Harper Perennial

Stig Abell: A Twist in the River

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Jake Jackson #4

 A Twist in the River is the fourth in Stig Abell’s Jake Jackson series, and unlikely to be the last. Set in a rural town, where Jake moved to escape his previous life as a cop in London, all of the action centers around the titular river. A missing jogger kicks off the classic “missing white woman” search, mobilizing the entire town, as well as the Tiktok crowd, into a frantic search for her. The longer she is missing, the more reporters flock to the location. But just when it looks like things will calm down – she’s found drowned with no signs of foul play – another body appears. And then another. read more

Danielle Postel-Vinay: Murder Most Delicious

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Series Debut

There are several ways to judge a book.  If three are present – plot, character, and setting – the book (to me) is good, if not great.  The x factor is prose style.  This novel has three excellent elements – character, setting and lovely prose.  The plot is OK and I figured out whodunnit long before the last page, but the prose just sings as does the setting of the novel, and I was carried away.

That setting is a tiny Paris neighborhood, Gros-Caillou, abutting the Eiffel Tower. The arrival of American sommelier Olivia Beech to a local anchor restaurant, Chez Jacques, is something of a sensation, becoming even more so when, during a wine tasting, the eponymous Jacques falls dead at Olivia’s feet.  While Olivia has been gifted with an extraordinary “nose” for wine, covid has taken away her sense of taste, which for a sommelier is a disaster.  Surfacing from a career crisis in an attempt to reclaim her life, she’s pinned her hopes on a resurrection at Chez Jacques. read more

Uzma Jalaluddin: Detective Aunty

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Kausar Khan #1

This is the first mystery for writer Uzma Jalaluddin, though she’s already had a successful writing career creating women’s fiction.  Her detective, a recent widow named Kausar Khan, lives in North Bay, Canada.  One morning she gets a call from her daughter Sana, back in Toronto, telling her there’s been a murder and she’s the prime suspect.  Then she hangs up.  Kausar, who hasn’t been back to Toronto since the death of her son many years ago, nevertheless hurriedly packs a bag and jumps on a plane. read more