The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion
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Currently reading? Just finished? 2025
The Reunion by Bronwyn Rivers, a suspenseful debut novel, where five school are reuniting for the 10 year memorial of. school friend who died on an overnight trek with them in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. Recommended for lovers of Aussie Noir.review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I completely enjoyed
The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Now starting SMOKE ON THE WATER by Loren Estleman, the latest book (#32 and counting) in his ongoing mystery series featuring old school Detroit private eye Amos Walker.The series has been going strong since 1980 and seems to show no signs of slowing down yet, although Walker himself has a lot of miles on his chassis.
Looking for Jane is an interesting look at the fight for women to control their own bodies. My four star review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Murder in the Tuscan Hills
3.5 stars for me.
I read this as a NetGalley review copy. Murder mystery.
Feb 2025 release.
My review here - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I had to wait for word that this book was finally published to post my review? H.N. Wake is one of my favorite writers. I’ve been beta reading for her for several years now, and she sent me this book after she’d already sent it to her new publisher! Yes, she’s no longer self-publishing!New series too! I was thrilled to read this The Titan's Debt: A Mirielle Laurant Thriller
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator by Timothy C. Winegard Tiny mosquitoes have had an ENORMOUS effect on human history. I thought the book would focus more on biology, and this book focuses more on history, so it wasn't 100% for me. But I'm sure lots of people would love it.
I gave the book 3.5 stars.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I was recently tickled to discover how entertaining A Man With One of Those Faces is. It's the first book in Caimh McDonnell's Dublin Trilogy, which is now 8 books long! I'd heard it was fun, but I'd feared it was just hype.
My review of A Man With One of Those Faces
I read The Unquiet Dead by Ausma Zehanat Khan It is a police procedural set in Canada. My 4 star review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Starting out the week in the cold of Alaska with
Termination Dust by Sue Henry. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I finished Perfect Kill by Helen Sarah Fields
Gruesome but honest.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I finished The Gift by Sebtastian Fitzek
Clever, fast-paced but not for the faint-hearted.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Stolen Queen
was a disappointment relying on coincidences and OTT plot points to wrap up. My three star review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Serial Killer Games
was good snarky fun. My five star review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave
by Elle CosimanoNovelist/amateur sleuth Finlay Donovan is a magnet for trouble. In this addition to the comical mystery series, Finlay's ex-husband is arrested for murder.
Plenty of laughs. 3.5 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Price You Pay by Nick petrieThe Peter Ash character is the closest I've found to Jack Reacher.
These guys, along with Travis McGee, form my idea of a perfect thriller. Action, Good guys win, edge-of-your-seat suspense, extremely tough and capable men.
Sure, there are the Scott Horvaths and others but I really have grown tired of the political thriller genre.
I give The Price You Pay, and all the Peter Ash novels, 5 stars.
Mod
Finished Ghost Story by Peter Straub -- still one of the best ghost/horror novels of the last 50 years -- and I'm on to I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle, which is displaying the usual Beagle charm.
In between read The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke, another charming and beautifully written, if slight, story in her Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell world.
I warmed things up with
Something's Guava Give by Carrie Doyle https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Lost House
by Melissa Larsen passed some time pleasantly enough:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Devil and The Dark Water and The Crash
Fortune Favors the Dead
is a classic crime novel with a twist. My four star review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Road to Tender Hearts
has a bit of everything - humor, emotion, mystery. My four star review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
We Do Not Part
by Han KangThis novel by Nobel Prize winner Han Kang focuses on the massacres perpetrated by the South Korean government (in collaboration with the U.S. occupying forces) after WWII....to quell 'communist uprisings.'
Highly recommended. 4 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Now starting OPAL COUNTRY by Chris Hammer, the first novel in his mystery series featuring the Australian detective team of Ivan Lucic and Nell Buchanan.The paperback copy I am reading was published in the U.K. however the book was originally published in Australia under the title of "Treasure & Dirt".
Last year I read Hammer's debut novel SCRUBLANDS, the first book in a separate mystery trilogy. I plan on reading both series in tandem if I can find copies of his stuff in my local area.
I feel like I’m so behind on my TBR😭! And school’s resumed for me now☹️ anyways I’m currently reading The First Day of Spring!
I read Saltwater by Katy Hays It is set on the island of Capri, Italy. There is a major surprise at the end. My 4 star review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Fagin the Thief
provides a compelling backstory for the characters of Oliver Twist. Five stars and an early favorite of 2025!My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Dead Money
by Jakob KerrWell-plotted, well-paced first novel by Kerr. Murder in the high-tech world of San Francisco. I liked it a lot; hope he writes another. 4 stars.
Murder by Candlelight
by Faith MartinThis debut novel in the 'Val and Arbie' historical cozy mystery series introduces us to two young amateur sleuths.
Fun book with lots of laughs. 3.5 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
James wrote: "Now starting OPAL COUNTRY by Chris Hammer, the first novel in his mystery series featuring the Australian detective team of Ivan Lucic and Nell Buchanan.The paperback copy I am reading was publis..."
I hope you find them all, James. I love Chris Hammer's books.
Kate Atkinson is a favourite author and I love her Jackson Brodie series. In the latest, Death at the Sign of the Rook, I was surprised the focus was mainly on the strange, gathered assemblage, with much less on Jackson and Reggie (yes, she's back!) whom I really wanted to read about.
My review of Death at the Sign of the Rook
My review of The Case of the Elusive Bombay Duck by Tarquin Hallhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Just read The Accomplice by Joseph Kanon. I really like Kanon's historical thrillers. My review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
Readingwise, I've finished Kate Summerscale's latest, The Peepshow (not out in the US until May so I had to get it at Blackwell's in the UK), nonfiction about the murders at 10 Rillington Place in London during the 1950s and a possible miscarriage of justice. It was not as cluttered with extraneous detail as many of her other books, for which I was extremely grateful.
The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group
Books mentioned in this topic
Watching the Detectives (other topics)Family of Spies: A World War II Story of Nazi Espionage, Betrayal, and the Secret History Behind Pearl Harbor (other topics)
Solid Gold Murder (other topics)
Battle Mountain (other topics)
Child's Play (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Christine Kuehn (other topics)Ellen Byron (other topics)
C.J. Box (other topics)
Angela Marsons (other topics)
C.J. Box (other topics)
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Forensics expert Lincoln Rhyme and his team investigate crimes in Italy. (Makes an interesting change from their usual environs of New York City.)
Amazing forensics work as usual. 3.5 stars
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...