It feels as though I’ve spent most of this week shuffling between cities on overcrowded trains dealing with a problem that went on for months when it should have been resolved in weeks. The upside is that I was able read a couple of novels on my iPad – – oh and the problem finally did get fixed.
Anyway, here’s what’s been happening this week and what’s up next.
I finished three novels this week. One was the next thriller in a series, one was the first book in a new cosy mystery series and one was a remarkably original story about Lucy Westenra, Bertha Mason and Jane Eyre in San Francisco during the ‘Sumer Of Love’ in 1967. I love it when novels allow my imagination to roam the world, especially when I’m trapped in a train.
I picked up ‘Bury The Lead’ (2024) off the back of a review from someone I follow. The title made me smile because it managed to say Murder, Journalism and Theatre in one phrase. The premise, which combines amateur sleuth in a Canadian small town AND drama backstage in the theatre, called to me. It’s also the first book in a new series so, if I liked it, I’d have a new set of cosy mystery comfort reads available to me.
So, did it live up to my expectations?
For the most part, yes. The plot worked. The context felt real. The main character was a little flat. But it was entertaining enough for me to want to read ‘Widows And Orphans‘, the next book in the series, when it comes out as an audiobook next month.
‘See Her Die‘ (2020) follows straight on from the events in ‘ the first Bree Tagget book, ‘Cross Her Heart‘ which saw Bree, a Philadelphia PD Detective with a notoriously traumatic childhood, called back to the small upstate New York town she was raised in by the news of her sister’s murder. By the end of that book, Bree had abandoned her relatively solitary Philadelphia life, moved back to her home town, was looking after two kids and a dog as well as her cat and had become the local Sheriff.
I thought that was a good set-up for an entertaining series. ‘See Her Die’ was my first chance to see Bree in action as a Sheriff.
I was engaged and entertained. The story arc for the ensemble cast of characters in Bree’s new life moved forward smoothly, grounding the series. The case Bree was twisty enough to keep my interest without becoming a dry puzzle-solving exercise. The killer, the main suspects and witnesses felt plausible. The action was tense and the pace was well-judged.
‘See Her Die’ convinced me that I want to read the rest of the series (as you’ll see when you get to the Books Bought section) in the expectation of watching Bree solve a set of solid mysteries and seeing what her life becomes.
‘Reluctant Immortals‘ (2022) is my second book by Gwendolyn Kiste and it was just as strange and just as compelling as ‘The Rust Maidens‘ (2019). Like ‘The Rust Maidens’ this book is powered by rage at how men treat women but this time that rage is shaped and focused through the strength of friendship and mutual support.
The premise threw me a little at first: Lucy Westenra from ‘Dracula‘ and Bertha Mason, the wife in the attic from Jane Eyre‘, immortal and living together in Los Angeles in 1967 while guarding the earns holding Dracula’s ashes to prevent his return and hiding from Rochester who also immortal, is hunting Bertha. I was struggling to swallow all that when Jane Eyre turned up and it felt like too much to take in.
Then I relaxed and accepted the story on its own terms and followed Lucy as she and Bertha head to San Francisco during the ‘Summer Of Love’ to find Jane who seems to have gone back to Rochester.
After a slightly slow start, this became a story that I had to know the ending of. I loved the unromantic but non-judgemental depiction of hippies. Most of all I loved how Lucy saw the world and the courage and discipline she showed in shaping her own life.
I know how that graphic looks. Did I really add nine books to my book hoard in a week when I only finished three novels? Well, technically, yes. But it’s not as bad as it seems. I got a great deal on five of the books and I was going to buy them at some point this year anyway so… Anyway, it’s done now. They’re on the shelf, waiting to be read.
After dozens of Hollywood apartment buildings erupt in flames during a single night of terror, arson investigators Walter Sharpe and Andrew Walker are assigned to catch the serial torcher and end his spree. But then a catastrophic fire destroys a major freeway, crippling the city and forcing Sharpe and Walker to take on another massive case.
Desperate for help, they know exactly who to call: homicide detectives Eve Ronin and Duncan Pavone. Together the four detectives must quickly figure out whether the freeway disaster was a tragic accident…or the work of a mastermind with a horrific plan.
As the investigations collide, an old foe with a revenge scheme enters the fray, igniting a race against time to stop a conspiracy of deception, corruption, and murder.
I had ‘Hidden In Smoke‘ (2025) on pre-order. It’s the third Lee Goldberg novel about arson investigators Sharpe and Walker. The first one, ‘Malibu Burning‘ was a fun heist novel with wildfires to add extra tension. The second one, ‘Ashes Never Lie’, was more of a mystery and solving the mystery brought our heroes together with Eve Ronin from one of Lee Goldberg’s other series. I enjoyed the larger-than-life mayhem that followed. It looks like the whole crew will be involved this time as well. I’m looking forward to it.
BFor two years, Jia Khan has been running her late father’s organised crime business in the north of England. So far, her authority has remained unchallenged, but now things are beginning to unravel.
When she finds her father’s notebook recounting his arrival from Pakistan in the 1970s, it awakes an old family feud that could have devastating repercussions for Jia. And worst of all, one of her staff lies brutally slain, his corpse displayed provocatively in her garden despite her sophisticated security.
Someone is getting dangerously close. Could there be a traitor in Jia Khan’s trusted inner circle?live.
The first book in this series, ‘The Khan‘ was one of my favourite reads of 2021. Somehow, I missed the release of this sequel last year. As soon as I heard about it, I knew I had to add to my shelves. Saima Mir’s take on crime in Leeds was gritty and compelling.
The first day of autumn brought the fever, and with the fever came the voices.
Missouri, 1955. Loretta Davenport has led an isolated life as a young mother and a wife to Pete, an ambitious assistant professor at a Bible college. They’re the picture of domestic tranquility—until a local girl is murdered and Loretta begins receiving messages from beyond. Pete dismisses them as delusions of a fevered female imagination. Loretta knows they’re real—and frightening.
Defying Pete’s demands, Loretta finds an encouraging supporter in parapsychologist Dr. Curtis Hansen. He sees a woman with a rare gift, more blessing than curse. With Dr. Hansen’s help, Loretta’s life opens up to an empowering new purpose. But for Pete, the God-fearing image he’s worked so hard to cultivate is under threat. No longer in control of his dutiful wife, he sees the Devil at work.
As Loretta’s powers grow stronger and the pleading spirits beckon, Pete is determined to deliver his wife from evil. To solve the mysteries of the dead, Loretta must first save herself.
‘The Devil And Mrs. Davenport‘ (2024) is published by Amazon’s Lake Union Publishing imprint aimed at ‘Book Club Fiction’. That put me off at first as it sounded a little to ‘worthy’ to be fun. Still, I liked the cover and the title enough to read the premise and then I was sold. I mean a story set in Missouri in 1955 about a woman struggling in her marriage to a controlling man, a minister no less, who discovers that she has developed psychic powers and then has to use them to defend herself against theocratic patriarchy – that has to be fun.
After enjoying the first two books in Melinda Leigh’s Bree Taggert, I made up my mind to read the rest of the series at the rate of one a month. So, when I saw Amazon offering the next five books at £0-99 each, I thought ‘Why wait?’ and bought them. I’m reading Kendra Elliot’s Mercy Kilpatrick books in parallel with a view to reading ‘Echo Road’ (2024) where Taggert and Kilpatrick meet up, so I added the next Mercy Kilpatrick book as well.
Miranda’s parents live in a dilapidated house in rural France that they share with two llamas, eight ducks, five chickens, two cats, and a freezer full of food dating back to 1983.
Miranda’s father is a retired professor of philosophy who never loses an argument. Her mother likes to bring conversation back to the War, although she was born after it ended. Married for fifty years, they are uncommonly set in their ways. Miranda plays the role of translator when she visits, communicating the desires or complaints of one parent to the other and then venting her frustration to her sister and her daughter. At the end of a visit, she reports ‘the usual desire to kill’.
‘The Usual Desire To Kill‘ (2025) is another humorous new releae. This time it’s a very English story with humour based on the realities of being married for a very long time. AND it’s read by Harriet Walter, who I think is the perfect choice.
Abigail uprooted her life to move to Soap Lake, Washington. A once-popular tourist destination, the town is now home to a dwindling population and the menacing shadow of an urban legend.
With her husband away on a work trip, Abigail is alone when a young boy emerges from the desert scrub, catatonic and covered in blood. His mother, Esme, lies stabbed to death in a nearby car.
When Abigail discovers Esme was a local woman who moved away after a series of tragedies, she is compelled to find answers. Esme’s is not the only mysterious death this town has witnessed.
But her search attracts unwanted and dangerous attention. Drawn into a complex web of conspiracies and violence, Abigail will learn that the smallest towns can hide the biggest secrets.
When I reviewed Matthew Sullivan’s debut novel, ‘Midnight At The Bright Ideas Bookstore‘ (2017), I wrote that I was looking forward to his next book. Well, here it is. It’s been a long time coming but I have high hopes of it.
Mike Finn's Fiction 