Murder on Memory Lake by J. D. Griffo

Started: 7/24/2024

Finished: DNF

Year: 2018

Pages: 318

Genre: cozy mystery

Grade: F

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Alberta Scaglione's spinster aunt had some secrets--like the fortune she squirreled away and a secret lake house in Tranquility, New Jersey. More surprising: she's left it all to Alberta. Alberta, a widow, is no spring chicken and she's gotten used to disappointment. So having a beautiful view, surrounded by hydrangeas, honeysuckle, and her cat, Lola, sounds blissful after years of yelling and bickering and cooking countless lasagnas.

"But Tranquility isn't as peaceful as it sounds. There's a body in the water--and it belongs to Alberta's childhood nemesis. Alberta suspects foul play and when Alberta's estranged granddaughter, an aspiring crime reporter, shows up, it only makes sense for them to team up and investigate . . ."

Opinion: The characters are unlikeable, unrelatable, just overall frustrating to read about. Took too long to even figure out motive for murder.

What She Found by Robert Dugoni

Started: 7/22/2024

Finished: 7/24/2024

Year: 2022

Pages: 344

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Detective Tracy Crosswhite has agreed to look into the disappearance of investigative reporter Lisa Childress. Solving the cold case is an obsession for Lisa’s daughter, Anita. So is clearing the name of her father, a prime suspect who became a pariah. After twenty-five years, all Anita wants is the truth — no matter where it leads."

Opinion: One of the better books in the series.

On Fire Edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel

Started: 7/22/2024

Finished: 7/22/2024

Year: 2017

Pages: 198

Genre: erotica

Grade: C

Reason for reading: bookcrossing.com book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "In On Fire, today's top erotic romance authors don't skimp on love or lust--they are entwined in tales that will make pulses pound and hearts race. Bestselling editor Rachel Kramer Bussel takes us inside the passions of couples who go above and beyond in their pursuit of sexual and romantic satisfaction, exploring the racy to the outrageous during their many arousing adventures. You'll treasure the sex toy exploration in "Every Second of It," find paranormal pleasure in "Masquerade," and be transported to "A Place As Beautiful As This." You'll go "Beyond the Blindfold," find out what lurks in the "Art of Darkness," and delight in discovering "The Sweetest Thing." These steamy stories by Kristina Wright, Delilah Devlin, Giselle Renarde, Kay Jaybee, Victoria Blisse, Jade A. Waters and others are perfect intimate reads to enjoy with your lover or for your own pleasure."

Opinion: As with all collections, some stories are better than others.

The Dead Guy Next Door by Lucy Score

Started: 5/6/2024

Finished: 7/22/2024

Year: 2020

Pages: 460

Genre: romantic suspense

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Divorced. Broke. Living with a pack of elderly roommates. And those hallucinations she's diligently ignoring? Her tarot card-dealing mom is convinced they're clairvoyant visions.

"Just when things can't get worse, a so-hot-it-should-be-illegal private investigator shows up on her doorstep looking for one of her neighbors…who turns up murdered.

"Nick Santiago doesn't play well with others. Unless the "others" are of the female persuasion. Wink. He's a rebel, a black sheep, a man who prefers a buffet of options to being stuck with the same entrée every night, if you catch his drift.

"When the pretty, possibly psychic Riley lands at the top of the list of suspects, Nick volunteers to find out whodunit. Only because he likes solving mysteries not because he wants to flex his heroic muscles for the damsel in distress.

"All they have to do is figure out who pulled the trigger, keep a by-the-book detective with a grudge at bay, and deal with a stranger claiming he was sent to help Riley hone her psychic gifts. All before the killer discovers she's a loose end that requires snipping."

Opinion: A decent introduction to Riley and her fake fiancee Nick. Decent mystery. Lots of suspenseful action.

Murder of the Cat's Meow by Denise Swanson

Started: 7/18/2024

Finished: 7/19/2024

Year: 2012

Pages: 250

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with the series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "When ex–Vegas showgirl and local business owner Bunny Reid starts an online dating service called Cupid’s Cat’s Meow, out-of-town visitors flock to her bowling alley for the speed dating and cat show events that she hosts to bring in extra cash. Bunny’s scheme sounds harmless enough, but school psychologist Skye Denison knows all too well that an influx of strangers in Scumble River always spells trouble….

Meanwhile, Skye is convinced that her house is haunted and is afraid her fiancé, police chief Wally Boyd, won’t move in until the ghost moves out. But ghost-hunting takes a back seat when Skye is called to the bowling alley, where a riled up contestant is choking a cat show judge for insulting his feline. Skye breaks up the scuffle, but the next morning the judge’s dead body is found, strangled with a cat toy. Now Skye must solve this purrplexing mystery—and show a devious killer that her sleuthing skills are the cat’s meow."

Opinion: Decent mystery. 

The Chatham School Affair by Thomas H. Cook

Started: 7/15/2024

Finished: 7/18/2024

Year: 1996

Pages: 303

Genre: psychological fiction

Grade: B

Reason for reading: TBR pile, reread

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Attorney Henry Griswald has a secret: the truth behind the tragic events the world knew as the Chatham School Affair, the controversial tragedy that destroyed five lives, shattered a quiet community, and forever scarred the young boy."

Opinion: I think that I read this when it came out years ago and enjoyed it but it had been so long that I didn't remember details. It is still an enjoyable read.

All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover

Started: 7/14/2024

Finished: 7/15/2024

Year: 2018

Pages: 305

Genre: romance

Grade: B+

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Quinn and Graham’s perfect love is threatened by their imperfect marriage. The memories, mistakes, and secrets over the years are now tearing them apart. And the one thing that could save them might also be the very thing that pushes their marriage beyond the point of repair."

Opinion: People lose themselves, especially when they can't have what they've dreamed of, and sometimes it just takes a reminder

Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs

Started: 7/9/2024

Finished: 7/14/2024

Year: 2006

Pages: 439

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with the series

Type: mass market paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Summoned to South Carolina to fill in for a negligent colleague, Tempe is stuck teaching a lackluster archaeology field school in the ruins of a Native American burial ground on the Charleston shore. But when Tempe stumbles upon a fresh skeleton among the ancient bones, her old friend Emma Rousseau, the local coroner, persuades her to stay on and help with the investigation. When Emma reveals a disturbing secret, it becomes more important than ever for Tempe to help her friend close the case.

"The body count begins to climb. An unidentified man is found hanging from a tree deep in the woods. Another corpse shows up in a barrel. There are mysterious nicks on bones in several bodies, and signs of strangulation. Tempe follows the trail to a free street clinic with a belligerent staff, a suspicious doctor, and a donor who is a charismatic televangelist. Clues abound in the most unlikely places as Tempe uses her unique knowledge and skills to build her case, even as the local sheriff remains dubious and her own life is threatened.

"Tempe’s love life is also complicated. Ryan, her current flame, has come down to visit her from Montreal, and Pete, her former husband, is investigating the disappearance of a local woman—and he and Tempe are staying in the same borrowed beach house. Ryan and Pete compete for her attentions, and Tempe finds herself more distracted by her feelings for both men than she expected."

Opinion: The last little twist wasn't needed. Decent mystery.

Redeeming Justice by Jarrett Adams

Started: 7/7/2024

Finished: 7/8/2024

Year: 2021

Pages: 287

Genre: biography

Grade: B+

Reason for reading: goodreads.com giveaway

Type: ARC

Blurb (from Amazon): "Seventeen years old and facing nearly thirty years behind bars, Jarrett Adams sought to figure out the why behind his fate. Sustained by his mother and aunts who brought him back from the edge of despair through letters of prayer and encouragement, Adams became obsessed with our legal system in all its damaged glory. After studying how his constitutional rights to effective counsel had been violated, he solicited the help of the Wisconsin Innocence Project, an organization that exonerates the wrongfully convicted, and won his release after nearly ten years in prison.

"But the journey was far from over. Adams took the lessons he learned through his incarceration and worked his way through law school with the goal of helping those who, like himself, had faced our legal system at its worst. After earning his law degree, he worked with the New York Innocence Project, becoming the first exoneree ever hired by the nonprofit as a lawyer. In his first case with the Innocence Project, he argued before the same court that had convicted him a decade earlier—and won."

Opinion: If his story doesn't make you angry, then you have no compassion for your fellow human.

The Only Survivors by Megan Miranda

Started: 7/4/2024

Finished: 7/7/2024

Year: 2023

Pages: 335

Genre: mystery

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "A decade ago, two vans filled with high school seniors on a school service trip crashed into a Tennessee ravine—a tragedy that claimed the lives of multiple classmates and teachers. The nine students who managed to escape the river that night were irrevocably changed. A year later, after one of the survivors dies by suicide on the anniversary of the crash, the rest of them make a pact: to come together each year to commemorate that terrible night.

"To keep one another safe.

"To hold one another accountable.

"Or both.

"Their annual meeting place, a house on the Outer Banks, has long been a refuge. But by the tenth anniversary, Cassidy Bent has worked to distance herself from the tragedy and from the other survivors. She’s changed her mobile number. She’s blocked the others’ email addresses. This year, she is determined to finally break ties once and for all. But on the day of the reunion, she receives a text with an obituary attached: another survivor is gone. Now they are seven—and Cassidy finds herself hurling back toward the group, wild with grief—and suspicion.

"Almost immediately, something feels off this year. Cassidy is the first to notice when Amaya, the annual organizer, slips away, overwhelmed. This wouldn’t raise alarm except for the impending storm. Suddenly, they’re facing the threat of closed roads and surging waters…again. Then Amaya stops responding to her phone. After all they’ve been through, she wouldn’t willfully make them worry. Would she?

"And—as they promised long ago—each survivor will do whatever he or she can do to save one another. Won’t they?"

Opinion: Didn't like the way that this was written. Just an average story of a plot that has been done before.

In Her Tracks by Robert Dugoni

Started: 7/2/2024

Finished: 7/4/2024

Year: 2021

Pages: 363

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with the series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Returning from an extended leave in her hometown of Cedar Grove, Detective Tracy Crosswhite finds herself reassigned to the Seattle PD’s cold case unit. As the protective mother of an infant daughter, Tracy is immediately drawn to her first file: the abduction of a five-year-old girl whose parents, embattled in a poisonous divorce, were once prime suspects.

"While reconstructing the days leading up to the girl’s disappearance, Tracy is brought into an active investigation with former partner Kinsington Rowe. A young woman has vanished on an isolated jogging trail in North Seattle. Divided between two critical cases, Tracy has little to go on except the treacherous deceptions behind a broken marriage―and now, the secrets hiding behind the closed doors of a deceptively quiet middle-class neighborhood.

"To find two missing persons, Tracy will have to follow more than clues, which are both long cold and unsettlingly fresh. Given her own traumatic past, Tracy must also follow her instincts―to whatever dark and dangerous places they may lead."

Opinion: Wasn't crazy about the two different cases-one felt like it was fell by the waistside throughout most of the novel.

S is for Silence by Sue Grafton

Started: 6/26/2024

Finished: 7/2/2024

Year: 2005

Pages: 434

Genre: mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, bookcrossing book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Cases don't get much colder than that of Violet Sullivan, who disappeared from her rural California town in 1953, leaving behind an abusive husband and a seven-year-old named Daisy. But PI Kinsey Millhone has promised the now adult Daisy she'll try her best to locate Violet, dead or alive. All signs point to a runaway wife—the clothes that disappeared; the secret stash of money Violet bragged about; the brazen flirtations she indulged in with local men, including some married ones.

"Kinsey tries to pick up a trail by speaking to those who remember Violet—and perhaps were more involved in her life than they let on. But the trail could lead her somewhere very dangerous. Because the case may have gone cold, but some people's feelings about Violet Sullivan still run as hot as ever..."

Opinion: This is written in a different format-going back and forth from 1953 and present day. Interesting mystery.

Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever by Matt Singer

Started: 6/25/2024

Finished: 6/26/2024

Year: 2023

Pages: 275

Genre: biography

Grade: B

Reason for reading: fan of the show, library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "On a cold Saturday afternoon in 1975, two men (who had known each other for eight years before they’d ever exchanged a word) met for lunch in a Chicago pub. Gene Siskel was the film critic for the Chicago Tribune. Roger Ebert had recently won the Pulitzer Prize—the first ever awarded to a film critic—for his work at the Chicago Sun-Times. To say they despised each other was an understatement.

"When they reluctantly agreed to collaborate on a new movie review show with PBS, there was at least as much sparring off-camera as on. No decision—from which films to cover to who would read the lead review to how to pronounce foreign titles—was made without conflict, but their often-antagonistic partnership (which later transformed into genuine friendship) made for great television. In the years that followed, their signature “Two thumbs up!” would become the most trusted critical brand in Hollywood.

"In Opposable Thumbs, award-winning editor and film critic Matt Singer eavesdrops on their iconic balcony set, detailing their rise from making a few hundred dollars a week on local Chicago PBS to securing multimillion-dollar contracts for a syndicated series (a move that convinced a young local host named Oprah Winfrey to do the same). Their partnership was cut short when Gene Siskel passed away in February of 1999 after a battle with brain cancer that he’d kept secret from everyone outside his immediate family—including Roger Ebert, who never got to say goodbye to his longtime partner. But their influence on in the way we talk about (and think about) movies continues to this day."

Opinion: Nice seeing the behind the scenes of how they got together and how the show was put together throughout the years. May they both RIP.

Killer Secrets by Kathleen Donnelly

Started: 6/24/2024

Finished: 6/25/2024

Year: 2024

Pages: 356

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Until an avalanche ripped down a mountainside, exposing a serial killer’s dumping grounds, Antler Valley, Colorado, was a quiet town. Now Forest Service officer Maya Thompson and her beautiful K-9, Juniper, must catch the murderer before they become the next targets.

"With the neighboring town’s new overconfident sheriff deterring the entire investigation, a murderer on the loose and heartthrob deputy Josh Colton racing through her mind, Maya is at a crossroads. Josh is ready to go all in, but Maya has one foot out the door. As she lets her guard down, she needs to accept that she’s falling deeply in love with him, no matter how risky it may be.

"When evidence from the Antler Valley victims links the murders to deaths in other ski towns, secrets long buried are unearthed. Maya and Juniper must run toward an answer, though finding it might lead them directly into a fatal trap…"

Opinion: Decent continuation of the series. Definitely had it narrowed down to who was the murderer between a couple of suspects.

The Ice Man by Philip Carlo

Started: 6/20/2024

Finished: 6/24/2024

Year: 2006

Pages: 402

Genre: True crime/biography

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: TBR pile

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "For thirty years, Richard "The Iceman" Kuklinski led a shocking double life, becoming the most notorious professional assassin in American history while happily hosting neighborhood barbecues in suburban New Jersey.

"Richard Kuklinski was Sammy the Bull Gravano's partner in the killing of Paul Castellano, then head of the Gambino crime family, at Sparks Steakhouse. Mob boss John Gotti hired him to torture and kill the neighbor who accidentally ran over his child. For an additional price, Kuklinski would make his victims suffer; he conducted this sadistic business with coldhearted intensity and shocking efficiency, never disappointing his customers. By his own estimate, he killed over two hundred men, taking enormous pride in his variety and ferocity of technique.

"This trail of murder lasted over thirty years and took Kuklinski all over America and to the far corners of the earth, Brazil, Africa, and Europe. Along the way, he married, had three children, and put them through Catholic school. His daughter's medical condition meant regular stays in children's hospitals, where Kuklinski was remembered, not as a gangster, but as an affectionate father, extremely kind to children. Each Christmas found the Kuklinski home festooned in colorful lights; each summer was a succession of block parties.

"His family never suspected a thing."

Opinion: I've watched a lot of documentaries about Kuklinski. Horrible childhood-not really surprised that he was a stone cold killer. Very small font size.

Kill Show by Daniel Sweren-Becker

Started: 6/19/2024

Finished: 6/20/2024

Year: 2023

Pages: 217

Genre: mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Sara Parcell disappeared without a trace on a crisp April morning in Frederick, Maryland. Her tragic story was a national obsession and the centerpiece of a controversial television docuseries that followed her disappearance in real time. But is it possible that everyone missed the biggest secret of all?

"Ten years after these events, the people who knew Sara best are finally ready to talk. In this genre-bending novel, Daniel Sweren-Becker fashions an oral history around the seemingly familiar crime of a teenage girl gone missing. Yet Kill Show, filled with diabolical twists and provocative social commentary, is no standard mystery. Through “interviews” with family members, neighbors, law enforcement, television executives, and a host of other compelling characters, Sweren-Becker constructs a riveting tale about one family’s tragedy—and Hollywood’s insatiable desire to exploit it."

Opinion: Interesting way of telling this story-interesting what families will do when they are desperate.

Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs

Started: 6/18/2024

Finished: 6/19/2024

Year: 2005

Pages: 453

Genre: mystery

Grade: C

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "When an Orthodox Jewish man is found shot to death in Montreal, Temperance Brennan is called in to examine the body and to figure out the puzzling damage to the corpse. Unexpectedly, a stranger slips her a photograph of a skeleton and assures her it is the key to the victim's death. Before she knows it, Tempe is involved in an international mystery as old as Jesus, and one that could lead to the rewriting of two thousand years of religious history.

"As Tempe investigates, she learns that the stranger's picture shows bones uncovered during an archaeological dig. She discovers the Montreal shooting victim ran an import business that just might have been a front for the trading of black market antiquities. Along with Detective Andrew Ryan and biblical archaeologist Jake Drum, Tempe travels to Israel to probe the origins of the skeleton and the ancient crypt in which it was found. Together they make a startling discovery that raises radical questions about Christ's death and places them squarely in the middle of a swirling controversy. Could one of the tombs really be Christ's last resting place? Are the bones in the ancient ossuary the last remnants of James, the brother of Jesus, as the inscription claims? Or has someone concocted an elaborate hoax?

"Using her skills as a forensic scientist, Tempe plunges into the most controversial case of her career. The stakes have never been higher -- the more she learns, the greater the danger. And though Ryan is sexier and more engaging than ever, he may not be able to protect Tempe in this place where there seem to be so many foes."

Opinion: Not as enjoyable as others in the series have been. 

By Way of Sorrow by Robyn Gigl

Started: 6/14/2024

Finished: 6/18/2024

Year: 2021

Pages: 293

Genre: legal thriller

Grade: B

Reason for reading: goodreads.com giveaway

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Erin McCabe has been referred the biggest case of her career. Four months ago, William E. Townsend, Jr., son of a New Jersey State Senator, was found fatally stabbed in a rundown motel near Atlantic City. Sharise Barnes, a nineteen-year-old transgender prostitute, is in custody, and given the evidence against her, there seems little doubt of a guilty verdict.

"Erin knows that defending Sharise will blow her own private life wide open, and doubtless deepen her estrangement from her family. Yet as a trans woman, she feels uniquely qualified to help Sharise, and duty-bound to protect her from the possibility of a death sentence.

"Sharise claims she killed the senator’s son in self-defense. As Erin assembles the case with her partner, former FBI agent Duane Swisher, the circumstances hint at a more complex and chilling story with ties to other brutal murders. Senator Townsend is using the full force of his prestige and connections to publicly discredit everyone involved in defending Sharise. Behind the scenes, his tactics are even more dangerous. His son had secrets that could destroy the senator’s political aspirations—secrets worth killing for. And as leads begin mysteriously disappearing, it’s not just the life of Erin’s client at stake, but her own . . ."

Opinion: Fitting for Pride month. Decent legal case-enough to piss you off if you believe that everyone should be able to be who they want to be.

Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

Started: 6/10/2024

Finished: 6/14/2024

Year: 2022

Pages: 366

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Everyone in my family has killed someone. Some of us, the high achievers, have killed more than once. I’m not trying to be dramatic, but it is the truth. Some of us are good, others are bad, and some just unfortunate.

"I’m Ernest Cunningham. Call me Ern or Ernie. I wish I’d killed whoever decided our family reunion should be at a ski resort, but it’s a little more complicated than that.

"Have I killed someone? Yes. I have.

"Who was it?

"Let’s get started.

"EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEONE

"My brother

"My stepsister

"My wife

"My father

"My mother

"My sister-in-law

"My uncle

"My stepfather

"My aunt

"Me"

Opinion: I enjoyed the style that this was written. 

Murder of a Creped Suzette by Denise Swanson

Started: 6/10/2024

Finished: 6/10/2024

Year: 2011

Pages: 252

Genre: cozy mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Plans to build a country music theater in Scumble River fall flat when a female country singer is murdered, and the motives and suspects stretch back decades."

Opinion: Another quick read in the series. Some of the same things happen in each book but figuring out the mysteries are always different.

Hunting Hour by Margaret Mizushima

Started: 6/6/2024

Finished: 6/10/2024

Year: 2017

Pages: 316

Genre: mystery

Grade: B+

Reason for reading: fan of the series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Deputy Mattie Cobb is in a dark place and has withdrawn from Cole Walker and his family to work on issues from her past. When she and her K-9 partner, Robo, get called to track a missing junior high student, they find the girl dead on Smoker’s Hill behind the high school, and Mattie must head to the Walker home to break the bad news. But that’s only the start of trouble in Timber Creek, because soon another girl goes missing—and this time it’s one of Cole’s daughters.

"Knowing that each hour a child remains missing lessens the probability of finding her alive, Mattie and Robo lead the hunt while Cole and community volunteers join in to search everything—to no avail. It seems that someone has snatched all trace of the Walker girl from their midst, including her scent. Grasping at straws, Mattie and Robo follow a phoned-in tip into the dense forest, where they hope to find a trace of the girl and rescue her alive. But when Robo does catch her scent, it leads them to information that challenges everything they thought they knew about the case."

Opinion: I'm not reading this series in order and probably should since future books have hinted at what happened in this one but even though I knew the ultimate outcome, this was still a fun and entertaining read. Robo and Mattie's relationship is truly remarkable.

Death in the Dark Woods by Annelise Ryan

Started: 6/5/2024

Finished: 6/6/2024

Year: 2023

Pages: 319

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Business has been booming since Morgan Carter solved the case of the monster living in Lake Michigan. The Odds and Ends bookstore is thriving, of course, but Morgan is most excited by the doors that were opened for her as a cryptid hunter. 

"Recently, there have been numerous sightings of a Bigfoot-type creature in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest area of Bayfield County, Wisconsin. After a man is found dead from a vicious throat injury in the forest, the conservation warden asks Morgan to investigate. 

"When Morgan and her dog, Newt, go there to investigate, they uncover a trail of lies, deception, and murder. It seems a mysterious creature is indeed living in the forest, and Morgan might be its next target."

Opinion: First it was a Loch Ness type of monster and now it's Bigfoot. Decent mystery.

Hunting the Truth by Kathleen Donnelly

Started: 6/3/2024

Finished: 6/5/2024

Year: 2023

Pages: 348

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with the series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "'ide, Maya. Don’t let the bad people find you.'

"Those are the last words Forest Service law enforcement officer and K-9 handler Maya Thompson ever heard her mother say.

Returning to the Colorado mountains, ex-soldier Maya is no longer a scared little girl. She’s here to investigate her mother’s cold case, but fear creeps in when it comes to her personal life—things are getting serious with sheriff deputy Josh Colten.

"After new DNA evidence surfaces, both her beloved grandfather and Josh warn her away from the case, suspecting that she could be the next victim. But Maya doesn’t listen.

"Instead, Maya and her K-9 partner, Juniper, track a suspect deep into the forest and directly into grave danger…"

Blurb: A good continuation of the series and the ending leaves just enough for possibly the next book in the series without leaving the reader feel like something hasn't been concluded.

Three Girls from Bronzeville by Dawn Turner

Started: 5/30/2024

Finished: DNF

Year: 2021

Pages: 317

Genre: biography/memoir

Grade: D

Reason for reading: goodreads.com giveaway

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "They were three Black girls. Dawn, tall and studious; her sister, Kim, younger by three years and headstrong as they come; and her best friend, Debra, already prom-queen pretty by third grade. They bonded—fervently and intensely in that unique way of little girls—as they roamed the concrete landscape of Bronzeville, a historic neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side, the destination of hundreds of thousands of Black folks who fled the ravages of the Jim Crow South.

"These third-generation daughters of the Great Migration come of age in the 1970s, in the warm glow of the recent civil rights movement. It has offered them a promise, albeit nascent and fragile, that they will have more opportunities, rights, and freedoms than any generation of Black Americans in history. Their working-class, striving parents are eager for them to realize this hard-fought potential. But the girls have much more immediate concerns: hiding under the dining room table and eavesdropping on grown folks’ business; collecting secret treasures; and daydreaming about their futures—Dawn and Debra, doctors, Kim a teacher. For a brief, wondrous moment the girls are all giggles and dreams and promises of “friends forever.” And then fate intervenes, first slowly and then dramatically, sending them careening in wildly different directions. There’s heartbreak, loss, displacement, and even murder. Dawn struggles to make sense of the shocking turns that consume her sister and her best friend, all the while asking herself a simple but profound question: Why?"

Opinion: The book is well written but not something that I could relate to

Ward D by Freida McFadden

Started: 5/28/2024

Finished: 5/30/2024

Year: 2023

Pages: 333

Genre: suspense

Grade: B+

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Medical student Amy Brenner is spending the night on a locked psychiatric ward.

"Amy has been dreading her evening working on Ward D, the hospital’s inpatient mental health unit. There are very specific reasons why she never wanted to do this required overnight rotation. Reasons nobody can ever find out.

"And as the hours tick by, Amy grows increasingly convinced something terrible is happening within these tightly secured walls. When patients and staff start to vanish without a trace, it becomes clear that everyone on the unit is in grave danger.

"Amy’s worst nightmare was spending the night on Ward D.

"And now she might never escape."

Opinion: Talk about a nightmare-past meeting present.

A Cold Trail by Robert Dugoni

Started: 5/25/2024

Finished: 5/28/2024

Year: 2020

Pages: 339

Genre: mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "The last time homicide detective Tracy Crosswhite was in Cedar Grove, it was to see her sister’s killer put behind bars. Now she’s returned for a respite and the chance to put her life back in order for herself, her attorney husband, Dan, and their new daughter. But tragic memories soon prove impossible to escape.

"Dan is drawn into representing a local merchant whose business is jeopardized by the town’s revitalization. And Tracy is urged by the local PD to put her own skills to work on a new case: the brutal murder of a police officer’s wife and local reporter who was investigating a cold-case slaying of a young woman. As Tracy’s and Dan’s cases crisscross, Tracy’s trail becomes dangerous. It’s stirring up her own haunted past and a decades-old conspiracy in Cedar Grove that has erupted in murder. Getting to the truth is all that matters. But what’s Tracy willing to risk as a killer gets closer to her and threatens everyone she loves?"

Opinion: A slow paced beginning. Wasn't surprised by the ending.

R is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton

Started: 5/21/2024

Finished: 5/24/2024

Year: 2004

Pages: 415

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: bookcrossing.com book, continuing the series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Reba Lafferty was a daughter of privilege, the only child of an adoring father. Nord Lafferty was already in his fifties when Reba was born, and he could deny her nothing. Over the years, he quietly settled her many scrapes with the law, but wasn't there for her when she was convicted of embezzlement and sent to the California Institution for Women. Now, at thirty-two, she's about to be paroled, having served twenty-two months of a four-year sentence. Her father wants to be sure Reba stays straight, stays home and away from the drugs, the booze, and the gamblers...

"It seems a straightforward assignment for Kinsey: babysit Reba until she settles in, make sure she follows all the niceties of her parole. Maybe a week’s work. Nothing untoward—the woman seems remorseful and friendly. And the money is good.

"But life is never that simple, and Reba is out of prison less than twenty-four hours when one of her old crowd comes circling round..."

Opinion: A slightly different type of case for Kinsey-not sure why she even ended up starting the madness.

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Started: 5/20/2024

Finished: DNF

Year: 2015

Pages: 438

Genre: WWII Literature

Grade: F

Reason for reading: library book, Reese book club

Type: Hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "France, 1939 - In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn't believe that the Nazis will invade France … but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When a German captain requisitions Vianne's home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates all around them, she is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive.

"Vianne's sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can … completely. But when he betrays her, Isabelle joins the Resistance and never looks back, risking her life time and again to save others."

Opinion: This was not horribly written as other mass loved books that I've attempted to read have been but I just could not get into it. 

Monday Mourning by Kathy Reichs

Started: 5/20/2024

Finished: 5/20/2024

Year: 2004

Pages: 300

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing the series, library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Temperance Brennan, forensic anthropologist for both North Carolina and Quebec, has come from Charlotte to Montreal during the bleak days of December to testify as an expert witness at a murder trial.

"She should be going over her notes, but instead she's digging in the basement of a pizza parlor. Not fun. Freezing cold. Crawling rats. And now, the skeletonized remains of three young women. How did they get there? When did they die?

"Homicide detective Luc Claudel, never Tempe's greatest fan, believes the bones are historic. Not his case, not his concern. The pizza parlor owner found nineteenth-century buttons in the cellar with the skeletons. Claudel takes them as an indicator of the bones' antiquity.

"But something doesn't make sense. Tempe examines the bones in her lab and establishes approximate age with Carbon 14. Further study of tooth enamel tells her where the women were born. If she's right, Claudel has three recent murders on his hands. Definitely his case.

"Detective Andrew Ryan, meanwhile, is acting mysteriously. What are those private phone calls he takes in the other room, and why does he suddenly disappear just when Tempe is beginning to hope he might be a permanent part of her life? Looks like more lonely nights for Tempe and Birdie, her cat.

"As Tempe searches for answers in both her personal and professional lives, she finds herself drawn deep into a web of evil from which there may be no escape. Women have disappeared, never to return....Tempe may be next."

Opinion: Back in Canada. More scientific information. More mystery. More twists to the romantic side of Tempe's life.

The Coming of Winter by David Adams Richards

Started: 5/20/2024

Finished: DNF

Year: 1974

Pages: 318

Genre: literature

Grade: F

Reason for reading: bookcrossing.com book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "The frustrations of the community are brought into focus in the plights of 20-year-old Kevin Dulse, his family, and especially his wild young friends. An intensely realistic story, it stands firm upon its engaging, unaffected characters and the raw talent of its then 22-year-old author."

Opinion: Just could not get into this. The main character was blah. 

Daughter of Mine by Megan Miranda

Started: 5/18/2024

Finished: 5/20/2024

Year: 2024

Pages: 354

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "When Hazel Sharp, daughter of Mirror Lake’s longtime local detective, unexpectedly inherits her childhood home, she’s warily drawn back to the town—and people—she left behind almost a decade earlier. But Hazel’s not the only relic of the past to return: a drought has descended on the region, and as the water level in the lake drops, long-hidden secrets begin to emerge…including evidence that may help finally explain the mystery of her mother’s disappearance."

Opinion: Lots of suspense and everyone is suspect until they aren't.

Chasing Justice by Kathleen Donnelly

Started: 5/15/2024

Finished: 5/18/2024

Year: 2022

Pages: 372

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: beginning of series, library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "After losing her military K-9, former marine Maya Thompson swears she’ll never work with dogs again. But when she returns home to Colorado and accepts a job with US Forest Service law enforcement, fate brings K-9 Juniper into her life just as another tragedy unfolds.

"Juniper, a beautiful two-year-old Malinois, isn’t the only new addition to Maya’s life. Josh Colten, the local deputy sheriff, insists on helping with her new case. Handsome and mysterious, he’s all anyone in town can talk about, but Maya can’t let herself like him, let alone trust him.

"When Maya’s grandfather goes missing amid a growing drug war, Maya must put her faith in Josh, and her own battered instincts, to find him. But there's a web of secrets tying her grandfather to the tragedy that brought Juniper into her life—secrets someone would kill to keep hidden"

Opinion: Not a bad start of a series...plus there's a K-9.

The Bone Tree by Greg Iles

Started: 9/5/2023

Finished: 5/15/2024

Year: 2015

Pages: 860

Genre: mystery/thriller

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continue with the series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Former prosecutor Penn Cage and his fiancée, reporter and publisher Caitlin Masters, have barely escaped with their lives after being attacked by wealthy businessman Brody Royal and his Double Eagles, a KKK sect with ties to some of Mississippi’s most powerful men. But the real danger has only begun as FBI Special Agent John Kaiser warns Penn that Brody wasn’t the true leader of the Double Eagles. The puppeteer who actually controls the terrorist group is a man far more fearsome: the chief of the state police’s Criminal Investigations Bureau, Forrest Knox.

"The only way Penn can save his father, Dr. Tom Cage—who is fleeing a murder charge as well as corrupt cops bent on killing him—is either to make a devil’s bargain with Knox or destroy him. While Penn desperately pursues both options, Caitlin uncovers the real story behind a series of unsolved civil rights murders that may hold the key to the Double Eagles’ downfall. The trail leads her deep into the past, into the black backwaters of the Mississippi River, to a secret killing ground used by slave owners and the Klan for over two hundred years . . . a place of terrifying evil known only as “the bone tree.”

Opinion: racism, JFK murder, slavery. Very indepth

Murder of a Bookstore Babe by Denise Swanson

Started: 5/1/2024

Finished: 5/5/2024

Year: 2011

Pages: 243

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "When school psychologist Skye Denison discovers a body crushed by a toppled bookcase in Scumble River's new bookstore, she has to read the clues before she becomes the killer's next work-in-progress..."

Opinion: This was more enjoyable than the last one. Delusions are a thing.

Eyes of Prey by John Sandford

Started: 4/26/2024

Finished: 5/1/2024

Year: 1991

Pages: 454

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Lieutenant Davenport’s sanity was nearly shattered by two murder investigations. Now he faces something worse…Two killers. One hideously scarred. The other strikingly handsome, a master manipulator fascinated with all aspects of death. The dark mirror of Davenport’s soul…This is the case that will bring Davenport back to life. Or push him over the edge."

Opinion: Started off annoying with Lucas's behavior but the mystery/suspense made up for it.

Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez

Started: 4/25/2024

Finished: 4/26/2024

Year: 2024

Pages: 337

Genre: fiction

Grade: F

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "1985. Anita de Monte, a rising star in the art world, is found dead in New York City; her tragic death is the talk of the town. Until it isn’t. By 1998 Anita’s name has been all but forgotten―certainly by the time Raquel, a third-year art history student is preparing her final thesis. On College Hill, surrounded by privileged students whose futures are already paved out for them, Raquel feels like an outsider. Students of color, like her, are the minority there, and the pressure to work twice as hard for the same opportunities is no secret.

"But when Raquel becomes romantically involved with a well-connected older art student, she finds herself unexpectedly rising up the social ranks. As she attempts to straddle both worlds, she stumbles upon Anita’s story, raising questions about the dynamics of her own relationship, which eerily mirrors that of the forgotten artist."

Opinion: Didn't care about the characters or the torturous situations that they put themselves in.