mystery

Book Review: The Dead of Night

/ Kristi / Leave a comment

The Dead of Night
The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers #3
by Peter Lerangis

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Middle grade mystery, adventure

Spoiler notice: The following review may contain some spoilers for the previous books in the series, starting with The Maze of Bones.

Amy and Dan Cahill finally get a chance to take the fight to Vesper One, though somehow he still always ends up ahead. With seven of their loved ones still being held hostage and Vesper One making impossible demands of Amy and Dan, Dan is more determined than ever to create the Cahill serum so that he can stop the Vespers.

I enjoyed the main 39 Clues series, but I’ve been liking this one all the more. It’s a little darker, and our heroes have a seen-too-much kind of maturity. They’ve grown and changed since the original series in a way that’s completely realistic. I love the allies they’re picking up along the way, though I could do without the love triangle…or square? There are some questions and mysteries that come up or advance in this book that have me really engaged. I’m halfway through this series now, and I don’t have any theories about what’s going on or what might happen. This book ends with with a shocking moment, and I can’t wait to continue. I can really see this book (and series) being a fun read for anyone who enjoys mystery and adventure for a younger audience, no matter their age.

Find out more about The Dead of Night

See what I’m reading next.

If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!

Book Review: Lord Edgware Dies

/ Kristi / Leave a comment

Lord Edgware Dies
Hercule Poirot #9
 by Agatha Christie
read by Hugh Fraser

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Classic mystery

I enjoyed the twists and turns in this Poirot novel. As Poirot fixates on five questions that he thinks, when answered, will solve the mystery, I’m way too easily carried along for the ride. I actually did suspect the correct murderer early on, but it wasn’t much of a win, since I had no idea how it worked out. I think the guess was more about having read a few of these books now and getting a feel for how Christie wrote. I liked this book more than most of the others in the series and didn’t feel it was as bloated as many of the others are. Huge Fraser, as always, does a great job narrating, and I’m a little nervous about the next book (Murder on the Orient Express), which is almost definitely the most famous Poirot story. I hope it lives up to the hype.

Find out more about Lord Edgware Dies

See what I’m reading next.

If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!

Book Review: The Clue in the Diary

/ Kristi / Leave a comment

The Clue in the Diary
Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #7
by Carolyn Keene
read by Laura Linney

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Children’s classic mystery

Nancy again stumbles onto a mystery when a house she’s driving by explodes. But it’s all good, because she’s able to save a mother and daughter whose husband/father is blamed for the fire. Coincidences and Nancy-is-the-best moments aside, I enjoyed this story more than most of the previous books in the series. It didn’t feel as bloated, and I can’t pretend to not have liked the introduction of Ned Nickerson. He seems to be a bit of a stereotype himself, but I’d imagine that was on purpose. Giving the young readers these books were intended for ideals in the main characters seemed pretty important to the creators. Linney does a great job bringing Nancy to life, and I’m sad to learn that this is the end of those that were narrated by her.

Find out more about The Clue in the Diary

See what I’m reading next.

If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!

Book Review: An Honorable Deception

/ Kristi / Leave a comment

An Honorable Deception
The Imposters #3
by Roseanna M. White

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Christian historical romance

When a young socialite who seeks the Imposters’ help in finding her missing ayah is subsequently shot, Yates knows there’s more to this case than it first appeared. And since two of his team are semi-incapacitated, it’s easy to accept help from his old friend Lady Lavinia, who is still reeling from the betrayal uncovered in her family in a previous Imposters case.

Yates was a semi-side character in the previous two books, but there were always sections from his POV, giving us a chance to get to know him as an Imposter, brother, and earl. In this book, he’s in the forefront, and his history with Lavinia shown in the first book is expanded upon. I always liked Yates, so I was happy to see more of him. And though his sister Marigold is married now, I love their sibling relationship in this book.

Besides Yates, this book has two other POVs—Lavinia and Lady Alethia, the woman whose ayah has gone missing. Alethia has her own dark past, and the way Lavinia and Alethia help each other through their healing is one of my favorite things about this book. There was one quote in particular that I found very moving:

“‘Whoever made you think you’re not worth it— they’re wrong. So very wrong. And you let them win when you keep thinking those thoughts. You are precious….You must not take any unnecessary risks. Your life matters.’”

After reading the first book in this series, I already knew I needed to read other books by Roseanna M. White, and after reading the author’s note and finding out that some characters from another series of hers appeared in this book, I’ll definitely be starting with that one. The ending makes it seem like there’s more to come in this series, though I don’t know if that will be the case, or if it will spill into a different series like the Shadows Over England series did into this one. I’ll definitely keep an eye on White’s future books, but in the meantime, I highly recommend this book for fans of Christian historical mystery (this is set during the Edwardian era in London).

Thank you to Netgalley and Bethany House for providing me a copy of this book to review.
Publication date: November 19, 2024

Find out more about A Noble Scheme

See what I’m reading next.

If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!

Book Review: Dog Tags

/ Kristi / Leave a comment

Dog Tags
Andy Carpenter #8
by David Rosenfelt
read by Grover Gardner

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Mystery

After taking part in a crime, former police dog Milo is freed from custody by reluctant defense attorney Andy Carpenter. Though at first Andy wants nothing to do with the dog’s owner who masterminded the crime and is in jail for murder, eventually Andy comes to see that there’s a lot more to the story than is being told. Getting to the bottom of a conspiracy is Andy’s specialty.

Grand conspiracies have become the bread and butter for this series, and this installment has plenty of that. Andy’s team is still a large part of what makes the book so good. Marcus makes an appearance, but I don’t recall him getting to come out and play much. Kevin is “replaced” by a pessimist (who calls himself a realist). And I noticed a distinct lack of song-talking in this book.

One major note is that this book has a largely different format. Normally, these books are 1st-person all the way through—Andy tells us the story. This time, we get a lot of 3rd-person sections to show us things that happen when Andy isn’t around. Listening to the audiobook makes it difficult to estimate accurately, but it seemed like somewhere in the 40-50% range was 3rd person. It would probably have been very jarring if I were reading the series normally, but since I’ve been reading the new installments as they come out (the last 3 so far), I’ve had a chance to start getting used to it. I can only guess that writing this way makes it easier for Rosenfelt to show the depth of the conspiracy without dumping it all on the reader at once at the end. I suppose it also might add some suspense. Normally I’m not a huge fan of this kind of meshing of perspectives, but I like these books enough that it doesn’t bother me.

There isn’t a lot of surprise in the ending of this book, and it wasn’t my favorite in the series, but I still completely enjoyed the journey. I recommend the book (especially the audio—Grover Gardner makes Andy’s sarcasm and wit come to life) for fans of mystery, crime fiction, and courtroom dramas.

Find out more about Dog Tags

See what I’m reading next.

If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!

Book Review: Peril at End House

/ Kristi / Leave a comment

Peril at End House
Hercule Poirot #8
 by Agatha Christie
read by Hugh Fraser

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Classic mystery

This was my favorite Poirot novel so far. Somehow it didn’t feel as bloated or muddled, or at least it managed to keep me more engaged throughout. I don’t know if it was due to there being a few less characters or less unnecessary side trails during the mystery, though there were certainly still some. Really, I can’t pinpoint the reason, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. Granted, I guessed at the culprit fairly early on and ended up being right, though I had no idea about the motive. Maybe that played a part in my enjoyment, but maybe not, since I second-guessed myself several times, since, without a motive various things that happened along the way made me doubt my theory. 

Huge Fraser does a great job narrating, and I hope to enjoy the next book as much as I did this one.

Find out more about Peril at End House

See what I’m reading next.

If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!

Book Review: I Think I Was Murdered

/ Kristi / Leave a comment

I Think I Was Murdered
by Colleen Coble and Rick Acker
read by Karen Peakes

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Christian mystery, romance

After Katrina’s beloved grandmother dies and the FBI goes after the CEO of the tech company for which she is legal counsel, she retreats to her hometown to figure out her next steps. She also lost her husband a year previous, and she eases her grief by talking to an AI chat program that is loaded with her his texts and emails. But then an innocuous question to her the bot returns a response that sets her world spinning even more: “I think I was murdered.”

The premise of this story intrigued me greatly, and the mystery aspect of the story was suspenseful and engaging. The book mostly takes place in a small town in California, where Katrina grew up with a Norwegian father and grandmother (called “Bestemor”), and there are a lot of references to Norwegian food and traditions, which I enjoyed. There is romance, but it’s not quite as front-and-center as a lot of these Christian romantic suspense books tend to be. The main male character has family issues that don’t connect to the main story, though they do provide an in-depth backstory for him that make him a well-rounded character.

However, there are several side stories, and I’m not sure all of them are particularly beneficial to the story. There are a couple of minor twists in the book, one of which I suspected from pretty early in the book. I don’t know if it was just that obvious or if I simply took a leap that happened to be correct. In the end, the book wasn’t a stand-out read for me, but I did enjoy listening to it. The narrator is decent, differentiating voices well enough to make the story easy to follow, though there were times when it seemed like her voice was more distressed-sounding than it needed to be. Overall though, I’d recommend this book for fans of Christian romantic suspense/mystery novels, especially those who are interested in the AI angle.

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins Christian Publishing for providing me a copy of this book to review.
Publication date: November 12, 2024

Find out more about I Think I Was Murdered

See what I’m reading next.

If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!

Book Review: The Secret of Red Gate Farm

/ Kristi / Leave a comment

The Secret of Red Gate Farm
Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #6
by Carolyn Keene
read by Laura Linney

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Children’s classic mystery

The coincidences that occur around Nancy that lead her to solve this case would bother me if the book was meant for adults or even teens. But I often have to remind myself that the books are written for kids, and with that in mind, the elements that don’t seem connected at first might create an exciting story for the target audience. The plot of this book didn’t seem as bloated as the previous couple in the series did, but I was still annoyed by the “Nancy is the best at everything she does” aspect that I suppose I’ll just have to get used to. Whatever reason the writers had to think that was the role model kids needed at the time these were written, I’m sure it won’t be toned down at any point in the series. Linney does a great job bringing Nancy to life, and I’m looking forward to continuing.

Find out more about The Secret of Red Gate Farm

See what I’m reading next.

If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!

Book Review: A King’s Ransom

/ Kristi / Leave a comment

A King’s Ransom
The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers #2
by Jude Watson

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Middle grade mystery, adventure

Spoiler notice: The following review may contain some spoilers for the previous books in the series, starting with The Maze of Bones.

Amy and Dan Cahill continue to jump through hoops for their enemy, Vesper One, trying to save the lives of their abducted friends and family members. This time, they’re given the impossible task of finding a map that’s been missing for decades.

The Cahills’ saga continues strong in this 2nd book in the sequel series. Amy and Dan are forced to make decisions beyond their years, and pick up some allies and enemies along the way. Some major developments happen in this book, more than I expected so early, though I have to remember this series is about half the length of the previous. I enjoyed the excitement in this book and the little hints at a greater hunt that the Vespers are on.

I feel like the different-author-per-book issues aren’t as noticeable so far in this series, which could be due to there being a lot more to look at and build off of. Plus, both of the authors so far have written at least one 39 Clues book already. Amy still struggles with nerves, yet it’s clear that her training has helped her overcome some of it. Dan, though he’s clearly more serious and troubled than he used to be, still has his goofy moments that are reminiscent of his younger self. I appreciate the growth seen in these two; it’s realistic for what they’ve been through. I recommend this book for young and old, anyone who enjoys mystery and adventure for a younger audience.

Find out more about A King’s Ransom

See what I’m reading next.

If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!

Book Review: New Tricks

/ Kristi / Leave a comment

New Tricks
Andy Carpenter #7
by David Rosenfelt
read by Grover Gardner

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Mystery

When reluctant defense attorney Andy Carpenter is tasked with deciding who should take ownership of a special dog, he realizes that it won’t be simple. The dog’s original owner is dead, and one of the parties who want to be given ownership of the dog is soon accused of the murder. When other people involved with the dog seem to be in danger as well, Andy really has his work cut out for him.

Though Andy generally avoids taking on clients, he often comes across his clients in these books in a fairly basic way—they’re a neighbor, a friend of a friend, etc. This case is different, which is nice in a series that is overall formulaic. There are some other differences from the formula here as well, and a scary moment for Andy (which was less scary for me, since I’ve read several books later in the series). The case itself and the end to it felt a little weak to me, and then the final resolution seemed to come out of nowhere.

Despite the weaker endings, I still enjoyed this book as I have all of the series that I’ve read so far. I recommend the book (especially the audio—Grover Gardner makes Andy’s sarcasm and wit come to life) for fans of mystery, crime fiction, and courtroom dramas.

Find out more about New Tricks

See what I’m reading next.

If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!