retirement

MJ Soni: The Masala Chai Mystery Club

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Debut

This charming first mystery may follow several trendy and now familiar tropes, but that didn’t bother me in the least because the telling of the story and the characters in it are simply  delightful.  It’s set in an upscale condo development where the main character, the recently retired and widowed librarian Neeti Shah, lives with her niece Myra and her adorable great nephew, Ved.  The story begins when Neeti hears a scream across the road and hurries over to find her neighbor dead at the foot of his stairs, seemingly killed by a fall, but, surprise, Neeti is not convinced. read more

Faye Kellerman: The Hunt

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The Hunt, Faye Kellerman’s latest Decker/Lazarus mystery, is barely their story at all. Instead, it revolves around the toxic, layered relationship of Chris and Terry, the biological parents of Peter and Rina’s adopted son, Gabe. Though Gabe is no longer close to either of his parents, when Terry calls him after she is seriously hurt, he turns to the powerful, mob-connected Chris for help. Terry’s younger son, Sanjay, has been kidnapped during the course of her messy second divorce. Chris seems the obvious choice to help get him back. read more