The Winners

Title: The Winners
Author: Fredrik Backman
Published: September 27th 2022 by Atria Books
Format: Kindle, Hardcover 684 Pages
Genre: Fiction
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Beartown #3

First Sentence: Everyone who knew Benjamin Ovich, particularly those of us who knew him well enough to call him Benji, probably knew deep down that he was never the sort of person who would get a happy ending.

Blurb: Two years have passed since the events that no one wants to think about. Everyone has tried to move on, but there’s something about this place that prevents it. The residents continue to grapple with life’s big questions: What is a family? What is a community? And what, if anything, are we willing to sacrifice in order to protect them?

As the locals of Beartown struggle to overcome the past, great change is on the horizon. Someone is coming home after a long time away. Someone will be laid to rest. Someone will fall in love, someone will try to fix their marriage, and someone will do anything to save their children. Someone will submit to hate, someone will fight, and someone will grab a gun and walk towards the ice rink.

So what are the residents of Beartown willing to sacrifice for their home?

Everything.

My Opinion: Of course, I could not get through the first chapter without tearing up. Backman has a way of getting to the heart of the matter, but still leaves more exploring to do. I was glad there was a brief refresher of the previous two books since it has been four years since 'Us Against You' was published.

This book is a commitment. At almost 700 pages, where the atmosphere is as much a character as the community of quirky and damaged people. No matter how much a person tries to get away, Beartown and Hed bring their people home. With a beloved member dead, those that have gotten away will find themselves drawn back, and the old wounds will be ripped open for yet another challenge to their grit and fortitude.

When a second death occurs, the town has decisions to make and secrets to keep. More tears, both the town and the reader, will be shed. Backman ties up the loose ends, but it is a bittersweet ending since many have finally found their happiness in a town that has only given them grief.

Murder on the Poet's Walk

Title: Murder on the Poet's Walk
Author: Ellery Adams
Published: September 27th 2022 by Kensington
Format: Kindle, Paperback 352 Pages
Genre: Amateur Sleuth
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Book Retreat Mysteries #8

First Sentence: Jane Steward always looked forward to afternoon tea, but never more so than today.

Blurb: When corpses clutching poems begin turning up around Storyton Hall, resort manager Jane Steward is on the trail of someone exercising poetic license to kill.

As Jane eagerly anticipates the wedding of her best friend Eloise Alcott, Storyton Hall is overrun with poets in town to compete for a coveted greeting card contract. They’re everywhere, scrawling verses on cocktail napkins in the reading rooms or seeking inspiration strolling the Poet’s Walk, a series of trails named after famous authors. But the Tennyson Trail leads to a grim surprise: a woman’s corpse drifting in a rowboat on a lake, a crumpled copy of “The Lady of Shallot” in her lifeless fist.

When a second body is discovered, also holding a page from a poetry book, a recurring MO emerges. Fortunately, Jane is well versed in sleuthing and won’t rest until she gives the killer a taste of poetic justice. (GoodReads)

My Opinion: I was surprised I liked this book as much as I did. There were a few annoyances, namely, why didn’t Jane turn on the flashlight app on her phone when she was confronted by an unfamiliar person in a dark confined space; and why did she run to the restroom to wash her hands instead of waiting for help to arrive, and to see who followed her out? Granted, this would have ended the story too soon, but there could have been a workaround.

I enjoy how Ellery Adams brings in authors, titles, and quotes to enhance her narratives and to remind her readers that Storyton is all about the world of the written arts. Usually, readers should start a series from the beginning, but midway through the Book Retreat series, Adams took a slight left turn from where she began. Not in a bad way, but there was a new focus, so the series order might not be as crucial as it once was.

From time to time, I wish there was an actual Storyton. I could use a vacation with no electronics, beautiful gardens, walking trails, and uninterrupted reading.

Marple: Twelve New Mysteries

Title: Marple: Twelve New Mysteries
Authors: Naomi Alderman, Leigh Bardugo, Alyssa Cole, Lucy Foley, Elly Griffiths, Natalie Haynes, Jean Kwok, Val McDermid, Karen M. McManus, Dreda Say Mitchell, Kate Mosse, and Ruth Ware
Published: September 13th 2022 by William Morrow & Company
Format: Hardcover, 384 pagess
Genre: Short Mysteries

Blurb: A collection of short stories featuring the Queen of Mystery’s legendary detective Jane Marple, penned by twelve remarkable bestselling and acclaimed authors.

This collection of a dozen original short stories, all featuring Jane Marple, will introduce the character to a whole new generation. Each author reimagines Agatha Christie’s Marple through their own unique perspective while staying true to the hallmarks of a traditional mystery. (GoodReads)

My Opinion: I’m not sure how to review an anthology of short stories. Some stories are more compelling than others. Some hit Miss Marple spot on. Some authors were new to me, and others were old friends. I did have to laugh aloud at some of the situations, which made this a joy to read. And one had a twist at the beginning that had me shaking my head.

If you are a fan of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, this is a must-read, you may need to leave a few of your “Not my Miss Marple” preconceptions at the door, but that is what this book is all about. If you are unfamiliar with the compilation, the authors take you into a reimagined world of Jane Marple. A woman who doesn’t miss the subtleties; and reveals to the reader the parts that make up the whole.

The Final Equinox

Title: The Final Equinox
Author: Andrew Mayne
Published: September 13th 2022 by Thomas & Mercer
Format: Kindle, 336 pages
Genre: Suspense
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Theo Cray and Jessica Blackwood #2

First Sentence: The suspect’s body lies on the table before me.

Blurb: Dr. Theo Cray and FBI agent Jessica Blackwood follow a deadly celestial trail in a thrilling novel by the Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Mastermind.

A signal is detected at the outer edge of the solar system. Computational biologist Dr. Theo Cray and magician-turned-FBI-agent Jessica Blackwood are looking—and listening—a little closer.

The man at the center of this cosmic mystery is billionaire Thomas T. Theismann. He’s spent a lifetime—and a fortune—trying to find out if we’re alone in the universe. Highly skeptical, Theo joins the effort to find the source of the signal, and he quickly enlists Jessica to look into the suspicious death of another academic at the lab. As their investigations converge, they uncover curious connections to the otherworldly contact, including a 1970s science-fiction writer and the body of an astronaut found buried in an ancient tomb.

As they delve into Theismann’s history, Theo and Jessica’s fascination with the signal intensifies. How dangerous will the investigation get? That depends on how deep into the unknown Theo and Jessica are prepared to venture. (GoodReads)

My Opinion: It always takes me a long time to get into an Andrew Mayne novel. Instead of accepting the science, theories, and references at face value, I am hopping onto the internet and diving into the more curious parts.

To understand Theo, and his unconventional ways, start his books from the beginning. I was not introduced to Jessica until she first met up with Theo, and I do not think I have missed too much of her past. The left turns in this book will keep the reader fascinated, and knowing all points will merge, does not diminish their individualism and the reader's joy in bouncing back and forth.

Are some parts farfetched? Of course, but that is the beauty of the writing and Theo in particular. His mind does not work like everyone else's and his perception, and naivete of the world, take the reader through the real, and the imagined, with a great deal of humor on the side.

By all means, Theo, help those in need, not self-indulgent billionaires and their dreams of world domination.

Hell and Back

Title: Hell and Back
Author: Craig Johnson
Published: September 20th 2022 by Viking
Format: Hardcover, 336 pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Series: Longmire #18

First Sentence: There was a sound of bells and then silence – the kind of quiet that only comes with snow, capturing the soundwaves of life and smothering them before they can cry out.

Blurb: Picking up where Daughter of the Morning Star left off, the next Longmire novel finds the sheriff digging further into the mysteries of "the wandering without"--a mythical all-knowing spiritual being that devours souls.

Walt thinks he might find the answers he's looking for among the ruins of an old Native American boarding school--an institution designed to strip Native children of their heritage. He has been haunted by the image of the Fort Pratt Industrial Indian Training School ever since he first saw a faded postcard picturing a hundred boys in uniform, in front of a large, ominous building--a postcard that was given to him by Jimmy Lane, the father of Jeanie One Moon.

After Walt's initial investigation into Jeanie's disappearance yielded no satisfying conclusions, Walt has to confront the fact that he may be dealing with an adversary unlike any he has ever faced before.

My Opinion: Craig Johnson digs deep into Walt Longmire’s past to bring the reader face to face with Walt’s nemeses from past books and reveals a place in between, Fort Pratt, a town of Walt’s dead, where fiction meets science fiction with a western gothic romance twinge and a bit of horror on the side.

Without reading the previous seventeen books in the series, a first-time reader will get lost and not truly appreciate the depth of the narrative. Long-time readers are reminded of Walt’s history with Martha to Mallow Cups to Bidarte, and all the others along the way. As the book states, all haunting is regret, and Walt’s grief is waiting for him in a small Montana town. Walt will continue to face his burdens, and will continue to do so, even if it means an endless cycle of knowing The Wandering Without is just around the next corner.

This turned out to be one of my favorite books in the series. It’s not the typical police procedural that Craig Johnson is known for, but from time to time, it’s good to shake things up a bit.