Devil's Food Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke

Started: 10/8/2026

Finished: 10/11/2026

Year: 2011

Pages: 322

Genre: cozy mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Blurb (from Amazon): "Hannah Swensen must admit that her life is pretty sweet. Things are going well in the romance department, and her bakery’s delectable confections are selling almost as fast as she can bake them. Even her good friend Claire is on cloud nine, head over heels with her new husband, Reverend Bob Knudson. If only they could find time to take their honeymoon!

"When Bob’s childhood friend Matthew Walters comes to town, it seems like divine intervention. Matthew, like Bob, is a Lutheran minister with a stubborn sweet tooth. Since he’s on sabbatical, Matthew is happy to fill in for Bob while he and Claire take that long-awaited honeymoon. It sounds like the perfect plan—until Hannah finds Matthew dead in the rectory, face-down in a plate full of Devil’s Food Cake.

"Determined to find out who killed Matthew, Hannah starts asking questions—and discovers that the good Reverend wasn’t quite the saintly fellow he appeared to be. It will take some more digging to find out, but Hannah is sure of one thing: even the most half-baked murder plot can be oh so deadly . . ."

Opinion: Lots of going back and forth. Ending leaves something interesting for future books.

One Good Eye by Kevin Wade

Started: 10/3/2026

Finished: 10/5/2026

Year: 2026

Pages: 231

Genre: mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "As a hurricane makes landfall on Long Island’s Gold Coast, Police Chief Jeep Mullane responds to a plea for help at the estate of his longtime friend Jenny Racine, who has been violently assaulted in a home invasion. Jenny was the girl next door growing up, is now a rich and famous entrepreneur, and has always been a compelling, infuriating, and magnetic presence in his life.

"Though Jenny is adamant she wants no investigation of the incident, Jeep sets off on a lonely and dangerous path to find out who attacked her. As he makes alarming discoveries, he must pry open the secrets of Jenny’s ex-military ex-husband, a fugitive police captain, officious federal agents, steely blue-blooded women, and two local biker gangs, casting aside his protocol as a police chief to challenge the criminals himself."

Opinion: Interesting mix of two different mysteries going on-one based on childhood, one based on current day.

Cold Burn by A. J. Landau

Started: 9/26/2026

Finished: 10/3/2026

Year: 2025

Pages: 317

Genre: Mystery/thriller

Grade: B+

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "National Park Service investigator Michael Walker is battling smugglers stealing priceless artifacts when he’s dispatched to Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska, where, in the first stage of a potential global disaster, a team of scientists has gone missing.

"Meanwhile, in Florida’s Everglades National Park, FBI special investigator Gina Delgado traces the murder of an environmental science intern back to another U.S. Geological Survey team’s ongoing experiments that are decimating the fragile ecosystem. That is before she’s dispatched to the scene of a sunken U.S. nuclear submarine, the entire crew of which has inexplicably been killed.

"The connection between these disparate investigations lies in a deadly prehistoric organism, frozen for thousands of years in the ice until global warming brings it back to life in what could mean the death of all life on Earth. An organism that a rogue billionaire sees as the ultimate fuel source and a Russian strongman views as the ultimate weapon that can shift the global balance of power forever. Against that backdrop, Walker and Delgado find themselves desperately doing battle across multiple fronts against an ancient, unstoppable enemy."

Opinion: 2 of the farthest away National Parks, affected by the same thing....add in climate change, greedy Americans and some Russians.

Brain Damage by Freida McFadden

Started: 9/19/2026

Finished: 9/26/2026

Year: 2016

Pages: 360

Genre: mystery/thriller

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Dr. Charly McKenna had the perfect life: a thriving dermatology practice, a luxury apartment overlooking Central Park, and a handsome husband who adored her.

"Until the night a bullet tore through her skull… and stole everything.

"Now Charly wakes in a rehabilitation hospital unable to walk, speak, or remember her own name. All she knows is that someone tried to kill her―and they may still be out there. As fragments of memory surface, so do unsettling questions about the people around her, including the attentive man who keeps appearing at her bedside.

"The truth of what happened that night lives somewhere inside her brain. And as Charly pieces together the jagged edges of her past, she begins to realize the most terrifying possibility: the person who wants her dead might be the one she once trusted most."

Opinion: Definitely a decent thriller with a heartwarming ending. Things people do.

Gingerdead Man by Maya Corrigan

Started: 9/13/2026

Finished: 9/19/2026

Year: 2020

Pages: 268

Genre: cozy mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing the series, library book

Typer: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "This holiday season Bayport, Maryland, is a dead ringer for Victorian London. Val and her grandfather are taking part in the Dickens of a Holiday festival. Val is hosting a private tea party serving the festival's costumed volunteers, who range from Dickens divas like Madame Defarge and Miss Havisham to Ebenezer Scrooge and old St. Nick himself.

"But one costumed reveler may have gotten the holidays mixed up. The winner of the creepiest outfit, robed in black with a gift bag covering the head—okay, Ghost of Christmas Present, Val gets it—hands out gingerbread men with white icing skeleton bones. This year's sour Santa has none of the big fellow's mirth but plenty of his appetite, and it's no secret Santa loves cookies. But when the man in red turns blue, Val and Granddad have a cookie-cutter killer to catch before the New Year . . ."

Opinion: A decent mystery where connections are not obvious. The relationship between Val and Baum is blah.

The Dead Take the A Train by Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey

Started: 9/13/2026

Finished: DNF

Year: 2023

Pages: 390

Genre: horror

Grade: F

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Julie is a coked-up, burnt-out thirty-year-old whose only retirement plan is dying early. She’s been trying to establish herself in the NYC magic scene, and she’ll work the most gruesome gigs, exorcize the nastiest demons, and make deals with the cruelest gods to claw her way to the top. But nothing can prepare her for the toughest job yet: when her best friend, Sarah, shows up at her door in need of help. Keeping Sarah safe becomes top priority.

"Julie is desperate for a quick fix to break the dead-end grind and save her friend. But her power grab sets off a deadly chain of events that puts Sarah – and the entire world - directly in the path of annihilation."

Opinion: Just yeah no. Not a fan of Julie's character. Her job is rather interesting but not enough to keep me reading.

Death Row by Freida McFadden

Started: 9/13/2026

Finished: 9/13/2026

Year: 2026

Pages: 73

Genre: novella, literature

Grade: 

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Death is coming for her… unless she finds the truth first.

"Talia Kemper is on death row for murdering her husband. She had an alibi and no known motive, yet Talia's unwavering protestations of innocence have always been ignored.

"Then one day in the visiting area, she sees a man she's certain is her husband. The person she's been convicted of killing may not be dead after all.

"But as the days tick away toward Talia's execution, what will it take for her to be believed?"

Opinion: Interesting how two very different concepts become one...then you realize that they could very well be the same type of concept.

Caught Bread Handed by Ellie Alexander

S

tarted: 9/6/2026

Finished: 9/12/2026

Year: 2016

Pages: 288

Genre: cozy mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Jules Capshaw is still chewing over her husband Carlos’s return to Ashland, Oregon. Could there be too many cooks in the kitchen? Whatever is stirring between those two will have to wait. Despite the Oregon Shakespeare Festival being dark for the winter, the bakeshop is bustling, the dough is rolling, and there’s no rest for the weary…especially when murder is thrown into the mix.

"When Mindy Nolan, the owner of a new restaurant in town, turns up dead, the batter at hand thickens. Jules knows that there was bad blood between Mindy and others in town, and tracking down the killer could prove to be an unwelcome treat. And to top it all off, there’s Carlos, who is pleading―with those delicious dark eyes and sexy Spanish accent―for Jules to take him back. Is home where the heart is or will she make a fresh start…and risk getting burned?"

Opinion: A decent murder mystery which was told in the beginning if you paid attention. The outside story of Jules, Carlos, Thomas doesn't quite take away from the mystery but it's getting close.