Review: DEATH AT MORNING HOUSE, Maureen Johnson

• 
  This edition made available as an e-book on Libby by my local library
  
• Published by HarperTeen, 2024
• ISBN: 9780063255975
• ISBN 10: 0063255979
• Pages: 384
• Age: From 14 years  

Synopsis (publisher)

From the bestselling author of the Truly Devious books, Maureen Johnson, comes a new stand-alone YA about a teen who uncovers a mystery while working as a tour guide on an island and must solve it before history repeats itself.

The fire wasn’t Marlowe Wexler’s fault. Dates should be hot, but not hot enough to warrant literal firefighters. Akilah, the girl Marlowe has been in love with for years, will never go out with her again. No one dates an accidental arsonist.

With her house-sitting career up in flames, it seems the universe owes Marlowe a new summer job, and that’s how she ends up at Morning House, a mansion built on an island in the 1920s and abandoned shortly thereafter. It’s easy enough, giving tours. Low risk of fire. High chance of getting bored talking about stained glass and nut cutlets and Prohibition.

Oh, and the deaths. Did anyone mention the deaths?

Maybe this job isn’t such a gift after all. Morning House has a horrific secret that’s been buried for decades, and now the person who brought her here is missing.

All it takes is one clue to set off a catastrophic chain of events. One small detail, just like a spark, could burn it all down—if someone doesn’t bury Marlowe first.

My Take

A murder mystery set in two time frames: the present and nearly a century ago. 

Marlowe Wexler has accidentally set fire to a house with an exploding candle and now her reputation as a pyromaniac precedes her.  She is offered a job on a river island as a tour guide for the summer and it seems a good opportunity for a fresh start.

But now there is murder and mystery to investigate for it appears that nearly 100 years ago a boy and his older sister died on this island. And just before Marlow arrived, there was another death.

Well written with interesting characters.

My rating: 4.5

About the author

Maureen Johnson is the bestselling author of several novels, including 13 Little Blue Envelopes, the Truly Devious series, the Suite Scarlett series, and the Shades of London series. She has also written collaborative works such as Let It Snow with John Green and Lauren Myracle and the Bane Chronicles with Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan. Maureen lives in New York and online on Twitter @maureenjohnson or at maureenjohnsonbooks.com. 

Review: THE NIGHT FIRE, Michael Connelly

• 
  This edition available on Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07NL757ZF
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Little, Brown and Company (October 22, 2019)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 449 pages
• #3 in the Ballard and Bosch series 

Synopsis (Amazon)

Harry Bosch and LAPD Detective Renée Ballard come together again on the murder case that obsessed Bosch's mentor, the man who trained him.

Back when Harry Bosch was just a rookie homicide detective, he had an inspiring mentor who taught him to take the work personally and light the fire of relentlessness for every case. Now that mentor, John Jack Thompson, is dead, and his widow gives Bosch a murder book, one that Thompson took with him when he left the LAPD twenty years before -- the unsolved killing of a troubled young man.

Bosch takes the murder book to Detective Renée Ballard and asks her to help him discover what about this crime lit Thompson's fire all those years ago. As she begins her enquiries -- while still working her own cases on the midnight shift -- Ballad finds aspects of the initial investigation that just don't add up.

The bond between Bosch and Ballard tightens as they become a formidable investigation team. And they soon arrive at a disturbing question: Did Thompson steal the murder book to work the case in retirement, or to make sure it never got solved?
Written with the intense pacing and masterful suspense that have made Michael Connelly "the hard-boiled fiction master of our time" (NPR), The Night Fire continues the unofficial partnership of two fierce detectives determined not to let the fire with burn out.

My Take

I've read this for discussion with my U3A Crime Fiction group as our last novel for 2024. Other American novels we've read this year have struggled to find popularity and I'm not sure what the reaction will be to this one, despite Connelly's general popularity. I have not read any of the Ballard and Bosch series before, but this was a book set from the library, so perhaps I will also pay the penalty for embarking mid series.

Detective Renée Ballard works 'The Late Show', the notorious graveyard shift at the LAPD. It's thankless work for a once-promising detective, keeping strange hours in a twilight world of crime. Harry Bosch has recently retired although he "forgot" to hand his badge in and is not averse to using it when it suits him. He has also recently discovered that he has acute myeloid leukemia. He has begun chemo therapy but feels he has a death sentence hanging over him. He has recently had a knee replacement and this recovery is limiting his ability to move quickly.

When Harry attends the funeral of his former mentor John Jack Thompson, Thompson's wife gives him a "murder book" related to a cold case from 20 years before. As Ballard and Bosch begin to look at the case they ask themselves why Thompson took the book with him on his retirement, when by rights he should have handed it in. Even stranger is the fact that Thompson does not seem to have made any steps to investigate the case himself. Why is that?

Both Bosch and Ballard are also working on other cases, and so this novel is really a police procedural, exploring the sorts of cases that occupy the time of LAPD detectives. While Bosch knows some of those still working in LAPD he is not popular and neither is Ballard. And of course there will come a time when the cases have elements in common. Bosch for example is doing some investigative and consulting work for his half-brother Mickey Haller who is defending a young man accused of murdering a judge.

The novel is structured to reflect the actions being taken by the two individual detectives. The reader is told by section heading whose P.O.V. it is.

So what will my group make of this novel?

• the US court and justice system is very different to the Australian/British one and I think they will have a problem accepting some of the scenarios;
• the partnership between Ballard and Bosch is an interesting one, highly productive, but once again a scenario that probably could not happen "here";
• the language of the novel might cause a problem: e.g. the corpse of a homeless man incinerated in his tent is referred to as a "crispy critter." We all know what that means but it's use as common terminology would not happen "here".
  There is also a lot of swearing, not a common feature of local crime fiction novels.
  There is also use of other local terminology e.g. "Did you roll the coroner out yet?" and referring to patrol cars congregating at an all night ruck park: "They can all code seven there without leaving their zones". Ballard "hooked a left down the hallway."
  I felt like I was getting a lesson in LAPD "speak".
• the structure of the murder book - the chrono, the inclusions,
• do the resources that the LAPD have available to them exist in Australia? e.g. the bullet archive - the national database that holds unique ballistic details and cartridge casing found at crime scenes
• there are times when both Ballard and Bosch ignore proper procedure. They also put themselves in considerable danger.
  

It is a very detailed and quite long novel. Lots for an Australian reader to take in.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

• THE OVERLOOK
• THE BRASS VERDICT
• THE CONCRETE BLONDE
• 4.3, THE REVERSAL
• 4.4, SUICIDE RUN
• 4.4, ANGLE OF INVESTIGATION
• 4.5, THE POET
• 4.5, FAIR WARNING

Renee Ballard and Harry Bosch series
   1. The Late Show (2017)
   2. Dark Sacred Night (2018)
   3. The Night Fire (2019)
   4. The Dark Hours (2021)
   5. Desert Star (2022)
   6. The Waiting (2024)

Review: A FIELD OF DARKNESS, Cornelia Read

• 
  this edition supplied by my local library
  
• first published in USA 2006
• ISBN 9781741751574
• 311 pages
• debut novel
• Awards
  2007 Anthony Award for Best First Novel (nominee)
  2007 Barry Award for Best First Novel (nominee)
  2007 Edgar Award for Best First Novel (nominee)
  2007 Macavity Award for Best First Novel (nominee)

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

Madeline Dare, a tough-talking, shotgun-toting ex-debutante, is not your average detective. Then again, not much about her life is what she expected. Born of old money into high society, she married into a Syracuse farming family and a bottom-of-the-food-chain job writing puff pieces for the local newspaper. Her emotional barometer these days ranges from dry irony to whining exasperation.

Then Madeline discovers mysterious circumstances linking her favorite cousin to a twenty-year-old murder case, and suddenly her roots are a serious matter again--deadly serious. Unwilling to turn her evidence over to the authorities before figuring some things out herself, she will embark on an ill-prepared and harrowing investigation into the real dark side of her world.

... Madeline Dare would be the first to tell you her money is so old there's none left. A former socialite from an aristocratic family in decline, Maddie is a tough-talking, would-be journalist exiled to the rust belt of upstate New York. Her prospects for changing her dreary lifestyle seem dim--until a set of dog tags found at a decades-old murder site is linked to her family. Shocked into action, Maddie embarks on a search that takes her from the derelict smokestacks of Syracuse to the posh mansions of Long Island's Gold Coast. But instead of the warm refuge of home, this prodigal daughter soon uncovers dark, sinister secrets that will violently challenge everything she believes in and holds dear.

My Take

I have read this book as part of my U3A Crime Fiction Readers group. I'll make no bones about it - I struggled, even considered abandoning it half way through - most unlike me. I'm now wondering what the rest of our group are going to say about it.

So part of my review is about why I had such a struggle.

The setting is Syracuse, New York State, 1988.

For me the book has 3 main themes:

• what has happened to "old money" families in the United States. Madeline Dare's family is from old money, Long Island aristocracy, money made originally by unscrupulous means, land acquired by killing off the original occupants. Some of Maddy's extended family, like her cousin Lapthorne still have money and flaunt it, while Maddie's own family have sold off their wealth and land, so Maddie needs to work for a living. Maddie's extended family is quite dysfunctional.
  
• the second theme is Maddie's own quest for satisfying work. She is a journalist at a Syracuse newspaper but basically writes "puff" pieces and would much rather get her teeth into much more serious stuff. Maddie is married and her husband Dean is away a lot, mainly in Canada where he is working on a railway contract
• The third theme is a murder case, the central plot of the novel. Dean's father is a farmer and has recently discovered some dogtags in a field when he has ploughed it. The dogtags have been there for nearly 20 years and the story is that they relate to the "Rose Girls" case of two unnamed girls murdered at the New York State Fair. There is a whiff of police corruption attached to the case. One of the dog tags bears the name of Maddie's favourite cousin Lapthorne Townsend, golden boy of a still wealthy branch of Maddie's old-money family.
  Maddie is hooked by the idea of investigating the case and proving Lapthorne's innocence.
  The dogtags were never handed in to the police and so Lapthorne was not investigated at the time.

Ok. So I made it through the book to the end, and eventually found out the whole story.

So what was my problem?

I guess it was that I am an Australian reader with a smattering of American history knowledge, to be honest a bit more than most Australian readers.

I guess I felt that the author was trying to teach me a lot about what had happened to "old money" in the original 13 colonies. There were lots of references to American history, some fairly oblique, but also not really essential to the story. I thought there were some references that American readers would not "get". e.g. the reference to the "second gun on the grassy knoll". (the assassination of JFK, but its relevance here?}

Neither did I particularly warm to most of the characters, although I guess those who would crop up again in later books in this series, like Maddie's husband Dean are probably better fleshed out.

My rating: 4.3

Other reviews you might like to read- two entirely different reactions

• From Reading Group Guides
• From Petrona 

About the author

Cornelia Read is the author of "Valley of Ashes", "Invisible Boy", and "The Crazy School". Read's first novel, "A Field of Darkness", was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best First Novel. She lives in Berkeley, California.

Review: MURDER AT THE BRIGHTWELL, Ashley Weaver

• 
  This edition available from Amazon on Kindle
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00N01TS36
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Allison & Busby (October 23, 2014)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 323 pages
• (Amory Ames Book 1)

Synopsis (Amazon)

1932, Devon. 

Amory Ames is glamorous, wealthy and unhappily married to notoriously charming playboy Milo. She willingly accepts her former fiancé Gil Trent's plea for help in preventing his sister Emmeline from meeting a similar matrimonial fate. Amory accompanies Gil to The Brightwell, the sprawling seaside resort where Emmeline and her fiancé, the impeccably groomed, disreputable cad Rupert Howe are holidaying, along with the other rich and sumptuously-dressed guests.

Champagne flows but the sparkle soon fades as a dark and unresolved history between Gil and Rupert surfaces. After a late night quarrel the luxurious hotel is one guest fewer by morning. When Gil is arrested for murder Amory is determined to defend his innocence. But if she's right, the killer is still in their midst - can she prove it before she, too, becomes a victim? And what of the unexpected arrival of Milo? Extravagance, scoundrels and red-herrings abound as Amory draws closer to discovering the murderer - as well as love.

My Take

It came as a surprise to me to discover that the author of this cosy set in 1932 is an American. The story is set at the British seaside in 1932 amongst a flapper set. I thought she did a good job of creating the ambience of the period, at the same time creating a respectable whodunnit.

My rating: 4.4

About the author

ASHLEY WEAVER is the branch manager at Oberlin, the headquarters branch of the Allen Parish Libraries in Louisiana. Weaver has worked in libraries since she was 14; she was a page and then a clerk before obtaining her MLIS from Louisiana State University. She lives in Oakdale, Louisiana. Murder at the Brightwell is her first novel. 

Review: HIGH PROFILE, Robert B. Parker

• 
   made available as an e-book on Libby by my local library
  
• published originally in 2007 by No Exit Press
• e-book published 2014
• ISBN 978-1-84344-327-8
• #6 in Jesse Stone series

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

The murder of a notorious public figure places Paradise, Massachusetts, police chief Jesse Stone in the harsh glare of the media spotlight.

When the body of controversial talk-show host Walton Weeks is discovered hanging from a tree on the outskirts of Paradise, police chief Jesse Stone finds himself at the center of a highly public case, forcing him to deal with small-minded local officials and national media scrutiny. When another dead body - that of a young woman - is discovered just a few days later, the pressure becomes almost unbearable.

Two victims in less than a week should provide a host of clues, but all Jesse runs into are dead ends. But what may be the most disturbing aspect of these murders is the fact that no one seems to care - not a single one of Weeks's ex-wives, not the family of the girl. And when the medical examiner reveals a heartbreaking link between the two departed souls, the mystery only deepens.

Despite Weeks's reputation and the girl's tender age, Jesse is hard-pressed to find legitimate suspects. Though the crimes are perhaps the most gruesome Jesse has ever witnessed, it is the malevolence behind them that makes them all the more frightening. Forced to delve into a world of stormy relationships, Jesse soon comes to realize that knowing whom he can trust is indeed a matter of life and death.

My take:

This is the first novel that I have read by this author.

His style is very distinctive - the story is mainly told by dialogue through the main characters, with just a little descriptive writing. There is a little humour too, mainly in Jesse Stone's dealing with his offsider Suitcase Simpson who does a lot of the leg work, but is not yet accorded the title of detective.

Running in the background is Stone's own relationships with his ex-wife whom he is finding it hard to beak off relationships with, and Sunny, the woman he would like to develop a relationship with.

My rating: 4.4

About the author

Robert B. Parker began writing in 1971 while teaching at Boston's Northeastern University. Now he is acknowledged as the dean of American crime fiction and was named Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America (2002). His novels featuring the wise-cracking, street-smart Boston private-eye Spenser have earned him a devoted following and reams of critical acclaim. The Spenser character inspired the television series Spenser: For Hire and a number of made-for-television films.

Review: FOOL ME ONCE, Harlan Coben

• 
  This edition made available on Libby as an e-book by my local library
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Century Physical (3 January 2024)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1804947202
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1804947203

Synopsis (Amazon)

You think you know the truth. The truth is you know nothing.

If your husband was murdered.

And you were a witness.

How do you explain it when he appears on your nanny cam, back from the dead?

You thought you trusted him.

Now you can't even trust yourself.

Dark secrets and a terrifying hunt for the truth lie at the heart of this gripping thriller by the 'master of the double twist' Harlan Coben ...

My Take

Maya Stern is a soldier with PTSD. Her sister was murdered 4 months before when Captain Maya Stern was on operations in Iran. And now her husband Joe has been murdered.

The story opens at Joe's funeral where Maya and their 2 year old daughter Lily are with the Burkett family at the graveside.

After the funeral Maya's friend Eileen installs a "nanny cam" in the lounge room so that Maya can keep a check on how the nanny Isabella interacts with 2 year old Lily.  At this point Maya is visited by an NYPD homicide detective who wants to go over the details of what happened the day Joe was murdered. Maya was there when some thugs approached them and then she ran. So she didn't actually see the final shot and she hasn't seen Joe's body.

Maya has left the Army and is now working as a flight instructor and she returns to work the day after the funeral.

And then Joe appears on the nanny cam.

This story is full of twists and turns as we try to work out whether Joe is really dead, and, if he is, who killed him. I enjoyed it much more than my last outing with this author, but even so I didn't see the final twist coming.

My rating: 4.5 

I've also read

• 4.4, CAUGHT
• 4.3, DON'T LET GO
• 4.3, NO SECOND CHANCE
• 4.5, RUN AWAY
• 4.5, THE WOODS 
• 4.4, I WILL FIND YOU
• 3.0, THE MATCH 

Review: SUSPECT, Robert Crais

• 
  This edition available on Amazon for Kindle
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00AZ0HGJI
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Orion (January 17, 2013)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 418 pages
• Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0425278271

Synopsis (Amazon)

LAPD cop Scott James is not doing so well. Eight months ago, a shocking late-night assault by unidentified men killed his partner Stephanie, nearly killed him, and left him enraged, ashamed, and ready to explode. He is unfit for duty - until he meets his new partner.

Maggie is not doing so well, either. A German shepherd who survived three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan sniffing out explosives before losing her handler to an IED.

They are each other's last chance. Shunned and shunted to the side, they set out to investigate the one case that no one wants them to touch: the identity of the men who murdered Stephanie. What they begin to find takes them both on a journey through the darkest moments of their own personal hells. Whether they will make it out again, no one can say.

My Take

I have read this book for discussion with my U3A Crime Fiction Reading Group.

If Maggie had been a human Marine, not a dog, she would be decorated, as it is she is under notice. Shape up or ship out! The same is true of her new human alpha, LAPD cop Scott James. In reality he should be retired. Both he and Maggie have been injured on duty, and both are struggling to resume a working life. They both suffer from PTSD and are temporarily part of the LAPD K-9 unit but the odds are stacked against them.

• both react badly to loud sudden noises
• both have long lingering injuries.

Among the questions I am going to ask my group are those relating to the meaning of the book's title, because I think there is more than one. So, what is it that helps Scott and Maggie work together? What attributes does Maggie have that are of most use to Scott in his search for the killers of his former partner?

Crais attempts to make Maggie a real character, even to the point of getting inside her head, telling us how she sees her new partner. For Scott there is a real learning journey. He has never had a dog before, and has a lot to learn about how to treat Maggie.

In a sequel to this novel THE PROMISE, Crais decided to bring this pair into his Elvis Cole series but there don't appear to be any mention of them after that.

I will be interested to see how my group react to this novel - for some of them it will not be their cup of tea. I should explain that in the case of this group we read sets of books supplied by our local library so I didn't actual choose this book specifically, just a title from a list.

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

4.6, THE FORGOTTEN MAN

Review: I WILL FIND YOU, Harlan Coben

• 
  This edition made available as an e-book on Libby by my local library
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Century Physical (28 November 2023)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1529160553
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1529160550 
• author website
  

Synopsis (publisher) 

David and Cheryl Burroughs are living the dream - married, a beautiful house in the suburbs, a three year old son named Matthew - when tragedy strikes one night in the worst possible way.

David awakes to find himself covered in blood, but not his own - his son's. And while he knows he did not murder his son, the overwhelming evidence against him puts him behind bars indefinitely.

Five years into his imprisonment, Cheryl's sister arrives - and drops a bombshell.

She's come with a photograph that a friend took on vacation at a theme park. The boy in the background seems familiar - and even though David realizes it can't be, he knows it is.

It's Matthew, and he's still alive.

David plans a harrowing escape from prison, determined to do what seems impossible - save his son, clear his own name, and discover the real story of what happened that devastating night.

My Take

From my point of view, a story that stretches the bounds of probability, but nevertheless a feel good scenario, helping us think that justice can be achieved in the most improbable ways.

Two plot strands: a father jailed for life for killing his 3 year old son, and then the possibility that the son is still alive.

My rating: 4.4

I've also read

4.4, CAUGHT
4.3, DON'T LET GO
4.3, NO SECOND CHANCE
4.5, RUN AWAY
4.5, THE WOODS

Review: THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME, Laura Dave

• 
  this edition published by VIPER Simon & Schuster 2021
• ISBN 9781788-169271
  
• 305 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

The “page-turning, exhilarating” (PopSugar) and “heartfelt thriller” (Real Simple) about a woman who thinks she’s found the love of her life—until he disappears.

Before Owen Michaels disappears, he smuggles a note to his beloved wife of one year: Protect her. Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers—Owen’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey. Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. Bailey, who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother.

As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered, as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss, as a US marshal and federal agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was. And that Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen’s true identity—and why he really disappeared.

Hannah and Bailey set out to discover the truth. But as they start putting together the pieces of Owen’s past, they soon realize they’re also building a new future—one neither of them could have anticipated.

With its breakneck pacing, dizzying plot twists, and evocative family drama, The Last Thing He Told Me is a “page-turning, exhilarating, and unforgettable” (PopSugar) suspense novel.

My Take

There was no warning in the morning that Owen Michaels wouldn't be coming home after work that night. A child turns up on Hannah's doorstep with a note from Owen and it becomes obvious he is on the run. That is quickly followed with a message from a friend, and then a story on the news, that the company he works for are in trouble, and that Owen's boss has been arrested for fraud and embezzlement.

Two days on and an FBI Marshall turns up on Hannah's doorstep and then the police come knocking.  Owen's daughter Bailey finds a sack of money in her locker at school with another brief note.

Hannah realises that Owen is on the run and she and Bailey start to put together clues about where he is and why. A real page turner.

Reading Group Guide available.

My rating: 4.6

About the author

Laura Dave is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Last Thing He Told Me, Eight Hundred Grapes, and other novels. Her books have been published in thirty-eight countries and have been chosen by Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club, Book of the Month Club, and the Richard and Judy Book Club. The Last Thing He Told Me was chosen as the Goodreads Mystery & Thriller of the Year for 2021. It is now a limited series on Apple TV+, cocreated by Laura. She resides in Santa Monica, California.