Author 'Nathan Burgoine posted this simple, direct method of not getting paralyzed by the prospect of having to write reviews. The Three-Sentence Review is, as he notes, very helpful and also simple to achieve. I get completely unmanned at the idea of saying something trenchant about each book I read, when there often just isn't that much to say...now I can use this structure to say what I think is the most important idea I took away from the read and not try to dig for more.
Think about using it yourselves!
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Death at King's Cross (A Four Queens of Crime Mystery #2) by Rosanne Limoncelli
Rating: 3.75* of five
The Publisher Says: DCI Lilian Wyles is confronted by a troubling case, one that only the four queens of crime can help solve—even amidst the ongoing war efforts.
Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham, and Ngaio Marsh are back in the follow-up novel to The Four Queens of Crime.
1941, London. When DCI Lilian Wyles finds a young woman murdered at King's Cross Station, she needs the help of someone she can trust, but Richard Davidson, her former Scotland Yard partner, has joined MI5 and is busy tracking black market routes outside of London, so for now, she is on her own.
After having met the four queens of crime during a murder investigation two years earlier, DCI Wyles has kept in touch. But Agatha, Dorothy, Margery, and Ngaio are all involved in the war effort and have problems of their own.
Agatha is volunteering at the University Hospital Pharmacy, where a dangerous anesthetic has been stolen. Dorothy has heard unsettling information from her connections at the BBC regarding members of the Royal Navy. Margery, who has been in the countryside helping families escape the city from the bombing, is worried about one of her charges whose older sister has gone missing. And Ngaio, who has relocated to New Zealand and is volunteering as an ambulance driver, has begun gathering secret intelligence from wounded soldiers and sailors that may put her in danger.
When the four queens contact DCI Wyles for help, the information they share makes the final pieces of the puzzle fall into place. DCI Wyles once again finds herself collaborating with her old partners in crime to solve the mystery and close the case in this thrilling sequel, perfect for fans of Nicola Upson and Anna Lee Huber.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: An idea I found fun, with the real-life Golden Age Queens solving crimes, gets a second story set in its storyverse. It was a perfectly fine, amusing to read, mystery on its own merits; I was gld to come back to it every time I opened the DRC.
I didn't remember to all that often because I was never fully convinced I agreed with Author Limoncelli's characterizations of them, so kinda felt weirdly underdelivered-to.
Crooked Lane Books (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link) says "$14.99 please" so either read and love the sample available, or try your library before committing to buy.
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Mercy House by Adam Cesare
Rating: 3.25* of five
The Publisher Says: Welcome to Mercy House, a state-of-the-art retirement home that appears perfectly clean and orderly . . . but something is turning the residents into monsters. In this thrilling novel from the author of Clown in a Cornfield, you will find little mercy—only a shocking eruption of unfathomable horror.
Harriet Laurel notices the odor the moment she steps inside Mercy House, brought to the retirement home against her will by her son and his wife. In the early stages of dementia, Harriet has grown to resent her daughter-in-law for not providing grandchildren. Yet as she crosses the threshold, she notices her mind begins to sharpen. Then her hate begins to grow. . . .
Arnold Piper, an eighty-five-year-old ex-Marine, has always prided himself on self-reliance. But betrayed by his own body, he’s learning that surviving war-torn Korea was easier than facing the daily indignities of old age. And his worst trials are still to come.
Sarah Campbell, an idealistic nurse, is already stretched thin at the chronically understaffed Mercy House. Now her duties are about to take a terrifying turn. Can she survive the night. . . and her patients?
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Seriously creepy for an old man living in assisted living to read at Halloween, but just a hair less creepy than I'd hoped. Why's evey oldster divesting themselves of clothes, inhibitions against murder, and taboos around cannibalism?
Dunno. Author Cesare never says. The body horror will put off many in my age group. It *should* bother our descendants, seeing us in this vio;ent;y primal state, but whatever your gore tolerance is, it's the absence of a *reason* we all go hog-wild that ought to make you go "nah, I'm good" this #Deathtober.
Del Rey Books (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link) is only asking $4.99 for an ebook.
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Chain Reaction (Jack Reacher #31) by Lee Child and Andrew Child
Rating: 3.5* of five
The Publisher Says: The heart-pounding new Jack Reacher thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling authors Lee Child and Andrew Child.
Jack Reacher is hard to find. It's not easy to track him down. And he likes it that way. But General Susan Turner, based deep inside the Pentagon, has the means and the motive. She needs his help. A member of her team has been brutally murdered on covert duty. She can’t trust anyone she works with, not even her deputy. She needs someone from the outside. Someone who solves problems and disappears without a trace.
Reacher heads to Summertown, Colorado. A town as remote and bizarre as it gets. One diner, one motel, five massive data centers, two giant solar farms humming away in the dust. Total population: four people. And one of them is watching him. But Reacher isn’t built to run. He’s built to finish things. General Turner knows that if they come for Reacher, they’ll regret it—all the way to the top of the chain.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: My first Reacher of the 2020s, chosen because Andrew is taking over the series and I wanted to scope it out. This is exactly what I would expect a handover of this long-running series to be. It's not indistinguishable from Lee's earlier work, in a good way.
It's a fine, refining difference that marks Reacher with the smallest bit more need to be human: Susan Turner's back. For series aficionados, catnip.
Bantam Books (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link) has $14.99 on the cover of the ebook. It's #Deathtober, the data centers he's destroying should give you the happy they gave me, whatthehell.
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When the Night Comes Knocking by Katherine Daniel
Rating: 3.5* of five
The Publisher Says: In this Appalachian horror novel, two estranged siblings become trapped in a convenience store under attack by a monster from the mountains who feasts on guilty hearts.
Rattle, rattle in the dark…
The mountain’s bones seek out a heart.
Jane has not spoken to her brother Thomas since the accident that nearly killed them both. Their drive from college through the North Georgia mountains is uncomfortably silent, until they stop at a roadside convenience store, where a man stumbles in with a mutilated body, claiming to have been attacked by a monster.
At first, no one believes the man’s ravings, but when the next person to leave the store is brutally killed, they fear that local legend might be true: There’s a beast in these mountains who feasts on guilty hearts… and someone among them has lured it out of hiding.
Jane and Thomas each harbor secrets, but so do the other patrons, and as the monster claims more hearts, the survivors turn on each other, desperate to save themselves by uncovering the guiltiest among them.
If the siblings can’t overcome the rift between them, they’ll surely become the monster’s next victims…or worse, become monsters themselves.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: #Deathtober spookiness in Appalachia; all in on that, me! Sadly the pieces never came together for a satisfying conclusion to the narrative.
I really disliked what I got to know about Jane and Thomas so that did not help.
Berkley Books (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link) wants $14.99 for an ebook. Library borrows are free and, if you enjoy it, great value. If you don't you've only lost time.
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The Haunted Librarian by Auralee Wallace
Rating: 3.75* of five
The Publisher Says: A lonely librarian finds love, friends, and a few ghosts between the shelves in this cozy, paranormal tale from beloved bestselling author Auralee Wallace.
It’s a dark and stormy night…and Amelia Bates is caught in the rain. Life hasn’t always been kind to her, and being a ghostseer certainly doesn’t make things any easier.
Glowing warmly through the autumnal downpour is her safest the library. Amelia, the newly hired librarian, has always relished the comfort of curling up with a novel, vastly preferring it to the company of humans (alive or ghostly).
But Amelia is shocked to discover the building is full of more than quiet stories and warm cups of tea. There are curious, talkative patrons, a shy, bespectacled head librarian who makes her heart skip a beat, and three quirky spirits causing paranormal havoc that endangers the future of the library.
To help the ghosts and save the building, Amelia will have to gather all her bravery and wits, because learning to trust others might just be the first step to a happily ever after she only thought was possible in books.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Librarian + ghosts x cozy romantasy = terrific #Deathtober entertainment. Another story I was never sorry to pick back up, but didn't think to do so for days at a time. I thought Simon, Amelia's love interest, was very dull; I forget which ghost called Amelia "dude" all the time but that *really* grated after the skatey-eighth time.
The humor is gentle, the tone is the good kind of sentimental, the milieu could grow legs and be the book your grands are happiest to find after you die. It was fine, but I wanted to be able to invest in Amelia more. Next book?
Ace Books (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link) only wants $12.99 for an ebook, which is exactly the right price.
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Brimstone Hollow (Annie Gore #2) by Archer Sullivan
Rating: 3.75* of five
The Publisher Says: Following her powerful debut in The Witch’s Orchard, private investigator Annie Gore returns in Brimstone Hollow, bringing readers back to the mountains that author Archer Sullivan, a ninth generation Appalachian, knows so well.
There isn’t much that happens in the Appalachian Mountains that Private Investigator Annie Gore hasn’t seen. Before she joined the Air Force, she was born and raised in those rolling hills, and lately Annie's cases have called her away from her Louisville office and closer to the small towns of her youth than she ever anticipated. But when her newest client asks if she’s ever been to a snake-handling church, Annie knows she’s about to enter unknown territory.
Katie May has been estranged from her father―one of Appalachia’s last infamous snake handling preachers―for twenty years. But when Katie finds out he’s been fatally bitten, and a funeral was held within twenty-four hours, she questions whether someone deliberately rushed the process. Despite Annie’s doubts, she takes the case. After all, when she looks at Katie, she sees a version of herself: a girl who needs to understand her father in order to understand herself.
As she navigates the hidden hollers and dangerous secrets of this insular Eastern Kentucky town, Annie works fast, hoping to find the truth in record time for her client―and before too many memories from her own childhood surface. But it soon becomes apparent that someone wants Annie’s investigation to stop―by any means necessary.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: The snake-handling preacher dying of a snake bite was *chef's kiss* and then Author Archer pulled a fast one on me and made it the mystery to find out if he really did die of a snakebite which totally harshed my buzz. (There's a joke in there fot y'all to discover.) Not one thing stays the same for long: Victims and perps switch places, Honey the 260Z suffers gross indignities, Annie Gore damn near dies of rattlesnake bite...and by the end I was rooting for a guy who needed Annie to...get...him a severed finger to accomplish something "illegal" to get it done.
Problem is it's all so busy, so frantic in pace that I got left behind a little too often for me to offer a more elevated rating. Still, enjoyed my Appalachian #Deathtober visit fine. Get well soon, Annie.
Minotaur Books (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link) wants $14.99 for an ebook. Start with #1, linked up top.
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The Raven by Susan McCauley
Rating: 3.75* of five
The Publisher Says: As illness tightens its grip, something darker begins to stir.
England, 1665. As plague ravages London and fear spreads north to York, Martin Blake, a humble cobbler, struggles to protect his family through a bitter, death-shadowed winter. When the parish rector, his wife’s domineering uncle, forces orphaned children from London into their already meager home, Martin’s fragile world begins to unravel.
Grief, illness, and the weight of buried sins close in. Ravens gather. Martin’s reason begins to slip. Whispers spread—of misused alms, of spirits that roam at night, of faith twisted into something monstrous. As snow blankets the land and the dead lie unburied, Martin must confront a chilling truth: is he haunted by guilt, or by something far more sinister?
A gothic tale of illness, obsession, and the perilous border between loyalty and madness.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: A #Deathtober gothic story set during the witch panic and Black Death of the 1660s, this is a very creepy tale that is deeply immersive. It took me a while to sort put whether I felt the ravens were real, or simply the guilt/religious abuse and the overwhelming amount of death surrounding Martin the main character manifesting either in the world or in his head.
I'd give it a higher rating were it not for the repetitiveness of Martin's experiences ending up reducing my sympathy for him.
Celtic Sea, LLC (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link) wants $19.99 for a paperback.
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This space is dedicated to Nancy Pearl's Rule of 50, or "the Pearl Rule" as I've always called it. After realizing five times in December 2021 alone that I'd already Pearl-Ruled a book I picked up on a whim, I realized how close my Half-heimer's is getting to the full-on article. Hence my decision to track my Pearls!
As she says:
People frequently ask me how many pages they should give a book before they give up on it. In response to that question, I came up with my “rule of fifty,” which is based on the shortness of time and the immensity of the world of books. If you’re fifty years of age or younger, give a book fifty pages before you decide to commit to reading it or give it up. If you’re over fifty, which is when time gets even shorter, subtract your age from 100—the result is the number of pages you should read before making your decision to stay with it or quit.
So this space will be each month's listing of Pearl-Ruled books. Earlier Pearl-Rule posts will be linked below the current month's crop.
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The Last Time We Saw Her (22%) by Jaclyn Goldis
Rating: 3* of five
The Publisher Says: 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.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: I read The Chateau a couple years ago when I was in Long Beach at a fellow reader's behest, and thought it was okay: nice setting well evoked, tidy climax.
Loved this setting, the Azores, but was never convinced by the true-crime documentary being that interesting; I gave up mid-transcript because it was just too grating.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link) asks $13.99 for an ebook.
