Book Review - The Heron's Cry; Ann Cleeves

The Heron's Cry; Ann Cleeves

Macmillan Audio - 2021

In Book #2 of the Two River series, Detective Inspector Matthew Venn returns to the North Devon coast to investigate a murder that took place at at an artist's studio.  Dr. Nigel Yeo is the victim and he was stabbed in the neck with a jagged shard of blown glass from his own daughter Eve's workshop and art studio.

The previous evening the deceased approached Matthew's homicide partner Jen Rafferty telling her there was something he wanted to discuss with her in private but, Jen had a little too much to drink so she gave him her number and asked if they could talk in the morning.  When her phone wakes her the next morning,  it is Matthew giving her the bad news and asking her to meet him.  Apparently, the late doctor was a patient advocate who had concerns regarding some suicides of patients with mental health issues. He was planning on voicing his concerns about the NHS and the way certain groups of patients were being handled.  When a second person is murdered under similar circumstances, the reason for the murders as well as the suspect pool widens.

Less than a month ago I read, The Long Call (Book 1 of this series) and I was quite impressed. In this sequel we see further development of each of the returning characters both professional as well as Matthew's marriage  and relationship with his husband Jonathan. I loved seeing how Jonathan is trying very hard to have Matthew rebuild his estranged relationship with his mother. I love the character driven style of this author and also the unique way in which her crime procedurals and investigations proceed.  There are lots of details and clues to take in and quite a few characters as well.  This was a very good sequel.  Someone mentioned that the Two River series will become a 4-part series for television.

Thanks go to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for allowing me to download this audiobook in exchange for my unbiased review. The audio was narrated by Jack Holden who did a very good job.

Rating - 4.5/5 stars

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Dead By Dawn; Paul Doiron

 

Welcome to First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Yvonne @ Socrates Book Reviews. 

Each week readers post the first paragraph (or 2) of a book we are reading or plan to read.  This week I selected a mystery that was just released last month.

                                                                Dead By Dawn; Paul Doiron

                                                                   Minotaur Books - 2021

1

The hill is steep here, and there is no guardrail above the river. I think I am being careful, keeping a light touch on the wheel, feathering the brakes. But then I come around the curve and see the spiked objects scattered across the asphalt in my headlights.  They look like barbaric versions of children's jacks. Or medieval caltrops laid on battlefields to maim horses--that these hunks of metal have been welded from box nails and placed here for the malign purpose of blowing out automobile tires.

The front wheels of the Jeep run over the first of them before I can react, and the sound is like two muskets being fired in tandem. The wolf dog in his enormous crate in the rear lets loose a strangled yelp. And now the back tires are bursting, too, and the steering wheel tugs one way, then the other, and when I pump the brake pedal nothing happens because I'm going too fast. I am over the edge before I can exhale.

What do you think, read more or pass?   This is book #12 of the mystery series featuring Mike Bowditch, a Maine Game Warden.  I've read only a few of the books in this series and enjoyed them a lot. What I liked was you really don't need to read the series in order to enjoy the stories.

Book Review - The Nature of Fragile Things, Susan Meissner

 

TITLE/AUTHOR:  The Nature of Fragile Things, Susan Meissner

PUBLISHER:  Berkley

YEAR PUBLISHED:  2021

GENRE: Fiction / Historical

FORMAT:  eGalley PP/LENGTH: 384pp

SOURCE:  NetGalley download

SETTING(s):  San Francisco, CA

ONE SENTENCE SUMMARY:  A compelling story of marriage based on convenience and deceit and the great SF earthquake of 1906.

BRIEF REVIEW:  Sophie is a young woman who has immigrated from Ireland to New York City in 1906 in hopes of a better life.  Her living conditions in NY are deplorable and she is desperate to get out of her current situation.  She decides to respond to an ad for a "mail order bride," to a handsome widower with a five year old daughter who lives in San Francisco.  Traveling to San Francisco alone, she and Martin Hocking are quickly married.

Martin is polite and provides a nice place for the three of them to live but, her marriage isn't as she had imagined. They have separate bedrooms, he is very short with his answers about his family and work and he is frequently away from home. Despite this, Sophie loves being a mother to young Kat, a girl who rarely speaks and seems traumatized by what has happened in her short life.  Just as Sophie begins to piece together secrets about Martin's past, a stranger appears at Sophie's door and she soon realizes that her only option is to leave but, at the same time a massive earthquake hits the area.

Without giving out spoilers, and there are plenty out there if you read the reviews, this is a page-turning, character driven novel with a nice mystery element. Rich in historical detail of early 1900's, S.F., I rooted for Sophie all the way. She is a strong, determined, resilient young woman who has been through so much. She made a beautiful friend, neighbor and replacement mother for Kat.  I loved the writing and how the secrets were slowly revealed. Try this one, even if historical fiction really isn't your thing, it's a story that will stick with you

RATING: 4.5/5 stars

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - One By One, Ruth Ware

Welcome to First Chapter/Intros, now hosted by Yvonne @ Socrates Book Reviews. . Each week readers post the first paragraph (or 2) of a book they are reading or that they plan to read soon.

One By One; Ruth Ware

Gallery/Scout Press - 2020

Taken from BBC news website

Thursday, 16th January

4 BRITONS DEAD IN SKI RESORT TRAGEDY

The exclusive French ski resort of St Antoine was rocked by news of a second tragedy this week, only days after an avalanche that killed six and left much of the region without power for days. 

Now, reports are emerging that in one remote ski chalet, cut off by the avalanche, a "house of horrors" situation was unfolding, leaving four Britons dead and two hospitalised.

What do you think, read more or pass?  I just started this and am really enjoying it so far.

The Woman in Cabin 10; Ruth Ware

                                                     The Woman in Cabin 10; Ruth Ware

Simon & Schuster Audio

Originally read in July 2016 - 

Reread/book group/ audio February/2020

Lo Blacklock is a journalist for Velocity, a travel magazine.  She's been given the work opportunity of a lifetime, a week on the Aurora, a luxury cruise ship.  Lo thinks that this assignment may be just what she needs to calm her nerves, as a few days earlier her London flat was broken into while she was at home.  Although she never got a good look at the masked crook and she wasn't physically harmed, emotionally she's a wreck and has been unable to sleep.

She boards the ship, destination Norway, but smooth sailing and calm nerves are not to be. Lo's first evening aboard she sleep deprived and spends a few hours dining with the small intimate group and drinking a bit too much.  Then she returns to her cabin she thinks she has witnessed the woman in the cabin next to hers (Cabin 10) being tossed overboard. She's pretty sure it was the woman whom she had borrowed mascara from earlier in the evening.

When Lo reports what she's seen to the crew member in charge, no one believes her. She is told that all the passengers are accounted for, and that cabin 10 is unoccupied. Determined to prove she's not going mad, Lo begins asking questions, perhaps too many questions for her own good.

The Woman in Cabin 10 is one of those mysteries that hooked me early on and kept me eagerly turning the pages.  The story is not perfect but, the characters are interesting and diverse and the setting awesome for the way this story played out. The sometimes paranoid protagonist, who at times had more guts than brains helped to make this a fun read.

Although I forgot parts of this one, my original rating (trying the audio this time) remained the same. Fun listen. 4/5 stars

An Unwanted Guest; Shari Lapena

TITLE: An Unwanted Guest

AUTHOR: Shari Lapena

PUBLISHER: Pamela Dorman Books

PUB. YEAR: 2018

SETTING:  Upstate NY
FORMAT:  - print (library)

RATING: 4.5/5 stars

Mitchell's Inn, a remote getaway nestled in the Catskill Mountains of NY is the perfect place for recharging oneself or for a romantic getaway. There's a wood burning fireplace, a wine cellar, a library full of books and games and more.  The snow is falling and soon a major blizzard and ice storm is in full play. The guests: an attractive wealthy young engaged couple, a middle aged couple whose marriage is on the rocks, two female friends, a female author working on a novel, a NYC lawyer acquitted of his wife's murder and the inn keeper and his son.

On the first night the storm has caused the Inn to lose power, the generator is not working, no phone, no WIFI, and everyone's cell phones are losing their charge.  Sometime during the night a woman's body is found at the bottom of the staircase and it looks like an accident, but is it?  The ice and blizzard prevent the medical examiner from promptly removing the body which puts the other guests on edge.  However, when a second and eventually third person dies, everyone is a suspect.

It seems that almost every guest has a secret which are slowly revealed. This is a fast-paced whodunit, reminiscent of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None". I must say, I liked the modern feel of this one, and, I didn't guess who the murderer was either. There were plenty of red-herrings to throw me off track.

I was happy to pick this one up from the library as I liked the author's 2 earlier books. The cover art really drew me and I thought it was just perfect based on how the story plays out.

The Lonely Witness; William Boyle

TITLE: The Lonely Witness

AUTHOR: William Boyle

PUBLISHER: Pegasus

PUB. YEAR: 2018

SETTING:  Brooklyn, NY
FORMAT:  - Library

RATING: 4/5 stars

Amy is a young, lonely woman just out of a relationship.  Once a party girl, she now spends her time visiting the housebound and administering communion.  One day, one of her clients, Mrs. E, an elderly woman with dementia, mentions something which disturbs Amy and makes her concerned for Mrs. E's safety.  Mrs. E. reports that a young thug named Vincent has been using his mother's key to enter her apartment unannounced. Amy's curiosity gets the best of her and when she decides to follow Vincent, she witnesses something she wishes she hadn't and her life slowly spirals out of control.

This story totally took me by surprise and it wasn't at all what I was expecting after reading the first chapter.  The protagonist, Amy, does some incredibly dumb things along the way yet, I kept hoping she would find her purpose in life and come to terms with her dysfunctional childhood.

This author is new to me and he certainly knows how to write a character driven mystery. He also created a great sense of place and made me feel like I was right there watching the story unfold.  Although parts were a bit slow but, this was still a very enjoyable read.

A Cold and Lonely Place; Sara J. Henry

A Cold and Lonely Place; Sara J Henry

Dreamscape - 2013

When I started this audiobook, I hadn't realized it was actually the second book of a (3) book series featuring Troy Chance. I hate when that happens, but despite that it was still a pretty good listening experience.

Troy Chance is a freelance write for a local newspaper in the Lake Placid, New York area.  As the story opens the village of Saran Lake is preparing for the annual winter festival.  Troy is out on the lake taking pictures of workers cutting away ice blocks as the prepare to build the ice palace.  While this is happening suddenly workers stop and a body is being pulled from the lake which Troy captures on camera.

The body is that of Tobin Winslow, the boyfriend of Troy's roommate Jessamyn.  Tobin lives in a cabin just outside the village, and although he came from money, he was somewhat of a drifter, spending lots of time in bars and drinking too much. So what happened to Tobin and why would a guy with everything going for him drop out of Princeton and try to escape his past?

This mystery had lots of possible suspects and honestly, far too many characters to keep straight especially in audio format.  Many of the characters are never fully developed of just mentioned once or twice, a few were even character Troy emailed.    I did love the protagonist, Troy. She comes across as a lonely but bright woman and a keen observer of people.  I also enjoyed reading about and learning more about Tobin, the victim as I was curious what happened to cause him to give up a life that many would envy to drift from place to place.

This mystery was far from perfect, but I still enjoyed listening to it.  I'm on the fence as to whether I'll go back and read the first book in the series, Learning to Swim.

3.5/5 stars

(library)

152 - The Brutal Telling; Louise Penny

This is the first novel I've read by Louise Penny, and I must say that I am sorry, I've waited this long. The Brutal Telling is the fifth novel in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series.

(p. 3) "Chaos is coming old son, and there is no stopping it. It's taken a long time, but it is finally here".

The story takes place in Canada -- Surete du Quebec, in a quaint little village known as Three Pines. A hermit, that no one in the village seems to know is found dead in the town's popular bistro. His death does not appear to be an accident, and his death occurred elsewhere. The dental examination on the victim, indicates some expensive work had been done in the past. So the hermit was not always poor, appeared to be in his 70's, but upon examination was more likely in his 50's. What happened to age him so much? Who was the victim? Why was he killed? Who killed him? What was the murder weapon? Where was he murdered? Why was he moved?

As Inspector Gamache and his team begin to investigate, it seems like several people could be suspects. As layers of lies are stripped away and the truth begins to come to the surface,  one thing is clear. It appears that in the tight-knit community of Three Pines, most everyone seems to have their secrets.

My Thoughts: This light mystery drew me in from the very beginning, and held my interest until the truly surprising conclusion. The writing style was great, and I love when an author can make me experience the sights, the smells and the feel of a novel as Penny did. An eccentric cast of well-developed characters, combined with the warm small town charm, made this the perfect book to curl up with on a cool fall night. I will surely be looking forward to reading the first four books in the Inspector Gamache series. I really enjoyed this story. I think it might have even been more enjoyable, had I known a little more about the characters from her earlier novels.  (I'll be looking for these as well). Thanks to Shelf Awareness and Tara Cibelli of St Martin's Press for sending an advance copy my way.

Recommended.