Mystery

A mysterious small-town murder mystery balanced by deliciously described gooey grilled cheese sandwiches and delectable cheese platters, Beth Cato’s Cheddar Luck Next Time is a cozy mystery novel that is casual, light-hearted, and very easy to read. Besides its hallmark interest in cheeses of all kinds, the novel also provides great neurodivergent representation (at least from what I limited information I’ve learned from those on the spectrum) as well as trace elements of chick lit/literary fiction. I’ve previously realized that the cozy mystery genre isn’t for me, so this wasn’t necessarily my favorite overall read, but I picked this up hoping for lots of cheese highlights and Cheddar Luck Next Time did not disappoint! Taking place in the fictional, small rural town of Foghorn, Bird Nichols moves into her grandma’s house that she inherits following her disappearance and death half a year ago. Despite having limited time together when she was growing up, Bird has fond memories of her grandmother who was a part-time instigator, a part-time community vigilante much to the ire of some of Foghorn’s other residents. Bringing her budding cheese plate business with her, the story sees Bird exploring Foghorn and rediscovering her grandma’s lasting impression on…

Like my other reviews for very popular books with numerous reviews, I’ll be skipping my editorial-style intro and go right into my general thoughts and impressions. I really liked Holly Jackson’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, particularly the whodunnit mystery investigation and the way the story effortlessly shifts suspicions and new reveals across its large cast of characters. Full of excellent twists and featuring a focused narrative that doesn’t ever stray too far from its core premise and mystery, I thought it was a solid mystery thriller and fully understand why its popularity contributed to its pick-up for a Netflix adaptation (also on my to-watch list). As a YA novel, the book is very easy to read and strikes a tone that balances its YA appeal without feeling too juvenile or silly. Although the book’s language, content, and character flaws aren’t overly graphic considering its intended readership, the story doesn’t shy away from addressing material that can be considered triggering (as with most crime books, sensitive readers be sure to check your trigger warnings). While its two main characters Pip and Ravi are decidedly high school and collegiate age respectively, the novel doesn’t treat the reader like a sheltered…

Frances White’s debut novel Voyage of the Damned is an ambitiously plotted story that smoothly crosses over across a variety of different genres outside of its main fantasy classification. While definitively a fantasy novel due to its fantastical scale, magical powers and traditional fantasy-realm setting, the story is just as much a whodunit mystery thriller investigation tale (debatably even more than its fantasy-wrapping) as well as a lightly inspired queer romantasy (with asterisks around the romance). Comments summarizing Voyage of the Damned as an Agatha Christie novel dressed up in fantasy outfit is a decent comparison as it definitely gave me faint Murder on the Orient Express vibes, if the Orient Express was a grand and luxurious sailing vessel ala Death on the Nile. However, Voyage of the Damned’s ill-fated events also have compelling political ramifications to the growing body count and a wild last minute plot twist that can either make or break the reading experience depending on the reader’s suspension of disbelief. For me personally, it worked very well, and its ending managed to course-correct and explain nearly every potential plot hole or point of criticism I had while reading the novel. While White’s flavor of character narration…

Well known for his long-running series The Thursday Murder Club, We Solve Murders is the first entry in a new series featuring completely new characters, stories and themes. Despite the fresh start, in many ways We Solve Murders is quite similar in tone and style to The Thursday Murder Club as a light-hearted cozy murder mystery novel filled with subtle cheeky humor. I haven’t read the subsequent books in The Thursday Murder Club series to compare to, but We Solve Murders feels like a more polished, refined, and focused novel that has a clearer direction for the kind of reading experience its trying to do. Unlike his past novels that were firmly in the cozy mystery territory, We Solve Murders crosses over into the thriller genre (on paper anyway) with elements of spies, mobs, hitmen, fraud, etc. That being said, I personally found We Solve Murders to be a bit overwritten and slow at times, and the characters/focal mystery felt a little underwhelming and too cozy for my personal taste. I previously commented in my review for The Thursday Murder Club that I enjoyed Osman’s writing style and tone but felt the plotting and story was trying to do too…

The following review is based on a complimentary ARC provided by Sourcebooks Landmark via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Part unsolved crime journalism, part familial teenage drama, Julie Clark’s The Ghostwriter is a split perspective thriller featuring storytelling within storytelling. Slow and meticulously paced, this novel follows author Olivia Dumont who is forced to confront her past and her family’s dark history when she accepts a ghostwriting job for her own father Vincent Taylor, a popular and famous author whose life is haunted by accusations that he murdered his two siblings fifty years ago. Featuring a well planned out (and at times tragic) story full of twists and surprises, The Ghostwriter is an engrossing read that transports the reader back to the 1970’s. While subjectively some of the familial drama and teenage sibling quarreling wasn’t my preferred genre or content, I still found Clark’s novel to be well-constructed, complex, and an interesting read. Alternating back and forth between Olivia’s interviews with Vincent retelling events from his youth and the first-person perspective experiences of several characters in the 1970’s, The Ghostwriter has a lot of different plot elements carefully woven together. Despite being recapped out of chronological order and…