Midnight Timetable: A Novel in Ghost Stories by Bora Chung

Started: 2/20/2026

Finished: 2/22/2026

Year: 2025

Pages: 1881

Genre: horror

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "The acclaimed Korean horror and sci-fi writer’s goosebump-inducing new book follows an employee on the night shift at the Institute. They soon learn why some employees don't last long at the center. The handkerchief in Room 302 once belonged to the late mother of two sons, whose rivalry imbues the handkerchief with undue power and unravels the lives of those who seek to possess it. Meanwhile a live-streaming, ghost-chasing employee steals a cursed sneaker down the hall, but later finds he can’t escape its tread. The cat in Room 206 begins to reveal the crimes of its former family, wanting to understand its own path to the Institute’s dimly lit halls."

Opinion: Unlike some collections of short stories, these actually tie in with each other which makes them more enjoyable. I can always appreciate a good ghost story. None of them scared me or made me anxious.

Cream Puff Murder by Joanne Fluke

Started: 2/17/2026

Finished: 2/20/2026

Year: 2009

Pages: 310

Genre: mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Hannah Swensen, Lake Eden, Minnesota's finest bakery owner and amateur sleuth, discovers a body floating in a health club jacuzzi. When her part-time flame, Detective Mike Kingston, becomes the prime suspect, he recruits Hannah to find out whodunit."

Opinion: Too many policemen who have told Hannah not to get involved investigations now want her to investigate this particular murder-very unrealistic. Decent mystery but pretty easy to figure out whodunit

Brothers of the Gun by Mark Lee Gardner

Started: 2/15/2026

Finished: 2/16/2026

Year: 2025

Pages: 246

Genre: Biography

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday: Legendary gunfighters and friends who gained immortality because of a thirty-second shootout near a livery stable called the O.K. Corral. Their friendship actually began three years before that iconic 1881 gunfight, in the rollicking cattle town of Dodge City. Wyatt, an assistant city marshal, was surrounded by armed, belligerent cowboys. Doc saw Wyatt’s predicament from a monte table in the Long Branch saloon and burst out the door with two leveled revolvers shouting, “Throw up your hands!” The startled cowboys did, and Wyatt and Doc led them off to jail. Wyatt credited Doc with saving his life, and thus began their lasting—and curious—friendship.

"In this illuminating dual biography, the first about Earp and Holliday, the lives of these two men, one a sometime lawman and the other a sometime dentist, are chronicled in a swirling tableau of saloons, brothels, gambling dens, stage holdups, arrests, manhunts, and revenge killings. And while there’s plenty of gunsmoke in this saga, hero-worshipping won’t be found. Wyatt and Doc, just like anyone else then and now, had their flaws and failings, and the unsavory parts of their lives are here, too.

"In Brothers of the Gun, Old West authority Mark Lee Gardner reveals fresh information about Wyatt’s and Doc’s early lives, their famous friendship, the O.K. Corral gunfight, and Wyatt’s controversial “vendetta ride” following the assassination of his brother Morgan. Drawing upon new research into diaries, letters, court records, and contemporary newspaper reports, as well as firsthand observation at several historic sites, this is the definitive book on Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and their enduring bond. Brothers of the Gun is edge-of-your-saddle nonfiction storytelling at its best."

Opinion: This was more about Wyatt than about Doc so the title is a little bit misleading. Interesting history.

All My Bones by P.J. Nelson

Started: 2/11/2026

Finished: 2/14/2026

Year: 2025

Pages: 336

Genre: mystery

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book, continuing series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Madeline Brimley recently inherited a bookstore in Enigma, Georgia, is embarking on her second career, after her first one (acting) founders upon the metaphorical rocks. Settling in, Madeline recruits her friend Gloria Coleman, the local Episcopal priest, to help her plant azaleas in the front yard of the old Victorian that houses the bookstore. Turning the soil, however, uncovers the body of one Beatrice Glassie, a troublesome woman who has been missing for the past six months.

"When her friend Gloria is arrested for the murder, Madeline is determined to prove her innocence and, as she quickly finds out, there aren't many people in town who hadn't wanted to kill Bea Glassie at one point or another. And the very expensive and rare first edition of a particular volume of Grimm's Fairy Tales―ordered by the victim and her sister is somehow tied to the grim death. With the help of her not-quite-boyfriend, a local lawman, and her deceased aunt's best friend, Madeline plans to set a trap to catch the real murderer―before she becomes the next victim."

Opinion: An okay mystery-not enough suspects. Interesting background of Gloria.

Secret Prey by John Sandford

Started: 1/18/2026

Finished: 2/12/2026

Year: 1998

Pages: 495

Genre: mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: TBR, continuing with series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "A wealthy banker is dead, shot once in the chest during a hunting trip. There are many reasons for him to be killed, and many people who would do the deed. But who did?  Lucas Davenport has an idea. But this routine murder investigation is about to turn into something different. A cat-and-mouse game with a killer who does not hesitate to take the fight to Lucas himself. And those he loves…"

Opinion: Delusions and money are a thing

Monster in the Moonlight by Annelise Ryan

Started: 2/9/2026

Finished: 2/10/2026

Year: 2026

Pages: 323

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): 'When a dead body turns up along a lonely country byway in rural Wisconsin, rumors of The Beast of Bray Road, a werewolf-like creature that is said to inhabit the area are reinvigorated. For years locals have reported sightings of the terrifying creature, but this would be its first verified attack.

"Marks on the dead woman’s body indicate a mauling by some kind of large animal. The wounds plus deep scratches on the victim’s car convince the community that the legendary beast is not only real but responsible for this brutal killing.

"If the police have any hope of solving this crime, they’re going to need an expert—enter cryptozoologist Morgan Carter. She’s investigated sightings of eerie creatures throughout the upper Midwest. If anyone is going to track down the killer, it’s Morgan, but she may find that the Beast is not the worst thing lurking on Bray Road."

Opinion: Not a lot of suspects so it wasn't too hard to figure out whodunit. Interesting history of The Beast of Bray Road.

The Gallagher Place by Julie Doar

Started: 2/6/2026

Finished: 2/9/2026

Year: 2025

Pages: 341

Genre: mystery

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "When Marlowe Fisher, an illustrator living in New York City, returns to her family’s bewitching Hudson Valley home for the holidays, she discovers a body in the woods―a murder that draws her back into the haunting case of her teenage best friend’s disappearance two decades earlier. What happened to Nora?

"As police descend on the sprawling Fisher property, Marlowe is pulled into an investigation that threatens to unravel the town’s fragile loyalties and expose the shadowed legacy of a weekend home steeped in secrets. Marlowe must confront the fallibility of her own memory and the feeling that everyone―including her brothers―is hiding something if she’s to uncover the shocking truth about her lost friend. In this gripping debut, Julie Doar delivers a chilling mystery that explores the corrosive power of silence and the tension of family secrets."

Opinion: The additional murder didn't really seem to have a place in the longer mystery. Not surprised by what happened.