her mother’s sweet voice in the hall. But when the doorbell finally rings, and Cally creeps out of bed to peer through the banister, a large man in uniform is all she sees. Her mother is missing...

Teacher Annabel Braddock was last seen drinking at the local pub with her best friend, Jennifer. Witnesses saw tears running down her cheeks, and friends say she was having problems with a colleague at work, and that her marriage had broken down.

But as the two women hugged goodbye, neither noticed the car speeding towards them. As the dust settled, Jennifer lay unconscious on the ground and Annabel was nowhere to be seen. She’d never abandon her little girl, so did someone snatch her?

As family crowd around Jennifer’s hospital bed, hoping she’ll wake up, police visit Annabel’s home and her inconsolable daughter, Cally, tells them she had seen a man outside staring into her room as she climbed into bed that evening. Was it her childish imagination, or had someone been watching Annabel’s home?

When Jennifer finally opens her eyes and tells the police what happened that night, it’s clear there are plenty of people with a reason to harm Annabel. With an unpredictable husband, a colleague who denies harassing her and a neighbour who seems to know her every move, could she be in imminent danger? As the hours turn to days, will little Cally ever see her precious mother again? Or will she be next?

This book is unputdownable. I read it in one sitting and it seemed that it took no time to read it, thanks to the super fast pace. The investigation into the hit and run had many layers. While there was alot happening in the story, it was not difficult to follow. There were numerous twists, turns, and red herrings that kept me wanting to keep reading.

The setting was not stated but with all of the British slang words and the division of job titles in the police department, I knew that it had to be in Britain. Some of the slang I couldn't figure out but the meanings were somewhat obvious from the context. The main character is, of course, Gina Harte, and her co-workers are the secondary characters. It's odd, but the two female victims were not discussed much as characters. They figured in the investigation but that is about all we read about them. 

If you like crime thrillers or police procedurals, you will want to read this novel.  5 out of 5 stars.

Booth

I had high hopes for this book about the family of James Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln.  It started out dull and continued to be so throughout the book. The family dynamics were interesting, though, but I felt that it could have been written more exciting than it was.

The publisher's summary:

In 1822, a secret family moves into a secret cabin some thirty miles northeast of Baltimore, to farm, to hide, and to bear ten children over the course of the next sixteen years. Junius Booth—breadwinner, celebrated Shakespearean actor, and master of the house in more ways than one—is at once a mesmerizing talent and a man of terrifying instability. One by one the children arrive, as year by year, the country draws frighteningly closer to the boiling point of secession and civil war.

As the tenor of the world shifts, the Booths emerge from their hidden lives to cement their place as one of the country’s leading theatrical families. But behind the curtains of the many stages they have graced, multiple scandals, family triumphs, and criminal disasters begin to take their toll, and the solemn siblings of John Wilkes Booth are left to reckon with the truth behind the destructively specious promise of an early prophecy.

Booth is a startling portrait of a country in the throes of change and a vivid exploration of the ties that make, and break, a family.

It was interesting to read that John Wilkes always had tendencies toward supporting southern causes, including slavery. He was the only member of his family to not associate with the family's black employees. All of their employees were free as the patriarch was an abolitionist. While the story was a little boring, I am glad that I read the book. It is important to know all of the factors that made John Wilkes Booth kill Lincoln. The author stated in an interview that she did not want to write a book about John Wilkes but rather about the family.  She felt that John Wilkes craved attention and she did not want to give him the satisfaction of a book about him. Thus, his birth does not happen until page 59. When I read that he tortured animals, beat people up and loved guns from an early age, I realized that he was always going to turn out to be an assassin or serial killer.  We all have read the news stories about killers and their childhoods, which predict their future. With an absent father and a mother not interested in raising her children, John Wilkes fit the recipe for becoming a dangerous person.

Booth is an enlightening book about a dysfunctional family that changed the course of American history.  3 out of 5 stars.

Rising Tiger

Rising Tiger is Brad Thor's 23rd Scot Harvath spy thriller. All of the books in the series to date have been fabulous. However, with Rising Tiger Brad Thor is beginning to slip.

The publisher's summary:

An unprecedented, potentially nation-ending threat has materialized on the world stage. Fearful of the global consequences of engaging this enemy, administration after administration has passed the buck. The clock, however, has run out and doing nothing is no longer an option. It is time to unleash Scot Harvath.

As America’s top spy, Harvath has the unparalleled skills and experience necessary to handle any situation, but this assignment feels different.

Thrust into a completely unfamiliar culture, with few he can trust, the danger begins mounting the moment he arrives. Amidst multiple competing forces and a host of deadly agendas, it becomes nearly impossible to tell predator from prey.

With democracy itself hanging in the balance, Harvath will risk everything to untangle the explosive plot and bring every bad actor to justice.

As I mentioned above, the book was no where near as good as the others in the series. In fact, it was rather dull. It's hard to believe that Thor wrote it as the writing formula is quite different from his earlier books. Harvath did not approach his investigation in his usual manner. In addition, there is no suspense. When Harvath meets with his Indian counterpart they have boring conversations about food and '70s music. There is an alternating plot involving Asha Patel of India's Defense Department Special Ops Division and this plot was also dull. I had to skip pages in order to stay awake so I have to ask again:  Did Brad Thor write this book?  

This was a disappointing read but I have noticed that when a series gets to be as long as this one, the author usually has 1 or 2 setbacks. 2 out of 5 stars.

The Omega Factor

The Omega Factor is Steve Berry's 21st novel. He writes treasure hunt mysteries featuring Cotton Malone and Casseiopeia Vitt. However, Omega is a standalone novel. Another installment of the Cotton Malone series will be published in 2023.

The story centers around UNESCO investigator Nicholas Lee, who works for the United Nations’ Cultural Liaison and Investigative Office (CLIO). Nick’s job is to protect the world’s cultural artifacts—anything and everything from countless lesser-known objects to national treasures. When Nick travels to Belgium for a visit with a woman from his past, he unwittingly stumbles on the trail of a legendary panel from the Ghent Altarpiece, stolen in 1934 under cover of night and never seen since. Soon Nick is plunged into a bitter conflict, one that has been simmering for nearly two thousand years. On one side is the Maidens of Saint-Michael, the Vulture, a secret order of nuns and the guardians of a great truth. Pitted against them is the Vatican, which has wanted for centuries to both find and possess what the nuns guard. Because of Nick the maidens have finally been exposed, their secret placed in dire jeopardy—a vulnerability that the Vatican swiftly moves to exploit utilizing an ambitious cardinal and a corrupt archbishop, both with agendas of their own. Nick Lee must confront a modern-day religious crusade intent on eliminating a shocking truth from humanity’s past. Success or failure—life and death—all turn on the Omega Factor.

I liked this new character Nick Lee. His job for UNESCO gives him many opportunities to be involved in interesting investigations. While I miss the Cotton Malone character, I hope Nick returns in another book. I also liked these gun-toting nuns. Whoever said nuns have to be meek and mild? The nuns in this particular order must train to be able to defend their secret places. Their training reminded me of the type that Cotton Malone had. 

The Pyrenees Mountain setting was new to me. The mountains divide the France/Spain border and there was some action in the plot from both sides. Also, I enjoyed reading about the religious history of the Cathars as well as Marian theology. I had no knowledge about either before reading the book. The Cathars had some beliefs that I would not describe as Christian yet the church has romanticized them. As the author said in his Writer's Note, if the faithful wanted to believe in doctrine that was wrong, the church would go along in order to keep them happy.  A happy church member is a member that continues to give money. In addition, I learned alot about painter Jan van Eyck. His most famous work, the Ghent Altarpiece, is featured in this story and I think I can now talk about him with my artsy friends well enough to look smart.

The Omega Factor itself was not mentioned in the story until the last 40 pages. I can see why Berry had to wait to  bring it up but usually he gives his readers a hint early in his books as to what the main character is searching for. The plot did not suffer though. Omega is a fast read and highly entertaining.

5 out of 5 stars.

The Good Wife of Bath

The Good Wife of Bath is a modern retelling of a story in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. I have never read The Canterbury Tales before so the plotline for the modern story was new to me. Taking place in the latter half of the fourteenth century, Eleanor Cornfed's life with her 5 husbands is portrayed. At the age of 12 she is caught in bed with a priest and married off a week later to a sheep farmer fifty years her senior. Fulk Bigod is well known in the community, well known for outliving 4 previous wives and for being dirty. The community loves nothing more than to tell stories about him. Eleanor is despondent but reflects on her father's past advice to make something out of nothing. With a head for business and a surprisingly kind husband, Eleanor manages to turn her first marriage into a success. She begins to rise through society to a woman of fortune who becomes a trusted friend of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer. More marriages follow. Some of them were happy while others were not. In between each marriage, Eleanor goes on a religious pilgrimage. Through her travels she determines what mistakes she made in her marriages but always returns home to repeat those mistakes. All along, though, she pines for control over her life. 

This book was a breeze to read. I loved it and read half of its 560 pages in one sitting. I finished it in the next sitting. Eleanor is an amazing character who didn't give up on marriage until the fifth one ended. Her flaws only bring suspense to the story. I kept wondering whether Eleanor would do as she knew in her heart to do rather than succumb to her fickle nature. She should never have married again. When Fulk died, she was a well off business woman and didn't need another man. However, she thought that she needed them because society told her so. It only goes to show how few choices women had in those times. It was funny that when she arrived at her new home with Fulk, all she could see and smell was shit. It was everywhere. The house and fields were filled with it. I was surprised that she decided fairly quickly that she needed to gain her step-daughter's acceptance and began cleaning that house.  Eleanor did not have to clean anything in Noke Manor where she grew up. Her family had staff so these decisions were pretty grown up for a twelve year old.

The novel is a fun romp through Eleanor's life. Romp is the correct word here as Eleanor could never get enough sex. In fact, it was her downfall. The Good Wife of Bath is must reading for historical fiction fans. 5 out of 5 stars.

My Wife is Missing

My Wife is Missing is another great novel by Dan Palmer. When the story opened with Michael Hart finding his wife and children missing from their hotel room in New York City, I assumed that they had left of their own accord. It's the classic disappearing act one spouse does when they want a divorce. I did not think much about it but knew that it would take alot for me to give up this premise.  I was totally surprised where Palmer took the story though. As usual, he came up with an ending that shocked me.

The publisher's summary:

A family vacation turns into a nightmare for Michael Hart when he discovers his wife and two children have disappeared from their New York City hotel room. Horrified, he fears they've been kidnapped. Michael's frantic search to find them takes a shocking turn when he discovers that his wife, Natalie, appears to have left quite willingly, taking their children with her. The police want to know why, and so does Michael. But there may be a reason why Natalie ran, something Michael can't tell the police - the truth about his past.

While untangling his deceptions might be the key to locating Natalie, Michael knows it could also be his undoing. To find his wife, he must now turn to the one person capable of exposing all that he's been hiding.  Natalie thinks she has Michael all figured out and has hatched a plan to escape from him permanently. One detail, though, threatens to derail her efforts: sleep - or more accurately- the lack of it. Since the moment the shocking revelations about her husband come to light, Natalie's insomnia has worsened to the point that she now suffers from delusions.

Dan Palmer writes psychological thrillers that never disappoint. My Wife is Missing is no exception. The suspension was kicked up a notch with each chapter and the twists were creative. The story is told from the viewpoints of Michael and Natalie but also from past to present. It is also action driven as well as character driven. The reader develops a feeling early on that neither Michael nor Natalie are who they seem to be. You don't know who to believe so as the action unfolds, the suspense builds. Michael is the character who is the villain, even though he appears to be the victim of a runaway spouse. His internal thoughts characterize him as such because he tells himself that he cannot let the police find out about all his secrets. As I was reading, I wondered whether the plot line came from the news headlines. I had this in the back of my mind but to give my blog readers some of their own suspense, I won't tell you. Read it for yourself.

This may be Palmer's best book to date.  It certainly is the most suspenseful. 5 out of 5 stars.

Kaikeyi

Kaikeyi is the story of an infamous queen from the Indian epic tale the Ramayana. The author has taken the biggest villain of the epic and made her into a sympathetic character. It was just published in April 2022 and with 496 pages it is a chunky book. I bought the book at Barnes and Noble and enjoyed reading this hardcover as I held it. Holding a book seems like a blast from the past with all the ebooks around these days. 

The publisher's summary:

"I was born on the full moon under an auspicious constellation, the holiest of positions - much good it did me.

So begins Kaikeyi's story. The only daughter of the kingdom of Kekaya, she is raised on the tales of the gods: how they churned the vast ocean to obtain the nectar of immortality, how they vanquish evil and ensure the land of Bharat prospers, and how they offer powerful boons to the devout and the wise. Yet she watches as her father unceremoniously banishes her mother, listens as her own worth is reduced to how great a marriage alliance she can secure. And when she calls upon the gods for help, they never seem to hear her.

Desperate for some measure of independence, she turns to the texts she once read with her mother and discovers a magic that is hers alone. With this power, Kaikeyi transforms herself from an overlooked princess into a warrior, diplomat and most favored queen, determined to carve a better world for herself and the women around her.

But as the evil from her childhood stories threaten the cosmic order, the path she has forged clashes with the destiny the gods have chosen for her family. Kaikeyi must decide if resistance is worth the destruction it will wreak - and what legacy she intends to leave behind."

I haven't read many historical novels taking place in ancient India so this was a lovely departure from my usual reads. The pacing was what I expected from a historical fiction novel, as opposed to a historical mystery. It was just right. Because it is fiction, there is more emphasis on the Kaikeyi character than action. That said, there was still a good amount of action due to the main character's life story. 

The character was easy to like. She was a woman who helped other women and strove to enter a man's world. That's always a type of character that I will be drawn to. Her resilience was encouraging and inspirational; never let anyone get you down. Her use of magic is not something that I would typically want to read about. Kaikeyi always tried to get others to do her bidding by concentrating on the Binding Plane where she thought about the threads that bound her to other people. Her use of the binding place was integrated well into the story and seemed a normal part of the plot. However, she did not want anyone to know that she used magic. That would have had a negative impact on her life.

So how do you pronounce the name?  I believe it is "ki-kay." It may be my 2022 book of the year. I have only said that once this year so it will definitely be a top ten book. 5 out of 5 stars.

The Candid Life of Meena Dave

I almost always love a novel about India and Indian Americans. The Candid Life of Meena Dave is the exception though. I could not become interested in the book at all. Meena Dave has no family to speak of.  Her adoptive parents have passed away and she is on her own, moving frequently. When she is notified that she has inherited a house in Boston, she cannot place the name of the person, Neha, who left it to her. However, she travels to Boston, gets the keys to the house and plans only to stay overnight there. She is required to not sell the home for one year and then only to one of the other people who also have title to the property. While Meena is staying in the home, she discovers a connection to her past.  

While the plot premise was good, I struggled to maintain interest in the story. I found the writing to be rambling in various directions. Another fatal part of the book is that I did not like the main character Meena. She traveled the world on her whims and looked down on people with roots. She spoke to other characters with disdain. Meena just isn't a friendly person. Around page 50, I decided to go online and see what other reviewers thought about the book. I read many glowing  reviews so I went back to the beginning and started over, thinking I was missing something. I wasn't. 

I didn't finish this novel and cannot even rate it 1 star. Not my cup of tea. 

Among the Innocent

I received an advanced review copy (ARC) of this book from the Early Reviewer's Club at Librarything in exchange for an honest review. It is an Amish story but with a different twist. This suspense thriller features Leah Miller, a former Amish woman, as a police officer who is investigating a murder. 

Leah's own Amish family was murdered in their barn ten years prior. She was taken in by the local sheriff and his wife who raised her as an Englisher. Leah became a police officer because she loved her adopted father. She works in her home town, St. Ignatius, Montana, where a murder has just occurred that had similarities to the murder of her family. With a piece of paper written by the killer stating that he will be coming for Leah, it is apparent that the killer will continue to kill until he can catch Leah. As Leah and the new police chief, Dalton Cooper, work long hours struggling to fit the pieces together, they can't help but grow closer. When secrets from both of their pasts begin to surface, an unexpected connection between them is revealed. But this is only the beginning. Could it be that the former police chief framed an innocent man to keep the biggest secret of all buried? And what will it mean for Leah--and Dalton--when the full truth comes to light?

I LOVED this book! The fast pacing is what makes this book so intense. The story began with an edge of your seat prologue that would not let me put the book down until I finished reading it. There is alot of action with plenty of twists that keep your heart pounding. The two main characters, Leah and Dalton, were both tough and vulnerable at the same time and they could have been the stars of the novel. However, the gripping plot carries this whodunnit to a 5 star rating. It's been awhile since I read a suspense thriller with such an intricate plot and intensity and it was very satisfying.

5 out of 5 stars.

Kingdom of Bones

Kingdom of Bones is the 16th Sigma Force thriller from James Rollins. The story began with a United Nations relief team in a small Congo village making an alarming discovery. An unknown virus is leveling the evolutionary playing field. Men, women, and children have been reduced to a dull, catatonic state while plants and animals have grown more cunning and predatory, evolving at an exponential pace. This phenomena is spreading from a cursed site in the jungle, known to locals as the Kingdom of Bones, and sweeping across Africa, threatening the rest of the world. What made the biosphere run amok; a natural event or did someone engineer it? Commander Gray Pierce and Sigma Force have kept the world safe for years. However, even these highly trained scientists do not understand what is unfolding in Africa or know how to stop it. In order to head off a global catastrophe, the Sigma Force crew must once again risk their lives to uncover the shattering secret at the heart of the African continent.

I usually love a James Rollins novel. I liked this one but I cannot say I loved it. It was highly technical concerning the biology of viruses which was way over my ability to understand. Also, the plot premise was a little too fantastical. Just because something could be possible doesn't mean that it's probable. The virus that the Sigma Force crew was investigating would mutate in the offspring of infected creatures. The DNA of the new creatures was sufficiently altered to make them more dangerous to humans but also too different from the species that they originated from. One other issue I had was why a military dog was taken along for this jungle adventure. Is it likely that a combat veteran would bring his dog on a hunt for a virus? The book just didn't seem like the traditional Sigma Force story.

3 out of 5 stars.

Fear Thy Neighbor

Fear Thy Neighbor is Fern Michaels' newest mystery and it is a fantastic read. It's hard to believe that she has written 150 novels to date. She is 89 years old and while I can't do the math, that's alot of books per year to write. She evidently has the it factor.

The story opens with a teenage Alison Marshall fighting off a man from her foster family. The scene quickly moves 11 years into the future with Alison visiting Palmetto Island for a few days while she travels south to Key West. After renting a room in a cheap hotel, the Courtesy Court, she runs across John Wilson, the owner of the local bait shop, who has been following her in her car. Later in the day, their paths cross again at Mel's Diner where John tries to sit at her table. Alison quickly eats and returns to her hotel. The owner, Betty, seems to he a nice but lonely old lady. Betty invites Alison into her unit for tea and Alison happily agrees, believing Betty to be a friendly person. When she wakes up the next day feeling groggy Alison wonders whether she was drugged. Her car keys are gone as is her gun and the kitties she rescued the day before. Planning to quickly leave the island,  Alison decides to have a fast breakfast before leaving. She can't stop thinking, though, about the island's charm and beautiful beach. Seeing an ad in the local paper for a realtor, Alison calls to see what properties are available on the island. She is shown a dilapidated beach house that she cannot resist buying. At 29, she is ready to put down roots.

Alison was a great character. Her paranoia about people, while understandable given her childhood, added to the suspense. She did not trust anyone and she overanalyzed every encounter with the human race. I would too if I came across the secondary characters in the novel. All the men were abusive and tried to get her into bed. Betty was not such a nice old lady as she presented herself to be but rather a wolf in sheep's clothing. Alison eventually met some decent new friends but she had trouble accepting them because her arrival on Palmetto Island was fraught with danger. I though it odd that she wanted to buy a house there given what happened to her when she initially arrived. Her decision to buy the house was overanalyzed as well but since Alison was cautious about everything in life it did not seem realistic. 

All in all, a fun read.  4 out of 5 stars.

The Fugitive Colours

Nancy Bilyeau's The Fugitive Colours is the sequel to her 2018 novel The Blue. If you read The Blue you know that the main character is Genevieve Planche. After fleeing England for France, she met and married Thomas Sturbridge. Six years later they are back in Spitalfields for this installment of the series. It is 1764 and since men control the arts, sciences, politics and law, Genevieve is struggling to keep her silk design business afloat. Both Thomas and Genevieve are Huguenots, Protestants from Catholic France, which further makes them suspicious in the eyes of their associates in England. When Genevieve receives a surprise visit from an important artist, she begins to hope that, as a woman, she can be accepted as an artist. However, she soon learns that portrait painters have the world at their feet. Rivalries among them lead to sabotage, blackmail and murder and Genevieve gets caught up in their antics. Because she fears being exposed for her conspiracy and betrayal at the Derby Porcelain Factory several years back. The Blue novel is about that betrayal. 

I LOVED this novel. While it is a sequel, new readers should be able to follow the book easily. I would recommend though, that you read The Blue first, mainly because the characters are so strong and the plot picks up right where The Blue left off.  This sequel is just as strong as The Blue, something that does not always happen with a series. There is alot of history in the story as Genevieve interacts with artists such as Joshua Reynolds, George Romney, and Thomas Gainsborough.

The setting descriptions were expertly written into the story. I could feel that I was living in eighteenth century England. Crime and attitudes toward women in the trades were a consistent theme. The problems of women artists was depicted as well. The author also gives us insight into how well courtesans worked together to both seduce and rob their clients. I found it amusing that prostitutes could have that much power. For artists though, competition was high and most of them were overworked and miserable.

All of the characters were memorable, from Genevieve to the famous artists and the secondary characters.  I cannot help but love Genevieve.  She is a headstrong woman intent on getting recognition in her profession. This is something that I can easily relate to as I came of age during the 1970s when women were just beginning to enter the workforce. Her husband is a high moralist but falters easily as most of these kinds of people do. He does not work in Spitalfields or London as he teaches one of the sons of the Earl of Sandwich and is not part of much of the action. His presence in Genevieve's life controls how she behaves though.  Genevieve employs two artists to help her create silk embroidery designs. Caroline is known to have a dark past but we don't really know what that is about until the end of the book. Jean loves politics and supports Genevieve 100% in everything she wants to do. He is quite likable, much more than Caroline.

As far as what the fugitive colors are, I cannot say without giving out too many spoilers. This novel is definitely a must read. 5 out of 5 stars!

The Cleopatra Cipher

The Cleopatra Cipher is book number 1 in the Adrian West Thriller series by L. D. Goffigan.  It is an archeological thriller/treasure hunt mystery set in Rome and Egypt. The next book in the series, The Excalibur Deception, will be published in July 2022.

I LOVED this book!  From the first pages I was captivated by this story. Cleopatra's burial place and her treasures are sought by two opposing groups. One is from academia and the other is from a crime syndicate called the Daughters of Cleopatra. Both groups are present at a Languages and Antiquity Conference in Rome. Sebastian Rossi has given a lecture on the various languages of Ptolemac Egypt. While always a popular lecture, the recent finding of Cleopatra's treasures one week prior to the conference made his lecture a must to hear. Sebastian's friend Adrian West is also in attendance at the conference and soon after Sebastian's lecture has ended, she receives a call from her former FBI partner Nick Harper. Nick tells her that Sebastian has been abducted. The hunt is on to not only locate him but to find out why he was abducted.

The writing was tight and suspenseful and the characters were fully developed. The protagonist of the series is Adrian West. She is a great character but I believe that without Sebastian as a counterpart, I am not sure how well she can carry the series. I definitely liked Sebastian better. I was not able to tell if he will be an ongoing character in the series. Nonetheless, we will find out in 2 months when the second book in the series is published.

I preferred the Rome setting. Fortunately the setting didn't move to Egypt until the midway point in the story. We read more about the Italian landscape and food than the same in Egypt. The Egyptian part of the plot centered on action more than setting description. 

This is a hugely entertaining novel!  5 out of 5 stars.

Nine Lives

Nine strangers receive a list with their names on it in the mail. Nothing else, just a list of names on a single sheet of paper. None of the nine people know or have ever met the others on the list. They dismiss it as junk mail, a fluke, until very, nad things begin happening to people on the list. First, a well-liked old man is drowned on a beach in the small town of Kennewick, Maine. Then, a father is shot in the back while running through his quiet neighborhood in suburban Massachusetts. A frightening pattern is emerging, but what do these nine people have in common? Their professions range from oncology nurse to aspiring actor, and they’re located all over the country. So why are they all on the list, and who sent it? FBI agent Jessica Winslow, who is on the list herself, is determined to find out. Could there be some dark secret that binds them all together? Or is this the work of a murderous madman? As the mysterious sender stalks these nine strangers, they find themselves constantly looking over their shoulders, wondering who will be crossed off next.

Nine lives is a suspense thriller set in the modern era. Each chapter covers one of the nine characters on consecutive days. It's a clever whodunnit with a surprise ending. I was bewildered by the high body count though. Usually in a mystery I see, at the most, two people killed but here there are more. In the end it all makes sense. Don't be surprised if the plot sounds familiar. Nine Lives is based on Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, her most well known mystery. The author used alot of narrative for Nine Lives but it was cut back as the story unfolded and for a good reason. The pacing automatically picked up after each character died because less narrative was needed.  The investigation of the deaths was not a big part of the novel. It more or less was character driven.

I enjoyed this mystery and am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.

The Cartographers

I did not know what to expect when I started reading this novel. Peng Shepherd is a new author for me but I was impressed with this story from the first chapter. It is a suspense thriller about art, science and history, a combination that I enjoy reading. 

The publisher's summary:

Nell Young’s whole life and greatest passion is cartography. Her father, Dr. Daniel Young, is a legend in the field and Nell’s personal hero. But she hasn’t seen or spoken to him ever since he cruelly fired her and destroyed her reputation after an argument over an old, cheap gas station highway map.

But when Dr. Young is found dead in his office at the New York Public Library, with the very same seemingly worthless map hidden in his desk, Nell can’t resist investigating. To her surprise, she soon discovers that the map is incredibly valuable and exceedingly rare. In fact, she may now have the only copy left in existence . . . because a mysterious collector has been hunting down and destroying every last one—along with anyone who gets in the way.

But why?

To answer that question, Nell embarks on a dangerous journey to reveal a dark family secret and discovers the true power that lies in maps. The Cartographers is an ode to art and science, history and magic—a spectacularly imaginative, modern story about an ancient craft and places still undiscovered.

Reading this book was an amazing experience. I had that warm feeling you get when you finish a satisfying novel. Author Peng Shepherd dreamed up a creative plot and executed the writing skillfully. There is also plenty of of character development as well as information on creating maps. 

Seven college buddies travel to New York State after obtaining their Ph.D's in cartography. Their plans are something only the young can dream up: to create the most perfect atlas composed of maps of fantasy lands, such as you would find for the Chronicles of Narnia. The work begins well but as time passes the group dynamics fall apart. Two couples cheat on each other while an odd man out is doing research that he keeps secret from the group. Trust begins to dissipate and the group separates after a tragedy, with most of them staying in New York. All but one has their dream job. Daniel Young heads the map room at the New York Public Library. He and his daughter Nell carry the story. His classmates found similarly fantastic jobs but to summarize the rest of the story would give out spoilers. 

These seven characters communicated with each other as only childhood friends can. Their dialogue was realistic and the author primarily used it to advance the story. There was very little narrative. The exuberance the characters had for their studies made me remember my own college days and, frankly, I haven't been that idealistic since then. Real life always interrupts those feelings. These characters experienced highs and lows on a scale most of us have never experienced. While the story refers to the lows, it is the highs that caught my interest. They were working on a huge discovery for cartography and this is what excited me about the book.

The Cartographers is simply magnificent. 5 out of 5 stars.

Peach Blossom Spring

Peach Blossom Spring is a poignant family saga that begins in China in the 1930s. It is Melissa Fu's debut novel and I am impressed with her ability to write such a beautiful story. The novel is about Dao Meilin and her son Dao Renshu. Meilin's husband Xiaowen is killed during a battle with the invading Japanese army but she remains with her in-law's family for support. She relies heavily on her husband's brother Longwei and his wife Wenling, who resents Meilin's presence. As the Japanese continue their advance through China the Dao family is displaced over and over again in their effort to survive. It is always hard to summarize these sagas so let's go with the publisher's summary:

It is 1938 in China and, as a young wife, Meilin’s future is bright. But with the Japanese army approaching, Meilin and her four year old son, Renshu, are forced to flee their home. Relying on little but their wits and a beautifully illustrated hand scroll, filled with ancient fables that offer solace and wisdom, they must travel through a ravaged country, seeking refuge. Years later, Renshu has settled in America as Henry Dao. Though his daughter is desperate to understand her heritage, he refuses to talk about his childhood. How can he keep his family safe in this new land when the weight of his history threatens to drag them down? Yet how can Lily learn who she is if she can never know her family’s story? Spanning continents and generations, Peach Blossom Spring is a bold and moving look at the history of modern China, told through the story of one family. It’s about the power of our past, the hope for a better future, and the haunting question: What would it mean to finally be home?

When I finished this novel I went back in the story searching for each reference to Peach Blossom Spring. Henry first learned of this fable from his mother while he was a youth. After Henry moves to America he hears the story again, but with a different ending. He wonders why his mother changed the ending. In the last chapter of the book he figures it out. Without being a spoiler I can say it refers to wherever your home is located. The location can be a specific place or state of mind. The way the author ended the story gives us a much bigger idea of what a Peach Blossom Spring is but I won't elaborate here. However, please note that I wanted to immediately re-read the novel after I finished reading it. There has never been a novel that has had this effect on me. Perhaps I am searching for my own Peach Blossom Spring.

The Chinese setting descriptions were spot on. The reader definitely feels the effects of war on all the Chinese cities and villages that Meilin and Renshu walked through on their way to safety. Whenever they found sanctuary, they soon had to move on because of the bombs that the Japanese planes dropped. No place was safe. Eventually Meilin and Renshu moved to Taiwan with their Dao relatives to escape the Japanese and the fledgling Chinese Communist Party. We get a glimpse that Longwei is working with Taiwan's KMT Party but this fact is never specifically stated. Longwei's actions show how the KMT spies operated in mainland China. The problems of emigrating to other countries is also shown. Many Chinese had to lie about their family background in order to get access to boats that would take them to a new place. The lies would always be a problem for the countries in which they relocated.

All the characters seemed flawed. However, each character had to make a decision on how to best handle the circumstances of war. Is this a flaw? Maybe not. When you are in a lose-lose situation, whatever you decide to do looks suspicious. The Dao family did not have positive options available and they used whatever power their family had in order to survive. Instead of saying that they were flawed it may be best to state that the characters were realistic for the era in which they lived, including Henry in America. The current Chinese government does threaten Chinese Americans with harming their relatives who are still in China in order to get concessions. Henry was afraid that he would hurt his mother if he associated with other Chinese in the U. S. 

I LOVED this novel! I am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.

The Easter Bonnet Murder

The Easter Bonnet Murder is Leslie Meier's 35th Lucy Stone cozy mystery. The series takes place in Tinker's Cove, Maine during the current era. In this installment of the series the town's retired librarian, centenarian Julia Tilley is recuperating from an illness in a senior facility that is known to be the best in the area, Heritage House. However, it soon becomes apparent that it isn't all that great there. 71 year old Agnes Neal goes missing from the assisting living section of the facility right before it's annual Easter bonnet contest. Not many people are concerned about Agnes because she was allowed to come and go as she pleased from her apartment. Also, Agnes was a former international journalist with an active mind. Some folks felt threatened by her eye for details and her lack of interest in following the rules that her caretakers set for her at Heritage House and for some reason, the police are stalling the investigation into her disappearance. Lucy, a part time reporter for the local newspaper, after being contacted by Agnes's daughter Geri Mazzoni, decides to begin her own investigation into Agnes's disappearance. 

This story is one of my favorites from the series. It reads like a straight murder mystery. Only the characters necessary to solving the crime are mentioned in the story. Lucy's husband and children are not involved which for me was a plus. They never have much to do with the crimes Lucy is solving but have taken up alot of space in earlier books in the series. I especially loved the Agnes character. While she was dead from page one, what we learn about her career is fascinating. As a journalist Agnes covered several wars before retiring in Tinker's Cove where her daughter lived.

The usual Tinker's Cove setting descriptions were avoided as the retirement home setting took precedence. I preferred it. In the past I have always gotten bogged down in setting details that didn't interest me. Small town Maine is not one of my favorite places. By giving the retirement home all the space it needed for the provision of red herrings and plot twists, the author has given us a complex, contemporary cozy mystery.

5 out of 5 stars.

Evil in Emerald

Evil in Emerald is the 3rd installment of Alison Stuart's Harriet Gordon Mysteries. The series takes place in Singapore in the early 1900s. Some of you may remember the first two books in the series Singapore Sapphire and Revenge in Rubies. Most historical mystery fans read Singapore Sapphire when it was published in 2019 and loved it. I read many glowing reviews of this novel as well as the sequel.

In Evil in Emerald Harriet turns to volunteering in local plays as an outlet from her work. She has been enjoying the rehearsals for her role in the Singapore Amateur Dramatic and Musical Society’s latest production – Pirates of Penzance. However, Harriet quickly discovers tensions among the staff of the theatre company. When the leading man is found murdered, suspicions abound, exposing scandalous behavior as well as some insidious crimes. Inspector Robert Curran once again turns to his friend Harriet for help with the case. Curren's own life soon begins to unravel when a mysterious man turns up on his doorstep claiming to know more about Curran’s past than he himself knows. After Curran hears some devastating news, the line between his personal and professional life begins to blur. Now, more than ever, Curran needs Harriet’s steadfast assistance. When another cast member is found dead Curran and Harriet hurry their investigation to find the killer before a third person dies.

Harriet's character has an interesting background. She is a widow who survived a typhus epidemic in India and an incarceration in Britain for her suffragette activities. This past is not part of the mysteries that she solves but it shows how she grew into an independent woman with insight into the human psyche. When she was released from prison Harriet sailed to Singapore to help her minister brother with his school for children.

Evil in Emerald is the perfect whodunit. I love that the murdered body of Tony Dowling was found in the first pages of the story so that the remainder of the story can be about finding the killer. When Inspector Robert Curran of the Straits Settlements Police Force Detective Division begins to investigate, he relies on amateur sleuth Harriet Gordon who works part time for him as a typist. Curran has come to rely on her for advice and assistance with his investigations as she has proven herself adept at finding clues in the past. Her friendships on the island always prove fruitful when gathering information.

One interesting thing that I like about this series is that all of the characters are strong.  They have interesting backgrounds too, which can come into play in future books in the series. The author has a footnote at the end of the story advising that the fourth book in the series will not take place in Singapore but rather on the Malay Peninsula. It's always tricky to move the locale of a series so I hope the writing goes well.

As with her prior novels, author A. M. Stuart has created a Pinterest board for Evil in Emerald that is worth checking out. Here she has pinned photos of 1910 beach wear, several railway stations, street style, portraits of women, and grand mansions in Singapore. Stuart also has a Pinterest page for the Harriet Gordon Mysteries which includes cars, trains, maps, and costumes as well as separate boards for Harriet and Curran. 

5 out of 5 stars!

Bitter Roots

Bitter Roots is the 12th wine country cozy mystery featuring Lucie Montgomery as the owner of Virginia's Montgomery Estate Vineyard. Lucie is an unusual heroine because she is disabled from a mobility impairment. However, it doesn't prevent her from managing her business. 

The story opens with Lucie planning her upcoming wedding. She and her winemaker, Quinn Santori, will be married in a ceremony that overlooks her vineyard. However, with all of her Cab Franc vines dying, the scenery will actually be ugly, brown and rotting vines. Lucie and other nearby vineyard owners had purchased vines three years ago from a local nursery, Landau Garden and Nursery. All of the neighboring vines have rotted too. Lucie and Quinn meet with Landau's representatives, Eve Kerr and Richard Brightman, but Landau refuses to refund their $250,000 investment in the diseased vines. Accusations fly between them and an ugly standoff between the supplier and the growers could escalate into litigation. When Eve Kerr, a stunning blonde who works at the nursery, is found dead a few days later, everyone wonders if someone in the winemaking community went too far. What especially troubles Lucie is why Eve secretly arranged to meet Quinn on the day she was murdered and whether Lucie's soon-to-be husband knows something he's not telling her.

I love that the first sentence has a quote from Julia Child: "Julia Child once said that every woman should have a blowtorch in the kitchen." I have always loved this quote and can even remember which TV episode she said it on. The first page contains narrative that gives the reader the entire background of the series. New readers will have no problem following the story. 

This is Crosby's best novel to date. It is also her most sophisticated plot for the series and she wrote it with alot of suspense. At first, I thought that the mystery to be solved dealt with the diseased vines. The author wrote into the story plenty of dialogue about the biology of diseases that vines can have. I enjoyed learning about this aspect of growing grapes. The mystery that dominates, though, is who murdered Eve Kerr. I was not expecting a murder at the halfway point as the mystery about the vines predominated the first part of the story. It could have been enough to carry the novel. However, it did not seem offputting to have a murder this late in the story. Crosby joined all three elements-the vines, the murder and the wedding-into a spectacular ending. We even get a lesson on dereche storms as one hits Virginia in the book. These storms travel horizontally and must travel a minimum of two hundred fifty miles to be considered a dereche.

5 out of 5 stars.

Threads of Hope

Threads of Hope is the 3rd book in the Plain Patterns trilogy by Leslie Gould. The story opens with Tally Smucker enjoying a quiet life of reading and quilting. She can concentrate on her hobbies because of her decision never to marry. However, she has to deal with grief over her mother's catastrophic illness as well as the physical demands of being her caregiver. When a former Plain friend, Danielle, exhibits the symptoms of PTSD from her service in the army, Tally invites her to join a group of quilters at a fabric shop called Plain Patterns. Jane Berger owns the store and Jane likes to tell true stories from yesteryear while the ladies sew. During these quilting get togethers, Tally and Danielle learn about the plight of a WWI soldier and the girl he left behind, Jane's ancestor Kate Landis. Kate was an Amish woman who had to deal with her boyfriend Amos leaving the Amish community to fight in WWI. There is also the 1918 flu pandemic that is raging at the time. The couple's story resonates with both Tally and Danielle but for different reasons.

I am a quilter so I loved the quilt shop setting for this trilogy. Also, there are several parallels to the present time. We are two years into the COVID-19 pandemic and we are dealing with the Ukraine War, which could spill into WWIII. The author gives us some insight on how these issues were dealt with in the past but, of course, she did not know at the time she wrote the novel that history would repeat itself. Danielle's treatment for PTSD is also featured and it is educational for the reader. 

When quilters gather together they tend to solve all the problems in the world by discussing them and coming up with their own solutions, always better than what the politicians decide. I certainly felt this camaraderie among the Plain Patterns group and remember conversations that I have had in the past with fellow quilters. Quilting is also a way to mull over personal problems when you are sewing by yourself. Art and crafts are an outlet for me on dealing with personal issues. This book reinforced this effect as the characters also discussed the problems of the day.

Threads of Hope is the best book in the trilogy. It has more mystery elements than the other two books which made it a fast read.  4 out of 5 stars.