How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue

 

The villagers of Kosawa in Africa have inhabited the land and the village from time immemorial.  But things are not good these days in the village.  An American oil company has come to extract the oil from the land and with no one to enforce standards, has created an environmental crisis.  The water has been turned into poison, killing the fish and making the people sick, especially the children who are dying.  The jungles are being destroyed, taking away the wild game the people depend on.  The head of the government cares only for the money he receives from the company and uses his soldiers to enforce their work.  

The villagers come together to try to decide what to do.  They decide to send a delegation to talk to the company but the men never return.  When another group tries, the company talks a good game but nothing changes until more serious action is taken.  That results in more tragedy for the village.

From despair, a new leader emerges.  Thula is a young girl who everyone knows is smart.  She is picked out to go to America for an education but her exposure there instead turns her into a revolutionary.  When she returns to Africa, can she effect meaningful change?

Imbolo Mbue is an African author from Cameroon.  This is her second novel and it was chosen as one of the Ten Best Books of The Year by such publications as the Kirkus Review, The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post and Esquire.  It is an eye-opening telling of how environmental disasters can be perpetuated on native populations, destroying their way of life.  The balance between those who wish to fight and those who are willing to take whatever is offered by the company provides an interesting dynamic.  Thula is a fascinating character as she evolves in her views as she receives education and is exposed to those who have fought for various causes.  This book is recommended for multicultural and literary fiction readers.  

Dandelion by Jamie Chai Yun Liew

 

Lily grew up in British Columbia, Canada, the child of Southeast Asian immigrants.  Her father was determined to fit in but her mother desperately missed the land of her birth and youth and the relatives she had left behind there.  When Lily was eleven, her mother disappeared.  She and her sister thought her mother would return but her mother never did.  Her mother never wrote them, called them or sent them messages.  She just disappeared.

Now Lily is grown and has just had her own baby.  But something is wrong and Lily knows she will never be able to be a good mother until she solves the mystery of what happened to her own mother.  How had she just left them?  Did she not love them?  Was the same makeup in Lily and would she let down her own child?  Lily, her husband and the baby decide to visit her parent's home territory and see if she can find the answers she has wanted her whole life.

Jamie Chai Yun Liew is a Canadian author and lawyer.  Her legal work centers around immigration and she also hosts a podcast on this topic.  This is her debut novel and it won the Emerging Writers Award.  I listened to this novel and the narrator sounded exactly as I imagined Lily sounded.  Lily is a hurt soul and she fears she will never be whole until she solves the mystery that has defined her life.  Her husband is a great character who is very supportive of his wife's quest and her fears that she can never be a good mother.  Readers will relate to Lily as she unpeels layer and layer of secrets and clues.  This book is recommended for multicultural readers and those interested in family relationships.

The Land In Winter by Andrew Miller

 

This novel is set in the remote English countryside in 1962 and focuses on two different couples.  The Parrys are considered gentry, he one of the village doctors while she is a housewife who grew up in a typical middle-class family.  The Simmons are their neighbors across a large field and are farmers.  He comes from money but disapproves of his father and takes nothing from him while his wife grew up poor and a party girl.  He has a university education but decided that farming might be the life for him and Rita.

Both marriages are full of remoteness.  The doctor, Eric, is having an affair with one of the practice's patients, a rich lonely woman whose husband goes to London each day on business leaving her alone.  Bill Simmons is very introverted and spends his days doing farm chores and dreaming of big plans, leaving his extroverted wife Rita on her own.  Bored, one day Rita goes across the field, taking eggs to her neighbors.  Both Rita and Irene are pregnant and they bond over that.

When the greatest blizzard in history comes, the entire village is snowed in.  The trains can't run and the roads are impassable.  The village stores soon have empty shelves and relationships soon show strains.  Irene finds a note from her husband's mistress and vows to leave.  Rita is left on her own while Bill goes to London to ask his father for money to fund his plans for the farm.  Will everything have changed when the weather passes?

Andrew Miller is an English author whose work has gained much acclaim.  This novel was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won both the Walter Scott and the Winston Graham Prize for Historical Fiction.  The writing draws the reader along and they become more and more deeply entrenched in these lives that have entangled due to proximity during both internal and external crisises.  Miller explores marriages, friendships, the impact of early childhood on adult lives as well as documenting what is known as The Big Freeze in English history.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.  

Death On Demand by Carolyn Hart

 

Annie Laurance has inherited her uncle's bookstore on the exclusive island of Broward's Rock.  It specializes in mysteries and there are several famous mystery authors also living there.  They make a point of getting together on Sunday evenings when the store is closed to other patrons and call themselves the Sunday Night Regulars.

But one Sunday things go awry.  Elliot Morgan, who owns the building, threatens to raise Annie's rent and run her out of business.  At the gathering he stands up and says he has secrets about everyone there and is writing a book that will expose everyone.  Then the lights to out and when they are restored, Morgan is dead.  

The next day Max Darling arrives.  He is a handsome, wealthy man who is determined to win Annie but she doesn't think he takes life seriously and resists his advances.  He agrees to help Annie find out who murdered Morgan as the police chief has Annie in his sights and believes she murdered her uncle as well.  As more and more victims start to accumulate, things aren't looking good for Annie.  Can she and Max solve the murders?

Carolyn Hart is a well-known author in the mystery genre.  This is the first Death On Demand entry but there are currently twenty-six novels in the series.  Annie is an interesting character but it's Max Darling that steals the show.  He is so determined to win Annie that the reader will fall in love with him, even if Annie won't admit she has as well.  There are plenty of suspects and the ending is satisfactory.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

 

Man has pretty much conquered the solar system with colonies on Earth, Mars and the in-between Belt.  But though all three colonies are thriving, that doesn't mean they get along.  There is constant tension between Mars and Earth and both regard the Betweeners as they are called, as very different.

Jim Holden captains a ship that hauls ice from Jupiter to those places needing water.  While on a routine trip, they come across a salvage ship but when they go to explore, they find a secret they never expected.  A secret that could change everything.  

Detective Miller is a policeman, handling things like break-ins and other mundane police items.  He is pulled aside by his boss and given a secret job.  One of the wealthiest men on Earth wants someone to find his daughter and bring her home.  She had left years before and is associated with a radical group.   With tensions rising between Earth and Mars, he wants her home safe.

But as these two men handle their missions, they are brought together, sometimes as enemies, sometimes viewing each other with respect.  Holden releases information to the universe that precipitates a war between Earth and Mars with the rebel groups seeing a chance to get what they want as well.  Along with the war, they discover that a group of aliens from an immeasurable distance are also in the mix and that they have plans that are millenniums old.  

James S.A. Corey is the pen name of two science fiction authors, Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck.  This long book (over 700 pages) is only the beginning of the nine book series, The Expanse.  The series was also optioned and made into a Prime Video series.  The plotting is intricate and the characters are interesting.  I'm looking forward to the next adventure!  This book is recommended for science fiction readers.  

London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe

 

On November 29th, 2019, a nineteen year old young man leaped from a fifth floor balcony to the Thames.  He did not survive the fall.  The police assumed it was suicide but his parents, well-to-do Londoners, weren't sure.  Zac Brettler, their son, had changed so much in his teenage years.  What they were to find out would shock them.  

Zac had been running a scam on everyone in his life.  He told people he was the son of a Russian oligarch and soon was running with the wealthy set that were billionaires.  He schemed his way into business deals and told his parents he didn't need university as he was making his own money.  The people he was associating with had lives of their own and some were scammers themselves or criminals.  Was Zac about to be found out and held to account for his lies?  He had been living with a wealthy man who it turned out, was one of the heads of criminal activity in London, strongarming money from others.  Did Zac jump because he was scared of what would happen next as his lies were being discovered or did he think he could survive the fall and just wanted to escape?

Patrick Radden Keefe is an American author who is known for his investigative reporting.  His previous books were about the IRA and about the opioid industry and epidemic.  In this book, he follows the years long battle of the Brettler family to find out what really happened to Zac.  He lays bare the criminal history of the middle-aged men who were associating with Zac and what might have happened as they discovered that they had been taken in by a mere teenager.  The reporting is intricate and so well researched and the reader will be fascinated with the story while wondering why the parents had let things get so out of control with their son.  This book is recommended for nonfiction readers. 

Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

 

Maggie Holt is determined to get answers.  Growing up, she barely remembers the couple of weeks her family lived in Baneberry Hall, a rambling mansion set back in the woods.  But she remembers the rest.  The book her father wrote after they fled the place outlining the horrors they encountered there.  The fame and money that book brought.  The way neither her father or mother would tell her what happened there and if the book was true.  And the avoidance the other kids gave her as they decided she was strange and not to be believed about anything.

Now Maggie's father has died and she is shocked to learn that he never sold the house and that she has inherited it.  Maggie and her partner renovate houses as a business so she decides to do the same with the Hall and sell it afterwards.  What will she remember?  She has lost the ability to get answers from her father and her mother is still refusing to talk.  Maggie was only five so she can't trust what she remembers.  

When she arrives, she discovers that there is still staff.  There is a handyman and the housekeeper, who is too old to work anymore, has a daughter who has taken her job.  Both live in cottages right outside the gate.  When Maggie tours the house, she starts to remember bits and pieces, especially when she goes into what was her bedroom, with a huge armoire that she remembers was where Mr. Whisper used to emerge from to scare her.  Things start to happen again.  There is a record player in the attic that her father used as a study that comes on randomly.  The bells connecting the rooms with the servant's quarters peal out at odd hours.  And is she seeing flashes of ghosts?  

Riley Sager is an American author who writes psychological thrillers.  In this novel, Maggie is determined to rectify the ignorance that her parents kept her in and discover the truth once and for all.  She realizes that through the decades, the daughters of the various owners had died of various things and that they seem to be the focus of whatever was happening in that house.  The mystery is revealed slowly and Maggie ends up knowing the truth and wondering if she really wanted it.  This book is recommended for mystery fans. 

Desert Places by Blake Crouch

 

Andrew Thomas has a successful life.  He's an author of thrillers and each has been more successful than the previous ones.  He lives in his native state of North Carolina on a lake and within an hour of his mother.  He's just about to release his latest book and start the round of book tours and signings when he gets a message.

The message tells him that a missing woman who is all over the news has been murdered and buried on his land.  If he doesn't do exactly as he is told, the police will be notified and the killer has planted Thomas' DNA on the body.  Andrew checks and sure enough, the body is where he was told.

He agrees to do as told and is soon knocked out and transported out to the mountains and deserts of Wyoming.  There he meets his captor and is shocked to see that it is his twin brother, Orson.  He hasn't seen Orson in decades, ever since the day Orson left their college dorm room and disappeared.   Now he is Orson's prisoner and Orson soon reveals what he has been doing all these years.  He is a serial killer and determined to bring Andrew into his life and make him do the same killings he has been pursuing for years.  Andrew is determined not to cave to Orson's demands, but little by little he is broken until he is doing things he never imagined.  Andrew realizes that the only way to free himself from Orson is to kill him and the hunt is on between the two.  Who will win?

Blake Crouch is an American author who writes in the thriller genre and has had both his Wayward Pines and his Dark Matter series adapted to tv series.  I love that he is a North Carolina author and that he writes about the places I recognize in my state.  This book will be too graphic for some readers and if sensitive this is probably not the book for you.  But it is an intriguing take and very suspenseful as the brothers are locked in a battle for supremacy.  This book is recommended for thriller readers.  

The Murder Book by Mark Billingham

 

Things are going well at work for DI Tom Thorne.  Nicola Tanner, who he worked with before after the death of her partner, has transferred in to the homicide squad and is partnered with Thorne.  He and Helen have broken up but he is dating another woman, a psychiatrist who in addition to her private practice consults with the squad when they need a profiler.  When a set of grisly murders pop up, Thorne and Tanner are able to find the murderer and stop her spree after three murders.

But things are afoot.  It turns out that the woman is only a catspaw for a man in Thorne's past who has the most evil man Thorne has encountered.  He and Thorne have a long relationship as Thorne was the man who caught him and imprisoned him and also the man who years later, let him escape from an island where he had been sent to find the man's original victims.  Now he has popped up again, determined to ruin Thorne's life by taking away everything and everyone that Thorne loves.  Can he be stopped in time?

This is the eighteenth Tom Thorne mystery and I really will be sad to see the series come to an end with the next book.   I was disappointed to see he and Helen were no longer together but Fiona seems a good replacement for Tom.  In addition to his long-time friendship with Phil Hendricks, the pathologist, Tom and Nicola have also developed a good relationship as partners and friends.  The man they are chasing is Tom's Moby Dick and it's unclear who will eventually win.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

The True True Story Of Raja The Gullible by Rabih Alameddine

 

Raja is sixty-three and lives in a tiny Beirut apartment.  He has always lived in Beirut and is a philosophy teacher.  He values his privacy not the least because he was kidnapped as a teenager and talked about all over the neighborhood when he was released because he broke free wearing a dress.  His despicable brother has scammed Raja's octogenarian mother out of all her savings, including selling her apartment, so Raja moves her in with him.   She is the ultimate extrovert and knows everyone in the neighborhood and their stories.  She insists on knowing everything about Raja which she then shares with all her friends.

Then things get even worse.  The relatives Raja despised the most are his elderly aunt who started the wildest rumors about Raja as a gay man after the kidnapping and his cousin who spent her childhood beating him up.  But when they lose their apartment, Raja's mother moves them in as well.  Soon Raja has no privacy but he gains something more; love of his family.

Rabih Alameddine is a Lebanese author who is also an artist.  This novel won the National Book Award in 2025.  The journey Raja takes from a curmudgeonly introvert to a man who learns to value family and friends is one the reader will enjoy taking with him.  The interplay between the characters who have to endure wars and rumors of wars is interesting and overall, the book is entertaining.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers. 

Tyll by Daniel Kehlmann

 

In a small Austrian village, one boy is not content to grow up and live a routine life.  He teaches himself to walk a tightrope and to juggle.  When his father who is the miller is singled out by witchhunters for his interest in books, Tyll and the baker's daughter, Nela, run away.  They find a mentor and become traveling folk, singing, dancing and entertaining as they move from village to village.

Over the years, Tyll and Nela are there for many of the biggest events of the time.  They spend time in a monastery, a circus, on the road, and at the court of the King and Queen of Winter, a foolish pair whose ambitions start the Thirty Year War.  Tyll remains an elusive figure, skilled not only in acrobatics and entertainment but in manipulation of those around him.

Daniel Kehlmann is a German writer and is rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors.  Each one of his books is very different from the next and that is a characteristic that I look for in an author.  Tyll was shortlisted for the International Booker as was Kehlmann's latest novel, The Director.  The character in this novel was based on the medieval trickster, Tyll Ulenspiegel.  This book is recommended for readers of historical and literary fiction.

The Collector by Fiona Cummins

 

Brian Howley is known as the Butcher of Browley for his serial killings.  His niche is collecting victims with deformities and then saving their skeletons in his museum.  He even captured DS Etta Fitzroy a few months back but she managed to escape and Howley disappeared.

Now he is back with a new identity and a determination to settle the score with Fitzroy.  He has kidnapped a young girl with pincher hands and is holding her until he is ready to 'collect' her.  He also has his eye on a young boy with myriad disabilities that restrict him to a wheelchair.  Crowley is also grooming a young teenager from a dysfunctional home to become his mentee and eventual partner.  

But Etta is determined to catch Howley and put an end to his crimes.  Her police superiors don't believe her theories and attempt to reign her in but she knows she has to do this even if it ends her career.  Can she stop Howley in time?

Fiona Cummins is a British author who is a former journalist.  This book is the second in a series with the first telling the story of when Howley captured Fitzroy and how she escaped.  It is a chilling read as this killer targets children who have already been born with more challenges than most people ever encountered.  The ease with which Howley moves around the country and manages to evade the police net in place to catch him is amazing and disspiriting.  I found the ending quite dramatic and satisfying.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

Murder Takes A Vacation by Laura Lippman

 

Muriel Blossom had a mid-life surprise.  Walking along the street, she found a lottery ticket and it turned out to be for a huge amount of money.  Retired from her job as a private investigator, she has to decide what she will do with the rest of her life as her husband has passed and her daughter and family are moving to Japan.  Muriel buys a condo back in Baltimore, her hometown, and books a cruise, paying for her best friend to go with her.

Before the cruise, Muriel decides to treat herself to a week in Paris.  When she misses her connection to Paris in London, she is consoled by a man on the plane who spends the day with her touring London.  She wonders if this could be something for the future.  Landing in Paris, she starts sightseeing but soon realizes that someone is following her.  Why her?  She meets a younger man who tells her he is a designer and takes her shopping to do over her wardrobe.  But it turns out he is an FBI agent and the man she met in London died the next day in a fall from a balcony and is suspected of being a thief.  

Muriel and her friend start the cruise but soon her friend is eyeing a man for her fourth husband and Muriel is left on her own quite a bit.  She makes a few friends and realizes that the FBI agent (or is he?) is also on the cruise.  What has she gotten herself into?

Laura Lippman is known as one of the genre's best and most prolific authors.  Muriel is a character from her Tess Monaghan detective series as she works for Tess as a private investigator.  Lippman gets the feel of being middle-aged to elderly perfect as Muriel is able to go unnoticed when she wants to be as women become invisible as they age.  She also captures the reality of so many women having to reinvent their lives as their husbands are no longer with them, either through divorce or death.  The mystery is intriguing and the resolution is satisfying.  This book is recommended for mystery fans.  

The Boyfriend by Daniel Hurst

 

Adele's life is finally working out.  She is engaged to Tom and they love their house.  They both have good careers and she also has a good set of friends.  Then one day she hears that her high school boyfriend is dead, a suicide.  Adele hadn't seen or talked with him since high school but she wonders what could possibly have made him so unhappy that he would end his life?

Then when attending her university reunion, she discovers that her university boyfriend has also recently died, the result of an accident.  She starts to wonder and is sure when her next boyfriend, a man she traveled the world with, is found dead.  She goes to the police but they laugh her off.  She doesn't talk about it with Tom and that causes tension between them.  

As her past boyfriends continue to drop like flies, Adele is sure someone is killing them all and will come for Tom.  What can she do?

Daniel Hurst is a British author of psychological thrillers.  The pace is rapid and the reader will wonder whether to sympathize with Adele or write her off as a drama queen.  I listened to this book and there were multiple narrators, all of whom did an excellent job.  The twist at the end is amazing and will make the reader want to find more of Hurst's work to read.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

The Debtor's Game by Isabelle Mongeau

 

In Myrmia, you are either a fae, a fairie or a halfling.  The Far rule everything and own the fairies.  Halflings are employed as administrators to administer what runs the country.  Debt.  Fairies are born into debt as they inherit the debts of their parents and incur more debt to bury them.  There is weekly debt for food, for clothes, for anything they receive and they can be given debt at any moment by any Fae they offend or who just feels like giving out debt that day.  The debt is perennially visible as it is shown as tattooed rings on the limbs.  The 'wages' the fairies are given are used to pay off the debts and tattoos.  If a fairie ends up with tattoos everywhere, they are considered an Unluckie and is not even allowed to eat the food given to the fairies.

Avery is a fairie without a family as her mother died recently and her father long ago.  She has made a family of Jeramie and Benji who she grew up with and is very protective of them.  Avery has magic of her own which she has to hide from the Fae.  She is a personal assistant to Lady Kassandra, who is a High Fae and with her brother the ruler of one of the Fae houses.  Her brother hopes to marry her to Maxian the soon to be King who they grew up with and who has absolute power.  

But Avery catches Maxian's eye and soon her time is split between serving Kassandra and Maxian.  She is caught up in the politics of the castle and the never-ending battle between the houses of Myrmia who jostle for position.  She must be ever vigilant as one false move could end her life or make her an Unluckie.  With the help of friends, Avery discovers the secrets that fuel the Fae world and maybe finds a way to balance the power.

Sometimes you read a debut novel and you just wonder how in the world have I not heard of this author and where has she been?  This is such a marvelous start to a series, full of suspense and secrets and attractions that are dangerous.  The world-building is supreme with the system of debts and forgiveness of them and one class totally ruled by the cruel whims of the other.  I cannot wait to read the next novel in this series.  This book is recommended for fantasy readers.  Write quickly, Isabelle! 

The Memory Game by Nicci French

 

Two families, the Martellos and the Cranes are best of friends, almost one big family.  The men have been friends since their university days.  They spend summers and holidays together at the Martellos large country estate, bought by the wealth Alan Martello made as an author.  The Cranes have a son, Nick, and a daughter, Jane while the Martellos have four sons and a daughter, Natalie.  

Now, the children are all middle-aged with children of their own and the men are elderly.  Jane has been hired to draw up a guest house for the estate as she is an architect.  Over the years, she has remained close to the Martellos.  One of the sons, Theo, was her first love and she married the eldest son, Claud.  When the girls were sixteen, Natalie had disappeared.  The police thought she had run away as she was dating several men but she never returned.  Now, when the laborers break ground for Jane's construction, they find Natalie's bones.

Jane has recently left Claud as she feels that her life is missing something now that her sons have grown and gone.  She enters therapy to see if she can find out what is wrong and how to move forward with the rest of her life.  As she delves into her past with the therapist, she starts to realize that she knows something about Natalie's disappearance, something she has repressed for twenty-five years.  Does she have the solution?

Nicci French is one of my favorite psychological thriller authors and cannot write a bad book.  This one moves back and forth between the present and the past and delves into the relationships between the two families.  The suspense slowly mounts until there is a startling revelation at the end.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

Anima Rising by Christopher Moore

 

Vienna in 1911 is full of characters.  It is a time of discovery and blooming in the art world.  Gustav Klimt led the way to a new type of art and he is still going full bloom with a studio full of beautiful young models.  He has mentored other artists such as Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka.  Medicine is testing new boundaries in psychology with Freud living there and Jung visiting.  Walburga Nezil is the most famous model as she was Klimt's early model and then became Schiele's model and mistress.  But Schiele's sister Gussie is also a model as are an ever changing parade of Klimt's mistresses who model until they become pregnant with his children and then they are supported by him.  Even Hitler makes a cameo appearance back when he was trying to become an artist.

But there's another set of characters going around Vienna.  Klimt finds a drowned woman in the canal one early morning while coming home from a night of opera and partying.  At first he thinks she is dead but she sputters back to life and he takes her home with him and names her Judith.  At first she remembers nothing but then slowly recalls that she has died four times and has come back to life and that she is stalked by the monster Frankenstein.  A husky dog named Geoff or G, tracks Judith down and makes her his mission to protect.  Klimt takes her to Freud who sends her to Jung when he can't make any progress helping her.  What will happen next?

I'm so glad I read this novel.  I used to read Christopher Moore but it got too whimsical for me to enjoy.  I've now found with this title that he also has a set of novels that intertwine historical fact with his comedy and I loved the mix.  I had heard of Klimt but didn't know much about him or his art and this gave me exposure to that world.  I learned what the difference was in Freud's and Jung's theories which was interesting as I'm not interested in plowing through lots of psychology books.  Sadly, I learned that Klimt and Schiele both died in the 1918 Spanish flu and it really brought home to me what a tragedy pandemics are, taking both common folk and geniuses indiscriminately.  This novel is recommended for those looking for an entertaining book along with a history lesson.

The Cold Hard Light by Christopher Amenta

 

Andrew Harrison is an archetypical Boston guy.  Now twenty-four, he was an ice hockey star in high school and college.  But those star days are gone.  He's now playing in a farm league and holding on by the skin of his teeth as every year brings more guys now faster and bigger as Andrew, or H as he's called, is nicked by past injuries.  His baby daughter, Jo, is one of the best things in his life but he's driving Uber to bring in money for the flexibility to travel with the team and go to practices.  He and Jo's mother live together but haven't married and she doesn't seem to be into the baby at all.  Or is it that she's not into H any more?

Then there's Uncle Billy.  When H was growing up, Uncle Billy was the guy who showed up for every one of his games and taught him all he knew about the game.  But now he's the family alcoholic and he thinks H should redeem the family honor.  A decade ago, H's sister was assaulted at a rich kid's party and spiraled into drugs.  The guy who led the assault has been in prison but has now been released after serving his time.  Billy thinks H should rain down more retribution and he brings him a gun to do it with.  

This is a debut novel for Christopher Amenta who is also a Boston guy.  I really liked the character of H who keeps up getting up when life keeps knocking him down.  His love for his girlfriend and his baby are endearing and he just keeps moving on as best he can.  The sense of place was spot on and Amenta captured perfectly the life of a man who has passed his glory days of athletic strength but who just can't let it go.  I'll definitely be looking out for Amenta's next novel.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.  

Engines Of Empire by R. S. Ford

 

This is the beginning of a trilogy about the kingdom of Torwyn which is based on industry and run by the Guilds.  The story of one family, the Hawkspurs,  is followed.  Rosomon is the sister of the emperor and her guild is one of the largest and most powerful.  She is not married as her husband was killed in a duel while she was pregnant with her youngest child.

Rosomon has three children and through them the story is told.  Conall is the oldest, the presumptive heir of Hawkspur.  He is making his way and name through the military.  Tyreta is the middle child, the only daughter.  She is a sorceress who goes into the jungle and makes allies of the tribes that live there.  The youngest son is Fulren is a talented artificer or engineer.  He constructs the engines that keep the empire running but is falsely accused of killing an envoy from another country.  

R.S. Ford is a British author who writes in the fantasy genre.  This is a more militant fantasy, not dependent on creatures like fairies and giants.  Instead the power comes from the engines of the artificers and the power of the pyrsetones, crystals that are mined and that only those with magical powers can use to provide power and strength.  Ford is a master at worldbuilding and I fell into this country and its intrigues.  I listened to this novel and there were multiple narrators who all did a magnificent job.  As soon as I finished this novel, I started the next in the trilogy, unable to pull away from the land I had so recently discovered.  This book is recommended for fantasy readers . 

What Happened To The Bennetts by Lisa Scottoline

 

It was a night like many before.  The Bennett family was on the way home from one of their daughter's field hockey games.  In the car was Jason, the dad, Lucinda, his wife, Allison, the daughter and Evan, his son.  But this night was different.  On a dark stretch, a pickup truck forced the Bennett's car to a halt.  Jason assumed they wanted his new Mercedes but they didn't seem to.  They ordered all the family out and when the family dog lunged at them, they shot Allison.  Taking off, one of the carjackers shot the other and left him there dead.  Allison also died after being transported to the hospital.

Grieving and unsure how to go on, this is just the beginning for the Bennetts.  Soon, two FBI agents show up at the door in the middle of the night and insist the family come with them.  The dead carjacker was the son of the head of the local crime syndicate and the rest of the family is in danger as he was told Jason killed his son.  The Bennetts are immediately put into witness protection.

But the gang is on a vengence trail.  They show up at the Bennett's home only minutes after the FBI spirits them away.  The next day, they burn down the house, Jason's court reporting business and vandalize Lucinda's photography studio.  How can the Bennetts ever feel safe and how can they ever move on with their lives?

Lisa Scottoline writes in the mystery genre with over thirty novels to her credit and an Edgar Award.  In this book, the reader is taken on a fast ride as the action never stops.  What is really behind the Bennett's problems?  Is it Jason's job?  Lucinda's secrets?  The action is nonstop and the Bennetts are each focused on individually.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

No Time For Goodbye by Linwood Barclay

 

That night was the most embarrassing that fourteen year old Cynthia Bigge could remember.  She was in the parked car with her boyfriend, drunk and exploring each other when her father pulled up, got her out of the car and drove her home.  Cynthia ran upstairs and passed out, putting off the repercussions she knew were coming until morning.  

But when she woke late the next morning the house was quiet.  No one was there, not her mother or father or big brother.  There was no note but the car was gone.  Where could they have gone?  Maybe her father was just at work and her mother had given her brother a ride to school.  But the day drug on and no one showed back up.  And they never did.  The case made the papers, an entire family except one disappeared in the night.  Where did they go?  Why did they leave Cynthia behind?

Years later, Cynthia is now grown and married with a family of her own.  But the mystery has never left her and she is determined to try again to find out what happened.  Her husband has been supportive over the years but he's not sure she shouldn't let sleeping dogs lie.  But they hire a private detective and the aunt who raised Cynthia discloses a secret she never told anyone, not even the police.  Maybe now Cynthia will finally find out what happened all those years ago.

Linwood Barclay is a Canadian author although he was born in the United States.  He worked as a journalist before writing this novel which was his breakthrough novel.  He writes in the mystery/thriller genre.  He has several book series and has written thirty novels over the years.  In this book, outside the main mystery, the relationship between Cynthia and her husband is a key story.  The husband wants to protect her but doesn't know if that means helping her try to find out what happened or if she should just try to forget the past and move on.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

No Lawyers In Heaven by Henry Milner

 

This is the memoir of Henry Milner, the English criminal solicitor who was known as 'Mr. Big Of Criminal Briefs.'  I found this book fascinating with the inside look at English courts which are different from ours with different laws and procedures and with the self-depredating humor that is so typically English.  Milner starts with a brief look at his childhood and what inspired him to take up the law.

Then he gets into some of his more famous cases.  He was one of the solicitors for those accused of the Brinks-Mat robbery in which the robbers lucked into a treasure trove of gold bars then worth $26 million and it would be worth $290 million in today's markets.  Six men were arrested with one turning states' evidence but the gold was never recovered and not all of the six were found guilty.  He also handled murders, tax frauds and other crimes.  

The last part of the book lists those solicitors that he considered the best and then antidotes from his practice and life.  There is lots of talk of yachts, five-star restaurants and expensive wines and luxury vehicles.  He was the best and got paid accordingly.  Throughout it all, the tone remains one of reminiscence and light-hearted tone that plays well with the reader.  I listened to this title and the narrator did an excellent job as I loved the accent and imagined that Milner would sound much the same.  This book is recommended for readers of memoirs and those who are interested in true crime and the law.

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

 

This is a retelling of the Ted Bundy story, focusing mostly on his last rampage in Florida and seen through the eyes of Pamela Schumacher, the president of the sorority where two girls are killed and two others left horribly beaten.  Pamela is also a main witness as she actually sees the man as he is leaving.  Along with Pamela there is Tina who has spent years trying to find what happened to her friend the day she didn't turn up at the lake for a planned outing in Washington.  

Although I was already familiar with the case, it was interesting to read about it again through this focus.  The author never names the killer; instead he is known only as The Defendant.  She refuses to give him any more press or fame, portraying him realistically as an average man who others saw as creepy rather than the handsome charismatic character the press gave him.  This man barely made it through his schooling and those who met him soon realized something was off about him.   

Another thing I really liked was her theory about the victims.  Rather than focusing on the fact that most had long brown hair parted in the middle, Knoll believed that the victims were picked because they were, in fact, bright young women.  Women who had marvelous futures in front of them.  Women who would have pursued careers, gotten married, had children, lived fulfilling lives.  The Defendant would never have any of that and chose to blot out what he could never achieve on his own.

Jessica Knoll is not only an author but worked as a senior editor at Cosmopolitan and has had articles in other magazines and newspapers.  This was her third novel with her first, Luckiest Girl Alive, having been made into a movie.  I really liked the friendship that grew between Pamela and Tina as they pursued the man who ruined their lives and took their friends from them.  There was also a side story featuring Carl, a newspaper journalist that started as an ally but betrayed the women to make his own career.  This book is recommended for both literary fiction and true crime readers.  

The World Played Chess by Robert Dugoni

 

This novel portrays the life of Vincent Bianco during two times in his life, the summer of 1979 and the present.  In 1979, Vincent had just graduated high school as the valedictorian but growing up in a house of ten children meant that his first two years of college were going to be at the local community college.  He needed a summer job to even afford that and his big brother got him a job doing construction.  Vince had never done that but he was willing to learn anything and was a hard worker.  The crew was the boss, Vince and two older guys who had been in Vietnam but had served their time and were back home.

Vince could tell that the man he grew close to that summer, William, was haunted by his time in Vietnam.  He had a hard time handling his temper and when he lost it it was far more explosive than the average guy.  He was drinking a lot that summer as well.  But he mentored Vince both on the job and afterwards and helped him define what a man was and how to become the kind of man that people respected.  At the end of the summer the two knew they would probably never see each other again and William gave Vince his journal from Vietnam to explain what shaped him into the man he was.

Now, Vince is middle-aged with his own family and a son, Beau, who was the same age as Vince had been that summer.  Beau has always played sports and has a shot at playing at a big university.  But in his senior year he has to face a heartbreaking situation that changes his life and his outlook on what he wants.  Vince and his wife worry about Beau and if he is ready to take on the challenges of a man's life.

Robert Dugoni is best known for his mysteries but he has written several novels that explore life and this is one of them.  All the characters are well drawn and the journal is a real insight into what the young men of America faced during the Vietnam war, many of them still in their teens.  Vince serves as the fulcrum of the novel, standing between William and Beau, taking the lessons he has learned from William and using them to help his son during his own challenges.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.   

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

 

Out of nowhere, every structure on Earth collapsed.  It was part of an alien occupation.  Carl was outside trying to track down his ex-girlfriend's cat so he and Princess Donut were spared.  They find a place that offers sanctuary and with two million other survivors all over the world, enter. 

They soon find out that their sanctuary is a video game for aliens to watch.  It's like a Survivor show except losers aren't voted off; they are killed by the myriad types of monsters there.  The game has levels and Carl and Princess Donut are on the first.  The players have six days to find the staircase to the second level.  Players also have the opportunity to get followers and sponsors to help them survive.

Carl and Princess get to the second level making friends and enemies along the way.  Can they continue to progress in the game?  

Matt Dinniman is the author of the highly successful Dungeon Crawler Carl series both in novel and graphic novel forms.  He lives in Washington and is also an artist and a bass player.  There are currently eight novels in the series.  There are entire groups that are built around the series and that engage in community building activities and the series is considered one of the top five LitRPG series.  The action is fast and furious and the monsters and maneuvers are highly imaginative.  Carl shows his emotional side in helping others rather than just killing everyone he meets.  This book is recommended for funloving readers.  

Round Up The Usual Peacocks by Donna Andrews

 

Meg Langslow is hosting her brother's wedding at her farm.  But no one told her that the mothers of the bridal couple were planning the wedding of the century.  Half the country has been invited it seems and the backyard is being transformed into a summer bouquet.  In the meantime, Meg's nephew, Kevin, who lives with her comes to her with a real problem.  He and his friend have started a true crime podcast and someone doesn't like it.  Kevin's partner on the podcast was almost hit going home the other night.  Meg jumps at the chance to work on a mystery rather than wedding preparations.

The podcast focuses on Virginia cold cases and they have three recent ones that might have upset someone.  The first is the case of a man from the next county who served time for a murder that the pair suspect he did not commit.  The second case is at the university where Meg's husband works in the drama department.  It involves a cheating scandal at the business school twenty years ago.  Finally, the pair covered the disappearance of a woman singer in Charlottesville years ago.  No one has heard of her since and no body has been found.  

Meg starts investigating and soon meets new people she brings into her social circle.  She knows everyone in town and her life is a mix of doing and receiving favors.  There's the sheriff, the local vet and administrators at the university.  Add in a pair of folk singers, a history professor and a local farmer and Meg's life keeps getting bigger and bigger.  But can she solve the attempted murders?

This is the thirty-first Meg Langslow mystery so there are plenty of fans who will be interested in this latest one.  It was my first exposure to Meg and her world but there will be more.  The novel is written in a breezy fashion and everyone would love to be as connected as Meg is to her town.  I listened to this book and the narrator, Bernadette Dunne, is the long-time voice of the series and did a wonderful job.  Readers who enjoy a cozy mystery will be the best fit for this novel. 

The In Crowd by Charlotte Vassell

 

DI Caius Beauchamp has more than enough cases.  There is a woman who has been found dead in the Thames, maybe an accident maybe a homicide.  She was involved decades ago in a pension scandal where the money disappeared along with her boss.  Then there is a twenty year old disappearance of a girl at a boarding school that he has been tasked to solve.  Finally, on the one night that Caius went to the theatre to relax, when the lights came up after the show, there is a dead man sitting in Caius' row.

But all wasn't a loss at the theater.  Caius meets Callie there.  Callie is a milliner and the two hit it off and start seeing each other.  As with most modern relationships there is a bit of come and go as each wants to not reveal their feelings too early and scare the other off.  Callie is extracting herself from a friendship where the other woman has turned into a Bridezilla even though she has known the woman from school days and she is one of her oldest friends.  

This is the second novel is the DI Caius Beauchamp series.  It came to my attention when it won Best Novel at the Edgars and I'm glad it did.  The plot and characters were witty and just so typically British.  I liked the interplay among the police team and the budding romance between Caius and Callie.  Charlotte Vassell is a newcomer in the mystery realm with this novel being her second book.  To win the Edgar Best Novel with a second book is pretty extraordinary and I found this book to be intriguing.  It is recommended for mystery readers.  

The Surface Of Earth by Reynolds Price

 

This is the story of the Mayfield family in the states of Virginia and North Carolina during the early 1900's.  There is one constant in as the generations come and go.  The men of the family don't raise their sons.  The first Mayfield we hear about leaves his wife and children and ends up in Richmond where he lives the rest of his life with a housekeeper.  His son convinces one of his female students to elope with him.  They live together until their son, Beau, is born and his wife and son go back to visit her family.  The family has a crisis while she is there and then the baby gets gravely ill and she stays and stays, never returning to her husband but devoting her life to her father.  When Beau grows up, he marries a woman who dies giving birth to their son.  He attempts to raise the boy himself but soon takes him to the home where he was raised and leaves his son with his grandmother and great aunt to raise.

Another similarity between the generations is how love is perceived.  The men almost regard their love as poison, regretting and asking forgiveness from the women who love them.  Most of the men make their living as teachers.  Another commonality is the interplay between the Caucasian Mayfields and the African American women around them.  Most of the men have affairs with various women resulting in unacknowledged sons.  

Reynolds Price is an American author who wrote about the American experience, mainly the life in the South and its border states.  He also taught at Duke University for over fifty years.  This book is the beginning of a trilogy about the Mayfield family and its' lives over the decades.  There are no happy stories or marriages in these pages; every love relationship is tortured and troublesome.  But it is an interesting look at life during the early 1900's until after the World Wars and I'll pick up the other two books in the trilogy and see what happens with the Mayfield family.  This book is recommended for historical and literary fiction readers.  

The Savage Garden by Mark Mills

 

Adam Bunting is not sure what to do with his summer off from Cambridge.  His tutor suggests that this might be a good time to do the research he will need for his thesis and has a suggestion.  He has an old friend in Italy who wants someone to document the story of her villa's garden which was created in the 1500's by the owner to honor his wife.

Adam agrees and soon he is in Italy and meeting the villa's owner, Madame Docci.  He views the garden full of statues, vales, fountains and benches.  It is fascinating as is the story behind it but Adam feels that he is missing something.  As he studies the garden over the coming days, he starts to see the hidden design behind the one clearly there to see.  He also starts to realize that the Docci family also has hidden secrets and starts to wonder if he was brought there to uncover them as well.

Mark Mills is a British author who writes in the historical and mystery genres.  This book is a mix of the two with items about the ancient secret and the one created during World War II when the villa was taken over by Germans.  Adam starts as a naive boy, crushed by his first heartache, but over his time in Tuscany at the villa, he comes into his own and becomes a man as he has to juggle what he knows and what should happen to his knowledge.  This book is recommended for historical fiction readers.  

All Them Dogs by Djamel White

 

Tony Ward has come home.  He went to England after killing the man who killed his best friend and has been there several years.  Now he is back in Dublin, wondering what's left for him.  He has a few friends but gangs change fast and many of the guys he knew have either moved on or died.  His mother and brother are still there, but he and his brother are enemies from way back.  He doesn't have work but his buddy Kenny says he can get him in with someone.

He lands right in the middle of a gang war.  His first assignment is to accompany Flute Walsh as an enforcer.  He went to school with Flute but back then no one talked to or messed with Flute.  He is a huge man, mostly silent.  He and Tony get along and soon are enmeshed in a relationship.

But there are no friends in gangs.  Every day is given only if you did well the day before.  Soon Tony is drawn into the fight between the two big men of Dublin and both want him to kill the other.  Who can he trust?  What will he do?

This is a debut novel from Djamel White who is a Irish author and has been longlisted for the Booker Prize of 2026.  The novel is fast paced and the frantic life of Tony who doesn't know what he'll be doing from one day to the next or who he can trust will bring the reader into his life.  There is lots of gang slang and the reader will need to be ready for that but it is all pretty understandable from the context.  Tony is a tortured man and it is unclear what his life will be going forward.  I devoured this novel and I'm looking forward to more from this talented author.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.