Agony Hill by Sarah Stewart Taylor

Started: 6/27/2025

Finished: 6/30/2025

Year: 2024

Pages: 306

Genre: historical mystery

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "In the hot summer of 1965, Bostonian Franklin Warren arrives in Bethany, Vermont, to take a position as a detective with the state police. Warren's new home is on the verge of monumental change; the interstates under construction will bring new people, new opportunities, and new problems to Vermont, and the Cold War and protests against the war in Vietnam have finally reached the dirt roads and rolling pastures of Bethany.

"Warren has barely unpacked when he's called up to a remote farm on Agony Hill. Former New Yorker and Back-to-the-Lander Hugh Weber seems to have set fire to his barn and himself, with the door barred from the inside, but things aren’t adding up for Warren. The people of Bethany―from Weber’s enigmatic wife to Warren's neighbor, widow and amateur detective Alice Bellows ― clearly have secrets they’d like to keep, but Warren can’t tell if the truth about Weber’s death is one of them. As he gets to know his new home and grapples with the tragedy that brought him there, Warren is drawn to the people and traditions of small town Vermont, even as he finds darkness amidst the beauty."

Opinion: Slow burning to a rushed end. Not a horrible mystery but not enough for me to continue with the series.

The Bone Hacker by Kathy Reichs

Started: 6/25/2025

Finished: 6/27/2025

Year: 2023

Pages: 317

Genre: mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Called in to examine what is left of a person thought to have been struck by lightning, Tempe traces an unusual tattoo to its source and is soon embroiled in something much larger. Young men—tourists—have been disappearing on the islands of Turks and Caicos. Seven years earlier, the first victim was found in a strange location with his left hand hacked off; subsequently, two other visitors vanished without a trace. But recently, tantalizing leads have emerged…

"Maddeningly, the victims seem to have nothing in common—other than the odd places where their bodies turn up, and the fact that none seems likely to have been involved in criminal activity. Do these attacks have something to do with the islands’ culture of gang violence? Tempe isn’t so sure—but she soon discovers evidence that what’s at stake may have global significance, and the sound of a ticking clock grows menacingly loud. Then Tempe herself becomes a target…"

Opinion: Imagine being asked to go to Turks/Caicos to help solve some cold cases from Montreal. Slow buildup, rushed ending.

One Dog Night by David Rosenfelt

Started: 6/23/2025

Finished: 6/25/2025

Year: 2011

Pages: 387

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: TBR pile, continuing with series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "For six years Noah Galloway has lived with a horrible secret and the fear that his rebuilt life could be shattered at any moment. Now his dread has become a certainty, and he has been arrested for the arson murder of twenty-six people.

"What he needs is defense lawyer Andy Carpenter, who most definitely is not in the market for a new client. So Noah plays his hole card: a shared love for Andy’s golden retriever, Tara, and the knowledge that Andy wasn’t her first owner―Noah rescued Tara first. When Noah wasn’t able to care for her any longer, he did everything in his power to make sure that she was placed in the right home: Andy’s.

"Andy soon learns that the long-ago event that may destroy Noah’s life is only the beginning of an ongoing conspiracy that grows more deadly by the day."

Opinion: Interesting case with a little bit of everything involved-military, FBI, mafia, etc

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall

Started: 6/23/2025

Finished: DNF

Year: 2025

Pages: 302

Genre: literature

Grade: F

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Beth and her gentle, kind husband Frank are happily married, but their relationship relies on the past staying buried. But when Beth’s brother-in-law shoots a dog going after their sheep, Beth doesn’t realize that the gunshot will alter the course of their lives. For the dog belonged to none other than Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth loved as a teenager—the man who broke her heart years ago. Gabriel has returned to the village with his young son Leo, a boy who reminds Beth very much of her own son, who died in a tragic accident.

"As Beth is pulled back into Gabriel’s life, tensions around the village rise and dangerous secrets and jealousies from the past resurface, this time with deadly consequences. Beth is forced to make a choice between the woman she once was, and the woman she has become."

Opinion: So much flipping back and forth in time. The characters are decently written but the back and forth was too annoying.

Open Carry by Marc Cameron

Started: 6/19/2025

Finished: 6/23/2025

Year: 2019

Pages: 312

Genre: mystery/thriller

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book, start of series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "U.S. Marshal Arliss Cutter is a born tracker. Raised in the Florida swamplands, he honed his skills in the military, fought in the Middle East, and worked three field positions for Marshal Services. When it comes to tracking someone down—or taking someone out—Cutter’s the best. But his newest assignment is taking him out of his comfort zone to southeast Alaska. Cold, dark, uninhabited forests often shrouded in fog. And it’s the kind of case that makes his blood run cold . . . the shocking murder of a Tlingit Indian girl.

"But the murder is just the beginning. Now, three people have disappeared on Prince of Wales Island. Two are crew members of the reality TV show, Fishwives. Cutter’s job is to find the bodies, examine the crew’s footage for clues, and track down the men who killed them. But it won’t be easy, because the whole town is hiding secrets, every trail is a dead end—and the hunter becomes the hunted . . ."

Opinion: Lots of action among different but connected mysteries.

Belonging by Nancy Thayer

Started: 6/18/2025

Finished: DNF

Year: 1995

Pages: 388

Genre: literature

Grade: F

Reason for reading: bookcrossing.com book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Today Joanna has the life she'd always dreamed of...

"Joanna Jones, the successful host of Fabulous Homes, a New York based TV show, seems to have it all. Blessed with great looks, she has a successful lover and a job that gives her fame and money, while allowing her to indulge her passion for beautiful homes.

"Tomorrow she might lose it all...

"Suddenly and shockingly, Joanna will discover what she doesn't have: a committed relationship she can depend on. Now she faces a stunning discovery alone and makes the tuogh decision to leave her glittering life for an old Nantucket house on the ocean, new friends, and unexpected enemies. The choices ahead will test her courage; the surprising twists of fate will challenge her faith as she faces a day of ashes, a time of sorrow, and one extraordinary new chance for love, happiness, and..."

Opinion: I did not like Joanna's character and did not care if she changed or redeemed herself

Going Home in the Dark by Dean Koontz

Started: 6/17/2025

Finished: DNF

Year: 2025

Pages: 385

Genre: Thriller

Grade: F

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "As kids, outcasts Rebecca, Bobby, Spencer, and Ernie were inseparable friends in the idyllic town of Maple Grove. Three left to pursue lofty dreams―and achieved them. Only Ernie never left. When he falls into a coma, his three amigos feel an urgent need to return home. Don’t they remember people lapsing into comas back then? And those people always awoke…didn’t they?

"After two decades, not a lot has changed in Maple Grove, especially Ernie’s obnoxious, scary mother. But Rebecca, Bobby, and Spencer begin to remember a hulking, murderous figure and weirdness piled on mystery that they were made to forget. As Ernie sinks deeper into darkness, something strange awaits any friend who tries to save him.

"For Rebecca, Bobby, and Spencer, time is running out to remember the terrors of the past in a perfect town where nothing is what it seems. For Maple Grove, it’s a chance to have the “four amigos,” as they once called themselves, back in its grasp."

Opinion: Too many author interruptions. There are ways to let readers know about characters without interrupting the flow of the story.

Sugar Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke

Started: 6/16/2025

Finished: 6/17/2025

Year: 2004

Pages: 168 (other half is recipes)

Genre: mystery

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "During the Lake Eden Holiday Buffet, bakery owner Hannah Swensen stumbles upon a recipe for murder when Mrs. Dubinski, a former Vegas showgirl, is found dead with Hannah's mother's antique Christmas cake knife buried in her cleavage"

Opinion: For a short book, the discovery of the body didn't take place until halfway through. A quick solve.

Celtic Chains by Donna Kelly

Started: 6/16/2025

Finished: 6/16/2025

Year: 2014

Pages: 203

Genre: mystery

Grade: C

Reason for reading: TBR pile, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Blacks Bookshop website): "Dottie Faye Sinclair is on edge from the minute she arrives in Ireland. She is there to help her niece, Emma Cotton, in the investigation of Liam Gallagher, a textile shop owner in the quaint town of Merrow. But talk of banshees and pookas, mythical creatures of the Emerald Isle, incites Dottie Faye's superstitious nature and compromises her ability to help."

Opinion: Barely anything on the main investigation that has been the point of this series which is disappointing.

The Tenant by Freida McFadden

Started: 6/12/2025

Finished: 6/16/2025

Year: 2025

Pages: 344

Genre: thriller

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Blake Porter is riding high, until he's not. Fired abruptly from his job as a VP of marketing and unable to make the mortgage payments on the new brownstone he shares with his fiancée, he's desperate to make ends meet.

"Enter Whitney. Beautiful, charming, down-to-earth, and looking for a room to rent. She's exactly what Blake's looking for. Or is she?

"Because something isn't quite right. The neighbors start treating Blake differently. The smell of decay permeates his home, no matter how hard he scrubs. Strange noises jar him awake in the middle of the night. And soon Blake fears someone knows his darkest secrets...

"Danger lives right at home, and by the time Blake realizes it, it'll be far too late. The trap is already set."

Opinion: Talk about roommates from hell................

Under the Cover of Murder by Lauren Elliott

Started: 6/10/2025

Finished: 6/12/2025

Year: 2021

Pages: 316

Genre: cozy mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "It promises to be Greyborne Harbor's wedding of the year. The impending nuptials of Serena Chandler and Zach Ludlow will take place aboard his family's luxurious super-yacht, currently moored in the harbor and the talk of the town. But on the day of the wedding, a man's body washes up on the beach with no ID, only a torn page from a book in his pocket. As owner of Beyond the Page Books and Curios, bibliophile Addie is called in to identify the book, but she cannot.

"The morning following the extravagant ceremony, a second body washes ashore and Addie has a sinking feeling that the two deaths are connected. While the guests are held on the yacht as the police investigate, at least Addie can peruse Zach's father's rare books library on board. A copy of Agatha Christie's first Hercule Poirot novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, provides a clue that the killer may still be on the ship--but narrowing down the suspects without becoming the next victim may prove a truly Herculean task..."

Opinion: Trapped on a yacht, solving a murder. Decent continuation of the series.

Fan Fiction by Brent Spiner

Started: 6/10/2025

Finished: DNF

Year: 2021

Pages: 240

Genre: mystery

Grade: F

Reason for reading: goodreads.com giveaway

Type: ARC

Blurb (from Amazon): "Set in 1991, just as Star Trek: The Next Generation has rocketed the cast to global fame, the young and impressionable actor Brent Spiner receives a mysterious package and a series of disturbing letters, that take him on a terrifying and bizarre journey that enlists Paramount Security, the LAPD, and even the FBI in putting a stop to the danger that has his life and career hanging in the balance.

"Featuring a cast of characters from Patrick Stewart to Levar Burton to Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, to some completely imagined, this is the fictional autobiography that takes readers into the life of Brent Spiner, and tells an amazing tale about the trappings of celebrity and the fear he has carried with him his entire life."

Opinion: Just didn't care about Brent and his stalker....or the cast of Star Trek. 

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Started: 6/9/2025

Finished: DNF

Year: 2020

Pages: 351

Genre: mystery

Grade: F

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves the Thursday Murder Club.

"When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case.

"As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it's too late?"

Opinion: Put it down and the next chapter felt like anything I read wasn't happening. Wanted to read it before the movie comes out but I'll just stick with watching the movie.

Cold, Cold Bones by Kathy Reichs

Started: 6/7/2025

Finished: 6/9/2025

Year: 2022

Pages: 338

Genre: mystery/thriller

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Winter has come to North Carolina and, with it, a drop in crime. Freed from a heavy work schedule, Tempe Brennan is content to dote on her daughter Katy, finally returned to civilian life from the army. But when mother and daughter meet at Tempe’s place one night, they find a box on the back porch. Inside: a very fresh human eyeball.

"GPS coordinates etched into the eyeball lead to a Benedictine monastery where an equally macabre discovery awaits. Soon after, Tempe examines a mummified corpse in a state park, and her anxiety deepens.

"There seems to be no pattern to the subsequent killings uncovered, except that each mimics in some way a homicide that a younger Tempe had been called in to analyze. Who or what is targeting her, and why?

"Helping Tempe search for answers is detective Erskine “Skinny” Slidell, retired but still volunteering with the CMPD cold case unit—and still displaying his gallows humor. Also pulled into the mystery: Andrew Ryan, Tempe’s Montreal-based beau, now working as a private detective.

"Could this elaborately staged skein of mayhem be the prelude to a twist that is even more shocking? Tempe is at a loss to establish the motive for what is going on…and then her daughter disappears."

Opinion: Revenge can be interesting...and gory. Really don't understand why Tempe did something because it was out of sorts for her personality.

Winter Prey by John Sandford

Started: 6/2/2025

Finished: 6/6/2025

Year: 1993

Pages: 394

Genre: mystery/thriller

Grade: B

Reason for reading: TBR, continuing with series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "It's the dead of winter, and a killer like no other is turning a small Wisconsin town into a death trap-one that's closing in on Lucas Davenport."

Opinion: Decent high paced thriller. Could be triggering for some.

The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig

Started: 5/29/2025

Finished: 6/2/2025

Year: 2025

Pages: 381

Genre: thriller

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Five high school friends are bonded by an oath to protect one another no matter what.

"Then, on a camping trip in the middle of the forest, they find something extraordinary: a mysterious staircase to nowhere.

"One friend walks up—and never comes back down. Then the staircase disappears.

"Twenty years later, the staircase has reappeared. Now the group returns to find the lost boy—and what lies beyond the staircase in the woods. . . ."

Opinion: Decent horror/thriller book. Interesting concept.