Tag: mystery

What I’m Reading Now: What the Dead Know

Book: What the Dead Know

Author: Laura Lippman

Have I Read This Author Before: Yes (Lady in the Lake and Prom Mom), in both cases was hoping for more

One Sentence Summary: A girl ends up in a hospital following a car accident and claims to be the long missing daughter who disappeared with her sister 20 years ago.

Best Thing about the Book: I was curious as to the outcome

Worst Thing about the Book: It took a really long time to get there, during which, not much happens

What I Learned: ?

The Bottom Line: Three strikes and you’re out. The book continually switches back and forth between different time periods, with no warning or explanation and also switches frequently from narrator to narrator. If this confusion isn’t bad enough, NOTHING HAPPENS. I frequently contemplated giving up, but kept it up hoping for some redeeming feature

Would I Read this Author Again: No

Next Book to be Read by this Author: NA

What I’m Reading Now: The Thursday Murder Club

Book: The Thursday Murder Club

Author: Richard Osman

Fiction/Nonfiction: Fiction

Have I Read This Author Before: No

One Sentence Summary: A Group of older individuals living together in a nursing home type facility in the UK become involved in a murder investigation when someone they know is murdered and they soon are doing a better job solving it than the local police

Did It Make Me Want to Keep Reading: Yes

Best Thing About the Book: Very funny but also a good mystery with lots of suspects and components; a very fast read

Worst Thing About the Book: The number of characters and story lines (both past and present) sometimes made it difficult to remember all of the components

What I Learned: Many British terms as I was often googling when I came across something I didn’t know: Spanner (wrench), wpc (Woman Police Constable), Stone (about 14 pounds) to name a few

The Bottom Line: After being enmeshed in intense thrillers for the last several months, this offered some of that mystery with less gore and more laughs

Would I Read This Author Again: Yes

Next Book to be Read by This Author: We Solve Murders

What I’m Reading Now: The Stranger

Book: The Stranger

Author: Harlan Coben

Fiction/Nonfiction: Fiction

Have I Read This Author Before: Yes

One Sentence Summary: A stranger approaches various, unrelated strangers across the country and tells them secrets about the people in their lives that will change their world forever

Best Thing About the Book: This was very different from the previous Harlan Coben books I’ve read in the past; less blood and murder, but creepier in its highly personal nature

Worst Thing About the Book: Some of the conversations are frustratingly circular (Her: “Do you know who she is, yes or no?” Him: “I think I do.” Her: “Who is She?” Him: “You don’t know?”)

Did it Make Me Want to Keep Reading: Yes

What I Learned: I read the acknowledgements at the back of the book, which I never do, and learned that Harlan Coben accepts donations from individuals to use their names in his books, and then donates that money to charity; very cool!

The Bottom Line: Definitely a page turner as various, seemingly unconnected plot lines start to come together in typical Coben fashion with plenty of surprises

Will I Read This Author Again: Yes

Next Book to be Read by This Author: Play Dead

What I’m Reading Now: A Fatal Grace

Book: A Fatal Grace

Fiction/Nonfiction: Fiction

Author: Louise Penny

Have I Read This Author Before: Yes (Still Life)

One Sentence Summary: An unliked woman is murdered in an unusual way in a small, Canadian town, and Inspector Armand Gamache is called upon to solve the crime amidst multiple suspects

Best Thing About the Book: Character development and story lines keep the reader guessing and changing theories throughout anxious to discover the explanation for apparently bizarre circumstances

Worst Thing About the Book: Worry over whether she can maintain creative story lines in the next Gamache mystery

Did it Make Me Keep Reading: Yes

What I Learned: Some new french words like tuque (a warm, knitted stocking cap) and reveillon (a nighttime celebration held after midnight on Christmas morning)

The Bottom Line: Penny is a great storyteller weaving multiple story lines that all fall neatly into place by the conclusion

Would I Read This Author Again: Yes

Next Book to Be Read By This Author: The cruellest month

What I’m Reading Now: You Are Not Alone

Book: You Are Not Alone

Fiction/Nonfiction: Fiction

Author: Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

Have I Read This Author Before: No

One Sentence Summary: Shay witnesses a young girl who jumps to her death in front of a subway train and then becomes involved with two women who want to find out what she knows about the girl’s death, leading to suspicions on all sides

Best Thing About the Book: Multiple things but mostly, The Title! Is it Comforting, or is it Ominous??

Worst Thing About the Book: While there are some surprises as to how things work out, the question of “what really happened” was answered pretty early for me

Did it Make Me Keep Reading: Yes, the characters were interesting and I wanted to see what would happen to them

What I Learned: Shay is an analytical person who gathers data so her narrations often begin with statistical facts, i.e. suicide attempts on NYC subways, depression, and missing persons

The Bottom Line: I’m always interested in books written by two people. This was an interesting story but not a can’t-put-it-down psychological thriller

Would I Read This Author Again: Yes

Next Book to be Read by This Author: The Wife Between Us

What I’m Reading Now: K is For Killer

Title: K is For Killer

Author: Sue Grafton

Fiction/Nonfiction: Fiction

Have I read this Author Before: Yes; the Alphabet Series A-J

One sentence Summary: Private Investigator Kinsey Millhone is hired by the mother of a girl who died about a year before and whose badly decomposed body was ruled an accidental death but her mother suspects murder.

Best Thing about the Book: The series is an entertaining, easy read; While the lead character, Kinsey is somewhat predictable after reading A -J in the series, we always learn something new about her character and I like the references back to incidents that happened in prior books.

Worst Thing about the Book: I’m never able to solve the mystery, but usually it’s because critical pieces of information are withheld until the end.

Did it Make me Want to Keep Reading: Yes, Grafton writes well and offers characters with a lot of physical description. These books are an quick read and you will want to keep going until you know the resolution.

What I Learned: Some of the details of what happens at a water treatment plant.

The Bottom Line: This series is entertaining, and I always look forward to the next mystery.

Would I read this Author Again: Yes

Next Book to Read by This Author: L is for Lawless (of course)

What I’m Reading Now-His & Hers

Book: His & Hers

Fiction/Nonfiction: Fiction

Author: Alice Feeney

Have I read this author before: Yes, although I did not realize this initially; I greatly preferred this one to the first read I Know Who You Are

One sentence summary: Someone is murdering connected individuals and we see the progress alternately through the view of a colleague of the victims and a detective working the case, who used to be married to each other

Best thing about the Book: The number of characters (and therefore suspects) was limited, making it fun to try to guess; your guess will change frequently throughout the book as each character has motives and opportunities, and you will likely still be surprised with the ending!

Worst thing about the Book: The one minimal frustration I had was that Jack (“His”) was supposed to be the main detective on the case and he made very little progress and, in fact, rarely seemed to be conducting any investigating

Did it make me want to keep reading: Yes. I couldn’t stop and was sad when it ended, although I found the ending to be satisfying

What I learned: High school girls can be pure evil

The Bottom Line: One of the best mystery/thrillers I have read in a long time

Would I read this author again: Yes!

Next to read by this Author: Rock Paper Scissors