Book Review: The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson

The Box in the Woods
Author: Maureen Johnson
Series: Truly Devious (Book 4)
Publication: Katherine Tegen Books (June 15, 2021)

Description: After solving the case of Truly Devious, Stevie Bell investigates her first mystery outside of Ellingham Academy in this spine-chilling and hilarious stand-alone mystery from New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson.

Amateur sleuth Stevie Bell needs a good murder. After catching a killer at her high school, she’s back at home for a normal (that means boring) summer.

But then she gets a message from the owner of Sunny Pines, formerly known as Camp Wonder Falls—the site of the notorious unsolved case, the Box in the Woods Murders. Back in 1978, four camp counselors were killed in the woods outside of the town of Barlow Corners, their bodies left in a gruesome display. The new owner offers Stevie an invitation: Come to the camp and help him work on a true crime podcast about the case.

Stevie agrees, as long as she can bring along her friends from Ellingham Academy. Nothing sounds better than a summer spent together, investigating old murders.

But something evil still lurks in Barlow Corners. When Stevie opens the lid on this long-dormant case, she gets much more than she bargained for. The Box in the Woods will make room for more victims. This time, Stevie may not make it out alive.

My Thoughts: Stevie Bell solved the case of Truly Devious and is now back home for the summer and working at a local Deli when she receives an intriguing email. Carson Buchwald is the owner and founder of Box Box and is also a true crime aficionado. He has recently purchased a camp outside of Barlow Corners, New York, which was the site of an unsolved murder of four young camp counselors in 1978. His goal is to find out what happened and make a podcast about the crime.

Stevie is interested, despite some reservations: Outside? Snakes? Camping? But she agrees to go if she can bring her friends along. Janelle and Nate are eager to go with her. Janelle's significant other is spending the summer in Vietnam and Nate is willing to do anything to be able to avoid writing the sequel to the book that made him famous as a fourteen-year-old. Only Stevie's boyfriend David isn't able to join them. After being disinherited by his disgraced Senator father, he's found a job traveling and registering voters.

This case isn't like Stevie's first. There are still people in Barlow Corners who were alive when the murders occurred. Allison Abbott is the sister of Sabrina. She's made it her mission to keep her sister's memory alive and to also recover her missing diary. Patty Horne who runs the local bakery should have been with her friends Diane McClure, Todd Cooper, Eric Wilde and Sabrina Abbott when they went into the woods to smoke some marijuana but was under house arrest after being caught making out with her boyfriend Greg Dempsey. Shawn Greenvale who was Sabrina's ex-boyfriend is still in town and managing the family business. Sally Marks who ran the camp back in 1978 is still in town. So is Paul Penhale who is a local veterinarian and whose eleven-year old brother Michael died in a hit-and-run accident just a few months before the teens were murdered. Almost everyone believes that the car was driven by Todd Cooper and the accident was covered up because his father was the town's mayor.

As Stevie investigates, she soon finds out that there is someone in town who doesn't want the crime to be solved. Allison has a fatal "accident" when she falls from the lookout point she stopped at everyday when she did her run. Stevie and Nate are shot at and are forced to jump from another overlook into the lake to get away from the shooter. 

But Stevie, anxiety-prone and obsessive, does solve the crime with the help of her friends and despite the "help" of Carson, 

This was a great, fast-paced story filled with interesting characters. I really like Stevie who seems like a real person with real issues. Her friends, including David who appears at an opportune time, are also intriguing people. 

The story has humor but is still filled with tension. I hope Stevie has more adventures.

Favorite Quote:

(The only thing worse than saying "I want to go work at a murder camp" was probably "I have been studying the persuasive techniques of Charles Manson." So this was one she was keeping to herself.)

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

Friday Memes: The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson

 Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is now hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:

Murder is wrong, of course. Stevie's future was predicated on that fact. She wanted to solve murders, not commit them. To solve them, you had to understand why they occurred. Motive. That was the key. It was all about motive. Understand the reasons behind the act. What pushes another human being to that point of no return? It has to be a strong impulse.

Friday 56:

"I call it the Bounce House because that's where I host all kinds of creators and we bounce ideas around. We call them Think Jams."

She resisted the impulse to open the car door and jump.

This week I am spotlighting a new arrival on my TBR stack. The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson follows her Truly Devious trilogy and gives Stevie Bell and her friends a new mystery to solve. Here is the description from Amazon:

After solving the case of Truly Devious, Stevie Bell investigates her first mystery outside of Ellingham Academy in this spine-chilling and hilarious stand-alone mystery from New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson.

Amateur sleuth Stevie Bell needs a good murder. After catching a killer at her high school, she’s back at home for a normal (that means boring) summer.

But then she gets a message from the owner of Sunny Pines, formerly known as Camp Wonder Falls—the site of the notorious unsolved case, the Box in the Woods Murders. Back in 1978, four camp counselors were killed in the woods outside of the town of Barlow Corners, their bodies left in a gruesome display. The new owner offers Stevie an invitation: Come to the camp and help him work on a true crime podcast about the case.

Stevie agrees, as long as she can bring along her friends from Ellingham Academy. Nothing sounds better than a summer spent together, investigating old murders.

But something evil still lurks in Barlow Corners. When Stevie opens the lid on this long-dormant case, she gets much more than she bargained for. The Box in the Woods will make room for more victims. This time, Stevie may not make it out alive.

Book Review: Liar's Key by Carla Neggers

Liar's Key
Author: Carla Neggers
Series: Sharpe & Donovan (Book 7)
Publication: MIRA; Original edition (March 15, 2021)

Description: An FBI legend, a mysterious antiquities specialist and a brazen art thief draw top agents Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan into a complex web of blackmail, greed and murder in the next novel in the highly acclaimed  Sharpe & Donovan series

Emma Sharpe is suspicious when the legendary retired Special Agent Gordon Wheelock drops by her Boston office, sharing rumors about stolen ancient mosaics. Emma, an art-crimes specialist, won’t discuss it. Especially since it involves Oliver York, an unrepentant English thief. Gordy and Emma’s grandfather, a renowned private art detective, chased Oliver for a decade. Gordy knows Wendell Sharpe never gave him everything he had on the thief.

When a shocking death occurs, Emma is pulled into the investigation. The evidence points to a deadly conspiracy between Wendell and Oliver, and Emma’s fiancé, deep-cover agent Colin Donovan, knows he can’t stay out of this one. There will be questions about Emma’s role and where her loyalties lie. From Boston to Maine to Ireland, Emma and Colin track a dangerous suspect. With the lives of their families and friends at stake, the Sharpes and Donovans must band together to stop a killer.

My Thoughts: Colin's coming off his latest undercover assignment and scouting honeymoon locations in Ireland while Emma is fielding a visit from retired FBI Agent Gordy Wheelock in her Boston office. Gordy is still trying to finish the last case he was working on before he retired and is trying to pump Emma for information while concealing as much of what he knows as possible.

Meanwhile in Heron's Cove, Lucas is planning for the Open House for the newly remodeled offices of Sharpe Fine Are Recovery and has assembled quite a guest list. Among them are Oliver York who is a former art thief now working on the fringes of MI5 and Lucas's grandfather Wendell who began the business but who is semi-retired in Dublin. Also invited are Claudia Deverell and her father and brother. Claudia spent some summer's in Heron's Cove where her mother's family had long owned a summer home. 

Claudia has been somewhat adrift since her mother's recent death from a fast-acting cancer. She's interested, as her mother was, in antiquities and was left her family's collection when her mother died. She had a brief relationship with Lucas and another brief relationship with the married Gordy Wheelock which both of them want to cover up for various reasons.

With rumors of antiquities - especially mosaics - stolen and sold to fund terrorists and both Wendell and Oliver stirring the pot, Emma and Colin have a lot to investigate before their upcoming wedding.

This story was less thriller or romantic suspense title than earlier books in the series. The murder that gets thing started looks at first to be a fall and a heart attack in an antiquities expert nearing ninety. The second doesn't occur until the story is almost over. The main focus of the book, which is told from Gordy's point of view and Claudia's in addition to Emma's and Colin's, is a twisty collection of secrets that need to be unraveled. 

There is also a plot thread where Father Finian Bracken's youngest sister Mary comes to visit and gets involved with the various characters and plot threads as she comes to understand her brother's choice to become a priest - though she still wants him to return to Ireland when his year in Maine is finished.

It seems to me that this story would work best for those readers who are already familiar with the characters and previous novels in the series. There isn't much action to draw in a new reader but I found the story satisfying. 

Favorite Quote:

Emma noticed more of the ocean was visible, bluer with the lifting fog. "There's what we know and there's what we think we know. It's best not to confuse the two."

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

Book Review: For Whom the Book Tolls by Laura Gail Black

For Whom the Book Tolls
Author: Laura Gail Black
Series: An Antique Bookshop Mystery
Publication: Crooked Lane Books (September 8, 2020)

Description: In this cozy series debut from Laura Gail Black, Jenna Quinn finds her uncle murdered in his antique bookstore, and Jenna--his primary beneficiary--becomes the prime suspect.

Trouble follows Jenna Quinn wherever she goes. Fleeing some unsavory doings in her hometown of Charlotte, Jenna accepts her uncle's gracious invitation to stay with him in small-town Hokes Folly, NC. In exchange, she'll help him out in his antiquarian bookstore. But soon after she arrives, Jenna finds her uncle's body crumpled at the base of the staircase between his apartment and the bookstore.

Before the tragedy even sinks in, Jenna learns that she's inherited almost everything her uncle owned: the store and apartment, as well as his not-so-meager savings and the payout from a life insurance policy...which adds up to more than a million dollars. This is all news to Jenna--bad news, once the police get wind of her windfall. An ill wind, indeed, as a second murder cements Jenna's status as the prime suspect in both deaths.

Jenna can hit the road again, taking her chances that she can elude trouble along the way. Or she can stick it out in Hokes Folly, take over the bookstore, and try to sleuth out her uncle's killer. On the one hand, she's made some wonderful new friends, and she feels she can thrive in the genial small-town environment. On the other hand, trouble knows her address--and so does the killer, who is determined to write the final page of Jenna's story.

My Thoughts: Jenna Quinn is having trouble leaving trouble behind her. After being acquitted of embezzlement and murder in her hometown of Charlotte, she has been invited by her uncle to live with him in Hokes Folly and help him with his bookstore.

She doesn't expect to find him dead - a victim of murder - when she arrives. They she does expect the police to look at her with suspicion since that is how she was treated in Charlotte. Detective Frank Sutter fulfills her expectations though his partner Detective Keith Logan doesn't share that opinion. 

When it is learned that her Uncle Paul left everything to her - his rare book store, the apartment above it, and a healthy sum of money, Sutter's suspicions increase. Jenna, too, wants to find out who murdered her uncle. 

While many of the townspeople are friendly including her next door neighbor Rita and her lawyer Horace Grimes, others are not including Olivia Hokes who runs the antique clothing store next door and Stan Jergins who runs a local real estate company and who had run-ins with her uncle over the building of a new mall outside of town. 

Then Norman Childers shows up claiming to be her Uncle Paul's illegitimate child and the true owner of all the things Jenna inherited. After causing problems and threatening her and her business, he is found murdered at the local destination hotel shortly before Jenna pounds on his door to present evidence that he is fraud. That puts Jenna right in Detective Sutter's cross-hairs again. 

Now Jenna has even more reason to find out why anyone wanted her uncle dead which leads to a hidden diary and a possible buried treasure.

This was an enjoyable cozy mystery. I liked the characters though I do think the various friendships happened rather more quickly than seemed realistic to me given Jenna's previous betrayals in Charlotte. I liked the budding romance with Detective Logan. 

Favorite Quote:

The blue and red police lights sent out happy rays of color as they twirled, belying the grim nature of what lay inside my uncle's bookstore. I sat in the back of an ambulance, a blanket wrapped around my shoulders, as shudders racked my body.

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Mercy Creek by M. E. Browning

Mercy Creek
Author: M. E. Browning
Series: A Jo Wyatt Mystery
Publication: Crooked Lane Books (October 12, 2021)

Description: In an idyllic Colorado town, a young girl goes missing—and the trail leads into the heart and mind of a remorseless killer.

The late summer heat in Echo Valley, Colorado turns lush greenery into a tinder dry landscape. When a young girl mysteriously disappears, long buried grudges rekindle. Of the two Flores girls, Marisa was the one people pegged for trouble. Her younger sister, Lena, was the quiet daughter, dutiful and diligent—right until the moment she vanished.

Detective Jo Wyatt is convinced the eleven-year-old girl didn’t run away and that a more sinister reason lurks behind her disappearance.  For Jo, the case is personal, reaching far back into her past.  But as she mines Lena’s fractured family life, she unearths a cache of secrets and half-lies that paints a darker picture.

As the evidence mounts, so do the suspects, and when a witness steps forward with a shocking new revelation, Jo is forced to confront her doubts, and her worst fears. Now, it's just a matter of time before the truth is revealed—or the killer makes another deadly move.

My Thoughts: It's late summer in Echo Valley, Colorado, and Detective Jo Wyatt is manning the dunking booth at the fair when the story begins. There's a new police chief who is finding his feet and getting ready to make his mark. And there is an eleven-year-old girl named Lena Flores who goes missing. 

Lena was at the fair with her fifteen-year-old sister Marisa though the two didn't have anything in common. Since her parents divorced, Lena has lived with her father Lucero who is a veterinarian which was perfect for the farm girl, animal-loving child while Marisa lived in town with her mother Tilda who's an emergency room nurse. Marisa has bigger plans that Echo Falls; she's a social media influencer who is constantly updating her feeds. 

Jo knows both Tilda and Lucero since they all grew up in town. Once, Lucero and Jo were friends but an incident when they were teens broke up the friendship. The resentments all resurface when Lena goes missing. 

This story emphasizes the day-to-day work of police officers: finding and checking out witnesses, questioning suspects, watching endless security tapes, writing reports. But it also illustrates the dedication of a cop who is determined to find answers and find Lena or find out what happened to her.

I liked Jo a lot. She's dedicated to her job and to helping people. At the same time, she's aware that her knowledge of the people involved in this case could be coloring her reactions to what they are telling her...and they are all lying to her in a variety of ways. 

I enjoyed this story immensely and recommend it.

Favorite Quote:

Squint dropped a file on his desk. "I've seen that look before. What did I miss?"

"You mean my I-should-have-ordered-a-margarita-to-wash-down-my-breakfast-burrito look? Or..." She lifted her mug and held it next to her face. "My I-have-neither-the-time-nor-the-crayons-to-explain-this-to-you look?"

"The look that lulls people into underestimating you."

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

Book Review: Keeper's Reach by Carla Neggers

Keeper's Reach
Author: Carla Neggers
Series: Sharpe and Donovan (Book 5)
Publication: MIRA; First Time Paperback edition (February 22, 2021)

Description: Get wrapped up in this absorbing, twisting tale from New York Times bestselling author Carla Neggers as FBI agents Sharpe and Donovan face their greatest danger yet.

Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan, two of the FBI’s most valuable agents, are preparing for their next big assignment—their wedding—when Colin’s brother Mike alerts them that onetime friends from his military past are on Sharpe and Donovan home turf on the Maine coast. Now private security contractors, they want to meet with Mike. One of them, an FBI agent named Kavanagh, is supposed to be on leave. What is he investigating—or does he have his own agenda?

Mike zeroes in on Naomi MacBride, a freelance civilian intelligence analyst who, aside from a few hot nights, has never brought him anything but trouble. Newly returned from England, Naomi clearly isn’t telling Mike everything about why she’s snooping around his home town, but he has no choice but to work with her if he wants to uncover what’s really going on.

But the case soon takes a drastic turn—Emma is targeted, and a connection surfaces between Naomi and Kavanagh and a recently solved international art theft case. Not every connection is a conspiracy, but as the tangled web of secrets unravels, Emma and Colin face their greatest danger yet. With everyone they know involved, they must decide who they can trust…or lose everything for good.

My Thoughts: This episode in the Sharpe & Donovan series spends time Colin's older brother Mike as it brings in a woman he loved and his time in Afghanistan. One of his old officers has gone into private security and wants to recruit Mike. He has planned a gathering in Maine to pull a crew together including Mike's old flame Naomi MacBride. 

But that isn't all that's going on. Oliver York's man Martin is attacked and left for dead to be discovered by Naomi when she is in the Cotswolds looking into Oliver's presumed career as an international art thief. Also in the Cotswolds are FBI Special Agent Ted Kavanagh and Reed Cooper who have detoured there on their way to Maine. 

Colin, and his boss Yank, are suspicious about Kavanagh's presence in Maine and about Cooper's purpose especially it he plans to involve Mike. Then Emma is kidnapped and left to die in an abandoned shed which isn't noticed as soon as it could be because she was supposed to be at a retreat with the Sisters of the Joyful Heart.

This was a nicely twisty episode which gave long-time readers a chance to catch up with characters from earlier books in the series. I liked that the setting included both Maine and England. I like the characters in this series and love watching Colin and Emma build their relationship.

Favorite Quote:

"You strike me as centered, Emma. You have good command of your emotions and the ability to stay fully present. I can see how you and Colin do well together. He operates on gut instinct honed by training and experience."

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

Book and Audio Review: Poison Fruit by Jacqueline Carey

Poison Fruit
Author: Jacqueline Carey
Narrator: Johanna Parker
Series: Agent of Hel (Book 3)
Publication: Recorded Books (October 8, 2014): Ace (October 7, 2014)
Length: 15 hours and 48 minutes; 441 p.

Description: The hot-as-Hel series with the “Sookie Stackhouse type of vibe” (Paranormal Haven) is back—but this time the paranormal Midwestern town of Pemkowet is feeling a frost in the air and the residents are frozen in fear....

The Pemkowet Visitors Bureau has always promoted paranormal tourism—even if it has downplayed the risks (hobgoblins are unpredictable). It helps that the town is presided over by Daisy Johanssen, who as Hel’s liaison is authorized by the Norse goddess of the dead to keep Pemkowet under control. Normally, that’s easier to do in the winter, when bracing temperatures keep folks indoors.

But a new predator is on the prowl, and this one thrives on nightmares. Daisy is on her trail and working intimately with her partner and sometime lover from the Pemkowet PD, sexy yet unavailable werewolf Cody Fairfax. But even as the creature is racking up innocent victims, a greater danger looms on Pewkowet’s horizon.

As a result of a recent ghost uprising, an unknown adversary—represented by a hell-spawn lawyer with fiery powers of persuasion—has instigated a lawsuit against the town. If Pemkowet loses, Hel’s sovereignty will be jeopardized, and the fate of the eldritch community will be at stake. The only one who can prevent it is Daisy—but she’s going to have to confront her own worst nightmare to do it.

My Thoughts: This episode of the Agent of Hel trilogy has a number of problems. First, a Night Hag is in town who is frightening people by causing their nightmares. The first is a soldier with PTSD who is almost convinced to commit suicide. The second is a seven-year-old boy. The final victim is a cancer-ridden lady in a nursing home who dies because of the Night Hag's attack. Daisy convinces Sinclair to go to his dark side to curse her with nightmares so that she can catch and bind the Night Hag. But she'll have to face her greatest fear -- that accepting her demon legacy could end the world -- in order to catch her.

But the biggest problem in the book is that the town is being sued for injuries physical and psychological caused by the events of the past Halloween. The Demon Spawn lawyer who has been using his gift of influence to buy up properties around Hel's domain has finally put his cards on the table and he is determined to force to town to sell the land where Hel lives in order to pay what the court assigns them as a settlement.

Hel isn't willing to give in; she can't because there are no more wild places for her to move to. This means war between Hel and the goddess who is trying to move in on her territory. Daisy has to gather all her allies in order to try to save their town and the eldritch who live there. She also has to decide if she has to make the biggest sacrifice of all and claim her demon legacy.

This was a great story. I really enjoyed the worldbuilding. The narrator did a great job showing Daisy's personality and keeping the emotional pace of the story. 

Favorite Quote:

Tears stung my eyes. "I don't want that responsibility."

Across the table, Stefan stirred. "Dauda-dagr is a weapon of great power, Daisy," he said softly. "When you accepted it from Hel's hand, you accepted the mantle of responsibility that came with it."

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.