THE COUNTRY ROAD MURDERS

5 stars out of 5

Once in a while, you run across a book that is so good you not only don’t want to put it down, but you can't even fathom starting to read another one – and it happened for me with this one. It pulled from me just about every emotion, from an occasional chuckle to actual tears in my eyes (and it takes an act of Congress to make me cry). It started off interesting but a little slow, perhaps, but then the story (and impeccable writing thereof) kicked in, and I was totally engrossed the rest of the way. Without doubt, this one of the best books I’ve ever read.

The story’s narrator is Silas Tucker, a superstar football player at a rather backwoods school where his father was principal. A decade earlier, the elder Tucker was murdered, the killer still unknown; he never lived to see his son get drafted by an NFL team after a stellar college career. But as they say, man makes plans and God laughs; suddenly, Silas’s life as he knew it is gone – maybe forever – and he returns home to try and build a new life.

His little town of Cross Rivers, North Carolina, though, has longstanding issues – most notably that even the local leaders are terrified by the so-called “Southern Mafia,” consisting primarily of members of the particularly nasty Crockett family. The town also is known far and wide because in the short span of a few months, five young girls from the community have gone missing (and another one goes down even as Silas drives back home).

Silas relies on a couple of his besties from years past, including Taylor McCarter Webb (nee McCarter; she’s now married to a local police officer who is another of Silas’s best friends. Silas tools around doing farm work, and then the father of one of the missing girls asks him to help find her. Though reluctant, he decides to pitch in.

It’s here that the action really picks up, and it’s where mine in the form of a review shuts down; there’s nothing more I can say without revealing too much (and it’s way, way too good to not let other readers experience it for themselves). The story is suspenseful, emotional and absolutely riveting, right down to the final page. A stellar effort for sure, and I offer a big THANK YOU to the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy. Now please – pre-order a copy (or reserve one at your library) and read it for yourself – you’ll see!

The Country Road Murders by James Patterson and Mike Lupica (Little, Brown and Co., July 2026); 416 pp.

THE WITCH'S ORCHARD

5 stars out of 5

There's a certain comfort and satisfaction that comes with series and a character (or characters) with whom you become familiar and confident you'll be in for an enjoyable adventure every time you meet. I've got more than my share of those, I think, but I'm always up for (or "down with" as they say these days) discovering new ones. And this one just found a place on my future don't-miss list.

Series "star" Annie Gore is an interesting character in her own right, leaving a dysfunctional home to join the U.S. Air Force after she graduated from high school. Now in her early 30s and further scarred by military experiences she'd rather forget, she's finding work as a private investigator. When she's asked for help by the teenage brother of a little girl who went missing a decade ago. Named Molly, she was the third little girl apparently abducted from remote Quartz Creek, North Carolina - tucked into the mountains of Appalachia. Early on, one of the three missing girls was returned to her family, but the kidnapper has never been found. The only substantial clue is that whoever it was left a doll with an apple for a head to replace the little girls, suggesting that the same person abducted all three.

Intertwined in Annie's investigation are stories - some say folklore, others say truth - about a witch, her daughters and the crows who caw raucously and incessantly in the woods nearby. I'm certainly not a believer in such tales, but it's still pretty scary stuff (we do have a bunch of crows who regularly visit our backyard, and it's always a bit unsettling to see them swooping in). It doesn't help when most of the folks Annie must speak with are reluctant to do so, if not downright hostile. They're part of a close-knit community, have never recovered from the horror of never finding the girls and don't welcome questions from a nosy stranger. That is, all except Molly's older brother, who diligently saved up to pay for Annie's services, and a certain hunky deputy sheriff who's trying his best to run interference.

With no shortage of suspects, there are of course some twists, turns, roadblocks and dead ends, some of which are all too reminiscent of Annie's own troubled past. For readers, though, all that adds up to an engrossing story - plus, at least for me, the anticipation of reading the next installment. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for making that possible by way of a pre-release copy. 

The Witch's Orchard by Archer Sullivan (Minotaur Books, August 2025); 311 pp.

THE HEIRESS

5 stars out of 5

Well wow! I'm not sure what I was expecting when I started this book, but it wasn't that I'd be blown away. That was especially true at the beginning, when I learned that chapters shift all over the place - from time frames to characters to scenarios - which usually annoys the heck out of me. But for whatever reason - I'll chalk it up to the author's adept writing - it's the perfect format for telling this story. 

It begins with Camden McTavish and his wife of 10 years, Jules, both of whom come from less-than-ideal backgrounds and no longer claim families to go home to. Camden's, though, left a bit more when he left North Carolina: his adopted mother, Ruby, left her mind-blowing fortune, including the mansion in which she and assorted other family members lived, to him and him alone. But largely because of the way she and the others treated "outsider" Camden, he couldn't wait to get away - leaving that fortune behind.

But then, an uncle dies; and against his better judgment, Camden agrees to a plea to return home - which he expects is just a ploy to get him to divvy up the family fortune. His plan? Go, play nice (or not) and get himself and Jules back to their life in Colorado, where he teaches English. Jules has a different goal; she's hoping to convince him to at least take the money before he runs. But after she sees the mansion, she wants him to take the money and stay.

They both learn early on, however, that some things never change; Cam's family is even more disgusting than Jules thought and Cam remembered. Ruby herself had a rather colorful background, starting with her kidnapping at the tender age of three. Her grown-up life fell under suspicion as well; married four times to husbands who died under somewhat suspicious circumstances, she lived her life amid people (both townspeople and relatives) who were sure she had a hand in their demises. Even Cam, who enjoyed Ruby's protection from the rest of the family, isn't convinced of her innocence.

Even with all that, the plot gets thicker the longer Cam and Jules stay in the mansion. And those aforementioned shifting chapters shed even more light - especially the series of letters from Ruby - on what happened and what may happen next, all laced with surprises right up to the bitter[sweet] end that I almost didn't want to happen because I wasn't ready to put down the book. But put it down I must, and now I'll have to be content to thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy. The word I started with says it all: Wow!

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins (St. Martin's Press, January 2024); 281 pp.

THE LAST TO VANISH

3.5 stars out of 5

Don't get me wrong: This is a well-written story that held my attention from beginning to end just because I wanted to find out what really happened to all the people who inexplicably went missing over the years in the small town of Cutter's Pass, North Carolina. But as "thrillers" go, I have to say there wasn't a whole lot of edge-of-my-seat tension. Besides that, there wasn't a single character for whom I would have cried had he or she been bumped off somewhere along the line. 

That includes Abigail Lovett, who sort of wandered into town a decade ago and stayed to help run The Passage Inn, situated not far from an Appalachian Trail trailhead. Accessing that means traversing what's now known as the "Vanishing Trail" that ends at Shallow Falls - a place best known as the site of the disappearance of the so-called "Fraternity Four." This group of four friends ventured out on a hike 15 years ago, never returned and never have been seen again. Since then, two women have gone missing and never been found, as did, more recently, journalist Landon West, who was investigating their disappearances. Now, that journalist's brother Trey has come to town looking for clues as to what happened, staying at a cabin at the Inn and making Abby, her co-worker Gloria and Inn builder/owner Celeste quite nervous for reasons not really clear. Maybe that's on purpose, intended to make readers more curious as well; instead, it only gave me another reason not to care much about what happens to any of the three characters.

Meanwhile, the townspeople seem to have closed in around themselves, allowing the rumors surrounding the disappearances to fuel the fires of the tourist trade while avoiding any meaningful discussion of the facts. They totally dismiss rumors of a strange man who lives a secluded life in the woods who, some say, might have had something to do with what happened to the missing people. Glimpses of other townspeople, including the sheriff, seem to suggest some kind of awareness or even culpability, but nothing is fleshed out enough to make for a really intriguing theory.

Abby herself remains mostly in the dark, musing over possibilities until incriminating evidence turns up in an unexpected place. At that point, some of what may have happened years ago begins to make sense, but mostly it arouses more suspicions about who her co-workers and neighbors really are and what they really know right up to the end, when Abby learns the hard way that there's good reason for the truth to be hidden all these years.

All told, it's an enjoyable book that, if I were taking a vacation, I'd be happy I toted along to read on the beach. Thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy. 

The Last to Vanish by Megan Miranda (Scribner/Marysue Rucci Books, July 2022); 332 pp.

COLD COLD BONES

4 stars out of 5

It's always a treat to learn there's a new Bones back in town - not only do I love the books (this is the 21st), but it's one of few book series that, IMHO, translated well to the small screen. I don't think I've missed a single book, and I'm pretty sure I didn't miss an episode of the TV series either, which, according to sources I checked, aired 246 episodes over 12 seasons.

Anyhow, this book brings forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan back between the pages, and she's wintering at home in North Carolina, helping her daughter Katy get settled in after a stint in the military. Suffice it to say, then, that they're both a bit unsettled when a box turns up on her porch that contains a human eyeball. Say what? Then, she gets a call from her sweetie Andrew Ryan's private eye partner, "Skinny" Slidell, and off they go to find a body that appears to be missing an eyeball - except that the remains are on the well-seasoned side while the eyeball is, well, fresh.

As still other strange things happen - like a running feud with a neighbor who's convinced Tempe is trying to scare his son to death and at least one more body - suspicions arise that what's happening now may be mirroring some of her old cases. But she can't seem to connect the dots, nor convince Skinny of that possibility. Meantime, Katy - who's having some trouble readjusting to civilian life - is struggling but doesn't want mom's help. And then she goes missing.

If I have a complaint, it's that Tempe goes off on her own a little too often despite advice from her police and P.I. friends, and she's usually too intelligent and sensible to do that (although I'll give her a bit of a pass because she's frantically trying to find her daughter). All the goings-on are unsettling, after all, but things start to come together especially well after Andrew returns from the case he's been working on and tries to help. But can they figure out what's really going on before it's too late to save Tempe? Or Katy? Well, you'll just have to read the book to find out. As for me, I'll just thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review another good one.

Cold Cold Bones by Kathy Reichs (Scribner, July 2022); 348 pp.

A FATAL BOOKING

4 stars out of 5

This is the third book in what is a new-to-me series, and I don't expect it to be my last. It's always refreshing to find a cozy heroine who keeps her wits about her, doesn't go off on tangents that put her life and those of others in jeopardy and (gasp!) actually works with and respects law enforcement.

Such is the happy case with Charlotte Reed, a former English teacher who now runs Chapters Bed and Breakfast in a North Carolina harbor town. Aided by her trusty housekeeper Alicia Simpson and chef Damian Carr, she's hosting a book club retreat that promises to be fun because it will focus on classic children's literature. But as the guests arrive, it becomes clear all is not well in fairy tale land; in fact, their primary form of interpersonal communication seems to be bickering. Even worse, a local boat captain warns Charlotte that one of the guests has, shall we say, a rather shady background.

Still, Charlotte is determined to make the best of it - and things manage to go well until they don't: that shady guest turns up dead during the Mad Hatter tea party in the garden - a victim, it appears, of cyanide poisoning. That's an aha moment, at least until it becomes clear that most of the book club guests have relatively easy access to the poison. Whoops!

Charlotte begins to investigate, with the help of her next-door friend Ellen, who has a secret background as a secret agent (as does the relative who left the house to Charlotte in her will). Mostly missing in action is Charlotte's main squeeze, Gavin Howard, also an agent who is away on assignment until close to the end of the book to lend his expertise to the case (and to Charlotte, but in a different way). 

All in all, it's a delight to watch the story unfold as Charlotte follows clues where they lead (always, as I mentioned previously, sharing her findings with the police). There's a little too much repetition as various characters mull over who could have done what and when to my liking, but it all works out in the end (which also brings the revelation of possible new directions for a couple of the main characters, making me even more eager to read the next installment. Till then, I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy of this one.

A Fatal Booking by Victoria Gilbert (Crooked Lane Books, June 2022); 304 pp.

PREMEDITATED MORTAR

5 stars out of 5

As cozy mysteries go, this series never fails to bring a breath of fresh air (albeit infused with the scent of sawdust). I've read three so far - I believe this is the eighth - and thoroughly enjoyed each one.

As this begins, building contractor Shannon Hammer has signed on to renovate and restore a wing of a long-abandoned mental hospital known as the Gables. The wing will become an upscale hotel owned by Shannon's friend, Jane Hennessey; when completed, the rest of the property will become a large retail complex that, hopefully, will attract visitors to Lighthouse Cove, North Carolina. Shannon's main squeeze, successful writer Mac Sullivan, has invested in the hotel project, so she's eager to get started.

But at the groundbreaking ceremony, her hopes are dashed a bit as a group of protesters show up to create a media circus. But wait, there's more: After the protesters disburse and she heads inside to get a better look at what needs to be done during the year-long renovation, someone pushes Shannon into a huge stack of bricks. Once she gets back on her feet - literally and figuratively - she goes back in to check out a hidden space and finds the body of one of the protesters.

From there, it's a merry chase to identify the killer that brings most of Shannon's close friends and her sister Chloe together (Chloe, for the record, has been in a serious relationship with the local chief of police). The investigation takes several turns, revealing previously unknown relationships and the possibility that the murderer might be someone close to Shannon. In between are details of the restoration project and the dark history of the mental institution - all interesting in and of themselves. Thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the chance to read and review another winner - and now I'm looking forward to the next installment!

Premeditated Mortar by Kate Carlisle (Berkley, December 2020); 304 pp.

THE NIGHT SWIM

4 stars out of 5

Make no mistake; this book is about rape - more than

one, in fact. And even though it's told mostly through the "unbiased" eyes of an investigative reporter's wildly popular crime podcast, it's clear that it favors the "Me, Too" notion that accusers are to believed (or at the very least taken seriously). Honestly, I happen to agree; but if I am to be fair, I can't write a review without letting other potential readers know what's in store.

Those who are up for that also should know they'll be getting into a well-written, captivating (if not sometimes horrifying) story that begins as Rachel Krall is in small-town Neapolis, North Carolina, to cover a rape trial for the third season of her "Guilty or Not Guilty" podcast. Her producer, who usually accompanies her, can't make it this time, but the digital age keeps them bound together. The accuser is a teenage girl, and the young man is - or was, before all this happened - well on his way to becoming an Olympics hopeful (plus, unlike the young woman, he's from a prominent and wealthy family. No surprise, then, that the citizens of Neapolis are staunchly divided on who's lying and who's telling the truth. 

Before the trial begins, Rachel finds a note on her car from someone named Hannah, who insists her sister Jennie was murdered in the town years ago and begs Rachel to investigate while she's in town. Rachel is intrigued, but Rachel must concentrate on the trial at hand. Besides, Hannah refuses to meet in person, making her story more of a stretch to believe. Still, there's something very convincing in what Hannah writes as she repeatedly finds ways to get messages to Rachel. So despite her producer's cautions to stay on track, she ventures out to see what she can learn. 

Some chapters take place in the courtroom, some are "playbacks" of Rachel's latest podcast and others follow her as she attempts to dig up information on what really happened to Hannah's sister. As a whole, that makes for a story that held my interest from beginning to end. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review an advance copy.

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin (St. Martin's Press, August 2020); 348 pp.

WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING

5 stars out of 5

Sometimes, you just need a little nudge. I've seen this book on best-seller lists for months now, but thinking it fell outside my usual mystery-and-thriller genre, I paid little attention. Then came high words of praise from a friend on Facebook, and I took another look, realized it has elements of mystery and decided to jump in. The verdict? No wonder it's been a top-seller for so long and garnered so many 5-star ratings. Add mine to that list; in fact, if I could give it more stars, I would - I was absolutely blown away.

Taken as a whole, the story does seem a bit implausible: A young girl nicknamed Kya grows up in a remote North Carolina marsh, abandoned first by her mother, then her siblings and finally her father (the latter not a moment too soon). Eventually, she learns that human life exists beyond the walls of her tiny shack, but she's none too thrilled at the prospect of interacting with any of it. Just the agony of growing up alone, the heartbreak of losing your entire family and the eventual realization that they're not coming back, plus the knowledge that her hurt is so deep that she'll never be able to trust anyone were enough to bring tears to my own eyes (more than once). Her story is told so eloquently and engrossingly, in fact, that not once did it even cross my mind that it probably couldn't really happen. 

The "mystery" part comes in at the beginning, when local football hero Chase Andrews, now grown up and married, is found dead under an abandoned outlook tower in the marshland - an apparent accident. But on further investigation, clues emerge that suggest his death might have been murder. And who might be a better suspect than the so-called "marsh girl" - the one who's shunned by everybody in surrounding civilization - and the one who is believed to have been unceremoniously dumped by Chase after spending, euphemistically speaking, quality time with him.

In between all this is the story of Kya's coming of age and, with help from a friend she loves but who, like everyone else around her, she can't trust, becomes a widely respected expert on marsh flora and fauna. It's an emotion-filled adventure packed full of the ups and downs of love, hate, betrayal, resilience and, of course, murder. My own emotions ran right along with Kya's, and it almost seemed that I sucked in a breath at the beginning and didn't let it out till the end (with a huge whoosh, for the record). Also for the record, it haunted my head for days afterward - totally unlike most books I read that I've forgotten the main character's name half an hour after I turn off my Kindle. Mostly, I think, I just wanted to wrap my arms around Kya and assure her everything would be all right - even with the full realization that she could never believe me.

In short, this is a must-read masterpiece. If you haven't grabbed a copy before, do it now. Awesome read!

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (B.P. Putnam's Sons, August 2018 ); 384 pp.

THE LIAR'S CHILD

4.5 stars out of 5



Five primary characters - three adults, two kids, some related to each other, some not - are at the center of this well-written, engrossing story that's full of twists. Just when I thought I had a handle on one character,  poof - that handle came unglued, shattering my perspective on what was happening (or had happened previously).

The exceptionally well-developed characters really drive this complex but easy to follow story; chapters shift from person to person, with each revealing a little more about their past and present lives and how they're all intertwined. The grown-ups include Whit, the father of young Boon and his older sister Cassie. There's Sara, a mysterious young woman with a past she's trying to escape (or is it return to?) by way of the Witness Protection Program; and Hank, a retired law enforcement chief who tries to follow the disappearance of children amid nearly debilitating emotional issues of his own. Even more interesting to me is that most of the action takes place on the North Carolina Outer Banks where my husband and I spent time just about every summer for 27 years (someone down there once told me that Ohio visitors there rank second only to North Carolinians in number, and even if that's not true, I know we've had plenty of Buckeye company).

Cassie is what I'd not so affectionately call a little snot, sassing her parents and, most times, bullying her timid little brother. Whit and his wife, Diane, are ostracized by their community because of something Diane did that put him in the hospital. They're living at The Paradise, the same motel in which Sara has been placed by the Feds to start her new life (and clearly isn't happy about it). Hank lives next door to the motel and pops in now and again.

Suddenly, all their lives are threatened by an oncoming hurricane - a regular occurrence in this neck of the woods to be sure, but this time it's rolling in amid dire predictions and a rush to evacuate. Whit heads for the mainland to help his aging parents, with the intent of returning in a few hours to pick up the kids. But the storm takes a nasty turn, putting the motel squarely in its sights. Feelling sorry for the kids, Sara - who's also eyeing a possible escape - puts them in her clunker of a car and heads for the bridge to the mainland - becoming the last car to be allowed to cross as the wind picks up steam and the water rises. Electricity and cell phone service are sketchy at best, so communication is virtually impossible (for Sara, a good thing; for the kids and their dad, not so much).

From this point on, I can't say more without spoiling things for others - so you'll just have to read it for yourself. The epilogue, I admit, left me with too many unanswered questions for my liking, but that didn't take away from the rest of the story. Highly recommended, and I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy.

The Liar's Child by Carla Buckley (Ballantine Books, March 2019); 288 pp.

CROSS JUSTICE

5 stars out of 5

Of all the book series written (or co-written) by James Patterson, those featuring police psychologist Dr. Alex Cross have remained at the top of my favorites list ever since the very first one (for the record, this is the 23rd). I'm happy to say this one doesn't disappoint. Also for the record, I was happy to see that it doesn't follow what seems to be a trend these days - books that are closer to a novella in length than a full-length book.

As is expected with any Patterson book, the chapters are short - another selling point for me simply because for someone like me with a touch of OCD, it's much easier to get to a stopping place when life intervenes. Put another way, having to close my Kindle in the middle of a chapter is almost as unthinkable as turning off the radio in the middle of my favorite Neil Diamond song (and no, it is not "Sweet Caroline" or "Forever in Blue Jeans").

As for the story, this one takes the good doctor, his lovely policewoman wife Bree, two of their kids and his 90-something Nana Mama to Alex's home town of Starksville, North Carolina (for Alex, it's the first visit in 35 years). His cousin, it seems, is on trial for the rape and murder of a young boy who was one of his students at the local school. Another female relative is defending the young man, who insists he's innocent, but she's having a tough time disproving the prosecution's well-documented evidence. 

Tracking down clues takes Alex to Florida, where he gets tangled up in a case involving murders of socialite women - the local police need his help, albeit a bit grudgingly; several chapters flip back and forth from these murders to the goings-on in the Tar Heel State. If all this weren't enough, Alex's daughter Jannie gets off to a running start toward a possible future, all to the delight of her proud father and stepmother. But then Alex and Bree's trains of investigative thought begin to hit pay dirt, threatening the future of the entire family.

The chase also challenges Alex and Nana Mama to confront their pasts, unearthing secrets that, for the most part, went dead many years earlier. The truths include the good, the bad and yes, the pretty hokey, but it all works out in the end and gives readers new and interesting insights into both characters. 

Cross Justice by James Patterson (Little, Brown and Co., November 2015); 450 pp.

SPEAKING IN BONES

4 stars out of 5

While I admit to growing a bit tired of the popular Bones

 TV show after 10 seasons, I certainly haven't given up; it's a sure bet I'll be watching the Season 11 debut on Oct. 1. For those who might not know, the show is inspired by the books by Kathy Reichs, a forensic anthropologist like her TV and book counterpart Temperance Brennan.

The books have been around even longer; this is the 18th in the series, and I've read almost all of them. Without question, I enjoy the books far more than the TV show; the primary similarity between the two is that they both center around a somewhat emotionally challenged Brennan. Other than that, the twain rarely meets.

Here, she's struggling (still) with her feelings for police detective Andrew Ryan, who has proposed marriage. Not wanting to compromise her independence and still reeling after the betrayal by her ex-husband and father of her now-grown daughter, she keeps putting off a decision, making her the perfect poster child for avoidance behavior. In the midst of the waffling, she gets a visit from a strange woman named Hazel "Lucky" Strike, an amateur Internet sleuth who tries to solve cold cases. The woman brings a frightening tape recording she believes is the voice of an 18-year-old girl who disappeared a few years earlier and whose remains are anonymously stashed in Brennan's lab. The problem? The girl's parents - members of a radical and secretive religious group that's rooted in Catholicism - insist she's not missing; rather, she just ran off with a no-good boyfriend who also can't be found.

Given the lack of hard evidence, Brennan reluctantly does some sleuthing of her own, ending in the backwoods discovery of a few bones that may belong to the missing girl. More sleuthing turns up more bones - and questions of to whom they belong. Brennan gets lots of help from a local law enforcement guy (who's also pretty good in the eye candy department) and some from her own lab colleagues. But mostly, as usual, her headstrong personality demands that she follow the evidence - even if it leads to dangerous places and people and puts her own life in jeopardy.

I enjoyed this book, and, at just 320 pages, breezed through it in no time. I like the somewhat larger role given to Brennan's mother, and as usual, Brennan's sense of humor popped out here and there. And, I definitely didn't foresee the ending. Still, the whole thing seemed a bit on the "lightweight" side, with not quite as much emphasis on the forensics that never fails to grab and hold my attention. 

Speaking in Bones by Kathy Reichs (Bantam, July 2015); 320 pp.