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.
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.
