Riley Sager’s Lock Every Door is a gothic suspense - amateur detective - horror mash-up that shares many of the winning qualities that have made Mr. Sager’s crime fiction amongst the most highly anticipated of the season!
Read moreBook Review: THE INVITED by Jennifer McMahon
With beautiful descriptions of nature, and an atmosphere of subtle menace and eeriness, Jennifer McMahon’s The Invited will appeal to readers who appreciate mysteries about spirits, hauntings, and the occult, yet prefer stories that are not overly violent, or too scary or stressful.
Read moreBook Review: MIRACLE CREEK by Angie Kim
Part contemporary whodunit, part compelling courtroom drama, and part poignant family saga, Miracle Creek is a terrific debut that will appeal especially to fans of literary crime fiction, and of stories about relationships, particularly those of mothers and their children.
I listened to the audio book, narrated by Jennifer Lim, and heartily recommend it! It concludes with a wonderful interview between the author and Sarah Crichton, the publisher and editor. In the interview, Angie Kim discusses her writing process, and reveals that many details of the narrative are based upon her own experiences as a Korean-American immigrant.
Read moreBook Review: UNTO US A SON IS GIVEN by Donna Leon
Thought-provoking, and with a wonderful sense of place, Unto Us a Son Is Given is a police procedural that is very light on police procedure; it is light, as well, on violence, darkness, and grit. Its underlying mystery and interweaving subplots unfold at a measured, traditional, “la dolce far niente pace”. Reading Donna Leon’s latest mystery novel is like returning to Venice on a warm, spring evening to savor a gelato and a relaxing passeggiata with old friends.
Read moreBook Review: BLOOD OATH by Linda Fairstein
Confidently written and utterly engaging, Blood Oath is number twenty in Linda Fairstein’s Alexandra Cooper, legal thriller series, but it is my first book by this author, and can certainly be read as a standalone. An honest-to-goodness page-turner, especially if you, like so many right now, are interested in the procedure involved in bringing a criminal case to trial in the United States, “press pause” on the news, and make Blood Oath your next weekend read!
Read moreBook Review: AFTER SHE'S GONE by Camilla Grebe
Winner of the 2018 Glass Key Award, Swedish crime novel After She’s Gone is the follow-up to Camilla Grebe’s 2016 release, The Ice Beneath Her, which was one of my favorite books the year that I read it! While Ms. Grebe has some powerful messages to impart in her latest work, After She’s Gone is not as strong in its execution as the first in the series.
Read moreBook Review: THE SILENT PATIENT by Alex Michaelides
With a clever and thought-provoking plot worthy of Agatha Christie or Alfred Hitchcock, plenty of red herrings for the reader to puzzle over, a confined main setting, as well as some unexpected twists and turns, The Silent Patient may very well appeal to fans of the work of Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling’s mystery-writing alter-ego), and fans of the book, The Woman in the Window.
Read moreBook Review: THE LOST MAN by Jane Harper
A richly evocative, beautiful, and important book, character-driven and expertly-plotted, with an ending that packs a wallop that screams to be pondered and discussed with others, Jane Harper’s The Lost Man is one of those novels in which atmosphere and landscape become an integral “character” in the story. The Lost Man would be a terrific choice for a mystery fiction book club!
Read moreBook Review: THE HIDING PLACE by C.J. Tudor
The Hiding Place, by British author C.J. Tudor, is, undoubtedly, one of the best books that Mystery in Minutes will read in 2019! I feel quite confident about this, and it’s only the beginning of the year! Ms. Tudor’s sophomore novel is beautifully constructed, with a wonderful sense of place, and a plot that kept me glued to the pages! If you enjoy well-written, crime fiction with a strong dose of horror, this is the book for YOU!
Read moreBook Review: NEVER TELL by Lisa Gardner
Lisa Gardner has done it again! Never Tell is an absorbing, twisty, one-sitting, page-turner of a read with dialogue that snaps and crackles, and a plot line that accelerates to a roaring, action-packed climax! What a talent Ms. Gardner has for pulling the reader directly into her story, with a writing style that feels relatable, authentic, and deceptively effortless.
Read moreBook Review: An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
An Anonymous Girl is the new novel of suspense by the writing duo that brought us the runaway, 2018 hit, The Wife Between Us. Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen have authored a book that held me fast in its sinister, sexy web of emotional control and psychological manipulation. Depicting a clever and captivating game of cat and mouse, with an ever-increasing sense of paranoia, An Anonymous Girl is pure, crime fiction fun!
Read moreHappy 2019!
Happy 2019!
In this new year, Mystery in Minutes will continue to bring you succinct book reviews, excerpts, adaptation news, author videos, and all things crime fiction that can be read, and watched, “in minutes”, and that can help guide you to mysteries and thrillers that will, I hope, provide “escape” and enjoyment!
Thank you for being a very important part of the Mystery in Minutes community of readers!
Read moreBook Review: Broken Ground by Val McDermid
If you are looking for a proper UK police procedural to tuck in to this festive season - or anytime - look no further than Broken Ground, fifth in the Inspector Karen Pirie series, and written by prolific, internationally best-selling author, Val McDermid. Ms. McDermid has been called by many “the Queen of Scottish crime”, as well as “one of the best crime writers of her generation”. Her latest entry is, as they say in the UK, a corker!
Read moreBook Review: His Perfect Wife by Natasha Bell
Are you a literary fiction fan who is crime fiction-curious? Do you enjoy crime novels, but appreciate those that are on the more cerebral end of the mystery fiction spectrum? With a special focus on women’s issues, as well as on the arts, Natasha Bell’s His Perfect Wife is an ambitious, well-written, psychologically-complex debut that will resonate strongly with many women and provoke much discussion. His Perfect Wife would certainly make an interesting selection for Emma Watson’s Goodreads book club, “Our Shared Shelf”, and/or Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine book club on Audible.
Read moreBook Review: THE FIRE WITNESS by Lars Kepler
The Fire Witness is the third installment in the Joona Linna series by critically acclaimed husband and wife team Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril, writing as “Lars Kepler”. Their Joona Linna series has sold more than twelve million copies in forty languages! Re-edited and reissued by a new, North American publisher, with a brand new translation from the original Swedish by Neil Smith, The Fire Witness demonstrates the authors’ mastery of layered, complex plotting, replete with numerous scenes of gripping, high suspense!
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