mystery

Book Review: The Reappearance of Rachel Price

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The Reappearance of Rachel Price
by Holly Jackson

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: YA thriller, mystery

Bel Price’s mom disappeared when she was 2 years old. Now, 16 years later, a British film crew is digging up the past in the hopes of making a documentary about the mystery. When Rachel suddenly reappears, it changes everything—not just for the documentary but for Bel and her family as well. Where has Rachel been for 16 years and who was behind her disappearance in the first place?

The overall plot of this book was engaging and intriguing for me. I was caught up in the question of what was going on and what the truth behind it must be. So though I did have some issues with the book, I want to say up front that I did enjoy my time spent reading. That being said, once the answers were revealed, I could see some chinks in the plot, things that I assume were included only to throw the reader off the right trail but weakened the story. It didn’t ruin the book for me, but I feel it could have been written better.

There were a couple of characters that I particularly liked, mostly members of the film crew. I didn’t care for Bel herself. Even if I can understand and somewhat sympathize with her reasons for being the way she is, she’s still fairly obnoxious. Rachel seems a bit all over the place in the book, which is part of what I mentioned above—specifically Jackson’s attempts to keep the reader guessing.

Though I really liked the first two A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder books and liked this book as well, the ending to this book, along with the 3rd book in the A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series, has led me to the decision that I probably won’t read any more Holly Jackson. She has a tendency to write characters with questionable morality, characters that we’re meant to see as the hero, which isn’t my preference. With that personal preference in mind, I do think that many who like YA thrillers will enjoy this book.

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Book Review: Bark Humbug

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Bark Humbug
Andy Carpenter #34
by David Rosenfelt
read by Grover Gardner

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Mystery

Sometimes pseudo-retired defense attorney Andy Carpenter takes a case willingly, even if reluctantly, and sometimes he’s practically forced or tricked into it. The latter is the case here, as a woman who claims to be doing a magazine story on local celebrities visits Andy and then reveals her true purpose. Her brother is suspected of killing the local mayor, is innocent and prepared to turn himself in, and needs a good lawyer. Andy starts out slow, but the more he digs into the case, the more corruption he uncovers.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I enjoy the formulaic nature of this series, and I love it when the formula is turned on its head. That happens here, and even though I guessed at it way in advance, I still appreciated it and would have felt let down if it had gone a different way. The humor that I have loved all through this series made me chuckle a couple of times in this book, and it’s always great to see the different parts of Andy’s team working together on a case. Even Eddie Dowd, who I specifically mentioned in my review of the previous book seemed like he added little to the stories, was more involved this time.

With this book, I am fully caught up on this series for the first time since I started reading it 2 1/2 years ago. I’ve already started back at the beginning of the series, because I love it so much. More specifically, I love the audiobooks, because Grover Gardner brings Andy to life perfectly. If it’s not clear, I recommend this book (especially the audio) for fans of mystery, crime fiction, and courtroom dramas, but if you’re interested, you should definitely consider starting at the beginning.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me a copy of this book to review.
Publication date: October 13, 2026

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Book Review: Asylum Murders

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Asylum Murders
by Michael G. Colburn

My rating: 2.5 / 5
Genre: Historical mystery

Edie Black has a history as a thief, but she has a fresh start in Melbourne, Australia and hopes to help the local police investigate crime instead of committing it herself. She gets involved in the search for a missing government artifact, which leads her to a reunion with Britina, a young woman from her criminal past. Britina, now a nun in Australia, is assigned to work in a local asylum and quickly suspects foul play amongst some of the staff.

The setting and tone of this book are dark and gothic and provide a mysterious atmosphere for the story. The storyline that revolves around the asylum is intriguing, though not what I thought the focus of the book would be. The theft of a ceremonial mace used in Parliament and the beating of a woman on the same night are where the story starts, and the sections with Britina seem more like a departure for a while. The investigation into the theft and assaulted woman leads Edie to the asylum, but the two storylines are never really all that connected. I can’t say there’s really much mystery in this book, as the foul play in the asylum is laid bare to us in POV scenes from the bad guys’ perspectives. The perpetrators of the theft and assault do remain a mystery for most of the book, but again, that storyline takes a back seat, and thus so do the actual mystery elements. And only some of the theft/assault storyline is actually solved by the people investigating it, which is not normally how I prefer my mystery stories to end.

The first couple of chapters of this book set a content level that I wasn’t comfortable with, between the attempted rape of the assaulted woman described from her perspective (fortunately it’s brief and only a little of what I’d call graphic) and the orgy. Yes, that’s right…the orgy. On the night the ceremonial mace goes missing, it’s brought to an orgy before then disappearing completely. As you might imagine, then, much of the investigation into the mace involves Edie discussing with the attendees of the orgy their actions that night. I’m not a fan. At all. Again, nothing super graphic, but enough to make me uncomfortable.

On top of all of that, there is the dialog. Nothing reminds me more that I’m reading fiction (as opposed to being caught up in the story) than dialog where the characters constantly say each other’s names as they’re talking. People don’t like that in real life, and it’s a huge pet peeve of mine in fiction. So clearly I was the wrong audience for this book, since many of my issues are personal preferences. It’s also the 2nd book in a series, the 1st of which seems to have taken place quite some time before this (and in London). The major events of that book, which led to both Edie and Britina being in Australia, are briefly explained, but it was difficult for me to follow most of it. Sounds like it was a fairly complex plot. But maybe this book would be more enjoyable to people who’ve already read that previous book and become invested in the characters. To me, Edie (who calls herself “Lady Edith,” though apparently she doesn’t have any actual rank) is fairly bland, while Britina gets a little more characterization in the book. So while I have no plans to read the first book in this series or any that might come after, if the overall idea of this book, its setting, or its characters interest you, I’d suggest you consider reading the first book in the series first.

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Book Review: Flop Dead Gorgeous

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Flop Dead Gorgeous
Andy Carpenter #27
by David Rosenfelt
read by Grover Gardner

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Mystery

Though semi-retired defense attorney Andy Carpenter dated famous actress Jenny Nichols in high school, his real connection to her is from her adopting a miniature French poodle from Andy’s dog rescue foundation. Still, when she’s accused of murdering her co-star after an encounter at dinner the night before, Andy is less reluctant to take her case than he usually is.

This book brings a whole new angle to the series, and I really enjoyed it. Twists and turns, running gags, and Andy’s signature snarky humor made this a fun, engaging book. The K-Team gets a lot of use in this book, and I have to admit that, though I like them, I much prefer them on the sidelines than starring in their own series. For a series like this that is so formulaic, deviations in the formula are usually very welcome, and this definitely has one that just added to my enjoyment of the book and the series as a whole. Grover Gardner is wonderful as narrator, and 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: A Fatal Encore

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A Fatal Encore
The Bookshop Mysteries #6
by S.A. Reeves

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Murder mystery

When the frontman of a famous rock band dies on stage during a music festival, the toxic inner workings of the band are exposed as the death is investigated by David, a local detective inspector, his girlfriend Gemma, who works as a police consultant and owns a local bookstore, and some of their friends.

The bulk of the mystery in this book was overall interesting, and the elements about the behind-the-scenes parts of a rock festival, and even what the band is up to in days after seem well researched (at least to someone like me that knows little to nothing about these kinds of things). I had a theory from pretty early on about who the culprit was, though it was more based on tropes and formulas of a murder mystery than the content of the story, and I turned out to be more or less correct. The less part is one of the areas of this book that confused me. I don’t know if I can explain without spoilers, but essentially, the difference between a murderer and an accomplice is apparently very different in my mind than it is in the minds of the authors of this book (2 authors under 1 pen name).

The mystery feels complex at times, but I eventually came to realize that it wasn’t really all that complex. I think it felt that way to me because the characters kept rehashing the different suspects, motives, and clues over and over, which could make it a little hard to follow. When I started skimming these repeating sections, the story moved more quickly and felt a lot simpler. I also realized after a bit that the book would have been novella-length at most if the excess repetition and unrelated side plots had been removed. Side plots aren’t always a bad thing, but in a murder mystery, they can detract from the main focus enough to make them feel unnecessary, and that is what happened here. Gemma’s brother comes to town with his own problems that only end up related to the murder mystery in a way that felt forced and way too easily wrapped up. This is book #6 in a series following Gemma and her bookshop gang, and maybe if the side intrigue involved a character that had been around before and given the reader a chance to get invested in him, it would have seemed more relevant. Granted, I haven’t read any of the previous books, but it seemed pretty clear that the brother was introduced here for the first time. There is a murder-mystery book club meeting at the bookstore, and the entirety of their meeting is shown. No relation to the case at all, so it just felt like a way for the authors to share their thoughts on the subject; plus, it was probably about 15 minutes of discussion, which seems pretty short for a book club gathering.

All in all, I did generally like the book as I was reading it. It may have been bloated, but the bones are good. I don’t feel like any of the major characters are introduced very well for anyone who hasn’t read previous books, so keep that in mind if you consider diving in here like I did. It could have probably used a little more editing, but for a (as far as I can tell) self-published book, it was better than most. I’m fairly certain many fans of cozy mysteries wouldn’t be bothered by things that stuck out to me and would probably find this book, and very possibly the series it’s part of, enjoyable.

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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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