Cruel and Unusual by Patricia Cornwell

Started: 1/20/2026

Finished: 1/23/2026

Year: 1993

Pages: 273

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "'Killing me won't kill the beast' are the last words of rapist-murderer Ronnie Joe Waddell, written four days before his execution. But they can't explain how Dr. Kay Scarpetta finds Waddell's fingerprints on another crime scene -- after she'd performed his autopsy. If this is some sort of game, Scarpetta seems to be the target. And if the next victim is someone she knows, the punishment will be cruel and unusual..."

Opinion: Interesting twists and turns and internal sabatage.

Don't Let Him In by Lisa Jewell

Started: 1/20/2026

Finished: DNF

Year: 2025

Pages: 357

Genre: mystery

Grade: F

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Nina Swann is intrigued when she received a condolence card from Nick Radcliffe, an old friend of her late husband, who is looking to connect after her husband’s unexpected death. Nick is a man of substance and good taste. He has a smile that could melt the coldest heart and a knack for putting others at ease. But to Nina’s adult daughter, Ash, Nick seems too slick, too polished, too good to be true. Without telling her mother, Ash begins digging into Nick’s past. What she finds is more than unsettling…

"Martha is a florist living in a neighboring town with her infant daughter and her devoted husband, Alistair. But lately, Alistair has been traveling more and more frequently for work, disappearing for days at a time. When Martha questions him about his frequent absences, he always has a legitimate explanation, but Martha can’t share the feeling that something isn’t right.

"Nina, Martha, and Ash are on a collision course with a shocking truth that is far darker than anyone could have imagined. And all three are about to wish they had heeded the same warning: Don’t let him in."

Opinion: The writing style did not appeal to me-so much so that I stopped reading. 

Epilogue to a Christmas Murder by Lauren Elliott

Started: 1/18/2026

Finished: 1/20/2026

Year: 2025

Pages: 360

Genre: cozy mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "There’s no place like the seaside Massachusetts town of Greyborne Harbor for the holidays, and there’s no better feeling for Addie than donating to the lighthouse museum’s Twelve Days of Christmas charity fundraiser. Of the dozen books she’ll be offering as prizes from her Beyond the Page Books and Curios shop, the most special volume is a first edition of The Gift of the Magi imported from England—signed by O. Henry! Addie receives an unexpected Christmas bonus when the book is hand delivered by visiting Detective Inspector Noah Parker, whom she met in England, and has been daydreaming about ever since.

"But on the night Addie delivers the book to the museum, someone posing as one of Santa’s Little Helpers swipes it—and the rest of the charity gifts. As if the theft wasn’t bad enough, a body is found on the rocks outside the lighthouse, believed to be murdered. Now, it’s up to Addie to connect the clues, find stolen goods, and catch a killer—in order to usher in a Happy New Year . . ."

Opinion: Much better now that Addie is back home. Murderer was predictable-motive was not. Decent.

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler

Started: 1/16/2026

Finished: 1/17/2026

Year: 2025

Pages: 165

Genre: literature

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Gail Baines is having a bad day. To start, she loses her job—or quits, depending on whom you ask. Tomorrow her daughter, Debbie, is getting married, and she hasn’t even been invited to the spa day organized by the mother of the groom. Then, Gail’s ex-husband, Max, arrives unannounced on her doorstep, carrying a cat, without a place to stay, and without even a suit.

"But the true crisis lands when Debbie shares with her parents a secret she has just learned about her husband to be. It will not only throw the wedding into question but also stir up Gail and Max’s past."

Opinion: Um...ok....an everyday wedding weekend....about people I didn't really care about.

Burning Boy by Paul Auster

Started: 1/15/2026

Finished: DNF

Year: 2021

Pages: 738

Genre: biography

Grade: D

Reason for reading: goodreads.com giveaway

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "With Burning Boy, celebrated novelist Paul Auster tells the extraordinary story of Stephen Crane, best known as the author of The Red Badge of Courage, who transformed American literature through an avalanche of original short stories, novellas, poems, journalism, and war reportage before his life was cut short by tuberculosis at age twenty-eight.

"Auster’s probing account of this singular life tracks Crane as he rebounds from one perilous situation to the next: A controversial article written at twenty disrupts the course of the 1892 presidential campaign, a public battle with the New York police department over the false arrest of a prostitute effectively exiles him from the city, a star-crossed love affair with an unhappily married uptown girl tortures him, a common-law marriage to the proprietress of Jacksonville’s most elegant bawdyhouse endures, a shipwreck results in his near drowning, he withstands enemy fire to send dispatches from the Spanish-American War, and then he relocates to England, where Joseph Conrad becomes his closest friend and Henry James weeps over his tragic, early death."

Opinion: Auster seems a little bit obsessed with Crane's life and writings. I, like most people my age and older, read "The Red Badge of Courage" in highschool or middle school. I don't remember much of it but I know that I didn't hate it like so many others have over the years. Just too long of a biography.

The Woman in Suite 11 by Ruth Ware

Started: 1/12/2026

Finished: 1/16/2026

Year: 2025

Pages: 384

Genre: mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book, sequel

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "When the invitation to attend the press opening of a luxury Swiss hotel—owned by reclusive billionaire Marcus Leidmann—arrives, it’s like the answer to a prayer. Three years after the birth of her youngest child, Lo Blacklock is ready to reestablish her journalism career, but post-pandemic travel journalism is a very different landscape from the one she left ten years ago.

"The chateau on the shores of Lake Geneva is everything Lo’s ever dreamed of, and she hopes she can snag an interview with Marcus. Unfortunately, he proves to be even more difficult to pin down than his reputation suggests. When Lo gets a late-night call asking her to come to Marcus’s hotel room, she agrees despite her own misgivings. She’s greeted, however, by a woman claiming to be Marcus’s mistress, and in life-or-death jeopardy."

Opinion: Definitely need to read the previous book to understand the character dynamics. Was a tad too long.

Hounded by David Rosenfelt

Started: 12/16/2025

Finished: 1/14/2026

Year: 2014

Pages: 313

Reason for reading: TBR pile, continuing with series

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Andy Carpenter isn't sure what to think when he gets a mysterious phone call from a good friend, policeman Pete Stanton, asking him to drop everything, drive to an unfamiliar address, and bring his girlfriend, Laurie Collins. He certainly isn't expecting to show up at a crime scene. But that's exactly where he arrives―at the house where Pete has just discovered the body of ex-convict Danny Diza. Upstairs are Danny's now orphaned eight-year-old son and basset hound. And that, Andy discovers, is why he and Laurie were called to the scene―Pete wants them to take care of the boy and the dog so they won't get thrown into the "system." This is already asking a lot, but soon Pete needs another big favor from Andy. Pete himself has come under suspicion for Danny's murder, and he needs defense attorney Andy to represent him…and to find out what really happened in Danny's house that day."

Opinion: Interesting case. Good personal story for Andy.

The Guest Cottage by Lori Foster

Started: 1/11/2026

Finished: 1/12/2026

Year: 2025

Pages: 298

Genre: romance/fiction

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Marlow Heddings is starting over. She’s carried the outrage of her husband Dylan’s affair with a younger woman—and the expectations of his family’s powerful Chicago holdings company—long enough. Now, after another devastating twist of fate, she’s unapologetically moving on.

"Arriving in tiny Bramble, Kentucky, Marlow revels in her freedom, swapping her executive suits for sundresses . . . and scouting places to open her dream boutique. Best of all is her new residence, an adorable cottage with gorgeous lake views—and a breathtaking landlord, former Marine Cort Easton. Soon they’re sharing dockside morning coffee and nighttime firefly gazing. Marlow’s new life feels like a dream.

"Then Pixie Nolan arrives on her doorstep. With a shocking secret.

"To Marlow’s astonishment, Dylan’s “other woman” is a desperate girl of nineteen, destitute, exhausted, and disowned by her family. Defying her manipulative in-laws’ demands, and surprising even herself, Marlow vows to lay down roots in Bramble and help Pixie get on her feet. Then they’ll part ways. But empathy has a way of forging bonds. As Marlow grows close to the hard-working, devoted young woman, she becomes something of a big sister to Pixie.

"Now, with each sunrise, Marlow awakens to the life she was truly meant to live, one filled with deepening connections, supportive friendship . . . and even a second chance at love."

Opinion: A sweet story about a second chance at love and forgiving the past-not sure if I could be as forgiving as Marlow but it's an important lesson.

Death at the Door by Olivia Blacke

Started: 1/8/2026

Finished: 1/11/2026

Year: 2025

Pages: 336

Genre: mystery

Grade; B-

Reason for reading; library book, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Ruby Young is slowly adjusting to her new life in Boston. A big part of that is her unexpected roommate―the ghost of the woman who lived there before. For Cordelia Graves, she may no longer be breathing, but it’s still her apartment and Ruby is the somewhat unwanted houseguest. They’re both happy they’ve managed to become friends, which is a miracle considering they struggle to communicate with each other. Cordelia even set Ruby up with her old job.

"When Ruby discovers the body of a delivery guy at work, the new life she’s been building hangs in the balance. The last time Cordelia dragged Ruby into a murder investigation, it was almost two ghosts living in the apartment, not one. Determined to protect Ruby, Cordelia tries to shield her from the investigation, but Ruby has other ideas. It will take both of them working together to navigate the fine line between the dead and the living to bring a killer to light."

Opinio: Decent second book. Ending leads up to a third. Reasoning for the murder seemed quickly put together.