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: Hot Girl Murder Club by Ashley Winstead

Hot Girl Murder Club
Author: Ashley Winstead
Publication: Minotaur Books (July 14, 2026)

Description: From national bestselling author Ashley Winstead comes a buzzy, bloody new thriller about success, sisterhood, and demanding justice…by any means necessary.

What’s a girl got to do to get some fame, a few million record sales, and justice for murder?

Ten years ago, aspiring singer-actress Scout Sage lost the only thing that mattered: her sister, Georgia. Ever since Georgia’s mysterious death at a Hollywood party, Scout’s done her best to honor her memory, clawing her way through the industry and collecting a network of climbers along the way, fellow hot girls in stilettos with cutthroat ambition, a new Hollywood order.

But when a slew of targeted murders makes headlines across L.A., all pointing to Scout as the killer, she turns overnight from a mid-tier pop star into the world’s most famous (alleged) murderer. Now everything she’s worked to build―including the justice she wants for Georgia―will fall apart unless Scout can prove she’s not guilty.

Meanwhile, the young and unusual detective assigned to her case, herself no stranger to tragedy, begins to unearth secrets not even Scout knows, let alone her millions of new fans. Particularly about the ways Georgia’s death connects to an even older pattern of crimes long hushed over in Hollywood―an old reign of terror that, if brought to light, could be the fuel that ignites a reckoning the world over.

My Thoughts: HOT GIRL MURDER CLUB hits all the tropes in a fascinating and compelling story of women's power, ambition, and murder. It is told from multiple viewpoints including excerpts from a PhD dissertation about a group of young women known as Our Ladies of the Dark.

Grey Holloway is a LAPD detective whose father was fired for his obsession that someone at the LAPD sabotaged his investigation into his daughter's disappearance. Grey's older sister Alice disappeared ten years earlier while working one night at the Serpent Room, a club that was popular with the in-crowd then and still attracts the current in-crowd. Grey is determined to solve her sister's case and moonlights herself as a bottle girl at the Serpent Room. 

Grey's current case is investigating the murder of a woman who looks just like her. Elizabeth Drake had worked for a number of Hollywood movers and shakers. There is a quotation written on the wall in her blood which turns out to be an excerpt from the lyrics of a song written by Scout Sage.

Scout Sage and her best friend Isabel came from New Jersey to become stars. Scout's sister Georgia came a year later to attend UCLA. In a flashback from ten years ago, we see Scout, Isabel, and Georgia attending a party at an influential man's home. They were looking for contacts and maybe a break, but when Georgia was found murdered, Scout and Isabel have a new goal. They need to find her killer. 

Over the ten years, Scout gains some minor fame as a musician and Isabel becomes her assistant. But their real purpose is to find Georgia's killer and help other young women who are being done wrong by men. They have gathered a posse of influential women that they have helped over the years but have come no closer to finding Georgia's killer. 

However, in the present storyline things are finally breaking open. 

I enjoyed this twisty story with all its various themes. I liked all of the viewpoint characters and the way their lives intertwined. It was an intriguing story filled with memorable characters. 

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

ARC Review: The Neighbors Are Watching by Aggie Blum Thompson

The Neighbors Are Watching
Author: Aggie Blum Thompson
Publication: Minotaur Books (June 30, 2026)

Description: From the "master of suburban scandal" (Samantha M. Bailey) comes a scandalous twisty thriller about obsession, betrayal, and the price of perfection

Just outside Washington, DC, sits Eastbrook, Bethesda―a leafy suburb with top schools, pristine landscapes, and perfect neighbors. It’s not the kind of place where nannies are killed during robberies gone wrong. And in this picture-perfect neighborhood, someone is desperate to plaster over the cracks in that façade.

A year after the unsolved neighborhood murder, Caren, nearing fifty and staring down an empty nest, has one too many drinks at a graduation party and blacks out on her way home. At least, that’s what everyone says happened. Caren suspects she was drugged by someone. But who?

When Caren teams up with a new neighbor who is obsessed with figuring out who murdered his best friend, they start to uncover what Eastbrook has tried to forget. But in a place where appearances are everything, their search for the truth means not only shattering carefully curated perfection ― but putting themselves squarely in the crosshairs of a killer.

My Thoughts: This domestic thriller is told from three viewpoints. 

Caren is nearing fifty, newly unemployed and she fears unemployable, and facing an empty nest. She attends the graduation party of one of her daughter's former friends and has a couple of drinks. On her way home, she is attacked and put in the basement of the house where a young nanny was murdered about a year ago. 

She awakens with a concussion and no memory of her evening beyond leaving the party to go home and walk her dog. She is told by her best friends from the party that she had too much to drink and must have blacked out. Even her husband is casting doubts on what little she does remember. 

Finn in a young man working as a librarian and living in the basement of an elderly neighborhood resident. He was the best friend of the young nanny who was murdered. He's convinced that the killer was one of the neighbors mainly because he was facetiming with her and heard her tell him that a neighbor was at the door.

Tori is a newly divorced woman living in a house chosen and paid for by her ex. She's the mother of a toddler who spends time each week with his father. She a clinical psychologist who went deeply in debt to soothe herself after her divorce. Her best friend seems to be an AI that she confides in for advice and comfort. Being divorced, she isn't well accepted in the neighborhood filled with traditional families. 

The main viewpoint is Caren's who is struggling to remember what happened on her lost night, but who is also discovering things about her neighbors that reveal deep secrets and shady dealings. She becomes friends with Finn as he investigates his friend's death which she comes to believe involves her daughter. 

This was an enjoyable thriller filled with gaslighting and the things upper class families will do to make life better for their children. 

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

ARC Review: Storm Tide by Paul Doiron

Storm Tide
Author: Paul Doiron
Series: Mike Bowditch Mysteries (Book 16)
Publication: Minotaur Books (June 30, 2026)

Description: Game Warden Mike Bowditch investigates a series of brutal killings during a life-changing year in Storm Tide, the harrowing new thriller from Edgar Award-nominated author Paul Doiron.

When the magnificent home of entrepreneur Brian Malloy mysteriously goes up in flames, Maine game warden Mike Bowditch tries to pull Malloy’s burning body from the fire but is too late. Malloy was suspected of murdering his young, illegitimate son. Now it looks like someone else has delivered a verdict.

Miles away, on a lonely stretch of icy railroad track, the body of Axl Deming, once accused of a brutal rape, is found literally cut in half. Though the two murders seem unrelated, a cryptic text from an unknown number draws Bowditch to the scene―and hints at a chilling connection. He believes someone is orchestrating the executions of criminals who escaped justice, and for reasons he can’t explain, his own name is on the list, but the state police aren’t convinced. His search for the truth takes him through frozen harbors, trackless forests, and remote islands, far from rescue.

Meanwhile, Bowditch is facing a disciplinary hearing that could end his career. His wife Stacey, just weeks from giving birth, is being stalked by a stranger in a white van. And when he realizes someone has also been watching their home, the case turns increasingly personal.

To protect his family, Bowditch must work alone to uncover who’s behind the killings―and stop them before he becomes their next victim.

My Thoughts: The sixteenth book in the Mike Bowditch series spans an event-packed year. The year starts with Mike, currently under investigation, on probation, and busted back to patrol, being the first responder at a house fire. A baby is saved but the man and woman who owned the house die in the fire. Mike learns that they are the Malloys. Husband Brian was accused of the murder of his illegitimate son but not tried because the child hasn't been found. 

A neighbor, who was holding the baby girl when he arrived, claimed to have smelled the smoke and seen the light from the fire. Mike is curious about the fire but is being shut out because he's no longer an investigator. 

Mike and his wife Stacey are awaiting the birth of their first child which is almost keeping him busy enough. He is still curious about the cause of the fire even after the fire investigators claim the cause wasn't suspicious. Then Mike starts to get harassing and threatening phone calls and texts. And he and Stacey both feel like they are being stalked by someone with a white van. 

When another body is found, this one run over by a train, Mike begins to think that someone is out for vigilante justice. Convincing those investigating isn't going well for him especially since he's been suspended with pay for six months and the Ranger services seems to have forgotten about him. 

The story is packed with action. Mike seems to be in danger every other page. Interspersed with all the danger are lovely descriptions of Maine and its wildlife. I enjoyed this one for its action and for its setting. 

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

ARC Review: Murder at the Spirit Lounge by Jess Kidd

Murder at the Spirit Lounge
Author: Jess Kidd
Series: Nora Breen Investigates (Book 2)
Publication: Atria Books (June 16, 2026)

Description: In the second installment of the Nora Breen Investigates series—“perfect for cozy mystery lovers” (Book Riot)—beloved former nun Nora Breen returns, this time to track down a ghostly killer before it’s too late.

When Dolores Chimes, a famous medium, arrives in Gore-on-Sea, even surly Detective Inspector Rideout is lured in by her promises of messages for the afterlife.

But after a reading goes disastrously wrong, Dolores loses her life—and the six sitters at the séance with her fall victim to supernatural deaths themselves in the days following the nightmare of a reading.

Determined to unveil the truth, Nora finds herself chasing a ghostly serial killer she believes to be responsible, before the sixth victim—Detective Rideout himself—perishes along with the others.

My Thoughts: Nora Breen, former Carmelite nun, is back again solving crimes in Gore-on-Sea in the years shortly after World War II. 

A famous medium arrives in Gore-on-Sea and hosts a seance with a select group of patrons. A gangster, an upcoming young actress, a retired army officer, a Lady and her downtrodden daughter, and Detective Inspector Rideout all arrive by invitation to hear messages from the dead. 

Nora is called in when the medium dies suspiciously during the seance. After all, she spent many years as a nurse at her monastery. When other attendees at the seance also begin dying in unexpected ways, Nora and Rideout have to find the killer before Rideout becomes the last victim. 

I enjoyed this historical mystery. I like that Nora is trying to find a place for herself in the world after leaving the Carmelites. In this one, she begins working for the local newspaper which fits her personality excellently. I enjoyed all the post-WWII details.

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

ARC Review: The Last Time We Saw Her by Jaclyn Goldis

The Last Time We Saw Her
Author: Jaclyn Goldis
Publication: Atria/Emily Bestler Books (June 16, 2026)

Description: Ten years ago, a teenage summer camper disappeared while searching for a rumored treasure on a remote island. Now, the long-buried truth of what happened to her and the long-lost gold threatens the lives of her friends in this thriller from the critically acclaimed author of The Chateau.

Ten years ago, a group of American teenage summer campers went to a lush and isolated Azores island for a hiking and heritage trip. But when a clue to a local legend of buried treasure emerged, the summer devolved into a frenzied hunt and culminated in the disappearance—and rumored murder—of “it girl” camper, Sydney. She was never seen again and the treasure never found.

Now, a decade later, Sydney’s closest circle returns to honor her memory: Sydney’s sister and fellow camper, Olivia; a group of childhood camp friends; and their beloved counselors. They’ve all agreed to participate in a documentary probing what really happened to Sydney.

The group reunites in paradise and retraces their old haunts, hiking along crater lakes and submerging in thermal hot springs. But not everyone has innocent motives for returning to the island. And when the documentary filming reveals explosive truths and fresh hints resurrect the tantalizing treasure hunt, the group begins to implode. Old feuds reignite—and then one of them turns up dead.

Which means that a murderer has surfaced...again.

My Thoughts: This mystery takes place on the Azores. Ten years after Sydney disappeared, her fellow campers and their counselors gather the remember her and, maybe, finally learn what happened to her. 

Olivia was Sydney's sister. She was accused, at the time, of killing her sister but there wasn't enough evidence to try her. She's spent the past ten years becoming a bestselling author who writes mysteries loosely based on that summer trip. She also suffers from anxiety and sometimes has blackouts which means she doesn't know what she knows about Sydney's death. 

Lexa was Sydney's best friend. Over the past ten years, she's married Olivia's rich former boyfriend and built a life for herself. 

Eli is the rich boyfriend. He's an easy-going type and what his wife refers to as a Happy Baby.

Reuben was another scholarship kid at the camp. He is a failed businessman keeping up appearances.

Jules was one of the counselors. Now, she's trying to secure her financial future by making a documentary about the events of the past ten years and her efforts to find out what happened.

Aiden was the other counselor on the trip. He's a marine biologist now who is studying sharks,

Cass was Reuben's little sister who tagged along with the older teens when she could. Now, she is a medaled Olympic gymnast training for the next Olympics.

Ten years earlier, the camping trip turned into a treasure hunt when one of the campers found a clue that had them all running all over the island and dreaming of being rich. The treasure was never found but that doesn't mean that some of them are still looking.

This is a story of tangled relationships and secrets. It is told from multiple viewpoints and includes sections of the documentary. This was a twisty story. I enjoyed the setting and the information about a Jewish presence on the Azores. 

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

ARC Review: Beach Thriller by Jamie Day

Beach Thriller
Author: Jamie Day
Publication: St. Martin's Press (June 9, 2026)

Description: Some people lose themselves in a novel. Others lose everything.

Holly Sinclair, a struggling author, is dead broke. After being evicted from her New York apartment, she returns to her family’s dilapidated beach house in coastal New England with one urgent goal: write a book that sells. Fast.

Reinventing herself won’t be easy, but the old seaside town offers a few unexpected allies. Gail, a driven local Realtor, introduces her to a charming handyman who can help her get back on her feet. Serena, the town psychic, offers encouragement and an unsettling warning about danger ahead. And Jade, a teen runaway, is hiding out in Holly’s attic and desperately needs a safe place to land.

Holly takes Jade in, and soon the girl finds work with the powerful Carmichael family. Their dynasty has faded, but their connection to Holly’s past is darker than she wants to remember. Their secrets could put both women at risk.

Not everyone is glad to see Holly return. Someone in town is watching her every move. The Watcher knows something Holly doesn’t. The past may be a foggy echo, but it’s close enough to come rushing in with the tide.

My Thoughts: Holly Sinclair doesn't want to return to her hometown of Beauport, Massachusetts, but when she's evicted from her NYC apartment, she doesn't have a choice. She's hoping she can find an idea for her next book which is being very illusive. 

Jade Jensen is looking for answers in Beauport. She's run away from a bad family situation and is squatting in the attic Holly's old house. She's seventeen and has a stint in juvie in her past. 

Holly is dead broke, but she has inherited the family beach house now that her mother has passed away. The local lawyer who managing her mother's estate isn't encouraging about how soon the house will be through probate but he's willing to front her the money she needs to fix it up. 

But someone doesn't want Holly to stay and maybe find some answers to questions she still has about her older sister Anna's death in the guesthouse of Miramar, the home of the wealthy Carmichaels, and the place where Anne met with Conrad Carmichael for a summer romance. 

Holly had half-written a book about Anna and Conrad's summer romance which Jade discovers in the attic. She encourages Holly to finish the story, but Holly doesn't know the ending. This book reveals it through the viewpoints of Holly, Jade, and a mysterious Watcher. 

I enjoyed this story. I love the beach setting. I loved both Holly and Jade's characters. 

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

ARC Review: The Final Target by Nora Roberts

The Final Target
Author: Nora Roberts
Publication: St. Martin's Press (May 26, 2026)

Description: A young author becomes the object of a fan’s desire―and rage―in the gripping thriller by the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Hidden Nature.

He showed up at Arden Bowie’s debut author appearance with a copy of her novel and an eager smile. He showered her with compliments and got her autograph. Then he came to her next event. And the one after that.

Dustin was just an aspiring writer who wanted advice, Arden reassured herself. But after giving in to one of his incessant invitations and chatting with him over coffee, she discovered that ignoring her inner alarm bell had been a terrible mistake…

An introvert at heart, Arden had long craved solitude―but now, after a harrowing assault, she finds herself hiding behind locked doors and startling at every sound. And her relief at his imprisonment is tempered by anxiety when Dustin’s wealthy mother helps to get him a paltry five-year sentence at a psychiatric facility.

Arden decides to write a new story for herself, moving to a tiny Oregon town and befriending Gideon, an ex-LAPD detective. But while she learns to thrive, Dustin remains his delusional, twisted self, as fixated as ever and now seething with anger. He still believes Arden's purpose on earth is to serve and please him. And his job is to protect her. But who will protect her from him?

My Thoughts: Arden Bowen has written her first book and is at a signing at the bookstore where she works when she signs a book for Dustin. He shows up at her next signing and the one after that too. He wants to take her for coffee or a meal. She agrees to a coffee just to appease him and that ends things for her.

It doesn't end things for Dustin who becomes fixated on her. He breaks into her apartment and takes trophies. Then he arrives with flowers, forces his way in, and attacks her. Luckily her downstairs neighbors hear the noise and rescue her. 

While Dustin is sentenced to five years in a psychiatric facility because of the influence of his rich mother, Arden in left with fear of going outside. She's determined to overcome her anxiety, but it is a slow process with lots of backsliding. She has the support of her loving family and friends.

Arden leaves Ohio and moves to Riverbend, Oregon, to be near her family and to get away from Dustin. She is making a new life including a new relationship with Gideon who is working in his grandfather's hardware store and doing woodworking after his career as a Los Angeles detective implodes. She's moving on a building a new life.

But Dustin isn't willing to move on. He has spent his five years building fantasies about Arden and planning revenge on those he feels did him wrong including his mother, his lawyer, the judge and the police officers who arrested him. When he's released early because his father is dying, he begins his revenge by killing his mother and heading to Oregon for Arden.

This was an excellent thriller filled with memorable characters. I love the way Roberts writes relationships from friendship to love. The villain was a counterpoint to Arden's life and his viewpoint sections extremely creepy. 

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

Book Review: Love You More by Lisa Gardner

Love You More
Author: Lisa Gardner
Series: D. D. Warren (Book 5)
Publication: Bantam (March 8, 2011)

Description: WHO DO YOU LOVE?

One question, a split-second decision, and Brian Darby lies dead on the kitchen floor. His wife, state police trooper Tessa Leoni, claims to have shot him in self-defense, and bears the bruises to back up her tale. For veteran detective D. D. Warren it should be an open-and-shut case. But where is their six-year-old daughter?

AND HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO . . .

As the homicide investigation ratchets into a frantic statewide search for a missing child, D. D. Warren must partner with former lover Bobby Dodge to break through the blue wall of police brotherhood, seeking to understand the inner workings of a trooper’s mind while also unearthing family secrets. Would a trained police officer truly shoot her own husband? And would a mother harm her own child?

. . . TO SAVE HER?

For Tessa Leoni, the worst has not yet happened. She is walking a tightrope, with nowhere to turn, no one to trust, as the clock ticks down to a terrifying deadline. She has one goal in sight, and she will use every ounce of her training, every trick at her disposal, to do what must be done. No sacrifice is too great, no action unthinkable. A mother knows who she loves. And all others will be made to pay.

My Thoughts: This excellent thriller is the fifth book in the D. D. Warren series. It is a complex story which asks the question: who do you love? Tessa Leoni is a state trooper and the mother of six-year-old Sophie. She has married Brian who works as an engineer for an old company. He works 60 days on-60 days off. 

One day Tessa calls the police because she has shot and killed Brian and her daughter is missing. Since Tessa is concussed, has a broken cheekbone, and numerous other bruises, it looks like a case of self-defense against an abusing husband. 

D. D. Warren is given the case and works with her former lover Bobby Dodge. She has questions about the story she's been told, and the pressure is on to find the missing child. She is not convinced that the crime is what it looks like. She becomes even more convinced with the pathologist learns that Brian's body was frozen before it found its way to the kitchen. D. D. is sure that Tessa is lying about what happens. She believes that Tessa murdered both her husband and daughter. 

D. D. is also dealing with some personal issues. She has found herself pregnant and is dealing not only with the nausea and lethargy but also whether or not she wants a baby and a relationship with the baby's father. 

Flashbacks and Tessa's point-of-view sections give more about the things that D. D. cannot see and paint a whole different picture that what is apparent. 

This was an excellent, fast-paced thriller. I'm eager to read more about Tessa and more in D. D.'s series.

I bought this one March 2, 2026. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: The Antique Hunter's Death on the Red Sea by C. L. Miller

The Antique Hunter's Death on the Red Sea
Author: C. L. Miller
Series: The Antique Hunters (Book 2)
Publication: Atria Books (February 17, 2026)

Description: “Freya and Aunt Carole, everyone’s favorite antique-hunting, mystery-solving duo, return in a sequel that somehow manages to be even more captivating than their first adventure” (Tom Ryan, USA TODAY bestselling author) as they are on the hunt for a dangerous criminal aboard a cruise ship.

When a painting vanishes from a maritime museum and a dead body is found nearby, Freya Lockwood and her Aunt Carole of the Lockwood Antique Hunter’s Agency are called to investigate.

Following a lead that takes them aboard a glamorous antiques cruise sailing toward the Red Sea in Jordan, they quickly discover that the ship’s art gallery is filled with stolen antiquities. Each antique is also listed in Freya’s late mentor’s journals that detail unsolved cases. In chasing a murderer with a stolen painting, they may have found something more sinister than they could’ve imagined…

Their hunt soon turns deadly when they learn the enigmatic and dangerous art trafficker named The Collector could be on board. But on a ship full of antiques enthusiasts—plus some unexpected familiar faces—will Freya and Carole be able to discover the Collector’s identity and stop his murderous plans before the ship docks? Or will the killer strike again?

“An intriguingly complex locked-cruise-ship mystery filled with wonderful characters, murdery twists, humor, and fascinating antiquities details, Miller’s The Antique Hunter’s Death on the Red Sea is a page-turning delight from start to finish” (Celeste Connally, author of Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord).

My Thoughts: Freya Lockwood and her Aunt Carole begin their next case with a call from a small maritime museum. A painting donated by Freya's mentor Arthur Crockleford has been stolen and a body has been found outside the museum. Naturally, the police are more interested in the body than the missing painting. 

Freya is trying to establish the Lockwood Antique Hunter's Agency in honor of Arthur and with the help of journals he'd written listing antiques and antiquities that he wanted to recover for their rightful owners. She hits a roadblock when her gig as an antiquities expert on a cruise ship is unexpectedly cancelled. Aunt Carole manages to use her charm to get the pair onto the ship where they both find themselves deep into a sticky situation. 

The Collector who has been a famous antiquities thief for a couple hundred years is purported to be on the ship to pick his successor. Phil, Freya's acquaintance from the FBI, is also on the ship looking for the Collector who was responsible for his partner's death many years earlier. And Bella, a thief Freya met in the first book in this series, is also aboard looking for revenge. 

Freya and Aunt Carole busy themselves trying to sort out what is going on since it seems apparent that Arthur had pointed them to the cruise and all the chicanery aboard. The cruise is filled with suspicious characters and danger. 

I enjoyed this story of a woman who is trying to find a new path in life and learning that working together is better than trying to go it alone. The characters were interesting and well-rounded. 

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

ARC Review: The Survivor by Andrew Reid

The Survivor
Author: Andrew Reid
Publication: Minotaur Books (March 24, 2026)

Description: A hijacked New York subway train, an anonymous killer, and a young man trapped by his hidden past converge in a breathless, breathtaking thriller

Do not turn off your phone
Do not get off the train
I know who you really are

Fired and walked out by security on his first day at his new job in New York City, Ben Cross thought his day couldn't get worse. But he couldn't be more wrong. Getting on the 1 train headed uptown, Ben starts receiving text messages from an anonymous killer, showing that they've already killed someone, then pointedly killing another as they got off the train to prove they aren't bluffing and to ensure Ben follows orders. But Ben wasn't picked at random―he has a history that no one is supposed to know.

At the same time, A NYPD detective, Kelly Hendricks, is on punishment duty with the transit police. The first one on the scene after the first murder, she gets on the train to find out what is really going on.

Switching rapidly between Cross and Hendricks, as the hijacked 1 train heads from South Ferry to 181st, the secret to the killer lies in Ben's own history―why he's been targeted and punished.

My Thoughts: This was a tense and twisty thriller. Things begins when new hire Ben Cross is walked out of his new job by security on his first day. Naturally upset and almost broke, he wonders how he will get back home. The subway wins despite his claustrophobia. 

No sooner has Ben sat down that he begins to get text messages. They are definitely threatening telling him to stay on the train and not turn off his cell phone. The messages escalate. He's told to find a passenger and keep him from leaving the train. When Ben fails, he sees the man shot on the subway platform.

The shooting brings in the police in the person of Detective Kelly Hendricks of the NYPD. She's been assigned to the transit police after she objects to being patted on the ass and threw the patter, a superior officer, into a table of refreshments. She knows her career has hit a roadblock but she's still a cop. 

Believing that the shooter got back on the train, she leaves to try to catch up to the subway and arrives at a further station just in time to be present for an explosion the kills a woman and wounds many. Ben had been told to keep the woman on the train but had failed to convince her. Kelly does manage to get on the train as it leaves the station. 

The bombing brings in Homeland Security in the person of Agent Paul McDiarmid and his assistant Hoyt. McDiarmid's agenda is to make himself look good. If that takes multiple casualties, he views it as the cost of doing business. 

The story is told from all three viewpoints, Ben, Kelly and McDiarmid are all trying to figure out who is causing this chaos and what they want. Ben thinks he knows that it has something to do with a past he had hoped was deeply buried. 

This was an engaging thriller that was packed with tension and secrets. 

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

ARC Review: The Antique Hunter's Murder at the Castle by C. L. Miller

The Antique Hunter's Murder at the Castle
Author: C. L. Miller
Series: Antique Hunter's (Book 3)
Publication: Atria Books (March 17, 2026)

Description: The third novel in the “delightful, page-turning” (Tom Ryan, USA TODAY bestselling author) Antique Hunter Series finds Freya, Aunt Carole, and friends searching for a missing colleague in picturesque Scotland.

Hot on the heels of an art forger, a member of the Lockwood Antique Hunter’s Agency disappears while investigating an isolated castle deep in Scottish countryside. Freya and Aunt Carole race to her last known location and arrive in the wintry, snow-covered Scottish Borders.

At the castle, they discover that a murdered laird in the vegetable garden and his priceless collection of silverware has been stolen. Local police believe Freya’s missing team member was involved with the robbery and murder...but where is she now?

As a snowstorm descends on the castle, Freya and Carole call in back-up to help uncover what happened that fateful night. As each question is met with more mystery, the clock is ticking to find their friend and the murderer before they are cut off from the outside world.

Another delightfully gripping and endearing mystery, the Antique Hunter’s Series provides “great characters, great story, and you’re always eager for the next one” (Ian Moore, author of Death and Croissants).

My Thoughts: The third Antique Hunter's story takes place in a Scottish Castle. The team has been hired by the FBI to track down some paintings that were discovered to be forged. They are also working their way through the third notebook left them by their friend and mentor which includes the paintings and some silver. 

Their new friend, potential partner Bella, has gone ahead. She has her own agenda that deals with finding her family. She has never been part of a team in her somewhat dubious career and isn't sure she wants to be part of one now. 

However, when Bella disappears, Carole and Freya head to the castle to see what has happened to her. They stumble over the body of the laird of the castle but can't find Bella. They call in their FBI contact Phil who is also Freya's boyfriend and begin their own investigation.

The story is filled with twists and turns complicated by a snowstorm that strands them in the castle. I enjoyed this story but think I would have enjoyed it more if I had read the second book in the series. There were lots of references to that story and how the relationships between the characters began.

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

ARC Review: The Ghost Women by Jennifer Murphy

The Ghost Women
Author: Jennifer Murphy
Publication: Dutton (February 24, 2026)

Description: A mysterious art academy in the woods, a deck of ancient tarot cards, a centuries-old secret

On a hot August morning in 1972, the body of Abel Montague, a student at St. Luke’s Institute of the Arts, is found hanging from a tree in the forest. An ancient Hanged Man tarot card is found in the back pocket of his pants and his body has been positioned into the exact pose illustrated on the card.

When Detective Lola Germany arrives at St. Luke’s—a former monastery that once housed a secret order of monks who carried out witch trials and executions—she believes they are dealing with a ritualistic murder. While interviewing school administrators and Abel’s classmates, Lola discovers Abel’s live-in girlfriend, Pearl, seems shaken but also might be hiding something—along with her group of friends who call themselves witches.

When more students are found dead, each body arranged like a tarot card, Lola realizes she is trapped in a web of power and ambition that spans centuries. Soon the lines between past and present, spiritual and tangible, begin to blur, and the only way to survive is to seek answers from places she never imagined.

My Thoughts: This twisty mystery is filled with ghosts, tarot cards, and murders at a secretive art college on a South Carolina island. 

Detective Lola Germany, with a secret past of her own, is called to St. Luke's when the body of a young student is found hanging from the infamous ghost tree. His body has been posed like that of the Hanged Man from the tarot deck. Frustrated by the lack of cooperation given by the head of the school, Lola tries to investigate and interview the students who know Abel Montgomery. 

Then there are more deaths. Two students jump from a burning tower like the deaths depicted on The Tower tarot card. Hemlock poisoning and accelerants indicate that the deaths were murder, not the accident to school's dean is claiming.

The story is told from multiple points of view. Lola and Pearl who was Abel's live-in and who is a seer carry the bulk of the story. Other characters include Krista who is also a student and a green witch and Esme who is the dean's snitch and a victim.

The story is a twisted tale of murders over centuries, ghosts of wronged women, and young artists with witchy talents. Surrounding all of it is Lola who is back home and working as a police detective after a career as a prima ballerina which ended in tragedy.

I enjoyed the dreamy prose and the mysticism. I also liked the way the past was woven into the story. 

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

ARC Review: The Wolves Are Watching by Victoria Houston

The Wolves Are Watching
Author: Victoria Houston
Series: Lew Ferris Mysteries (Book 4)
Publication: Crooked Lane Books (February 24, 2026)

Description: Sheriff Lew Ferris has a new partner in crime in the fourth installment in Victoria Houston’s atmospheric mystery series, perfect for fans of Marc Cameron and Nevada Barr.

It’s early September when a competitor in a high school fishing tournament is approached by a stranger who threatens him and his family in an attempt to blackmail him into throwing the first round of the tournament. The boy flees into the woods, where at night he sleeps with wolves watching him from the shadows.

When the boy’s father asks Lew’s deputy, Ray Pradt, for help finding his son as well as the man who threatened him, they’re thrown into a world of illegal betting that’s more dangerous than either could have imagined. Meanwhile, Lew Ferris learns that a couple who went on a wolf-watching trip has disappeared without a trace, right near an old log cabin that Ray remembers from his childhood.

Sheriff Lew Ferris finds herself challenged more than ever before: arms dealing, sports betting, blackmail, and wolves. Is she under threat from predators too?

My Thoughts: The fourth mystery starring Sheriff Lew Ferris takes place in early September. A competitor in a high school fishing tournament is approached by someone who wants him to cheat. A man and woman who are wolf watchers disappear. And an old cabin in a protected area has been fixed up and is being used for illegal arms. 

Lew is assisted by her investigator Ray Pradt who is a coach for the fishing team and an excellent guide and tracker. He's the one who brings Lew to the old cabin and he's the one who discovers the wolf watching couple's bodies buried in a shallow grave. 

The illegal arms have Lew calling in the Feds who set up a sting at the cabin which is blown by a cop who needed to use the outhouse in the early hours. Clues seem to indicate that all three cases are connected and all clues also lead to a family that used to be prominent in the area. 

The story is told from multiple viewpoints which gradually come together as Lew and her cohorts work on solving the case. 

I enjoyed this story which stars a fly-fishing sheriff who is a whole lot smarter than the crooks believe. 

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

Book Review: The Edge by Dick Francis

The Edge
Author: Dick Francis
Publication: G. P. Putnam (August 2, 2005)

Description: To the Jockey Club, the racing world would be a better place without Julius Apollo Filmer. An expert in corruption with a devastating line in witness intimidation - and proving to be a slippery character to put behind bars. Baffled, they call in undercover security agent Tor Kelsey to keep an unflinching eye on Filmer and his associates. A mission that takes him from the finest of English racecourses to the wild Canadian interior - on a luxury transcontinental train journey to end them all. On board, a troupe of actors are playing out a murder mystery for the amusement of their diamond-studded passengers. Ideal cover for a secret investigator with secrets of his own. And better still for an ice-cool blackmailer for whom murder is just one of many options...

My Thoughts: Tor Kelsey works as an investigator for the Jockey Club. He was raised around horses, left England for about seven years, had his trust funds come due, and was looking for meaningful work. His former trustee introduced him to the head of the Investigations Department who offered him a job. He has been working more or less undercover for three years. 

Julius Apollo Filmer was one of the men he watched. He has found some way to blackmail owners into selling him or giving him their best horses. All of the owners are too frightened to tell the Jockey Club what he's been doing. Before a young groom could confess all, his body was found in a ditch. Filmer was brought to trial but was acquitted. 

Now, Filmer has decided to take part in a Canadian venture that puts a number of horses, owners, grooms, and racegoers on a train that will be traveling across Canada and stopping at various racetracks along the way. Tor has been given a place on the train to keep an eye on Filmer who doubtless has some dastardly plan in place though no one knows what it is. The train is also hosting a bunch of actors who are doing a murder mystery along the journey.

Tor assumes the role of one of the waiters on the train reasoning that no one will look past the uniform. Anonymity has been his friend in his new job, and he doesn't want to lose it. The only ones in country who know his secret identity are the young woman who is organizing the tour, and she only knows part of the truth, and the head of the Investigations department of the Canadian Jockey club. 

This was an engaging mystery filled with lots of action and adventure. Tor was a great character who job means that he is lonely most of the time. He's bright, he's dedicated, and he's very observant. 

I bought this one January 1, 2026. You can buy your copy here.

Audiobook Review: Bone of Contention by Kristi Rose

Bone of Contention
Author: Kristi Rose
Narrator: Jennifer Stoneking
Series: A Cold Case Mystery (Book 1)
Publication: Vintage Housewife Books (November 8, 2023)
Length: 4 hours and 3 minutes

Description: From the USA Today best-selling author comes an action-packed, roller-coaster ride, new cold case mystery series that will have your pulse racing. For fans of Kendra Elliott and Debra Webb.

US Marshall Mallory Bodine’s short visit back to her central Florida hometown quickly turns into work when a skeleton is unearthed in her mom’s backyard. Mallory is caught up in the middle of a cold-case murder investigation as she searches for answers.

Four local hoodlums are a convenient fit as the killers—for the lazy, complacent sheriff, that is—but the local detective and Mallory want the truth. Was it an act of vandalism that got out of hand? Or something more sinister?

Digging through 14 years of lies won’t be easy. Murder never is.

Meet Mallory Bodine, fugitive hunter. No case has been cold for too long, and for Mallory, the dead are not forgotten.

My Thoughts: US Marshall Mallory Bodine comes home to spend a week's time off after a case goes a little awry. She doesn't get the quiet rest she was looking for because a body was found in her mother's backyard. 

The body was quickly discovered to be that of Tabby Cartwright, a young English teacher from the local high school, who had been missing since 2002. Mallory didn't know her but her younger sister Natalie had her as a math teacher and looked upon her as a mentor. 

Tabby had been having some trouble with people vandalizing her classroom since she was dating Kamil Burkhari, the son of Pakistani immigrants. In these days right after Nine Eleven, she was called a terrorist because of the man she was dating. 

Mallory agrees to help local detective and childhood friend Deputy Bo Pickett look into the crime because the local sheriff Dev Shook is too lazy and too used to looking for easy answers to do the work. He's spending time on his reelection campaign rather than doing his job. 

When they notify Tabby's parents, they find that her father has kept an extensive file about the case including reports from a private investigator he hired. He gives Mallory and Bo a copy which includes a detailed timeline. 

Since the sheriff pulls Bo off the case, Mallory is on her own to reinterview those who might have had something to do with Tabby's death. 

This was an engaging story. I enjoyed getting to know Mallory, her sister and her mother, and Bo. I liked the way the case was presented, and I liked the flashbacks from Tabby's point of view.

I bought this one from Chirp February 11, 2025. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Inside Man by John McMahon

Inside Man
Author: John McMahon
Series: Head Cases (Book 2)
Publication: Minotaur (January 13, 2026)

Description: In this sequel to McMahon's electrifying series debut, Head Cases, Gardner Camden and the PAR team return to investigate potentially connected cases.

FBI Agent Gardner Camden is an analytical genius with an affinity for puzzles. He and his squad of brilliant yet quirky agents make up the Patterns and Recognition (PAR) unit, the FBI’s hidden edge, brought in for cases that no one else can solve.

PAR’s latest case involves a militia group stockpiling weapons. When their confidential informant in the case is killed, it quickly becomes clear that the militia did not kill him.

As the squad looks into the evidence surrounding his murder, an unidentified man is caught on camera with their informant. This mystery man’s picture is connected to another case at the FBI, an unsolved series of murdered women, buried in the ground in north Florida. Could they have uncovered a serial killer? And if so, what is his connection to their C.I.?

As PAR juggles an investigation into both the dead women and the militia, they enroll a new informant, only to find the case escalating in dangerous ways. How will PAR handle a case that increasingly looks like a terrorist plot? And in the serial case, with no puzzles or witnesses, and few leads, how will a group set up to decode riddles be successful?

My Thoughts: INSIDE MAN is the sequel to HEAD CASES. The stories are mysteries. The main characters are part of a special unit of the FBI. Leading the unit is FBI Agent Gardner Camden. Gardner is neurodivergent. He is excellent at facts and puzzles but not so good at deciphering human actions and emotions.

This cast begins when Gardner and his partner stop to check in on one of their confidential informants only to find that he has been murdered. They also find over a million dollars in cash and the debit cards used to withdraw it from area ATMS. They also find an unusual gun and texts on the CI's phone saying his criminal colleagues are only minutes away. 

Leaving with most of the money, after setting the mobile home on fire, Gardner and colleagues have to develop a new CI if they want to solve the mystery of the money and the guns. But then they are called to consult on another case. This time skeletonized bodies are found buried in the area. Through the team's efforts they find nine bodies and a connection to their CI. 

While working on their gun runners and serial killers, Gardner's mother comes out of the coma she's been in since the end of the team's last case pulling Gardner's attention away from his current cases. 

This was an engaging and action-packed thriller with an intriguing cast of characters. 

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

ARC Review: Wreck Your Heart by Lori Rader-Day

Wreck Your Heart
Author: Lori Rader-Day
Publication: Minotaur (January 6, 2026)

Description: From award-winning author Lori Rader-Day, Wreck Your Heart is an engaging, “wisecracking and wonderful” crime novel with a big heart, about a country and midwestern singer out to catch her big break before family―or murder―wrecks everything.

Dahlia “Doll” Devine had the kind of hardscrabble beginning that could launch a thousand broken-hearted country songs, but now she’s the star of her own stage at McPhee’s Tavern. As part of Chicago’s―yes, Chicago’s―country music scene, Dahlia is an up-and-coming singer in spangles and boots of classic country tunes. Up and coming, that is, until her boyfriend Joey up and went, taking the rent money with him.

So Dahlia is back to square one, relying on Alex McPhee―again. Alex helped her out of a bad situation when she was a kid living rough with her mother. Now he’s part landlord, part band booster, all-around rescuer. It’s just that Dahlia wishes she didn’t keep giving him reasons to have to do it

Just as Dahlia suspects she’s scraped rock bottom, the mother she hasn’t spoken to in twenty years shows up with something to say. The next morning, a distraught young woman arrives at the bar, asking after her missing mother―Dahlia's mother, too, even if the missing suburban PTA mom the girl describes sounds pretty different from the one who let Dahlia down all those years ago.

Though no one is using the word sister any time soon, Dahlia lets herself be drawn into reuniting the family that might have been hers. But when a body is discovered outside McPhee’s Tavern, the crime threatens not just the place Dahlia has made into a home, but everything she’s believed about her past, her dreams for the future, and the people she was just, maybe, beginning to let into her heart.

My Thoughts: Dahlia "Doll" Devine tells this story in a sort of stream-of-consciousness way though, Thankfully, with punctuation. She's fallen on hard times. Her boyfriend Joey absconded with the rent money. Her landlord has locked her out after allowing her five minutes to gather her belongings which are packed into a black garbage bag. He phone is out of charge, and the charger must be in the apartment. 

Doll finds herself back at McPhee's Tavern and back with Alex McPhee who has been rescuing her since she was a child. She's sharing an apartment with Oona and her two big dogs while she's trying to rebuild her life. The only consistency is her Wednesday night performances with her band on McPhee's stage. 

But McPhee's is in danger of being sold out from under her with local real estate maven putting pressure on Alex to sell. Then her mother shows up. Doll hasn't seen her mother for twenty years. She left her with Alex and disappeared out of her life. Doll wound up in foster care but with frequent visits from Alex through the years. She has a lot of resentment about her mother which is exacerbated when a young woman shows up the day after Doll's mother comes and goes looking for her mother who just happens to be Doll's mother too.

Then Joey's body shows up in the alley behind McPhee's wrapped in curtains from their old apartment. 

Doll has to find out who murdered Joey, track down her missing mother, and keep McPhee's from being sold if she wants a chance to get her life back on track. 

This was an entertaining story. I enjoyed Doll's character. She prickly and needy and just recognizing that she has built her own family after thinking she was alone in the world. 

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

Friday Memes: Wreck Your Heart by Lori Rader-Day

 Happy Friday!

Book Beginnings is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader. She asks that the first sentence is posted along with the author and title of the book and the reader's initial thoughts on the sentence, the book, or anything else it inspires. 

Carrie at Reading Is My Superpower.org also provides a linky for sharing first lines and connecting with others. This meme asks that the chosen books be PG or marked as Mature if they are not. 

Beginning:

Outside, the sirens drew closer, wailing up into a scream, then grinding back down, guttural and urgent.

Friday 56:

I was deposited back on the street, dark now, evening. Another long day, somehow spent.

This week I am spotlighting Wreck Your Heart by Lori Rader-Day from my review stack. Here is the description from Amazon:

From award-winning author Lori Rader-Day, Wreck Your Heart is an engaging, “wisecracking and wonderful” crime novel with a big heart, about a country and midwestern singer out to catch her big break before family―or murder―wrecks everything.

Dahlia “Doll” Devine had the kind of hardscrabble beginning that could launch a thousand broken-hearted country songs, but now she’s the star of her own stage at McPhee’s Tavern. As part of Chicago’s―yes, Chicago’s―country music scene, Dahlia is an up-and-coming singer in spangles and boots of classic country tunes. Up and coming, that is, until her boyfriend Joey up and went, taking the rent money with him.

So Dahlia is back to square one, relying on Alex McPhee―again. Alex helped her out of a bad situation when she was a kid living rough with her mother. Now he’s part landlord, part band booster, all-around rescuer. It’s just that Dahlia wishes she didn’t keep giving him reasons to have to do it

Just as Dahlia suspects she’s scraped rock bottom, the mother she hasn’t spoken to in twenty years shows up with something to say. The next morning, a distraught young woman arrives at the bar, asking after her missing mother―Dahlia's mother, too, even if the missing suburban PTA mom the girl describes sounds pretty different from the one who let Dahlia down all those years ago.

Though no one is using the word sister any time soon, Dahlia lets herself be drawn into reuniting the family that might have been hers. But when a body is discovered outside McPhee’s Tavern, the crime threatens not just the place Dahlia has made into a home, but everything she’s believed about her past, her dreams for the future, and the people she was just, maybe, beginning to let into her heart.

ARC Review: Wildwood by Amy Pease

Wildwood
Author: Amy Pease
Series: Northwoods
Publication: Atria/Emily Bestler Books (January 6, 2026)

Description: “Amy Pease proves herself a master of modern literary crime fiction.” —Danielle Trussoni, New York Times bestselling author

From the award-winning author of the “riveting debut” (People) Northwoods, a mother-son law enforcement team confront buried secrets in their small town as they work to expose a conspiracy that goes far beyond the tight-knit community.

Deputy Sheriff Eli North has spent the last year getting his life back together. He hasn’t touched a drop of alcohol, he’s working through his PTSD from his military deployment, and he’s repairing his most important relationships. When an undercover informant disappears and all signs point to murder, Eli must expose the dark underbelly of his idyllic Wisconsin small town while safeguarding his newfound stability.

Then, with the unexpected arrival of FBI Agent Alyssa Mason, Eli and his mother, the sheriff, are pulled deeper into a violent criminal network built on the backs of the lost and forgotten.

As the case deepens, loyalties fracture and the line between justice and survival begins to blur. In a town where everyone has something to hide, exposing the truth may cost them everything.

My Thoughts: WILDWOOD takes place in rural Wisconsin. Eli North is a Deputy Sheriff working for his mother who is the Sheriff. They are almost the whole police force for their rural county. Eli is dealing with PTSD from his military deployment in Afghanistan. He has given up drinking and is attending his therapy sessions, but he is a changed man from his life before Afghanistan. 

When a young woman disappears leaving blood spattered around her mobile home, Eli and his mother begin to investigate. Soon the appearance of the FBI om the person of Alyssa Mason complicates the case. The is in underground investigation going on revolving around the local and exclusive resort frequented by the rich. 

Eli learns that the young woman has become a confidential informer working with the undercover agent at the resort. The search for the woman leads to the man she was seeing who winds up in an explosion in a warehouse filled with drugs. 

The story is told from multiple points of view including Eli, Alyssa, and the missing woman. The missing woman's sections are also flashbacks. 

This was a twisty story filled with damaged characters who are all struggling to do what is right. I enjoyed learning more about the characters and untwisting the plot to a satisfying conclusion. 

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