What I'm Reading
A cozy mystery set in a seaside castle, a novel about the imminent empty nest in four complicated families, and a propulsive thriller about the hunt for a killer
This month I found myself reaching for some very different books, only to realize they were all set on a coast. Perhaps I’m already dreaming of summer…
Bodies and Battlements by Elizabeth Penney
A family castle sounds very romantic, but the reality is that maintenance and upkeep can be murder! When Nora Asquith decides to welcome guests into the family home turned bed and breakfast, she faces both encouragement and resistance. The most strenuous resistance comes from a newcomer to the village, Hilda Dibble, who Nora finds dead in the knot garden the morning after the B&B opens. Not only is the B&B threatened by the murder, but Nora is now a suspect.
This new cozy mystery series by Elizabeth Penney has plenty of atmosphere, set on the Yorkshire coast, with castles, ghosts, cliffs and a history of smuggling, a cast of fairly interesting characters (everyone is just a little bit quirky), two family pets (dog and cat), and interesting tidbits about herbs (a side business for Nora.)
Bodies and Battlements is out May 27, 2005.
The Goodbye Year by Kaira Rouda
The Goodbye Year is a multiple point of view novel about four families living in a very wealthy Southern California seaside community, navigating a son or daughter’s senior year of high school. Each family has secrets to hide that threaten to devastate their status quo, even as they face the imminent shift of the end of high school. Rouda has crafted a cast of characters who end up surprising the reader. If you love stories of disfunctional families, The Goodbye Year should be on your To Be Read pile!
The Goodbye Year is available now.
Fatal Intrusion by Jeffrey Deaver and Isabella Maldonado
Tough-as-nails DHS agent Carmen Sanchez must team up with Professor Jake Heron, a brilliant penetration tester with whom she has a difficult history, to find a serial killer who is terrorizing Southern California.
The twists just keep coming as the pair race to stop the man known only as Spider. And Sanchez and Heron keep surprising each other as well. A plot as complex as a spiderweb and just as lethal, this one kept me in its web until the shocking ending.
Fatal Intrusion is available now.