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.  

The Cradle In The Grave by Sophie Hannah

 

In this fifth novel of the Zailer/Waterhouse series, someone is committing murders of a very specific group.  The victims are women who were convicted of killing their babies but were later exonerated as medical knowledge advanced.  One of the most well known television executives is making a documentary about the women's cases of wrongful conviction and has made one particular doctor the scapegoat of the entire issue.

Fliss Benson is a beginning producer, working for the man who is making the documentary.  She is shocked when he calls her in, tells her that he is leaving the company and that the documentary is now hers.  She is less excited when she starts to get the same cards with gridded numbers that are being left on each victim or sent to them in the mail.

Simon Waterhouse is sure that the focus of the police is wrong.  It turns out that their hated superior, known to them as The Snowman, was involved in the first case years ago, a woman who lost her two sons to cradle death but was convicted and served nine years before she was exonerated.  He never believed that the woman did anything wrong and he is determined that this case be used to further prove the innocence of the women who are now being targeted.

This is the fifth novel in the nine novel series that makes up this Sophie Hannah series.  As always, she delivers an intricate plot full of twists and turns that ends in the two detectives, Zailer and Waterhouse saving the day and solving the murders.  I am really enjoying this series and very glad that I found it.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

Murder Through The English Post by Jessica Elliott

 

Things have been slow in the detecting business that Edwina and her best friend Beryl have started.  So when Edwina is drafted to become the village magistrate, she agrees although she isn't sure she is qualified.  On her first day, a case of two good friends who for some reason were involved in fisticuffs is her first case.  She learns that one of them has received an anonymous letter that stated his friend was maligning his character around the village, doubting his wartime heroics.  Once the man is convinced that the letter is false, the friends shake hands and go on their way.  A successful ending but Edwina is concerned.  She remembers a time in her childhood when anonymous letters went around the village and what trouble it caused.

Sure enough that letter is only the first.  Some seem accurate such as the one accusing the post mistress of being a terrible gossip and the one accusing a man of straying hands whenever he is around women.  But others are vicious and soon there is an attempted suicide and a death.  The village constable isn't sure she has all the resources she needs to solve the case so Beryl and Edwina agree to take on the case.  Can they find the letter writer before more damage is done?

Jessica Elliott writes in the cozy mystery genre under several pen names.  This is the sixth Beryl and Edwina mystery and it is delightful.  All the characters of a post World War I English village are there and the two women are resourceful and unafraid to ask anything that will move the case forward. Beryl is an American adventuress while Edwina is the typical reserved English lady.  Together they make a perfect pair of detectives.  I listened to this novel and Barbara Rosenblat did an excellent job as the narrator.  This book is recommended for mystery readers who don't want blatant violence in their mysteries.  

The Last Book Club by Joanne Rock

 

Jordyn has come to Sarasota Springs on a mission.  A year ago, the woman she regarded as a sister was killed there in a hit and run.  No one has been identified as the driver, the incident written off as an accident.  Jordyn is not so sure.  When she had talked with Tara before her death, Tara had seemed not herself, worried about both her business and her personal life.  Could the incident been more than an accident?

Jordyn manages to meet and befriend the clique of boogie women who make up the group that Tara was friends with and gets an invitation to join their group and their book club.  But the group seems full of secrets, double-dealings and adultery with each others' husbands.  Could one of them or their husbands been the person who killed Tara?

Joanne Rock is a popular author who mainly writes in the romance genre.  In this novel, she slowly uncovers all the various secrets that may have led to Tara's death.  Tara had fought off danger since she was adopted as a teenager and Jordyn was her only real friend.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.   

Others Were Emeralds by Lang Leav

 

A small Australian town named Whitlam now houses mainly immigrant families from the Far East.  The narrator of this novel and her family fled Cambodia due to Khmer Rouge.  Others came from Vietnam or Thailand.  Life is hard but easier than where they came from and everyone works hard to build a better life.

In the high school, a group of teenagers form a group.  Ai is the narrator and Brigette is her best friend.  Bowie is Ai's first boyfriend and Tin is his friend.  Sying can become obsessive and her latest obsession is politics and the way immigrants are treated.  There is prejudice against the immigrants mainly from the white population of Australia but day to day Whitlam is fairly safe as the majority of the town are all those who have fled other countries.

Then a horrific event changes the lives of these friends forever.  As high school ends, the individuals move on with their lives, each searching for a way to thrive in their country and to remain close to their individual families and cultures.

Lang Leav is an Australian author who was born in a refugee camp before her family came to Australia.  She began her career as a poet and has several books of poetry.  That comes through in her fiction writing as the language is evocative of the environment and what is happening around the characters.  Loyalty to family and friends is another keynote of the novel as is the ability to realize that everyone has their own life and not everything done is focused on oneself.  The novel is ultimately hopeful and lets those not living the life experience the life of an immigrant.  This novel is recommended for multicultural and literary fiction readers.  

The Graveyard Killings by Wes Markin

 

Yorkshire police are investigating two murder cases, one occurring in 1980, the other recent.  Both cases focus in a graveyard.  In the older case, the body of a young girl who was the victim of a hit-and-run is dug up and another body is put in her grave.  The recent case has two bodies, a young couple, both dead together in the graveyard.  

Two police officers handle the cases.  DCI Emma Gardner is in charge and works on the case of the teenage victims.  Her subordinate, DI Paul Riddick is assigned the other case.  Both have issues.  Emma is still grieving the loss of a subordinate and wondering if it is her fault.  Riddick is worried about a young man caught up in the vise of drug dealers who have taken over his house and Riddick wants to break the group and save the young man.  But he has an alcoholic background and every day is a constant battle to fight off the demons that make him drink.

As the cases progress, they eventually come together and the two police start to work together, giving Emma a firsthand ability to observe Riddick and his issues.  Both cases are eventually solved.

Wes Markin is a British author who writes crime novels.  He has four different series with this being one of the four.  His hallmarks are twisty plots, fast pacing and a look into the dark side of human nature.  This novel is the fourth of eight books in this series.  Markin is a new author for me but I'll be reading more by him.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

The Things We Never Day by Elizabeth Strout

 

This is the story of Artie Dam.  To most people, Artie is an average man.  He is a high school history teacher.  He's been married to his wife, Evie, for decades.  They have a grown son, Rob, who lives away.  Artie loves to sail and he loves his family.

But Artie is depressed.  He's not sure what life is about even after all these years and he thinks about ending it all.  Even though he's known for supporting his students and saying things that they will take with them for life, he can't do the same for himself.  But when he has a boating accident and almost dies, he realizes that he doesn't want to die after all.

Then life hands him another crushing blow, one that he's not sure if he will ever get over and that rearranges his whole life.  It redefines his relationship with his wife and son and his wife and makes Artie rethink everything he thought he knew.

Elizabeth Strout is a major American author who writes about family relationships and what is important in our lives.  It will be a long time before I forget Artie Dam, who has blows handed to him by life as we all do but manages to remember what is important is the love we share.  Artie doesn't hesitate to share his love with those around him.  The book is a bit political and I'm rarely fond of that as I think it really dates a book as politics change so quickly and hopefully books last for a long time.  But readers will take away hope from this book, especially those who are middle-aged and beyond and looking back at their lives to find meaning.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.  

A Red Dotted Line by Simon Gervais

 

Mike Watson and his wife Lisa are both operatives of the IMSI, International Market Stabilization Institute, which is a private organization developed to protect financial stability of the West.  The pair is sent to Russia for several reasons.  The first is that a scientist there is developing a weaponized chemical warfare virus to unleash on the West and that needs to be stopped.  Mike's father was the Canadian diplomat to the Middle East who was kidnapped two years ago and there have been recent sightings of him in Russia.  Finally, both of the first two reasons are there because of a shadowy underground figure called the Sheik.  He was the one who kidnapped Mike's father and he is helping the scientist developing the virus with money and security as she was his first wife.

The IMSI manages to turn the number two scientist and needs to get him out of Russia  That is Mike's mission and as he fights off various people who want to stop him from helping the man get to the West safely, Lisa is sent to another part of Russia to retrieve his wife.  Along the way, the Russian President's nephew, who works for their security organization, changes sides and starts to work with Mike when he realizes the Sheik has been lying to his uncle all along.  Can Mike, Lisa and the Institute save the world?

Simon Gervais knows about secret missions.  He was a Federal agent for several decades, specializing in counterterrorism.  The action in this novel is fast and furious and readers need to read carefully as individuals can change sides in an instant.  This is the second novel in The Thin Black Line series which features Mike Watson and his wife.  This novel is recommended for readers who like spy novels and thrillers.  

A Deadly Episode by Anthony Horowitz

 

One of Horowitz's books about a case he worked on with Hawthorne has been optioned to be made into a film.  Horowitz is less than excited.  He doesn't get to write the screenplay; Hawthorne is being paid more than him by a good amount and actors are lining up to play Hawthorne while casting his character is much more difficult.  Still, it's good exposure.  He meets with the woman who will be doing the screenplay and realizes that her focus is the environment and she doesn't want any suggestions from him as she turns his murder mystery into a screed for her favorite cause.  The casting has brought her and the two actors playing Hawthorne and Horowitz together from an earlier movie they did.

Then the actor playing Hawthorne is murdered; stabbed in his trailer between scenes.  Who could it be?  His co-star who still harbors resentment from their first film?  The screenwriter who lived with him for two years and had a child with him?  Those he treated horribly on the set and away from it?  His agent whom he just fired?  Suspects abound.

This is the sixth book in the Hawthorne and Horowitz series.  I love the satire and the fourth wall mentions of Horowitz's real life as a famous author whose works have successfully been made into television series and who is one of my favorite mystery writers.  Horowitz works with Hawthorne on the murder and is constantly surprised by Hawthorne's insights into events as always and the ending is satisfactory.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.