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

#TheOdyssey #NetGalley

I recently spent a semester reading Emily Wilson’s translation of the Iliad. I hope to one day read her rendition of the Odyssey. In the meanwhile, I adored this book. It is written for children ages 9 to 12 but anyone could enjoy it, in my opinion. It offers an excellent introduction to this important work.

The illustrations are bright, engaging and pair perfectly with the text. I also really like all of the introductory material that the author includes. She lets readers know that Odysseus was a complex character who sometimes did not speak honestly. She also points out that, while readers can make their own decisions about his veracity, they can enjoy the spirit of this story. It includes many adventures including the story of the Trojan Horse.

I highly recommend this edition of the classic.

Many thanks to NetGalley and DK-DK Children for this title. All opinions are my own.

Pub date: 23 June 2026

Description:

from the publisher

Voyages across the sea, man-eating monsters, witches, gods, and goddesses: The Odyssey is the ultimate adventure story.

Take a journey across the sea and follow the heroic, catastrophic, and sometimes downright gruesome tales of the Greek king Odysseus in this modern retelling of Homer’s The Odyssey. A story of trickery, lies, and perseverance, watch as Odysseus is tested to the limits by the Cyclops; sirens; and lots of meddling, angry gods.

Written by self-proclaimed Greek myth nerd, and host of the Let’s Talk About Myths, Baby! podcast, Liv Albert brings this ancient Greek Epic to life. Liv’s version of The Odyssey portrays Odysseus as he really was: a complex man who did many great things … and just as many bad. Littered with historical facts, maps, and family trees, Liv brings all of her knowledge and expertise to this future classic, making it the only version of The Odyssey you’ll ever want to read.

From the Publisher:

Editorial Reviews:

About the Author:

Liv Albert is the creator and executive producer of the top rated ancient history podcast, Let’s Talk About Myths, Baby. Liv studied English Literature and Classical Civilizations and regularly speaks at universities across North America about the wide world of Greek mythology and history. She has authored many pieces on Greek mythology, including the best-selling title Greek Mythology: The Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes Handbook. Her retelling of The Odyssey is her first children’s book.


Hazem Asif is an illustrator who has worked internationally across various markets including publishing, film, and academia. He’s collaborated with Google, Harper Collins, Bloomsbury, The Lancet HIV, and the Doha Film Institute.

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#TheGoldenSpoon #NetGalley

Perfect for curling up with on a winter’s evening, this book engaged me right from the start. Six bakers arrive at a Vermont estate to compete on a baking show that fans of the Great British Baking Show will recognize right away. However, what if unlike on the GBBS, all did not go well and the issues were not only with the bakes? What if, Instead, murder and mayhem occur during the competition? The bakers are a captive audience so there are also echoes of Agatha Christie, along with Mary Berry, in these pages.

The bakers all have their stories and get to tell them as each narrates sections of the book. They range from a former foster child to a retired nurse, from a self made millionaire to a math teacher, along with a young pie maker and a construction worker. There are other characters as well. These include baking show host and owner of Grafton Manor, Betsy Grafton, the new co-host, Archie, the conniving Melanie and others. How do these characters backstories impact their actions? Who will be murdered and why? Find out, even as you enjoy the baking challenges.

Simon & Schuster’s Editorial Director describes The Golden Spoon as “this wonderfully atmospheric debut” that is “one of the most satisfying puzzles I have read in ages.” I concur. This novel is written by an assured writer who tells an involving story. I highly recommend this one.

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

Pub date: 07 March 2023

#TheBurialPlace #NetGalley

Those who read the first two novels by Abell will be delighted to see that there is now a third book to enjoy. Here are many familiar faces including Jake (who continues to live off the grid), Livia (his romantic interest), Diana (Livia’s daughter), Rose (not quite on the narrow path) and, Martha and Aletheia, whom Jake knew when he was a full time police officer. There is also a new police detective for Jake to get to know. Why is there someone new? Those who’ve read the earlier novels will know but those new to the series can just accept this and move on.

This time the plot centers on an archaeological dig and the goings on there. Someone is sending poison pen letters and wants the dig to stop. REALLY wants it to stop. A murder takes place. Was it because of the dig or for other reasons? There are many involved with the excavation of an ancient Roman site. Are they involved in nefarious events as well? Read this one to find out.

In addition to offering up a good story, I like how Abell comments on Jake’s physical world. The setting very much comes to life.

Recommended to those who already know Jake and to those who enjoy British set mysteries.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for this title. All opinions are my own

Pub date: 26 August 2025

368 pages

Mystery/Thriller

The first two in the series:

Death Under a Little Sky by Stig Abell

Death in a Lonely Place

#Vermeer #NetGalley

Like many, I have been drawn to works by Vermeer in the museums that I have visited. Paintings like “Young Woman with a Water Pitcher” have left me fascinated. To me, that work invites the viewer to imagine the life of that young woman. What does she see at the window? What is her life like? With whom does she live? I think that Vermeer invites those seeing his paintings to imagine their own answers to these questions.

I was excited to see that, what appears to be, a definitive biography of Vermeer has just been published. It places Vermeer and his works firmly within his own time and historical context. There are many reproductions of works in this book. These definitely enhance the reader’s experience.

This title will, I think, appeal to scholars. However those who simply enjoy Vermeer’s art may well want to take a look at this book as well.

Many thanks to NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company for this title. All thoughts are my own.

Pub date: 07 April 2026

Description:

from the publisher

This revelatory biography persuasively addresses the two great unresolved questions about Vermeer?why did he paint his pictures, and what do they mean?

One spring day in 1683, a notary’s clerk in Delft entered the home of the late Magdalena Pieters van Ruijven and stumbled upon one of the wonders of the seventeenth-century world: twenty paintings by Johannes Vermeer. Rather than dispel the mysteries of Vermeer’s life, this discovery merely gave rise to more questions: How had this one Dutchwoman come to possess the majority of the master’s work? And why have these images—among the most beautiful, even sublime, in the history of art—defied explanation for so long?

Following new leads and drawing on freshly uncovered evidence from Dutch archives, acclaimed art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon fills these long-standing gaps in art history, presenting a dramatic and transformative new interpretation of Vermeer’s life and work. Dixon considers Vermeer holistically, placing him in his complex historical, social, religious, political, and artistic context in order to understand what spaces he occupied in his life and how the texture of these spaces inspired his paintings and distinguished him from his artistic contemporaries. Dixon also interrogates the nature of Vermeer’s relationship with the Van Ruijven family, which was unlike any other known relationship in that time period, and discusses how this dynamic shaped his artistic practice.

Rich with piercingly direct descriptions of Vermeer’s paintings, Graham-Dixon’s biography is full of revelations. It upends the master’s enigmatic reputation and depicts him instead as a pioneer of the early Enlightenment, a pacifist who was deeply affected by the wars and religious conflicts of the Dutch Republic and allied to a radical movement driven underground by persecution. In Vermeer: A Life Lost and Found, Dixon does what countless art historians and scholars before him failed to: he brings Johannes Vermeer, renowned for his use of chiaroscuro, out of the shadows and into the light.

About the Author: 

Andrew Graham–Dixon is an art historian, biographer, and broadcaster. He was for many years the main art critic of the Independent and The Sunday Telegraph and is the author of the award–winning biography Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane. He lives in East Sussex.

From Kirkus Reviews:

British historian Graham-Dixon draws on archival sources to create a richly delineated portrait of Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer (1632-75) and the political and religious turmoil that shaped his life. The author focuses the biography on two overarching questions: “Why did he create his paintings? What did they mean to their creator, and to those for whom they were painted?”…A well-researched, penetrating investigation.

by Kristy Woodson Harvey

Not long ago, I read and reviewed Under the Southern Sky. I very much enjoyed that book and am glad to say that I think that Beach House Rules will also be a delight to the author’s audience.

When reading novels, I always look to meet people with whom I want to spend time. The parents and children who live at the mommune fit the bill.

To back up, Charlotte’s husband is in jail as the story begins. He is a high flyer whom Charlotte loves and who provided for his wife and daughter very well. Is he guilty of the financial crimes of which he is accused? While this waits to be resolved, Charlotte and teen daughter, Iris, are cast adrift. Alice sees Charlotte in a moment of supreme meltdown at the bank and offers that they could stay at the mommune.

There live a group of mothers and children who need a bit of help. Alice, who has her own backstory, offers this. In addition to Charlotte and Iris, there are several other families there and readers get to know all of them. What will be revealed about them both as individuals and in any connections that they may share?

I liked the way that the narrative was structured. Each chapter is told from a character’s point of view. Interspersed are postings from a gossip site. What trouble will this unleash?

This is a very readable book that I very much enjoyed. It seems like a perfect summer read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for this title. All opinions are my own.

Pub date: 27 May 2025

Women’s fiction

368 pages

From the Publisher

What makes for: A Happier Life (Kristy Woodson Harvey)

I have enjoyed other novels by this author so was very happy to settle down with her latest. It offers a long read with multiple characters and their interrelationships. The setting in a small town was evocative and left me wishing that I could go for a visit.

Readers meet two main characters. They are Daisy and Mason. Daisy is a nurse whose work has been in fast paced, trauma settings. For reasons that are not immediately clear, Daisy flees/moves away from her position to one in this small town. For his part, Mason has returned home where he coaches the high school baseball team. His own potential career was cut short when he suffered an injury at the end of high school. He is described as having a bit of a reputation.

Daisy and Mason meet when Mason discovers a newborn in a dumpster. The first nurse he sees at the hospital is Daisy. Their relationship progresses from there with the two very interested in this baby’s future. Who is she? What happened?

Another intriguing character is Tilley. She is a great aunt to some cute children with whose family she lives. Tilley has a backstory that seems quite intriguing though it will take readers many pages before they fully understand her.

There are so many more characters in this book. Many of them are members of Mason’s clan while others are moms at the school, Daisy’s family and others. In fact, I had a bit of trouble remembering exactly who was who. It doesn’t matter though, it is possible to just keep going.

There are discoveries to be made in these pages as Daisy comes to understand her past and her mother. No spoilers here though. Others will also grow.

This novel would make an ideal beach/vacation read. It is another hit for this author.

Library Journal observes that

With small-town charm, memorable characters, and thoughtful explorations of motherhood, grief, and redemption, this heartwarming novel is a moving story of second chances and unexpected love.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for this title. All opinions are my own.

Pub date: 05 May 2026

Post first published on 30 April 2026

Description:

from the publisher

“Queen of the beach read,” (Cosmopolitan) New York Times bestselling author Kristy Woodson Harvey returns with a heartfelt escape to coastal Carolina.

After the worst day in her professional life, burnt-out NICU nurse Daisy Stevens runs to Cape Carolina, North Carolina, looking for a new life—and possibly new romance. On her first day at her “simpler” job, high school baseball coach Mason Thaysden discovers an abandoned baby, sending ripples through the entire tight-knit town of Cape Carolina.

Mason is still struggling to reconcile the scars of the injury that kept him out of the big leagues, stuck in his hometown, and searching for a way out. This newcomer and the child they’ve saved together might be just the motivation he needs to stay put. Sparks fly as Mason acquaints Daisy with Cape Carolina, introducing her to his friends and family, including his batty Aunt Tilley, who is looking for relief from long-buried family secrets and her own fresh start.

But as Daisy becomes increasingly attached to this abandoned child, and begins facing her own demons in the process, a startling discovery is made that threatens to rip the entire town of Cape Carolina apart, placing Daisy, Mason, and Tilley in the center of the storm. In a novel that proves that “Kristy Woodson Harvey is (the) go-to for elevated beach reads” (People), they will each learn that with love, understanding—and a community theater production of Hello, Dolly!—sometimes life conspires to bring us just exactly where we belong.

August 2026 Prepub Alert: forthcoming titles to know, share, and buy; plus a downloadable spreadsheet of all the titles and an Edelweiss catalog with plot summaries, author profiles, and more.
— Read on www.libraryjournal.com/story/Prepub-Alert-August-2026-Titles

#ACaseofLifeandLimb #NetGalley

Readers who got to meet Gabriel Ward in the first book in the series (A Case of Mice and Murder) will be absolutely delighted to spend time with him in this second novel in a proposed trilogy. (I wish it could be more, Ms. Smith). Those who have not read the first book can read this one first but I am pretty sure that they will then go back to read the other title.

There is a lot of plot in this book. I will not give it all away so that readers can enjoy the circumlocutions of the story as they read. There is a case involving Topsy Tillotson who is a music hall star. There are a series of upsetting packages and their accompanying notes. There are murders. Certainly, all this enough is to keep the pages turning in this traditional, historical mystery.

There were many things that I loved in the book including the time spent in the law courts and environs. It is a self contained world with chambers, living spaces, refectories, chapels and, watch out for the cat. I found that the characters were very interesting and idiosyncratic.

Ward himself is very precise and ordered. He is a man who does not easily left others in. He grows a bit and does value some of his connections over the courseof the story.

The book is cleverly plotted and includes an interesting dilemma for two of the male characters. One of them is in the law court while the other is a cleric. No more to say as readers should have the experience of discovery.

Smith writes with the authenticity of knowing her setting and the law courts intimately. She has also researched the history of the time in which the story is set.

I most highly recommend this book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury USA for this title. All opinions are my own.

Pub date: 18 November 2025

First posted on 17 January 2026

Description:

from the publisher

AN ELLE BEST MYSTERY OF THE YEAR

“I was immediately besotted . . . Brilliant.” -Janice Hallett, internationally bestselling author of The Appeal

All is calm, all is bright . . . until reluctant sleuth barrister Gabriel Ward is tasked with finding the culprit of yet another grisly crime in the Inner Temple.

Christmas Eve, 1901. Gabriel Ward KC is hard at work on a thorny libel case involving London’s most famous music hall star, Topsy Tillotson, and its most notorious tabloid newspaper, the Nation’s Voice, but the Inner Temple remains as quiet and calm as ever. Quiet, that is, until a severed hand arrives in the post.

While the hand’s recipient, Temple Treasurer Sir William Waring, is rightfully shaken, Gabriel is filled with curiosity. Who would want to send such a thing? And why? But as more parcels arrive-one with fatal consequences-Gabriel realizes that it is not Sir William who is the target, but the Temple itself.

Someone is holding a grudge that has already led to at least one death. Now it’s up to Gabriel, and Constable Wright of the City of London Police, to find out who, before an old death leads to a new murder.

From the Publisher:

About the Author:

Sally Smith spent all her working life as a barrister and later King’s Counsel in the Inner Temple. After writing a biography of the famous Edwardian barrister, Sir Edward Marshall Hall KC, she retired from the bar to write full time. A Case of Mice and Murder, her first novel, was inspired by the historic surroundings of the Inner Temple in which she still lives and works and by the rich history contained in the Inner Temple archives. A Case of Mice and Murder is the first in a series starring the reluctant sleuth Sir Gabriel Ward KC

Review:

“Ms. Smith (herself a barrister and Inner Temple resident) nicely balances scenes of legal and detective work, peppering the narrative with details about her characters’ personal lives and back stories. Gabriel grows as an attorney and human being by embracing the empathy he feels for his clients and other citizens. With its lawyerly shenanigans and emotional poignancy, A Case of Life and Limb is a real corker, as a policeman who sometimes counsels Gabriel might say.” ―The Wall Street Journal

AN ELLE BEST MYSTERY OF THE YEAR

“I was immediately besotted . . . Brilliant.” -Janice Hallett, internationally bestselling author of The Appeal

The first book:

A Case of Mice and Murder by sally Smith

This book is just completely adorable. I love it. I think that the youngest children will too. The artwork is very bright and engaging. Children of many backgrounds who are doing many different things are in these pages.

An adult could find much to talk about with a child here. There are moods, activities and more. There is even going to be a mirror in the print copy.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who knows a young child.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for Kids for this title. All opinions are my own.

Pub date: 01 September 2026

Description:

from the publisher

Giggles, grins, and silly faces—this is baby fun at its best!

106 Baby Faces is a joyful celebration of the many moods and moments of babyhood. With expressive illustrations featuring babies laughing, playing, splashing, and being delightfully silly, it’s the perfect book for little ones who love looking at other babies.

Along the way, readers can spot 10 playful dogs, a few curious cats, and even a cheerful bear hiding in the pages. And at the very end, a special peek-a-boo mirror invites babies to find the most important face of all—their own!

Ideal for ages 0–2, this board book supports emotional development, visual engagement, and early bonding—all while making babies smile.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/04/27/books/review/poetry-places-quiz.html