ARC Review: The Vanished Sister by Sherry Thomas

The Vanished Sister
Author: Sherry Thomas
Series: The Lady Sherlock Series (Book 9)
Publication: Berkley (September 29, 2026)

Description: Charlotte Holmes—aka Sherlock Holmes—becomes entangled in a puzzling missing person case that hits close to home for her beloved Mrs. Watson in this Victorian-set mystery from the USA Today bestselling author of A Ruse of Shadows.

It’s been three years since Charlotte Holmes struck a decisive blow against Moriarty's operations in Britain, three years of relative calm and benign developments. In a buoyant mood, everyone gathers at Lord Ingram's seaside cottage in North Devon for what promises to be a perfect summer holiday. Until Mrs. Watson receives an invitation from Mrs. Carstairs, her long-estranged sister, to attend a house party nearby.

Mrs. Carstairs has married spectacularly well. She is the mistress of a great manor, a doyen of all domestic arts, and still an unforgettable beauty. Now she clamors for a reconciliation with her sister. Mrs. Watson does not trust Mrs. Carstairs's motives. Yet she cannot help but feel tremors of the old admiration for this once-beloved sister.

Then Mrs. Carstairs disappears without a trace. The next day a woman is discovered floating on the waves, her build and coloring matching those of Mrs. Carstairs. But her husband insists that the corpse fished out of the Bristol Channel cannot be his wife. So where is the real Mrs. Carstairs? Would she have purposely dragged Mrs. Watson into a murder investigation? Or was it Sherlock Holmes's involvement that she needed from the very beginning?

My Thoughts: The mystery in the ninth Lady Sherlock series strikes close to home. Mrs. Watson has long been estranged from her older sister. They chose different life paths with Mrs. Watson choosing the demi-monde and her sister a seemingly more reputable path. Mrs. Justina Carstairs married very well and is the mistress of a great manor. Years earlier, when Mrs. Watson's daughter was born, that sister came to her and demanded that she say the child was not her own but the daughter of cousins who had passed away. Thus, for years, Mrs. Watson couldn't claim her own child. 

Now, with the children grown, Mrs. Carstairs invites Mrs. Watson and her "niece" to attend a house party at her seaside home. Mrs. Watson reluctantly attends and finds a house full of tension and secrets. When her sister disappears, Mrs. Watson calls on her friend Charlotte Holmes to help find her and untangle the lies. 

Actually, Charlotte has already been called on in her Sherlock Holmes persona to look into some things. Things get complicated when a body is discovered which at first seems to be Justina but is soon discovered to be another woman altogether. Looking into her life leads Charlotte and Mrs. Watson to uncover long buried secrets and plots filled with twists and turns.

This was another engaging episode in the Lady Sherlock series. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Where There's Smoke by Rachel Louise Adams

Where There's Smoke
Author: Rachel Louise Adams
Series: Delores Hoffman Mystery (Book 2)
Publication: Minotaur Books (October 6, 2026)

Description: Following the USA Today bestselling series debut, No Rest for the Wicked, Rachel Louise Adams returns with Where There’s Smoke.

A lot has happened in Dolores Hawthorne’s life since the events of last Halloween. She’s divorced, traded being a forensic pathologist for a job as a medical examiner, and now lives in small-town Wisconsin, close―but not too close―to her family.

Dolores doesn’t have much in the way of work, but that all changes when a body is found at the local slaughterhouse. Benedict Marcy owned Marcy’s Meats, and is affectionately called Mr. Mercy across the region. This high-profile case quickly catches the attention of Dolores’s friends at the FBI.

From the very beginning, this case is full of contradictions and surprises, and the team quickly learns someone is willing to go to extreme lengths to stop them from finding out the truth behind Benedict Marcy’s murder.

My Thoughts: The second book starring Delores Hawthorne was a twisty thriller. Delores is now divorced. She's given up her job as a forensic pathologist in LA for a position as a medical examiner in her home county in Wisconsin. She's closer to her family and trying to build a relationship with the half-siblings she hardly knows. She's also dealing with the issue that caused her to leave home for LA nineteen years earlier which includes dealing with stalkerish behavior and her ambivalent feelings about the upcoming trial for her rape. 

Work is generally much slower than LA but a suspicious death at a local meat packing plant changes all that. Benedict Marcy, known as Mr. Mercy in the area for his philanthropy, has been found dead in one of the tanks used to prepare slaughtered hogs in his plant. Being immersed in boiling water doesn't make Delores's autopsy easy. Things go even more awry when the hundreds of samples on their way to Eau Claire are destroyed or contaminated when the cop driving them there is lured off the road and murdered before having his cruiser sent into a river. 

The FBI is called in. The team includes Paul who was part of the first book and his new partner Kate who also grew up in rural Wisconsin, knows Delores, and is just beginning her career with the FBI. Paul is determined to recruit Delores for the FBI and thinks flirting with her is the way to go. 

The events quicky escalate as Delores, Paul and Kate try to unravel all the twists and turns. There is the local prison who inmates are sent to the packing plant as employees and who have suffered a suspicious number of fatal accidents, none of which came to the attention of the medical examiner. There is also a new drug in the area which might be the cause of the murders. 

This was an engaging mystery with interesting characters and a nicely twisty plot. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Murder on Threadneedle Street by Andrea Penrose

Murder on Threadneedle Street
Author: Andrea Penrose
Series: Wrexford & Sloane Mysteries (Book 10)
Publication: Kensington (September 29, 2026)

Description: Not all that glitters in Regency London is quite what it seems, as Charlotte and Lord Wrexford discover when a counterfeiting scheme draws them into a deadly web of murder and manipulation in USA Today bestselling author Andrea Penrose’s masterfully plotted mystery for readers of Victoria Thompson, C.S. Harris, Charles Finch, and Deanna Raybourn.

Lord Wrexford and Charlotte’s growing family ensures that life is a source of constant adventure. The addition of Wrexford’s half-sister to their household is proving an unexpected delight. But some surprises are less welcome—and trouble strikes when Hawk, one of the young boys in their care, arrives home distraught after learning that his new drawing teacher has been found murdered on Threadneedle Street.

Fletcher Campbell’s death could be dismissed as a random robbery turned violent. But as an artist herself, Charlotte suspects there’s more to the case than meets the eye. Closer examination reveals that a distinctive ring was taken from the victim’s finger. With Hawk pleading for the family to help solve the crime, Charlotte and Wrexford suddenly find themselves entangled in a fiendish mystery that harkens back to a decade-old scandal that nearly brought down the government.

It seems Campbell’s brother was the infamous leader of a counterfeiting gang that swindled the Bank of England. Most were apprehended, but forged banknotes remain a problem. Now, the Bank of England has offered £20,000 to anyone who can use the newly-invented engineering technologies to create the Inimitable Banknote—a complex design that cannot be counterfeited.

It’s a prize that could tempt anyone, and Wrexford and Sloane’s investigation turns even more fraught when one of their closest friends falls under suspicion. The deeper they probe, the more treachery comes to light. For when a lie so easily masquerades as truth, danger may be much closer than they think . . .

My Thoughts: The next Wrexford and Sloane mystery begins when Hawk, their youngest ward, comes home crying when he learns that his new drawing tutor has been murdered on Threadneedle Street. Despite all the signs leading to an ordinary street murder, they decide to look into the case for Hawk. 

Soon, some suspicious things come out. The simple pewter ring he wore was taken from his hand. As they look into his background, they also learn that he spent ten years in prison because of his connection to a plot to steal currency on its way to France. While most of the perpetrators were found and hanged, the mastermind eluded capture. 

Counterfeiting is a big business and growing worse. The Bank of England is sponsoring a competition with a massive cash prize to the inventor who can make an Inimitable Banknote. Somehow, it seems that the murder is related in some way to this competition. 

The story was full of the people who were competing for the prize both fictional and real including the son of the man in charge of the ten-year-old failed plot who was the artistic genius who almost made the plot succeed. There was also a lot of information about creating a reliable currency at a time when many banks made their own banknotes.

I enjoyed the family dynamics as Wrex's young sister is finding her place in the family. I also enjoyed the large circle of friends who were part of the investigation.

This was another great addition to this historical mystery series. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: The Velvet Knife by Maureen Johnson

The Velvet Knife
Author: Maureen Johnson
Series: Truly Devious (Book 6)
Publication: HarperCollins (September 29, 2026)

Description: Return to the world of Truly Devious as Stevie Bell and her friends travel to New York to solve a murder in the next standalone mystery from New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson.

Stevie might be the greatest teenage detective Ellingham Academy and the world has ever seen, but even she can’t figure out what happened with her boyfriend, David. What she needs is a distraction: a good old-fashioned murder. Stevie is much happier dealing with dead people. They’re a lot less confusing—they don’t send cryptic texts and make out with other girls in British pubs.

But then Stevie gets exactly what she wanted when a dead body turns up in the middle of a Manhattan apartment complex, and this one is . . . complicated. Caught in a web of messy alive-people feelings, Stevie finds herself questioning all human connection. Is magnetism only manipulation? Can you trust anyone? Does anyone realize that they’re joining a cult—before it’s too late? And are things with David really over?

My Thoughts: Stevie Bell is still reeling after her break-up with David. She's back at Ellingham Academy, blowing her exams, and wandering the twisting paths trying to figure out what went wrong. She is also celebrating her eighteenth birthday by breaking up with her parents who seem to care more about David than they do about her. 

Stevie tags along as Nate heads to New York City to stay in his editor's apartment to finally finish the novel he has been working on for years. He is under a deadline: finish it just after the new year or pay back the advance that he needs for college tuition. 

While Nate buries himself in his novel, Stevie gets to know the eccentric residents of the eighth floor of their apartment building. There's Helen who is an excellent baker and dying of heart failure and who has a very noisy cockatoo named Murph. There's Arthur who is the who is the social organizer. There's Elliot who is also writing a book and who gives Nate some very odd advice about finishing his. There's Benny who spends most of her time at an animal shelter. There are Lance and Mitzi. Lance channels Stanley Tucci and Mitzi snarks. There are Andy and Margo Lopez and their goth daughter Luna who wants to be a mortician. Finally, there are Imogen and her wife Sophie who are new residents from London who've come so that Sophie is on Broadway in Macbeth.

When Murph doesn't stop making lots of noise, Stevie and the doorman enter the apartment to find Helen dead. Stevie's first reaction is that dead people are following her around, but when the death is declared to be from natural causes, Stevie can go back to her brooding. But, when Benny who has custody of Murph after Helen's death, falls from her apartment window, Stevie is sure that death is murder. 

Going along with this story is a story that takes place in 1976 which tells about a young woman swept up into a cult led by the charismatic and controlling Dean. From her meeting the rest of the cult in New York City until she abruptly leaves it taking with her a large bag of money that has been amassed by pickpocketing and stealing and most of the cult dying in a fiery car crash, Helen who was renamed Blue by Dean has her life explored. Stevie discovers this older story as she tries to find out more about the very mysterious Helen. 

This was another excellent YA mystery starring the intriguing Stevie Bell who is trying to figure out her own life while solving mysteries. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Cursed City by Kate Golden

Cursed City
Author: Kate Golden
Series: Harker Academy (Book 2)
Publication: Ace (September 20, 2026)

Description: Welcome back to Harker Academy for Deviant Defense, where the line between hunter and hunted has never been thinner.

Viv Abbot will do whatever it takes to rescue Reid Graveheart, the reformed Brood demon she loves—even if it means teaming up with his violent, unpredictable older brother, Deacon. Her uneasy truce with him offers Viv something Reid never could: the chance to embrace her darkness.

As the search for Reid intensifies, Viv and her friends must maintain appearances on Harker grounds while wading into Astera's seedy underbelly with none other than the White Stag as their guide. But when a bounty on Viv's head puts those she cares about most in danger, Viv will be forced to go to lengths she never dreamed in order to protect them.

With enemies closing in from all sides and a ticking clock on her life, Viv must save the Half City from destruction while surviving a betrayal that strikes at the heart of everything she’s fighting for. Because in a world where monsters wear familiar faces and temptation cuts deeper than any blade, making it through her second semester at Harker will take more than skill—it will take everything Viv has left to give. Who can she really trust in a city that thrives on lies?

My Thoughts: The second book in the Harker Academy urban fantasy series has Viv on the run. She has had a spell embedded in her that will make her insane if she can't get it removed. It will also grant world-shattering power to anyone who kills her for it if it doesn't kill them first. She needs to rescue her missing demon boyfriend Reid, find a way to remove the spell, and stay away from the High Thane and his son Finn.

Viv has her group of school friends to help her and she has Deacon Braveheart, her boyfriend's brother. Deacon is also known as the White Stag or Cernunnos. He's morally ambiguous, violent, and unpredictable and often needlessly kind. 

Viv becomes fascinated with Deacon which makes her feel guilty which shows as anger most of the time. Of course, the syrabraxa embedded in her encourages the anger and the desire to kill even while it is driving her insane. 

Viv has lots of adventures in this richly developed fantasy world where many people wear two faces and danger is hidden in the ordinary. When events come to a head at a party held to announce her mother's plan to run for mayor, the battle rages in the catacombs beneath the event hall. 

Fans of urban fantasy will enjoy this series which has it all: wonderful worldbuilding, fascinating characters and even romance. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: The Dying Light by Ann Cleaves

The Dying Light
Author: Ann Cleaves
Series: Detective Matthew Venn (Book 4)
Publication: Minotaur Books (September 29, 2026)

Description: DI Matthew Venn peels back layer upon layer to discover the dark secrets one family is keeping in this searing new novel, brimming with energy and taut with claustrophobic tension.

A scorching heatwave marks the start of the summer in Devon. Detective Matthew Venn is called in to investigate a puzzling death, when the body of a young woman, Lottie, is found in the swimming pool of a luxurious holiday home. The girl’s best friend, Hannah, whose family owns the house, is missing. The girls had arrived a few days earlier to celebrate the end of their school exams, quickly stirring unrest in the small community with incendiary social media videos mocking the place as parochial.

When further tragedy strikes, Venn and his team begin questioning a community filled with secrets. The fact that Hannah’s father, Paul Armstrong, is a rising political star with powerful enemies draws intense media scrutiny to the case.

With the summer heat come holidaymakers, and it emerges that some of them may have stronger connections with the Armstrong family than first thought. Venn knows all too well that the real answers lie not in what people say, but in the silences that they keep.

Taut, atmospheric, and brimming with suspense, this searing new novel finds DI Matthew Venn caught between a powerful family’s secrets and a powder keg of local tensions.

My Thoughts: The fourth Matthew Venn mystery begins on a hot summer day when he's called to investigate a murder or perhaps an accidental drowning at the vacation home of a rising political figure. Lottie is dead and the politician's daughter Hannah is missing. The two seventeen-year-olds had come down ahead of Hannah's parents to celebrate the end of the school year. 

Lottie's body is discovered when the Armstrongs arrive to meet the girls. Hoping to be able to save her, they manage to really mess up the crime scene. A search begins for Hannah, and her dead body is also soon discovered. 

Now, Venn and his team have to discover what happened to Lottie and Hannah while facing pressure from Armstrong's political superiors. It also doesn't help that both Hannah and Lottie's families are keeping some sort of secret that may have something to do with the couple glamping at the farm next door.

The farm is the home of Hannah's boyfriend and also the site of a local music festival that Lottie had posted unkind videos of during the weekend. And the girls had had a run-in with the proprietors of the local gastropub who refused to serve alcohol to the underage girls. 

While Matthew is trying to unravel all the complicated relationships, he is also dealing with his husband Jonathan's up-coming visit with his birth mother. Matthew is trying to be supportive but his own insecurities about their relationship is leaving him with feelings of jealousy. 

I enjoyed this twisty mystery. I like Matthew's investigative style and the way he interacts with his subordinates Jen and Ross who are also intriguing characters. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: The Pumpkin Vice Cafe by Ellie Alexander

The Pumpkin Vice Cafe
Author: Ellie Alexander
Series: Bakeshop Mysteries (Book 24)
Publication: Minotaur Books (September 29, 2026)

Description: Another delicious installment in the Bakeshop Series set in Ashland, OR!

As autumn settles over the charming hamlet of Ashland, Oregon, ushering in cool, crisp breezes and a stunning show of color, everyone at Torte is keeping warm by whipping up a bevy of fall treats and spicy lattes. Jules is nearing her due date, and the whole town is abuzz―placing bets on when the twins will make their grand debut. Helen and the team are working on a secret surprise baby shower, complete with cupcakes, cookies, and a feast fit for royalty, or maybe just a mother-to-be.

Meanwhile, Lance and Arlo are busy planning their nuptials in what is sure to be as close to a royal wedding as Ashland has ever seen. But when the high-end wedding planner they hired is found dead in the frigid waters of Ashland Creek, what looks like a tragic accident, a slip on an icy bridge, quickly reveals itself as something much more sinister. Jules knows at once―this was no mishap. A killer is loose in Ashland, and they may be ready to strike again.

My Thoughts: Jules is in the last days of her pregnancy with twins and helping her friend Lance plan his wedding. When his new wedding planner is found dead - by Jules, she adds a murder investigation to her to-do list. 

She soon learns that Tippy had a number of enemies. She owed money all over the place and the vendors are angry enough to kill. Tippy is also getting ready to sue one of her clients who hasn't paid her for her daughter's lavish wedding. Then there is her assistant who hasn't been paid in months. The list of suspects is large and many of them are eager to be hired to work on Lance's wedding. 

The story is filled with wonderful descriptions of Ashland, Oregon, and wonderful foods all prepared by Jules' bakery/cafe Torte. The descriptions were so good that they made me hungry. The final copy of the book will include recipes.

Fans of cozy mysteries will enjoy the latest in the Bakeshop Mysteries.  

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Murder on the Sacred River by Tasha Alexander

Murder on the Sacred River
Author: Tasha Alexander
Series: Lady Emily Mysteries (Book 20)
Publication: Minotaur Books (September 22, 2026)

Description: In this next enthralling mystery in Tasha Alexander’s bestselling series, Lady Emily chases down a killer in India along the misty banks of the sacred river Narmada.

1908: Lady Emily and her husband Colin Hargreaves, along with an eccentric group of English tourists, are vacationing in India at Ahilya Fort, the old home to the Maharaja’s family, when a man is found shot along the Narmada River. Emily and Colin jump into action, but their suspect list is large, including a wonderful spinster and her not-so-wonderful companion; a local doctor; a widow who lives nearby; an English explorer; and an Englishman who now runs a tea plantation near Darjeeling.

1740: Fifteen-year-old Ahilyabai has been married to the son of Malharrao Holkar, the Lord of the Malwa territory, for seven years. Now the time has finally come to produce an heir. But though Ahilya’s in-laws have shown her nothing but kindness, her notoriously-drunken husband remains a mystery to her, having rarely spoken to Ahilya since their wedding as children. Faced with this tortured and distant man, Ahilya’s sense of loyalty is tested as she attempts to balance fulfilling her duty with forging her own destiny. Her decisions will have ripple effects across time―including Lady Emily’s investigation almost two hundred years later.

Lady Emily’s case takes a dramatic turn when a shocking new person arrives at the fort―and when the killer strikes again shortly afterwards, she and Colin must race to uncover the villain’s identity before it’s too late.

My Thoughts: Lady Amelia and her husband Colin Hargreaves are vacationing in India after Colin does a little something for the king. They find themselves invited to Ahilya's Fort on the banks of the Narmada River along with an assortment of other English travelers.

When the body of an Englishman is found in a boat with a gunshot wound to his head, their vacation becomes an investigation because the local police are more than willing to hand the case off to them. Once the man's identity becomes known after an initial misidentification, Amelia and Colin discover that many of their fellow travelers might have had reason to kill him. 

The eccentric lady and her bad-tempered companion, the visiting historian, a man named Mr. Ralston, a local doctor, and a local widowed lady are all suspects in this one. 

Woven into the mystery plot are flashbacks to 1740 and the woman for whom the fort is named. She was married at eight to the future maharajah and educated to be a helpmeet to him. The flashbacks tell of her life from childhood to old age. She did a lot of good as ruler after the deaths of her husband and in-laws and has become a figure of importance in the region. Rumor has it she left a treasure behind her which excites current (1908) day fortune hunters. 

This was an entertaining historical detail filled with wonderful scenes of India at the time period. Amelia greatly enjoys the food and drink and the culture while still investigating and solving the mystery. 

I did rather miss that their boys were left home in England but enjoyed Henry's letters pleading for an elephant.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: I Am the Monster Under the Bed by Emily Zinnikas

I Am the Monster Under the Bed
Author: Emily Zinnikas
Publication: St. Martin's Press (September 15, 2026)

Description: TIME ONLY MAKES THE NIGHTMARE MORE REAL.

Something lives under Willa’s bed. As an adult, her fondest childhood memories are of the invisible entity under her bed who taught her how to read. Now thirty-two, Willa is a reclusive but successful painter until a bombshell news report exposes her identity as the controversial survivor of the unsolved Rapture Mystery Slayings, a small-town tragedy that splashed across headlines during her senior year of high school. Six teenagers died in the woods while Willa walked free, and everyone thinks she killed them.

When an old classmate calls about a funeral, Willa reluctantly travels to her sleepy hometown, where the possessed forest that stole her friends looms. The trees whistle for her attention, but she knows better than to listen. And the unexplained knocking from the shadows in the basement of her decaying childhood home is honestly the least of her problems.

As her past pulls her back to the place where she swore she’d never return, Willa is drawn toward the monster she left behind―and becoming the villain her hometown has always believed her to be.

My Thoughts: This horror novel tells the story of Willa Renfri Greene. Willa was raised in Rapture, Maine, and was an odd child. She made friends with the nightmare under her bed and refused to ever go to the basement where the people in the basement lived.

But the strangest thing in Willa's life was the time she went into the woods with six friends and was the only one to come back alive. Someone butchered her friends. She has always blamed the forest because she had forgotten to leave it meat the night they all went to party.

The rumors about Willa more or less drummed her out of town. The families of the victims all blamed Willa for the deaths. And the local sheriff also blamed Willa and released inappropriate things to the press. 

What was worst for Willa was that the incident in the woods came after she was groomed and assaulted by her high school soccer coach. She turned him in causing him to lose his job but somehow, she was the one who was blamed. 

Her only refuge was the art room and the art teacher who provided a safe place for her in her last years of high school. Willa left Rapture right after graduation with no intention to ever visit again. She changed her name and became a famous artist. 

But when the art teacher dies of breast cancer, Willa feels she has to go back if only to honor her teacher. Someone doesn't want her there and she suffers all sorts of harassment from notes to bricks through her windows. She's certain that the perpetrator of the harassment is her former soccer coach who has reinvented his life and come back to Rapture. 

But there are other potential sources of the notes and things. TV psychic Nathaniel Lennox has begun a campaign of harassment since Willa has refused to appear on his show and rehash the deaths of her friends. And reporter Joyce Kimura is also digging into Willa's past by showing up on her porch in Pennsylvania and following her to Rapture looking for a big story.

This was a creepy story. I had to keep reading to discover what was going on and whether or not Willa would survive her homecoming to Rapture. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: A Deadly Entanglement by Cathy Pegau

A Deadly Entanglement
Author: Cathy Pegau
Series: Harriman & Mancini Mysteries (Book 2)
Publication: Minotaur Books (September 15, 2026)

Description: In A Deadly Entanglement, two queer women in turn-of-the-century New York must work together to uncover the rotten truth.

The truth isn’t always easy…

Margot Baxter Harriman has just survived her deadliest scandal as President of B&H Foods, and now there’s nowhere to go but up. Which is why she’s organizing a fundraiser for the crowded, overworked city charity hospital, where she hopes to do good and give back–until a body falls past a second-floor window.

The nurse’s death is quickly ruled a suicide, but fellow nurse CeeCee Foxmoor, Margot’s friend and the live-in partner of investigator Rett Mancini, isn’t so sure: this isn’t the hospital's first suspicious death. CeeCee’s concerns draw both Margot and Rett into an undercover scheme to untangle the threads behind the deaths everyone else is ready to overlook.

Then another death catches their attention: Margot's old classmate checked into the Caspian, a luxury clinic catering to the New York elite, but never checked out. And the circumstances surrounding her death feel eerily familiar...

As both the secrets and bodies pile up, Rett and Margot realize that while money can buy anything, behind ward doors, everyone pays a price. This time, their search for the truth might cost the people they love.

Cathy Pegau’s A Deadly Entanglement is the captivating follow-up to A Murderous Business, where two women’s determination challenges the cost of greed–and the price of failure.

My Thoughts: Margot Baxter Harriman is meeting with the head doctor at the City Charity Hospital to plan the next major fundraising gala when she sees a body go by the window. The first conclusion is that the nurse committed suicide.

CeeCee Foxmoor is also a nurse at the CCH and she's sure that her friend didn't kill herself. She is just the next in line in a series of suspicious deaths. CeeCee is living with Rett Mancini who is a private detective. Rett, CeeCee, and Margot met in the first book in the series and became friends. In fact, Margot is a silent partner in Rett's detective agency. 

Rett goes undercover to try to find out what is going on at CCH. Meanwhile, Margot has questions of her own when a school friend of hers dies unexpectedly at the Caspian which is a hospital for New York City's Elite. She decides to go undercover herself to see if she can learn anything. 

The first thing she and Rett learn is that two of the doctors are associated with both hospitals. The charming Doctor Ewan Beales convinces Margot that she has a condition that can only be treated on an inpatient basis and has a wonderful new green pill named Tranquility for her to try. 

Rett and Margot's investigations overlap when they discover that each centers around the little green pills. There's money to be made by looking the other way and, if people die, it really is just an accident or so the villains say. 

I liked the NYC setting and the time period. I liked that the main characters were lesbians trying to deal with a society where that fact needs to be hidden. I like the relationship between CeeCee and Rett and have hopes for the relationship between Margot and Shiloh. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: A Field Guide to Death and Deceit by Michelle L. Cullen

A Field Guide to Death and Deceit
Author: Michelle L. Cullen
Series: Harry & Emma Mystery (Book 2)
Publication: Crooked Lane Books (September 15, 2026)

Description: Widower and anthropologist Harry Lancaster and his Gen Z colleague Emma are back for more murder and mayhem when they stumble upon a dead farmer.

This delightful sequel to A Field Guide to Murder is perfect for fans of Richard Osman and Benjamin Stevenson.

When an odd request leads Harry Lancaster to agree to meet his former sweetheart Willow at a farm on the outskirts of town, Emma’s suspicions run high, and she insists on joining him. Instead of Willow greeting them when they arrive, they discover the farm's owner dead, with a corn rake embedded in his back.

After being interrogated by the police, Harry and Emma return to his home to find a bereft Willow, who admits she lost her life savings in a real estate scam involving the farm. Worried Willow will become the main murder suspect, Harry decides to help her, despite Emma’s concerns.

To bring the swindlers—and murderer—to justice, Harry recruits his potentially shady, financial-whiz brother and a neighborhood teenage hacker. Then Willow’s realtor is declared missing, and Harry’s brother is caught up in the fray.

As the team unearths clues, they increasingly dodge danger in their race to save Willow and Harry’s brother before anyone else turns up dead.

My Thoughts: Harry and Emma are back home and working on their final report when Harry gets a call from an old girlfriend. Willow has become the victim of a scam that has stolen all of the assets she and her husband had accrued for their retirement. She's hoping Harry can help her get them back.

However, the first thing that Harry and Emma discover when they go to meet Willow is the death of an old farmer who owned the property Willow thought she was buying. Harry and Emma find themselves not only trying to solve the murder but trying to recover Willow's lost retirement fund.

Harry makes a call to his brother Eddie for some help since Eddy was an accountant. He and Harry are not close. As a matter of fact, Harry has always thought that his brother might be dealing less than legally. 

Eddie arrives promptly and the trio work together to try to unravel all the plots and plans in motion. Harry is surprised that his brother has been leading a secret life and that he is intimately involved in the scam. Now, saving his brother has been added to the things he and Emma need to accomplish.

This was an engaging and entertaining story filled with interesting characters. I like the father-daughter relationship that has grown between Harry and Emma since she was first hired as his carer after he broke his hip. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: The Mystic and the Missing Girl by Vikki VanSickle

The Mystic and the Missing Girl
Author: Vikki VanSickle
Publication: Minotaur (September 8, 2026)

Description: Small town secrets, a reluctant psychic, and a cold case that could expose them all.

Drew Benson can read tarot cards and get impressions from objects―she just never expected to use her gifts to investigate an infamous cold case.

Drew Benson has a secret. She gets visions, something she hasn’t tapped into since she was a teenager, when her late aunt, a TV psychic known as Hannah Mystic, became the scapegoat in the unsolved disappearance of a local teenager. Twenty years later, Drew is happy to ignore her gift, focusing instead on keeping the metaphysical shop she inherited from Hannah afloat, wrangling her sole, astrology-obsessed employee, and dodging local rake Foster Banks in her picturesque lakeside hometown.

But when Drew's arch-nemesis from high school, now a big city reporter, decides to investigate the cold case from all those years ago, it’s Drew’s ability that could finally make a break in the decades old mystery. With bills piling up, a disapproving mother laying on the guilt, and a local vandal who wants Drew and her witchy store gone, Drew has a lot to lose. But what she stands to gain―finding out what happened to the missing teen, clearing her aunt’s name, and a second chance at belonging―could change everything.

In The Mystic and the Missing Girl, Vikki VanSickle seamlessly draws readers into an utterly charming world in this unputdownable, small town mystery.

My Thoughts: Drew Benson came home to Stanfield when she inherited her aunt's metaphysical shop and the apartment above it. Her aunt was Hannah Mystic, TV psychic, was a scapegoat in the disappearance of Ginny Evans, high school senior, twenty years earlier. Her psychic talents provided clues but didn't manage to find Ginny. 

It is the twentieth anniversary of Ginny's death, and someone is targeting Drew's new store with graffiti. Drew is on a shoestring budget already since the notoriety of the store seems to have died with her Aunt Hannah. She's worried about keeping the doors open and her one employee employed. 

When an old high school nemesis now turned reporter walks in the door and asks to see her aunt's journals, Drew finds herself involved in a new investigation into what happened to Ginny Evans all those years ago. She also finds herself using the psychic powers she set aside after seeing how her aunt was treated during the first investigation.

This was an excellent and engaging story. I liked the way Drew settles back into her hometown and makes a place of her own design there. I thought the mystery was well done. I liked the variety of characters in the story. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Fury in Death by J. D. Robb

Fury in Death
Author: J. D. Robb
Series: In Death (Book 63)
Publication: St. Martin's Press (September 8, 2026)

Description: In the new crime thriller from the #1 New York Times-bestselling author, Lt. Eve Dallas journeys into the darkness where murder is born…

NYSPD lieutenant Eve Dallas never knows what to expect when she gets word of a body. It could be an elderly man who made the mistake of climbing a ladder in slippery footwear. And the next call could be a wealthy biotech executive beaten to death in his home office―but what was Larry Chu’s mistake?

The victim’s corpse is so mangled and damaged it’s hard to believe a lone, unarmed assailant could have managed it. The killer was clearly unnaturally strong―and smart enough to find a way into Chu’s highly secure building. Most of all, whoever did this was very, very angry.

The excessive violence leads Dallas to conclude that this was a deeply personal act, born of a rage that she can’t excuse but can understand thanks to her own traumatic past. And though the motive seems rooted in heated emotion rather than cold hard cash, she can’t ignore the suspicious bank account in the Cayman Islands, or the shadowy, profit-hungry company Chu worked for. The mystery only grows when it turns out Chu isn’t the only victim―and Dallas will need to tear through one layer of secrecy after another to reveal what lies behind this explosion of fury...

My Thoughts: Eve's next case begins with a biotech executive beaten to death in his locked home office. Larry Chu worked for Banner-Wyst, a company that competes with Roarke. Eve has to find out who wanted Chu dead in such a brutal way. The killer found his way into a locked room, beat his victim with excessive violence, and then disappeared without a trace. 

The prologue gives the reader a villain and a reason. Revenge for the murder of his wife, his son, and his unborn daughter has activated Steve Redman's fury. But Eve and her team don't know about Steve. 

Before her investigation goes too far, there is a second and third brutal murder with the same MO. And Eve is learning that Banner-Wyst is not the humanitarian company that its PR claims. It soon becomes apparent that Steve Redman is the murderer they are looking for. After the explosion that killed his family and 200 other apartment residents, he went catatonic and was hospitalized for a number of years until six years earlier when he walked out of the treatment center and disappeared. 

This episode is a case where the villain is a much more sympathetic character than the murder victims. Eve wants to find justice for all of the victims from Steve to the Banner-Wyst executives he has murdered. 

I love the relationship between Eve and Roarke. There are lots of tender moments in this one. I also enjoy watching the secondary characters in this series as they grow and change. Trueheart has grown from a green rookie to a man who can hold his own and has a few snarky lines of his own. 

The outside event around the murder investigation in this one is the big housewarming party for Peabody, McNab, Mavis and Leonardo with the gathering of Peabody and McNabb's families and all of their other friends. And Mavis decides that her housewarming party is a great time to give birth.

This was another excellent episode in a long-running series that just keeps getting better and better. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Fighting Edge by Margaret Mizushima

Fighting Edge
Author: Margaret Mizushima
Series: Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries (Book 11)
Publication: Crooked Lane Books (September 8, 2026)

Description: Major crimes intersect in this nail-biting installment of the Timber Creek K-9 mysteries by award-winning author Margaret Mizushima.

A routine welfare check becomes a nightmare when Deputy Mattie Walker finds a young mother dead and a hysterical toddler, possibly the only witness to a brutal crime. Before the investigative team can start piecing together what happened, Mattie discovers another criminal act in Timber Creek.

During a traffic stop for speeding, Mattie observes a nervous driver and a teenage passenger frozen with fear. A quick sweep of the car with her K-9 partner, Robo, reveals a dangerous mix of drugs and suspected human trafficking, providing Mattie with grounds to arrest the driver. After she places the teenager in protective custody, the sheriff’s department hands the case over to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

As the team gathers evidence and information, Mattie’s husband, veterinarian Cole Walker, notices suspicious activity during ambulatory calls at dog kennels, indicating yet a third crime lurking in the shadows. What begins as isolated incidents quickly reveals a chilling truth: Organized crime has infiltrated their rural mountain community.

Every clue leads to more questions, and each answer brings them closer to greater danger. Do Mattie and her law enforcement partners have what it takes to shut down this criminal ring before it claims more victims? And could its next victim be someone Mattie loves?

My Thoughts: Deputy Mattie Walker and her dog Robo are called to do a welfare check and find a young mother dead on her couch with her two-year-old Emma crying in her crib. With drug paraphernalia left in the house the cause of death looks clear but still suspicious. And it seems Emma saw her mother's death but can't speak clearly enough to tell the police what happened. 

Meanwhile, veterinarian Cole Walker is seeing a new patient at his clinic. He's doing a pre-purchase check of a rottweiler that Bret Beaty is interested in purchasing for breeding. He and his family are still getting over an attack in which he and his teenage daughter were held at gunpoint in his clinic.

Then Mattie makes a routine traffic stop and encounters what looks like a trafficking situation to her. Robo uncovers a cache of drugs in the car's spare tire which gives her a reason to arrest the driver and retain the scared teen who is with him. 

The young mother had been a victim of trafficking until she managed to escape and start a new life in Colorado. Now, it looks like her past has caught up with her and trafficking is finding its way to small town Colorado.

This was another exciting episode in the Timber Creek K-9 mysteries. I love the relationship between Mattie and her K-9 Robo. I also like her growing closeness with her new husband Cole and Cole's two daughters. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Those Who Are Gone by Laurie R. King

Those Who Are Gone
Author: Laurie R. King
Series: Raquel Laing (Book 2)
Publication: Bantam (September 8, 2026)

Description: Cold-case detective Raquel Laing faces new threats and long-buried secrets in this gripping novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series.

SFPD Homicide Inspector Raquel Laing had what might politely be termed a “difficult childhood,” until she was taken in by a loving family at the age of nine. She still lives with her adoptive sister, Dee, an online investigator for organizations all over the world.

Trouble arrives with an all-too-common case for Inspector Laing: the homicide of a drug dealer in a deserted corner of San Francisco. But the everyday rapidly spirals into complications—just as a simple search into the family’s ancestry is throwing Dee into her own world of turmoil.

Raquel’s case blows up far too close to home, thanks in part to the illicit shortcuts she took in the investigation, and while her unique skills are too valuable for the SFPD to suspend her entirely, she is removed from Homicide and put onto the Cold Case Unit.

On the one hand, Cold Case lets her work with her friend and mentor, Al Hawkin. On the other, it leaves her free to look at some disturbing facts about her past—and at the devastating news that Dee has uncovered in her own search for the truth.

Cold cases heat up, the distant past intrudes, and two sisters begin to suspect that they are tied together in ways they never imagined—ways that threaten attention from a powerful and vicious international cartel.

Because the truth is, those who are gone . . . have never truly left.

My Thoughts: The second Raquel Liang mystery brings Raquel's work home. While recovering from being shot, Raquel is working on cold cases with her mentor Al. The case she is assigned is a drive-by shooting in 1997. The two men were associates of her father who was also murdered in 1997. She is also working on a current homicide. Gilbert Gallegos was gunned down in an abandoned parking lot, and a video has shown up on YouTube of the killing. 

Raquel is good at seeing connections, but maybe this time she's too good. She sees a connection between Gallegos death and the death of her father. Both were killed the same way. Both were involved in the drug trade. And the guns used in the shootings were used in a number of other murders of people associated with the drug trade. 

While Raquel is working on her two cases, her sister Dee is doing some research of her own. She's sent her DNA to one of those online sites and the results throw her. She learns that Emma and Tom Liang were not her birth parents, that she, like Raquel was adopted. This hits her hard and her first reaction is anger at the Liangs for never telling her about the adoption. She also learns that she might be related to Delores Ortega and have other Ortega relatives. She begins trying to track down Delores and other family members and runs into roadblocks after roadblocks. 

While Raquel is helping Dee, she sees another possible connection. Dee's past might be connected to her two cases. 

There is a hidden actor who is also a viewpoint character who is connected to it all. But can Raquel unravel it all in time to save lives? Raquel is an intriguing character. She's neurodivergent and some the skills she uses as a homicide detective are those she honed as a foster child in some really bad homes. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: The Chase by Felix Francis

The Chase
Author: Felix Francis
Series: A Dick Francis Novel
Publication: Crooked Lane Books (September 8, 2026)

Description: When an art dealer's misfortunes start to look premeditated, he uncovers a conspiracy that he'll stop at nothing to expose in the next Dick Francis novel—perfect for fans of Harlan Coben.

Forty-nine-year-old Fabian Tulley is only trying to run his own art gallery in London’s Mayfair in peace. But someone seems determined to ruin his life. Accused of selling a fake Alfred Munnings painting, he is unable to prove his innocence because the police are holding the piece as evidence. While running a retail sale at Cheltenham Racecourse, some of his other paintings are vandalized. Then a couple of men try to run him down in the racecourse parking lot.

To make matters even worse, his clients are being threatened to stay away from his gallery, and his landlords are trying to cancel his lease. Everything is against him, but with someone threatening his life’s work, Fabian is determined to fight back.

And what a fight it turns out to be.

My Thoughts: Fabian Tulley is an art dealer who specializes in pictures of horses. When he is accused of selling a forgery of an Alfred Munning painting, he needs to prove it is not a fake to clear his reputation. But being accused of selling forgeries is just the beginning of Fabian's problems. 

Jack Lofthouse, the man who bought the painting he is now claiming is a fake, is a bully determined to ruin Fabian. The reason isn't at all clear as to why he has set this as a goal. But he is very persistent. He arranges for Fabian's display of art at a horse racing event to be vandalized. He arranges not one but two different attempts at killing Fabian by use of a motor vehicle and he sets men to attack Fabian.

And while all this is going on, his landlords have given him notice to vacate his business address so that the site can be redeveloped. They are offering a pittance which isn't enough for Fabian to pay his workers or relocate his business. And to make things worse, someone has hijacked his email customer list and sent a message telling everyone to avoid his gallery or else. 

As Fabian tries to unravel what is going on he does have some allies. A client who happens to be a retired lawyer wants to look over his lease and an old friend and potential new girlfriend provides shelter and other assistance.

This is a throwback to an old Dick Francis style story. An ordinary man through intelligence, stubbornness and decency manages to figure things out and triumph over evil. It was a very enjoyable story.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Until She Dies by Kendra Elliot

Until She Dies
Author: Kendra Elliot
Series: Noelle Marshall (Book 3)
Publication: Montlake (September 8, 2026)

Description: Detective Noelle Marshall and FBI Agent Max Rhodes unearth bodies and secrets as they become targets of a serial killer in a chilling novel of suspense by a Wall Street Journal bestselling author.

When a search dog locates a mass burial ground in the Oregon forest, Detective Noelle Marshall is plunged into a hunt for a killer who’s hiding in plain sight. The key to her case lies in a decades-old secret: a lone survivor who escaped and is still out there, living in fear. The murderer is a phantom who left behind a collection of victims with nothing in common but their final resting place.

As pressure mounts to identify the bodies and find the killer, the investigation draws in FBI Agent Max Rhodes—Noelle’s partner in work and in life. They’ve hunted monsters before, but this one has spent years preparing for this moment, and he craves revenge. As the search narrows and the clock tightens, Noelle and Max must confront a predator who knows the terrain—and their weaknesses—better than they do.

My Thoughts: The third Noelle Marshall thriller begins with a hike in the woods and a search dog who discovers a mass burial site. Identifying the victims is the first step to finding out who murdered them all. When the first woman is identified, it is discovered that she has a four-year-old daughter who is also missing. Finding the child becomes the first priority and leads Noelle to work with her partner Max Rhodes who is with the FBI.

Things get even more complicated when a connection is made to Noelle's foster daughter Emma. One of the bodies may be that of her missing mother. At least a gun traced to her missing mother is found in one of the graves. 

This hunt brings in a lot of characters from the author's previous book series though most have only a walk-on role. The story centers on Emma's need for information about her parents and Noelle and Max's search for the missing child and the hidden murderer. 

The story was fast-paced and twisty. It was filled with suspense and tension. Secrets long buried are revealed as the story unfolds. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: The Oxford Guide to Scandal and Lies by Kate Westbury

The Oxford Guide to Scandal & Lies
Author: Kate Westbury
Series: The Oxford Guide Series (Book 1)
Publication: Minotaur (September 1, 2026)

Description: Set against the backdrop of post-WWII Oxford University, The Oxford Guide to Scandal and Lies is the irresistible debut from Kate Westbury that seamlessly layers mystery, romance, and a dash of academia to introduce the Crown’s newest undercover operatives.

Oxford, England, 1951 - The Honorable Ginevra Bishop likes red lipstick, clever retorts, and earning top marks in her tutorials. She’s following her mother’s footsteps by studying at Oxford, eager to prove she’s more than a debutante.

Sidney Braithwaite likes brooding, Latin, and ignoring his nightmares. He’s determined to forge a new life for himself at Oxford, far from his childhood mining village and free from memories of the war.

Though Gin and Sidney have little in common, the British Security Service is keen to unite her charm with his espionage experience: there’s a Soviet spy at the university, and the agent tracking them down was poisoned. MI5 wants Gin and Sidney to pick up the trail and identify the informant before more sensitive information is compromised. As a team, the pair of undergraduates clash in personality, upbringing, and taste––but have a connection neither can deny. Gin and Sidney must unite their respective talents to follow the clues before they’re caught in the traitor’s crosshairs…if the sparks flying between them don’t blow up the operation first.

My Thoughts: Ginevra Bishop is a student at Oxford in 1951. She's studying German since she's already fluent in some romance languages. She's an Honorable grieving the death of her mother and at odds with her father. Sidney Braithwaite is a former soldier from a small mining town in Wales. He worked in intelligence during World War II and still has the nightmares to go with it. 

Two people less likely to work together would be hard to find. But since they first met over a conflict of who has rights to a table in the library, they had been crossing paths. When Gin's favorite librarian dies at her feet at a gathering, she and Sidney are recruited by a branch of British Intelligence to look into who murdered him. Rumor has it that someone at the University is selling information to the Russians which might be a reason for the librarian's death by cyanide.

Sidney, who has been earning his way as a handyman to supplement his grant, isn't eager to get back into the intelligence game. Gin who wants to have a meaningful life and not marry the fribble her father has picked out for her is eager since she sees a positive future for herself in intelligence. 

The two clash as their varied experiences and personalities mean they look at their assignment in widely different ways. However, their varied skills do let them discover more than one secret buried at Oxford University but not before they find themselves in danger.

This was an engaging story with two well-drawn characters. I liked the Oxford setting and the 1951 time period. I enjoyed the mystery too.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: The Bravest Hour by Anna Lee Huber

The Bravest Hour
Author: Anna Lee Huber
Series: Verity Kent (Book 9)
Publication: Kensington (August 25, 2026)

Description: British Intelligence Agent Verity Kent managed to survive four years of The Great War, slipping in and out of German-occupied Belgium and northeastern France, dodging serious consequences or capture. But as she faces her most dangerous—and devastating—challenge yet, her luck may have run out. Hopefully, her resilience has not . . .

November 1920. Dublin, Ireland. Verity’s efforts to foil a contemptible plot by the traitorous Lord Ardmore and save countless lives—as well as the British government’s reputation—has exposed her to detrimental scrutiny, bringing her contact with the Irish rebels to light. Crushingly, she finds herself incarcerated in Dublin Castle, the “Dread Bastille,” where she must withstand interrogation from her own countrymen.

Despite her circumstances, Verity knows better than to talk—though decrying Ardmore to his face would be more than satisfying. For once again he has escaped culpability, scapegoating his associates. Her only hope is intervention from her shadowy superior. And yet, when rescue finally comes, Verity finds herself changed by what she has endured, perhaps for the worst.

Still, there’s no time for respite or healing. Ardmore’s latest nefarious objectives go beyond mere treason. Allegiances are shifting as the war between the Irish Republican

But just when victory seems assured, one shocking and vicious turn of events changes everything. Now Verity must decide where her loyalty lies. And it may not be on the same side as the man she’s loved to the grave and back.

My Thoughts: This is the third book in the Dublin story arc and begins with Verity arrested by the British who think she is working with the rebels. While she is being questioned and tortured, Sidney is pulling every string he can to get her released. Since Verity doesn't trust any of the British government in Ireland, she is determined not to tell them anything. And then there is the Official Secrets Act she signed while she was an intelligence agent during World War 1.

Sidney does manage to get Verity out of the clutches of those in Dublin Castle, but concessions have been made. She and Sidney need to help them find Michael Collins who is leading the Irish revolt against the British government, and they can't leave Dublin until they do. 

Meanwhile, their enemy Lord Ardmore is still hatching his nefarious plots and generally causing discord in Ireland. Sidney and Verity are determined to find the evidence to bring him to justice. The more Sidney and Verity get involved with finding proof of Ardmore's treason and the more they become invested in the Irish cause, Verity especially wonders if her loyalty to Britain has been misplaced. She suffers a real crisis on conscience in this story. 

I enjoyed the historical detail about events in Dublin during 1920. It was packed with intriguing detail and included of a cast of actual historical figures along with other characters to suit the needs of the story. 

I thought this one brought the three-book arc to a satisfying conclusion and left Verity and Sidney is a good place. Fans of the series will breathe a sigh of relief at the end. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: For Services Rendered by Will Thomas

For Services Rendered
Author: Will Thomas
Series: Barker and Llewelen (Book 17)
Publication: Minotaur (August 18, 2026)

Description: In London, 1896, private enquiry agent Cyrus Barker's world is upturned when his longtime nemesis, Sebastian Nightwine, previously believed dead, turns up with evil on his mind, launching devastating and secretive attacks against not just Barker, but his network of friends and close associates.

In 1896, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, would be reformer and revolutionary, turns up in London, running away from China's Imperial Qing Secret Service, who has placed a substantial bounty on his head for his political activities. Captured by those agents, he's imprisoned in the Chinese Embassy until he can be smuggled back to China to face execution.

In the meantime, private enquiry agents Cyrus Barker and Thomas Llewelyn receive the unbelievable news that Sebastian Nightwine is both alive and in London. Not just that, it seems he's taking action against Barker and his close associates. At the same time, they've been hired to find this missing Sun Yat-Sen. With elements of the Chinese secret service, elements of the British government, and Nightwine himself all working against them, Barker & Llewelyn are at risk of being cornered by the deadliest set enemies they've yet faced.

My Thoughts: The intrepid Victorian detective duo of Barker and Llewellyn are hired to locate Dr. Sun Yat-Sen who has gone missing on a visit to London. He is on the run from the Imperial Qing Secret Service accused of treason against the emperor. Meanwhile, Sebastian Nightwine, long thought dead, is back in London determined to get revenge on Barker and his close associates from his days in China.

Thomas Llewellyn is the narrator and Barker the lead and very enigmatic senior partner. Things get exciting when Barker's associates begin to be kidnapped leaving Barker to find them before they too are returned to China for the prices on their heads. 

I liked the sections narrated by Sun Yat-Sen who has been captured and held prisoner in the Chinese Embassy. I also enjoyed the references to many of the duo's earlier cases. The story had an excellent Victorian setting. 

Fans who have been following along will be excited to read this seventeenth adventure. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.