mystery

Book Review: Homicide at Blue Heron Lake

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Homicide at Blue Heron Lake
by Susan Page Davis and Megan Elaine Davis

My rating: 3.5 / 5
Genre: Christian romance, mystery

Returning temporarily to the small, lakeside town in which she grew up, Emily Gray and her high school friend Nate Holman stumble upon a body on the island on which Emily’s family has a cottage.

My favorite thing about this book is the setting; the authors (a mother-daughter team) clearly have a lot of experience in this kind of area, and that experience is translated well to the book. As mysteries go, this story is fairly bland. Emily and Nate do look into the death of the body they found, amidst rekindling a small spark of a flame that had started back in high school. Emily also reconnects with locals that still live in the area and uncovers terrible secrets from the past. However, though Emily does investigate and even dig up some of the truth, final details are put together “off-screen” by the police and reported to her later. It’s probably more realistic than the common mystery trope where the amateur detective manages to figure everything out alone and the police do nothing, but it all just felt a little weak for a mystery genre book.

The romance was definitely a heavier aspect in the book, though fortunately, it was very clean. Sometimes even Christian books can’t be trusted in that area, but this one can be. As for the Christian genre side of things (which is part of what kept the romance believably clean), I do have to say that one particular story arc seemed to be the main inclusion of Christianity, but it was also fairly weak. A woman who has basically gone down a New Age-y path to trying to be at one with nature or something has come to realize that it’s not really good enough. She confides in Emily, who gives her a broad explanation of Christianity, and the woman seems to latch onto the idea, but she is never given more than that broad explanation, at least not that we see. It felt a little too much like the real-world tendency toward moral deism, which is pervasive and dangerous. I don’t think it was intended that way, though, it didn’t bother me all that much. Overall, this is a decent mystery book with a Christian worldview and clean romance.

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Book Review: Dead Men Don’t Play Fetch

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Dead Men Don’t Play Fetch
Andy Carpenter #33
by David Rosenfelt
read by Grover Gardner

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Mystery

Though Andy Carpenter dreams of one day removing the “semi” from his semi-retirement from his defense attorney career, he’s not as reluctant as usual to take on a new client when the favor is asked by a man that runs a rehab center and is viewed by all who know him as a lifesaver.

Rosenfelt hasn’t lost his touch 33 books into the series, as Andy is in prime sarcastic, mocking form in this story, and I loved every moment of it. Most of Andy’s team is as enjoyable as I’ve come to expect, though some are absent/extra quiet in this particular book. Since the team is a large part of what makes this series so fun, I’m starting to realize that Andy’s current 2nd-chair lawyer, Eddie Dowd, has almost no purpose. Andy’s always had an underling lawyer on this team who always had his own quirks, and when Hike left and Eddie joined up, I think that spot on the team mostly died. Not a big deal, just an observation I made.

My main gripe with the book, which is not uncommon for me as I listen to this series, is that I lost track of who some of the characters were. When the main culprit was revealed, my mind was completely blank on who that even was for a while, which is obviously not a moment you want that to happen. I don’t know if it would have been better if I’d been reading, rather than listening (and if so, that probably just means that my mind wandered, as it sometimes does when I’m listening to audiobooks, at just the right moments for this person to leave that blank spot). Still, the book was a lot of fun to listen to, and Grover Gardner continues to portray Andy perfectly. If it’s not clear, I recommend this book (especially the audio) for fans of mystery, crime fiction, and courtroom dramas, as well as the books that precede it in the series.

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for providing me a copy of this book to review.
Publication date: July 7, 2026

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Book Review: Murdle, Jr.: Sleuths on the Loose

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Murdle, Jr.: Sleuths on the Loose
by G.T. Karber & Chris Grabenstein

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Middle grade mystery

Jake is a junior detective who learned everything she knows from the great Deductive Logico (of Murdle fame) himself. When a teacher at her school goes missing, after Jake watched a scuffle between that teacher and an unknown person, Jake, her sidekick Sterling, and school bully Brick sniff around for clues and use logic to try to find the teacher.

Murdle is a daily online logic puzzle, which several printed books also full of logic puzzles. For those that know it, they know that the suspects all have color-based names (Miss Saffron, Sister Lapis, Major Red, etc.) and that each puzzle boils down to figuring out who committed a murder, with which weapon, and in what location. I have to admit that that doesn’t necessarily translate very well to the real world, but Grabenstein does a great job with it anyway. I don’t know what leads Jake to assume that only one weapon could have been present in each of the four possible locations that the suspects were in, but other than that, the story flows decently well. Jake, Sterling, and Brick are are a fun trio of characters, even if they are fairly stereotypical in their individual archetypes. There are several funny moments and jokes in the book, including one related to Sterling’s name, which may have been the entire reason he was given that name in the first place. The book pauses shortly before the resolution, giving the reader a chance to think through what they’ve read so far and see if they can solve the mystery themselves. I kind of wish that, instead of the deduction grid being filled in by Jake along the way, the reader had been given a blank grid and instructed to fill it in for him/herself along the way. But the mystery was more involved than the basic “4 suspects, 4 weapons, 4 locations” it’s set up to be, and I was really glad for that extra depth. I did follow the clues to the right answer, which I’m sure some kids would be able to do as well, just as I’m sure that many will miss some of them. Overall, this is a fun adventure for kids aged 10-14 to enjoy.

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Book Review: The Rags of Time

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The Rags of Time
DC Smith #6
by Peter Grainger
read by Gildart Jackson

My rating: 3.5 / 5
Genre: Detective procedural, mystery

When DC Smith joins an investigation already underway, he approaches the case in a different way than the other investigators. This leads to him questioning the path the investigation is taking, suspects who are arrested, and avenues he feels are being ignored.

These books have always been pretty laid back, which also describes DC most of the time. Somehow this one seems even more so, with DC kind of wandering his way through the investigation, almost seemingly at random, yet there always ends up being a method to his randomness. Sometimes he reminds me a bit of Hercule Poirot in that regard. Unfortunately, because I was too busy to write a review until over 3 after I finished the book, I’m having a difficult time remembering much in the way of details or even how I felt about the book while I was reading it. I know I enjoyed Gildart Jackson’s narration, because I always do. And I do remember finding the metal-detectorist and badger-digging aspects of the book really interesting, though also quite horrible in the latter case, when I looked up what badger-digging even was. I think that this book wasn’t as good as the previous several installments overall, though. Still a good series, and I look forward to continuing it and also recommend the book/series for fans of procedural crime dramas, especially with a seasoned detective and set in a small-town area of England. Though it’s not strictly necessary to start at the beginning of the series, there are more references to past events and characters than I normally see in series like this, so keep that in mind.

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Book Review: The Man on the Bench

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The Man on the Bench
A Callie McFee Mystery #3
by Hy Conrad

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Mystery

Reporter Callie McFee enjoys the part of her day that involves stopping at a certain bench and talking to a homeless man named Barney, who is always sympathetic and a good listener. When Barney turns up dead, Callie is surprised to learn that there was more to her bench buddy than she knew. And as her brother, a homicide detective, investigates, she can’t help but get involved herself.

At its core, this is an overall decent cozy, procedural-type mystery. The premise of the murdered homeless man that more people than Callie might have been spilling secrets to is a great starting point. The book takes place in Austin, and though I’ve never been to that city, I have done research, watched videos, and done virtual visits for my job years ago, so the descriptions of the area were just detailed enough for me to be able to imagine myself there. Callie struggles with overindulgence of alcohol, though I’m not sure if she’s a functional alcoholic or just lacks self control? I can’t say I really connected with her attempts to get control of her drinking, but even aside from this, I overall felt like I couldn’t get much of a handle on her personality in general. She just felt fairly flat to me, for the most part. Partway through the book I realized I wasn’t really engaged, though I did at least have an interest in seeing how the mystery played out.

Then the mystery took a turn that was way too familiar to me, and I pegged the outcome a mile away. This is, unfortunately, due to having seen the same thing done in an episode of Monk, a TV show that I have watched many times and that the author worked on. Fortunately, only part of the mystery is solved by this thread, but unfortunately, major hints are dropped in the last quarter that just breeze right on by Callie. They’re so obvious, I can’t think of her as a competent amateur detective any longer. By the time some random detail makes it all click in her head (a random detail that is practically shoved in her/our faces), I was practically shouting at her to not be so thick.

This is the third book in a series, and though there are references to events from previous books, I didn’t feel like I missed out on a whole lot by starting right here. There’s one possible exception to that, though—Callie’s apparently super powerful father was a point of confusion to me through most of the book. We’re told he’d been the attorney general of Texas at one point, but he no longer is; I don’t know what he is/does now, so his role in this book mostly just confused me. But maybe that was something that was explained better in a previous book. Overall, the book was a decent read, but I don’t know if I enjoyed it enough to want to read more Callie McFee mysteries. I do think that others who enjoy this type of mystery story might like the book more than I did (and if you don’t know Monk as well as I do, you probably won’t peg at least the one part of the mystery like I did). Other reviews for this book, so far, are all 4 and 5 stars, so please check them out at the link below if you’re interested.

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Book Review: Santa’s Little Yelpers

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Santa’s Little Yelpers
Andy Carpenter #26
by David Rosenfelt
read by Grover Gardner

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Mystery

When a volunteer at Andy Carpenter’s dog-rescue foundation is accused of murder, the semi-retired defense attorney steps in to help.

Another thoroughly enjoyable installment in my favorite mystery series! I particularly liked that Sam, who is usually tasked with digging up information on the computer, gets to get out into the field and have a bit of an adventure. The mystery is an intriguing one too. It started to remind me of one of the earlier books in the series, Dead Center, with a town that seems to be run by some kind of weird cult, but it goes a completely different direction. And Andy himself is his normal snarky, witty self that I enjoy so much, brought to life expertly by Grover Gardner. If it’s not clear, I recommend this book (especially the audio) for fans of mystery, crime fiction, and courtroom dramas, as well as the books that precede it in the series.

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Book Review: In This Bright Future

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In This Bright Future
DC Smith #5
by Peter Grainger
read by Gildart Jackson

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Detective procedural, mystery

After knee surgery, DC Smith is prescribed a few weeks of rest. But when his past comes calling, he ends up going to Belfast in Northern Ireland, rather that taking the time to recuperate. There he dredges up his past the decisions he made while undercover for England during the time of “The Troubles.”

This book is quite a departure from the rest of the series, as Smith is in a different environment, not acting as a police officer (for the most part), and working a cold case amongst people with widely varying opinions of him, due to his previous time in Belfast under a different identity. I think it was my favorite in the series so far, even though I felt really lost at the beginning. That’s starting to become normal for me in this series though—I’m confused for a while until I start to understand what is even going on, get used to any newly introduced character names, etc. I think part of it might be the narrator’s accent and part of it might be culture differences, but I’m always glad I stuck with it by the end of the book. There was even one specific moment in the book that I thought I had just missed something and would never quite understand what had happened there, but it came back up near the end and was part of a bittersweet moment.

I don’t really know a lot about the conflict in Northern Ireland, though I know more now than I did. The focus here on the search for people who are still missing is a fascinating angle to the story. Gildart Jackson unsurprisingly does a great job as narrator, bringing DC and all of the other characters to life. I recommend the book for fans of procedural crime dramas, especially with a seasoned detective and set in a small-town area of England, though this one in particular doesn’t have much of that small town. It could probably be read without reading the rest of the series first, since it’s more removed from them, though there are still references to characters and past events that might be lost on someone starting here.

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Book Review: Holy Chow

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Holy Chow
Andy Carpenter #25
by David Rosenfelt
read by Grover Gardner

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Mystery

When a woman who adopted an older Chow Chow from Andy Carpenter’s dog rescue foundation calls him and asks him if he’d be willing to take care of Lion in the event of her death and if her step-son can’t, he doesn’t expect to be called upon to fulfill that promise so soon. Tony, the step-son, is willing to take care of Lion, but being arrested for his step-mother’s murder makes that a bit difficult. It’s not long before Andy, a semi-retired defense attorney is caught up in Tony’s case.

This book is a great example of mostly following the series formula but with just enough differences to keep it fresh and fun. Since one of my favorite things about this series has always been the ways Andy’s various peripheral team members are involved, my favorite moment in this book (and what will likely forever be one of my favorite moments in the entire book) involves Marcus and made me cheer out loud while I was listening. Seriously, if you’re a Marcus fan, you cannot miss this book! Andy shines as his usual snarky, witty self, brought to life expertly by Grover Gardner. If it’s not clear, I recommend this book (especially the audio) for fans of mystery, crime fiction, and courtroom dramas, as well as the books that precede it in the series. Normally I’d say you can dive right in at any point in the series, but with this book, I have to say that having read at least some of the other books (probably within the last 10 or so) would make the aforementioned Marcus moment more meaningful. But because I love the series, I’d say that if you’re interested, you should just dive right in at the beginning.

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Book Review: Stakeouts and Strollers

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Stakeouts and Strollers
by Rob Phillips

My rating: 2 / 5
Genre: Mystery

Charlie Shaw is a journalist-turned-private-investigator who, on his first case, ends up getting caught up in a high-stakes mystery involving a teenage girl looking for her estranged dad and a couple of shady bar owners. Meanwhile, he has a six-month-old daughter at home who isn’t sleeping through the night, so he’s running low on sleep too.

I was intrigued by the idea of this new dad trying to balance a new job with his upended home life, and I enjoy a good mystery to boot. However, I realized a little ways into this book that I just wasn’t very engaged. The main character isn’t all that interesting to me, the mystery is lackluster, and the new-baby angle is weirdly both too present and not present enough. The MC does take the baby on a couple of stakeouts with him, which seems like a questionable move, but her irregular sleeping patterns mostly just cause the MC and his wife to yawn at each other randomly. But then conversations about the baby and the MC checking up on her using a monitor app on his phone all just get a bit repetitive. I suppose I’m the wrong audience for a book that focuses this much on what life with a baby is like, because I’m about 16 years removed from that part of life and was never one that wished the helpless-baby phase could have lasted forever.

There were elements of the story that just felt off to me, too. For example, a character that is touted as being super tough and a veteran investigator, etc., lets someone get the jump on him way too easily. And the mystery seemed like it sort of plodded along, until the MC watched his baby do some particular thing and then suddenly was struck with a realization that is kept from us at first, to be revealed later—all of this is a common mystery trope, but the realization he had turned out to be a HUGE leap. Maybe I missed a vital clue, but even when it was explained, it was clear that it was a major guess made by the MC, rather than information he cleaned in passing, experience, or anything like that, coming into play. I kinda think that the target audience for this book is a bit too niche—men who have daughters and enjoy procedural mystery stories. Also, there’s quite a bit of language. I don’t think I could really recommend this book to anyone, but please check out the link below for other reviews if you’re interested.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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Book Review: Persons of Interest

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Persons of Interest
DC Smith #4
by Peter Grainger
read by Gildart Jackson

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Detective procedural, mystery

When DC Smith’s old mobile phone number is found in the cell of a man who was murdered in prison, he can’t help but want to investigate, even though it’s not his case. Fortunately, it’s not long before he finds a connection to his own town that makes his unauthorized investigating a little easier.

I’m starting to really get into the groove of these books and Grainger’s sense of humor, especially as seen through Smith himself. I’m also finally starting to get more familiar with some of the recurring characters; I kept feeling lost in the first few books trying to remember names. The mystery here is engaging, as Smith follows his own threads while still (sometimes just barely) managing to do his assigned job. I enjoy Smith’s view of his work and those around him and the way he’s tough and wise. He’s clearly not beloved by all of his colleagues/bosses, but it wouldn’t be realistic if he was.

Gildart Jackson unsurprisingly does a great job as narrator, bringing DC and all of the other characters to life. I recommend the book for fans of procedural crime dramas, especially with a seasoned detective and set in a small-town area of England. I’ve been saying that I don’t think you’d really need to start at the beginning of the series, but past cases do have continued presence in later books and the first book is spoiled a bit in this one, so keep that in mind.

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