Mystery Book Club Award Winners and Nominees Picks

Didn't realize I haven't posted in so many weeks! Time flies when you are having company. After all, it is summer and lots going on sometimes. 

I meant to share some of the top picks from the Mystery Book Club from our early June meeting. We all read different books, choosing from the list of books nominated or won awards this year. I will give you a few. We chose our reads mostly from Stop You're Killing Me! under the Book Awards category.

All The Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby: 

Good Reads Choice Award Nominee

Nominee for Readers' Favorite Mystery & Thriller (2023)

Nominated for Edgar - Best Mystery Novel 2024, Dagger - Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award 2024, Winner of Anthony - Best Mystery Novel 2024

About: "A Black sheriff. A serial killer. A small town ready to combust.
Titus Crown is the first Black sheriff in the history of Charon County, Virginia. In recent decades, Charon has had only two murders. After years of working as an FBI agent, Titus knows better than anyone that while his hometown might seem like a land of moonshine, cornbread, and honeysuckle, secrets always fester under the surface.
Then a year to the day after Titus’s election, a school teacher is killed by a former student and the student is fatally shot by Titus’s deputies. Those festering secrets are now out in the open and ready to tear the town apart.
As Titus investigates the shootings, he unearths terrible crimes and a serial killer who has been hiding in plain sight, haunting the dirt lanes and woodland clearings of Charon. With the killer’s possible connections to a local church and the town’s harrowing history weighing on him, Titus projects confidence about closing the case while concealing a painful secret from his own past. At the same time, he also has to contend with a far-right group that wants to hold a parade in celebration of the town’s Confederate history."

A Midnight Puzzle by Gigi Pandian  (Secret Staircase Mystery #3) 

Winner of Agatha Award Best Contemporary Novel 2024

About: "In heroine Tempest Raj, modern-day queen of the locked room mystery Gigi Pandian has created a brilliant homage to the greats of classic detective fiction.

Secret Staircase Construction is under attack, and Tempest Raj feels helpless. After former client Julian Rhodes tried to kill his wife, he blamed her "accident" on the home renovation company’s craftsmanship. Now the family business—known for bringing magic into homes through hidden doors, floating staircases, and architectural puzzle walls—is at a breaking point. No amount of Scottish and Indian meals from her grandfather can distract Tempest from the they’re being framed.

When Tempest receives an urgent midnight phone call from Julian, she decides to meet him at the historic Whispering Creek Theater—only to find his dead body, a sword through his chest. After a blade appears from thin air to claim another victim, Tempest is certain they’re dealing with a booby trap… something Secret Staircase Construction could easily build. Tempest refuses to wait for the investigation to turn to her or her loved ones. She knows the pieces of the puzzle are right in front of her, she just has to put them together correctly before more disaster strikes.

Multiple award-winning author Gigi Pandian and her sleuth Tempest Raj return in A Midnight Puzzle, where an old theater reveals a deadly booby trap, secrets, and one puzzle of a mystery."

To Slip the Bonds of Earth by Amanda Flower (Katherine Wright #1)

This was my choice and I know one other person has read it since I recommended it and has gone on to read the second book in the series- Not They Who Soar.

Winner of Agatha - Best Historical Novel 2024

About: "While not as famous as her older siblings Wilbur and Orville, the celebrated inventors of flight, Katharine Wright is equally inventive – especially when it comes to solving crimes – in USA Today bestselling author Amanda Flower’s radiant new historical mystery series inspired by the real sister of the Wright Brothers.

December 1903: While Wilbur and Orville Wright’s flying machine is quite literally taking off in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina with its historic fifty-seven second flight, their sister Katharine is back home in Dayton, Ohio, running the bicycle shop, teaching Latin, and looking after the family. A Latin teacher and suffragette, Katharine is fiercely independent, intellectual, and the only Wright sibling to finish college. But at twenty-nine, she’s frustrated by the gender inequality in academia and is for a new challenge. She never suspects it will be sleuthing…

Returning home to Dayton, Wilbur and Orville accept an invitation to a friend’s party. Nervous about leaving their as-yet-unpatented flyer plans unattended, Wilbur decides to bring them to the festivities . . . where they are stolen right out from under his nose. As always, it’s Katharine’s job to problem solve—and in this case, crime-solve.

As she sets out to uncover the thief among their circle of friends, Katharine soon gets more than she bargained She finds her number one suspect dead with a letter opener lodged in his chest. It seems the patent is the least of her brothers’ worries. They have a far more earthbound concern—prison. Now Katharine will have to keep her feet on the ground and put all her skills to work to make sure Wilbur and Orville are free to fly another day."

The Mystery Writer by Susan Gentill

2025 Winner of Mary Higgins Clark Award

About: "A literary thriller about an aspiring writer who meets and falls in love with her literary idol—only to find him murdered the day after she gave him her manuscript to read.

There's nothing easier to dismiss than a conspiracy theory—until it turns out to be true

When Theodosia Benton abandons her career path as an attorney and shows up on her brother's doorstep with two suitcases and an unfinished novel, she expects to face a few challenges. Will her brother support her ambition or send her back to finish her degree? What will her parents say when they learn of her decision? Does she even have what it takes to be a successful writer?

What Theo never expects is to be drawn into a hidden literary world in which identity is something that can be lost and remade for the sake of an audience. When her mentor, a highly successful author, is brutally murdered, Theo wants the killer to be found and justice to be served. Then the police begin looking at her brother, Gus, as their prime suspect, and Theo does the unthinkable in order to protect him. But the writer has left a trail, a thread out of the labyrinth in the form of a story. Gus finds that thread and follows it, and in his attempt to save his sister he inadvertently threatens the foundations of the labyrinth itself. To protect the carefully constructed narrative, Theo Benton, and everyone looking for her, will have to die."

The In Crowd by Charlotte Vassell  (Detective Caius Beauchamp #2)

2025 Edgar Best Novel Winner

About: "From the celebrated author of The Other Half comes a fabulous whodunit about two cold cases in which things go a fourteen-year-old girl and a multi-million-dollar pension fund.

Early one morning, a men’s rowing team discovers a body floating face down in the Thames. Many years before, the chief executive of a clothing manufacturer walked off with a multi-million dollar corporate retirement fund and disappeared without a trace. Now, the discovery of this body has reopened that cold case.

Meanwhile, Detective Inspector Caius Beauchamp has his own evening at the theater upended by the discovery of a dead body just a few seats away. Two decades ago, Eliza Chapel, a fourteen-year-old student at a girls boarding school in Cornwall, disappeared in the middle of the night under dubious circumstances. A second body and a second cold case reopened.

As DI Caius Beauchamp—along with his associates Matt Chung and Amy Noakes—investigates these parallel missing persons cases, he finds himself ensnared in the unexpected political machinations of a duke-in-waiting. This is yet another masterful mystery from Charlotte Vassell that is every bit as pointed as it is poignant.

For additional award nominated or winners of awards, check here under the Book Award category:

https://www.stopyourekillingme.com/

The Summer Guests by Tess Gerritsen and A Slip in the Dark by Virginia King

I finished two books this week. One physical book and one audio book. I really liked them both.

I read The Spy Coast, Martini Club book #1 by Tess Gerritsen last month. I just finished listening to The Summer Guests, book #2 in the series.

About: "When former spy Maggie Bird retired to the seaside hamlet of Purity, Maine, she settled in for a quiet life with breathtaking views. But enemies from her past soon threatened to destroy everything.

Maggie survived, thanks to her wits and the collective intelligence of the Martini Club, the circle of ex-CIA friends in her cocktail-sipping book club. Their handiwork, however, caught the attention of young police chief Jo Thibodeau. Now Jo and her neighborhood ex-spies have an uneasy alliance.

After a teenager vanishes—and Maggie’s neighbor becomes the prime suspect—she joins the investigation, determined to prove her friend’s innocence. But the girl’s wealthy family pushes for an arrest. And when authorities discover a long-dead corpse in a nearby pond, the case becomes doubly complicated, with unthinkable ties to long-buried secrets.

As Jo grapples with two unexplained mysteries, the Martini Club races to uncover the truth behind shadowy secrets…before more lives are lost."

Book #2 continues with the Martini Club gang but is focused on another family in Purity, Maine. Where there is trouble, you will find the Martini Club. Being that they are former CIA, they can't help but smell trouble and are sure they can help and do a better job than the police. I love the interaction and growing relationship between "the club" and Jo the temporary police chief. They really infuriate Jo but they do feed her whenever she shows up and she may be softening toward them. LOL

A bit of a psychological thriller, very suspenseful and an unexpected ending. (Although I did figure out the main culprit out about 3/4 of the way but there was more to it. 

There was a thread in book #1, The Spy Coast that I was hoping to see more of in book #2 but it wasn't there. 

Perhaps in book #3 The Shadow Friends scheduled for publication November 2026.

A Slip in the Dark is book #5 in the Tiggy (short for Antigone) Jones by Virginia King.

About: "When mystery author Tiggy Jones agrees to interview the locals to collect their anecdotes for a book about a once-grand house, she visits the derelict property early one evening and sees a light in an upstairs window. Then a woman’s face. Just an opportunistic intruder?

The interviews begin and are quickly overwhelmed by an avalanche of superstitions and rumours. Clues and secrets from past and present become more and more entangled.

Eighteen years ago, the last owner fell down the back stairs to her death. Or was she pushed? The inquest was postponed without a conclusive finding and the house has been abandoned and allowed to crumble.

Why was the inquest never re-opened and the cause of death left unresolved?

Who was the woman at the window and what had she put in her tote bags before she ran away?

Was the owner’s fall an unfortunate accident or do rumours about her mysterious business point to a motive for murder?

As Tiggy and her dog Raider are joined by their neurodiverse sidekick Baxter, they are drawn into investigating the cold case.

Will they finally solve an eighteen-year-old mystery and lay a ghost to rest?

Or is there a murderer at large who’ll do anything not to get caught?"

How can you not read a book that starts with a face in the window of an old run down house? This may be the best book in this series so far. I love how the characters have developed. This book is very suspenseful and keeps you on your toes. 

Tiggy and Baxter (newly graduated from P.I. training) are hired to conduct interviews with people who have a story about 13 Thimble Close as the area is scheduled for redevelopment. Of course the last owner of the house fell down the stairs and died many years ago under unusual circumstances. It is a closed case. Bring in Tiggy, mystery writer, and Baxter with his new P.I. skills and you have a case that is reopened. The story of the history of the house and the people who lived there is interesting and intertwined. So many surprises. I challenge you to figure out if and who dunnit.

Two thumbs up for both of these books.

The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger and A Whale of a Crime by Mona Marple

 Well the heat is on here. I also am attempting to plant some butterfly attracting plants and once again it is me against the deer and now the early heat. 

Trying to get back on track with my books! 

For our May Mystery Book Club, we read:

The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger. It was a 2023 Goodreads nominee for Readers Favorite Mystery and Thriller. 

About: "On Memorial Day, as the people of Jewel, Minnesota gather to remember and honor the sacrifice of so many sons in the wars of the past, the half-clothed body of wealthy landowner Jimmy Quinn is found floating in the Alabaster River, dead from a shotgun blast. Investigation of the murder falls to Sheriff Brody Dern, a highly decorated war hero who still carries the physical and emotional scars from his military service. Even before Dern has the results of the autopsy, vicious rumors begin to circulate that the killer must be Noah Bluestone, a Native American WWII veteran who has recently returned to Jewel with a Japanese wife. As suspicions and accusations mount and the town teeters on the edge of more violence, Dern struggles not only to find the truth of Quinn’s murder but also put to rest the demons from his own past.

Caught up in the torrent of anger that sweeps through Jewel are a war widow and her adolescent son, the intrepid publisher of the local newspaper, an aging deputy, and a crusading female lawyer, all of whom struggle with their own tragic histories and harbor secrets that Quinn’s death threatens to expose.

Both a complex, spellbinding mystery and a masterful portrait of midcentury American life, The River We Remember is an unflinching look at the wounds left by the wars we fight abroad and at home, a moving exploration of the ways in which we seek to heal, and a testament to the enduring power of the stories we tell about the places we call home."

If you have never read a book by this author, I highly recommend William Kent Krueger. His writing is very good. His writing style is not the quick, fast paced, few words of many thrillers, but more of a slowly unwinding tale. This story has many characters and layers to it but I did not find it hard to follow. Great description of small town life but this town of Jewel Minnesota has a lot of dark secrets. While the story does wrap up the mystery, there are alot of tragedies, past and present. 

All in all the book club liked it and we had a good discussion about the characters and small town life. Several of us had read other books by this author.

The author is pretty interesting too. You can read about him and his other novels here: 

https://williamkentkrueger.com/

If you are looking for a cozy summer beach read, I just finished:

A Whale of a Crime by Mona Marple (pen name)

About: "After ten years away, Ryan Kennedy never planned on returning to Flamborough—the tiny Yorkshire village he once called home. But when his fiercely independent gran, Iris, needs him, he finds himself back behind the counter at her chaotic seaside bookshop, wrestling with jammed tills, nosy villagers, and the memories he’s spent years trying to forget.

What Ryan doesn’t expect is to be swept straight into the heart of a murder investigation.

When a mysterious boat appears on the beach and a body turns up at the exclusive Whale Watch Weekend picnic, all eyes turn to the cliffs—and to the secrets the village has been keeping. As Ryan and Iris dig into the tangled history of the victim, long-buried truths begin to surface, not just about the case... but about the night Ryan’s own husband died.

With the tide cutting them off, a killer on the loose, and a very observant dog named Bracken by their side, Ryan and Iris must work fast—because in Flamborough, the past doesn’t stay buried, and the sea has a habit of washing everything to shore.

For fans of twisty village whodunits, seaside charm, and heartfelt mysteries with a slow-burning emotional pull, A Whale of a Crime is the unforgettable first instalment in a brand-new series."

Good start to this English village on the sea cozy mystery. Not a fluffy cozy but a story with murder, secrets and past mysteries yet unsolved. Iris is a feisty smart bookshop owner who lives on the seaside village of Flamborough. Harlow is her grand daughter that lives with her. Ryan is her grandson who left the village years ago for the city life in London but has returned for a visit with his very perceptive dog Bracken. The village is planning the annual Whale Watch weekend. When the local villain Vic, turns up dead on the beach during the Whale Watch Picnic, gossip runs rampant about missing funds. Iris begins sleuthing and Bracken does a pretty good job of it too. There is another story thread about the mysterious death of Ryan's husband, Jason, a musician, years ago. I like how the author inserts a social media thread about the death of Ryan's husband; the speculation and gossip. True to social media. As the investigation escalates, there is another suspicious death. The ending is very good with an intriguing cliff hanger re: the death of Jason. And on the last few pages, someone from Ryan's past shows up. Unidentified and Ryan is very surprised! We don't know if good surprised or bad surprised. Looking forward to the next book in this series. 

Flamborough is a real place on the sea in England, by the way. Here is a picture of possibly the main square.

Read about Mona here:

https://monamarple.com/

Mona Marple writes several different cozy series; some magical, some humorous and more of traditional mysteries. She also has a very active fun Facebook group if you would like to check that out:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/332562544209625

Masterpiece Mystery - What's coming up!

The Masterpiece Mystery lineup has been announced and I am counting down the days for the new lineup to begin. 

To be fair, I do watch other shows on PBS/Masterpiece. But I mostly watch the mysteries. I am currently watching Miss Austen. Not a mystery but I did like some of Jane Austen's books and the made for T.V. movies that came from them. I also watched Wolf Hall. Those awful clothes! Can you imagine wearing all of that all of the time? And the same things over and over. They didn't have washing machines or dry cleaners back then and I don't think they took a lot of baths...I really got hung up on the clothes more than the story.

Give me a good mystery series to watch any day.

1. Grantchester; Returns June 15th 2025, with season 10. Such a good series even though they have changed the vicar a few times. It always takes me awhile to get used to the new one. Looks like all of the other favorite characters/actors are returning.

About: "Longtime crowd-pleaser Grantchester will return for an impressive 10th season, with regular cast and characters all back in action, including that charismatic new vicar who’s caught our eye—Rev. Alphy Kottaram (Rishi Nair). Alphy injects fresh storylines and vibrant energy to a whole new set of crimes that need solving alongside DI Geordie Keating (Robson Green). Grantchester is a “winning combination of a delightful and appealing amateur sleuth, articulate writing, and engaging mysteries to solve,” according to TV Guide."

2. The Marlow Murder Club; Season 2, August 24, 2025. So glad they are having another season of this series.

About: "This miniseries is a perfect fit for those seeking more light-hearted British mysteries. It literally whisks viewers away to an idyllic British town and has fun with a trio of sideline sleuths—a retired archaeologist, well-connect vicar’s wife, and dog walker with access to her clients’ homes—who take it upon themselves to solve local murders. “Peak cozy murder mystery material,” says Decider. Samantha Bond leads the cast in this adaptation of the bestselling book series by Robert Thorogood, who also created Death in Paradise."

3. Unforgotten: Season 6, August 24, 2025 on after The Marlow Murder Club. 

About: "In this long running, critically acclaimed show, veteran London detectives played by Sanjeev Bhaskar and Sinéad Keenan unravel the truth behind a single cold case murder from the past. Suspenseful and slow-building character arcs across an entire season elevate the show’s procedural premise, letting viewers get to know suspects (and victims) more deeply. “The beauty of this drama is the way it allows us to emotionally invest in both police and suspects,” says The Times (UK).

4. Maigret: New series. Air date not yet announced. 

About: "MASTERPIECE will bring a brand-new and contemporary adaptation of Georges Simenon’s beloved novels about streetwise Parisian Chief Inspector Jules Maigret to the small screen. (Simenon’s Maigret books are the second best-selling detective series ever, behind only Sherlock Holmes.) Jules Maigret’s unique superpower is his deep compassion for victims and suspects alike and his patient immersion into the environment of a crime, all of which lead to profound insights that we can’t wait to see play out. Benjamin Wainwright will lead an ensemble cast. 

5. Gold: New series. Air date not yet announced.

About: "Hugh Bonneville will return to MASTERPIECE in this critically acclaimed true crime drama recounting one of Britain’s largest and most notorious heists. The show dramatizes the events surrounding the theft of nearly £26 million in gold bullion as well as the crime’s complex and high-stakes aftermath affecting the thieves and law enforcement alike."

I liked Mr. Bates vs The Post Office and am intrigued they are doing another show based on a true event.

You can read more about these shows here;

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/specialfeatures/airing-on-masterpiece-in-2025-and-beyond/

Anxiously awaiting...

Malice Domestic and other Book Awards 2025

 Happy Spring! I have neglected my site here. I did have some time off work and family visiting. Also been trying to ORGANIZE. You name it, I am trying to organize it.

As I am looking ahead to the Mystery Book Club's summer reading, I am reminded we always read Award Winning/Nominated mysteries, of 2025.

The weekend of April 25 was Malice Domestic in Maryland. This is the event that chooses the Agatha Award Winners. That event seems to be the most publicized. That is the one I hear about first anyway. 

"The Agatha Award is named in honor of Agatha Christie, are nominated and voted on by Malice Domestic fans. The Agatha Awards honor the traditional mystery—books best typified by the works of Agatha Christie. The genre is loosely defined as mysteries which contain no explicit sex or excessive gore or violence; and usually (but not limited to) featuring an amateur detective, a confined setting, and characters who know one another. Agatha Awards are awarded for works first published in the United States by a living author during a calendar year."

There are several categories and I will share the winners of the categories under the Agatha Awards here.

Best Contemporary Novel: The Midnight Puzzle by Gigi Pandian

This is book three in this author's Secret Staircase Mysteries. These are locked room mysteries. I have read one of her short locked room mysteries, The Ghost of Tanglewood Inn and I have read several books in her series, The Accidental Alchemist. I did like them all, just that so many books thing.

Best Historical Novel: To Slip the Bonds of Earth by Amanda Flower. 

Based on true history, this is a book about the Wright Brothers’ real-life sister. This author also wrote a historical fiction about Emily Dickenson. I have read all of those and really liked them. She won an Agatha in 2022 for Because I Could Not Stop For Death, book two in the Emily Dickenson books.

Best First Novel: You Know What You Did by K.T. Nguyen

This is a debut thriller and while I have not read it, it does sound good!

Best Short Story: Better Off Dead by Barb Goffman

Best Non-Fiction:  Writing the Cozy Mystery...by Phyllis M. Betz

Best Childrens/Young Adult: Sasquatch of Harriman Lake by K.B. Jackson

One other award that has been given to date are the Edgar Awards, named in honor of Edgar Allan Poe.

Best Mystery Novel: The In Crowd by Charlotte Vassell

Best First Novel By an American Author; Holy City by Henry Wise

Best Paperback Original: The Paris Widow by Kimberly Belle (This was nominated under other awards too,)

There are more Edgars and the Lefty's have also been awarded. They are voted on by the Left Coast Crime Convention attendees each year.

Whew! You get the idea. 

You can find these books and other winners at Stop You're Killing Me. This is a  great website to find all kinds of mysteries. 

Because I am sure you do not have enough mysteries to read. 😁

https://www.stopyourekillingme.com/Awards/index.html

Holmes Marple & Poe, The Grey Wolf and Murder on Mulberry Bend

Mid April already! We are having some really nice weather here. It will be replaced soon by hot hot weather I suppose. (In case you are one of those that had snow this morning and think I am bragging).  I have had a little trouble with this site so will try to catch up.

For our April Mystery Book Club, we read 

Holmes, Marple & Poe by James Patterson and Brian Sitts. It is book #1 in a newish series.

About: "The three detectives make a formidable team, solving a series of seemingly impossible crimes which expose the dark underbelly of the city; from priceless art theft, a high-stakes kidnapping, and a decades-old unsolved murder, to a gruesome subterranean prison, and corruption and bribery at the highest levels of power.

But it's not long before their headline-grabbing breakthroughs, unconventional methods - and untraceable pasts - attract the attention of the NYPD and the FBI.

After all, it's no surprise that there's a mystery or two to unravel in the city that never sleeps . . . not least, who really are Holmes, Marple and Poe?"

Everyone in the book club enjoyed this first book. The three detectives get more cases right away then they were prepared for but tackle them. Each of the three have certain strengths and also certain flaws. There are similarities to characteristics of their "namesakes". There is  a play on other famous authors and characters. (See if you can find them.) There is some humor also, although the cases they are working on are dark. An unsolved mystery is who are these three really? Are these their real names? 

Most agreed they want to read the next book in the series to find out more about the characters.

Book #2 is Holmes is Missing and came out in January 2025.

If you want to read more about James Patterson and books written with Brian Sitts, start here: https://www.jamespatterson.com/landing-page/james-patterson-home/

I also finished The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny. This book is #19 in the Armand Gamache series.

About: "Relentless phone calls interrupt the peace of a warm August morning in Three Pines. Though the tiny Québec village is impossible to find on any map, someone has managed to track down Armand Gamache, head of homicide at the Sûreté, as he sits with his wife in their back garden. Reine-Marie watches with increasing unease as her husband refuses to pick up, though he clearly knows who is on the other end. When he finally answers, his rage shatters the calm of their quiet Sunday morning.

That's only the first in a sequence of strange events that begin The Grey Wolf, the nineteenth novel in Louise Penny's #1 New York Times bestselling series. A missing coat, an intruder alarm, a note for Gamache reading "This might interest you," a puzzling scrap of paper with a mysterious list—and then a murder. All propel Chief Inspector Gamache and his team toward a terrible realization. Something much more sinister than any one murder or any one case is fast approaching.

Armand Gamache; Jean-Guy Beauvoir, his son-in-law and second in command; and Inspector Isabelle Lacoste can only trust each other, as old friends begin to act like enemies, and long-time enemies appear to be friends. Determined to track down the threat before it becomes a reality, their pursuit takes them across Québec and across borders. Their hunt grows increasingly desperate, even frantic, as the enormity of the creature they’re chasing becomes clear. If they fail, the devastating consequences would reach into the largest of cities and the smallest of villages."

I am a fan of this series and have read all of the books in the series. Great writing as usual. The subject matter is very serious and dark though. Very intense at the end and quite the cliff hanger for book #20, The Black Wolf coming out 10/28/25. I did miss not having as much of the other characters from Three Pines in this book. Maybe next book. I would recommend this series to anyone who has not read it and looking for a series they can get into.

I also just finished Murder on Mulberry Bend by Victoria Thompson, book #5 of the Gaslight Mystery series. 

About: "Sarah Brandt, a midwife in turn-of-the-century New York City, has seen more than her share of joy and sorrow, birth and death. Now she will see for the first time how the squalor of the streets can breed madness and murder…

The Prodigal Son Mission on Mulberry Bend stands as a refuge for girls who otherwise would have to live by selling the only thing they have of value—themselves. The work being done there so impresses Sarah that she volunteers to help out however she can—with clothes, with medical assistance, with the organization of a benefit dinner. And when one of the girls is found dead and refused burial because of her former life, Sarah’s passion for justice is aroused.

Reluctantly, Sergeant Frank Malloy agrees to look into the death, if only to keep Sarah from endangering herself by pursuing the matter. But Sarah cannot be kept out of the investigation—and just as Malloy feared, her attempts to find the cause of the unfortunate girl’s death in the circumstances of her life put her in deadly danger—from an unexpected source…"

I am really enjoying this series which I would say is a traditional mystery. The characters are interesting and the character development is good. Sara is a character you can root for. The chemistry between Sara and Frank Malloy keeps you hanging. This is also a historical mystery and talks about the culture of the time. If you are a fan of Scarlett and The Duke, you would like this series.  I have recommended it to several people and they have loved it, some even finishing the series in a few months! To date there are 27 books in this series. Victoria Thompson passed in 2024. Originally I saw a note that book 28 was in process and her daughter (a writer) would be finishing it. Not sure if that was fact or speculation. I don't see that comment now. We will have to wait and see. An excellent series.

https://victoriathompson.com/

Have you tried using Copilot? There is lots of buzz at my work place about it and we were introduced to it. I used it on my last post but not this one. Well I did put it in Copilot and did like the changes it came back with. I may try it again next time but this post is truly my own. :)

The Spy Coast by Tess Garritsen

I came across The Spy Coast, when perusing a "most anticipated" list of books for March. The Summer Guests was on that list. It sounded really good but found that there was one book before it: 

The Spy Coast. The Martini Club #1

About: "A retired CIA operative in small-town Maine tackles the ghosts of her past in this fresh take on the spy thriller from New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen.

Former spy Maggie Bird came to the seaside village of Purity, Maine, eager to put the past behind her after a mission went tragically wrong. These days, she’s living quietly on her chicken farm, still wary of blowback from the events that forced her early retirement.

But when a body turns up in Maggie’s driveway, she knows it’s a message from former foes who haven’t forgotten her. Maggie turns to her local circle of old friends—all retirees from the CIA—to help uncover the truth about who is trying to kill her, and why. This “Martini Club” of former spies may be retired, but they still have a few useful skills that they’re eager to use again, if only to spice up their rather sedate new lives.

Complicating their efforts is Purity’s acting police chief, Jo Thibodeau. More accustomed to dealing with rowdy tourists than homicide, Jo is puzzled by Maggie’s reluctance to share information—and by her odd circle of friends, who seem to be a step ahead of her at every turn.

As Jo’s investigation collides with the Martini Club’s maneuvers, Maggie’s hunt for answers will force her to revisit a clandestine career that spanned the globe, from Bangkok to Istanbul, from London to Malta. The ghosts of her past have returned, but with the help of her friends—and the reluctant Jo Thibodeau—Maggie might just be able to save the life she’s built."

I really enjoyed this book. On the surface, it might remind readers of The Thursday Murder Club, but it’s quite different. While the group in this story does host a monthly book club with potlucks and martinis, the similarities mostly end there.

The main characters were former CIA operatives. As one of them retires to an isolated area in Maine, a few of their "coworkers" follow suit. This group is younger than the characters in The Thursday Murder Club and far more physically active. They maintain their skills through rigorous practice, set up elaborate security systems, and remain somewhat suspicious—even of each other. The characters are  closer to the characters in the movie Red, starring Helen Mirren and John Malkovich.

Like many first books in a series, this one alternates between past and present, exploring the group’s beginnings in the CIA and focusing on one key mission. These flashbacks tie directly to present-day events. When Maggie gets an unexpected visitor demanding information about “Operation Cyrano” and later discovers a body in her driveway, she decides to leave her home and go east to uncover the truth. Despite her protests, her friends rally to support her.

The story is packed with action and misdirection, making it a great spy thriller with a hint of James Bond. It’s a gripping read that I highly recommend.

Fans of Tess Gerritsen might recognize her name from the Rizzoli & Isles series, which inspired the popular TV show. You can learn more about her and her works on her website.

https://www.tessgerritsen.com/