July reading

Val McDermid – The Distant Echo – A

Standalone, about four young men who find a murdered woman in 1978 and become suspects, although the case is never solved; years later, the case is reopened under a cold case squad and someone is killing off the four former suspects…

Jill Churchill – A Midsummer Night’s Scream – B

Jane and Shelly get involved in a case involving an amateur theatre production. I don’t read a lot of cozies but I’ve always liked this series.

Joseph Finder – Company Man – A-

Very suspenseful tale of a widower who is dealing with corporate backstabbing and troubled kids. Then one night, his life gets very complicated. The ending was a little too conveniently happy, but what a nail-biter this one was.

Joan Brady – Bleedout – A

Intriguing. Parallel narratives of a blind lawyer who is murdered and the man he saved from wrongful conviction. One of the story lines is in the present with the man working to solve the murder of the lawyer, while the other story line is the lawyer’s diary, recounting the past and all events up until his murder.

Martha Grimes – The Old Silent – B

Ran a bit long, but was enjoyable. The rock music references were soooo dated.

Martha Grimes – The Old Contemptibles – A-

Melrose goes undercover searching for clues about the suicide? murder? of a woman Jury had begun a relationship with. Ending somewhat unsatisfying as a cast of kids and seniors take justice into their own hands at the end.

Susan Wittig Albert – Dead Man’s Bones – B+

Most recent China Bayles – an old crime and a new case merge together. Not the greatest entry in the series but enjoyable.

Lee Child – One Shot - A

Usual reaction: WOW. Reacher is summoned to a town in Southern Indiana (unidentified, but seemed like Evansville to me) that has suffered a sniper attack.

Denise Mina – Garnethill - A

First in the trilogy about Maureen O’Donnell, a troubled woman who finds her ex-boyfriend murdered in her kitchen. Everyone, even Maureen’s mother, thinks she did it, so to clear her name, she stumbles into investigating the case. Excellent writing, interesting characters. Not a lot of gory or gratuitous violence, but Mina describes a bleak urban world in Glasgow, the mistreatment of mentally ill patients and surviving sexual abuse in a blunt, relentless fashion.

Martha Grimes – The Horse You Came In On – C

A rather generous grade, considering that I didn’t really finish this one. I expected to like it, as I usually do enjoy mysteries with an Edgar Allan Poe theme, but Jury and the gang in Baltimore was just annoying. Skimmed to see whodunit.

Denise Mina – Deception – A+

Standalone. A psychologist is convicted of murdering a patient, who had been convicted of serial killings but later released. Her husband begins going through her files, looking for material for her appeal, and uncovers all sorts of things. The novel is written as his diary, and he is not a reliable narrator, which makes the suspense even more intense.

Denise Mina – Exile – A

Second in the O’Donnell trilogy. Maureen and her friend Leslie look into the disappearance of a woman who had been at the domestic violence shelter they work at. Maureen ends up in London tracking down a killer.

Leslie Glass - A Clean Kill - A-

Latest in the April Woo/Mike Sanchez series. A wealthy woman is killed and her nanny is the prime suspect. Then her friend is killed and her nanny looks to be the prime suspect. Quite suspenseful, with a twist at the end.

Julia Spencer-Fleming - To Darkness and to Death– A+

#4 in the Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne series. An excellent mystery, with lots of twists and turns. The initial case is not what it seems, and in the meantime, two other cases emerge. The whole novel takes place in one day. Cliffhanger at the end regarding Clare and Russ and their relationship.