THE UNLUCKY ONES

4 stars out of 5

While in the end I quite enjoyed this book, it was a little hard to slog through for the first half or so, at least; I think that was a result of my having read the first book in the series but not the two I somehow missed in between then and now. Once I realized what was going on, though, I got more into it.

The first book, Hello, Transcriber, introduced us to professional police report transcriber Hazel Greenlee, who could type more than 100 words per minute virtually error-free. Back in the day, I - who in high school aspired to be an executive secretary - I could do the same (but on a manual typewriter). In that book, the relationship between Hazel and Black Harbor, Wisconsin, police detective Nikolai Kole was heating up despite her disintegrating marriage to Tommy Greenlee. In the intervening books, Hazel apparently bolted from Black Harbor for Brooklyn, N.Y., establishing herself as a writer of novels.

Now, though, she's back - lured by the discovery of her former husband Tommy's dead body that's been riddled with bullets, covered with bleach and wrapped in a garbage bag. While Hazel has little affection left for Tommy, she can't help but wonder who murdered him and why.

That's a question shared by Kole and his team of officers. But although Hazel and Nik had a "thing" going back then and both still wonder what might have been, each is wary of seeing the other again. But of course, it's inevitable; the only question is how each will handle the reconnection - and what they'll find out about Tommy's murder.

The rest of the story follows their interaction and the investigation into a complicated web of lies, deceit and crimes that have had serious impact on both of their lives. Well done, and I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy.

The Unlucky Ones by Hannah Morrissey (Minotaur Books, March 2025); 304 pp.

NOBODY'S FOOL

5 stars out of 5

This is the second book in the author's "Detective Sami Kierce" series, and despite thinking I'd never read the first, I took it on just because I've read and loved several of his other books. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. But after I finished, I looked back through my old reviews, and surpise - I did read the first one, Fool Me Once, back in 2016. No surprise, then, that I don't remember a thing from that one. But rereading my review of it did leave me thoroughly confused, because nowhere in that review did I even mention Sami Kierce - nor, I found after I checked, did his name appear in any reviews by other readers I checked. Huh?

Anyway, no matter where Sami was hidden in that first book, he's moved front and center here. A former cop who got thrown off the force for transgressions, he spent time in Spain right after college and before medical school, where he met and had a serious fling with a girl named Anna, he wakes up in a post-drug fog with her bloody body next to him and a blood-covered knife in his own hand.

More than 20 years later, he's happily married to Molly, with whom he has a young son Henry, teaching true crime night classes and doing private detective work for a law firm that specializes in divorce. One night, a woman shows up at the class - and she catches Sami's eye immediately: it's Anna, the woman he is certain he murdered all those years ago. She runs away, but when Sami and his class of true crime clue-hunters learn she was a victim of a supposed kidnapping years ago, Sami goes to meet the uber-rich family, who hire him to find out what really happened to her.

Amid all this, the man who was convicted of killing Sami's former fiance (yeah, Sami gets around) has just been released from prison; while and Sami and class of true crime clue-hunters think the guy is guilty as sin, the guy wants Sami to clear his not-so-good name by finding the real killer. 

If you think all this is complex, it is; but I assure you it's easy to follow, especially as clues start falling into place - right up to the ending (a cliffhanger of sorts; to be continued, methinks). All in all, an entertaining read - and I'm already looking forward to seeing the next installment. For now, I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy of this one.

Noody's Fool by Harlan Coben (Grand Central Publishing, March 2025); 352 pp.

LETHAL PREY

4 stars out of 5

My usual 5-star rating has dropped a notch on this one, almost entirely because of just one thing: the gobsmacking cliffhanger ending. I'll not explain further, of course, but after I kept flipping through the acknowedgements to see if the last few pages of the last chapter somehow got buried there, I got really, really annoyed - leaving readers hanging is one of one of the biggest no-nos an author can do, in my book.

But it is what it is. I guess I'll console myself with the thought that resolution may become the impetus for the next book in the series - this is the 35th - so I'll be watching. Other than that, I always look forward to the adventures of Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers - two of my all-time favorite characters. They meet up this time during the reinvestigation of a cold case: the murder of accounting firm employee Doris Grandfelt two decades earlier. It's been reopened because her surviving twin, Lara, is determined to find her sister's killer before she, too, dies - she's been diagnosed with terminal cancer. She's sweetened the pot with a $5 million reward for information that leads to the killer

One of those bloggers, in fact, somehow manages to dig up the murder weapon, which does provide some clues. Lucas gets the call when the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in St. Paul gets the case. Shortly thereafter, Bureau agent Virgil gets a similar call while he's out playing golf. Despite needing to work on his latest novel (plus spend time with his partner Frankie and their twins), he figures Lucas will be involved and agrees to be part of the investigation.

As Lucas and Virgil hone their investigative skills, they also must run interference to keep at bay the proliferation of true-crime bloggers who didn't exist back then and would kill each other for a scoop - or, failing that, turn their enthusiasm into an asset. Fairly early on, readers learn who the killer is, making it even more fun to watch Lucas and Virgil go from spinning their wheels to closing in. All told, another one well done. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy.

Lethal Prey by John Sandford (G.P. Putnam's Sons, March 2025); 400 pp.

ELEVEN NUMBERS

5 stars out of 5

I'm not normally a fan of short stories, but I am a fan of this author - so I decided to give it a go. It is, after all, only 33 pages, so how bad could it be? Well, not bad at all; not only did I polish it off in less than half an hour, the story itself is five-star worthy in my book. 

Very short stories do, however, make reviewing nearly impossible; what can you say that won't give away the farm? That said, here goes anyway: Nathan Tyler, a math professor somewhere in the United States, is prepping to head to Moscow for a meeting of mathematic minds when he gets a strange phone call. That, in turn, puts him in a strange alliance with U.S. powers that be (at the highest level), who want him to deduce a password that would allow entry into a Kremlin system that could change the course of history. Since the Moscow mathematician who created it will be attending the same conference in his city, they want Tyler to do a meet-and-greet, get to know the guy, somehow figure out the password and pass it on.

Needless to say, all doesn't quite go as planned - and that's as far as I'll go except to recommend that others who find the description intriguing go get it. My thanks go to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read it.

Eleven Numbers by Lee Child (Amazon Original Stories, February 2025); 33 pp.

SISTER, SINNER

5 stars out of 5

For a variety of reasons - none of them religious - I've always been fascinated by the "Come let me wrap ye in the cloak of the Lord" televangelists who pretty much ruled the Sunday-morning airwaves back in my day - names like Rex Humbard, Ernest Angley and Dr. Robert Schuller. Watching them spit out their fire-and-brimstone messages, invite viewers to come to the altar to be "saved" (or healed) and, of course, make pleas for money was, if nothing else, always a hoot.

But years before their time was an evangelist who I'd call a trailblazer for a variety of reasons: Aimee Semple McPherson. Although her ministry was going strong on the radio when I was a youngster, I never heard her (she died in 1944, when I was but a toddler). But I certainly heard of her, if only that there was some kind of scandal involving her ministry; so when I got the chance to read the story of her life, I threw my arms to the sky and offered thanks (in this case, to the publisher, via NetGalley).

And what an interesting ministry - and life - she had. Plagued with scandal, intrigue, and, yes, love (at least for all things heavenly), her story just kept getting more intricate and involved as the pages flew by. Among the initial revelations are that she was married twice despite preaching so-called "old-time religion; she was 35 years old in 1926, when thousands flocked to her Angelus Temple (a.k.a. Million Dollar Temple) in California; her sudden disappearance, and presumed drowning in the ocean, most likely was faked and has never been fully resolved.

It's the parts before and after that disappearance, though, that are fascinating, at least to me - especially the complicated relationship between Aimee and her "stage mom," Minnie Kennedy, and her two children with first husband Robert Semple at age 17, Rolf and Roberta - the latter presumed to continue Aimee's ministry had those ocean waters actually claimed her life. 

Along her life's somewhat erratic journey, she became wildly popular on the born-again Christian circuit - being dubbed, mostly by her detractors, as the P.T. Barnum of Christianity. It is the "stuff" of that journey, of course, that fills the pages of this book - but also of course, I'll leave it up to other readers to find and enjoy them, hopefully as much as I did. Oh, and there's an extensive list of sources at the end as well.

Sister Sinner by Claire Hoffman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, April 2025); 384 pp.

THE BOOK SELLER

4.5 stars out of 5

For openers, while it's not the most pressing issue in the world, I wish the various book sites would decide whether "bookseller" is one word or two (as a mostly retired journalist, I'm opting for the former). It would make locating this book on listings much, much easier.

That aside, only one thing took away a little enjoyment from this book: the star of the show, Helen Appleby, is overly paranoid; a little of that goes a really, really long way with me. But on the other hand, some of it is totally understandable; after all, she's just been released early from prison after a manslaughter conviction - and most of the folks around her are aware of that. So even an askance glance, I guess, could be enough to arouse her suspicions. Still...

Now that she's been sprung, she's determined to put her past behind her and start a new life. She's got a much-older brother and sister with whom she was never close, although the sister, Sarah Drew, is back in her life and for the most part trying to be helpful. Sarah is less than enthusiastic, though, when Helen buys a delapidated old building to refurbish as a used bookstore. She's an avid reader and doesn't need a ton of money to have a happy and productive life, so it's a chance she's willing to take.

Almost from the git-go, though, things go wrong; the building is closer to a money pit than a solid structure. Next door, she's got a pizza shop - handy  for lunches and such, but something about the twin owners gives Helen the creeps. As she starts the refurbishing and stocking process, other oddities crop up - like sounds that go bump in the night and outright break-ins that cost her double the prep work. As while she's happy to meet local people - hoping they're avid readers, of course - she always finds something that prevents her from trusting them fully. Amid all that, her start-up efforts are hindered a bit by an overly aggressive parole officer, Moira Manson, who fluctuates from threatening to send her back to prison to wanting to be her best friend.

For the most part, readers see everything through Helen's eyes, so it isn't till the end when the good guys and gals are separated from the bad and all's as right with the world as it can be. It's an enjoyable journey, though, with a couple of unexpected twists along the way. I'm happy I took the tour, and thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the chance to read a pre-release copy.

The Book Seller by Valerie Keogh (Boldwood Books, March 2025); 287 pp.

THE SUMMER GUESTS

5 stars out of 5

As someone who for many years has eagerly snagged every book by this author that I can get my hands on, I'm clueless as to why I missed the first book in this Martini Club series. Well, I'll drink to this New Year's resolution: it won't happen again.

In a way, it's reminiscent of James Patterson Women's Murder Club series, only with members who are older and wiser. Martini Club members are former CIA agents - Maggie Bird, Ingrid Slocum, Ben Diamond and Declan Rose -- all well over the age of 60 and, for the most part, happy to have their spying days behind them. They've gathered in Purity, Maine, where Maggie owns and operates Blackberry Farm, and get together regularly to discuss whatever catches their fancy (sometimes even books) as they sip, well, the club's namesake.

Purity is located near Maiden Pond, and for the most of the year, most of the homes are unoccupied - waiting for the first signs of summer, when owners and their guests begin arriving for the season. This year, one of the wealthiest homeowners brings in the whole family, including parents, grown children and their almost grown children. Nothing unusual here, of course - until one of the younger ones - Zoe - goes missing. That gets the attention of the Martini Clubsters for sure, but it's not until Maggie's neighbor becomes the primary suspect in the girl's disappearance that they really get down to it. That, in turn, puts them in the crosshairs of Jo Thibodeau, the acting police chief who clings to the belief that retired spies should remain retired.

Zoe's disappearance takes a turn for the worse for a bit when the body of a woman turns up in the pond - but happily, it's someone who clearly has been submerged far longer than Zoe's been missing. But who is she? Does she have any connection to Zoe? And why is Zoe's family so intent on having Maggie's neighbor arrested? Those are just some of the questions Maggie and her crew want answered, no matter how much their nosing around irritates Jo.

Of course, all is resolved by the end, making for a story that held my attention despite a lack of blood, guts and mayhem; truthfully, the book reads far more like a cozy mystery than an all-out thriller (not that there's anything wrong with that). The story also provides a hint of things to come in the next installment, and to that I say bring it on. Meantime, I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy of this one. 

The Summer Guests by Tess Gerritsen (Thomas & Mercer, March 2025); 363 pp.

DON'T TELL ME HOW TO DIE

5 stars out of 5

I first became acquainted with this talented author by way of his collaborations with prolific and best-selling author James Patterson (specifically, in the NYPD Red series). But I've also read and enjoyed another in which he flew solo, so I didn't hesitate to grab this one. And I certainly wasn't disappointed.

In part, that's because I can relate. Like Maggie Dunn, who watched mostly unattached widows try to catch her still-hunky father after her mother died, I watched the same thing happen when my tall, white-haired father moved into an assisted living community shortly after my own mother passed away. "He's good looking and still walks upright," I told my husband at the time. "He'll get swooped on at the first breakfast he eats in the dining room."

My story had a great ending in the form of a sweet stepmother, who said yes when Dad was 86 years old. Maggie's, alas, did not; the vixen who set her sights on her father was a con artist extraordinaire. So when Maggie learned she'd inherited the same terminal disease as her mother, she vowed to find an appropriate candidate to become her soon-to-be-widowed husband's wife Sub 2 and the stepmother of their two kids.

The story is told through a ton of reminiscing, with chapters flipping through various time frames. And each time that happens, more background is revealed - almost always adding some kind of twist - right up to the end, when the roof blows off. Details, of course, I won't provide, but I will say I'm glad I got within an hour of the finish line in time to get it done right before bedtime - otherwise, it would have accompanied me because at that point, no way would I have put it down.

Nothing left to say, then, except I loved it - and I heartily thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to dive into a pre-release copy.

Don't Tell Me How to Die by Marshall Karp (Blackstone Publishing Inc., March 2025); 320 pp.

THE WRITER

5 stars out of 5

Sir Walter Scott's "Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive" never was more meaningful than in this impossible-to-put-down adventure. Nothing is as it seems, at least for very long; every "Aha!" moment - and there are plenty - is followed by a sharp intake of breath and a "But wait..."

At a crucial decision moment in his life, NYPD Detective Declan Shaw gets a call telling him to get to a crime scene stat. In a building occupied by the hoity toity and well-heeled, he finds a woman covered in blood sitting next to a very dead body. She's Denise Morrow, author of best-selling true-crime novels. The dead guy is her husband David, a health-care executive. That's a bit strange, but not nearly as much as the fact that she refuses to let anyone near her except Declan, who's never even met her.

Needless to say, almost all the evidence points to Denise as her husband's killer. Still, Declan and his partner, Jarod Cardova, think something is off (well, besides her insistence on having Declan present). Why on earth would she want him, and only him, on the case? In fairly short order, Declan learns that she's writing a soon-to-be-released book on an old murder case involving a 14-year old girl in 2018 - a case that was closed when the murderer was arrested and convicted despite his pleas of innocence - even from the jail cell he now occupies. Why would that matter? It was Declan who led the investigation and produced the evidence that put the guy away. And now, it seems, Denise has come up with some new evidence of her own.

Readers, of course, see the events as they unfolded back then and in real time from various perspectives; the devil, of course, is in the details. And I wish - oh how I wish - I could offer up a sample of just one. But no; I have no intention of spoiling even a single one of those "Aha" moments for others who want to read it (and if you don't, you'll be missing out on an exhiliarating ride). All I can say is this one's another winner for sure - a don't-miss standalone that will have you chilled, thrilled and aghast from beginning to end. My thanks go to the publisher, via NetGalley, for letting me in on the whole thing by way of a pre-release copy. Wowser!

The Writer by James Patterson and J.D. Barker (Little, Brown and Co., March 2025); 400 pp.

THE MEDICI RETURN

5 stars out of 5

Cotton Malone certainly isn't getting any younger - nor am I, one who's been following his adventures for some time now (this is the 19th installment in the series). We've both long since retired - but we're both keeping our hats in the employment ring to a certain degree. Cotton has a main squeeze, and he's happy he's got her and a rare-books store to run. But when his old boss and friend, Stephanie Nelle calls, he's usually willing and able to take on whatever task she has in mind.

This one ventures into the territory of another of my favorite authors, Dan Brown, heavily - and I do mean heavily - laced with the history of the Catholic church, Italy, the famous (infamous??) Medici family and all the ties therein going back to the 1400s. The focus, in fact, is on an IOU of note - one made by the church back then, when the Medicis saved the Papal hides from bankruptcy (or whatever they did back then when they ran out of money) by way of a huge loan that's worth billions today.

By this time, though, the Medici family is extinct and that IOU exists only in the minds of a few people who still believe it exists and are determined to locate a copy of it. That includes a powerful current Cardinal and Pope wannabe, a man who wants to use the IOU to blackmail the church into adopting a new political stance and a man who always believed he's a legitimate Medici heir and is desperate to prove it.

The story follows all these factions and people, as well as characters and history related to each; needless to say, this isn't an easy book to follow. I lost count of the times I needed to backtrack a page or two (or three) to figure out which person I'm reading about, and more than once I skimmed over some of the historical paragraphs, well, just because.

Some of it was a bit implausible - like the happenings at the annual horse race in Sienna, I believe (at your age, Cotton? Seriously?), but it also added to the intrigue and overall impact. As always, the loose ends are pretty neatly tied up by the end, and the whole thing is another winner. Just know it's not one of those books you can read with one eye while keeping the other on a TV show you don't want to miss. As for me, I heartily thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy.

The Medici Return by Steve Berry (Grand Central Publishing, February 2025); 416 pp.

BATTLE MOUNTAIN

5 stars out of 5

Long a favorite series of mine - this is the 25th installment - this one puts Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett in more of a background role, centering more on his falconer buddy Nate Romanowski. After Nate got married and had a daughter, he put his raptor talents up for sale in a legitimate business - aided by Sheridan Pickett, daughter of Joe and his wife Marybeth. But Nate's situation changed dramatically in the previous book (what happened I won't say to spoil things for those who haven't read it), and he turned the business over to Sheridan, his daughter Kestral over to Joe and Marybeth and once again headed off the grid. 

Actually, Nate is out to find Axel Soledad, the man responsible for his troubles and return to the wild. As it turns out, Nate wasn't the only one hurt by the guy, though; his friend Geronimo Jones is also on the hunt. So, they team up, hoping to eliminate Alex outright - or at least render him incapable of harming anyone else.

As their quest gets under way, Joe's is just beginning; his old friend, once again the governor of Wyoming, calls him in to ask a favor. His son-in-law, it seems, went off on some kind of elk-hunting expedition and seems to have gone missing. To avoid worrying his daughter and aggravating his wife for recommending the excursion, the governor wants Joe to track him down on the Q.T.

The story follows both search efforts (mostly those of Nate and Geronimo), until - no surprise here - they begin to merge. Of course, everything takes place in remote places, where cell phone coverage is spotty at best and not watching where your feet are going can prove dangerous (as can some nasty folks with powerful weapons and no qualms at all about who they're pointed at). All told, it's an exciting adventure with a few edge-of-seat moments and an ending that promises fodder for the next installment - to which, of course, I'm looking forward. For now, I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy of this one.

Battle Mountain by C.J. Box (G.P. Putnam's Sons, February 2025); 368 pp.

NEMESIS

5 stars out of 5

Orphan X, a.k.a. the "Nowhere Man," has been a favorite character over the course of several books (this is the tenth in the series). I've loved every single installment, and (no surprise to me!), this one follows the same pattern. There's just something about watching Evan Smoak - who I'd describe as a nearly super-human Jason Bourne - grow up and (in his own way) prosper.

An escapee from the government "X" program that made him what he is - a practiced assassin who now plies his trade for the good of humankind, if you will, Evan lives in a highly fortified mansion with all the bells and whistles he can find (or buy or create). Many of his high-tech goodies (a.k.a., weapons) came from his good friend Tommy Stojack. But when Evan learns that, at least in his own mind, Tommy has betrayed him, all bets are off. Now, he's out to get his former best bud and render him, well, dead - or at the very least, seriously incapacitated).

He gets some help from his young protegee, Josephine (a.k.a., Joey), who's a computer whiz to put it mildly. But even with her in his corner - well, at least when she's not mad at him - it's hard to keep him out of serious trouble. His tracking down of Tommy quickly turns into a battle for their very lives, prompting Evan to double efforts to find Tommy, who in turn has promised to find and protect the wayward son of someone to whom he owes a big favor. 

Uh, oh - do readers get a sense that something's gotta give? It's kind of hard to miss, although the details turn out to be quite an exciting reading experience, albeit with a bittersweet ending.

As for me, I loved it - and I heartily thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for once again allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy.

Nemesis by Gregg Hurwitz (Minotaur Books, February 2025); 464 pp.