The Stranger Diaries

Title: The Stranger Diaries
Author: Elly Griffiths
Published: March 5th 2019 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Format: eBook, Hardcover, 352 pages
Genre: Fiction
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

‘The Stranger Diaries’ weaves around the short story, 'The Stranger', written by Gothic writer R. M. Holland. Clare Cassidy, a high school English teacher, and researcher leads a course each mid-term with this writing to both instruct and to lend a sinister air.

This year is different, as real-life bodies begin to pile up and Holland quotes are found with them, the police begin to suspect Clare and a small band of her friends. To compound matters, Clare a dedicated diarist herself notices comments that have been added to her writings. Comments that tie into the deaths and have her beginning to question her sanity.

Unfortunately, the final twist is not all that surprising. There was an inkling early on as to who was behind this eerie tale within a tale. Though the author did her best to throw the reader off, all the parts were there, and if the reader was following the breadcrumbs, there was no other suspect.

Murder on the Half Shelf

Title: Murder on the Half Shelf
Author: Lorna Barrett
Published: July 3rd 2012 by Berkley
Format: Hardcover, 293 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Series: Booktown Mystery #6

Is it possible to love the idea of a town, but dislike all the inhabitants? That is what I am confronted with each time I pick up a book in the Booktown Mystery series. How could a book lover not love the idea of a small town centered around books with each store, and its creative name, focused on a specific genre?

Known as the town jinx since she has a tendency to stumble upon dead bodies, Stoneham, New Hampshire, mystery bookstore owner Tricia was hoping for a relaxing break when her sister Angelia won a guest stay at a new hotel. Little did she know that not only when she found the body of Pippa Comfort, she would also stumble on to Jon Comfort, the current husband of Pippa. It appears that Tricia once dated the man, but at that time, he was known as Harrison Tyler, a successful author who was later presumed dead due to a boating accident.

Tricia had promised her current boyfriend, Police Chief Grant Baker, that she would stay out of investigations, but to be honest, she did not go looking for Pippa’s body, in a way, it found her, yet Grant and his standoffish ways are now treating Tricia as a main suspect causing a deep chasm in their relationship.

With the police department treating her like a suspect, Tricia feels as though she has to investigate, if only to clear her name. Therein lays the premise of the book, in addition to finding new help for her store in an unlikely character, she has to find a killer, and convince a dead man to come forward. All of which will either have you quickly turning pages, or in my case, telling the characters to stop all of their whining and complaining and just move on with their day.

No Mercy

Title: No Mercy
Author: Joanna Schaffhausen
Published: January 15th 2019 by Minotaur Books
Format: Hardcover, 320 pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Series: Ellery Hathaway #2

I continue to say that Joanna Schaffhausen is an underappreciated author. Her books ask questions along the way, leave parts open to interpretation, only to have them all neatly answered by the end without insulting the reader or using gimmicks.

Ellery Hathaway was kidnapped as a child, as an adult, she thought that was behind her, but like the last book, "The Vanishing Season" showed us, sometimes the past comes back. Now with her career as a Boston police officer hanging in the balance, she is in court-appointed counseling where she meets weekly with other crime victims. Once a cop always a cop so when their stories take on new meaning, Ellery calls on Reed Markham, the FBI agent that saved her.

Wendy Mendoza lives in fear that her unknown attacker will come back. She cannot forget, she wears a tattoo of the last words that he said to her. Myra, wheelchair-bound, wears the burn scars that she sustained when her furniture business when up in flames and she desperately tried to get to her child. There are other stories from the group, but this is where Ellery, with the help of Markham, starts her investigation.

The deeper they dig, the less the stories make sense. Where Wendy gives them little to go on, there are holes in Myra's case. Wholes that can bring down senior officers and prevent Markham from the promotion that will let him stay closer to his daughter.

By the conclusion, Joanna Schaffhausen tells you exactly where the next book is going. You can see it forming her in mind and you are right there with her as she delves deeper into Reed Markham's past and the adoptive family that calls him one of their own.

Ice Cold

Title: Ice Cold
Author: Tess Gerritsen
Published: June 29th 2010 by Ballantine Books
Format: Hardcover, 322 pages
Genre: Suspense
Series: Rizzoli & Isles #8

Maura Isles is my favorite of the two in this series. There is something about her practical mind that both interests and amuses me. Not to say that she is a laugh a minute, but there is something about her that keeps me reading.

Set in an unforgiving Wyoming winter, Maura joins an old college friend, and his companions, on a little break to a ski lodge a few hours away from a conference that she and Doug were attending. What starts out as an easy getaway soon turns disastrous when they take a wrong turn and find themselves stranded on a mountain road with no ability to call for help.

Desperate to find something that will shelter them from the bitter cold, they stumble upon an abandoned community. Homes where it looked as if the inhabitants had gotten up and walked away from their normal everyday lives. When it is clear that there is no electricity or a way to communicate with the outside world, Doug makes the decision to leave Maura, and the rest, to strike out on his own to find help. When he does not return, it is up to Maura to help what is left of their little band, and with the assistance of a “lost boy”, to find the resources that they need. This trek will not be easy and once again, Maura finds her life in danger.

There are a few twists and turns in this book, and Tess Gerritsen does not hold back when it comes to voicing her opinions or describing things in graphic detail. At the same time, there is a certain type of anger that comes across in her writing, which in this book, left me a bit irritated yet has managed to garner a devoted audience.