17. First Sign of Danger by Kelley Armstrong

#4 Haven's Rock

listened on Libby - Borrowed from TTPL

337 pgs.

2026
Adult murder mystery
Finished 4/27/2026
Goodreads rating: 4.30
My rating: 4.5
Setting: Contemporary Yukon middle-of-nowhere wilderness

My comments: I was afraid that some of the plotting was getting too similar to others in this and the Rockton series, but this one proved me wrong.  So much "adventure in the wild" in this one, especially listening to it on audio, raising the excitement of crazy things happening in the wild outdoors-in-the-middle-of-nowhere quite a bit!  A good one.  (This one was about lost hikers and the too close-by miner's camp.)

Goodreads synopsis: Author Kelley Armstrong continues the Haven's Rock series as Casey Duncan investigates a threat to their off-the-grid Yukon town.

Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton, are entering a new chapter of life as parents to their six-month-old baby. Their family is hidden away in the sanctuary town of Haven's Rock where they can live safe and private lives. But when they encounter hikers too close to the borders of Haven's Rock, they realize they're in danger of being exposed.

When they find one of the hikers dead the next day, they realize that their paranoia was justified, but they're no closer to finding out who these people were and what they were doing in the vicinity of Haven's Rock. Only by tracing the hikers' movements, as well as examining the recent behavior of their closest neighbors, the workers of a secretive mining camp, will they be able to figure out where the threat is coming from and shut it down. Otherwise, the lives of everyone in Haven's Rock--and their safe, secure new existence--are at risk.

16. A Steep Price by Robert Dugoni

#6 Tracy Crosswhite

listened on Audible

410 pgs.

2018
Adult Police Procedural
Finished 4/10/2025
Goodreads rating: 4.38
My rating: 4.5
Setting: Contemporary Seattle

My comments: Although depressing, this mystery was super interesting and kept me on my toes, looking forward to returning each time I had to stop reading.  There are two (interesting) cases going on at once, Tracy is pregnant, and we get much more acquainted with Fazio and his wife Vera, who has just discovered she has breast cancer. 

Goodreads synopsis:  Called in to consult after a young woman disappears, Tracy Crosswhite has the uneasy feeling that this is no ordinary missing-persons case. When the body turns up in an abandoned well, Tracy’s suspicions are confirmed. Estranged from her family, the victim had balked at an arranged marriage and had planned to attend graduate school. But someone cut her dreams short.

Solving the mystery behind the murder isn’t Tracy’s only challenge. The detective is keeping a secret of her she’s pregnant. And now her biggest fear seems to be coming true when a new detective arrives to replace her. Meanwhile, Tracy’s colleague Vic Fazzio is about to take a fall after his investigation into the murder of a local community activist turns violent and leaves an invaluable witness dead.

Two careers are on the line. And when more deadly secrets emerge, jobs might not be the only things at risk.

6. Black Rock Bay by Brianna Labuskes

listened on Audible - also have Kindle
narrated by Sarah Naughton
Unabridged audio (11:18)
2019
364 pgs.
Contemporary Mystery
Finished 1/30/21
Goodreads rating: 4.03 - 1736 ratings
My rating: 3
Setting: St. Lucy's, Maine - an island off the coast of Rockland, winter

First line/s: "Then.  The whimper was a quiet thing, broken and almost lost to the wind battering the outside of the lighthouse."

What I posted on Goodreads:  Chose because of the Maine setting.  The mystery was okay.  Characterization only so-so.

My comments: Always drawn to novels that take place in Maine, this enticed me because it was also a murder mystery.  I think it could've been a good one, but there were so many different scenarios offered by the two cops that it bacame confusing.  And repetitive, which seems to be something that really bugs me.  I never felt I knew any of the characters at all so I wasn't even sure of motivations.  I did get a sense of Asher, but not of Cash, definitely not of Mia's mother, an what I did get was mostly told and not show.  Great concept for a book but didn't ssem to fulfill its vas opportunities.

Goodreads synopsis:  A detective returns to her haunted past, with deadly consequences, in an icy novel of psychological suspense by the Washington Post and Amazon Charts bestselling author of Girls of Glass.      
      Detective Mia Hart never planned to return home. One terrifying summer night, Mia lost two of her closest friends to suicide. Scarred and broken, she fled St. Lucy’s, a small island off the coast of Maine.
Now fifteen years later, when the body of a journalist is fished out of the bay near St. Lucy’s cliffs, Mia is forced to help with the case—and face all she’s been running from. As she approaches the island, the wintery winds of Black Rock Bay usher Mia home again.
          When Mia digs into the reporter’s death, she finds he left behind a written clue: It wasn't suicide. Mia soon discovers it’s her own tragic past he was referring to. Now, as she tries to untangle a web of lies, Mia realizes that solving this case means becoming the next pawn in someone’s blood-chilling game of truth or die.

6. Truth and Lies by Caroline Mitchell

listened to eAudio on Audible
narrated  by Elizabeth Knowelden
Unabridged audio (10:22)
2018 Thomas & Mercer
344 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery/Serial Killer
Finished 1/11/2020
Goodreads rating: 4.27 - 7121 ratings
My rating: 3.5/4
Setting: contemporary Great Britain

First line/s:  "1986:  It was the scratching noise that brought Poppy down to the place where she wasn't allowed to go."

My comments:  Throughout the reading of this entire book I had a jittery, nervous, uncomfortable feeling.  I guess I was just incredibly pput off the the loathsomeness of Lillian Grimes.  And it looks like her presence will be front and center in future books in the series, so I'm reluctant to continue.  Creep, disconcerting feeling.  I can't say that the protagonist is one of my favorites, either.  The story twists and turns as it twines a current day kidnapping with the scandalous serial murders of the Grimes family years previously.  The kicker is that the smart, dedicated copy, Amy Winters, is the youngest daughter of these killers, a fact that she doesn't remember and hasn't been told...until the beginning of this book, when she receives a letter from her birth mother from prison.  A wild ride.

Goodreads synopsis:  Meet Amy Winter: Detective Inspector, daughter of a serial killer.
          DI Amy Winter is hoping to follow in the footsteps of her highly respected police officer father. But when a letter arrives from the prison cell of Lillian Grimes, one half of a notorious husband-and-wife serial-killer team, it contains a revelation that will tear her life apart.
          Responsible for a string of heinous killings decades ago, Lillian is pure evil. A psychopathic murderer. And Amy’s biological mother. Now, she is ready to reveal the location of three of her victims—but only if Amy plays along with her twisted game.
           While her fellow detectives frantically search for a young girl taken from her mother’s doorstep, Amy must confront her own dark past. Haunted by blurred memories of a sister who sacrificed herself to save her, Amy faces a race against time to uncover the missing bodies.
          But what if, from behind bars, Grimes has been pulling the strings even tighter than Amy thought? And can she overcome her demons to prevent another murder?

66. Don't Even Breathe by Keith Houghton

listened on Audible
read by Karen Peakes
Unabridged audio (8:29)
2019 Thomas & Mercer
304 pgs.
Adult mystery
Finished 7/22/2019
Goodreads rating: 3.99 - 1561 ratings
My rating: 3 (or less)
Setting: Contemporary Orlando, FL

First line/s: "Long before she'd agreed to go on a date with him, Tyler had known he would kill Lindy Munson."

My comments: An entertaining, quick read, but nothing new.  Contemporary Orlando, Florida was given a fairly decent portrayal.  The protagonist, Maggie, was an excellent cop....and she knew it.  She was keeping secrets from the reader, which was very apparent, and I hate that.  I think it's called an "unreliable narrator."  And from her bosses she kept a few secrets about how her past and her current case were related.  Unethical much?  Her relationship with her boyfriend was sketchy, though her relationship with her partner was pretty decent.  The story was supposed to be one twist and surprise after another, but there was enough foreshadowing that you could figure most everything out before they were revealed.

Goodreads synopsis:  From the bestselling author of Crash comes a riveting thriller rife with murder, misdirection, and ghosts from the past.
          Florida homicide detective Maggie Novak has seen hundreds of brutal murder cases, but when she is called out to investigate the charred remains of a young woman, in what appears to be a Halloween prank gone wrong, she is confronted with a twenty-year-old secret. The body is formally identified as that of school counselor Dana Cullen, but a distinguishing mark makes Maggie look again. She believes it is the body of her school friend Rita, who perished in a fire twenty years ago.
          Maggie’s hunt for the truth behind the murder takes her back to a cruel high school trick she’s desperate to forget. And when another body turns up, Maggie realizes she too may be the target of a sinister plot creeping toward its final act.
          Maggie needs emotional distance to do her job, but she’s so close to this case that she can’t even breathe. Will Maggie be able to uncover the truth of who wanted Rita dead? Or will her past mistakes catch up with her first?

83. Angel Killer by Andrew Mayne

#1 Jessica Blackwood, FBI agent and magician
read on my iPhone
2014 Bourbon Street Books
368 pgs.
Adult murder mystery/police procedural
Finished 8/24/18
Goodreads rating:  4.02 - 2604 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting: contemporary spots in the US

First line/s:  " 'You're going to die.' I tell her this not to be cruel, but out of compassion."

My comments:  Well, that was a fascinating book.  After enjoying a couple of books by Andrew Mayne about Professor Theo Cray and his somewhat outlandish escapades, I thought I'd try this book about a female FBI agent who is also a talented magician.  I couldn't put it down.  A magician definitely wrote this book, and although I am not a big fan of magic, I've become a big fan of Andrew Mayne, also a magician in "real life."  Looking forward to the next Jessica Blackwood.

Goodreads synopsis:  FBI agent Jessica Blackwood believes she's left her complicated life as a gifted magician behind her . . . until a killer with seemingly supernatural powers puts her talents to the ultimate test.
          A hacker who identifies himself only as "Warlock" brings down the FBI's website and posts a code in its place that leads to a Michigan cemetery, where a dead girl is discovered rising from the ground . . . as if she tried to crawl out of her own grave.
          Born into a dynasty of illusionists, Jessica Blackwood is destined to become its next star—until she turns her back on her troubled family to begin a new life in law enforcement. But FBI consultant Dr. Jeffrey Ailes's discovery of an old magic magazine will turn Jessica's world upside down. Faced with a crime that appears beyond explanation, Ailes has nothing to lose—and everything to gain—by taking a chance on an agent raised in a world devoted to achieving the seemingly impossible.
          The body in the cemetery is only the first in the Warlock's series of dark miracles. Thrust into the media spotlight, with time ticking away until the next crime, can Jessica confront her past to stop a depraved killer? If she can't, she may become his next victim. 

70. Play Dead by Anne Frasier

#1 Elise Sandberg, Savannah homicide detective
listened onAudible
2014 Thomas & Mercer
366 pgs.
Adult Police Procedural/Mystery
Finished July 28, 2018
Goodreads rating: 3.84 - 7445 ratings
My rating:  4.5
Setting: contemporary Savannah, GA

First line/s:  "Savannah medical examiner John Casper believed in what some scientists termed the cluster effect."

My comments:  I really enjoyed this book, it was different than "typical" murder mysteries in that an element of the story was about southern Gullah hoodoo witchery, embraced by the protagonist.  Having visited historic Savannah for a week two months ago, I was very familiar with some of the setting, including the extraordinary Bonaventure Cemetery and even my favorite restaurant whilst there, Gryphon.  There are three major storylines twisting and turning together in this book - the murders they were investigating (involving deaths that used a toxic found in puffer fish which renders its victims unable to more of feel, but able to hear and think), Elise's background and ancestry, and the mysteries surrounding Elise's new partner, ex-FBI agent David Gould.  It was a fascinating story with a vibrant setting.  I wish I had read this book before I went to Savannah because I would have checked out a few more of the places described in the book.  Next time....

Goodreads synopsis:  No one is more familiar with Savannah's dark side than homicide detective and native resident Elise Sandburg. She's been haunted for years by her own mysterious past: she was abandoned as a baby in one of the city's ancient cemeteries, and it's rumored that she is the illegitimate daughter of an infamous Savannah root doctor. The local Gullah culture of voodoo and magic is one that few outsiders can understand, least of all Elise's new partner. Now someone is terrorizing the city, creating real-life zombies by poisoning victims into a conscious paralysis that mimics death. As the chilling case unfolds, Elise is drawn back into the haunted past she's tried so hard to leave behind.

43. A Darkness Absolute by Kelley Armstrong

Casey Duncan (Lost City #2)
read on my iPhone (I listened to the first one...)
2017. Minotaur Books
416 pgs
Finished 5/20/17
Goodreads rating: 4.17 - 4717 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting:  Contemporary - Just below the Arctic Circle, in the forest...

First line/s:  "We've been tracking Shawn Sutherland for almost two hours when the blizzard strikes."

My comments:  The second installment in the Casey Duncan/Eric Dalton mystery series is very similar in style to the first installment, and just as addicting. The setting itself is like another character in the story and though some of the scenes seem a little repetitious, it’s an excellently executed plot. So once again character, setting, and plot and twine together quite well. I’m not a dog lover, and the introduction to the story of a puppy that needs full-time care didn’t quite do it for me, personally – though I bet others will really love it.

Goodreads synopsis: The follow-up to #1 NYT bestseller Kelley Armstrong’s acclaimed City of the Lost, Rockton town detective Casey Duncan makes a terrible—and dangerous—discovery in the woods outside of town.
          When experienced homicide detective Casey Duncan first moved to the secret town of Rockton, she expected a safe haven for people like her, people running from their past misdeeds and past lives. She knew living in Rockton meant living off-the-grid completely: no cell phones, no Internet, no mail, very little electricity, and no way of getting in or out without the town council’s approval. What she didn’t expect is that Rockton comes with its own set of secrets and dangers.
          Now, in A Darkness Absolute, Casey and her fellow Rockton sheriff’s deputy Will chase a cabin-fevered resident into the woods, where they are stranded in a blizzard. Taking shelter in a cave, they discover a former resident who’s been held captive for over a year. When the bodies of two other women turn up, Casey and her colleagues must find out if it’s an outsider behind the killings or if the answer is more complicated than that...before another victim goes missing.
          Casey Duncan returns in another heart-racing thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong. 

38. City of the Lost by Kelley Armstrong

#1 Casey Duncan
listened on Audible
2016 Sphere
471 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery/Police Procedural
Finished 4/25/18
Goodreads rating:  4.05 - 7644 ratings
My rating:  4.5
Setting: Contemporary Yukon, Canada

First line/s: "'I killed a man,' I say to my new therapist."

My comments: Interesting story, darned interesting. Some really great plot twists and a setting in the forests just below the Arctic Circle that was fascinating. I adored Casey, I liked the way she thought and I loved how smart she was. Great protagonist. About 2/3 of the way through it got a little draggy and went from practically no romance to a little bit too much, but I still took quite a shine to this book.  Looking forward with great anticipation to the next.

Goodreads synopsis: Casey Duncan is a homicide detective with a secret: when she was in college, she killed a man. She was never caught, but he was the grandson of a mobster and she knows that someday this crime will catch up to her. Casey's best friend, Diana, is on the run from a violent, abusive ex-husband. When Diana's husband finds her, and Casey herself is attacked shortly after, Casey knows it's time for the two of them to disappear again.
          Diana has heard of a town made for people like her, a town that takes in people on the run who want to shed their old lives. You must apply to live in Rockton and if you're accepted, it means walking away entirely from your old life, and living off the grid in the wilds of Canada: no cell phones, no Internet, no mail, no computers, very little electricity, and no way of getting in or out without the town council's approval. As a murderer, Casey isn't a good candidate, but she has something they want: She's a homicide detective, and Rockton has just had its first real murder. She and Diana are in. However, soon after arriving, Casey realizes that the identity of a murderer isn't the only secret Rockton is hiding—in fact, she starts to wonder if she and Diana might be in even more danger in Rockton than they were in their old lives.

14. In the Land of Milk and Honey by Jane Jensen

#2 Elizabeth Harris, Lancaster Police Detective
listened on Audible
2016, Berkley
304 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished February 1, 2018
Goodreads rating: 3.95 - 222 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting:  Contemporary Lancaster and Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

First line/s:  "I pulled into the driveway at the Yoder's farm and turned off my car."

My comments:  My interest and appreciation for the Kate Burkholder Amish murder mysteries by Linda Castillo have beecome overshadowed, I think, but this series.  This, too, follows a police detective - not in Ohio, but in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  I still feel a little bit dissatisfied with the protagonist, but her relationship with a lovely ex-Amish man, Ezra Byler (although a story in the background of the main plot), is very enjoyable.  So yes, I love the setting.  I love this peek inside the life of the Amish.  The plot was different, horrible murders, but cleverly and believably written.  I wish I could put my finger on exactly why I'm not completely taken with Elizabeth Harris, she's a little too...single-minded...perhaps?  I'm not sure, but maybe and hopefully after reading a third installment in this series I'll have a little better handle on why I don't really like her as much as I think I should.

Goodreads synopsis: With its peaceful, hardworking Amish population, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is a rural paradise. But former NYPD homicide detective Elizabeth Harris knows that evil lurks there—it’s just easier to hide... 
           By solving the murders of two local girls, Elizabeth has gained some trust in the Amish community. So, she’s the first person its members turn to when a fast and fatal illness takes hold, though many believe that the sickness stems from a hexerei—a curse placed by a practitioner of old-world folk magic. Elizabeth doesn’t believe in curses, and when an entire Amish family is found dead, she begins to suspect something far more sinister...
            As the CDC is called in to investigate, customers of a Philadelphia farmers market selling Amish raw milk start dying. Amid rapidly escalating panic, Elizabeth must peel away layers of superstition and fear to save the livelihood—and lives—of an entire community. Because what has happened isn’t an accident of nature or an act of God, it’s the handiwork of someone who has only just begun to kill... 

56. The Late Show by Michael Connelly

#1 Renee Ballard, LA Police Detective
listened on Audible
2017, Little Brown  Co.
405 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery/Police Procedural
Finished 9/7/2017
Goodreads rating:  4.06
My rating:  4
Setting:  Contemporary LA

First line/s:  "Ballard and Jenikins rolled up on the house on El Centro shortly before midnight."

My comments:  Renee Ballard is a smart, aggressive, bend-the-rules detective in the Los Angeles police department.  I can't say I really liked her, but I think it's the way that the reader's voice gave her personality - or lack thereof.  Much of it was read in a monotone.  If I'd been reading it myself I would've definitely put different stresses to the words and I think it would've changed Renee's personality for me completely.  The cases were cleverly conceived by Mr. Connelly and incredibly captivating.  Excellent characters, interesting lifestyle for the protagonist, super setting.  I only drove around LA twice, but I can see it in my head as he describes it.  Yes, a good murder mystery of which there will hopefully be more.

Goodreads synopsis: From #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly, a new thriller introducing a driven young detective trying to prove herself in the LAPD
          Renée Ballard works the night shift in Hollywood, beginning many investigations but finishing none as each morning she turns her cases over to day shift detectives. A once up-and-coming detective, she's been given this beat as punishment after filing a sexual harassment complaint against a supervisor.
          But one night she catches two cases she doesn't want to part with: the brutal beating of a prostitute left for dead in a parking lot and the killing of a young woman in a nightclub shooting. Ballard is determined not to give up at dawn. Against orders and her own partner's wishes, she works both cases by day while maintaining her shift by night. As the cases entwine they pull her closer to her own demons and the reason she won't give up her job no matter what the department throws at her.

30. A Merciful Death by Kendra Elliot

read on my iPhone
2017, Montlake Romance
342 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery
Finished 5/29/17
Goodreads rating:  4.22 - 6951 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting: Contemporary rural Oregon

First line/s:  "Mercy Kilpatrick wondered whom she'd ticked off at the Portland FBI office."

My comments:  Characters and setting were interesting and well written.  The idea of a community of people who are survivalists is intriguing, and although the protagonist, Mercy, had left this way of life when she was only 18, it was still a big part of her and she was still drawn to many of its tenants. Sheriff Truman Daly was almost a little too good to be true and hard to believe that he had not already been snatched up by some female or other.   The plot moved along at a decent pace, and though the "surprises" weren't really surprises, it was fun to see how Mercy pulled all the little ends together.  At times it was a little disconcerting that the point-of-view would change for a very short time, switching back very quickly to one of the two main protagonists.  I'll be interested to see whether this is something that will continue in the next book or it it was the only way Kendra Elliot though she could subtly include needed information.  I'm looking forward to the next book in the series, which comes out in a few months.

Goodreads synopsis  FBI special agent Mercy Kilpatrick has been waiting her whole life for disaster to strike. A prepper since childhood, Mercy grew up living off the land—and off the grid—in rural Eagle’s Nest, Oregon. Until a shocking tragedy tore her family apart and forced her to leave home. Now a predator known as the cave man is targeting the survivalists in her hometown, murdering them in their homes, stealing huge numbers of weapons, and creating federal suspicion of a possible domestic terrorism event. But the crime scene details are eerily familiar to an unsolved mystery from Mercy’s past.          
          Sent by the FBI to assist local law enforcement, Mercy returns to Eagle’s Nest to face the family who shunned her while maintaining the facade of a law-abiding citizen. There, she meets police chief Truman Daly, whose uncle was the cave man’s latest victim. He sees the survivalist side of her that she desperately tries to hide, but if she lets him get close enough to learn her secret, she might not survive the fallout…

20. Mourning Gloria by Andrew Downs

A Leah Hudson Thriller
read on my iPhone
2015, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
308 pgs.
Adult Mystery/FBI
Finished 4-6-17
Goodreads rating: 4.21 - 382 ratings
My rating: 3
Setting: Late 1980s California

First line/s:  "The Good Samaritan was famished...practically starving.  His hunger had been building for weeks, fueled by an insatiable desire, which could only be fulfilled by one thing...the kill."

My comments:       Something was just a little bit of with this book, but I guess I'm going to have to mull a bit to come up with what it might be.  I think it had to do with the characters.  The mystery was pretty decent, the setting - California from LA to San Francisco and in between - is a bit known to me and it worked.
     I used to tell my students when they were learning to write to "show me, don't tell me."  Well, I feel like the characters in Mourning Gloria were told about, not shown.  Either that or the parts about them that were showing didn't totally agree with what the author was telling.  Or something.  Can't quite put my finger on it. Definitely something to do with characterization.  As usual, I hate to say anything negative about an author's hard work, but I'll add more if I figure it out.

Goodreads synopsis:  From The Author Of The Alex Hollick Series Comes A Dark Heart-Pounding Thriller With Brilliant Plotting, Continuous Suspense and a Jaw Dropping Finale! 
          When a murder suspect escapes indictment on a technicality, Agent Leah Hudson is forced to shift her focus to a new task, a cold case. Five years after Gloria Stone disappears, Hudson must piece together the final days of her life, but Gloria was no ordinary girl. Shortly after surviving a brutal gang rape on her twenty-first birthday, the affluent wine heiress vanished, her car abandoned in a supermarket parking lot. 
With the help of her onetime mentor, Hudson retraces the steps of an old investigation, determined to succeed where all others have failed. Making her way through a slew of once discounted suspects, she edges closer to a horrifying truth - Gloria wasn’t alone…there are other victims and a misogynistic serial killer continues to lurk in the shadows of the Central Valley, threatening the lives of young women who fit his sick and twisted M.O. 
          Mourning Gloria brings together the elements of a thriller and a murder-mystery into one bone-chilling tale that examines the darkest depths of human nature. 

16. Kingdom Come by Jane Jensen

#1 Elizabeth Harris
read by Rachel Fulginiti
listened on Audible
2016 Berkley
304 pgs.
Adult Mystery - Police Procedural
Finished 3/14/17
Goodreads rating: 3.74 - 474 ratings
My rating: 4.5
Setting: contemporary Lancaster County, PA

First line/s:  ":It's......sensitive, Grady had said on the phone, his voice tight."

My comments: An "English" detective takes on the murder investigation of an Amish girl and her "English" (non-Amish) best friend.  Although you get an idea about whodunit and why as the story progresses, there's also a - spoiler alert - love story element that didn't put me off as much as some other books with this device have.  It's done well, I think, and is quite believable.  I love these fascinating looks into the lives of another religion and culture, particularly the Amish.  I couldn't put this book down and I'm so excited that there is another in the series.

Goodreads synopsis: In Kingdom Come, the first in a new mystery series from Jane Jensen, an ex-NYPD detective seeks escape in Amish country and finds darkness instead.
          When a beautiful, scantily clad "English" girl is found dead in the barn of a prominent Amish family, Detective Elizabeth Harris knows she's uncovered an evil that could shatter the peace of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Even though Elizabeth's boss is convinced this was the work of an "English", as outsiders are called, Elizabeth isn't so sure. Now Elizabeth must track down a killer with deep ties to a community that always protects its own - no matter how deadly the cost.

4. Dead Connection by Alafair Burke

read on my Kindle
2007, Henry Hold
336 pgs.
Adult murder mystery/Police procedural
Finished 2-1-17
Goodreads rating:  3.73 - 2803 ratubgs
My rating: 4
Setting:  Contemporary NYC

First line/s:  "The man's first look at the newspaper item was a casual one, followed immediately by a more deliberate perusal."

My comments:  I read this book over the course of at least a month, and for some reason had no difficulty remembering details during the spans of nonreading time.  The storyline was interesting with a number of surprises, and the protagonist, Ellie Hatcher, was smart and real.  She took chances, sometimes without thinking things entirely through, and was willing to bend rules a little bit. I liked her a lot, as well as her brother, Jess, and the guy she ended up "seeing" by the end of the book, Peter.  There are a handful of Ellie Hatcher books following this one, and I'm looking forward to reading at least the next.

Goodreads synopsis:  In this electrifying thriller, a rookie detective goes undercover on the 

Internet dating scene to draw out a serial killer targeting single women
in Manhattan

           When two young women are murdered on the streets of New York, exactly one year apart, Detective Ellie Hatcher is called up for a special assignment on the homicide task force. The killer has left behind a clue connecting the two cases to First Date, a popular online dating service, and Flann McIlroy, an eccentric, publicity-seeking homicide detective, is convinced that only Ellie can help him pursue his terrifying theory: someone is using the lure of the Internet and the promise of love to launch a killing spree against the women of New York City. 

           To catch the killer, Ellie must enter a high-tech world of stolen identities where no one is who they appear to be. And for her, the investigation quickly becomes personal: she fits the profile of the victims, and she knows firsthand what pursuing a sociopath can do to a cop--back home in Wichita, Kansas, her father lost his life trying to catch a notorious serial murderer. 

           When the First Date killer begins to mimic the monster who destroyed her father, Ellie knows the game has become personal for him, too. Both hunter and prey, she must find the killer before he claims his next victim--who could very well be her.

           Expertly plotted and perfectly paced, Dead Connection advances Alafair Burke to the front ranks of American thriller writers.

68. The Body Reader by Anne Frasier

read on my iPhone/Book/listened to audio CD/Audible...
2016, Thomas & Mercer
289 pgs.
adult murder mystery
Finished 12-1-16
Goodreads rating:  4.18
My rating: 4.5

First line/s:  "One day she stopped screaming."

My comments:  First of all, I can't (and don't want to) imagine what it would be like to be held captive in a basement "cell" for three years.  In the best of circumstances this would be horrendous, but Jude Fontaine was held under horrid circumstances.  So when she is able to escape and re-enter the real world, it is hard to comprehend how she would or could survive.  The foremost feeling I have after reading this book is that Anne Frasier is a wonderful, creative writer.  It's a really believable story that could so easily be the opposite.  Impressed.

Goodreads synopsis:  For three years, Detective Jude Fontaine was kept from the outside world. Held in an underground cell, her only contact was with her sadistic captor, and reading his face was her entire existence. Learning his every line, every movement, and every flicker of thought is what kept her alive.
     After her experience with isolation and torture, she is left with a fierce desire for justice—and a heightened ability to interpret the body language of both the living and the dead. Despite colleagues’ doubts about her mental state, she resumes her role at Homicide. Her new partner, Detective Uriah Ashby, doesn’t trust her sanity, and he has a story of his own he’d rather keep hidden. But a killer is on the loose, murdering young women, so the detectives have no choice: they must work together to catch the madman before he strikes again. And no one knows madmen like Jude Fontaine.

66. Once Shadows Fall by Robert Daniels

Sturgis & Kale #1
read on my Kindle AND listened on Audible
2015, Crooked Lane Books
352 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished  11/23/16
Goodreads rating:  4.03 - 186 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting:  Contemporary Atlanta, GA

First line/s:   "Luck:  hard to plan for it, hard to predict when it might show up."

My comments:  A new, female homicide detective gets handed a case that looks like a copycat -  a copycat because the deranged killer of what look like the same type of serial murders is locked away in a psychiatric hospital.   As more similar murders appear, she teams up with a brilliant - though reluctant - ex-FBI agent who is now a college professor.  Of course rapport between them grows as we slowly learn his story, which is deeply imbedded in the original serial killer's story.  Oh, these dark, twisted minds! This was a satisfying mystery, though quite easy to figure out early on if you've read a lot of murder mysteries.  I look forward to reading more in the series.

Goodreads synopsis:  After years of paying her dues on the force, Beth Sturgis has earned her place as a detective for the Robbery-Homicide division of the Atlanta PD. Now, she's heading up a major manhunt for a potential serial killer who’s working his way inward from the outskirts of the city. The copycat elements in the first crime scene lead Sturgis to retired FBI agent Jack Kale, who was responsible for apprehending and nearly killing the murderer known as the Scarecrow, the same Scarecrow who appears to be this new killer's terrible inspiration.
          A reclusive single father and university professor, Kale is trying to keep the demons at bay through therapy and avoidance. That is, until Sturgis shows up asking for his help. Against his better judgment, Kale is drawn into the most dangerous cat and mouse game of his life. Robert Daniels's Once Shadows Fall, is a gripping thriller in the bestselling tradition of Silence of the Lambs and is sure to become a crime fiction classic.

48. Evil Games by Angela Marsons

D. I. Kim Stone #2
read on my Kindle
2015
382 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery
Finished 9/12/16
Goodreads rating: 4.31 - 7,118 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary "Black Country" in England

First line/s:  "Three minutes to go.  Dawn raids didn't come bigger than this."

My comments:    We put all our trust into the medical professionals we use, so when one is cruel, sick, and misguided, it's particularly creepy.  That was the premise behind this book.  Angela Marsons has created a flawed heroine that is totally believable...and weirdly likeable...and both the books I've read so far have been really good.  I want to know more about Kim Stone, and look forward to number three.

Goodreads synopsis:  The greater the Evil, the more deadly the game… 
          When a rapist is found mutilated in a brutal attack, Detective Kim Stone and her team are called in to bring a swift resolution. But, as more vengeful killings come to light, it soon becomes clear that there is someone far more sinister at work. 
          With the investigation quickly gathering momentum, Kim finds herself exposed to great danger and in the sights of a lethal individual undertaking their own twisted experiment. 
          Up against a sociopath who seems to know her every weakness, for Detective Stone, each move she makes could be deadly. As the body count starts to mount, Kim will have to dig deeper than ever before to stop the killing. And this time - it’s personal.

17. Blood Ties - Nicholas Guild

Audio read by Graham Rowatt (VERY nicely)
CD in my new car
(11:19) 10 unabridged cds
2015, Forge Books
320 pgs.
Adult murder mystery
Finished 3-10-16
Goodreads rating: 3.99
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary San Francisco, CA and vicinity as well as various other places in different parts of the country

First line/s:"The rain had stopped just before dawn, but up on the coast highway the air was still laden with heavy mist, enough to dissolve the flashers on the police cruisers into pulses of smeary read light."

My comments:

(For some reason I've been reluctant to give fives lately. This was very, very good....but not quite a five, and I'm not even sure why.) How do mystery writers keep coming up with so many really different scenarios? Because there's so much going on in the real world that boggles the mind? Hmmmm. This story has a really interesting premise, and it follows it through to the end, nailing it. It started out a little slowly, but it didn't take long for me to be thinking up any excuse I could to get into the car and listen a little more. Psychopaths. Mental disorders. If you read too many of these sort of books you start looking at everyone with a questioning eye....

Goodreads synopsis:  Homicide detective Ellen Ridley of the SFPD is tracking a serial killer terrorizing young women in the San Francisco Bay Area. Ridley is sure she's cornered her most likely suspect: Stephen Tregear, a hacker and code breaker who works for U.S. Naval Intelligence. But Tregear is not the killer... he's the killer's son.
          Ridley and Tregear team up to look for Tregear's father, Walter, in an elaborate game of murderous cat and mouse. As the body count rises, Ridley must race against the clock to stop Walter before he kills any more women--and Tregear must finally confront the father who has been trying to kill him for twenty years. Blood Ties is an elegant and frightening thriller from Nicholas Guild. 

50. Darkness First - James Hayman

McCabe & Savage #3
read on my iPhone
2013 Witness Impulse eBook
496 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery
Finished beginning of August, 2015
Goodreads rating: 4.08
My rating: 3
Setting: Contemporary Eastport/Machias, Maine

First line/s:  "At 7:47 on a Friday evening in August, Dr. Emily Kaplan's office was still open, as it was every Friday night, for the convenience of those who found it difficult to come in at any other time."

My comments:  I don't think I enjoyed this third in the series as much as the first two.  The setting has changed a bit - from Portland to the Eastport/Machias area.  The main protagonist changes from McCabe to his sidekick, Maggie, but McCabe puts in a brief appearance near the end.  Characters travel from one place to another quickly, which is a bit off-putting, because the distance between, say, Machias and Augusta isn't just a hop, skip, and jump like the plot implies.  The whodunit part was cleared up early on (as far as I was concerned), which was a bit of a let-down.  However, because the setting was so real to me, it was still a fairly decent mystery, and I don't hate the characters (though there's a bit of an interesting, though unsettling twist, in this one) I'll happily look forward to a fourth installment.

Goodreads synopsis:  The mutilated body of a young woman. The town doctor lying comatose in the road. A hundred and fifty tablets of Canadian OxyContin. This is the havoc that a merciless killer has wreaked on a sleepy Maine seaport.
          As detectives Maggie Savage and Michael McCabe investigate, they realize the man they are after does not exist. Nobody knows his real name. Nobody has seen his face. But everybody fears his blade.
          The only one who may know the murderer's true identity is an eleven-year-old girl—who has vanished into thin air.
          Taut, twisting, and starring two unforgettable heroes, Darkness First will thrill fans of John Sandford and C. J. Box.