Amateur detective

Vertigo 42

Vertigo 42 by Martha Grimes, Richard Jury Mysteries Book 23 The four-legged members of Melrose Plant’s  (a/k/a Lord Ardry and Superintendent Richard Jury’s civilian sidekick) household include a horse named […]

A Case of Life and Limb

A Case of Life and Limb by Sally Smith A Case of Life and Limb is the second in the historical mystery series featuring the reclusive bachelor and barrister Gabriel […]

A Case of Mice and Murder

A Case of Mice and Murder by Sally Smith A new historical mystery series set in London’s cloistered legal world has loads of potential! Barrister Gabriel Ward lives and works […]

The Mudflats Murder Club

The Mudflats Murder Club (Book 1) by Brian Thiem Former homicide detective and widower Sean Tanner recently moved to a posh retirement community in Spartina Island. Not long after his […]

The Impossible Fortune

The Impossible Fortune (Book 5) by Richard Osman I am slightly embarrassed to admit that I pre-ordered (full price), a hardback copy of the latest Thursday Murder Club Mystery and […]

Gone Before Goodbye

Gone Before Goodbye by Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben Gone Before Goodbye by the improbable duo Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben is a classic airplane read, and I mean that […]

The Boy in the Suitcase

The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis The title is creepier than the book, despite its Nordic crime label. I was expecting something very SVU, but […]

The Thursday Murder Club

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (Book 1) This novel kept appearing on various “recommended for you” lists, but I initially resisted buying it as it sounded rather insipid, […]

Close to Death

Close to Death, a Hawthorne and Horowitz Mystery by Anthony Horowitz BOOK 5 Anthony Horowitz novels are more sophisticated than silly, but are excellent, engrossing summer reads. In the Hawthorne […]

The Examiner

The Examiner by Janice Hallett I loved The Examiner, a fiendishly clever epistolary novel. I read the book in a weekend, and was repeatedly flummoxed by the plot’s twists and […]

One Death at a Time

One Death at a Time by Abbi Waxman Romance writer Abbi Waxman (The Bookish Life of Nina Hill) has written a mystery. Twentysomething Natasha Mason and iconic, retired actress Julia […]

Murder Takes a Vacation

Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman As we swelter in Nashville, a river cruise in France sounds delicious! Unless you are the traveler who discovers the body! Mrs. Blossom, […]

American in Paris Mysteries

American In Paris Mysteries, Colleen Cambridge There is a sub-genre of mystery novels that feature real-life historical figures as crime solvers. Some of these efforts seem a bit of a […]