Night Shift by Stephen Kign

Started: 8/10/2026

Finished: 8/10/2026

Year: 1978

Pages: 344

Genre: short stories

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Night Shift is Stephen King's first collection of short stories--a perfect showcase of just how far King's dark imagination can go. Here we see mutated rats gone bad ("Graveyard Shift"); a cataclysmic virus that threatens humanity ("Night Surf," the basis for The Stand); a possessed, evil lawnmower ("The Lawnmower Man"); unsettling children from the heartland ("Children of the Corn"); a smoker who will try anything to stop ("Quitters, Inc."); a reclusive alcoholic who begins a gruesome transformation ("Gray Matter"); and many more. This is Stephen King at his horrifying best."

Opinion: As with any collection, some stores grabbed me, others did not-some I didn't finish because they didn't grab me.

Dungeons and Danger by Elizabeth Penney

Started: 8/9/2026

Finished: 8/10/2026

Year: 2026

Pages: 282

Genre: cozy mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "As Halloween approaches, Ravensea Castle is bustling with excitement as Nora Asquith welcomes the fall season guests to her family's newly converted bed and breakfast. A historian studying the movements of the Vikings has traced their exploits to Ravensea. A certain Viking woman, known as the Red Maiden, landed here and the historian believes she buried a treasure hoard before the castle was built. He is hopeful he can find the hoard now. Nora can't help but wonder if the enigmatic castle ghost she's always referred to as the woman in red could be this very Viking?

"Meanwhile, a team of four ghost hunters is coming to stay at Ravensea for the filming of Britain's Got Ghosts. Former students of the historian, the group arrives with their own rivalries and baggage. They try to see who can make the most paranormal contacts and end up getting more than they bargained for.

"When the historian is murdered during a Viking festival on castle grounds and his notes go missing, Nora can't help but wonder if the treasure was why he was killed . . . and could it be connected to the visiting ghost hunters? Additional "accidents" befalling the hunters raise the stakes as Nora races to find the killer―and the treasure―before another death occurs."

Opinion: A fun mystery wrapped with Viking lore and ghost hunting.

Leave No Trace by A. J. Landau

Started: 8/1/2026

Finished: 8/8/2026

Year: 2024

Pages: 341

Genre: mystery, thriller

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "In a daring, brutal act of terrorism, an explosion rocks and topples the Statue of Liberty. Special Agent Michael Walker of the National Park Service is awakened by his boss with that news and sent to New York as the agent-in-charge. Not long after he lands, he learns two things - one that Gina Delgado of the FBI has been placed in charge of the investigation as the lead of the Joint Terrorism Task Force and two, that threats of a second terrorism attack are already being called into the media. While barred from the meetings of the Joint Task Force for his lack of security clearance, Walker finds a young boy among the survivors with a critical piece of information - a video linking the attackers to the assault.

"As a radical domestic terrorist group, led by a shadowy figure known only as Jeremiah, threatens further attacks against America's cultural symbols, powerful forces within the government are misleading the investigation to further their own radical agenda."

Opinion: Each chapter begins with a fact about where that particular chapter takes place-I liked learning the little facts. Decent suspenseful mystery.

The Shining by Stephen King

Started: 7/20/2026

Finished: 7/30/2026

Year: 1977

Pages: 659

Genre: horror/suspense

Grade; B+

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Jack Torrance’s new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he’ll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic location feels ever more remote . . . and more sinister. And the only one to notice the strange and terrible forces gathering around the Overlook is Danny Torrance, a uniquely gifted five-year-old."

Opinion: The movie captures most of what is in here and adds a couple of elements that are not. Suspenseful. Fun read.

Outfoxed by David Rosenfelt

Started 7/16/2026

Finished: 7/18/2026

Year: 2016

Pages: 326

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: TBR pile, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Defense lawyer Andy Carpenter spends as much time as he can working on his true passion, the Tara Foundation, the dog rescue organization he runs. Lately, Andy has been especially involved in a county prison program where inmates help train dogs the Tara Foundation has rescued to make them more adoptable, benefiting both the dogs and the prisoners. One of the prisoners Andy has been working with is Brian Atkins, who has 18 months left on a 5-year term for fraud. Brian has been helping to train Boomer, an adorable fox terrier the Tara Foundation rescued from a neglectful owner. Brian and Boomer are clearly a terrific match. In fact, Andy hopes that Brian will adopt Boomer himself, once his sentence is up. But one day, Andy arrives at the prison to discover that Brian has used Boomer to make an ingenious escape, and man and dog are both in the wind. The next day, the man on whose testimony Brian was convicted is found murdered. Brian is caught and arrested for the crime, though he forcefully protests his innocence. Suddenly, Andy finds himself with a new client in Brian and a new dog in Boomer. And as he starts to dig deeper into the murder and the events leading up to it, Andy realizes he might be putting them all in far more danger than anyone had realized."

Opinion: A decent murder mystery. A big lingering situation is resolved...or is it? Wondering what the next book will bring to Andy and his family. 

Crypt Suzette by Maya Corrigan

Started 7/12/2026

Finished: 7/16/2026

Year: 2019

Pages: 288

Genre: cozy mystery

Grade: B+

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Suzette Cripps has been occupying a spare bedroom at Val’s granddad’s house while she takes classes in this Maryland Eastern Shore town—but she’s always seemed a little secretive and fearful, and any talk about her past is a closed book.

"After winning the costume contest at the Halloween-themed bookstore party, Suzette is mowed down by a hit-and-run driver—and Val and her grandfather start to wonder whether it was really an accident or if someone was after Suzette. Granddad is a little distracted by his new enterprise as a ghost-buster, but as Val talks to Suzette’s coworkers and fellow creative writing students, she grows more convinced that the dead woman’s demons weren’t imaginary—and that she needs to rip the mask off a killer …"

Opinion: Plenty of suspects. Interesting murder victim and reasoning for murder.

No Way to Treat a Child by Naomi Schaefer Riley

Started: 7/12/2026

Finished: DNF

Year: 2021

Pages: 205

Genre: non fiction-foster care system/child welfare

Grade: F

Reason for reading: won it through Goodreads.com giveaway

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Kids in danger are treated instrumentally to promote the rehabilitation of their parents, the welfare of their communities, and the social justice of their race and tribe—all with the inevitable result that their most precious developmental years are lost in bureaucratic and judicial red tape. It is time to stop letting efforts to fix the child welfare system get derailed by activists who are concerned with race-matching, blood ties, and the abstract demands of social justice, and start asking the most important question: Where are the emotionally and financially stable, loving, and permanent homes where these kids can thrive?"

Opinion: The author is a journalist-never actually worked in the child welfare system. I have worked in it and yes it is FAR from perfect but how about you actually work it and come up with something better?

On Thin Icing by Ellie Alexander

Started: 7/10/2026

Finished: 7/12/2026

Year: 2016

Pages: 270

Genre: cozy mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "It's the dead of winter in the sleepy town of Ashland, which means no tourists-and fewer customers-for Jules Capshaw and her bakery. But when she's asked to cater an off-season retreat for the directors of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, business starts heating up...until Jules finds a dead body in the freezer.

"Someone at the retreat has apparently iced the bartender, a well-known flirt with a legendary temper-that is, before a killer beat him to the punch. Then, from out of nowhere, Jules's own ex-husband shows up at the shop-and soon becomes a suspect. With accusations piling up higher than the snow-and thicker than a chocolate mousse cake-Jules has to think outside the (recipe) box to find the real culprit...and make sure he gets his just desserts."

Opinion: Interesting off the main stage mystery. Not sure if I'm liking Carlos showing up.