Outsider

Title: Outsider
Author: Linda Castillo
Published: July 7th 2020 by Minotaur Books
Format: eBook, Hardcover, 320 pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Kate Burkholder #12

The whole time I was reading this book, I kept wondering where Kate’s focus should be. With an old friend - she does not trust - or as the Chief of Police of Painters Mill. A town amid a blizzard with only two of her officers able to answer calls, or snowed in on a farm trying to keep an eye on an old friend with a strange story to tell.

Gina Colorosa, an officer who came out of the academy with Kate, has made bad choices in her life, and right now, she needs Kate’s help. Gina is trying to get to Kate before she is murdered by the men who have a habit of removing problems from their lives. Adam Lengacher, an Amish widower, while out with his children, finds Gina huddled nearly frozen to death by the side of the road. He is a good man, and with his upbringing and faith, he must help Gina, an outsider. By doing this, he is putting his and the lives of his children in danger, but for him, she is worth it.

As Gina tells her story, the reader bounces back and forth in this loosely wound thriller. Kate knows Gina’s seedy history, but can she get past it and read between the lines to find the truth. Can Kate’s boyfriend, John Tomasetti, use his Bureau of Criminal Investigation ties to find out if what Gina is saying is truthful about the corruption and cover-ups within the vice squad? As the story unwinds, it is a race against man and the elements to save all the lives on an Amish farm and to expose the truth behind Gina’s farfetched story.

I Was Told It Would Get Easier

Title: I Was Told It Would Get Easier
Author: Abbi Waxman
Published: June 16th 2020 by Berkley Books
Format: eBook, Paperback, 352 pages
Genre: Women's Fiction
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

I love the humor, sentimentality, and relationships that come from the storytelling of Abbi Waxman. She pulls no punches and takes the reader into the heady world of parenting, friendships, communities, and the cruelties of hormones. When it comes to raising daughters, there are the golden years and the tumultuous ages where neither parent nor child will think they will get through it. As you begin to wonder if all hope is lost, there are those few sparks that help you to see through the dark and hope reins again; this is where Abbi Waxman is taking the reader, one minefield at a time.

We find Jessica and her sixteen-year-old daughter Emily as they embark on a college tour of East Coast Universities surrounded by overachieving students and dominating parents. Emily isn’t sure that college is for her, there are too many stumbling blocks and realities that lawyer mom Jessica never had to encounter. Times have changed, but still, a mother wants the full spectrum of choices for her child. As mom and daughter enter this new battleground, they learn about each other in ways they never thought possible. All the while, each must tread lightly before they destroy what is most important to them both.

A laugh out loud grab a tissue type of book for those who have survived this battle. A book that reminds us of those years and only now realizes that it never gets easier. There is always something around the bend. Next up for those still in the trenches and keeping track, being a parent to an adult child. Those years of watching them journey into adulthood and knowing when, as a parent, to speak up and when to shut up.

Last to Die

Title: Last to Die
Author: Tess Gerritsen
Published: August 28th 2012 by Ballantine Books
Format: Hardcover, 338 pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Series: Rizzoli & Isles #10

This tenth installment of Rizzoli and Isles was just twisty enough to keep my attention. Sure, from time to time, I had wondered where it was going, but with the mention of one little piece of the puzzle, my brain was tickled to the end.

Maura Isles is planning on a two-week vacation with her charge Julian Perkins, but first, she must stop off at a crime scene. The story is horrifying - parents and foster children murdered execution-style and one lone survivor, Teddy, able to get away. There isn’t much Maura can do that is until she reaches Evensong, the boarding school where Julian is enrolled, a school designed to help gifted children who have been traumatized by violence. Once there, she learns about two children that have suffered the same fate as Teddy. They also were lone survivors of brutal murders, and since Maura does not believe in coincidences, she begins to compare their stories to Teddy’s. Connecting the dots, along with the help of Jane Rizzoli, they uncover a story rooted in Italy involving the CIA, Icarus, and the damage left in the wake.

While parts of the novel are tied up, there is more to be answered. With what Maura finds out about the school and Anthony Sansone, the more she questions Julian’s safety and if The Mephisto Club is something that she may want to be part of or if there are ulterior motives for keeping her close.

John Doe

Title: John Doe
Author: Tess Gerritsen
Published: July 23rd 2012 by Ballantine Books
Format: eBook, 51 pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Series: Rizzoli & Isles #9.5

I love a good short story. Just the facts and no need to describe the underside of a rock, as a friend would say. Tess Gerritsen gets to the point quickly without dragging the reader through the mundane while deftly bringing the reader to the crux without having to talk down to them or overtly pointing them in the wrong direction only to reel it all back in with a sudden ending and an overly explained conclusion.

With a final twist, Maura Isles learns what happened to her, and her would-be assailant on a night that started at a gala and ended with Maura sprawled on her couch with no memory of how she had gotten there. As Jane pounds on her door and tells of a body, Maura knows that her nightmare is just beginning.

There might have been a memory – a voice – but everything is vague. A terrifying thought and with precision, Tess Gerritsen narrates a story that will stay with the reader.

The Silent Girl

Title: The Silent Girl
Author: Tess Gerritsen
Published: July 5th 2011 by Random House Publishing Group
Format: Hardcover, 315 pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Series: Rizzoli & Isles #9

This is one of those take-it-slow kind of series for me. With only a few books left in the series, I am parceling them out to delight in the layers and surprises that Tess Gerritsen offers.

Taking place in Chinatown, Det. Jane Rizzoli is called to a rooftop where a woman’s body is discovered with a slit throat and a missing hand. What is throwing them off are the animal hairs that are discovered. If that wasn’t strange enough, this woman is tied to a twenty-year-old murder/suicide and now it is up to Rizzoli and Boston P.D. to put together the story of the Red Phoenix restaurant, missing girls, a child’s bloody footprints, complex characters, and a story that has been too long in telling.

Though Maura Isles is present in this book, the two ladies seem to be on their separate trails and only bump into each other occasionally. That is not a drawback, but a realization that these two characters are their individual selves with their separate problems to solve. For me, there is no comparison between the books and the series. You will either love one or the other, but there is a definite separation between the two so be prepared when things don’t add up to what you think you already know.

Mrs. Lincoln’s Sisters

Title: Mrs. Lincoln’s Sisters
Author: Jennifer Chiaverini
Published: June 2nd 2020 by William Morrow
Format: eBook, Hardcover, 336 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

I came away from this book with a completely different understanding when it came to the stories that I had heard about Mary Todd Lincoln. History tells us of her mental illness but never went into detail regarding how after the death of her sons, and her husband’s murder while sitting next to her at the theater, unhinged a woman who had already shown symptoms.

Divided when Mary's son Robert had her committed, Elizabeth, Frances, and Ann never lost focus on what was best for their sister. Told in a non-linear format, in the voices of the Todd sisters, Jennifer Chiaverini takes the reader through the life of Mary Todd Lincoln and how through births, deaths, estrangements, and misfortunes, their bonds and devotion remained strong.

Though historical fiction, the author brings time, place, and the women to life without bogging the reader down in the unnecessary or overstatement since the circumstances are thought-provoking enough.

Credible Threat

Title: Credible Threat
Author: J. A. Jance
Published: June 2nd 2020 by Gallery Books
Format: eBook, Hardcover, 336 pages
Genre: Suspense
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Ali Reynolds #15

Rachel Higgins has been living in the shadow of her son’s death for years, it isn’t until a box with his few possessions is delivered to her that she takes the time to put the pieces together. What the story tells is a nightmare for any parent. Father Needham, the swim coach at St. Francis High, was behind the destruction of several students. Systematically he picked his victim, groomed them, and until the Church became aware went undetected. Once Archbishop Francis Gillespie was made aware, Needham was sent to prison. But the damage was done and Rachael is determined to hold Francis Gillespie accountable for allowing the assaults to continue, for the death of her son, and the destruction of her marriage. Systematically, she begins to leave threats and when the day comes, she will take the final step and hold the Archbishop personally accountable.

Unable to brush the threats aside, Gillespie approaches High Noon Enterprises owned by Ali and her husband. With their help and that of Figg, the clues all begin to point to one person. A person who has taken all precautions to complete her task. But what Rachel wasn’t prepared for was the grace of Francis Gillespie and the words she has waited years to hear.

There are multiple layers to this story and multiple viewpoints, but the only one which matters and that will be the path the reader follows. There was a different depth to this book than the previous in the series. A smoother flow and a deeper connection to the characters. Having wondered in the past if I was going to continue with this series, this book has cemented me into sticking with Ali and her team, no matter where J. A. Jance takes us next.

Ghost Ups Her Game

Title: Ghost Ups Her Game
Author: Carolyn Hart
Published: June 1, 2020 by Severn House Publishers
Format: eBook, 224 Pages
Genre: Paranormal Police Procedural
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Bailey Ruth #9

After a long break from the Bailey Ruth series, Carolyn Hart is back with The Ghost Ups her Game. Though the novel seems to get weighed down in the middle, with little forward momentum, Carolyn Hart does pull it all together by the end even though she needs to do too much recapping to bring her excessive number of characters together.

Bailey Ruth Raeburn, called in by the Department of Good Intentions, is sent back to her much loved Adelaide, Oklahoma to help Iris Gallagher after she is discovered holding a murder weapon over a dead body. Bailey Ruth must rally the troops, much to Wiggin’s dismay, to prove the innocent are innocent even if they need a little heavenly help.

Though there are murders and a ghost, there is also a wholesomeness to this series. No offensive lines are crossed, no bits or parts that would make a person blush, just a well-dressed ethereal spirit that comes in to help those in need.