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

A Novel

by Robert Thorogood

An e book bargain

Soon to be on tv

Readers who devoured Richard Osman’s two mysteries are pretty sure to enjoy The Marlow Murder Club. It has many similar good eccentricities while telling its own story.

As in Osman’s novels, our woman on the scene is a pensioner. Eccentric Judith Potts is in her seventies. She may be a little too fond of whisky. She sets crossword puzzles to earn money, lives in an inherited property and observes everything around her. She is also intrepid.

One night Judith hears a shot. Her neighbor Stefan is dead. It is quickly established that Stefan was murdered. His character is less clear; there are those who saw him as a good and kind man and others who did not. What was the nature of his association/relationship with an antiques business and Elliott, its proprietor? How, if at all, is Stefan’s death connected to another victim, a well-liked taxi driver named Iqbal? And, what about the people Judith gets to know along the way? There are a mysterious redhead, a dog walker and a vicar’s wife among others. It all crescendos in a satisfying story.

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

Pub date: 03 May 2022

The best crime fiction of 2025 so far — our critics’ top books

https://www.thetimes.com/article/a6c1b701-c3bb-4754-89bb-8853ceec05e5?shareToken=d1af86c9f6f3ccc6cad2d5ef7acfee65

Jo Callaghan’s first novel was easily one of my favorite crime stories of 2024. All of the elements that made me love that book are back in Leave No Trace, the second in this series. These include characters with depth (and backstory), a plot that keeps the pages turning, and the use of a unique sidekick to detective Kat Frank.

AIDE is an AI created detective. Through a hologram, he looks very real. His thoughts, although at times concrete because of a lack of understanding of nuance, are often key to the case. It has been enjoyable to watch the “relationship” between Kat and AIDE evolve. That is just one of the joys of the series.

This time, Kat has asked for a “live” as compared to historical case. The one that she is given is rather grim. A man has been found at the top of a local landmark and he has been gruesomely murdered. The case will lead to fear and warnings to young men.

Readers know that the case will be solved. The enjoyment is in watching how the team accomplishes this.

Kudos to the author. I am already eager for book three.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this title. All opinions are my own.

Five 🌟 stars

by Jessica Sinarski

#HelloAnxiety #NetGalley

Anxious kids, you are not alone! And you, the adults who see this book, please get it for a child you know. Read it with that child or let them read it on their own if they prefer. Maybe just leave the book somewhere where it will catch a kid’s eye. Be ready to talk with them about anxiety.

This book does an excellent job of discussing the overwhelming feelings that anxiety can bring. It also offers some hope.

The best part of the book, in my opinion, is that, in addition to some techniques, Destiny find that there are ways to be helped. What a relief! Anxiety does not have to be Destiny’s destiny.

This book is great for a home library, for a therapist to use in working with a child and for school resource centers.

This book can be a terrific jumping off point. If more help is needed, remember that it is OK to access emotional support services.

Many thanks to the National Center for Youth Issues and NetGalley for this title. All opinions are my own.

Pub date: 13 February 2025

32 pages

Children’s fiction

From the Publisher

A Novel

by Dervla McTiernan

I very much enjoyed this author’s Ireland set mysteries of which there were three, The Ruin, The Scholar, and The Good Turn. In The Murder Rule, the author changes everything up. This new book is not set in Ireland, but rather in the U.S., around the UVA Law School. The book is meant to be a thriller with an unreliable narrator who is single minded but not straightforward among most things.

Laura and her daughter, Hannah, share a very close relationship, albeit one with role reversals. Hannah worries about and cares for her mother who suffered enormous trauma in the past. The story behind her mother’s circumstances is what motivates Hannah throughout these pages.

Hannah is a third year law student at the University of Maine as the novel opens. She manipulates her way into a semester at UVA (the University of Virginia) Law School and to a spot on their Innocence Project. Hannah is there for her own purposes but her desire to see justice done does not mesh with the goals of the others with whom she works on Michael Dandridge’s wrongful (is it?) murder conviction.

Readers get to know Hannah, Laura and their situation well. They also spend time with the other law students, the head of the program and those involved in, and impacted by, the actions of Michael Dandridge.

I wanted to like this book as much as the others that I have read by this author, but, sadly for me, I didn’t. I found that there was a lack of warmth in these pages. I know that Laura was wronged and traumatized but somehow I didn’t care quite enough for her. The plot of this story also depended on actions that did not always feel realistic to me.

Those who like thrillers, law and courtroom stories and idealistic young lawyers to be may well enjoy this book. I just wished for more even as I respect that the author was trying to write something completely different from her earlier novels.

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

Pub date: 10 May 2022

An e book bargain today

Shannon Reed offers readers her idiosyncratic answers (and they are many) as to why we read and why she does. Early on Reed shares that, as someone with a hearing impairment, reading books was a comfortable place to be as there was no need to struggle or answer based on imperfect understanding of what was being said. Reed read everywhere and everything, even a car manual when she forgot (never again!) to have a book with her. Bibliophiles will relate to not ever leaving home without something to read; I know that I did.

This is not an academic treatise but more a series of wide ranging personal thoughts and reflections. Throughout it is clear that Reed loves reading and wants her students and everyone, really, to find joy in a book.

Reed begins by talking about getting her first library card and the many libraries that have played a role in her life. I know two of these personally which made the pages come to life for me. 

Whether it is about reading (or not reading) series, signs you may be a character in a popular children’s book, reading to see ourselves across time, for comfort, fun or shock, or more, it is intriguing to see what the author has to say on a variety of topics.

This book would make a fun gift for a reader…even if that reader means giving a gift to one’s self. Take a look at the back of the book for an exhaustive reading list based on the books mentioned in the text. This will give a bibliophile many ideas for what to try next or to fondly remember books that they have read.

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

Here is a good one to put on your TBR pile if you are looking for a relaxing and enjoyable book
This is a story about Ellen who is a single mom as the story opens. She has a college bound son, Cooper, who is worried about leaving her by going away to school. What will happen? Why is he worried?
Readers watch as Ellen’s friend, Unity, steps in and up. She develops a list of challenges for Ellen to get her moving forward. Unity will also work on this list. (Readers learn that she is also stuck) How will they grow and change? Read the novel to find out.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this enjoyable read in exchange for an honest review.

by Vielka L. Montout

#LittleSignsBigSmilesASLforTinyHands #NetGalley

This cutely illustrated book with rhyming text introduces young children to sign language. Each picture and the story show some aspect of a toddler-young school age child’s day with an accompanying sign in a circle.

At the end of the book there is much additional, helpful information.

I very much like the idea of introducing signs to young children. Not only will they have another tool for communicating but it their awareness of those who may have hearing loss will help to make them more understanding, hopefully.

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

Pub date: 08 April 2025

by Thomas Schlesser

#MonasEyes #NetGalley

Many years ago I read Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder. Mona’s Eyes will do for the history of art what Gaarder’s book did for philosophy. Both of these books are wonderful and reward careful, unrushed reading.

Mona’s Eyes is translated from the French. It tells the story of a little girl who had an episode of temporary blindness. It is not clear as the story begins whether or not, she will face a life without vision.

Many intercede to care for Mona. The most interesting might be her grandfather, Henri/Henry. When Mona is supposed to be attending therapy sessions, instead her grandfather is taking her to Paris museums. He wants Mona to soak up the art so that it is in her memory and he wants her to learn the lessons that the works have to teach. It is from here that readers find out much about the history of art beginning with Botticelli and moving forward all the way to Pierre Soulage. There is ample description of each work as well as a sense of what Henri hopes Mona will take forward from each. To start at the beginning, the Botticelli is paired with learning to receive as well as give.

In addition to the art history, there is a plot relating to those around Mona including her family and friends. There are also details of her daily life.

There are no reproductions in the book so it is best to read this one with access to the works as they are described. That way, the reader can see what Mona is seeing.

I most highly recommend this title. Mark your calendar for its release date.

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

Pub date: 26 August 2025

Fiction-Literary fiction

432 pages

Mary Kirk, Bessiewallis Warfield, Diana Spencer…their stories entwine in this historical novel that is largely based on truth. It is a page turning and fascinating look at life in America and Europe from 1912 until 1997.

Mary and Wallis became friends in their teens; Wallis married an American pilot; Mary married a French pilot. Wallis divorced and subsequently married Ernest Simpson. You probably all know who her third husband was… but do you know who Mary married next? I won’t spoil the book by telling you.

Mary and Wallis’s stories come alive in a glittering London. The story of Alex and Rachel, who are impacted by Diana’s death, takes place in 1997. Choices are made by all with implications and consequences. I truly enjoyed this book and suggest it highly to fans of historical fiction.