Joyce's mystery and fiction book reviews with some non-fiction too!

Our columnist on four stellar new releases.
— Read on www.nytimes.com/2026/02/22/books/review/new-historical-fiction-books.html

www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/books/best-books-21st-century.html

#KawaiiCats #NetGalley

Kawaii Cats can be cheerful and whimsical as can be seen in this coloring book. For instance, I loved the cats as sushi, the cats in teacups, the yin/yang cats, the laundry basket cat and so many more.

This book will, I think, be a big hit with its intended audience. If that is you, get your colored pencils, markers or crayons out and start to create!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Cider Mill Press for this title. All thoughts are my own.

Pub date: 05 May 2026

Description

Calling all cat lovers! From playful kittens to cozy furballs, Kawaii Cats is packed with charm, creativity, and a whole lot of purr-sonality. Because your cat thinks you deserve a relaxing coloring break (maybe).

Perfect for doting cat parents and coloring enthusiasts alike, this book lets you unwind and express your creativity while filling your world with playful charm and irresistible cuteness. Discover a delightful variety of hand-drawn illustrations inspired by the sweet and quirky kawaii art style. From cats playing with yarn to snack-loving kitties and fanciful feline scenes, every page is designed to bring a smile to the faces of those who work hard to please their feline overlords. Whether you’re in the mood for quick coloring sessions or detailed masterpieces, you’ll find designs to suit your style, with an array of both simple and intricate patterns.

Inside you’ll find:

• Adorable Designs for All Skill Levels: Perfect for beginners and experienced colorists, with artwork ranging from easy-to-color shapes to detailed compositions.
• Stress Relief & Creativity: Lose yourself in the relaxing world of coloring as you melt away the day’s stress.
• High-Quality Paper: Printed on high-quality paper to prevent bleed-through, making this book suitable for markers, pencils, or crayons—even if your cat decides to “help” mid-coloring.
• Frame-Worthy Creations: Each page is single-sided, so you can easily remove and display your favorite finished pieces.

Relax, unwind, and forget your worries (until your cat demands attention). De-stress one paw print at a time with Kawaii Cats.

#TheKeeper #NetGalley

I think that Tana French is a brilliant author and her books are must reads for me. I found The Dublin Murders series to be very clever with the detective pairings and story lines. My favorite of these is The Likeness but it is very easy to recommend the entire series. Her non-series novels have also offered gripping reads.

Now readers have The Keeper to savor. It is the third (and last book) in the series that also included The Searcher and The Hunter. Ideally, these books should be read in order, although that should not be a hardship in any way.

Here are characters who will be well-known to readers of the earlier titles. Cal, Lena, and Trey are the central three. Readers will, I think, be eager to know how all of them are doing and where French will leave them at the end of this novel. In addition to Lena, Trey and Cal, many others surround them in their community of Ardnakelty. Among them are Trey’s family, the farmers, the shopkeeper (Lena’s sister) and the local Garda.

This time there is also much about Tommy Moynihan, his son Eugene and Rachel who had been dating Eugene. What happened to Rachel? To what extent are Tommy and Eugene responsible? What does it mean to Ardnakelty when the social equilibrium is again upset? Read this one to find out.

French excels at describing the physical landscape. Readers will feel that they are soaking in the very air of the township.

This book is, in my opinion, a slow burn. Have patience, stick with it. It will be worth it.

I highly recommend this title.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Viking Penguin for this read. All opinions are my own.

Pub date: 31 March 2026

Post first published on 19 March 2026

5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

See reviews of the first two titles on my blog if interested.

Description:

from the publisher

Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2026 by The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, Oprah Daily, Today, BookPage, Goodreads, and more

From the iconic crime writer who “inspires cultic devotion in readers” (The New Yorker) and has been called “incandescent” by Stephen King, comes the third and final book in the million-copy-bestselling Cal Hooper trilogy.

On a cold night in the remote Irish village of Ardnakelty, a girl goes missing. Sweet, loving Rachel Holohan was about to be engaged to the son of the local big shot. Instead, she’s dead in the river.

In a close-knit small town, a death like this isn’t simple. It comes wrapped in generations-old grudges and power struggles, and it splits the townland in two. Retired Chicago detective Cal Hooper has friends here now, and he owes them loyalty, but his fiancée Lena wants nothing to do with Ardnakelty’s tangles. As the feud becomes more vicious, their settled peace starts to crack apart. And when they uncover a scheme that casts a new light on Rachel’s death and threatens the whole village, they find themselves in the firing line.

“One of the greatest crime novelists writing today” (Vox) crafts a masterwork of atmospheric suspense that brings the story of one of her most beloved characters to a spellbinding conclusion.

From the Publisher:

A Novel

by Susan Wiggs

#WaywardGirls #NetGalley

Wayward Girls tells the stories of six young women who, for various reasons, were sent to an institution in Buffalo, New York that was much like Ireland’s Magdalen Laundries. These were places were vulnerable young girls, many times the victims of others, were sent when they became pregnant when they were single or otherwise were not conforming to society’s rules. Even worse, one character was sent to this hell, when it was her stepfather who was the offending party. The men often seemed to be able to continue as they had been with little consequence for their mistreatment of their victims.

Anyone who wonders about the historic (lack of) rights for young women will be justifiably appalled by what happened to these girls who were further victimized and judged by those who should have helped them. Readers will very much hope that somehow these six young women will be able to go on to better lives post institution. Their friendships should help.

Disclosure: I have worked with birth mothers from this time and know many of their stories. This made a book, that was excellent, very difficult for me to read.

One note: The story begins with a girl who says that she needs a pre-adoption certificate to get a passport. I have never heard of that requirement.

Kudos to Wiggs for bravely showing readers what life was like for some young women. I believe that she hopes that a time like this will not come again.

This is definitely a worthwhile read. It is not all depressing.

Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for this title. All opinions are my own.

Pub date: 15 July 2025

400 pages

From the Publisher

I have been a tutor to kids in grades k through 4 for many years. It is one of my favorite and most meaningful activities. I love that moment when something clicks for a child and the smiles come.

I passionately believe in teaching the skills that are needed to make reading a lifelong pleasure. In my experience, phonics can be most helpful in giving beginning readers the foundation that they need.

Here are 200 activities involving letters and words. There are activities on letter sounds, vowel sounds, blends, word families and rhyming.

This book will, I think, engage children. The colorful illustrations make each activity look like fun.

Note that this book is meant for an adult and child to work on together. It will teach without making learning seem like a chore. In addition, this title could be helpful as a way to keep reading skills in the forefront over the summer in a way that offers some fun and games.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Callisto Publishing for this title. All opinions are my own.

Pub date: 05 May 2026

FIVE STARS *****

Description:

from the publisher

Practice kindergarten reading skills with 200+ fun phonics games! Part of the Phonics Makes Readers series!

Literacy is a critical skill that all children need to learn, but it isn’t always taught in ways they can understand and apply, which means many kids need a little extra practice to start reading at their grade level. The good news? There’s a perfect solution: phonics! From tracing and matching to word searches and more, this colorful phonics activity book makes it a blast for kindergarteners to learn to read with confidence.

The best way to learn—These activities are built on a comprehensive approach to reading that relies on building phonics and decoding skills—the gold standard in literacy learning.

The science of reading—Kids can write and draw directly on the pages with exercises that cover the alphabet, first letter sounds, last letter sounds, blends, long and short vowels, decodable words, and more.

200+ ways to play—Explore a huge variety of phonics-based puzzles and activities that are perfect for kindergarten prep, for extra practice at home during the year, or as fun review during school breaks.

Adorable illustrations—Keep kids engaged with vibrant pictures of cute animals, sea creatures, cool vehicles, and other silly scenarios on every page.

Jump into reading today with Phonics Makes Readers: Kindergarten Phonics Games.

Fellowship Point is a special book. It is one that will resonate with those who love long (almost 600 pages), involved and involving stories. The characters are fully fleshed out and I often felt that I wanted to speak with them, to comment on their life choices and, indeed, to be a part of their lives. The sense of place and concern for the environment were also big draws. Readers will find themselves around Philadelphia, in Maine and New York City.

Interestingly and unusually, two of the books most important characters are in their 80s; Agnes and Polly are lifelong friends who followed different paths and trajectories. Agnes never married. She is the successful author of a book series for children that has become iconic. The “Nan Can” titles, written and illustrated by Agnes, have always portrayed girls as capable; now, they are being studied academically. Agnes is not sure that she is interested. Under a pseudonym, Agnes has written a series of adult novels that portray the lives of women who live on Philadelphia’s Main Line. She wants to finish the last in the series but is suffering from writer’s block when the story opens.

In contract to Agnes, Polly has diligently followed the rule book on being a good wife, mother and homemaker. She has abnegated her own needs and wishes (which she may not always even know), to those of her husband and progeny. Polly’s husband is a self-absorbed professor who profoundly lack insight. He wants Polly present whenever he wants her but also feels free to ignore her whenever that suits him.

There is also a young woman, Maud. She is in her 20s, has a three year old, and works in publishing. She hopes to complete a project with Agnes. Her life is also three dimensional in its presentation. Maud has a precocious child and a mother with mental health issues.

Around these central characters are many others whom readers will get to know over a period of years. This novel travels back and forth in both time and viewpoint. Central is the issue of preserving a very special peninsula in Maine. Not all have the same goals for it.

I very highly recommend this engrossing novel. It may just be my best book of the summer.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Scribner, and Simon and Schuster for this title. All opinions are my own.

This title has been published. It received a starred review in Publishers Weekly.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Enthralling, masterfully written . . . Fellowship Point is a novel rich with social and psychological insights, both earnest and sly, big ideas grounded in individual emotions, a portrait of a tightly knit community made up of artfully drawn, individual souls.”
–Kate Christensen, New York Times Book Review

“Fans who devoured ‘In the Gloaming’ and other, earlier works, rejoice. Striking from the first for its clear, sharply intelligent voice, streaming wisdom and wit on nearly all of close to 600 pages, Fellowship [Point] embodies a magnificent storytelling feat.”
—Boston Globe

“Exquisitely written, utterly engrossing . . . It is hard to write about this novel without gushing. You sink into it with a sigh of contentment, as into a hot bath. Its characters, settings, and deftly woven plot pull you right in, the better to soak in its reflections on aging, writing, stewardship, legacies, independence, and responsibility. At its heart, Fellowship Point is about caring for the places and people we love . . . Fellowship Point has the complexity, pace, and length of an absorbing 19th century epic . . . [and its] various plotlines dovetail with amazing grace, culminating in a moving, well-earned climax . . . This magnificent novel affirms that change and growth are possible at any age.”
–Heller McAlpin, Christian Science Monitor

“Engrossing… studded with wisdom about longheld bonds.”
—People Magazine, Book of the Week

“An utterly engrossing, sweeping work.”
—TIME, Top 10 Books of July 2022

“Friendship is tethered to geography in Alice Elliott Dark’s capacious novel Fellowship Point. . . . . The sense that these characters are still growing, despite their old age, contributes to the novel’s wonderful texture, its feeling of depth and ongoingness. Both women are superbly depicted.”
–Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal

“Longing for an old-fashioned 19th century novel – but without the time travel? FELLOWSHIP POINT earns its nearly 600 pages with a quietly complex structure, starring two octogenarian women whose long friendship is entangled with their families’ landholdings in coastal Maine. As they seek to save the acreage from development, Agnes Lee and Polly Wister must also confront their past choices and find some peace in the present.”
—Los Angeles Times, 10 Books for July

www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/03/16/books/review/irish-poetry-quiz.html

poisonedpen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/BN-Mar-26.pdf

#murderrunsinthefamily #NetGalley

an e book bargain

Expect the unexpected in this fun debut to, what I hope, is a new series by Tamara Berry. It offers some eccentricity, a good story line and some unexpected events, all within the traditional(ish) mystery genre.

Amber must be feeling pretty desperate. She leaves home in the middle of the night and, although well below age, escapes to a community for older adults. Probably desperate to go here and to meet up with a relative she doesn’t even know. And, what about that tortoise? Add murder to the mix and the story is on its way. Lucky Amber has had some PI training.

This title is definitely worth a look and seems perfect for these lazy summer days.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this title. All opinions are my own.

Kirkus Reviews says: A knockout series debut from a veteran author with street cred in both mystery and romance…Despite Berry’s breezy tone and drop-dead-funny japes at Seven Ponds and its eccentric residents and staff, she tells a heartrending tale of how complicated families can be.” ― Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

256 pages

Pub date: 29 April 2025