Looking Glass

Title: Looking Glass
Author: Andrew Mayne
Published: March 13th 2018 by Thomas & Mercer
Format: Paperback, 316 pages
Genre: Thriller
Series: Naturalist #2

The second book in the Naturalist series captivated me as well, if not more so, than the first. There is something about Andrew Mayne’s writing and intensity that grabs me from the first pages and does not let go until I have finished. Until the final question is answered and the reader knows there will be another book and another chance to enter the mind of Professor Theo Cray.

Theo Cray is not a detective but a scientist that sees patterns through his study of data and has developed a computer model that predicts patterns. Finally convincing those around him that he is not a fraud, they are beginning to accept his research. In a Sherlockian way, Theo takes on the cold case of a missing child. Rattling the cages of those that would prefer the cages remain locked and buried, he slowly peels away the clues and what is discovered will leave a gnawing pain in the pit of your stomach. The descriptions are brutal and disturbing. Yet, in a way, a reality rises to the surface and the descriptions shine a light on the monsters that roam among us.

In the second book, you can see the growth of Theo. Though he will always be a scientist first, he is slowly expanding his universe and interacting with those around him. He will always fight, literally, since I think he is working on his third concussion, for the victims, but fight is what he will do if it is only to save the next prey that is currently on someone’s list.

A Vintage Death

Title: A Vintage Death
Author: Mary Ellen Hughes
Published: November 8th 2018 by Midnight Ink
Format: eBook, Paperback, 264 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Keepsake Cove #2

With the annual fall festival quickly approaching and Callie Reed, the new owner of House of Melody in quaint Keepsake Cover, Maryland, feeling a need to pay back her community for her warm welcome, she agrees to help where she can and to make the arrival of popular author and guest for the book signing, Lyssa Hammond, comfortable during her visit.

Staying at the Foxwood Inn while her home is being renovated, Lyssa learns more about the area, and owner Clifford Ashby, then she would like. Especially when Clifford is found murdered with a pair of scissors sticking out of him. Scissors that had come from his estranged wife’s shop and more than enough reason to believe that Dorothy had put them there.

Dorothy Ashby nearly has everyone believing that she is innocent, that is until Renata Moore, is also found stabbed to death with scissors that could have come from Dorothy’s shop. There was no love lost between these two women, but was the ongoing feud enough to make the leap to murder.

With Callie and Lyssa forming their own investigative team, interesting back histories comes to the forefront and old wounds are laid bare. Turns out that there was more going on in this little cove then originally thought and as stories come to light, there is more than enough to keep a reader engaged.

Depth of Winter

Title: Depth of Winter
Author: Craig Johnson
Published: September 4th 2018 by Viking
Format: Hardcover, 300 Pages
Genre: Suspense
Series: Longmire #15

I did not realize how important the supporting cast of the Longmire books is until they barely make a showing and you realize that though Walt is an institution, he needs his team to play straight men to his humor and shenanigans.

Tomas Bidart has kidnapped Walt’s daughter Cady and is holding her hostage in the Chihuahua desert. Without his usual team, Walt is reduced to depending on those that he has gathered along the way. They are a varied ragtag group, but each, including a blind Seer, hold their own and get Walt as close to his prey as possible. There are gruesome descriptions of the brutality that Walt will have to face, but nothing, and no one, will stop him from reaching his daughter.

Of course there is humor and ridiculous situations, that is the norm for a Longmire book, yet there is something decidedly different about this book. There is solemnness and a foreboding that follows the characters. A definite good versus evil that puts Walt at odds with his surroundings and a turning point that has the reader wondering what is in store for Sheriff Longmire once he returns to Absaroka County.

The Voice Inside

Title: The Voice Inside
Author: Brian Freeman
Published: January 16th 2018 by Thomas & Mercer
Format: Paperback, 352 pages
Genre: Suspense
Series: Frost Easton #2

Frost Easton, ex-cabbie and current San Francisco homicide detective, will never come to terms with his sister’s death, but he is determined to move closer to the truth.

Rudy Cutter is serving a life sentence for the murders of several young women, one of which was Katie Easton.

Cutter’s felony conviction is about to be blown wide open when it comes to light that Frost’s boss, and occasional lover, Jess, planted the evidence that convicted Cutter. With his sister’s murderer released and a ticking clock before the next body shows up, Frost is determined to put all of the pieces together to get Rudy Cutter back behind bars where he belongs.

Yet life is not that simple. There are multiple factors distracting him, one of which is his brother’s newest girlfriend, and a second, Eden Shay, a well-known author that is writing a book on the Cutter murders and is doing her best to get closer to Frost. What Frost does not realize is that he is only a player in this game. A player that does not realize that he is being played, within a field of pawns, to be taken down when the time is right solely because he cannot see the rest of the players on the board.

I had always been a fan of Brian Freeman’s Jonathan Stride novels and for some reason I did not want to take a chance on another series by him. Odd, I know, but for me, when I like a series by an author, I have a hard time liking a second. I think that it is a comparison thing. That is why Frost Easton surprised me so much. There is a deeper level to this character, a darker relentless feeling of trying to play catch up and to not lose the last parts of his sole while doing it.

Be Our Ghost

Title: Be Our Ghost
Author: Kate Kingsbury
Published: October 9th 2018 by Crooked Lane Books
Format: eBook, 278 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Merry Ghost Inn #3

This book came across as too simplistic for me. A town in an uproar because Jason Northwood has plans to put in a gaming arcade in the center of town. Yes, we are talking pinball machines, something that has not happened, or been profitable, since the late 70’s. Why would an author use a premise that is so outdated, even if she is trying to keep the subject matter “clean” and non-offensive, there has to be something else that would work besides wondering if property values will fall or if adults will actually “kiss”.

You are going to have to force yourself to stay awake while reading this slow moving, and rather dull in places, book. Of course Jason is going to be killed and of course Melanie and her grandmother, owners of the Merry Ghost Inn, jump into the middle of the investigation since grandmother Liza Harris is rather taken by one of the main suspects.

Thankfully, a subplot that has run through the books involves Melanie’s missing mother. Since this is the third book in the series, the usual make or break point for a cozy mystery series, the author has tied up that item which has been dangling and will leave the read with a needed conclusion or could possibly be the leaping off point for the next round.

Harvest of Secrets

Title: Harvest of Secrets
Author: Ellen Crosby
Published: November 6th 2018 by Minotaur Books
Format: eBook, Hardcover, 352 pages
Genre: Mystery
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Wine Country Mysteries #9

The Wine Country Mysteries series is not your usual who-done-it; it is also a history lesson of Loudoun County, Virginia, with a mystery thrown into keep your attention.

As the vineyard is preparing for an incoming hurricane, the workers at Montgomery Estate Vineyards unearth a skull that has been buried under a shed outside of the family cemetery. Detailed forensics reveals that the skull, and the rest of the bones, have been there for more than a century, but what is interesting is the quilt that the woman was buried in. A quilt with historic value and story that goes back to the Underground Railroad.

Lucie Montgomery has a sudden conviction that this woman is a family member, but proving it also digs up interesting family drama when a DNA test through the genome project reveals that Lucie’s father had a secret that was kept from the family. Add into that, Jean-Claude de Merignac, the wayward son of a well-regarded French family arrives and while working at a neighboring La Vigne vineyard, is killed and there is no shortlist for those that could be responsible.

The multiple stories in this book will keep readers engrossed. There is no straightforward path to the end, yet enough trails to twist your mind around and possible reasons, all wrapped up in an interesting history lesson, with a potential new character that could add even more backstory to the Montgomery family and their enduring presence is the wine country of Atoka, Virginia.

Rooted in Deceit

Title: Rooted in Deceit
Author: Wendy Tyson
Published: September 4th 2018 by Henery Press
Format: eBook, paperback 270 Pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Series: Greenhouse Mystery #4

Book number four in the series has Megan Sawyer opening a farm to table pizza kitchen on her Washington Acres farm located in Winsome, Pennsylvania. To add more stress to the days before the opening, Megan’s father and his high maintenance wife Sylvia appear and while they have been invited to stay at the farm, they decide that a nearby yoga wellness center would suit them better. Unfortunately, that creates issues all its own when Sylvia confronts an artist in residence, Thana Moore, whose body is later found and Sylvia is the main suspect.

There are a few twists and recurring characters, but overall the book is a good continuation of the series and by the end, some new revelations will be found and a new spin on old history will finally find its way onto Washington Acres.

The ongoing side stories are what keep this series moving for me. The murder du jour is a given, but the people and history of the area are what keeps me coming back. Small businesses, new relationships, and family all rolled into the typical cozy mystery formula without overburdening any of the usual ploys.