STORM TIDE

5 stars out of 5

So far, I’ve read five books in this wonderful series – this is the 16^th – and I’m thrilled to get my eyes on it. Five books ago, it became an annual favorite - reminiscent of author C.J. Box’s also-wonderful Joe Pickett series. No surprise, then, when this one didn’t disappoint – like the others, it just made me want to read the next one even more.

The main character Mike Bowditch, a game warden in Maine (one of few states I’d consider moving to if I ever left my home in the Midwest), got into some trouble in the last book that resulted in a demotion from his relatively new job as a warden investigator – a hoped -for reinstatement is in the works. Now, he’s pounding the beat as a “regular” game warden, where ostensibly he can’t get himself in quite as much trouble. That’s fine with his wife, Stacey, an EMT who is getting close to delivering more than aid to injured people; she’s pregnant with their first child. The plan is for home delivery, at the nearby home of her parents (her father is a retired game warden and her mother a former nurse, plus they’ll have an experienced doula).

What’s that old saying, something like “the best-laid plans?” In this case, it’s more like which of those plans will go to you-know-where in a handbasket first. Since Stacey’s delivery is a few months away, in this case the issues start with Mike, who encounters a gruesome scene when a man and wife die in a horrific home fire. Standing nearby is a woman holding a baby, who claims the infant was handed to her by a strange man. While home fires aren’t necessarily arson, this one is suspect because most of the area residents believe the dead man murdered his own son even though he was never charged. Perhaps, then, someone was looking for his or own concept of justice.

Around the same time comes another tragedy: the body of Axl Deming, also suspected of a gruesome crime, is found, let’s say, not in one piece near a railroad track. Mike goes to that scene as well, where his suspicions that the two events are somehow connected take hold. And amid all this, he gets a call that suggests someone may be stalking him personally. But he’s on limited duty (though still being paid), so what can he do? But Mike is Mike, and loyal readers will know he’ll find some way to get to the truth.

The path, as usual, is fraught with danger not only to Mike, but to Stacey and others he loves including his scary wolf-dog, Shadow. But also as usual, it’s a well-written, entertaining journey – with a somewhat unexpected ending. I’m ready for the next installment already, as usual, and I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to tag along with Mike on this one by way of a pre-release copy.

Storm Tide by Paul Doiron (Minotaur Books, June 2026); 352 pp.

THE BUTLER

5 stars out of 5

I’ve read nothing to suggest this is the first book in a new series, but after reading it, I’ve got my fingers crossed. The ending, too, is suggestive of things that may come, so that gives me hope as well. The star of the show, a professional butler named Baxter, is an intriguing character I truly want to read more about.

Baxter, who uses no first name, had a quarter of a century’s highly successful experience in the industry, but his most recent gig ended in a bit of a disaster. He found work at an agency, and he’s just been hired to cater to guests at Villa Serenite in southern France, not far from the Cannes Film Festival. The host for the week is wealthy Alec Prescott, and guests include his current much-younger love interest Kaitlin as well as his ex-wife Sylvie (now that’s a recipe for disaster if ever I read one). Curiously, at least to Baxter, is that his employer, a Russian lady, asks him to see what he can find out about Alec’s finances – something foreign to him, a man who prides himself on never snooping while butlering (hmmm, is that a word)? But he’s curious; whatever is she hoping he’ll find?

Guests also include Alec’s grown son, Carter, and his current squeeze Jade. The son is, for the most part, being financially supported by his father – a rather tenuous situation given his father’s irascible temperament. Carter is accompanied by gorgeous young thing Jade, who he introduces to his father for the first time (or, as Baxter suspects, perhaps not).

Put all these and a couple of other guests with interesting backgrounds, and readers quickly suspect all will not exactly go well. And for sure they don’t – starting with bickering and nitpicking and ending with murder. Who gets bumped off, how, why and who did it I’ll of course not reveal, but suffice it to say it’s quite a romp to learn the answers. Amid all of it, Baxter manages to do his job in fine fettle with a smile and a “Certainly, Madam” coming from his lips. He’s a pro, no doubt about it, but he’s also pretty darned good at figuring out a mystery. It’s why I’m eager to see him again – and why I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to sample what I hope is the first installment by way of a pre-release copy. Loved it!

The Butler by Clare Mackintosh (Podium Publishing, June 2026); 201 pp.

THE FAMILY SECRET

5 stars out of 5

I’ve read and thoroughly enjoyed several books in this series, but apparently I’ve missed a very important recent installment – I got the shock of my life when I learned in this, the 16th book, that Detective Lottie Parker of Ragmullin, Ireland, and her significant other, police partner and Detective Mark Boyd, have parted ways personally. No, no – that can’t be, I said to myself. But alas, it’s true – and I can't say I'm happy about it.

But life goes on for both, and somehow they’re still not only on speaking, but decent working terms now. That’s good, because their next case looks to be a doozy. The day after a backyard birthday party to honor their young daughter, parents Caroline and Cameron Healy and their daughter Freya are found dead in the house; at first blush, it appears the father killed his wife and daughter and then took his own life. Lottie and Boyd, though, are not so sure, especially given the clothing the female victims were wearing. They look into the somewhat off-kilter relationship between the Healys and neighbors Thomas and Sadie Clark (their daughter Lily is Freya’s best friend who nearly stayed the night but instead got dragged home by her parents).

That lead turns nearly impossible to follow up, though, when both Sadie and Lily go missing. Still other clues, like backyard party suppliers being asked to return to “check” the equipment, pop up, confusing the issue even more. Then, Lottie’s daughter Chloe, who’s in training to be a police garda like her mom and Boyd (for the record, the latter’s helping Chloe in that direction is the main reason Lottie and Boyd broke up), finds a clue from long ago that may just be what they need to solve the case. Getting that information to her mother, though, hits an unexpected and shocking roadblock that made my jaw drop (and no doubt will be visited again in the next book in the series. Especially in this case, I can hardly wait to see if a certain someone gets a well-deserved comeuppance. Meantime, I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to enjoy this one by way of a pre-release review copy. Good job once again!

The Family Secret by Patricia Gibney (Bookouture, May 2026).

 

The Family Secret by Patricia Gibney (Bookouture, May 2026); ?? pp.

A RIVER RED WITH BLOOD

5 stars out of 5

There’s always a touch of the netherworld in this series, but this time, it’s more of a smack in the face. Who are Charlie Parker and his friends Louis and Angel? How are they able to see and speak with his dead daughter Jennifer, and what is she trying to tell them?

I won’t say I’m any closer to the answers to these questions after reading this, the 23^rd book in the series, but I sure did have a great time traveling through it. The story begins when Charlie, a private investigator, is asked by the attorney for Ward Vose, who’s in jail, to look into the death of Ward’s son Scott Theriault. The body of the young man, who’d been put by his parents in a school for incorrigible youth, was found near Maine’s Kennebec River. His death was determined to be an accident that happened when he ran away from the school (not for the first time). His father, though, is convinced the boy was murdered and wants Charlie to prove it. Concurrently, 19-year old Mallory Norton went missing – and by some accounts, she and Scott may have been an “item.”

A second storyline kicks in as a small group of grown men gather every three years to participate in what they call the Game – a sort of cat-and-mouse affair with serious consequences for person chosen to be the rodent. But the Game has strict rules, and it appears at least one member of the group has stepped out of line – a transgression that must be dealt with.

Of course, early on I suspected there may be some kind of connection between the young man and woman and the Game players, but if so, what is it? And over the course of the book, I learn whether or not that’s true. And no, I can’t share the details; that’s for other readers to learn just as I did. I will say it’s quite an adventure – one that, like previous books, ends with almost as many questions as answers. Overall, it’s another winner in my book – and I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for providing another wild ride by way of a pre-release copy. Well done once again!

A River Red With Blood by John Connolly (Atria/Emily Bestler Books, June 2026); 416 pp.

MURDER BY DESIGN

5 stars out of 5

Now that I’ve chuckled my way through this book, I’m really hoping it’s the first of a series. Both characters – former LAPD detective Edison Bixby turned insurance fraud investigator and his sidekick and story narrator Wally Nash – are nothing short of a hoot. UPDATE: Just as I was starting to write this review, my hopes were confirmed by way of a Facebook post by the author saying he’s in Singapore researching the next book. Hallelujah!

Bixby, you see, was a top-notch detective, at least until he got shot in the face. While it didn’t kill him, it did kill his ability to control what comes out of his mouth; and his often rude utterings don’t tend to sit well with other people around him. He’s managed to turn his experiences into a big payday and is a multi-millionaire and really doesn’t need to work, but he’s so good at being a detective that he willingly works for the insurance company. Still, that unruly mouth needs tempering; so it is that he needs an “assistant” to smooth things over when he crosses the verbal line of social acceptability (which is rather often).

Such assistants have come and gone, but the most recent is Wally Nash, a character actor wannabe who’s looking for that big break while landing a few similar jobs in B-level (or lower) commercials. Nash isn’t quite sure how or if he’ll be able to handle Bixby’s quirkiness, but he’s willing to try – and as narrator of this story, he lays out all his experiences for readers in often hilarious detail.

The duo start with a couple “warm-up” cases in which Nash marvels at Bixby’s amazing ability to solve cases in a short time by seeing details others miss – thus solidifying his belief that he’s the right person to partner with Bixby (well, that and a few perks offered by filthy-rich Bixby). That leads to one of their biggest cases; determining whether a woman’s death in an under-construction shopping mall was an accident or something more sinister. Bixby, you see, is a proponent of the theory that architectural design is, well, kind of alive; done wrong (or correctly, depending on who did the designing and why) can be a killer. Whoa – was that what happened here?

How all that turns out is a journey filled with chuckles, at least for me (yes, I’ve got a rather quirky sense of humor) – and both Bixby and Nash complement each other perfectly in that department. This also is where I call it quits for this review – the details are not for me to reveal. All I’ll do is repeat what I said at the beginning: when the next book in this series is available, I’ll try my darndest to be the first one in line. Oh, and I’ll say a ton of thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for giving me a few hours of delight by way of a pre-release copy.

Murder by Design by Lee Goldberg (Thomas & Mercer, June 2026); 239 pp.

WHERE THE WATER MEETS THE SKY

4 stars out of 5

I enjoyed this book – no doubt about it – but my feelings are mixed. The writing is almost exquisite – no doubt about that, either – but I spent way too much time, well, yawning. Simply put, no matter how important descriptions of scenery and events are to the story – and they certainly are – I’m used to mysteries and thrillers with nonstop action, and that doesn’t happen here.

As a child, Abby was found running from her farmhouse on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula – a home consumed by flames. She’s picked up by a couple who know her, and she’s sent to live with relatives because her mother perished in the fire. All Abby can remember is that when she was found, she had a book of matches in her hand with a few missing.

Haunted by that memory and desperately seeking the truth (especially about that book of matches), Abby returns to her roots a decade later, in part to put her keen interest in the great outdoors to use helping her uncle, who has a grant to map and study trees and forests in a nearby area. Shortly after she returns, her best friend Brew invites her to a party and she meets an intriguing girl named Seda, whose behavior seems to range from confused to mental illness. Abby makes it her life’s work to protect Seda, keeping her fed and housed in an abandoned cabin, well away from all her friends and worrying when she disappears from time to time – and their encounters are written about in great detail.

As a reader, I, too, wondered about those matches and who really set the fire. I also wondered why, given Seda’s behavior, Abby would even want to be around her (I’d have given her the boot at her first transgression). The rest of the story leads up to learning the truth about both, mostly filled with descriptions of scenery, events and memories from an angst-filled Abby. As I said earlier, the writing is wonderful, the story itself seems to go nowhere fast, though resolution to the matches issue and Seda’s strangeness are a bit of a surprise (one totally satisfying and the other crossing a bit over the line of credibility). But overall, I must say that while it’s not an edge-of-seat chiller thriller (perhaps best read by a cozy fire with a glass of wine nearby), I definitely recommend the book and thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read a pre-release copy.

Where the Water Meets the Sky by Diane Les Becquets (Simon & Schuster, May 2026); 320 pp.

TOM CLANCY RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

5 stars out of 5

Ever since The Hunt for Red October, I’ve been a fan of Tom Clancy books. Honestly, a couple of installments into the series, it became a bit of a chore to wade through Stephen King-length novels, so I skipped a few. Then when Clancy died in 2013, I was hesitant to try a “substitute” author just because, well, it wasn’t the original guy.

In more recent years – prompted, I admit, by shorter book lengths – I returned to the series and, happily, fell in love all over again. And as expected, this one did not disappoint – starting with the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, who was killed in a plane crash in Turkey under suspicious circumstances. He was returning home from a conference with a few other passengers, but it turns out one of them was a spy who’d become a U.S. asset and was being extracted by the CIA.

U.S. President Jack Ryan mourns the death of his good friend, but he’s also determined to find out what really happened and why. His daughter Katie, an accomplished Navy lieutenant commander, gets the call to head to Turkey and take a look. As she and her team begin to investigate, they learn something quite strange: although the plane’s manifest lists 16 passengers, only 15 bodies have been found. So what in the world happened to the other one?

As usual, there’s a secondary plot – this one involving a former Russian bigwig close to the Russian president who for all intents and purposes has retired. Problem is, what he’s doing now somehow seems to be more of a threat to the free world than what he did for his old boss. But what is it, exactly, and is the guy really retired or working clandestinely with his former boss?

As things progress, the action gets hot and heavy, involving the usual cast of characters that readers have come to know and love; heck, even Katie’s brother Kyle, a top programmer at a secret U.S. agency, is called in to contribute his special expertise. And for those who might be wary of being confused, the author serves up the background required to ensure that the story stands alone.

It’s no spoiler to say the super-capable Ryan family and the loyal government officers save the day in the end – with no shortage of pats on the back all-around (well, maybe not for public consumption). The devil, of course, is in the details, which other readers will just have to learn for themselves. It short, it’s another edge-of-your-seat adventure, and I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for sharing it with me by way of a pre-release copy. Excellent!

Tom Clancy Rules of Engagement by Ward Larsen (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, May 2026); 448 pp.