Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell

Started: 8/22/2025

Finished: 8/26/2025

Year: 1990

Pages: 440

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, starting the series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "A killer is stalking the streets of Richmond, Virginia. When the bodies begin to mount, Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta is pulled into a chilling investigation that blends high-stakes forensics with psychological warfare. Armed with cutting-edge science and unflinching resolve, Scarpetta must navigate hostile forces both inside and outside the investigation—because someone isn’t just trying to hide the truth. They’re trying to kill her."

Opinion: I have read this one a long time ago and several others out of order so I decided to start from 1 and go through the series in order. Decent introduction to Kay and her neice Lucy.

Sleep No More by Susan Crandall

Started: 8/18/2025

Finished: 8/21/2025

Year: 2010

Pages: 380

Genre: Romantic suspense

Grade: B

Reason for reading: TBR pile

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "The night was always Abby Whitman's enemy. As a young girl she walked in her sleep, and one night, she started a fire that scarred her sister for life and left Abby with unbearable guilt . . . and a loneliness that echoes within her. Now Abby has begun blacking out again--with apparently fatal results. A car accident has killed the son of a prominent family.

"Even though the evidence seems to exonerate her, Abby is plagued by doubts--and soon by mysterious threats. Psychiatrist Dr. Jason Coble is intrigued by Abby and offers to help her explore the dark recesses of her mind. Through this terrifying journey, Jason's interest turns to passion, and he yearns to give her the love she craves. But first, Abby must trust him--and shed light on secrets that will rock this Southern town and reveal a danger that threatens them both."

Opinion: Mystery was slightly predictable but the reasoning behind it was not. Romance was not over the top and was reasonable.

The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb

Started: 8/13/2025

Finished: 8/17/2025

Year: 2025

Pages: 461

Genre: literature

Grade: A

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Corby Ledbetter is struggling. New fatherhood, the loss of his job, and a growing secret addiction have thrown his marriage to his beloved Emily into a tailspin. And that’s before he causes the tragedy that tears the family apart. Sentenced to prison, Corby struggles to survive life on the inside, where he bears witness to frightful acts of brutality but also experiences small acts of kindness and elemental kinship with a prison librarian who sees his light and some of his fellow offenders, including a tender-hearted cellmate and a troubled teen desperate for a role model. Buoyed by them and by his mother’s enduring faith in him, Corby begins to transcend the boundaries of his confinement, sustained by his hope that mercy and reconciliation might still be possible. Can his crimes ever be forgiven by those he loves?"

Opinion: TRIGGERS!!!! I am surprised that there are not trigger warnings for this book-it could trigger almost anyone that has gone through anything traumatic. With that said, this was a heartbreaking, emotional story with an interesting ending. I can see why Oprah choose this as part of her book club. I would recommend this to anyone who isn't sensitive to traumatic events.

A Margin for Murder by Lauren Elliott

Started: 8/9/2025

Finished: 8/13/2025

Year: 2022

Pages: 313

Genre: mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Addie leaves her Greyborne Harbor bookstore, Beyond the Page Books and Curios, in the capable hands of her assistant while she travels to the neighboring town of Pen Hollow to attend a book sale at a library that is closing due to lack of funding. But the real find is a bookmobile bus, which she’s excited to refit as a traveling bookstore to hit all the summer festivals. The bookmobile also holds a surprising treasure: several classic first editions and an early edition of Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses.

"But before the bookmobile can be delivered to Addie, a fatal car crash occurs. When an autopsy reveals poison in the victim’s system and the first editions go missing, it’s up to Addie to determine what would drive someone to murder. If she’s not careful, however, she may be the next one to be dead on arrival . . ."

Opinion: Ending ended up being predictable but still a good twist.

Mind Prey by John Sandford

Started: 8/6/2025

Finished: 8/9/2025

Year: 1995

Pages: 323

Genre: mystery/thriller

Grade: B

Reason for reading: TBR pile, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "In the wake of the abduction of a woman and her two young daughters, deputy chief Lucas Davenport faces the most challenging case of his career, while the victim, psychiatrist Andi Manette, applies all her skills to outwit her captor."

Opinion: Decent kidnapping mystery mixed with gaming.

Murder on Sex Island by Jo Firestone

Started: 8/4/2025

Finished: 8/6/2025

Year: 2023

Pages: 209

Genre: mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "When a cast member goes missing from the hit reality show Sex Island, producers hire detective Luella van Horn to go undercover as a contestant and solve the case. What the producers don’t know is that the enigmatic Luella van Horn is actually a woman named Marie Jones, a divorced ex–social worker from Staten Island attempting to lead a double life as a private eye. The local press couldn’t get enough of Luella . . . until she horribly bungled her last case and a murderer went free.

"Unable to resist the opportunity to be a part of her favorite trashy TV show, travel to a remote island, and embark on a journey for redemption, Marie-as-Luella takes the case. But the more she learns about Sex Island’s dark underbelly, the harder it gets to make it out alive. She encounters shady producers, sleazy directors, contestants willing to do whatever it takes to win the $100,000 grand prize—and the dead body of the show’s missing fan-favorite in her bathtub.

"Will she find the killer? Will she find herself? Will she find . . . love?"

Opinion: Murder and Reality TV (Bachelor in Paradise, Love Island, etc). Decent mystery-certainly enough possibilities of whodunit.

A Dead Draw by Robert Dugoni

Started: 8/1/2025

Finished: 8/4/2025

Year: 2025

Pages: 377

Genre: mystery/thriller

Grade: A

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Detective Tracy Crosswhite isn’t one to lose her cool. Until her interrogation of the taunting and malicious Erik Schmidt, a suspect in two cold case killings. Schmidt also has unnerving ties to the monster who murdered Tracy’s sister, stirring memories of the crime that shaped Tracy’s life. After a critical mistake during a shooting exercise, Tracy breaks.

"Haunted by nightmares and flashbacks, Tracy heads to her hometown of Cedar Grove to refocus. Just a peaceful getaway with her husband, her daughter, and their nanny at their weekend house. But Tracy’s sleepless nights are only beginning. A legal glitch has allowed Schmidt to go free. And Tracy has every reason to fear that he’s followed her.

"Forced into a twisted game of cat and mouse, Tracy must draw on all her training, wits, and strength to defeat a master criminal before he takes away everyone Tracy loves."

Opinion: Great thrilling parts that worked well with Tracy's character and her history. Well worth waiting for...now to wait for the next one.

The Murder Room by Michael Capuzzo

Started: 7/29/2025

Finished: 8/1/2025

Year: 2010

Pages: 426

Genre: true crime

Grade: C

Reason for reading: TBR pile

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Three of the greatest detectives in the world were heartsick over the growing tide of unsolved murders. Good friends and sometime rivals William Fleisher, Frank Bender, and Richard Walter decided one day over lunch that something had to be done, and pledged themselves to a grand quest for justice.

"The Murder Room draws the reader into a chilling, darkly humorous, awe-inspiring world as the three partners travel far from their Victorian dining room to hunt ruthless killers, among them the grisly murderer of a millionaire's son, a serial killer who carves off faces, and a child killer enjoying fifty years of freedom and dark fantasy."

Opinion: Unorganized writing-format needed a lot more editing-have a case from start to end. A good idea to highlight these detectives and their cases but something more was needed.

A General History of Pyrates by Daniel Defoe, edited by Manuel Schonhorn

Started: 7/28/2025

Finished: DNF

Year: 1972 this edition

Pages: 660

Genre: history, pirates

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Embark on a thrilling journey through the swashbuckling world of pirates with "A General History of the Pyrates." This captivating book takes you deep into the heart of the Golden Age of Piracy, where legendary figures like Blackbeard, Captain Kidd, and Anne Bonny ruled the high seas.

"Discover the daring exploits, epic battles, and larger-than-life personalities of history's most notorious pirates. From the treacherous waters of the Caribbean to the remote islands of the Indian Ocean, this meticulously researched account paints a vivid picture of piracy's heyday, exploring the social, economic, and political forces that fueled this thrilling era.

"Featuring gripping tales of adventure, betrayal, and romance, "A General History of the Pyrates" is a must-read for anyone fascinated by the allure of piracy and the mysteries of the sea. Whether you're a seasoned historian or an armchair adventurer, this timeless classic will transport you to a world where danger lurks around every corner and the call of adventure beckons on the horizon."

Opinion: Josh Gates mentioned this book on a recent episode of one of his television shows so I thought I'd check it out. Lots of interesting stories about lots of pirates. Great research. I only read a couple of entries. Some of it is hard to read since it was originally written in the 1700s.

Cherry Cheesecake Murder by Joanne Fluke

Started: 7/25/2025

Finished: 7/28/2025

Year: 2006

Pages: 339

Genre: mystery

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "When Main Street in Lake Eden becomes a movie set, a clever killer rewrites the script and bakery owner Hannah Swenson, while trying to decide which marriage proposal to accept, must sift through a cast of suspects before the film wraps with an even deadlier ending."

Opinion: Sigh....body wasn't done until page 200. Way too much "development" of outside Lake Eden characters. 

Leader of the Pack by David Rosenfelt

Started: 7/22/2025

Finished: 7/25/2025

Year: 2012

Pages: 360

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: TBR, continuing with series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Over the course of his legal career, Andy Carpenter has lost a few cases. But that doesn't mean he forgets his clients. Andy has always been convinced that Joey Desimone, a man convicted of murder nine years ago, was innocent and believes that Joey's family's connections to organized crime played a pivotal role in his conviction. While there isn't much Andy can do for him while he serves out his prison sentence, Joey suggests that he check up on Joey's elderly uncle. He'd rather not, but as a favor to Joey, Andy agrees to take his dog, Tara, on a few visits.

"The old man's memory is going, but when Andy tries to explain why he's there, it jogs something in the man's mind, and his comments leave Andy wondering if Uncle Nick is confused, or if he just might hold the key to Joey's freedom after all this time.

"Andy grabs on to this thread of possibility and follows it into a world where the oath of silence is stronger than blood ties, and where people will do anything to make sure their secrets are kept."

Opinion: Decent mystery, sad ending..more Mafia/Mob stuff

Dream State by Eric Puchner

Started: 7/22/2025

Finished: DNF

Year: 2025

Pages: 429

Genre: Literature

Grade: F

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Cece is in love. She has arrived early at her future in-laws’ lake house in Salish, Montana, to finish planning her wedding to Charlie, a young doctor with a brilliant life ahead of him. Charlie has asked Garrett, his best friend from college, to officiate the ceremony, though Cece can’t imagine anyone more ill-suited for the task—an airport baggage handler haunted by a tragedy from his and Charlie’s shared past. But as Cece spends time with Garrett, his gruff mask slips, and she grows increasingly uncertain about her future. And why does Garrett, after meeting Cece, begin to feel, well, human again? As a contagious stomach flu threatens to scuttle the wedding, and Charlie and Garrett’s friendship is put to the ultimate test, Cece must decide between the life she’s dreamed of and a life she’s never imagined.

"The events of that summer have long-lasting repercussions, not only on the three friends caught in its shadow but also on their children, who struggle to escape their parents’ story. Spanning fifty years and set against the backdrop of a rapidly warming Montana, Dream State explores what it means to live with the mistakes of the past—both our own and the ones we’ve inherited."

Opinion: Did not like the writing style. 

Fire and Bones by Kathy Reichs

Started: 7/20/2025

Finished: 7/22/2025

Year: 2024

Pages: 269

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Always apprehensive about working fire scenes, Tempe is called to Washington, DC, to analyze the victims of a deadly blaze. The devastated building is in Foggy Bottom, a neighborhood with a colorful past and present, and when Tempe delves into the property’s history, she becomes suspicious about the ownership.

"The pieces start falling into place strangely and quickly, and, sensing a good story, Tempe teams with a new ally, telejournalist Ivy Doyle. Soon the duo learns that back in the 1930s and ’40s the home was the hangout of a group of bootleggers and racketeers known as the Foggy Bottom Gang. While interesting, this fact seems irrelevant—until the son of a Foggy Bottom gang member is shot dead at his home in an affluent part of the district. Coincidence? Targeted attack? So many questions.

"As Tempe and Ivy dig deeper, an arrest is finally made. Then another fire claims one more victim, and slowly, Tempe’s instincts begin pointing to the obvious. But her moves since coming to Washington have been anticipated—and every path forward seems to bring with it a lethal threat."

Opinion: Boundaries are necessary. Good mystery.

The Secrets of Chocolate: A Gourmand's Trip Through a Top Chef's Atelier by Franckie Alarcon

Started: 7/20/2025

Finished: 7/20/2025

Year: 2021

Pages: 112

Grade: C

Genre: graphic book

Reason for reading: goodreads.com giveaway

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Following Jacques Genin for a year, Franckie Alarcon hobnobbed with one of the biggest chefs of Chocolate. Former chef and pastry chef for prestigious restaurants, this super-talented autodidact shares all his passion and knowledge of chocolate and his process for creating recipes. In this docu-comic, we travel with the starry-eyed author, satisfying many a craving from the chef’s amazing atelier above his store, trying his hand as an apprentice, all the way to the Peruvian cocoa plantations where another chef shows how one carefully chooses the beans."

Opinion: The font didn't make it easy reading but it is informative.

Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts

Started: 7/17/2025

Finished: DNF

Year: 2025

Pages: 435

Genre: romantic suspense

Grade: D

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Natural Resources police officer, Sloan Cooper, and her partner had just taken down three men preying on hikers in the Western Maryland mountains. Driving back, she pulled in at a convenience store―and walked right into a robbery in progress. One gunshot from a jittery thief was about to change her world.

"After being shocked back to life on the operating table, she has a long recovery ahead, so she moves back to her parents’ peaceful house in Heron’s Rest. As for the boyfriend who dumped her via text while she was in the hospital, good riddance.

"She may be down, but she’s not out. So when a woman vanishes, leaving her car behind in a supermarket parking lot, Sloan searches online for similar cases. She finds them, spread across three states. Men and women, old and young―the missing seem to have nothing in common. And the abductions keep happening.

"Luckily, the new man in her life shares her passion for solving this mystery. But it will take every ounce of endurance to get to the dark heart of this bizarre case―and she's willing to risk her life again if that's what it takes to stop the horror."

Opinion: Way too slow and way too much developing of Sloan instead of using the KISS method. 

Stone Cross by Marc Cameron

Started: 7/14/2025

Finished: 7/17/2025

Year: 2020

Pages: 321

Genre: mystery/thriller

Grade: B+

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Winter comes early to the rural native community of Stone Cross, Alaska—and so does hunting season. Caribou and moose are a major source of food through the long, dark months ahead. But Arliss Cutter has come here for a very different game. A federal judge is receiving death threats and refuses protection. Cutter and his deputy Lola Teariki have been assigned to shadow him on his trip to this icy outland to make sure that he’s safe. But they quickly discover that no one is ever really safe in a place like this. And no one is above suspicion . . .

"When Cutter and Lola arrive, the village is already gripped with fear. A young couple has disappeared from their fishing lodge, just eight miles upriver. Their handyman has been found dead, next to a crude drawing of a mysterious symbol. To make matters worse, a dense fog has descended on the region, isolating the town from civilization. With the judge’s life still at risk, and two people still missing, Cutter and Lola have their work cut out for them. But navigating the small-town customs and blood-bound traditions of this close-knit community won’t be easy. When the secrets come out, the deadly hunt is on . . ."

Opinion: Good book two of the series. Lots of action. 

Stab Stitched by Elizabeth Penney

Started: 7/12/2025

Finished: 7/14/2025

Year: 2014

Pages: 216

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: TBR, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "As Emma Cotton and Kelly Grace inch closer to finding out what really happened to their friend, Rose Peterson, their journey comes to a perilous fork in the road. Down one side of the trail, the stalker who has tried to dissuade them from their investigation has become more and more desperate. Down the other, a trip to nearby Lantern Cove in search of their next suspect, Olivia Stewart, turns deadly. Bart Tolliver, a friend of Emma’s vivacious aunt, Dottie Faye Sinclair, is found stabbed through the heart with a letter opener, and Dottie Faye is the main person of interest in the murder. Will the trip to Lantern Cove shed light on their quest to find Rose’s murderer? Or will this latest tunnel be just another dead end?"

Opinion: Good continuation of series-pretty impressive given the different authors. Almost done with the series.

Isola by Allegra Goodman

Started: 7/11/2025

Finished: DNF

Year: 2025

Pages: 339

Genre: historical fiction

Grade: D

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Heir to a fortune, Marguerite is destined for a life of prosperity and gentility. Then she is orphaned, and her guardian—an enigmatic and volatile man—spends her inheritance and insists she accompany him on an expedition to New France. That journey takes a unexpected turn when Marguerite, accused of betrayal, is brutally punished and abandoned on a small island.

"Once a child of privilege who dressed in gowns and laced pearls in her hair, Marguerite finds herself at the mercy of nature. As the weather turns, blanketing the island in ice, she discovers a faith she’d never before needed.

"Inspired by the real life of a sixteenth-century heroine, Isola is the timeless story of a woman fighting for survival."

Opinion: I'm not a big fan of historical fiction and I'm trying to get more into it but this time frame, I did not care about. The introduction of Marguerite didn't capture my attention.

Peach Cobbler Murder by Joanne Fluke

Started: 7/10/2025

Finished: 7/11/2025

Year: 2005

Pages: 292

Genre: cozy mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "When Shawna Lee Quinn, a rival bakery owner, is found shot to death in the back of the Magnolia Blossom Bakery, Hannah Swenson becomes the prime suspect in the crime and, with a little help from her friends, sets out to serve up the real killer."

Opinion: A decent continuation of the series and the truth about someone came out.

Surfacing by Margaret Atwood

Started: 7/9/2025

Finished: DNF

Year: 1972

Pages: 231

Genre: literature

Grade: F

Reason for reading: bookcrossing.com book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Accompanied by her boyfriend and a young married couple, the artist searches her abandoned childhood home for clues her parents may have left. But in the disorienting, transformative isolation of the wilderness, her friends’ marriage begins to crumble, sex becomes a catalyst for conflict, and violence and death lurk just beneath the surface. As her relentless probing leads to an electrifying confrontation with her own suppressed secrets, she rapidly descends into what could be either madness or the starkest self-knowledge."

Opinion: Too many grammar issues. Didn't care about the character.

Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw

Started: 7/8/2025

Finished: DNF

Year: 2017

Pages: 353

Genre: paranormal mystery

Grade: D

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Greta Helsing inherited her family's highly specialized and highly peculiar medical practice. In her consulting rooms, Dr. Helsing treats the undead for a host of ills: vocal strain in banshees, arthritis in barrow-wights, and entropy in mummies. Although she barely makes ends meet, this is just the quiet, supernatural-adjacent life Greta's been groomed for since childhood.

"Until a sect of murderous monks emerges, killing human and undead Londoners alike. As terror takes hold of the city, Greta must use her unusual skills to stop the cult if she hopes to save her practice and her life."

Opinion: Interesting concept, writing was decent...just didn't care about the initial creatures that she helped.

To the Tome of Murder by Lauren Elliott

Started: 7/7/2025

Finised: 7/8/2025

Year: 2021

Pages: 316

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Addie’s determined to turn a seemingly ordinary November in coastal Greyborne Harbor into one for the books. The windows of her shop display carefully curated works by American writers, including a rare selection of traditional holiday recipes from the influential 19th-century publication Godey’s Ladies Magazine. And then there’s the town’s Civil War-era themed cooking and baking competition, with a hefty cash prize and free publicity going to the winning dish...

"But when she finds her cousin’s boyfriend murdered, a stunned Addie reluctantly realizes she may be the only person who can blow the cover off a grisly crime. With so many unanswered questions surrounding the victim’s death, Addie must figure out the strange connection between a mysterious vintage briefcase, the disappearance of a first edition copy of Sarah Josepha Hale’s famous nursery rhyme, “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” and a dangerously well-read culprit..."

Opinion: The lengths that some will go for family.

Night Prey by John Sandford

Started: 7/2/2025

Finished: 7/7/2025

Year: 2010

Pages: 435

Genre: mystery/thriller

Grade: B

Reason for reading: TBR, continuing with series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "A savage psychopath is playing cat and mouse with Lucas Davenport. But both killer and detective find themselves at odds with a female investigator who has intensely personal reasons for catching the killer herself-and fast."

Opinion: Slow burn suspense. Crazy ending.

Collide by Bal Khabra

Started: 7/1/2025

Finished: DNF

Year: 2023

Pages: 383

Genre: romance

Grade: D-

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "An ultimatum from Summer Preston’s thesis advisor thrusts her into an unexpected collision with the hockey team’s captain, Aiden Crawford. She’s caught between conflicting desires of fulfilling her lifelong dream of becoming a sport psychologist and staying as far away as possible from the god-awful sport. And once she meets Aiden—well, let’s just say he confirms all her worst assumptions about hockey players. 

"Being the captain of the college hockey team has its perks, except when a reckless mistake by Aiden’s team threatens to jeopardize their entire season. As punishment, Aiden’s coach nominates him as the subject of a student research project. Participating is the last thing he wants to do, especially since the girl leading the project looks like she could wield his skates as a weapon.

"Summer can’t stand Aiden’s blasé approach to life, and Aiden doesn’t understand why she’s twenty years old with a twenty-five-year plan. But their bickering soon turns to bantering—and once they let their guards down, there’s nothing to check their feelings."

Opinion: This book was just way too long and a lot more editing was needed-personalities changed way too much even for college students. 

Pioneer Girl Persepectives Edited by Nancy Tystad Koupal

Started: 6/30/2025

Finished: 6/30/2025

Year: 2017

Pages: 300

Genre: anthology

Grade: C

Reason for reading: TBR pile

Type: ARC paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867 1957) finished her autobiography, Pioneer Girl, in 1930 when she was sixty-three years old. Throughout the 1930s and into the early 1940s, she drew upon her original manuscript to write a successful series of books for young readers. Wilder s vision of life on the American frontier in the last half of the nineteenth century continues to draw new generations of readers to her Little House books. Editor Nancy Tystad Koupal has collected essays from noted scholars of Wilder s life and work that explore the themes and genesis of Wilder s writings. Pioneer Girl Perspectives sheds new light on the story behind Wilder s original manuscript and examines the ways in which the author and her daughter and editor, Rose Wilder Lane, worked to develop a marketable narrative. The essay contributors delve into the myths and realities of Wilder s work to discover the real lives of frontier children, the influence of time and place on both Wilder and Lane, and the role of folklore in the Little House novels. Together, the essays give readers a deeper understanding of how Wilder built and managed her story. Published over eighty years after its inception, Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography edited by Pamela Smith Hill gave readers new insight into the truth behind Wilder s fiction. Pioneer Girl Perspectives further demonstrates the importance of Wilder as an influential American author whose stories of growing up on the frontier remain relevant today."

Opinion: I did not read all of the essays that were included in this-some were interesting. Some were not.

Agony Hill by Sarah Stewart Taylor

Started: 6/27/2025

Finished: 6/30/2025

Year: 2024

Pages: 306

Genre: historical mystery

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "In the hot summer of 1965, Bostonian Franklin Warren arrives in Bethany, Vermont, to take a position as a detective with the state police. Warren's new home is on the verge of monumental change; the interstates under construction will bring new people, new opportunities, and new problems to Vermont, and the Cold War and protests against the war in Vietnam have finally reached the dirt roads and rolling pastures of Bethany.

"Warren has barely unpacked when he's called up to a remote farm on Agony Hill. Former New Yorker and Back-to-the-Lander Hugh Weber seems to have set fire to his barn and himself, with the door barred from the inside, but things aren’t adding up for Warren. The people of Bethany―from Weber’s enigmatic wife to Warren's neighbor, widow and amateur detective Alice Bellows ― clearly have secrets they’d like to keep, but Warren can’t tell if the truth about Weber’s death is one of them. As he gets to know his new home and grapples with the tragedy that brought him there, Warren is drawn to the people and traditions of small town Vermont, even as he finds darkness amidst the beauty."

Opinion: Slow burning to a rushed end. Not a horrible mystery but not enough for me to continue with the series.

The Bone Hacker by Kathy Reichs

Started: 6/25/2025

Finished: 6/27/2025

Year: 2023

Pages: 317

Genre: mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Called in to examine what is left of a person thought to have been struck by lightning, Tempe traces an unusual tattoo to its source and is soon embroiled in something much larger. Young men—tourists—have been disappearing on the islands of Turks and Caicos. Seven years earlier, the first victim was found in a strange location with his left hand hacked off; subsequently, two other visitors vanished without a trace. But recently, tantalizing leads have emerged…

"Maddeningly, the victims seem to have nothing in common—other than the odd places where their bodies turn up, and the fact that none seems likely to have been involved in criminal activity. Do these attacks have something to do with the islands’ culture of gang violence? Tempe isn’t so sure—but she soon discovers evidence that what’s at stake may have global significance, and the sound of a ticking clock grows menacingly loud. Then Tempe herself becomes a target…"

Opinion: Imagine being asked to go to Turks/Caicos to help solve some cold cases from Montreal. Slow buildup, rushed ending.

One Dog Night by David Rosenfelt

Started: 6/23/2025

Finished: 6/25/2025

Year: 2011

Pages: 387

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: TBR pile, continuing with series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "For six years Noah Galloway has lived with a horrible secret and the fear that his rebuilt life could be shattered at any moment. Now his dread has become a certainty, and he has been arrested for the arson murder of twenty-six people.

"What he needs is defense lawyer Andy Carpenter, who most definitely is not in the market for a new client. So Noah plays his hole card: a shared love for Andy’s golden retriever, Tara, and the knowledge that Andy wasn’t her first owner―Noah rescued Tara first. When Noah wasn’t able to care for her any longer, he did everything in his power to make sure that she was placed in the right home: Andy’s.

"Andy soon learns that the long-ago event that may destroy Noah’s life is only the beginning of an ongoing conspiracy that grows more deadly by the day."

Opinion: Interesting case with a little bit of everything involved-military, FBI, mafia, etc

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall

Started: 6/23/2025

Finished: DNF

Year: 2025

Pages: 302

Genre: literature

Grade: F

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Beth and her gentle, kind husband Frank are happily married, but their relationship relies on the past staying buried. But when Beth’s brother-in-law shoots a dog going after their sheep, Beth doesn’t realize that the gunshot will alter the course of their lives. For the dog belonged to none other than Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth loved as a teenager—the man who broke her heart years ago. Gabriel has returned to the village with his young son Leo, a boy who reminds Beth very much of her own son, who died in a tragic accident.

"As Beth is pulled back into Gabriel’s life, tensions around the village rise and dangerous secrets and jealousies from the past resurface, this time with deadly consequences. Beth is forced to make a choice between the woman she once was, and the woman she has become."

Opinion: So much flipping back and forth in time. The characters are decently written but the back and forth was too annoying.

Open Carry by Marc Cameron

Started: 6/19/2025

Finished: 6/23/2025

Year: 2019

Pages: 312

Genre: mystery/thriller

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book, start of series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "U.S. Marshal Arliss Cutter is a born tracker. Raised in the Florida swamplands, he honed his skills in the military, fought in the Middle East, and worked three field positions for Marshal Services. When it comes to tracking someone down—or taking someone out—Cutter’s the best. But his newest assignment is taking him out of his comfort zone to southeast Alaska. Cold, dark, uninhabited forests often shrouded in fog. And it’s the kind of case that makes his blood run cold . . . the shocking murder of a Tlingit Indian girl.

"But the murder is just the beginning. Now, three people have disappeared on Prince of Wales Island. Two are crew members of the reality TV show, Fishwives. Cutter’s job is to find the bodies, examine the crew’s footage for clues, and track down the men who killed them. But it won’t be easy, because the whole town is hiding secrets, every trail is a dead end—and the hunter becomes the hunted . . ."

Opinion: Lots of action among different but connected mysteries.

Belonging by Nancy Thayer

Started: 6/18/2025

Finished: DNF

Year: 1995

Pages: 388

Genre: literature

Grade: F

Reason for reading: bookcrossing.com book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Today Joanna has the life she'd always dreamed of...

"Joanna Jones, the successful host of Fabulous Homes, a New York based TV show, seems to have it all. Blessed with great looks, she has a successful lover and a job that gives her fame and money, while allowing her to indulge her passion for beautiful homes.

"Tomorrow she might lose it all...

"Suddenly and shockingly, Joanna will discover what she doesn't have: a committed relationship she can depend on. Now she faces a stunning discovery alone and makes the tuogh decision to leave her glittering life for an old Nantucket house on the ocean, new friends, and unexpected enemies. The choices ahead will test her courage; the surprising twists of fate will challenge her faith as she faces a day of ashes, a time of sorrow, and one extraordinary new chance for love, happiness, and..."

Opinion: I did not like Joanna's character and did not care if she changed or redeemed herself

Going Home in the Dark by Dean Koontz

Started: 6/17/2025

Finished: DNF

Year: 2025

Pages: 385

Genre: Thriller

Grade: F

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "As kids, outcasts Rebecca, Bobby, Spencer, and Ernie were inseparable friends in the idyllic town of Maple Grove. Three left to pursue lofty dreams―and achieved them. Only Ernie never left. When he falls into a coma, his three amigos feel an urgent need to return home. Don’t they remember people lapsing into comas back then? And those people always awoke…didn’t they?

"After two decades, not a lot has changed in Maple Grove, especially Ernie’s obnoxious, scary mother. But Rebecca, Bobby, and Spencer begin to remember a hulking, murderous figure and weirdness piled on mystery that they were made to forget. As Ernie sinks deeper into darkness, something strange awaits any friend who tries to save him.

"For Rebecca, Bobby, and Spencer, time is running out to remember the terrors of the past in a perfect town where nothing is what it seems. For Maple Grove, it’s a chance to have the “four amigos,” as they once called themselves, back in its grasp."

Opinion: Too many author interruptions. There are ways to let readers know about characters without interrupting the flow of the story.

Sugar Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke

Started: 6/16/2025

Finished: 6/17/2025

Year: 2004

Pages: 168 (other half is recipes)

Genre: mystery

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "During the Lake Eden Holiday Buffet, bakery owner Hannah Swensen stumbles upon a recipe for murder when Mrs. Dubinski, a former Vegas showgirl, is found dead with Hannah's mother's antique Christmas cake knife buried in her cleavage"

Opinion: For a short book, the discovery of the body didn't take place until halfway through. A quick solve.

Celtic Chains by Donna Kelly

Started: 6/16/2025

Finished: 6/16/2025

Year: 2014

Pages: 203

Genre: mystery

Grade: C

Reason for reading: TBR pile, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Blacks Bookshop website): "Dottie Faye Sinclair is on edge from the minute she arrives in Ireland. She is there to help her niece, Emma Cotton, in the investigation of Liam Gallagher, a textile shop owner in the quaint town of Merrow. But talk of banshees and pookas, mythical creatures of the Emerald Isle, incites Dottie Faye's superstitious nature and compromises her ability to help."

Opinion: Barely anything on the main investigation that has been the point of this series which is disappointing.

The Tenant by Freida McFadden

Started: 6/12/2025

Finished: 6/16/2025

Year: 2025

Pages: 344

Genre: thriller

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Blake Porter is riding high, until he's not. Fired abruptly from his job as a VP of marketing and unable to make the mortgage payments on the new brownstone he shares with his fiancée, he's desperate to make ends meet.

"Enter Whitney. Beautiful, charming, down-to-earth, and looking for a room to rent. She's exactly what Blake's looking for. Or is she?

"Because something isn't quite right. The neighbors start treating Blake differently. The smell of decay permeates his home, no matter how hard he scrubs. Strange noises jar him awake in the middle of the night. And soon Blake fears someone knows his darkest secrets...

"Danger lives right at home, and by the time Blake realizes it, it'll be far too late. The trap is already set."

Opinion: Talk about roommates from hell................

Under the Cover of Murder by Lauren Elliott

Started: 6/10/2025

Finished: 6/12/2025

Year: 2021

Pages: 316

Genre: cozy mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "It promises to be Greyborne Harbor's wedding of the year. The impending nuptials of Serena Chandler and Zach Ludlow will take place aboard his family's luxurious super-yacht, currently moored in the harbor and the talk of the town. But on the day of the wedding, a man's body washes up on the beach with no ID, only a torn page from a book in his pocket. As owner of Beyond the Page Books and Curios, bibliophile Addie is called in to identify the book, but she cannot.

"The morning following the extravagant ceremony, a second body washes ashore and Addie has a sinking feeling that the two deaths are connected. While the guests are held on the yacht as the police investigate, at least Addie can peruse Zach's father's rare books library on board. A copy of Agatha Christie's first Hercule Poirot novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, provides a clue that the killer may still be on the ship--but narrowing down the suspects without becoming the next victim may prove a truly Herculean task..."

Opinion: Trapped on a yacht, solving a murder. Decent continuation of the series.

Fan Fiction by Brent Spiner

Started: 6/10/2025

Finished: DNF

Year: 2021

Pages: 240

Genre: mystery

Grade: F

Reason for reading: goodreads.com giveaway

Type: ARC

Blurb (from Amazon): "Set in 1991, just as Star Trek: The Next Generation has rocketed the cast to global fame, the young and impressionable actor Brent Spiner receives a mysterious package and a series of disturbing letters, that take him on a terrifying and bizarre journey that enlists Paramount Security, the LAPD, and even the FBI in putting a stop to the danger that has his life and career hanging in the balance.

"Featuring a cast of characters from Patrick Stewart to Levar Burton to Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, to some completely imagined, this is the fictional autobiography that takes readers into the life of Brent Spiner, and tells an amazing tale about the trappings of celebrity and the fear he has carried with him his entire life."

Opinion: Just didn't care about Brent and his stalker....or the cast of Star Trek. 

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Started: 6/9/2025

Finished: DNF

Year: 2020

Pages: 351

Genre: mystery

Grade: F

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves the Thursday Murder Club.

"When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case.

"As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it's too late?"

Opinion: Put it down and the next chapter felt like anything I read wasn't happening. Wanted to read it before the movie comes out but I'll just stick with watching the movie.

Cold, Cold Bones by Kathy Reichs

Started: 6/7/2025

Finished: 6/9/2025

Year: 2022

Pages: 338

Genre: mystery/thriller

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Winter has come to North Carolina and, with it, a drop in crime. Freed from a heavy work schedule, Tempe Brennan is content to dote on her daughter Katy, finally returned to civilian life from the army. But when mother and daughter meet at Tempe’s place one night, they find a box on the back porch. Inside: a very fresh human eyeball.

"GPS coordinates etched into the eyeball lead to a Benedictine monastery where an equally macabre discovery awaits. Soon after, Tempe examines a mummified corpse in a state park, and her anxiety deepens.

"There seems to be no pattern to the subsequent killings uncovered, except that each mimics in some way a homicide that a younger Tempe had been called in to analyze. Who or what is targeting her, and why?

"Helping Tempe search for answers is detective Erskine “Skinny” Slidell, retired but still volunteering with the CMPD cold case unit—and still displaying his gallows humor. Also pulled into the mystery: Andrew Ryan, Tempe’s Montreal-based beau, now working as a private detective.

"Could this elaborately staged skein of mayhem be the prelude to a twist that is even more shocking? Tempe is at a loss to establish the motive for what is going on…and then her daughter disappears."

Opinion: Revenge can be interesting...and gory. Really don't understand why Tempe did something because it was out of sorts for her personality.

Winter Prey by John Sandford

Started: 6/2/2025

Finished: 6/6/2025

Year: 1993

Pages: 394

Genre: mystery/thriller

Grade: B

Reason for reading: TBR, continuing with series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "It's the dead of winter, and a killer like no other is turning a small Wisconsin town into a death trap-one that's closing in on Lucas Davenport."

Opinion: Decent high paced thriller. Could be triggering for some.

The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig

Started: 5/29/2025

Finished: 6/2/2025

Year: 2025

Pages: 381

Genre: thriller

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Five high school friends are bonded by an oath to protect one another no matter what.

"Then, on a camping trip in the middle of the forest, they find something extraordinary: a mysterious staircase to nowhere.

"One friend walks up—and never comes back down. Then the staircase disappears.

"Twenty years later, the staircase has reappeared. Now the group returns to find the lost boy—and what lies beyond the staircase in the woods. . . ."

Opinion: Decent horror/thriller book. Interesting concept.