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Spotlight Review: MURDER TAKES A VACATION by Laura Lippman

June 17, 2025

From the publisher:

A Riveting Mystery of Deception, Art Theft, and Unexpected Romance on a Parisian Cruise―Perfect for Summer Reading

Highly acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman returns with an irresistible mystery featuring Muriel Blossom, a former private investigator and middle-aged widow whose vacation on a Parisian river cruise turns into a deadly international mystery…that only she can solve.

Mrs. Blossom has a knack for blending into the background, which was an asset during her days assisting private investigator Tess Monaghan. But when she finds a winning lottery ticket in a parking lot, everything changes. She is determined to see the world that she sometimes feels is passing her by.

When Mrs. Blossom booked her cruise through France on the MS Solitaire, she did not expect to meet Allan on her transatlantic flight. He is the first man who’s sparked something inside her since her beloved husband passed.

She also didn’t expect Allan to be found, dead, twenty-four hours later in Paris, a city he wasn’t supposed to be in.

Now Mrs. Blossom doesn’t know who to trust on board the ship, especially when a mystifying man, Danny, keeps popping up around every corner, always present when things go awry. He is convinced that Allan was transporting a stolen piece of art, and Mrs. Blossom knows more than she lets on, regarding both the artifact and Allan’s death.

Mrs. Blossom’s questions only increase as the cruise sails down the Seine. Why does it feel like she is being followed? Who was Allan, and why was he killed? Most alarmingly, why do these mysterious men keep flirting with her?

A New York Times “Best Beach Reads of Summer”

One of Washington Post’s “Best Mysteries to Read This Summer”

One of Boston Globe‘s “Books to Add to Your Summer Reading List”

“Witty and propulsive. Lippman’s fans will feel like they hit the jackpot with this warm and cozy romp.” — Library Journal (starred review)

“Lippman triumphs with this charming mystery…. By the time the clever conclusion rolls around, readers will be sad to see this trip come to an end.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A rollicking adventure of the highest order.” — New York Times

“Energetically entertaining…. Lippman manages to combine a light amateur sleuth story with a harder-edged thriller, combining both types of mysteries, which seldom intersect, into a cohesive, solid plot.” — South Florida Sun Sentinel
https://amzn.to/3SH5DnA

Mrs. Blossom, a widow in her sixties, relocates to Phoenix to help care for her grandchildren. But her plans are upended when her son-in-law announces that the family is moving to Japan—and there won’t be room for her. With no reason to stay, she returns to her hometown of Baltimore. A former private investigator who conducted surveillance work for renowned detective Tess Monaghan—star of Lippman’s popular mystery series, who makes a few cameos here—Mrs. Blossom’s unassuming appearance as an overweight woman in her sixties made her practically invisible during investigations.

Her life takes an unexpected turn when she discovers a winning lottery ticket in a parking lot. After being told there’s no process for returning found tickets, she suddenly finds herself with more money than she’ll ever need and no family obligations. She decides to fulfill a lifelong dream: her first trip to Europe, booking a week in Paris followed by a river cruise with her oldest friend.

Mrs. Blossom is surprised when her economy seat gets upgraded to business class. Allan, a fellow passenger who overhears her confusion about the upgrade, takes her under his wing. He arranges for them to sit together and offers her a sleep aid for the overseas flight. When she awakens, she’s missed her connecting flight from London to Paris.

Allan convinces her to take the train instead, and they spend a delightful day exploring London together. Once in Paris, she meets Danny, a charming young man who claims to be a stylist and persuades her to go shopping. Their day together is pleasant enough, but things take a dark turn when Allan turns up dead—not in London where he claimed to have business meetings, but in Paris. The French police question Mrs. Blossom, and she discovers that Danny isn’t the stylist he pretended to be.

Her hotel room is thoroughly ransacked with no attempt at concealment, leaving Mrs. Blossom bewildered about what’s happening and why she’s involved. Danny continues appearing wherever she goes, even showing up on her river cruise. While he seems helpful, his constant presence raises questions about his trustworthiness. When her cabin is searched, the pieces begin falling into place as Allan’s death becomes entangled with insurance fraud and a missing bird statue, with a clever nod to The Maltese Falcon.

Through determination and her rusty detective skills, Mrs. Blossom ultimately unravels the mystery. This fast-paced story delivers an entertaining adventure with Mrs. Blossom as a thoroughly likable protagonist, plenty of plot twists, and a satisfying conclusion.

6/2025 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

MURDER TAKES A VACATION by Laura Lippman. William Morrow (June 17, 2025). ISBN: 978-0062998101. 272p.

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Spotlight Review: NIGHTSHADE by Michael Connelly

May 20, 2025

From the publisher:

Introducing Detective Stilwell: a cop relentlessly following his mission in the seemingly idyllic setting of Catalina Island.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Detective Stilwell has been “exiled” to a low-key post policing rustic Catalina Island, after department politics drove him off a homicide desk on the mainland. But while following up the usual drunk-and-disorderlies and petty thefts that come with his new territory, Detective Stilwell gets a report of a body found weighed down at the bottom of the harbor—a Jane Doe identifiable at first only by a streak of purple dye in her hair. At the same time, a report of poaching on a protected reserve turns into a case fraught with violence and danger as Stilwell digs into the shady past of an island bigwig.

Crossing all lines of protocol and jurisdiction, Stilwell doggedly works both cases. Though hampered by an old beef with an ex-colleague determined to thwart him at every turn, he is convinced he is the only one who can bring justice to the woman known as “Nightshade.” Soon, his investigation uncovers closely guarded secrets and a dark heart to the serene island that was meant to be his escape from the evils of the big city.

Propulsive and atmospheric, Nightshade launches a brand new character into the Connelly universe, and proves without question that Michael Connelly is “the undisputed master of the modern crime novel” (Real Book Spy).

“Connelly’s compulsively readable, best-selling crime fiction is propelled by justice-seekers committed to their calling, no matter the risks…With an intriguingly low-key but skilled and principled hero, his significant other, a pesky if useful reporter, a conniving mayor, and a crime boss known as Baby Head, Nightshade is a gripping and promising start to crime virtuoso Connelly’s new series.”―Booklist (starred review)

“In this winning series launch, L.A. noir maestro Connelly proves small-town policing can be just as high stakes as crime solving in the big city . . . The claustrophobic setting and layered plotting evoke the crime novels of John D. MacDonald, and Stilwell makes for an intriguing hero, with enough biographical gaps for Connelly to sketch him in further in subsequent installments. The author’s fans will be thrilled to find him working in a new register.” ―Publishers Weekly

“Idyllic Catalina Island turns out to be just as crime infested as the rest of Los Angeles County in the latest series launch by the creator of Harry Bosch, Renée Ballard, and the Lincoln Lawyer . . . Connelly handles his hero’s obligatory romance with assistant harbormaster Tash Dano and his increasingly wary alliance with assistant D.A. Monika Juarez with equal professionalism, and if the wrap-up leaves some loose ends dangling, well, that’s what franchises are for.”―Kirkus Reviews
https://amzn.to/3F8rjpo

This is Michael Connelly’s first new series since introducing Renée Ballard, but at least in this debut installment, there’s no crossover with Mickey Haller, Harry Bosch, or Ballard herself. So, if you haven’t read those series yet (and seriously, why not?), you can jump in here with a clean slate. That said, the story is set on Catalina Island, just off Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department does play a role—so who knows where Connelly might take things next? Either way, this is a gripping, compulsively readable book and a stellar launch to what promises to be a terrific series.

Our protagonist, Detective Sergeant Stilwell, commands the local police substation on Catalina, a refuge for misfit officers who’ve been banished from the mainland after various career mishaps. Stilwell himself landed there after a homicide investigation went sideways—partly due to fellow detective Ahearn, who cut corners rather than doing the work. While Ahearn got a slap on the wrist, Stilwell got exiled. But as it turns out, the island suits him just fine.

Stilwell is also navigating a new relationship with Tasha, the island’s harbormaster. His deputies are mostly inept, providing rare moments of lightness in an otherwise tense environment. The story opens with a bizarre crime: one of the island’s protected animals, a buffalo, has been decapitated. But what seems like an odd local incident soon snowballs into something much more serious.

There’s also a high-stakes theft at the exclusive Black Marlin Yacht Club, whose membership is limited to 100 original families and their heirs—openings occur only when a member dies without descendants. The club makes rare honorary exceptions for the judge who visits the island weekly and the mayor. When the club’s manager reports that the priceless black jade marlin statue, a fixture in the lobby for over a century, has vanished, Stilwell learns that the front entrance—where the statue sat—is rarely used. Members typically dock their yachts and enter from the water side. With no security system or cameras inside the club, Stilwell must rely on footage from the harbormaster’s cameras that point to the dock.

But the stakes escalate dramatically when a body in a bag is discovered submerged beneath a boat, tied to an anchor. LAPD Homicide steps in, and Stilwell is initially content to hand over the case—until he learns that Ahearn, his nemesis, is leading the investigation. Ordered to cooperate, Stilwell and Ahearn are forced into an uneasy alliance. Distrust simmers between them, and when Ahearn once again takes the path of least resistance, jumping to an easy conclusion without doing the legwork, Stilwell defies orders, digging deeper on his own. Eventually, he manages to convince his superiors that the case is far more complex than it seems.

Connelly layers the story with enough red herrings and misdirection to keep you hooked from start to finish. I found the new characters engaging, and I’m excited to see how they develop as the series continues. As far as I’m concerned, Connelly remains the king of crime fiction, the unparalleled master of the police procedural, and the virtuoso of Los Angeles noir. Don’t miss it.

5/2025 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

NIGHTSHADE by Michael Connelly. Little, Brown and Company (May 20, 2025). ISBN: 978-1250329813. 352p.

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MY DARLING BOY by Helen Cooper

December 6, 2024

From the publisher:

What if mother doesn’t know best…?

In a close-knit English village, Chrissy and Alice were once best friends. So were their sons, Leo and Robbie. Until the night Leo killed Robbie with a single, devastating punch. Now Leo has gone to prison, Chrissy has lost her pub, and Alice has been pouring her anger into a twisted project . . .

As Leo’s parole date approaches, the villagers are incensed and fearful about the prospect of his return. But when Chrissy arrives to collect Leo from prison, he isn’t there. The staff tell her he has already been released, but nobody knows where he’s gone.

As the village closes ranks, Chrissy realizes her former friends are suspects in her son’s disappearance, not the least of which is still-bitter Alice. Is Leo being punished for what happened that terrible night? Or do the answers lie further back, in a dark past none of them wants to revisit?
https://amzn.to/3MhVbzM

Helen Cooper’s latest thriller after The Couple in the Photo gets off to a slow start. Alice and Chrissy have been best friends for years, and their sons are also best friends. Chrissy’s son, Leo, and Alice’s son, Robbie, play music together in the pub that Chrissy owns until the fateful night when they get into a fight. In a freak accident, Leo punches Robbie, landing a blow that kills him. Convicted of manslaughter, Leo goes to prison while everyone in this small English village shuns Chrissy. As Leo’s release date approaches, a woman moves to town and befriends Alice, but even Alice doesn’t know why. Feeling very much alone, Chrissy, a widow, is counting down the days until Leo will be released from prison, but when she goes to pick him up, she learns he left earlier, and no one knows where he is. Told in turn by the various characters, their disparate viewpoints offer tantalizing misdirection. Eventually, secrets start to come out, further complicating these relationships and turning the story of Leo gone missing into something much darker.

Verdict: Readers who like the slow burn of a mystery will enjoy this atmospheric novel. Recommend to fans of Tana French or Kate Morton.

©Library Journal, 2024

12/2024 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

MY DARLING BOY by Helen Cooper. G.P. Putnam’s Sons (December 3, 2024). ISBN: 978-0593719930. 352p.

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THE SEASIDE LIBRARY by Brenda Novak

May 19, 2023

From the publisher:

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Bookstore on the Beach

There are secrets that bring friends together, and others that drive them apart…

Mariners Island is barely ten miles long, but when Ivy, Ariana and Cam were teenagers, it was their whole world. Beyond the pristine beaches and iconic lighthouse lies the beautiful old library that belongs to Ivy’s family. While that bound Ivy to the island as an adult, Ariana could not leave Mariners behind fast enough. The town holds too many…memories. Not only her unrequited feelings for Cam, but the tragedy that left a scar on the community.

When a young girl went missing, a teenage Cam was unthinkably the prime suspect. Ariana and Ivy knew he couldn’t have hurt anyone, and they promised to protect him—even if it meant lying on his behalf.

Now, twenty years later, Ariana returns to Mariners just as new evidence emerges on the case, calling into question everything the three friends thought they knew—and everyone they thought they could trust. What really happened that night? Over the course of one eventful summer, Ariana, Ivy and Cam will learn the truth—about their pasts, their futures and the ties that still bind them as closely as the pages of a book…

“Filled with mystery and drama, coupled with themes of family ties and secrets. This page-turner will not disappoint.”—Booklist
https://amzn.to/3W7svxm

An old mystery brings three old friends together, but their stories are about to change. A young girl had gone missing on this small island twenty years earlier. Ivy and Ariana stretched the truth a tiny bit and said that Cam was with them until almost midnight when in fact, they had separated an hour earlier. But they were best friends, and that’s what friends do for one another. Besides, they were positive Cam had nothing to do with the missing girl.

With no evidence, the case is put to rest until the body of a young girl is found at the beach. The case is reopened, and once again Cam is a suspect. Ivy never left the island; her family founded a library there and she still runs it. Ariana is back visiting when all of this comes to a head. A romance is brewing while the mystery starts to unravel. This is a pageturner for sure, with enough red herrings to keep the suspense going until the very end.

This was a fast-paced story with interesting characters and all the circumstantial evidence a mystery needs – until it gets solved. Novak is a great storyteller, and this novel of romantic suspense is a terrific beach read. Hello, summer!

5/2023 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

THE SEASIDE LIBRARY by Brenda Novak. MIRA; Original edition (April 11, 2023). ISBN:‎ 978-0778333517. 400p.

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Spotlight Review: DESERT STAR by Michael Connelly

November 15, 2022

Renée Ballard, Book 5 and/or Harry Bosch, Book 24

From the publisher:

LAPD detective Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch team up to hunt the brutal killer who is Bosch’s “white whale”—a man responsible for the murder of an entire family.

A year has passed since LAPD detective Renée Ballard quit the force in the face of misogyny, demoralization, and endless red tape. But after the chief of police himself tells her she can write her own ticket within the department, Ballard takes back her badge, leaving “the Late Show” to rebuild and lead the cold case unit at the elite Robbery-Homicide Division.

For years, Harry Bosch has been working a case that haunts him—the murder of an entire family by a psychopath who still walks free. Ballard makes Bosch an offer: come volunteer as an investigator in her new Open-Unsolved Unit, and he can pursue his “white whale” with the resources of the LAPD behind him.

First priority for Ballard is to clear the unsolved rape and murder of a sixteen-year-old girl. The decades-old case is essential to the councilman who supported re-forming the unit, and who could shutter it again—the victim was his sister. When Ballard gets a “cold hit” connecting the killing to a similar crime, proving that a serial predator has been at work in the city for years, the political pressure has never been higher. To keep momentum going, she has to pull Bosch off his own investigation, the case that is the consummation of his lifelong mission.

The two must put aside old resentments and new tensions to run to ground not one but two dangerous killers who have operated with brash impunity. In what may be his most gripping and profoundly moving book yet, Michael Connelly shows once again why he has been dubbed “one of the greatest crime writers of all time” (Ryan Steck, Crimereads).

“Thrilling… Both cases require deep dives into the past; both lead to great action scenes; and, as always, Connelly displays his encyclopedic knowledge of the latest forensics… Bosch, however, takes a low-tech approach and follows leads in the field with his trademark intensity, driven by his desire to restore order in a violent world… [Desert Star] ranks up there with Connelly’s best.”―Publishers Weekly

“Longtime Bosch followers will be taking deep breaths after this one’s superb finale, especially given its implications for the future.” —Booklist, Starred Review

https://amzn.to/3O2uGym

There is no retiring Harry Bosch. The Vietnam War vet is now a volunteer on Renée Ballard’s new Open/Unsolved unit for the Los Angeles police department. Ballard has been given pretty much carte blanche to run the unit, other than former cop Lou Rawls, who was foisted on her by the local politico who is behind this cold cases reboot. Turns out the councilman has a personal interest; his sister was murdered several years earlier and her killer was never caught.

This new unit is a motley crew that includes a former prosecutor and a genealogy expert/psychic, or empath as she prefers, among others. Bosch agrees to the volunteer position, eager to get his hands on an old case that has been haunting him for years. The Gallagher family – mom, dad, and two young children – were murdered, their bodies dumped in a desert grave and only found by accident a year after their disappearance. But working these two cases takes Bosch down a dark road.

No spoilers here but the ending definitely feels like an ending. I understand it, and I trust Connelly to do the right thing with his most beloved character. This is another gem from one of the finest crime writers in the world – and that is not hyperbole.

DESERT STAR by Michael Connelly. Little, Brown and Company (November 8, 2022). ISBN: 978-0316485654. 400p.

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HONOR ‘N’ DUTY by Tee O’Fallon

July 22, 2022

Federal K-9, Book 6

From the publisher:

Two years after his brother’s murder in jail, Department of Homeland Security K-9 Officer Kade Sampson is still haunted by guilt. No man should ever have to arrest his own brother, even if he is laundering money for a drug cartel. Fortunately, Laia Velez—his brother’s gorgeous widow—never learned the truth about Kade’s involvement. But when she asks him for help, he knows that trouble with the cartel is far from over…
Kade is the last person Laia wants to call. But between her house being thoroughly trashed and the uneasy sense that she and her young daughter are being watched, Laia isn’t taking any chances. The cartel wants something from her. And Kade and his K-9 partner, Smoke, are her only chance to survive whatever fresh hell is coming their way…
Now Laia and Kade are trying to stay one step ahead in a game that’s growing more deadly by the minute. But what the cartel wants, the cartel gets. And Kade is running out of time to save the woman he loves from the same fate that killed his brother…
https://amzn.to/3cvuM2I

I read the first book in this series but missed the rest until this one. I’m sure they are better read in order, but from what I can tell from the two books I’ve read, they easily stand alone. This is a fast paced book with lots of suspense, a bit of violence, and at the heart of the story, a romance.

Kade and Laia met when they were stranded in an elevator for forty minutes. There was such a strong attraction that Kade asked her out, but when they step off the elevator, he finds out why she said she can’t. Laia was engaged to Kade’s brother, Josh.

Kade figures the best way to handle his attraction to his sister-in-law is to avoid her. He attends the wedding, and he’s there for his brother’s funeral, but other than that, he ghosts her. He spends as much time as possible with his niece when she visits her grandparents, and that seems to work for him.

Six years have gone by and Kade still struggles with his guilt over his brother. Josh was a successful accountant, but turned out that much of his success came from laundering money for a drug cartel. Eventually he gets caught, but is killed on his first day in prison. The cops take everything they own, leaving Laia and her daughter to struggle on their own.

All these years later, Laia comes home to find that her house has been trashed. Every piece of furniture is destroyed, and she can’t understand why nothing is missing. She calls the cops, but she also calls her brother-in-law, Kade, thinking he probably won’t come. But he does.

Kade shows up in full protector mode, along with his K-9 partner, Smoke. He hustles Laia and her daughter out of there, quickly realizing that this wasn’t an ordinary robbery. The cartel is after something.

I don’t want to give anything away, so let’s just say the pages fly by as the attraction between Laia and Kade reaches the boiling point, with each of them thinking the other just isn’t interested. Plus the cartel is obviously interested in Laia, so Kade hides her as best as he can. But spending all that time together is just making it harder and harder to pretend they don’t have strong feelings for one another.

I really enjoyed this fast paced romantic thriller. I was very invested in these characters and their story. Highly recommend!

7/2022 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

HONOR ‘N’ DUTY by Tee O’Fallon. Entangled: Amara (July 18, 2022). ASIN: B0B54LBPD2. 356p.

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ANIMAL INSTINCT by David Rosenfelt

April 29, 2021

K Team Novels, Book 2

From the publisher:

The K Team is back in the second installment in this spinoff series from bestselling author David Rosenfelt’s beloved Andy Carpenter mysteries.

Corey Douglas and his K-9 partner, a German shepherd named Simon Garfunkel, are recently retired police officers turned private investigators. Along with fellow former cop Laurie Collins and her investigating partner, Marcus, they call themselves the K Team, in honor of Simon.

The K Team’s latest case – a recent unsolved murder – gives Corey a chance to solve “the one that got away”. Corey knew the murder victim from his time on the force, when he was unable to protect her in a domestic dispute. Now, he is convinced the same abusive boyfriend is responsible for her murder. With some help from Laurie’s lawyer husband, Andy Carpenter, the K Team is determined to prove what the police could not, no matter the cost. What they uncover is much more sinister than they could have imagined.

Known for his dog-loving stories and addictive characters, bestselling mystery author David Rosenfelt presents Animal Instinct, the second installment in this engrossing new series about a dynamite investigative team and their canine partner.

David Rosenfelt has earned a place at the apex of the literary world through his delightfully tongue in cheek novels about the lawyer that does not want to practice law, Andy Carpenter. Andy has developed a crew that aid him in seeking justice (albeit reluctantly) in providing defense council for a wide variety of worthy clients. His crew also includes dogs which play their part in the goings on.

Rosenfelt began work on an offshoot group of books featuring the “K” team which included Andy’s wife Laurie, an ex police officer; Marcus, the very strong very silent investigator and all around dispenser of protection when needed; and Corey Douglas, a retired police detective that worked with a German Shepherd named Simon Garfunkel. Andy helped Corey take the dog into retirement with him. This book is the second novel featuring the “K” team although Andy does take a leading role in the proceedings.

Prior to his retirement, Corey interceded in a situation with a man beating up his girlfriend. Corey was not able to arrest the individual and continued to feel as if he failed the woman in that nothing would prevent her being the victim of violence in the future. The situation opens when Corey, now a civilian comes upon the woman again and finds her murdered. Evidence is found implicating him and he is brought up on charges of murder. Andy takes his case and arranges for Corey to be out on bail awaiting trial. The situation than becomes Corey with the help of the other members of the “K” team working to prove his own innocence.

Same approach as in the novels featuring Andy; lots of humor, wise remarks and the inclusion of Simon Garfunkel and Andy and Laurie’s dogs going against a prosecutor in court that pursues his own brand of justice throughout the trial that is the main part of the book. The novel assumes the same place as the stories featuring Andy – rewarding to read, fun and very light.

Note from the BookBitch: What is going on with this cover??? Worst cover since the original cover of his first book, First Degree.

4/2021 Paul Lane

ANIMAL INSTINCT by David Rosenfelt. Minotaur Books; 1st edition (April 6, 2021). ISBN: 978-1250257208. 304 pages.

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DIAL A FOR AUNTIES by Jesse Q. Sutanto

April 27, 2021

From the publisher:

One of PopSugar’s “42 Books Everyone Will Be Talking About in 2021”!

What happens when you mix 1 (accidental) murder with 2 thousand wedding guests, and then toss in a possible curse on 3 generations of an immigrant Chinese-Indonesian family?

You get 4 meddling Asian aunties coming to the rescue!

When Meddelin Chan ends up accidentally killing her blind date, her meddlesome mother calls for her even more meddlesome aunties to help get rid of the body. Unfortunately, a dead body proves to be a lot more challenging to dispose of than one might anticipate, especially when it is inadvertently shipped in a cake cooler to the over-the-top billionaire wedding Meddy, her Ma, and aunties are working at an island resort on the California coastline. It’s the biggest job yet for the family wedding business—”Don’t leave your big day to chance, leave it to the Chans!”—and nothing, not even an unsavory corpse, will get in the way of her auntie’s perfect buttercream flowers.

But things go from inconvenient to downright torturous when Meddy’s great college love—and biggest heartbreak—makes a surprise appearance amid the wedding chaos. Is it possible to escape murder charges, charm her ex back into her life, and pull off a stunning wedding all in one weekend?

This is a top ten favorite on the April Library Reads list, and as far as I’m concerned, it should have been number one! Part mystery, part romance, part family drama, but mostly laugh-out-loud funny, this book hits it out of the park. And I’m super excited that Netflix is on board.

Meddy is the good girl in her family. There is a family curse where all the men leave, leaving her mom and her sisters to make up her family. Even her boy cousins have all moved away, but as much as Meddy wanted a different life, she just could not bring herself to leave her mom and her aunties, so she breaks up with the love of her life as he has been offered his dream job across the country. It just about kills Meddy, but she goes on with her life, settling into the family wedding planning business and trying not to think about the one who got away.

Her mom decides Meddy needs to meet someone so like all overly involved, well meaning moms, she sets up a fake profile for Meddy on a dating app, and pretends to be Meddy. There are red flags aplenty, but her mom, who is not a native English speaker never mind a keen reader of emojis, doesn’t realize what she’s done when she sets Meddy up on a blind date with a man she met online. It turns out he is as bad a guy as one could meet online, and Meddy accidentally kills him in self defense. I’m not spoiling anything here, this happens at the beginning of the book.

Meddy panics, dumps him in the trunk of her car, and takes him home to her mother, who calls in the aunties. These are the kind of relatives everyone should have, the kind who help you get rid of a body. But what ensues is just chaos, and it is hilarious. In between the insanity though, Meddy runs into the love of her life. Turns out he’s moved back and is now running the hotel where the family is running their biggest wedding yet.

Lots of over the top situations and slapstick humor, and it really works here. This book had me laughing out oud several times, and I I enjoyed every page. Honestly, it reminded me of the first few Stephanie Plum (Janet Evanovich) books only with a happy ending, and that is high praise! I also really liked learning about Chinese/Indonesian culture. This one is sure to make my best books of the year list – don’t miss it.

4/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

DIAL A FOR AUNTIES by Jesse Q. Sutanto. Berkley (April 27, 2021). ISBN: 978-0593333037. 320 pages.

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3 Comments | Book Reviews, Fiction, Romance, Women's Fiction | Tagged: #ownvoices, Contemporary, multicultural, Mystery | Permalink
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MUZZLED by David Rosenfelt

July 10, 2020

CLICK TO PURCHASE

The Andy Carpenter Novel, Book 21

From the publisher:

In David Rosenfelt’s Andy Carpenter mystery, Muzzled, Andy and his beloved golden retriever, Tara, are back on the case as a favor to a friend.

Andy Carpenter is a lawyer who would rather not practice law. He’d rather spend his time working with the Tara Foundation, his dog rescue organization, and being with his family and his two dogs, Tara and Sebastian. But when a friend asks him for a favor that involves both dogs and his lawyerly expertise, he can’t say no.

Andy’s friend Beth has found a stray that seems to have belonged to a murder victim–in fact, the man and two of his colleagues died in an explosion a few weeks ago. But when the murdered man contacts Beth, asking for his dog back, Andy knows there must be more to the story. The man claims his life is in danger, and that’s why he disappeared. As much as Andy doesn’t want to get involved–anything to avoid a new case–he can’t help but come to the rescue of a man who’d risk everything, even his life, to reunite with his dog.

Once again, David Rosenfelt delivers suspense and laughter in equal measure in another engaging mystery from “one of the most unforgettable voices in the genre.”

I’m happy to announce the coming across of another in the long and welcome line of novels featuring the adventures of Andy Carpenter. As in the previous books, Andy is accompanied by his stalwart companions including his wife, Laurie, who was a policewoman, his best friend Willy, who is his partner in a business providing dogs for adoption, the very vocal Marcus, his office manager who has developed an antipathy to work, and other sundry characters populating these books.

What is missing is the usual happy ending in which Andy, openly reluctant to working in his profession of defense attorney due to a large inheritance, is forced to handle a case and manages to resolve it successfully. While the happy ending is conspicuously missing in the novel you can bet that all of the dogs that take part in the story end up well.

The story opens in the usual way, Andy must see to the well being of a dog whose owner may soon be sent to prison for murder. Now it does seem strange that the owner is looking for someone to care for his dog when he was blown to pieces along with two other men on a boat they were riding in before the story starts. Don’t worry, all will be explained as we go along, but in the meanwhile, we are treated to David Rosenfelt’s inimitable style of humor, sarcasm, a lot of attention to the dogs involved in the story and the solving of the conundrum of an interesting tale.

I don’t remember if I ever read an Andy Carpenter story that wasn’t a five-star book and in no way boring, in spite of the seeming repetitiveness of the stories. “Muzzled” continues the author’s streak of winners and my recommendation is to read this novel then get on line for the next one as soon as available. And oh yes, don’t worry too much about the ending that is not a happy one. Remember, the dogs come out okay.

7/2020 Paul Lane

MUZZLED by David Rosenfelt. Minotaur Books (July 7, 2020). ISBN: 978-1250257116. 304 pages.

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2 Comments | Book Reviews, Crime Fiction | Tagged: Legal, Mystery | Permalink
Posted by Stacy Alesi

PURSUIT by Joyce Carol Oates

October 13, 2019

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The author, in many of her novels, has demonstrated a capacity to project the innermost feelings of the people she writes about. The Pursuit is definitely a study in one woman’s grasp of reality and how this affects her mother, and later her husband.

Abby is a reclusive young woman coming from the most traumatic of childhoods. She keeps to herself, afraid that contact with others will showcase her faults and drive them away. She dreams of coming upon a field with skeletons and a large skull, and a smaller one that she thinks of as the daddy and mommy skulls. Her mother and father disappeared one day leaving Abby to feel that they didn’t care for her and left to go live alone without her.

Not seeking companionship, Abby is surprised when a young man, Willem, seeks her out and eventually asks her to marry him. She does so with a good deal of trepidation. The day after the wedding, as Abby is on her way to the University she is attending, she gets off the bus she is riding on and into traffic. She is hit by the same bus she was on and sent to the hospital. Willem, in love with Abby, begins investigating whether the incident was an accident or done on purpose by his wife.

Oates sets up the rest of her novel as a completely mesmerizing look into what is the deep-seated trauma that engulfs Abby, how was it initiated, what caused it, and how to bring it to rest. The workings of her mind become bared for the reader, and it becomes impossible to set the book down before solutions are arrived at, or not arrived at. And, of course where her trauma began.

10/19 Paul Lane

PURSUIT by Joyce Carol Oates. Mysterious Press (October 1, 2019). ISBN 978-0802147912. 144p.