Berkley

Vanessa Lillie: The Bone Thief

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Syd Walker #2

This is the second novel following Syd Walker, an archaeologist for the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs).  It has the same strengths and weaknesses as the first novel, but the strengths are many, and overcome the weaknesses.  The weaknesses:  Syd jumps into danger and neglects her pregnant wife to an annoying degree.  If you’ve ever watched the TV show The Closer and been frustrated by Brenda’s treatment of her husband and parents while still admiring Brenda’s skills as a detective, you’ll experience the same feelings here. You’ll admire Syd while at the same time you might be thinking to yourself – get home to your wife! read more

Jennifer Ashley: A Silence in Belgrave Square

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Below Stairs #8

I was entranced by book 7 in this series, Speculations in Sin, and am now a hard core fan.  If you are a fan of the late, great Victoria Thompson, this might also be the series for you.  Set in Victorian London, the main character, Kat Holloway, is a cook for a wealthy family.  While I have read many Victorian mysteries, this is the rare series that focuses on the servants rather than the aristocrats upstairs.  They are the minor characters, while the downstairs characters – cooks, maids, delivery men, urchin boys – are the main feature. read more

Liza Tully: The World’s Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant

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This series debut was a complete delight.  Lead character Aubrey Merritt, the “Greatest Detective,” is a 60 something lady with a pristine reputation for cracking difficult cases, clearly cast in the Sherlock Holmes mold.  As the book opens, she finds her somewhat hapless Watson in the person of assistant Olivia Blunt, an obsessed low level stalker who had always dreamt of working for Merritt. When she’s hired, she happily jettisons her job and informs her fiancé she’ll be away on a case, only to realize too late it might mean missing his off-Broadway debut.  She hopes very much to be back in time, and he’s completely supportive, though he does fruitlessly beg her throughout the book to please call his mother, who is planning their wedding. read more

Elise Bryant: The Game is Afoot

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Mavis Miller #2

Reading this book and the one before it, It’s Elementary, I was reminded that the perils of raising a kid come with a mega peril: other parents.  The heroine of the series, Mavis, is a newly single mom who lives with her retired dad and a very adorable 8-year-old named Pearl.  Mavis, one of the few black moms at the suburban elementary school which Pearl attends, is extra attuned to the passive aggressive judging that goes on in school parking lots everywhere. These days, facebook groups and social media in general seem to have ramped things up even more. read more

Freya Sampson: The Busybody Book Club

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I loved this book and its Cornwall setting. It begins with the heroine, former Londoner Nova, fretting that no one will show up for the book club she runs at the local Community Center.  Luckily a few people do straggle in, led by the overwhelming Phyllis, who is so entirely bossy that she’s allowed to bring her smelly dog with her wherever she goes. She’s joined by the affable, older Art, who reads romances to his now blind wife who loves them, a painfully shy teen, Ash, and a man named Michael who seems to have come from afar to join the club but seems to have read little of the book they’re discussing. read more

Jesse Q. Sutanto: Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)

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Vera Wong #2

These books are like comfy, beautiful pillows for your brain, and, let me tell you, these days that’s not a bad thing.  Vera, the heroine of the series, is the 60 something widow who, in the first book, finds a dead body in the middle of her formerly obscure tea shop, ultimately finding friends and a purpose in the act of solving a murder.  Vera is opinionated, bossy, maternal, and an excellent cook, who as the book opens, gets a scam phone call which cons her into sharing her social security number and even a photo of her driver’s licence. read more

Deanna Raybourn: Kills Well with Others

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Killers of a Certain Age #2

This is the second in Raybourn’s delicious, breakout series following a group of sixty something lady assassins.  They work for an organization called “The Museum” and their mission is to take out those who are doing serious wrong (originally Nazis) and take them out in a way where the deaths can’t be traced and don’t appear to be murder.  The first book was a smorgasbord of beautifully executed little death scenes, each one a sharp and precise how-dunnit.  It also introduced the main characters, Billie, Natalie, Helen and Mary Alice.  In the first novel they were on an enforced “retirement cruise” but when it became clear they were actually the targets, they took action. read more

Amanda Flower: I Died for Beauty

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Emily Dickinson #3

This may be my favorite in this series to date.  The perfect blend of setting, character and story really sing in this novel, which takes place during a very cold and snowy winter in 1857 Amherst, Massachusetts.  While Amherst is now famous as Emily Dickinson’s birthplace and home, in 1857 Emily was just an eccentric member of the prominent Dickinson family, with scraps of writing spilling out of her pockets. And, in these novels, a penchant for sleuthing.

While today we experience cold and snowy winters, in 1857, those things made a much bigger difference in people’s lives.  The cold and snow meant there were fires going all the time which also meant a greater chance of house fires.  The snow cut off train deliveries (and travel) so food stores were hoarded.  For the poor, the situation was worse, as the cold meant their firewood supply may not have kept up with the need to keep warm. read more

Julia Buckley: A Dark and Stormy Murder

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Book 1 of 5 in the Writer’s Apprentice series

Lena London has found her dream job: assistant to her all-time favorite romantic suspense writer Camilla Graham. Offered an interview upon graduation, Lena is immediately hired by Camilla and she and her cat Lestrade move into Graham House in Blue Lake, IN. Lena can’t believe her luck. She and Camilla bond almost instantly and Lena begins helping her edit/coauthor her newest book. The beautiful house is a dream home located on a hill overlooking eponymous lake in Blue Lake, filled with German Shepherds (Heathcliff and Rochester, of course), a cook, and a secret room. The town itself is quaint and friendly and Lena starts to make friends and settle into her dream career. read more

Laurie L. Dove: Mask of the Deer Woman

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Debut

Laurie Dove’s debut novel, Mask of the Deer Woman, is a mystery centering on the many missing and murdered indigenous women who have vanished throughout the southwest and beyond. There have been several books on this topic, recently William Kent Krueger’s Spirit Crossing and Vanessa Lillie’s Blood Sisters, as well as a searing television show, True Detective: Night Country. Dove frames her story with a strong and troubled female character.  Carrie Starr, an ex-Chicago cop, has made her way to her long ago childhood home, Oklahoma, where she has ties to the rez and is the newly appointed Federal Marshal for the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs). read more