Faithful Place (Re-Read)

Faithful Place by Tana French

Mystery
2010
Finished on 4/2/10
Rating: 5/5 (Outstanding!)
FTC Disclosure: Received ARC from Kate Lloyd (Sr. Publicist, Viking/Penguin)

UPDATE:

Finished on September 18, 2026

Rating: 3/5 (Good)

After re-reading In the Woods and The Likeness, I decided to give this third installment in Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series a second reading. Sadly, it did not live up to my enthusiastic reaction the first time around. I quickly grew weary of Frank's family drama, and even after a 16-year lapse, I still remember whodunit. Sometimes re-reading a favorite book is worthwhile, but every so often I'm disappointed. 

In all your life, only a few moments matter. Mostly you never get a good look at them except in hindsight, long after they've zipped past you: the moment when you decided whether to talk to that girl, slow down on that blind bend, stop and find that condom. I was lucky, I guess you could call it. I got to see one of mine face-to-face, and recognize it for what it was. I got to feel the riptide pull of my life spinning around me, one winter night, while I waited in the dark at the top of Faithful Place.

Publisher's Blurb

The hotly anticipated third novel of the Dublin Murder Squad from the New York Times bestselling author.

Back in 1985, Frank Mackey was nineteen, growing up poor in Dublin's inner city and living crammed into a small flat with his family on Faithful Place. But he had his sights set on a lot more. He and Rosie Daly were all ready to run away to London together, get married, get good jobs, break away from factory work and poverty and their old lives.

But on the winter night when they were supposed to leave, Rosie didn't show. Frank took it for granted that she'd dumped him—probably because of his alcoholic father, nutcase mother, and generally dysfunctional family. He never went home again.

Neither did Rosie. Everyone thought she had gone to England on her own and was over there living a shiny new life. Then, twenty-two years later, Rosie's suitcase shows up behind a fireplace in a derelict house on Faithful Place, and Frank is going home whether he likes it or not.

Getting sucked in is a lot easier than getting out again. Frank finds himself straight back in the dark tangle of relationships he left behind. The cops working the case want him out of the way, in case loyalty to his family and community make him a liability. Faithful Place wants him out because he's a detective now, and the Place has never liked cops. Frank just wants to find out what happened to Rosie Daly—and he's willing to do whatever it takes, to himself or anyone else, to get the job done.

Whooweee! I really enjoyed In the Woods. And I loved The Likeness. But, Faithful Place gets top honors as my all-time favorite of Tana French's mysteries. While the previous two are also set in Dublin, I felt they could have taken place pretty much anywhere. However, with Faithful Place, French takes her readers deep into the grittiness of Dublin's tenement neighborhoods. The dialogue and characters are rich and authentic, reminding me a little bit of Frank McCourt's childhood in Angela's Ashes. The pacing is even and taut, holding my attention late into the night. I could have easily devoured this book in a few short days, but I wanted to make it last as long as possible, so I stretched it out to almost two full weeks. As soon as I finished, I wanted to start all over again. But other ARCs were vying for my attention, so I'll save it for another time. I am tempted to go back and re-read The Likeness, just to re-visit Frank's character from this new perspective. Maybe I'll listen to all three on audio, as I await French's fourth installment. There will be another, right?!

I loved Frank's colorfully idiomatic language and slang: "arse," "eejit," "Fair play to you," "No one gives a toss," "Jaysus," "You're grand," "Ah, cop on, will you[...]she'll be mad into some girl band," and "feckin." It was great to hear authentic Dublin in every sentence.

I love how Frank cares so much about his daughter and the crazy world she's growing up in:

"This is not trivial shit, Jackie. I want Holly to be aware that there is a difference between truth and meaningless gibberish bullshit. She's completely surrounded, from every angle, by people telling her that reality is one hundred percent subjective: if you really believe you're a star then you deserve a record contract whether or not you can sing for shit, and if you really believe in weapons of mass destruction then it doesn't actually matter whether they exist or not, and fame is the be-all and end-all because you don't exist unless enough people are paying attention to you. I want my daughter to learn that not everything in this world is determined by how often she hears it or how much she wants it to be true or how many other people are looking. Somewhere in there, for a thing to count as real, there has got to be some actual bloody reality. God knows she's not going to learn that anywhere else. So I'm going to have to teach her all by myself. If she occasionally gets a little stroppy along the way, so be it."

Frank on the Murder Squad:

For the first time in my career, I was getting an inkling of why Murder love their job the way they do. When undercovers go hunting, we'll take anything that wanders into our snares; half the skill is knowing what to use as bait, what to toss back where it came from and what to knock on the head and bring home. This was a whole different thing. These boys were the specialists called in to track down a rogue predator, and they focused on him like they were focusing on a lover. Anything else that wandered into their sights, while they were trawling the dark for that one shape, meant sweet fuck-all. This was specific and it was intimate, and it was powerful stuff: me and that one man, somewhere out there, listening hard for each other to put a foot wrong. That evening in the Very Sad Cafe, it felt like the most intimate connection I had.

Frank on his Rosie:

The lights had changed to a deep underwater haze and behind me a girl started singing, low and throaty and strong. In the slow spinning beams of green and gold Rosie looked like a mermaid, like a mirage made out of color and light; for a second I wanted to grab her and crush her right against me, before she could vanish between my hands. She took my breath away. We were still at the age when girls are years older than guys, and the guys grow up by doing their best when the girls need them to. I had known since I was a tiny kid that I wanted something more than what the teachers told us we were meant for, factories and dole queues, but it had never hit me that I might actually be able to go out and build that something more with my own hands. I had known for years that my family was fucked up beyond repair, and that every time I gritted my teeth and walked into that flat another little piece of my mind got strafed to rubble; but it had never once occurred to me, no matter how deep the crazy piled up, that I could walk away. I only saw it when Rosie needed me to catch up with her.

Final thoughts: This is such a great story! French is a marvelous storyteller and is well-deserving of the numerous awards bestowed upon her for In the Woods (the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity and the Barry awards for Best First Novel). I was completely transported, right along with Frank Mackey, to Dublin's Faithful Place. It's been over two months since I closed the book, but French's memorable characters remain just as vivid as the day I met them. Kudos, Ms. French. You're three for three!

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion (Volume 2)

 

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion (Volume 2) by Beth Brower

Fiction

2019

Finished on September 3, 2026

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

“I was sitting at my desk reading, with a cup of tea, my windows flung open, when I heard The Tenant enter his garret, just on the other side of the wall from myself.”

The Year is 1883 and Emma M. Lion has returned to her London neighborhood of St. Crispian’s. But Emma’s plans for a charmed and studious life are sabotaged by her eccentric Cousin Archibald, her formidable Aunt Eugenia, and the slightly odd denizens of St. Crispian’s.

Emma M. Lion offers up her Unselected Journals, however self-incriminating they may be, which comprise a series of novella-length volumes. Armed with wit and a sideways amusement, Emma documents the curious realities of her life at Lapis Lazuli House.

I was pleased to see a list of characters at the beginning of this second installment of Emma Lion's journals. The first volume introduces an extensive cast of characters which made it somewhat challenging for this reader to keep track of all the relationships. I enjoyed volume two quite a bit better than the first, and I'm eager to reader more of this charming series. 

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion (Vol. 1)

 

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion (Vol. 1) by Beth Brower

Fiction

2019

Finished on August 27, 2026

Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

“I’ve arrived in London without incident. There are few triumphs in my recent life, but I count this as one. My existence of the last three years has been nothing but incident.”

The Year is 1883 and Emma M. Lion has returned to her London neighborhood of St. Crispian's. But Emma's plans for a charmed and studious life are sabotaged by her eccentric Cousin Archibald, her formidable Aunt Eugenia, and the slightly odd denizens of St. Crispian's. Emma M. Lion offers up her Unselected Journals, however self-incriminating they may be. Armed with wit and a sideways amusement, Emma documents the curious realities of her life at Lapis Lazuli House.

All my blogging friends have been raving about this series, so I purchased the first volume for my mom last Christmas. She loved it (no surprise there!) and went on to buy the next seven volumes in the collection. She's very impatient, as I'm sure many readers are, to read the ninth volume, which is due out before the end of the year. 

I had extremely high hopes for this epistolary work, but it wasn't until the final entries that I felt compelled to move on to the second volume. What should have taken me no more than a day or two to complete took well over a week! I checked in with a couple of friends who echoed my frustration with this book, but assured me that the series does get better. Much better. I hope so, as I have all the remaining volumes stacked and ready to go!

It wasn't until I finished the book that I discovered that the author also wrote The Queen's Gambit. We loved the miniseries and look forward to watching it a second time later this fall. 

In the Woods (Re-Read)

 

In the Woods by Tana French

Dublin Murder Squad, #1

Mystery

2007

Finished on 2/22/2026

Rating: 4.75/5 (Excellent!)

Publisher's Blurb:

As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours.

Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a twelve-year-old girl is found murdered in the same woods, he and Detective Cassie Maddox—his partner and closest friend—find themselves investigating a case chillingly similar to the previous unsolved mystery. Now, with only snippets of long-buried memories to guide him, Ryan has the chance to uncover both the mystery of the case before him and that of his own shadowy past.

I first discovered Tana French in 2009 when I read her debut mystery, In the Woods, with my book group. Actually, I think I read the ARC first and recommended it to my book group a few months later. I loved the book and went on to read many more in French's Dublin Murder Squad series. A few months ago, I started thinking about re-reading The Likeness (the second in the series), but decided to start with In the Woods, as the main characters overlap in each installment. For some reason, I thought I remembered that the beginning of this mystery was somewhat slow, but with this second reading, I was quickly drawn into the story, unable to put it down even as I grew sleepy each night. I'd forgotten so many details that it felt like I was reading it for the first time. I loved it just as much as that first reading and can't wait to re-read The Likeness!

I'll leave you with my initial review from 2009 here:

In the Woods may only be the second book I've read this year, but I already know it's going to wind up on my Top Ten list for 2009! What an amazing debut by Tana French. Complex, flawed, yet highly likeable characters, combined with exceptionally rich details and language, draw the reader into this breathless psychological thriller. I found myself marking page after page, sorting through clues, eager to solve the mystery before Ryan & Maddox. And, now that I've finished the story, I find my thoughts drifting back to various scenes, missing the duo, who at times reminded me of Dennis Lehane's Kenzie & Gennaro. I do believe Cassie is my new literary girl crush. She's intelligent, determined and very tough; much like Smokey (Cody McFadyen's main character), Sunny (Robert Parker's heroine) and Clarice (The Silence of the Lambs). Definitely not a goofy klutz like Stephanie Plum!

French's main characters aren't the only aspect of this procedural mystery that bring to mind Dennis Lehane's mysteries. French's writing has a similar literary quality to that of Lehane's. Passages such as the following make this much more than your typical brain-candy mystery:

Picture a summer stolen whole from some coming-of-age film set in small-town 1950s. This is none of Ireland's subtle seasons mixed for a connoisseur's palate, watercolor nuances within a pinch-sized range of cloud and soft rain; this is summer full-throated and extravagant in a hot pure silkscreen blue. This summer explodes on your tongue tasting of chewed blades of long grass, your own clean sweat, Marie biscuits with butter squirting through the holes and shaken bottles of red lemonade picnicked in tree houses. It tingles on your skin with BMX wind in your face, ladybug feet up your arm; it packs every breath full of mown grass and billowing wash lines; it chimes and fountains with birdcalls, bees, leaves and football-bounces and skipping chants, One! two! three! This summer will never end. It starts every day with a shower of Mr. Whippy notes and your best friend's knock at the door, finishes it with long slow twilight and mothers silhouetted in doorways calling you to come in, through the bats shrilling among the black lace trees. This is Everysummer decked in all its best glory.

On the joy of finding one's true calling in life:

Out of absolutely nowhere I felt a sudden sweet shot of joy, piercing and distilled as the jolt I imagine heroin users get when the fix hits the vein. It was my partner bracing herself on her hands as she slid fluidly off the desk, it was the neat practiced movement of flipping my notebook shut one-handed, it was my superintendent wriggling into his suit jacket and covertly checking his shoulders for dandruff, it was the garishly lit office with a stack of marker-labeled case files sagging in the corner and evening rubbing up against the window. It was the realization, all over again, that this was real and it was my life. Maybe Katy Devlin, if she had made it that far, would have felt this way about the blisters on her toes, the pungent smell of sweat and floor wax in the dance studio, the early-morning breakfast bells raced down echoing corridors. Maybe she, like me, would have loved the tiny details and the inconveniences even more dearly than the wonders, because they are the things that prove you belong.

I love the cadence of that passage.

Just as the narrative began to lag ever so slightly, a new discovery was revealed and the intensity rushed back. It was at this point that I knew the book was going to be a winner. I found every opportunity to pick up the novel, neglecting household obligations and chores. I was unable to stop myself from reading late into the night. I was eager to discuss specific details of the narrative with several of my coworkers, not waiting patiently for our book group to meet. I told my husband, repeatedly, what a great book I was reading. I made a mental note to set a Favorite Mysteries endcap in March, leading, of course, with In the Woods. I composed a fan letter in my head to Tana French. And, as I poured myself a bourbon after a long, exhausting day, my thoughts returned to Rob, Cassie and Sam, remembering their evening ritual of dinner and drinks while discussing the case.

Oh, this would make such a fabulous movie!

I do have one minor quibble which involves the initial conversation with the family when the detectives inform them of Katy's death. The parents and older sister all referred to Katy in the past tense, jarring me from my engrossed state of literary bliss. I don't think anyone would argue that most people who have lost a loved one spend days, if not weeks and months, referring to that person in the present tense. While French may not know this from personal experience, it is a detail that should have been caught by her editor. (Although for French to have made too much of that issue would have been a cliche, of course.)

I don't remember when I first heard about In the Woods, but more than likely it was either Stephanie or Iliana's reviews that caught my attention. It wound up a winner with my book group this month and we're all anxious to read French's follow-up thriller, The Likeness, in which several characters from In the Woods return. From what I've heard, this sophomore work is even better than French's debut. If that's the case, I may have discovered my first 5/5 read for 2009. In the Woods is a gripping story of loss and survival, friendship and secrets. While some of the details in the plot were left dangling, I was thoroughly entertained and completely engaged, and I look forward to many more books by Tana French.

The Black Wolf

 

The Black Wolf by Louise Penny

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #20

Mystery

2025

Finished on February 7, 2026

Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Several weeks ago, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec and his team uncovered and stopped a domestic terrorist attack in Montréal, arresting the person behind it. A man they called the Black Wolf.

But their relief is short-lived. In a sickening turn of events, Gamache has realized that that plot, as horrific as it was, was just the beginning. Perhaps even a deliberate misdirection. One he fell into. Something deeper and darker, more damaging, is planned. Did he, in fact, arrest the Black Wolf, or are they still out there? Armand is appalled to think his mistake has allowed their conspiracy to grow, to gather supporters. To spread lies, manufacture enemies, and feed hatred and division.

Still recovering from wounds received in stopping the first attack, Armand is confined to the village of Three Pines, leading a covert investigation from there. He must be careful not to let the Black Wolf know he has recognized his mistake. In a quiet church basement, he and his senior agents Beauvoir and Lacoste pore over what little evidence they have. Two notebooks. A few mysterious numbers on a tattered map of Québec. And a phrase repeated by the person they had called the Grey Wolf. A warning ...

In a dry and parched land, where there is no water.

Gamache and his small team of supporters realize that for the Black Wolf to have gotten this far, they must have powerful allies, in law enforcement, in industry, in organized crime, in the halls of government.

From the apparent peace of his little village, Gamache finds himself playing a lethal game of cat and mouse with an invisible foe who is gathering forces and preparing to strike.

After I finished reading The Grey Wolf, which I did not love, I decided to go ahead anyway and start The Black Wolf since Penny left us with quite a cliffhanger. I'm glad I didn't have to wait a full year to read this latest installment in her Inspector Gamache series, as it was confusing enough reading it so soon after The Grey Wolf. Partly my fault, I should have created a list of characters to keep track of, but honestly, these two books are so convoluted, and not just as far as the denouements are concerned! The scenes jump abruptly from one group of characters to another, with no discernable transition. And, just when you think the villain is revealed, there's another twist. And another. And another! In previous posts, I've mentioned how tiresome Rosa (the duck) has become, but I also feel that Penny's use of f-bombs has run its course. There are other words to relay feelings of anger and frustration. Why not instead say, "We're screwed!" I don't mind f-bombs, but the use is overdone.

These two books are more political than Louise Penny's earlier works. She wrote this mystery a year before the U.S. President threatened to make Canada the 51st state. While she wrote passages, such as this one, in reference to her fictitious Canadian government officials, they are obviously a not-so-subtle commentary on Trump:

"I know what you've missed. I know that there're no boundaries when it comes to greed. To those addicted to power, there are no borders. There's always more to grab. There are new territories, new worlds, to conquer. Look at the Caesars. Alexander. Look at Genghis Khan. Napoleon. Loot at Hitler and Putin. Wolves know no boundaries, respect no borders."

and

"How do you choose what to buy? Past experience, yes, but originally? It's advertising, and what's that? Propaganda, often spread through word of mouth. Someone you know tells you it's good. This is no different. How did hundreds of millions of people believe Iraq was behind the 9/11 attacks when it patently was not? How did millions believe a perfectly legitimate election was stolen and almost cause a coup? The power of persuasion. And few places are more persuasive, more influential, than the internet. Social media. Eventually a critical mass is hit. A tipping point. Shit catches fire."

and

But Armand suspected every country ever invaded had felt the same way. Every group ever targeted, ever rounded up, refused to believe their neighbors could do it.

Every people who found themselves under the thumb of a tyrant must wonder where it began, and how they didn't see it coming. And what moment they missed, when it could have been stopped.

A World of Curiosities, published in 2022, earned a full five stars from me—just two years before The Grey Wolf. Will my disappointment with The Grey Wolf and The Black Wolf bring my loyalty to Louise Penny’s work to an end? No. Though these recent books fell short for me, I remain hopeful that her next release will recapture what I love about her writing.

The Grey Wolf

 

The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #19

Mystery

2024

Finished on January 29, 2026

Rating: 3.5/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Relentless phone calls interrupt the peace of a warm August morning in Three Pines. Though the tiny Québec village is impossible to find on any map, someone has managed to track down Armand Gamache, head of homicide at the Sûreté, as he sits with his wife in their back garden. Reine-Marie watches with increasing unease as her husband refuses to pick up, though he clearly knows who is on the other end. When he finally answers, his rage shatters the calm of their quiet Sunday morning.

That's only the first in a sequence of strange events that begin The Grey Wolf, the nineteenth novel in Louise Penny's #1 New York Times bestselling series. A missing coat, an intruder alarm, a note for Gamache reading "This might interest you," a puzzling scrap of paper with a mysterious list—and then a murder. All propel Chief Inspector Gamache and his team toward a terrible realization. Something much more sinister than any one murder or any one case is fast approaching.

Armand Gamache; Jean-Guy Beauvoir, his son-in-law and second in command; and Inspector Isabelle Lacoste can only trust each other, as old friends begin to act like enemies, and long-time enemies appear to be friends. Determined to track down the threat before it becomes a reality, their pursuit takes them across Québec and across borders. Their hunt grows increasingly desperate, even frantic, as the enormity of the creature they’re chasing becomes clear. If they fail, the devastating consequences would reach into the largest of cities and the smallest of villages.

It's been almost two years since I read A World of Curiosities, Louise Penny's eighteenth installment in her Three Pines series. I loved that mystery, giving it a perfect 5-star rating. My husband and my mom both read Penny's next book (The Grey Wolf) and neither were that impressed, so I wasn't eager to pick it up anytime soon, especially when they told me it had a cliff-hanger. I decided to wait until The Black Wolf was published, with the intention of reading the two books back-to-back.

The Grey Wolf took a very long time to reveal the plot, and while I wasn't close to calling it quits, I was growing more and more impatient for the author to pull me in. Not only did I miss Three Pines and its inhabitants (most of the action takes place elsewhere), but struggled to keep track of the numerous characters sprinkled throughout the narrative. Eventually, the book reached a climax and I couldn't put it down, but as I mentioned, the ending was partially unresolved. Before I finished the mystery, I had decided not to go ahead with the follow-up for a few weeks, eager to read something else from my shelves. But once I read the last page, I knew I couldn't resist starting The Black Wolf. The suspense was too strong!

I was tempted to give The Grey Wolf a 4-star rating ("Very Good"), but decided that it was only the last third of the book that felt worthy of that distinction. So, I'm knocking it down a notch, but am hopeful that The Black Wolf is more satisfying. Judging from reviews on Goodreads, I am not the only reader who struggled with this mystery. Several readers have questioned whether it's time to say goodbye to Armand Gamache and friends. Time will tell...

Looking Back - Durable Goods

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

Durable Goods by Elizabeth Berg

Katie Nash #1

Fiction
1993

Finished on May 10, 2002

Rating: 3.5/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

"Sometimes life is so hard and then, bingo, it's like happiness is pushing at your back, waiting to come out your front..."

In the sweltering heat of a Southwestern summer, on a small army base in rural Texas, Katie waits impatiently for her life to change. These are uncertain times--a mix of pleasure and pain, of girlish confusion and adult discovery. Though battered by the recent death of her mother--and by a distant, abusive father driven to near madness by inner pain and rage--Katie's spirit remains miraculously strong. For she knows one day soon she'll be a woman. One day soon she'll understand.

My Original Thoughts (2002):

A quick, easy read. Berg's first novel. Not nearly as good as those that follow, but enjoyable the second time around. 

My Current Thoughts:

I've read close to two dozen books by Elizabeth Berg, and have over a dozen on my "keeper" shelf, but it's been a few years since I've read anything new. Whenever I write one of these "Looking Back" posts, I think about re-reading so many of my old favorites. I'd like to carve out time to read one each month, especially some of the shorter books like this one.

Below are links & ratings of all of Berg's books that I've read to date (2025):

Talk Before Sleep (4/5)

Range of Motion (4/5)

The Pull of the Moon (4/5) and (5/5)

Joy School (4/5)

What We Keep (4.5/5)

Until the Real Thing Comes Along (4/5)

Open House (5/5)

Ordinary Life (4.5/5)

Never Change (4.5/5)

True to Form (4/5)

Say When (4.5/5)

The Art of Mending (4/5)

A Year of Pleasures (5/5)

We Are All Welcome Here (3/5)

Dream When You're Feeling Blue (2.5/5)

The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted (3.5/5)

Home Safe (4.5/5)

The Last Time I Saw You (2.5/5)

Once Upon a Time, There Was You (2.5/5)

The Story of Arthur Truluv (4/5)

Night of Miracles (5/5)

The Confession Club (2/5)

The Handmaid and the Carpenter (DNF)

Iron Lake

 

Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger

Cork O'Connor #1

Mystery

1998

Finished on February 3, 2025

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Part Irish, part Anishinaabe Indian, Corcoran "Cork" O'Connor is the former sheriff of Aurora, Minnesota (population 3,752). Embittered over losing his job as a cop and over the marital meltdown that has separated him from his wife and children, Cork gets by on heavy doses of caffeine, nicotine, and guilt. Once a cop on Chicago's South Side, there's not much that can shock him. But when a powerful local politician is brutally murdered the same night a young Indian boy goes missing, Cork takes on a harrowing case of corruption, conspiracy, and scandal.

As a blizzard buries Aurora and an old medicine man warns of the arrival of a blood-thirsty mythic beast called the Windigo, Cork must dig for answers hard and fast before more people, among them those he loves, will die.

It was 2014 when I read my first book by William Kent Krueger. Ordinary Grace came highly recommended by a coworker and as luck would have it, the author came to our Barnes & Noble for a book talk and signing.

Yes, I had my own endcap for many years.

I loved Krueger's stand-alone novel Ordinary Grace (you can read my review here) and quickly went on to read Iron Lake (reviewed here), the first in his Cork O'Connor series. I've since read This Tender Land and The River We Remember, but have not yet returned to his mystery series. With two of his most recent installments (Lightning Strike and Fox Creek) on my shelves, I decided it was finally time to spend the next couple of years catching up on the series.

Just as the first time I read it, Iron Lake took me several chapters before I stopped questioning my decision to read it again. By the halfway mark, I was invested in the story, and as the final chapters drew near, I couldn't stop reading, the story was so intense! I stayed up far too late, but it was a good distraction from the current news coming out of Washington, DC. I'd forgotten most of the plot, but remembered one key event, so I wasn't nearly as shocked as I was when I read the book in 2014. I'm excited to get a copy of Boundary Waters and return to Cork and the Minnesota wilderness, but I'm also tempted to re-read Ordinary Grace.

Naked Prey

 

Naked Prey by John Sandford

Lucas Davenport #14

2003

Finished on January 19, 2025

Rating: 4.5/5 (Excellent)

Publisher's Blurb:

Lucas Davenport finds some changes — and some nasty surprises — in store, in the chilling novel by the number-one-bestselling author.

After thirteen years and thirteen Prey novels, John Sandford's writing is as fresh as ever. His last book, Mortal Prey, was "a model of the genre" (People) and "the cop novel of the year" (Kirkus Reviews). In the words of the Washington Post: "John Sandford does everything right."

Now, in Naked Prey, he puts Lucas Davenport through some changes. His old boss, Rose Marie Roux, has moved up to the state level and taken Lucas with her, creating a special troubleshooter job for him for cases that are too complicated or too politically touchy for others to handle. In addition, Lucas is married now, and a new father, all of which is fine with him; he doesn't mind being a family man. But he is a little worried. For every bit of peace you get, you have to pay — and he's waiting for the bill.

It comes in the form of two people found hanging from a tree in the woods of northern Minnesota. What makes the situation particularly sensitive is that the bodies are of a black man and a white woman, and they're naked. "Lynching" is the word everybody's trying not to say — but, as Lucas begins to discover, in fact the murders are nothing like what they appear to be. There is worse to come — much, much worse.

The night I finished Naked Prey, I stayed up reading until after midnight. I rarely do that, but I simply could not put this book down! It's been over 15 years since I read a John Sandford book (Mortal Prey), and quite honestly, I'm surprised that I enjoyed this installment as well as I did; the last few books in the Prey series were very disappointing. I'm not sure if the long break helped boost my enjoyment, but I couldn't read fast enough. The tension is taut, the dialogue snappy, and I enjoyed the introduction of the gun-toting, foul-mouthed, twelve-year-old girl named Letty West. I think Lucas and Del thought she was pretty sharp, too, and I hope to see more of her in the next book. 

Highly recommend!

The Stranger Diaries

 

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths

Harbinder Kaur #1

Mystery

2018

Narrated by Anjana Vasan, Sarah Feathers, Andrew Wincott & Esther Wane

Finished on January 15, 2025

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Clare Cassidy is no stranger to murder. A high school English teacher specializing in the Gothic writer R. M. Holland, she teaches a course on it every year. But when one of Clare’s colleagues and closest friends is found dead, with a line from R. M. Holland’s most famous story, The Stranger, left by her body, Clare is horrified to see her life collide with the storylines of her favourite literature.

To make matters worse, the police suspect the killer is someone Clare knows. Unsure whom to trust, she turns to her closest confidant, her diary, the only outlet she has for her darkest suspicions and fears about the case. Then one day she notices something odd. Writing that isn't hers, left on the page of an old diary: "Hallo, Clare. You don’t know me."

Clare becomes more certain than ever: The Stranger has come to terrifying life. But can the ending be rewritten in time?

Despite the fact that it took me over a month to read The Stranger Diaries, I really enjoyed it. The narration by four readers added to my pleasure, although I wasn't all that interested in the secondary ghost story, which struck me as melodramatic and distracting. As with her Ruth Galloway series, Elly Griffiths has crafted a compelling mystery that kept me on my toes trying to guess who was responsible for the murder, as well as who was writing in Clare's diary. At one point, I gasped out loud, I was so surprised by the turn of events. 

Hell is empty and all the devils are here. Shakespeare's famous quote from The Tempest is mentioned throughout the story, and one I'll not forget. A few days prior to finishing the audiobook, I heard the passage quoted by a character in a TV series (The Diplomat) that we'd been watching. What a coincidence!

Elly Griffiths' gothic mystery is told from three alternating points of view, which lends more detail to events and scenarios. I'm looking forward to reading The Postscript Murders, in which DS Kaur returns to investigate the death of a ninety-year-old woman. The Stranger Diaries and The Postscript Murders are considered standalone novels, but I intend to read them in the order of publication.

Open Season

 

Open Season by C.J. Box

Joe Pickett #1

Mystery

2001

Finished on January 11, 2025

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Joe Pickett is the new game warden in Twelve Sleep, Wyoming, a town where nearly everyone hunts and the game warden—especially one like Joe who won't take bribes or look the other way—is far from popular. When he finds a local hunting outfitter dead, splayed out on the woodpile behind his state-owned home, he takes it personally. There had to be a reason that the outfitter, with whom he's had run-ins before, chose his backyard, his woodpile to die in. Even after the "outfitter murders," as they have been dubbed by the local press after the discovery of the two more bodies, are solved, Joe continues to investigate, uneasy with the easy explanation offered by the local police.

As Joe digs deeper into the murders, he soon discovers that the outfitter brought more than death to his backyard: he brought Joe an endangered species, thought to be extinct, which is now living in his woodpile. But if word of the existence of this endangered species gets out, it will destroy any chance of InterWest, a multi-national natural gas company, building an oil pipeline that would bring the company billions of dollars across Wyoming, through the mountains and forests of Twelve Sleep. The closer Joe comes to the truth behind the outfitter murders, the endangered species and InterWest, the closer he comes to losing everything he holds dear.

A solid entry in C.J. Box's popular mystery series! I was drawn in quickly, and found myself marveling at the fact that this was the author's debut work; the writing is polished and the plotting skillfully delivered. I guessed the bad guys' identities early on, but that didn't spoil my enjoyment. I've only read Open Season, but Joe Pickett brings to mind Craig Johnson's character, Walt Longmire. 

I bought Open Season while my husband and I were exploring Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons last fall (hoping to buy something by a local author) and I liked the book so well, I plan to read as much of the series as I can throughout the year. Box's detailed descriptions of the land and of the wildlife that inhabit Wyoming were fun to read now that I've been to that area of the country. There is some subject matter that is difficult to read (a young child and her mother find themselves in a dangerous situation with one of the villains), but none of those scenarios felt gratuitous. I did take issue, however, with two of the male characters and their commentary on women and their bodies. All in all, a quick read and a good story! Recommend.

Watch Us Shine

 

Watch Us Shine by Marisa de los Santos

Love Walked In #4

Fiction

2023

Finished on October 1, 2024

Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

“Bring me the Northern Lights.”

Cornelia Brown is reeling from a terrifying act of violence when she gets word that her mother has been badly injured in an accident. Cornelia returns to Virginia, to the house she grew up in, and in the weeks that follow, she watches her mother Ellie struggle to recover, fluctuating between her usual crisp, can-do clarity and periods of delirium during which she seems haunted by a devastating loss from her past. In grief-stricken tones, Ellie begs Cornelia to bring her the Northern Lights, and despite her confusion at this mysterious plea, Cornelia vows to do so: “She was my mother and she wanted the Northern Lights; I was her daughter and would have given her anything, anything.”

With the help of her prickly sister, Ollie, Cornelia embarks on a mission to piece together the lost years of their mother’s life: people, places, and events spanning Ellie’s late teens through her mid-twenties. Cornelia and Ollie’s quest takes them to unexpected places and into the worlds of strangers whose lives Ellie touched and irrevocably changed. As the sisters uncover truths about their mother’s life—some beautiful, some ugly, some tragic—Cornelia herself begins to heal, to forgive herself, and to find her way back home.

Alternating between two timelines—Cornelia’s story in the present, and that of the young Eleanor Campbell in the 1960s—Watch Us Shine explores the complicated bonds between sisters, the impossible demands of motherhood, and the power of human love to save us again and again.

I've been a fan of Marisa de los Santos since I read Belong to Me in 2008. I gave up on one of her novels (Falling Together), but her Love Walked In series earned high ratings from me, and I was excited to start reading this latest installment. And yet, Watch Us Shine wasn't nearly as good as I'd hoped for. I grew impatient for the big reveal about the violent act Cornelia experienced, and felt that it was unnecessary to tease it out so slowly. The characters were likeable enough, and the alternating timelines were interesting and easy to keep up with, but it's been a long time since I read the earlier books in this series. I eventually gave up trying to remember Cornelia's friends and extended family members from those novels. It would probably be best to read these in order without such large gaps of time in-between.

While not a book that I'll keep to read a second time (nor one that I would thrust into someone's hands, imploring them to read it), Watch Us Shine was entertaining enough to finish. Good, but not remarkable.

A Change of Circumstance

 

A Change of Circumstance by Susan Hill

Simon Serrailler #11

Mystery

2021

Finished on June 6, 2024

Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

In this newest installment of Susan Hill’s electrifying crime series, Simon Serrailler finds himself in devastating new territory as a sophisticated drug network sets its sights on Lafferton.

Susan Hill is back with A Change of Circumstance, the eleventh book in the acclaimed mystery series featuring the enigmatic and brooding chief police inspector Simon Serrailler. DCS Serrailler has long regarded drugs ops in Lafferton as a waste of time. The small-time dealers picked up outside the local high school can’t—or won’t—turn in any valuable names, so they're merely given a fine and the trail runs cold. But when the body of a 22-year-old drug addict is found in neighboring Starley, the case pulls Serrailler into the underbelly of an elaborate drug running operation that pushes narcotics out from the cities, into the suburbs, and right down to villages. The foot soldiers? Vulnerable local kids like Brookie and Olivia, whose involvement gives Serrailler a bitter taste of this new landscape. It’s a harsh winter in Lafferton, and with struggles both at home and on the job, Serrailler soon learns that even the familiar can hold shocking surprises. . . .

With A Change of Circumstance, Hill delivers yet another gripping piece of the Serrailler canon. Written in the tradition of the fabulous mysteries of Ruth Rendell and P. D. James, this newest case is sure to enthrall new fans and surprise old ones in what is a captivating new addition to a highly acclaimed series.

I have spent the past year or so reading this entertaining series by Susan Hill and I am finally caught up. As with most mystery series (Louise Penny's, Deborah Crombie's, etc.), some installments are better than others. Regrettably, this most recent book was not my favorite. The first half of the book was plodding and uneven, and at times I grew weary of Simon's tortured inner thoughts about life and where he was heading. The mystery was fine, and as usual, the familial relationships played front and center, but even those left me bored and wanting more depth. Hill leaves her readers with yet another cliffhanger that had me shaking my head in frustration. It's been over two years since her last publication, and I can't help but wonder how many more she has remaining to write. Sadly, A Change of Circumstance was somewhat of a disappointment. 

The Stonecutter

 

The Stonecutter by Camilla Lackberg

Patrick Hedstrom Series #3

Mystery

2012

Finished on March 25, 2024

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Scandi-crime thriller from international bestseller Camilla Läckberg, perfect for fans of Jo Nesbø, Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson.

The remote resort of Fjällbacka has seen its share of tragedy, though perhaps none worse than that of the little girl found in a fisherman's net. But this was no accidental drowning.Not only was there no seawater found in the girl's lungs--the autopsy yielded far more sinister findings. 

Local detective Patrik Hedström has just become a father. It's his grim task to discover who could be behind the murder of a child both he and his partner Erica knew well. Little Sara Florin's family history could provide the key, but how do you probe into the past of a family who has just suffered the consummate tragedy? What Patrick does not know is how Sara's death will open up the dark heart of Fjallbacka, spanning generations, encompassing a mysterious fire, thwarted ambitions, and pitting neighbor against neighbor, threatening to rip aside Fjallbacka's idyllic facade, perhaps forever.

It's been several years since I read the first two books in Camilla Lackberg's Fjallbacka series. I loved The Ice Princess, which I read in 2016, but was disappointed in The Preacher (the second installment), which I read the following month. As noted in my review (for The Preacher), I think these books are best read in print rather than on audio. Hearing the names spoken caused me great confusion, as many sounded similar to one another. There are also numerous characters to keep track of, and while reading The Stonecutter, I made a cheat sheet in order to stay on top of each new character and how they were related to one another. This third installment turned out to be a good mystery in spite of being able to unravel one of the clues about halfway in. At close to 500 pages, I did feel it could have been shorter, and I grew impatient with Hedstrom and his coworkers, wishing they'd hurry up and solve the murder mystery. At times, the detectives seemed to be fairly inept at their jobs, but Lackberg kept me guessing and overall, I was very pleased with the story. I plan to continue with the next book in the series (The Stranger) later this summer.