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.