Tag Archives: mystery

All Things Cease to Appear by Elizabeth Brundage

20 Monday Jun 2016

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This was an unsettling page-turner that I couldn’t put down. Set in a small farm town in upstate New York, the story opens with the murder of a young woman, who is killed in her home. As the story unfolds, we learn more about why she and her family moved to this house, which has a dark history. This is suspenseful, creepy, and beautifully written.

“A dynamic portrait of a young woman coming into her own [and] of a marriage in free fall. . . . It rises to [great] literary heights and promises a soaring mix of mysticism.” —Booklist (starred review)

“All Things Cease to Appear is a riveting ghost story, psychological thriller, and literary page turner. It’s also the story of four women: Ella, Catherine, Justine, and Willis. With masterful skill and brilliant empathy, Brundage brings each of them to vivid and remarkable life. At its heart, this is a story about women’s grit and courage, will and intelligence. It’s a powerful and beautiful novel.” —Kate Christensen

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The Likeness by Tana French

11 Monday Apr 2016

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The second in Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad series, this book is a very loose sequel to In the Woods, but can easily be read as a stand-alone mystery. Cassie Maddox is a Dublin detective who goes undercover to solve the murder of a woman who looks exactly like her. While set in contemporary times, the book’s style and plot give it the feel of an old-fashioned page-turner.

The Likeness has everything: memorable characters, crisp dialogue, shrewd psychological insight, mounting tension, a palpable sense of place, and wonderfully evocative, painterly prose. In the Woods was an Edgar Award finalist; this one just might go one step further. –Booklist (*starred review*)

“For The Likeness, [French] has brought back detective Cassie Maddox and fashioned a plot that harks back to both Donna Tartt and Wilkie Collins.”–The Washington Post

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Above the Waterfall by Ron Rash

02 Wednesday Mar 2016

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Rash, with his evocative prose and poetry, takes the reader to the Appalachian hills of his native North Carolina. He combines suspense with observations and insights, and tells a disquieting tale about the characters’ attachment to the land even as they abuse its beauty.

“[Above the Waterfall is] as rich and moving as his best. If you like detective novels, the plot twists are dizzying enough to keep you guessing. Fan or not, you’re going to find this one hard to put down.” (Charleston Post & Courier)

“Combining suspense with acute observations and flashing insights, Rash tells a seductive and disquieting tale about our intrinsic attachment to and disastrous abuse of the land and our betrayal of our best selves.” (Booklist (starred review))
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Veronica Mars, Season One (TV show)

25 Monday Jan 2016

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Veronica Mars is an outcast at her rich California high school after her best friend’s death. While solving mysteries with her private investigator father, she is also determined to figure out who killed her friend. This is a funny, well-written, suspenseful show with great characters and a “film noir” feel.

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Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

04 Wednesday Nov 2015

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After reading the first three words, the first sentence and the first paragraph, the reader will know what happened to the central character in this book.  But then the question is Why? and then How? and then For What?

Celeste Ng, in her first novel, has gracefully written a poignant and heartbreaking story of family, ethnicity, communication and grief that the reader will be compelled to read in one sitting.

“If we know this story, we haven’t seen it yet in American fiction, not until now… Ng has set two tasks in this novel’s doubled heart—to be exciting, and to tell a story bigger than whatever is behind the crime. She does both by turning the nest of familial resentments into at least four smaller, prickly mysteries full of secrets the family members won’t share… What emerges is a deep, heartfelt portrait of a family struggling with its place in history, and a young woman hoping to be the fulfillment of that struggle. This is, in the end, a novel about the burden of being the first of your kind—a burden you do not always survive.” – Alexander Chee, The New York Times Book Review

“Wonderfully moving…Emotionally precise…A beautifully crafted study of dysfunction and grief…[This book] will resonate with anyone who has ever had a family drama.” – Boston Globe

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The Bookseller: The First Hugo Marston Novel by Mark Pryor

21 Wednesday Oct 2015

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Get ready for suspense and red herrings in the world of the bouquinistes –  the book stalls along the Seine in Paris. Hugh Marston, the head of security at the US embassy in Paris, passes many a lunch break perusing old books to find the perfect gift.  And then one day, we watches helplessly as his favorite bookseller is dragged away at gunpoint. Surprise – the police couldn’t be bothered even as more booksellers begin to disappear.  Taking matters into his own hands with the help of his long time friend Tom, CIA, and short term friend, Claudia, a journalist, he uncovers an obscure past that may explain matters. But can he piece the puzzle together before his time runs out?

“Pryor’s steady and engrossing debut combines Sherlockian puzzle solving with Eric Ambler-like spy intrigue. With a cast of characters you want to know better and a storyline cloaked in World War II betrayals…the author winningly blends contemporary crime with historical topics.”  –Library Journal Starred Review

“A real page-turner. This is what thriller writers always aim to produce and so often fail to get right…. You can’t ask for better than this.”  –San Francisco Book Review

As strong and welcome as a hot coffee on a chilly Paris morning. Bibliophiles, Francophiles, and mystery addicts rejoice! The debut of Hugo Marston is one you don’t want to miss.”  –Steven Sidor, author of Pitch Dark

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The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino

02 Wednesday Sep 2015

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In this thriller by bestselling Japanese novelist Higashino, a distressed single mother has a tough time freeing herself and her daughter from her abusive ex-husband.  Her requests to the police for protection from this deadbeat go unheeded and she attempts to escape him by relocating.  Settling into her new apartment she and her daughter introduce themselves to their next-door neighbor, a lonely math teacher for whom this meeting proves to be tragically fateful.

Veteran police detective matches wits with a brilliant rookie criminal. This character-driven mystery by the prolific Higashino has much to recommend, including a droll Columbo-like sleuth and a great surprise ending. (Kirkus Reviews (starred review))

Winner of Japan’s prestigious Naoki Prize and a bestseller there with more than two million copies sold, this literary psychological thriller is a subtle and shifting murder mystery. It will make readers redefine devotion and trust in an otherwise complete stranger. (Library Journal (starred review))

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The Daylight Marriage by Heidi Pitlor

07 Friday Aug 2015

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In this mystery set in the Boston area, the author explores the dysfunctional marriage of tall beautiful Hannah and her distracted climate scientist husband, Lovell.

When Hannah doesn’t return home one day, the family unit starts to crumble. Their children find solace elsewhere – Janine, the teenage daughter with the couple next door and Ethan with his He-Man toys. Lovell immerses himself in his work and courts the media in his effort to find his missing wife.

The many references to local spots, South Boston, Carson Beach, MIT, Martha’s Vineyard, will keep the reader turning pages in this psychological thriller which is similar to Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train.

“Pitlor brings forth the emotions that surge beneath the surface with the precision and power of a conductor . . . This powerful analysis of how dreams become nightmares will make readers want to hold their loved ones close.” —Booklist, starred review

 “Likely to linger in the reader’s mind . . . a perfect microscope with which to examine the inexhaustible fascinations of marriage, and as Pitlor flashes between the day of Hannah’s disappearance and Lovell’s uneasy consideration of their past resentments, she finds a nice voice — thoughtful, lyrical, unforced.” —New York Times Book Review

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In the Woods by Tana French

15 Thursday Jan 2015

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This is a gripping, beautifully written mystery set in Ireland. The narrator, a detective who was part of an unsolved case as a child, is confronted with his past when another crime takes place in his hometown decades later. I was intrigued to learn that this is the first in a series of loosely linked books, all part of the “Dublin Murder Squad,” and I look forward to reading the next one.

“Tana French’s In the Woods is tangled, dark, and impossible to put down. With a story like a freight train and characters so vivid that I found myself wondering what they were doing while I wasn’t reading it, it’s one of the best books I’ve read this year. In fact, it’s so good that I wish I’d written it – it’s absolutely brilliant.” — Kelly Braffet, author of LAST SEEN LEAVING and JOSIE AND JACK

“With her utterly beautiful and brilliantly evocative prose, Tana French invites us into a murky netherworld so seductive and engrossing that we can’t turn away, even when we try. Ms. French is an extraordinary writer and IN THE WOODS is a stellar debut. “– Lisa Unger, author of the New York Times bestseller BEAUTIFUL LIES and SLIVER OF TRUTH –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

19 Monday May 2014

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I unfairly assumed before starting this classic mystery that as a 19th century novel, it would be on the slower side. Instead, I found myself engrossed by this page-turner, a mystery that’s funny, suspenseful, and romantic. Every section of the book has a different narrator, each with a unique voice, and a complicated, intriguing plot that kept my interest until the last page.

“”The first and greatest of English detective novels.”” —T. S. Eliot

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