Icon Tag: Mystery

Vampires and Villains by Elizabeth Pantley

Vampires & Villains by Elizabeth Pantley Series: Magical Mystery Book Club #2 Published by Better Beginnings Inc on September 3rd, 2022 Genres: Cozy Mystery, Fantasy Pages: 250 Format: ARC Source: Author’s Copy Buy on Amazon Goodreads Paige and her joyful Aunt Glo have learned that the home they inherited comes with a magical library. They put together a book club group of loveable kooks to explore the magic. They’ve recovered from their first book journey, and they all agree on their next book which takes place on a cruise ship bound for Hawaii. Problem is, they were so excited about the cruising idea that they didn’t read the entire blurb on the back of the book. (“It was entirely too long,” explains Zell.) Once on the ship, they meet a charming and likeable man who blends seamlessly into their motley group. Too bad they don’t know why he’s so scarce during the day but shows up to join them every evening for dinner, drinks, and a show. When a dead body shows up on board, their new friend is labeled a suspect. Can they help him out by finding the real murderer? Or is he the real murderer? The book […]

Posted September 12, 2022
9 Comments

Between the Lines by D. Hale Rambo

Between the Lines by D. Hale Rambo Series: The Planar Pages #1 on July 27th, 2022 Genres: Fantasy Pages: 305 Format: ARC Source: The History Quill Book Club Buy on Amazon Goodreads Life flourishes in the Book, a realm of stacked worlds, like the pages of a novel. Each more unique than the last. Those who can travel through them are page turners. Blessed with the power to go from one page to the next. For investigator Fiona Thorne, being a turner is normal life. Solving mysteries is where the excitement lives. Minor cases are still work to be done, people to be helped, and she’s determined to make an impact in the Book, no matter what. Blaze, the page of fire, is wasting away. Fire elementals are being smuggled out in waves, but by whom? Fiona is on the job and nothing will hold her back, not even the overbearing Travel Guild. They may run the Book, but they don’t rule her. With the fire page and its creatures on the brink of winking out, she has to race to unravel who the smugglers are and how to stop them. Is there more to this case than it seems? […]

Posted July 30, 2022
6 Comments

A Scandal in Brooklyn by Lauren Wilkinson

A Scandal in Brooklyn by Lauren Wilkinson Published by Amazon Original Stories on June 30th, 2022 Genres: Mystery Pages: 48 Format: ARC Buy on Amazon Goodreads A classic Holmesian detective untangles a locked-room mystery with a very modern twist in this venomously diverting short story by Lauren Wilkinson, the Washington Post bestselling author of American Spy. A top-secret experiment at a restricted virtual-reality compound pulls attorney Tommy Diaz back into the orbit of Irene Adler, an old friend with an eidetic memory, a love of true-crime podcasts, and a knack for solving the unsolvable. But this? At a remote warehouse, a VR trial goes awry when a willing test subject, alone in the observation room, drops dead of anaphylaxis—from the sting of a virtual bee. Though the tech titan behind the research believes in the power of the outrageous, Irene relies on clues, hard facts, and a level head. However, in a case this peculiar, how elementary can it be? Greetings! Welcome to our stop on the Blog Tour for A Scandal in Brooklyn. Wow you guys, this was such a brilliant detective short story by acclaimed author, Lauren Wilkinson. Presented in the spirit of a true Sherlock Holmes mystery, […]

Posted June 30, 2022
2 Comments

The Scarlet Oak: Murder, Spies and Spirits by Jerry Aylward

The Scarlet Oak by Jerry Aylward on July 4th, 2022 Genres: Mystery Pages: 324 Format: ARC Source: Reedsy Discovery Buy on Amazon Goodreads The bodies of two high school sweethearts are discovered beneath a venerable scarlet oak tree in a vacant horse pasture on the posh north shore estate of J. Barrington Cook, a wealthy, Oyster Bay, Long Island landowner. With no forensic evidence to support his suspicions of a double murder, other than a hardened cop’s intuition, Finn embarks on an unsanctioned homicide investigation that soon exposes a long but skeptic thread of unexplained deaths dating back two-hundred and thirty-eight years, mixing with an enigmatic and beguiling apparition of a young woman residing in the same Revolutionary home of all his victims. Finn’s is mysteriously transported back to colonial Oyster Bay at the height of the American Revolution to the home of one of General George Washington’s covert Culper spies. It is here he must discover the motive for all the unexplained deaths along with the mystifying reason they have remained undetected. Finn’s life takes an unexpected turn when he meets the beautiful but cryptic Sally Townsend, forcing him to abandon a self-imposed protective shell of indifference to solve […]

Posted June 13, 2022
11 Comments

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill on June 7th, 2022 Genres: Mystery, Suspense, Thriller Pages: 288 Format: ARC Source: Netgalley Buy on Amazon Goodreads “The beautifully ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is completely silent one weekday morning, until a woman’s terrified scream echoes through the room. Security guards immediately appear and instruct everyone inside to stay put until they determine there is no threat. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers who had been sitting in the reading room get to chatting and quickly become friendly. Harriet, Marigold, Whit, and Caine each have their own reasons for being in the reading room that morning–and it just happens that one of them may turn out to be a murderer. For readers of Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore, with shades of The Secret History, THE WOMAN IN THE LIBRARY is an unexpectedly twisty literary adventure that examines the complicated nature of friendship and shows us that words can be the most dangerous weapons of all” When was the last time you’ve just finished a book and your first thought is, I should read this again… What a thrilling read this was and I can honestly say […]

Posted May 29, 2022
10 Comments

Cragside: A 1930’s Murder Mystery by M.J. Porter

Cragside: A 1930’s Murder Mystery by M J Porter on April 14th, 2022 Genres: Mystery Pages: 258 Format: ARC Source: The History Quill Book Club Buy on Amazon Goodreads From the author of The Erdington Mysteries, a classic 1930s murder mystery house party. Lady Merryweather has had a shocking year. Apprehended for the murder of her husband the year before, and only recently released, she hopes a trip away from London will allow her to grieve. The isolated, but much loved, Cragside Estate in North Northumberland, home of her friends, Lord and Lady Bradbury, holds special memories for her. But, no sooner has she arrived than the body of one of the guests is found on the estate, and suspicion immediately turns on her. Perhaps, there are no friendships to be found here, after all. Released, due to a lack of evidence, Lady Ella returns to Cragside only to discover a second murder has taken place in her absence, and one she can’t possibly have committed. Quickly realising that these new murders must be related to that of her beloved husband, Lady Merryweather sets out to solve the crime, once and for all. But there are many who don’t want […]

Posted April 15, 2022
6 Comments

Trouble in Paradise (The Hardy Boys: Undercover Brothers #12) by Franklin W.Dixon

Trouble in Paradise by Franklin W, Dixon Series: The Hardy Boys: Undercover Brothers #12 on September 1st, 2006 Genres: Mystery Pages: 176 Format: Paperback Source: VCS Buy on Amazon Goodreads ATACK BRIEFING FOR AGENTS FRANK AND JOE HARDY MISSION: The son of Don Ricardo, the UN Ambassador from St. John, has gone missing — and we are sending you to locate him. LOCATION: St. John, USVI POTENTIAL VICTIMS: Esteban Calderon, the son of the ambassador, and whoever else his kidnappers have harmed. SUSPECTS: We have very few clues. The police on St. John have hit a wall in their investigation. THIS MISSION REQUIRES YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION. THIS MESSAGE WILL BE ERASED IN FIVE SECONDS. THE HARDY BOYS MYSTERY STORIES, is a series that sure stood the test of time. It was first published in 1927 and to this day, this series and its spin-off series, The Hardy Boys: Undercover Brothers, are popular reads with young and old across the globe. In our little library in Jeffreys Bay, South Africa, we have quite a few of The Hardy Boys books and they are very popular books with our Gr4’s and up students. Our library largely consists of donated books, so some […]

Posted April 11, 2022
13 Comments

The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont

The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont Published by St Martin’s Press on February 1st, 2022 Genres: Fiction Pages: 320 Format: Paperback Source: Book Club Buy on Amazon Goodreads Nina de Gramont’s The Christie Affair is a beguiling novel of star-crossed lovers, heartbreak, revenge, and murder—and a brilliant re-imagination of one of the most talked-about unsolved mysteries of the twentieth century. Every story has its secrets. Every mystery has its motives. “A long time ago, in another country, I nearly killed a woman. It’s a particular feeling, the urge to murder. It takes over your body so completely, it’s like a divine force, grabbing hold of your will, your limbs, your psyche. There’s a joy to it. In retrospect, it’s frightening, but I daresay in the moment it feels sweet. The way justice feels sweet.” The greatest mystery wasn’t Agatha Christie’s disappearance in those eleven infamous days, it’s what she discovered. London, 1925: In a world of townhomes and tennis matches, socialites and shooting parties, Miss Nan O’Dea became Archie Christie’s mistress, luring him away from his devoted and well-known wife, Agatha Christie. The question is, why? Why destroy another woman’s marriage, why hatch a plot years in the making, […]

Posted April 4, 2022
11 Comments

The Other Side of Silence by Dodie Bishop

The Other Side of Silence by Dodie Bishop Series: Silence and Shadow #1 Published by Next Chapter on January 19th, 2022 Genres: Historical Fiction Pages: 328 Format: ARC Source: The History Quill Book Club Buy on Amazon Goodreads Against a backdrop of murder and intrigue at the dissolute court of King Charles II, can Susannah and Raphael save their friend and find each other along the way? After a three-year absence mired in anxiety and trapped by her lack of speech, portrait miniaturist Susannah Gresham gathers her courage and returns to Whitehall Palace and her godfather, the King. Encountering Florentine jeweller Raphael Rossi, who appears to her just another court libertine, she is not immune to his appeal. With help from his patron, King’s mistress the Duchess of Richmond, Raphael sets out to win her. When Susannah’s closest friend Sam Carter is sentenced to death for a murder he did not commit, Susannah and Raphael must race against time to uncover the real killer. But nothing is as it seems, for Sam has dangerous enemies who are determined to see him die… Content Warnings: Swearing Blasphemy Adult Content (if you are an innocent white kitten like myself, you will blush […]

Posted March 18, 2022
7 Comments

The Dangers of an Ordinary Night by Lynne Reeves

The Dangers of an Ordinary Night by Lynne Reeves Published by Crooked Lane Publishers on November 9th, 2021 Genres: Mystery Pages: 282 Format: ARC Source: Netgalley Buy on Amazon Goodreads On a chilly fall evening at the prestigious Performing Arts High School of Boston, best friends Tali Carrington and June Danforth go missing after auditioning for a play. They’re last seen in grainy, out-of-focus surveillance footage that shows them walking side-by-side. Two days later in a town south of Boston, Tali is found disoriented and traumatized by the ocean’s edge, while June is pronounced dead at the scene. Tali’s mother, Nell, is so bent on protecting her daughter from further emotional harm that she enlists the help of Cynthia Rawlins, a renowned therapist for families. Meanwhile, Detective Fitz Jameson is assigned to the investigation and dives into the lives of high-performing students who may be harboring dark secrets. As Nell, Cynthia, and Fitz confront their own contributions to the tragedies and scandals that beleaguer them, their lives turn out to be more deeply intertwined than they’d ever imagined. And they must decide what lengths they’re willing to go to protect the people they love while also saving themselves. For the […]

Posted February 23, 2022
0 Comments

Icon Tag: Mystery

Enjoy this blog? Follow our tail :)