Mystery Series "Dumps" from Previous Years

 Alphabetical by Book Title

          Dispersed

Bad Memory - Lisa Gray

#2 Jessica Shaw

2019, 311 pgs.

4/8/22 

Audible.  It took me awhile to get through this for some reason....it was somewhat interesting, but didn't grab me.  There were two mysteries being investigated that really were part of the same mystery, unbeknownst to any of the main characters.  That someone could be in jail for 30 or 40 years and be completely innocent distressed me.  And that inky blackness dug away in the back of my mind throughout the story.  3.5

          Dispersed

Crimson Lake - Candice Fox

#1 Crimson Lake

2017, 348 pgs.

6/8/22  

     Number one in a series of three so far.  The unique setting of northeaster Queensland along the tropical, crocodile-infested border is actually one of the characters in the story!  And what a story it is, I couldn't stop listening.  Police officer Ted Concaffy is falsely accused of abducting and raping a 13-year-old, which has, of course, turned hi life more than pside down.  He has escaped from Sydney to this tiny town of Crimson Lake and immediately becomes acquainted with the other Crimson Lake pariah, Amelia Farrow, who was charged with the murder of a young girl when she herself was only around 17.  Skinny and totally covered with tattoos, Ted never knows what she is going to be muttering.  She absolutely refuses to ride in a car, always riding on her yellow bicycle.  Such anger at some of the horrible characters suffused me as I read!  How Ted could keep his cool when horrible things that people with vendettas against him threw at him, I'll never know.  Amanda and Ted spend about a third of the book searching for the killer of a local popular author.  The intricate, excellent story intertwines three or four stories so brilliantly!  Read by an Australian-accented narrator, I was right there with them.  Fascinating.  5

          Dispersed

Fallen - Linda Castillo

#13 Kate Burkholder

2021, 320 pgs.

9/11/2021  

A 29-year-old previously Amish is murdered in a motel room in Painters Mill, beaten brutally with a bat.  Kate discovers that not only does she know this woman, she had babysat forRachel Schwartz many years ago. Rachel had been a wild child, leaving the Amish life when she was 17.  She was still friends with her best friend from childhood.  Kate, with the help of Tomasetti, solves part of the mystery quite quickly, but then discovers that there's more...much more.  This was an interesting story.  I liked it better than some of the more recent titles in the series.  4

          Dispersed

In the Clearing - Robert Dugoni

#3 Tracy Crosswhite

2016, 335 pgs.

10/12/21  read

Tracy investigtes two different murders, one a cold case from 1976 and the other of a wife and son both claiming to kill the father.  Set in Seattle near the Yakima reservation.  A niteresting plot that kept my attention most of the ride from Carlisle to Trenton and even back to Portland.  4

          Dispersed

The Insider - Craig Schaefer

#2 Charlie McCabe

2020, 329 pgs.

3/3/22  read

Contemporary Boston.  Interesting, complicated plot of a couple of different groups of very bad guys...and one buffoon assignment (??)  Bad cops a a smooth, brilliant antagonist from Charlie's past.  I'm sure there's going to be a number three....but when?  4...almost a 5 but a little too dragged out.

          Dispersed

Red Hot Fix - T. E. Woods

#2 Justice series/Mort Grant/The Fixer

2014, 288 pgs.

10/24/21  read

T. E. Woods can certainly spin a good tale!  Same two protagonists.  Mort is dealing with two different murders that are related and Lydia is dealing with her own pedophile case.  Hopping back-and-forth between the two keep it totally and completely interesting.  A female serial killer, a supposed prostitute name Trixie, is killing johns.  A national league basketball owner is murdered halfway through the book after we follow him in his pursuits with his team.  Looks like the series will continue, and I'm on it!  4.5

          Dispersed

The Short Drop - Matthew Fitzsimmons

#1 Gibson Vaughn

2015, 397 pgs.

8/16/20  read

Well, this was a great purchase.  I'm not a huge fan of political thrillers, but I enjoyed eing inside the head of this extremely bright ex-marine hacker who is trying to figure out what happened to a very close friend who disappeared/was kidnapped ten years previously.  Along the way he makes many discoveries about questionable details of his own past.  Definitely not a dull story.  I wasn't crazy about the narrator, he did something wierd with the end of his words that I didn't care for.  4.5

          Dispersed

Tell Me - Anne Frasier

#2 Inland Empire

2021, 285 pgs.

4/14/22  read

     Audible and Kindle.  A good mystery told from both the inside and outside of the investigation, from bad guys and good guys point-ov-views.  Nice twists that I didn't see coming.  I really do enjoy Frasier's writing, characters, and plot twists.  4

          Dispersed

Whispers from the Dead - Karen Ann Hopkins 

#2 Amish Sheriff Serenity Adams

2015, 282 pgs.

7/6/22  read

     Audible and Kindle.  Serenity is asked to travel to another Amish/English community in northern Indiana to figure out why a series of barn burnings are taking place.  I don't like the way the reader does Amish OR men's voices, she has a slowness to them that makes them sound like they've got some medical disabilities, lol.  The story is okay.  There are some questionable Amish cultural factors that don't quite meet what I've come to know about the Amish, but I realize there are many big AND small differences between communities.  Also, some of the things that Serenity does seem pretty questionable to me.  3.  Sequel on hand.

          Dispersed

The Woman in Blue - Elly Griffiths

#8 Ruth Galloway

2016, 370 pgs.

7/23/22 read

    Audible.  This one was all about the Catholic Church and priests and religion, something that makes Ruth Galloway uncomfortable.  Too many coincidences and reasong for thigs happening that are iffy to say the least.  This was okay, but not one of my favorites.  And this isn't so much Ruth's story as it is a compilation of everyone's.  So many different characters to remember!  3.5

             Dispersed

Secrets in the Grave - Karen Ann Hopkins

#3 Serenity's Plain Secrets

2015, 253 pgs.

7/22/22 read

     Audible and Kindle.  So many names, confused all the time because she keeps pulling back people from the first two novels -- which I don't remember.  I still don't like her very much, Daniels is okay.  Don't get their relationship at all.  The mystery was so-so, I figured it out early.  Okay for driving, though.  3

          Dispersed

Hidden in Plain Sight - Karen Ann Hopkins

#4 Serenity's Plain Secrets

2016, 217 pgs.

August, 2022 read

     Kindle.  Another Serenity Adams, Amish community in Indiana, who takes off all sorts of time to take a supposedly {quick" trip - many times back-and-forth to Lancester County , Pa to help them solve a 15-year old cold case.  I don't get the same feeling about the way the Amish are portrayed in this book as I have in  many of the others, both Christian and non-Christian base that I've read. Don't think I'm going to read any more of them.  3

9/13/2022 

No Mercy - Blake Pierce

#1 Valerie Law

58. on September 2022 list, but no summary?  Perhaps in another dump?

62.  Hatchet Island (#13 Mike Bowditch) -  Paul Doiron, Audible (5) 9/22/22

64. The Midnight Man - Kindle (#1 Slayton Thrillers) Caroline Mitchell 2021 (3.5) 10/4 GR

65.  The Night Whispers (#2 Slayton Thrillers) Caroline Mitchell - 2022 Audible&Kindle (3) 10/6 GR

            dispersed

Desert Star - Michael Connelly

#5 Renee Ballard

2022, 400 pgs. 

December, 2022 read

     OMG, what has Michael Connelly done?  He's killing off Harry Bosch?  He's made him an old man with a terminal illness.  Might this be happening to Michael Connelly himself?  This was a very interesting story because of all-of-a-sudden Harry was depicted as being older...being called "old man" constantly.  And I hated that.  The storytelling was good, finding a cold case murder from many years previously, but it's left me with a totally unsettled feeling, because I don't know in what direction Harry Bosch will be going.  Reading about him and watching him on Amazon Prime has sort of been a big part of my life in recent years, and always brings me closer to Steve.  Connelly even brought Mickey Haller int the mix at the very end, almost like he was wrapping up loose ends.  Is this the last Harry Bosch?  How can I evev rate this one?

      Dispersed

Hallowed Ground - Linda Castillo

#14.5 Kate Burkholder Short story

6/23/23 Read

     Human bones are found and then Burkholder and Tomasetti discover cemetery graves have been dug up.  They solve it quite easily.  4

      Dispersed

Close to Home - Robert Dugoni

#5 Tracy Crosswhite

2017, 362 pgs.

6/24/23  Read

     Set in Seattle and across the ferry in Bremerton, this one follows Tracy and her fellow detectives on two interesting cases- one a hit and run, the other a drug overdose of one of Dell's nieces.  Much of the story involves the Navy, including some of its personnel - lawyers - from the Navy base in Bremerton.  There's a lot of back-and-forth on the ferry.  Also, Tracy is constantly trying to get pregnant since she's at the end of the line for that possibility ... and the story ends with a possible HEA.  4

     Dispersed

Dead Man's Wake - Paul Doiron

#14 Mike Bowditch

2023, 320 pgs.

7/31/23 finished

     This one takes place completely on an island, Moose Island, on Belgrade Lake.  Mice and Stacy are on one side of the lake at Mike's stepfather's summer place when they hear a crash from near the island across the lake.  Since Charlie Stevens is also present at the engagement celebration, he is a participant in most of the story, as is his airplane.  Good story, kept my attention, made sense, and was definitely full of MAINE!  4

           Dispersed

AN Evil Heart - Linda Castillo

#15 Kate Burkholder

2023, 320 pgs.

8/27/23 Finished

     Libby.  Pretty gross murder of a young Amish guy with two close-up arrows, both through and through.  Plus....Tomasetti and Burkholder get married at the very end of the book, in the last four minutes or so!  4

      Dispersed

The Final Equinox - Andrew Mayne

#2 Theo Cray & Jessica Blackwood

2022, 336 pgs.

9/3/23  Finished

     This was interesting but had far too much scientific jargon that totally made no sense to me at all.  I ended up skimming about 1/3 or the book.  I couldn't keep all of the characters straight - who could have been the bad guys, who could've been the good guys, who was on what side..... It will be interesting to see what other people have rated and reviewed about this book, perhaps it's a better actual READ than LISTEN?  3

      Dispersed

9/19/23

Nearly Mine - Molly Black

#1 Grace Ford

2023, 170 pgs.

     Kindle.  I don't think I really liked the protagonist in this one.  She was a little too cocky sure of herself all the time, just a little better than everybody else.  The murders were a little far-fetched as well.  If I'm able to get book 2 on the cheap I'll probably try it out.  Will be easy to pass.  3

        Disbursed

11/25/23

The Spy Coast - Tess Gerritsen

#1 The Martini Club

2023, 341 pgs.

     Audible and Kindle.  Ex CIA agent Maggie lives on a small farm on the coast of Maine near four of five other ex-CIA agents that she had worked with years before.   She both quit the CIA and lost her beloved husband 16 years before.  But somehow, the bad guys from her last case (you guessed it - 16 years before) found her.  The story was fun to follow and try to figure out.  Set in Maine and Bangkok with quick side trips to other glamorous places.  Two time periods.  4

NOTE:  Tess Gerritsen lives in Camden, ME

      Disbursed

12/10/23

The Bones at Point No Point - D. D. Black

#1 Thomas Austin

2022, 264 pgs.

     Audible.  The serial killer in this book does some pretty horrible stuff - killing newborns and leaving their bones in a bag on the beach.  This book introduces Thomas Austin, the NYC cop who caught the original baby killer and has now retired to the coast of Washington state to run a small hamburger joint in a small town near Seattle.  When similar baby bones are discovered on the beach of his new community, Austin is asked by the police to consult.  There are some interesting characters, and the story moves right along.  Not bad, but not great.  I will read more because I want to see how this character is going to develop.  3.5

Elly Griffiths - The End of the Ruth Galloway Series After 15 Installments

 I got really behind with tracking my books in 2023, and I read a lot of Elly Griffiths, so I'm going to combine all the missed ones below:

#13 The Night Hawks

     Finished 6/3/23  (4)

     I almost didn't like Ruth in some of this book!  She took over as the head of the archaeology department and it felt as if she had become a little bit snotty.  Maybe she's always been this way?  LOL.  There is the introduction of a new character, the guy what has been hired to take her old job and the university - xyzcyz Gold.  He is definitely an unknown commodity, Unking and gruff and eager...but seems to change his attitude by the end.  No reasons, in particular, for either of these personality traits. Hmmmmmm.  And why in heck is she so drawn to Nelson?  I just don't get it, his personality is pretty crappy.  Good mystery, though the reason that she and Michelle were brought together near the end was WAY too out there.  I read this on the entire drive to Maine of Brendan's graduation.

#14 The Locked Room

     Finished 6/17/2023 (4.25)

     COVID-19 hits the world.  This book is set between February and May of 2020 and consists of multiple murders that are set up to look like suicides at the beginning of the pandemic.  I don't this there were quite as many characters as usual, which made it a little easier to follow.  It was a good one, although it had very little about archaeological forensics, which was really quite ok.  During the whole time, Nelson's wife, Michelle, was out of town, staying with her mother in Blackpool, so there were a number of first time types of visits between Nelson and Ruth.  I still don't get what she sees in this guy.  He must be quite a looker!

#15  The Last Remains

     Finished 8/7/2023 (4.5)

     Listened to this one back and forth OTR to Maine.  A good one, and it appears to neatly tie up the relationship between Nelson and Ruth.  I really hate to see this series end.  One of my favorites.

14. Lying Beside You - Michael Robotham

#3 Cyrus Haven

listened on Audible
352 pgs.
2022
Adult Mystery - British

Finished 2/18/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.31
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Nottingham, England

My comments: Back-and-forth between Cyrus and Evie as we follow the progress of a murder, then kidnapping situation.  The plot drags for the first half, but moves along really well in the second half.  One drawback for me: the narrator makes all the male voices sound like the character's a little bit slow....  And no matter how much I think about it, I cannot come up with any possibilities about why it was titled the way it was. A good story, once it got moving...I plan to read the next in the series while this one is still in my head.

Goodreads synopsis:  Cyrus Haven and Evie Cormac return in Robotham’s latest page-turning, psychological thriller in this series.

If I could tell you one thing about my brother, it would be this. Two days after his nineteenth birthday, he killed our parents and twin sisters because he heard voices in his head. As defining events go, nothing else comes close for Elias, or for me.

As a boy, Cyrus Haven survived a family massacre and slowly pieced his life back together. Now, after almost twenty years, his brother is applying to be released from a secure psychiatric hospital—and Cyrus is expected to forgive Elias and welcome him home.

Elias is returning to a very different world. Cyrus is now a successful psychologist, working with the police, sharing his house with Evie Cormac, a damaged and gifted teenager who can tell when someone is lying. Evie has gone back to school and is working part-time at an inner-city bar, but she continues to struggle with authority and following rules.

When a man is murdered and his daughter disappears, Cyrus is called in to profile the killer and help piece together Maya Kirk’s last hours. Police believe she was drugged and driven away from the same bar where Evie is working. Soon, a second victim is taken, and Evie is the only person who glimpsed the man behind the wheel.

But there’s a problem. Only two people believe her. One is Cyrus.

13. The Boyfriend Candidate by Ashley Winstead

listened on Libby

2023
384 pgs.
Adult RomCom
Finished 2/10/2024
Goodreads rating: 3.83
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Austin, TX

My comments:  Another fake girlfriend/boyfriend trope.  Very cute.  Set in Austin, Texas, Logan is running for governor.  He is young and smart, brash and outspoken, running for governor.  Alexis is, shy and a "yes-girl" because she doesn't want to be unkind to anyone, and a school librarian.  Of course there are all sorts of miscommunications between the two but ultimately, as it always does in this sort of novel, the love story wins.  (She had no idea who he was in the beginning?  Yeah, right.....)  Just plain fun - with lots of eye-rolling.

Goodreads synopsis:  As a shy school librarian, Alexis Stone is comfortable keeping out of the spotlight. But when she's dumped for being too meek-in bed!-she decides she needs to change. And what better way to kick-start her new more adventurous life than with her first one-night stand?

Enter Logan, the gorgeous, foul-mouthed stranger she meets at a hotel bar. Audacious and filterless, Logan is Alexis's opposite-and boy, do opposites attract! Just as she's about to fulfill her hookup wish, the hotel catches fire in a freak lightning storm. In their rush to escape, Logan is discovered carrying her into the street, where people are waiting with cameras. Cameras Logan promptly-and shockingly-flees.

Alexis is bewildered until suddenly pictures of her and Logan escaping the fire are all over the internet. Turns out Logan is none other than Logan Arthur, the hotshot candidate challenging the Texas governor's seat. The salacious scandal is poised to sink his career-and jeopardize Alexis's job-until a solution is he and Alexis could pretend to be in a relationship until election day…in two months. What could possibly go wrong?

12. The Taken Ones by Jess Lourey

#1 Steinbeck & Reed

listened on Audible
339 pgs.
2023
Adult Murder Mystery

Finished 2/7/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.27
My rating: 4.5
Setting: contemporary Minnesota

My comments: Van Reed is a cold case agent for the MBsomething-or-other - I think the same agency that Virgil Flowers works for.  Her horrible upbringing in a cult has left her bruised with psychic nightmares about really bad people.  The characters in this book certainly dip into every possible type.... including a LOT of stupid, mean cops!  Well written. Liked it a lot.

Goodreads synopsis:  Two girls vanished. A woman buried alive. Between two crimes—decades of secrets yet to be unearthed.

Summer 1980: With no fear of a local superstition, three girls go into a Minnesota wood. Only one comes out. Dead silent. Memory gone. No trace of her friends. The mystery of the Taken Ones captures the nation.

Summer 2022: Cold case detective Van Reed and forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck are assigned a disturbing homicide—a woman buried alive, clutching a heart charm necklace belonging to one of the vanished girls. Van follows her gut. Harry trusts in facts. Their common ground is the need to catch a killer before he kills again. They have something else in common: each has ties to the original case in ways they’re reluctant to share.

As Van and Harry connect the crimes of the past and the present, Van struggles with memories of her own nightmarish childhood—and the fear that uncovering the truth of the Taken Ones will lead her down a path from which she, too, may never return.

11. Dead Letter Days by Kelley Armstrong

#.5 Haven's Rock

Read - Kindle eBook
87 pgs.
2023
Adult Novella

Finished 1/31/24
Goodreads rating: 4.36
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary Yukon woods

My comments: Unlike all the other Casey Duncan/Rockton books, this one is from Dalton's point-of-view.  There are a couple of fairly easily solved mysteries, Dalton's dealing with his own childhood miseries, and then Eric and Casey actually get married.  I really like this one, not too repetetive (short!) and quite interesting.

Goodreads synopsis:  Eric Dalton spent most of his life in Rockton, a hidden town in the Yukon for people who need to disappear. Now that sanctuary is gone, and he’s holed up in a wilderness lodge with his girlfriend, Casey Duncan, and their friends, as they scout for a place to build their own Rockton. When Eric and Casey find a literal message-in-a-bottle, it leads them to the mystery of a woman who went missing decades ago, having never received that vital message. As they investigate that cold case, Dalton must finally lay to rest the ghosts of his own past and make some overdue decisions before he’s ready to step forward in his new life with Casey.

Note: This is not a full-length novel. It’s a novella set between the end of the Rockton series and the beginning of the Haven’s Rock spinoff

10. The Court of Shadows by Victor Dixen

#1 Vampyria

listened on Audible

translated from French by Francoise Bui

364 pgs.
copyright 2020
Adult Fantasy/Vampires

Finished 1/29/24
Goodreads rating: 3.80
My rating: 3.5
Setting: Versailles, France, 300 years after Louis XIV was on the throne

My comments:  The minute I saw Victor Dixen's name, I decided I must read this book.  I read the Phobos series and loved it.  It always takes a bit for his books to be translated, and I'm ever so glad this was put into an audio book.  The reading was lovely, except for when the names were read - all with a very quick, totally French accent.  Couldn't understand them.  At all.  And I took French for years!

     I'm not certain I ever really liked Jeanne/Diane, the protagonist.   The beginning was a bit boring, typical Vampire stuff.  The second part of the books was much more creative and interesting, with an unexpected ending to be savored.  Looking forward to number two in the series, which should be in America around July.

Goodreads synopsis:  A fiery heroine seeks vengeance against a royal court of deadly vampires in this epic alternate history set in lavish Versailles.

Louis XIV transformed from the Sun King into the King of Shadows when he embraced immortality and became the world’s first vampire. For the last three centuries, he has been ruling the kingdom from the decadent Court of Shadows in Versailles, demanding the blood of his subjects to sate his nobles’ thirst and maintain their loyalty.

In the heart of rural France, commoner Jeanne Froidelac witnesses the king’s soldiers murder her family and learns of her parents’ role in a brewing rebellion involving the forbidden secrets of alchemy. To seek her revenge, Jeanne disguises herself as an aristocrat and enrolls in a prestigious school for aspiring courtiers. She soon finds herself at the doors of the palace of Versailles.

But Jeanne, of course, is no aristocrat.
She dreams not of court but of blood.
The blood of a king.

9. Exception to the Rule by Christina Lauren

listened on  Audible
101 pgs.
2024
Adult Rom Com - Short Story

Finished 1/27/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.39
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary colleges across America

My comments: Absolutely adorable.  Written almost entirely in emails. Cute short story about a high school boy and girl who mistakenly emailed each other on Valentine's Day in 2014 and continued the correspondence annually until 2023, when they were in grad school.  They'd never given each other much information about themselves, including their names, only knowing they'd both grown up in Irvina, California.  So much fun!

Goodreads synopsis:  On February 14, an accidental email to a stranger opens the door to an unexpected relationship in a captivating short story by the New York Times bestselling authors of The Unhoneymooners.

One typo, and a boy and girl connect by chance. Wishing each other a happy Valentine’s Day isn’t the end. In fact, it becomes a friendly annual tradition—with rules: no pics, no real names, nothing too personal. As years pass, the rules for their email “dates” are breaking, and they’re sharing more than they imagined—including the urge to ask…what if we actually met?

Christina Lauren’s The Exception to the Rule is part of The Improbable Meet-Cute, irresistibly romantic stories about finding love when and where you least expect it. They can be read or listened to in one sitting.

8. The GIlded Cage by Luisa A. Jones

listened on Audible

2023
332 pgs.
Adult Historical Fiction
Finished 1/26/24
Goodreads rating: 4.23
My rating: 4.5
Setting: Very beginning of the 20th century, England

My comments: The Goodreads synopsis gives a taste for the story, which was actually quite mesmerizing, so I won't mention here.  I used to, years ago, love the "gothic" novels of Mary Stewart and Victoria Holt, which this reminded me of -- EXCEPT there was a little bit more description of the sexy parts.  There was a lot of physical abuse, mainly referred to but not described much (a good thing?), and plenty of psychological abuse, which was not glossed over.  Other than feeling depressed and frantic for the things that were happening to the protagonist at the hands of a husband she did not speak up against, I looked forward to returning to this narration as frequently as I could.  

Goodreads synopsis:  1897. Rosamund bows her head and steps slowly down the aisle. The satin of her gown whispers against the stone floor and a single tear falls into the bunch of yellow roses twisted in her trembling hands. Despite rumours of his cruelty, Rosamund has no choice but to become this man’s second wife. After her wedding, Rosamund finds herself trapped in Sir Lucien Fitznorton’s lonely country estate. As she wanders the chilly halls, made shadowy by drapes of heavy velvet, she longs for the lost comforts of her childhood home, where she was the beloved only daughter to a doting father, now buried miles away. As a young woman with no fortune of her own, only death can release her from this misery. Until she meets Joseph , her husband’s gruffly handsome new chauffeur. With his mop of salt-and-pepper hair and lilting accent, Joseph is from another world. One of clambering children and tea at scrubbed kitchen tables, the hollow scratch of hunger and long hours of hard work. Despite their differences, they find themselves increasingly drawn to one other. But Sir Lucien is not only cruel, he’s devious too, and soon Rosamund finds herself caught in a dangerous web of secrets and lies. Is Rosamund’s fragile marriage nothing but a golden cage, trapping her between two men who desire her… and to what end? One holds her captive and the other offers a hope of escape… but who really holds the key to Rosamund’s gilded prison? A gripping and emotional historical novel, fans of Lucinda Riley and Tracy Rees won’t be able to put this book down.

7. Night Owl by Andrew Mayne

#1 Trasker

listened on Audible & Kindle

2023
312 pgs.
Adult Mystery/Thriller?
Finished 1/21/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.18
My rating: 2
Setting: Contemporary California desert

My comments: Boring.  Too many different people and too many different character names flyng in and out way too fast.  Lots of scientific "stuff" that I didn't care about, which made it difficult to follow the plot.  Might have worked better as a READ rather than a LISTEN.

Goodreads synopsis:  A shocking act of sabotage draws a retired spy into a deadly conspiracy in an explosive thriller by an Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author.

After three decades in counterintelligence, Brad Trasker is retired, disillusioned, and dealing with a tragic loss. Spy games are behind him until he attends the launch of a next-generation aircraft. When the project of innovative aerospace CEO Kylie Connor explodes on the tarmac―nearly killing her in the process―Trasker is pulled back into the line of fire.

The mystery of the sabotage quickly deepens. All Kylie’s data has been wiped from the server. One of her engineers has disappeared. A seed investor has died in a suspicious car accident. And a cold-blooded murder raises the stakes even higher.

To discover who’s pulling the strings behind a dangerous conspiracy, Trasker needs to find a motive. Corporate espionage, revenge, or something he can’t yet see? Targeted by assassins, he finds himself overmatched when he realizes he can’t trust anyone―including Kylie. Too long out of a game he no longer understands, Trasker must adapt or die.

Stick of Butter Rice (with Mushrooms!)

1 c. uncooked long-grain white rice

1 can condensed French Onion soup

1 can Beef Consomé

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter sliced somewhat thinly

Spray 8 x 8 cooking dish

In pan, combine rice and soups

Arrange butter pats across top

** Sauté fresh or canned mushrooms in butter and lay across top (but can skip this if unavailable)

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 425.  Uncover and bake for 30 minutes more.

6. Blood Moon by Linda Castillo

#13.5 Kate Burkholder

listened on Audible

2022

64 pgs.
Adult Short Story
Finished 1/22/24
Goodreads rating: 4.01
My rating: 3
Setting: Contemporary Painters Mill, OH

My comments: Sort of a stupid-ish short story, a mysterious animal that everybody know isn't a bear (why?) - even though it's the size of one - is terrorizing different places in the woods, late one night.

Goodreads synopsis:  Chief of Police Kate Burkholder confronts a mysterious beast terrorizing the residents of Painters Mill in this new original short mystery from bestselling author Linda Castillo.

On a foggy spring night, an Amish man crashes his buggy after a large, unidentified animal spooks his horse. Kate Burkholder arrives on scene to find the man shaken and bleeding, claiming he was attacked by a large beast. But his description of the creature sounds like something straight out of the Amish folklore from Kate’s childhood. Throughout the night, more incidents of an aggressive animal on the loose are reported, putting the citizens of Painters Mill on edge. There’s a monster menacing the countryside, and Kate must follow its tracks into the dark woods along Painters Creek before violence tips over into tragedy.

5. Love Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood

listened on Libby (borrowed from the library)

2023
389 pgs.
Adult Rom Com (w/steam)
Finished 1/19/24
Goodreads rating: 4.15
My rating: 3.75/4
Setting: Contemporary MIT (& other Boston Colleges) Academia

My comments: The physics department at MIT, where Elsie is up for a coveted position, has two branches, theoretical and experimental physics, which are very much at odd with each other.  And Jack, the darling (and head) of the department falls for Elsie the first time he sees her, when she is "fake dating" his brother to earn extra money.  This sort of comedy of errors is fun to read.  My biggest problem with the book is that the audio reader, Terese Plummer (who's quite good) is also the reader for one-of-my favorite series (Casey Duncan), and every now and then it would throw me off because I was taken to another place and setting just hearing her voice!  Fun book to read.

Goodreads synopsis:  The many lives of theoretical physicist Elsie Hannaway have finally caught up with her. By day, she’s an adjunct professor, toiling away at grading labs and teaching thermodynamics in the hopes of landing tenure. By other day, Elsie makes up for her non-existent paycheck by offering her services as a fake girlfriend, tapping into her expertly honed people pleasing skills to embody whichever version of herself the client needs.

Honestly, it’s a pretty sweet gig—until her carefully constructed Elsie-verse comes crashing down. Because Jack Smith, the annoyingly attractive and broody older brother of her favorite client, turns out to be the cold-hearted experimental physicist who ruined her mentor’s career and undermined the reputation of theorists everywhere. And that same Jack who now sits on the hiring committee at MIT, right between Elsie and her dream job.

Elsie is prepared for an all-out war of scholarly sabotage but…those long, penetrating looks? Not having to be anything other than her true self when she’s with him? Will falling into an experimentalist’s orbit finally tempt her to put her most guarded theories on love into practice?

Cheesy Onion Crisps - YUM!

Slice an onion into thin slices.

On parchment on a baking sheet, put one slice on a pile of shredded cheese.

Sprinkle with ranch seasoning.

In oven (not sure of them) for about 12 minutes - watch them closely near the end because they can burn quickly.

4. The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins

listened on Audible (purchased with one credit)

2024
304 pgs.
Adult contemporary ("gothic") mystery
Finished 1/17/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.12
My rating: 5
Setting: Huge mansion in contemporary NC mountains

My comments:  A contemporary "gothic" mystery told in three voices - two of them in real time and one in letters from 2013.  This is the first modern gothic that I've read that I've actually liked.  So well done!  Twists and turns, of course, and so many questions as you read along.  One rich, greedy family vs. a couple of cunning, clever women and a super kindhearted man.  Certainly kept me interested.  Whose accounting should I trust?

Goodreads synopsis:  When Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she’s not only North Carolina’s richest woman, she’s also its most notorious. The victim of a famous kidnapping as a child and a widow four times over, Ruby ruled the tiny town of Tavistock from Ashby House, her family’s estate high in the Blue Ridge mountains. In the aftermath of her death, that estate—along with a nine-figure fortune and the complicated legacy of being a McTavish—pass to her adopted son, Camden.

But to everyone’s surprise, Cam wants little to do with the house or the money—and even less to do with the surviving McTavishes. Instead, he rejects his inheritance, settling into a normal life as an English teacher in Colorado and marrying Jules, a woman just as eager to escape her own messy past.

Ten years later, Camden is a McTavish in name only, but a summons in the wake of his uncle’s death brings him and Jules back into the family fold at Ashby House. Its views are just as stunning as ever, its rooms just as elegant, but coming home reminds Cam why he was so quick to leave in the first place.

Jules, however, has other ideas, and the more she learns about Cam’s estranged family—and the twisted secrets they keep—the more determined she is for her husband to claim everything Ruby once intended for him to have.

But Ruby’s plans were always more complicated than they appeared. As Ashby House tightens its grip on Jules and Camden, questions about the infamous heiress come to light. Was there any truth to the persistent rumors following her disappearance as a girl? What really happened to those four husbands, who all died under mysterious circumstances? And why did she adopt Cam in the first place? Soon, Jules and Cam realize that an inheritance can entail far more than what’s written in a will—and that the bonds of family stretch far beyond the grave.