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.

By Cook or By Crook by Maya Corrigan

Started: 1/4/2026

Finished: 1/5/2026

Year: 2014

Pages: 299

Genre: cozy mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, author recently passed away

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Haunted by the car accident that ended her career as a cookbook publicist, Val Deniston has traded in the chaos of New York City for a quieter life near the Chesapeake Bay. Living with her curmudgeonly grandfather in the tourist town of Bayport is hardly glamorous, but she enjoys working at the Cool Down Café at the local fitness club, and she finally has time to work on her long-planned cookbook. But when one of the club's patrons is found dead, she'll have to cook up a scheme to find the killer. As the number of suspects rises like crabs in a bucket, it's out of the pan and into the fire for Val. If she can't find the culprit soon, she might as well be chum in the water. . ."

Opinion: A decent debut of a cozy mystery series-good info on the main characters. Decent mystery and choices of whodunit.

Ask for Andrea by Noelle W. Ihli

Started: 2/1/2026

Finished: 2/3/2026

Year: 2025

Pages: 254

Genre: thriller/paranormal

Grade: A

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "He hunted them online, masquerading as an eligible bachelor. Then he played the perfect gentleman, a thick layer of charm and a thousand-watt smile hiding the fact that his first dates end in shallow graves.

"He’s gotten away with murder three times now.

"The only thing that might keep him from killing again? The women he murdered.

"Meghan, Brecia, and Skye might be dead, but they’re not gone. They’ve found each other. And they won’t rest until they find a way to stop him."

Opinion: A different take on a serial killer mystery. Really good AND the ending fit the story-was dreading that the ending would be a letdown like in so many other books but it wasn't.

Bad River by Marc Cameron

Started: 1/28/2026

Finished: 2/1/2026

Year: 2024

Pages: 346

Genre: mystery/thriller

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "In the Inupiaq village of Wainwright on the Arctic Ocean, two teenagers discover a frozen body in the permafrost wall of their family’s cellar. They recognize the face through the ice—a young woman who went missing two years ago . . .

"In South Dakota, Arliss Cutter searches for answers surrounding his brother’s mysterious death. But his visit only raises more questions without any leads. Until he returns to Alaska—and learns that his brother had something in common with the frozen body in the ice cellar . . .

"Inside the young woman’s pocket is a fossilized animal tooth—similar to the one Arliss’s brother picked up on a trip to South Dakota. A bizarre coincidence? Or are the two connected somehow? Before Arliss can figure it out, his brother’s widow and children become the targets of a brutal home invasion. Arliss arrives on the scene in time—but his actions trigger a larger investigation that puts his own neck on the line. From South Dakota to Anchorage to the Inupiaq villages of the Arctic, Arliss follows this bloodstained trail of clues to a remote lodge on the banks of the Kobuk River. Here, in this unforgiving wilderness, he will find the answers he seeks. Here, in this untamed, often violent land, he will come face to face with the terrible truth—and the man behind his brother’s murder . . ."

Opinion: A good end to one mystery that has been lingering through a few books. And the ending starts another one.

The First Time I Saw Him by Laura Dave

Started: 1/27/2026

Finished: 1/28/2026

Year: 2026

Pages: 268

Genre: mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book, continuing the series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Five years after her husband, Owen, disappeared, Hannah Hall and her stepdaughter, Bailey, have settled into a new life in Southern California. Together, they’ve forged a relationship with Bailey’s grandfather Nicholas and are putting the past behind them.

"But when Owen shows up at Hannah’s new exhibition, she knows that she and Bailey are in danger again.

"Hannah and Bailey are forced to go on the run in a relentless race to keep their past from catching up with them. As a thrilling drama unfolds, Hannah risks everything to get Bailey to safety—and finds there just might be a way back to Owen and their long-awaited second chance."

Opinion: Should read this soon after the first one-felt that I lost a lot of what had happened from the first book.

Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson

Started: 1/25/2026

Finished: 1/26/2026

Year: 2023

Pages: 312

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "When the Australian Mystery Writers’ Society invited me to their crime-writing festival aboard the Ghan, the famous train between Darwin and Adelaide, I was hoping for some inspiration for my second whodunnit. Fiction, this time: I needed a break from real people killing each other. Obviously, that didn’t pan out.

"The program is a who’s who of crime writing royalty:

"the debut writer (me!)

"the forensic science writer

"the blockbuster writer

"the legal thriller writer

"the literary writer

"the psychological suspense writer

"But when one of us is murdered, the remaining authors quickly turn into five detectives. Together, we should know how to solve a crime.

"Of course, we should also know how to commit one."

Opinion: Lots of characters to be considered for murder and whodunit