The distinctive, color-saturated, book jacket (this time, in a bold shade of pink)? Check.

A gothic tone, and highly atmospheric, horror-influenced setting (the birdcage-like elevator, slowly descending to the dank, crypt and maze-like corridors of the Bartholomew’s basement)? Check.

Suspense? Absolutely. And the countdown structure of many of the chapters in Lock Every Door (“Six Days Earlier”, “Five Days Earlier”, “Four Days Earlier”, and so on) only adds to an ever-increasing sense of paranoia and dread.

Lock Every Door’s protagonist is twenty-five year old Jules Larson, a sympathetic and resilient character, originally from Pennsylvania coal country. When Jules was seventeen, her sister went missing; when she was nineteen, both of her parents died under terrible circumstances. When we first meet Jules, she is down on her luck, and sleeping on a friend’s Manhattan apartment couch. She answers an ad for an apartment sitter that turns out to be at one of Manhattan’s most storied, (fictional) buildings. Opened in January of 1919, and only thirteen stories tall, The Bartholomew (St. Bart’s for short) has a gothic, cathedral-like facade, and is situated on Central Park West, one of Manhattan’s most exclusive streets. The apartment that Jules would be caring for late autumn through the winter holiday season turns out to be a “fantasy New York City home”, a luxurious dwelling with expansive, floor-to-ceiling views of Central Park. If that weren’t enough, Jules would earn a much-needed, and generous salary for her apartment sitting. There are just a few, unusual rules that Jules must follow regarding the gilded, historic building, and its inhabitants. One such rule is that she must never spend a night away from the apartment in her care. Despite the restrictive requirements, Jules accepts the terms of what still seems to be a dream job.

What is it that people say about something being too good to be true?

Something is very amiss at The Bartholomew.

The residents are generally more private and secretive than one would expect. And Jules gradually learns that there are other apartment sitters residing in the building, but that they, too, are not forthcoming about St. Bart’s. By passing notes via an old “dumbwaiter”, away from the prying eyes and ears of the mysterious, “permanent” residents, Jules does befriend Ingrid Gallagher, an apartment sitter in the home immediately beneath her own. When Ingrid seemingly moves out without a trace in the middle of the night, the suspicions that Jules has had about The Bartholomew intensify, and she begins to ask additional, (unwanted?) questions. Jules discovers that a lot of the details, about not only the past and present inhabitants, but also the history of The Bartholomew itself, just don’t add up. The more Jules investigates - including in a number of supremely, suspenseful chapters - the creepier and more ominous the plot and atmosphere, and the closer Jules gets to answers……..and, possibly, to danger.

In Lock Every Door, Riley Sager manages to provide, not only atmospheric, entertaining, and distinctly horror-influenced, gothic suspense, but also makes a metaphorical, social statement about economic disparity, and about a sense of entitlement among the super-rich, as well as the morally corrupt ways the economically-privileged sometimes get there, and stay there.

I must admit, I was convinced that the plot was building to a very specific, next-level twist that I had in mind, that would reveal itself at the very end of the novel. While the positively chilling resolution to The Bartholomew’s apparent malevolence did push the bounds of reality a bit, and was different from the direction I had predicted, it was indeed an ending worthy of an author who is, by all accounts, an aficionado of the horror genre, whether expressed in movies or in books. Writer Ira Levin (Rosemary’s Baby, The Stepford Wives, among others), to whom Lock Every Door is dedicated, may just be looking down on Mr. Sager with a mischievous grin.

Best for Crime Fiction Readers:

• Who enjoy crime fiction and mysteries with a tone of gothic suspense.

• Who love mysteries and crime fiction set in New York City!

• Who don’t mind, or enjoy, fairly dark, horror-influenced, crime fiction.

• Who appreciate crime fiction and mysteries featuring an amateur detective.

Pages: 384 (Hardcover)

Publisher’s Description:

No visitors. No nights spent away from the apartment. No disturbing the other residents, all of whom are rich or famous or both. These are the only rules for Jules Larsen's new job as an apartment sitter at the Bartholomew, one of Manhattan's most high-profile and mysterious buildings. Recently heartbroken and just plain broke, Jules is taken in by the splendor of her surroundings and accepts the terms, ready to leave her past life behind.

As she gets to know the residents and staff of the Bartholomew, Jules finds herself drawn to fellow apartment sitter Ingrid, who comfortingly, disturbingly reminds her of the sister she lost eight years ago. When Ingrid confides that the Bartholomew is not what it seems and the dark history hidden beneath its gleaming facade is starting to frighten her, Jules brushes it off as a harmless ghost story . . . until the next day, when Ingrid disappears.

Searching for the truth about Ingrid's disappearance, Jules digs deeper into the Bartholomew's dark past and into the secrets kept within its walls. Her discovery that Ingrid is not the first apartment sitter to go missing at the Bartholomew pits Jules against the clock as she races to unmask a killer, expose the building's hidden past, and escape the Bartholomew before her temporary status becomes permanent.

About the Author:

Riley Sager is the award-winning pseudonym of a former journalist, editor and graphic designer who previously published mysteries under his real name.

Now a full-time author, Riley's first thriller, FINAL GIRLS, became a national and international bestseller and was called "the first great thriller of 2017" by Stephen King. Translation rights have been sold in more than two dozen countries and a film version is being developed by Universal Pictures.

Riley's second book, THE LAST TIME I LIED, was published in 2018 and became an instant New York Times bestseller. It was inspired by the classic novel and film "Picnic at Hanging Rock" and one horrible week Riley spent at summer camp when he was ten. A television adaptation is being developed by Amazon Studios.

His latest book, LOCK EVERY DOOR, is inspired by a lifelong fascination with the grand apartment buildings on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

A native of Pennsylvania, Riley now lives in Princeton, New Jersey. When he's not writing, he enjoys reading, cooking and going to the movies as much as possible. His favorite film is "Rear Window." Or maybe "Jaws." But probably, if he's being honest, "Mary Poppins."

Edit: It was announced July 2, 2019, that an adaptation of Lock Every Door is in development with Paramount Television and Anonymous Content. Former True Blood executive producer and showrunner, Brian Buckner, will executive produce, as well as pen the adaptation.

MINM Overall Rating of the Book, Lock Every Door: 4.5/5 Stars

Cut to 2015, when we meet Helen and Nate Wetherell, a history teacher, and a science teacher, respectively, at a private, residential, middle school. Happily married, yet both questioning their lives, they decide to shift gears, give up their teaching jobs, sell their suburban, Connecticut condo, and purchase forty-four acres of land in rural, Hartsboro, Vermont. The plan is to build their dream home with their own hands in a clearing surrounded by pine forest, with a narrow path leading down to a bog. While their homesteading adventure - being surrounded by nature, and living “off of the grid” and off of the land as much as possible - initially seems idyllic, this is no ordinary piece of land, with no ordinary bog. It has a history. And if I’ve learned anything about crime fiction that involves bogs - Scottish crime fiction, for instance - it is that things don’t always turn out well when you have peat, and spongy earth that might suddenly swallow anything heavier than moss in any given spot!

Temporarily dwelling, during construction, in a rusted-out, old trailer, left behind by the previous property owner who was eager to get away, Helen, especially, begins to believe that the land that she and her husband, Nate, purchased - the clearing, the forest, the bog - may be haunted. As a history buff, interested in colonial New England, and nostalgic about American pioneers like the family of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Helen investigates, and gradually begins to learn that her new life is no Little House on the Prairie, and that the story of their insular, adopted home is a very dark history, indeed.

Enter Olive Kissner, a young, socially isolated teen in the community, who also begins to take on the role of amateur detective, but in the case of why her mother left one night, and never returned. She had always been led to believe that her mother abandoned her father and her to start over with someone new. But as Olive digs deeper and deeper, she starts questioning what she’d always understood to be the truth about her mother’s absence. Ultimately, Helen’s friendship with Olive’s fun, non-conforming Aunt Riley, Helen’s historical research, as well as Olive’s “present day” probing all converge to produce an unexpected resolution.

With beautiful descriptions of nature, and an atmosphere of subtle menace and eeriness, Jennifer McMahon’s The Invited will appeal to readers who appreciate mysteries about spirits, hauntings, and the occult, yet prefer stories that are not overly violent, or too scary or stressful.

Best for Crime Fiction Readers:

• Who enjoy atmospheric mysteries with otherworldly elements.

• Who are interested in historical crime fiction. While The Invited does not strictly fall into this subgenre, there is much emphasis on research into historical figures and happenings.

• Who appreciate lush descriptions of the flora and fauna of nature in their crime fiction.

• Who will not be offended by depictions of marijuana use.

• Who do not mind suspending a bit of disbelief.

• With its exploration of witchcraft and ghosts, The Invited would be a good, “low-intensity” (meaning not too gruesome or frightening overall) Halloween season read.

  Pages: 353 (Hardcover)

Publisher’s Description:

A chilling ghost story with a twist: the New York Times bestselling author of The Winter People returns to the woods of Vermont to tell the story of a husband and wife who don't simply move into a haunted house, they start building one from scratch, without knowing it, until it's too late . . . 

In a quest for a simpler life, Helen and Nate abandon the comforts of suburbia and their teaching jobs to take up residence on forty-four acres of rural land where they will begin the ultimate, aspirational do-it-yourself project: building the house of their dreams. When they discover that this charming property has a dark and violent past, Helen, a former history teacher, becomes consumed by the legend of Hattie Breckenridge, a woman who lived and died there a century ago. As Helen starts carefully sourcing decorative building materials for her home--wooden beams, mantles, historic bricks--she starts to unearth, and literally conjure, the tragic lives of Hattie's descendants, three generations of "Breckenridge women," each of whom died amidst suspicion, and who seem to still be seeking something precious and elusive in the present day.

MINM Overall Rating: 4/5 Stars

Angie Kim’s beautifully-written, first novel tells the tale of the Yoo family of three: Young (the mother), Pak (the father), and Mary, their daughter. They have sacrificed much to immigrate to the United States, with Young coming first to America just with Mary, working from early morning until midnight, always with the goal of a better life for her daughter. When Pak arrives, having had experience in their native South Korea with “HBOT”, the family is eventually able to run a facility of their own in the small community of Miracle Creek, Virginia. “HBOT” is an acronym for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, which is a treatment that many believe can improve outcomes for various illnesses and conditions.

Miracle Creek opens with a gripping description of the potential claustrophobia of the HBOT chamber, and the moments leading up to a terrible event that left people horribly killed and injured. Henry, an eight year old boy on the autism spectrum, was one of the people killed. Fast forward to one year later; Henry’s single Mom is on trial for multiple murders, potentially facing life imprisonment or even the death penalty, accused of intentionally causing the incident that resulted in her son’s death.

The author is a former trial lawyer, and the courtroom scenes are excellent (if ever I am accused of a crime, I pray that I will have a defense attorney like Shannon representing me)! The novel does occasionally get a bit technical and clinical, especially during testimony scenes, but it never feels heavy handed, and will appeal to readers who enjoy learning about something new. Miracle Creek is told in the third person, with chapters that rotate their focus between past and present, and between trial days, and also a small cast of characters, any of whom could possibly have a motivation for causing the calamity for which Henry’s mother, Elizabeth, is standing trial.

Ms. Kim’s complex plot touches upon varied topics, such as the immigrant experience in America, an examination of the US criminal justice system, and, perhaps most profoundly, the critiques and judgments and guilt that many caregivers experience, that can turn into more intense controversies and isolation when parenting a child with special needs. Readers on the spectrum, or those with a loved one with autism will find much in Miracle Creek to ponder and discuss, as the book wades into the potentially treacherous waters of autism “politics”: the anti-vaxers versus those that believe autism is a genetic trait. The organizations that are more cause, treatment, and “cure” oriented, versus those organizations and activists that, possibly addressing what used to be referred to as Asperger’s, focus mainly on accommodation, acceptance, support, and celebrating human variation and neurodiversity.

I listened to the audio book, narrated by Jennifer Lim, and heartily recommend it! It concludes with a wonderful interview between the author and Sarah Crichton, the publisher and editor. In the interview, Angie Kim discusses her writing process, and reveals that many details of the narrative are based upon her own experiences as a Korean-American immigrant, and as a parent.

As the thought-provoking story of Miracle Creek progresses, layer upon layer is peeled back to reveal the secrets that people may keep, and the lies that people may tell, sometimes to protect the ones they love. We learn whether or not Elizabeth is convicted, and all of the fateful pieces of the puzzle that led to what actually happened at “Miracle Submarine”, the ripple effects of which are moving, tragic, and, for some, like the hope placed in the treatment itself, transformative.

Best for Crime Fiction Readers:

• Who enjoy reading literary crime fiction.

• Who appreciate courtroom dramas.

• Who enjoy learning something that they did not necessarily know about when they started reading a work of crime fiction.

• Who are interested in the immigrant experience, in this case, that of Korean-Americans.

• Miracle Creek will speak especially powerfully to parents and caregivers of those with special needs and differences.

• Who don’t mind some sexual content in their mysteries and crime fiction.

• Who are interested in the relationship and dynamics between parents - especially mothers - and other mothers, and with their own children.

  Pages: 357 (Hardcover)

  Hours: 14 hrs. 5 mins. (Audio Book)

Publisher’s Blurb:

A literary courtroom drama about a Korean immigrant family and a young, single mother accused of murdering her eight-year-old autistic son.

My husband asked me to lie. Not a big lie. He probably didn’t even consider it a lie, and neither did I, at first . . .

In the small town of Miracle Creek, Virginia, Young and Pak Yoo run an experimental medical treatment device known as the Miracle Submarine—a pressurized oxygen chamber that patients enter for therapeutic “dives” with the hopes of curing issues like autism or infertility. But when the Miracle Submarine mysteriously explodes, killing two people, a dramatic murder trial upends the Yoos’ small community.

Who or what caused the explosion? Was it the mother of one of the patients, who claimed to be sick that day but was smoking down by the creek? Or was it Young and Pak themselves, hoping to cash in on a big insurance payment and send their daughter to college? The ensuing trial uncovers unimaginable secrets from that night—trysts in the woods, mysterious notes, child-abuse charges—as well as tense rivalries and alliances among a group of people driven to extraordinary degrees of desperation and sacrifice.

Angie Kim’s Miracle Creek is a thoroughly contemporary take on the courtroom drama, drawing on the author’s own life as a Korean immigrant, former trial lawyer, and mother of a real-life “submarine” patient. An addictive debut novel for fans of Liane Moriarty and Celeste Ng, Miracle Creek is both a twisty page-turner and a deeply moving story about the way inconsequential lies and secrets can add up—with tragic consequences.

MINM Overall Rating: 5/5 Stars

• July 2019
  • Jul 2, 2019 Book Review: LOCK EVERY DOOR by Riley Sager
• June 2019
  • Jun 11, 2019 Book Review: THE INVITED by Jennifer McMahon
• May 2019
  • May 20, 2019 Book Review: MIRACLE CREEK by Angie Kim
• April 2019
  • Apr 26, 2019 Book Review: UNTO US A SON IS GIVEN by Donna Leon
  • Apr 4, 2019 Book Review: BLOOD OATH by Linda Fairstein
• March 2019
  • Mar 21, 2019 Book Review: AFTER SHE'S GONE by Camilla Grebe
• February 2019
  • Feb 28, 2019 Book Review: THE SILENT PATIENT by Alex Michaelides
  • Feb 19, 2019 Book Review: THE LOST MAN by Jane Harper
  • Feb 1, 2019 Book Review: THE HIDING PLACE by C.J. Tudor
• January 2019
  • Jan 24, 2019 Book Review: NEVER TELL by Lisa Gardner
  • Jan 8, 2019 Book Review: An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
  • Jan 8, 2019 Happy 2019!
• December 2018
  • Dec 18, 2018 Book Review: Broken Ground by Val McDermid
  • Dec 4, 2018 Book Review: His Perfect Wife by Natasha Bell
• November 2018
  • Nov 29, 2018 Book Review: THE FIRE WITNESS by Lars Kepler
  • Nov 13, 2018 Book Review: THE DARKNESS by Ragnar Jonasson
• October 2018
  • Oct 27, 2018 MINM Book Review: The Craftsman by Sharon Bolton
  • Oct 17, 2018 MINM Book Review: The Wife by Alafair Burke
  • Oct 15, 2018 A Quick Note To Authors, Publishers, And To My Readers:
• September 2018
  • Sep 30, 2018 MINM Book Review: Button Man by Andrew Gross
• August 2018
  • Aug 31, 2018 YOU by Caroline Kepnes Book Review and Video Trailer of the Series Adaptation
  • Aug 21, 2018 Book Review: The Other Woman by Sandie Jones
  • Aug 10, 2018 MINM Book Review: Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman
  • Aug 1, 2018 MINM Review: A Noise Downstairs by Linwood Barclay
• July 2018
  • Jul 22, 2018 MINM Book Review: NEED TO KNOW by Karen Cleveland
  • Jul 10, 2018 MINM Review: A Gathering of Secrets by Linda Castillo
  • Jul 2, 2018 Book Review: THE LAST TIME I LIED by Riley Sager
• June 2018
  • Jun 23, 2018 MINM Review: Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke
  • Jun 15, 2018 On MINM: Jar of Hearts Video and Excerpt!
  • Jun 8, 2018 MINM Book Review: SHARP OBJECTS by Gillian Flynn
  • Jun 1, 2018 MINM Review: This Dark Place by Claire Kittridge
• May 2018
  • May 24, 2018 MINM Review: JAR OF HEARTS by Jennifer Hillier
  • May 16, 2018 MINM Review: Dying Truth by Angela Marsons
  • May 1, 2018 MINM Review: Don't Believe It by Charlie Donlea
• April 2018
  • Apr 19, 2018 MINM Review: Our Kind of Cruelty by Araminta Hall
  • Apr 3, 2018 MINM Review: Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskic
• March 2018
  • Mar 28, 2018 MINM Review: Tangerine by Christine Mangan
  • Mar 16, 2018 MINM Review: The Broken Girls by Simone St. James
  • Mar 6, 2018 MINM Review: THE SANDMAN by Lars Kepler
• February 2018
  • Feb 23, 2018 MINM Review: The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn
  • Feb 12, 2018 MINM Review: The Legacy by Yrsa Sigurdardottir
• January 2018
  • Jan 31, 2018 MINM Review: LOOK FOR ME by Lisa Gardner
  • Jan 21, 2018 MINM Review: Into the Black Nowhere by Meg Gardiner
  • Jan 7, 2018 MINM Review: The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor
• December 2017
  • Dec 17, 2017 MINM: Wishes our readers Happy Holidays with an excerpt from Magpie Murders
  • Dec 16, 2017 MINM Review: Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
  • Dec 5, 2017 MINM Review: The Vanishing Season by Joanna Schaffhausen
• November 2017
  • Nov 28, 2017 MINM Review: You Can Run by Steve Mosby
  • Nov 21, 2017 MINM: is Thankful
  • Nov 15, 2017 MINM Review: NIGHTBLIND by Ragnar Jonasson
  • Nov 8, 2017 MINM Review: Down a Dark Road by Linda Castillo
  • Nov 2, 2017 MINM Review: Hide and Seek by M.J. Arlidge
• October 2017
  • Oct 25, 2017 MINM Review: Bird Box by Josh Malerman
  • Oct 18, 2017 MINM Review: Good Me, Bad Me by Ali Land
  • Oct 12, 2017 MINM Review: Dead Woman Walking by Sharon Bolton
  • Oct 3, 2017 MINM Review: The Visitors by Catherine Burns
• September 2017
  • Sep 26, 2017 MINM Review: Depth of Lies by E.C. Diskin
  • Sep 24, 2017 MINM Review: Glass Houses by Louise Penny
  • Sep 24, 2017 MINM Review: Unsub by Meg Gardiner
  • Sep 24, 2017 MINM Review: Exquisite by Sarah Stovell
  • Sep 24, 2017 MINM Review: The Lying Game by Ruth Ware
  • Sep 24, 2017 MINM Review: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

What are the odds that I would read two, separate, crime fiction novels (The Silent Patient and Unto Us a Son Is Given) , both referencing Euripides, within months of one another? In this installment, Donna Leon’s Police Commissario, Guido Brunetti, featuring in his twenty-eighth mystery, partakes of, ponders, and applies universal, life lessons from, Ancient Greek tragedies. Brunetti is a patient and learned police chief who, with the encouragement of his wife, reads the classics in his spare time! His wife, Paola, often reads with him when she is not teaching at the University, or shopping for, and preparing delicious lunches for the family (the descriptions of meals in the book will make the reader’s mouth water). An heiress to one of the largest fortunes in Venice, Paola is devoted to Brunetti and their two children, and still fills, and seemingly enjoys, the traditional role of doing the lion’s share of the household chores, while still holding her role as a professor.

Within Unto Us a Son Is Given, the Commissario’s very well-to-do father-in-law, Orazio Falier, a count and a descendant of Florentine princes, asks Brunetti to discreetly look into a legal situation involving Falier’s best friend and also godfather to Paola. It would seem that this particular family friend, Gonzalo Rodriguez de Tejeda, has been consulting with “avvocati" (lawyers) to be able to legally adopt a much younger man, but an adult, nonetheless. Il Conte would like to know the motivation for this adoption. Is his dear friend making a sound decision, or is he being manipulated, as Gonzalo’s legal heir stands to inherit his estate? When bodies start collecting at the morgue, the need to understand Gonzalo’s legal, and personal, arrangement, and whether the deaths are related in some way, becomes even more urgent.

Fans of this long-running series will be happy to be in the company, once again, of Brunetti’s loving family, and to experience a bit of the culture and traditions of the beautiful, historic city of Venice, this time around, in Springtime. Many of the regular and beloved secondary characters are in attendance, such as Brunetti’s police colleague, Dottoressa Claudia Griffoni, Vice-Questore Patta, who is Brunetti’s superior at the Questura (the police headquarters), and of course, essential and valued team member, Dottore Patta’s secretary (and unofficial Brunetti researcher), Elettra Zorzi. I have only read, years ago, a couple of other books in this series, and was able to slip right back into Brunetti’s world. That being said, Unto Us a Son Is Given is a police procedural that is very light on police procedure; it is light, as well, on violence, darkness, and grit. Its underlying mystery and interweaving subplots unfold at a measured, traditional, “la dolce far niente pace”. Reading Donna Leon’s latest mystery novel is like returning to Venice on a warm, spring evening to savor a gelato and a relaxing passegiata with old friends.

Best for Crime Fiction Readers:

• Who enjoy crime fiction with a more measured, traditional pace, and very little darkness and violence.

• Who are interested in the writings of Ancient Greece, and are interested in Ancient Rome. Please note that this is a tangential part of the plot - it is not its focus.

• Who are admirers and lovers of Italy and Italian culture, especially of Venetian culture. If you enjoy “armchair traveling” to other lands, and enjoy slower-paced, more traditional, intelligent mysteries, the Commissario Brunetti series may be one to add to your list.

• While there are certainly differences between the two series, fans of the “comforting” Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny may well enjoy reading Ms. Leon’s Commissario Brunetti series.

  Pages: 259 (Hardcover)

Publisher’s Blurb (minor spoilers):

"Your situation is always ambiguous, isn't it, Guido?," his father-in-law, Count Orazio Falier, observes of Donna Leon's soulful detective, Guido Brunetti, at the beginning of her superb 28th Brunetti novel, Unto Us A Son Is Given. "The world we live in makes that necessary," Brunetti presciently replies. Count Falier was urging his Venetian son-in-law to investigate, and preferably intervene in, the seemingly innocent plan of the Count's best friend, the elderly Gonzalo Rodríguez de Tejada, to adopt a much younger man as his son. Under Italian inheritance laws this man would then be heir to Gonzalo's entire fortune, a prospect Gonzalo's friends find appalling. For his part, Brunetti wonders why the old man, a close family friend, can't be allowed his pleasure in peace. And yet, what seems innocent on the Venetian surface can cause tsunamis beneath. Gonzalo unexpectedly, and literally, drops dead on the street, and one of his friends just arrived in Venice for the memorial service, is strangled in her hotel room--having earlier sent Gonzalo an email saying "We are the only ones who know you cannot do this," referring to the adoption. Now with an urgent case to solve, Brunetti reluctantly untangles the long-hidden mystery in Gonzalo's life that ultimately led to murder--a resolution that brings him way more pain than satisfaction.

Once again, Donna Leon brilliantly plumbs the twists and turns of the human condition, reuniting us with some of crime fiction's most memorable and enduring characters. 

About the Author:

Donna Leon (born September 29, 1942, in Montclair, New Jersey) is an American author of a series of crime novels set in Venice and featuring the fictional hero, Commissario Guido Brunetti.

Donna Leon has lived in Italy for over thirty years. She has worked as a lecturer in English Literature for the University of Maryland University College - Europe (UMUC-Europe) in Italy, then as a Professor from 1981 to 1999 at the American military base of Vicenza (Italy) and a writer. 

Her crime novels are all situated in or near Venice. They are written in English and translated into many foreign languages, although not, by her request, into Italian. Her ninth Brunetti novel, Friends in High Places, won the Crime Writers' Association Silver Dagger in 2000.

MINM Overall Rating: 4/5 Stars

Blood Oath features Alexandra “Coop” Cooper, a thirty-eight year old, Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan who has run the Special Victims Bureau, overseeing and prosecuting sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, and related murder cases for more than ten years. Alex is smart, likable, and filled with moxie; like the author herself, Alexandra Cooper is a strong victim and survivor advocate, and has dedicated her professional life to seeking justice in the courts for victims of intimate violence. When twenty-four year old Lucy Jenner is brought to “Coop’s” office, Lucy doesn’t know, at first, if she can trust Alexandra Cooper. Ten years earlier, when Lucy was a critical witness in a federal murder trial and only fourteen years old, she experienced something at the hands of someone she trusted, and was not taken seriously when she tried to report it. But she hadn’t met Alex Cooper, who is now listening to Lucy. Alex is assisted in her search for the truth about what happened to Lucy all those years ago by her trusted paralegal, Maxine, and legal secretary, Laura, her SVU colleague and friend, detective Mercer Wallace, as well as fan favorite, Mike Chapman, a hard-boiled-talking detective with Manhattan North’s elite Homicide Squad, who also just happens to be Alex’s boyfriend.

From what I’ve read about this series, Ms. Fairstein always includes edifying information about architectural and cultural landmarks in New York. Blood Oath is no exception, and learning about old New York, Italian restaurant, Forlini’s, and its proximity to the courthouse, The Tombs (the city prison), and the “Bridge of Sighs” (pictured on the book cover) that connects the courthouse and the prison gives this novel an intellectually stimulating quality, while never losing its suspense factor! Esteemed New York City, medical research facility, Rockefeller University, becomes part of the story when a defense attorney friend of Alex’s appears to be suddenly struck by a mysterious and severe medical condition. While some readers may find the ultimate reason for this condition to stretch plausibility only a bit, Ms. Fairstein must be commended for managing multiple, interweaving plot lines seamlessly. The dark, narrow, crumbling tunnels underneath the original, historic campus of “Rock U” (which actually exist!) feature in some of the book’s most gripping, breath-holding scenes!

If you’ve been following Mystery in Minutes (and I hope that you have), you are probably familiar with my most frequently reviewed psychological suspense and police procedural subgenres. Well…….say hello to a new favorite subgenre of mine! There is nothing quite like venturing into a genre or subgenre that you don’t often partake of to “recharge your reader batteries”! Legal thriller, Blood Oath, incorporates timely topics, such as the #MeToo movement, without being preachy or partisan, making it an of-the-moment, yet very entertaining crime fiction read that I dare you to put down, once started! I’m already looking forward to reading about Alexandra Cooper’s next case!

Best for Crime Fiction Readers:

• Who enjoy reading courtroom dramas and legal thrillers.

• Who appreciate crime fiction that is set in New York City.

• The Alexandra Cooper series may appeal to fans of historical crime fiction, in that the reader learns about restaurants, cultural, and architectural locales of historical significance in the City of New York.

• Fans of hard-boiled crime should know that character Mike Chapman has a definite “hard-boiled vibe”. Much of the dialogue features snappy, NYC cop and prosecutor lingo.

• Who are interested in prosecutorial procedure, as well as a bit of the possible, political machinations of a district attorney’s office.

  Pages: 400 (Hardcover)

Publisher’s Blurb:

New York Times bestselling author Linda Fairstein returns with a timely, captivating thriller about the deep--and often deadly--reverberations of past sins.

Linda Fairstein is the queen of intelligent suspense, cleverly interweaving shocking crimes with the hidden, often dark history of New York City locales. In her latest novel, Linda tackles both the first biomedical research center in the United States and the #MeToo movement, as Alex Cooper takes on the case of a young woman who testified years earlier at a landmark Federal trial . . . and now reveals that she was sexually assaulted by a prominent law enforcement official during that time. As the case grows more complex, Alex, along with NYPD detectives Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace, find themselves in uncharted territory within Manhattan's Rockefeller University, a research institute born of tragedy that has evolved into a premier scientific facility, hospital, and cornerstone of higher learning. But when dark secrets of the century-old institution intersect with life-threatening events, the experience may just help determine whether Alex will keep her job, or throw her hat in the ring to become the next district attorney of New York County . . . if she can survive that long.

About the Author:

Linda Fairstein (born 1947) is one of America's foremost legal experts on crimes of violence against women and children. She served as head of the sex crimes unit of the Manhattan District Attorney's office from 1976 until 2002, and is the author of a series of novels featuring Manhattan prosecutor Alexandra Cooper. She is also the author of a series of books for middle grade readers featuring kid sleuth, Devlin Quick. The series is an homage to Nancy Drew, who inspired both Ms. Fairstein’s legal, as well as her crime writing careers.

Ms. Fairstein is an honors graduate of Vassar College (1969) and the University of Virginia School of Law (1972). She joined the Manhattan District Attorney's office in 1972 as an Assistant District Attorney. She was promoted to the head of the sex crimes unit in 1976. During her tenure, Ms. Fairstein prosecuted several highly publicized cases.

Linda Fairstein left the District Attorney's office in 2002, and has continued to consult, write, lecture and serve as a sex crimes expert for a wide variety of print and television media outlets. She is also a frequent speaker on issues surrounding domestic abuse.

Ms. Fairstein lives in Manhattan and on Martha's Vineyard. Her novels draw on Ms. Fairstein's legal expertise as well as her knowledge of, and affection for, the rich history of the city of New York.

MINM Overall Rating of the book, Blood Oath: 4.75/5 Stars

WHAT IS AFTER SHE’S GONE ABOUT?

A woman vanishes in the middle of the night, leaving behind a diary that may hold the key to finding her--and to solving the murder she was investigating when she disappeared, in this thriller from the writer at the "front rank...of Nordic noir" (Kirkus Reviews).

In the two years that have passed since psychological profiler Hanne Lagerlind-Schön survived an attempted murder, she and investigator Peter Lindgren have rekindled their love, and a recent extended vacation in Greenland seems to have eased the symptoms of her early onset dementia. But when the pair is called back to Sweden to investigate a cold case involving the murder of a young girl whose remains were found in a cairn ten years earlier, the icy winter conditions and stress of the job take their toll, and she feels her mind beginning to slip. Desperate not to lose her job--or worse, Peter--Hanne begins keeping a diary, meticulously chronicling everything she's worried about forgetting.

As Hanne and Peter get closer to solving the case of the murdered girl, they both suddenly go missing. The local police have no leads. The only witness is a teenage boy who sees a woman get into a strange car in the middle of the night but, guarding a secret of his own, he is unable to come forward. The boy, Jake, discovers the notebook Hanne left behind, and reads her notes, fascinating by the unfolding murder case until he makes a shocking realization: his own father was a key suspect in the investigation. Jake becomes determined to uncover the truth on his own. 

Hanne reappears days later, with no memory of where she's been--or who she is. Without her notebook, she is lost and terrified, driven by a single thought: find Peter.

One of the common characteristics of Scandinavian and Nordic crime fiction is that it often includes social commentary, exploring issues of civic and humanitarian importance. After She’s Gone exemplifies this in spades! The novel takes place in the fictional town of Ormberg, Sweden. A small, isolated, forest town in the shadow of Mount Ormberg, it is depressed, and depopulated, in large part, due to the shuttering of factories that once sustained the community, economically. Long after closing, the factories are now housing political refugees. Reading about Ormberg, you might imagine that you are reading about a formerly-thriving, mid-western, manufacturing town in the United States. In this US analogy, not only are the workers that were once able to earn an honest, middle-class living, now struggling to adapt to the changing technological and economic landscape of contemporary, international commerce, with all of the potential dejection and disaffection that layoffs and closures may bring, now imagine that the government is housing asylum seekers in the old, shut down, GM plants, for example, where your parents, and Grandfather before them worked, and were able to earn good salaries with full benefits, to support their families. In Ormberg, Sweden of the story, the old, brick, textile factory, and the no longer operational iron works have been housing predominantly Muslim refugees in this traditionally Christian, Scandinavian town, and many of the local people feel a fear about all of the changes, about these “others”, as well as a strong resentment of the aid that the asylum seekers receive.

Within After She’s Gone, Camilla Grebe tackles, head-on, some of the potential, root causes of nationalism, extremism, and anti-immigrant sentiment. She also addresses a host of other issues such as gender identity (kudos to Ms. Grebe for addressing the frequent conflation of gender identity and sexual orientation), bullying and self-loathing, self-actualization, dementia and its effects, mortality, and more. While Ms. Grebe should absolutely be recognized and commended for writing about all of these issues, I find myself wishing that she had focused on just the anti-immigrant sentiment, or only the demonization of trans and gender-fluid people, and saved the other topic for her next book. I understand that all of the various topics addressed are timely, relevant, and important, but I do wonder if the novel would have been more effective if its focus had been narrowed. Despite having the utmost respect for the urgency of the content of her story, I found the actual narrative to be bogged down with too many non-essential details, and too much exposition. I would have preferred for the pacing to have been faster, as I found my attention frequently drifting, and for the symbolism to have been much more nuanced.

Perhaps many people need a non-subtle warning to be reminded of how the evils of history gain footholds, and have the potential to repeat themselves, and how we must be vigilant, and never forget.

One of the qualities that I admire so much about Camilla Grebe’s previous novel, which I highly recommend, The Ice Beneath Her, is that it is a terrific example of “show, not tell”. In this regard, After She’s Gone fell short.

Best for Crime Fiction Readers:

• Who are fans of “Scandi-Noir”.

• Who enjoy reading crime fiction in translation.

• Who don’t mind, or enjoy, a much more measured, slower-paced, crime novel.

• Who are interested in criminal profiling. Please note that this is not a central aspect of the novel.

• Who appreciate crime fiction that explores coming-of-age themes.

• Who are interested in thought-provoking, crime fiction that explores social and political issues.

MINM Overall Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

• Who are interested in criminal profiling. Please note that this is not a central focus of the novel.

• Who appreciate crime fiction that explores coming-of-age themes.

The Silent Patient’s propulsive narrative goes back and forth between past and present, and is told in the first person by two alternating voices. The first is the silent patient of the title, Alicia Berenson. Alicia is a British, visual artist who has been convicted of the murder of her fashion photographer husband, Gabriel. Because of various factors, not the least of which being that she has stopped vocalizing entirely after the killing, Alicia is being housed at The Grove, a secure psychiatric facility. Alicia’s feelings and thoughts - her side of what led up to Gabriel’s death - is revealed to the reader through Alicia’s paintings, and especially, through the words of her diary.

The second point of view is that of Theo Faber, the forty-two year old forensic psychologist who works with Alicia at The Grove to try to draw out her voice. In the process, Theo becomes our amateur detective of sorts, and, within and outside of his psychotherapy with Alicia, we go down the rabbit hole of emotions and clues, discovering the inciting incidents behind Alicia’s silence, as well as the circumstances of her husband’s demise. I must admit that I’m still deciding whether or not all of the pieces of the jigsaw fit perfectly together, and whether or not certain details of the plot are meant to raise questions. Herein lies the crux of my 4.5, rather than 5 star rating. I anticipate lively discussions amongst detail-oriented book groups, and possibly, future film audiences.

The book itself is the stuff of publishing legend. Written by a then forty-one year old screenwriter, heretofore unknown in the crime literature universe, the author’s debut novel was the first book to be published by Celadon, a small, “highly curated”, fiction and non-fiction imprint of Macmillan. With lots of positive buzz from early readers, no sooner had it been released, than The Silent Patient immediately shot to the top of the New York Times bestseller list. It’s available in at least forty-three countries worldwide, and has already been optioned for film by Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B, with Mr. Michaelides to write the screenplay!

Alex Michaelides says he set out to write “an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery with a deeper psychological complexity”. He was inspired to write his debut by the Christie canon that he devoured one summer at the beach in Cypus, where he was born. Having a Greek-Cypriot father, the study of Greek mythology was part of the culture in which he grew up, as well as that of Cambridge, where he attended University. The Silent Patient was inspired also by the myth surrounding Alcestis, and the Euripides play of the same name. If that sounds dry, fear not! While this may be a “thinking person’s” mystery, I found it to be compelling, “page-turning”, and accessible. And I can highly recommend the compulsively listenable audio book performances of British actors, Jack Hawkins, as Theo Faber, and, portraying Alicia Berenson, Louise Brealey, whose narration of The Girl on the Train contributed to its 2016 Audie Award for Audio Book of the Year. The Silent Patient is an entertaining and strong debut, and I’m very glad that I read it!

Best for Crime Fiction Readers:

• Who enjoy reading psychological suspense. The Silent Patient is psychological with a capital “P”, doing a deep dive into several of the characters’ psyches. Much of the plot takes place in a secure, psychiatric facility, and during psychotherapy sessions.

• Who like to read Agatha Christie-style murder mysteries, yet with contemporary details and language.

• Who appreciate reading about one or more possibly unreliable narrators.

• Who don’t mind reading some slightly gory details, and a bit of sexual content.

• Who are interested in art and/or Greek mythology.

• Who enjoy mysteries and crime fiction featuring an amateur detective.

  Pages: 336 (Hardcover)

  Length: 8 hrs. 43 mins.

Publisher’s Blurb:

Promising to be the debut novel of the season, The Silent Patient is a shocking, psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband—and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive…

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.

Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him.... 

MINM Overall Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

• July 2019
  • Jul 2, 2019 Book Review: LOCK EVERY DOOR by Riley Sager
• June 2019
  • Jun 11, 2019 Book Review: THE INVITED by Jennifer McMahon
• May 2019
  • May 20, 2019 Book Review: MIRACLE CREEK by Angie Kim
• April 2019
  • Apr 26, 2019 Book Review: UNTO US A SON IS GIVEN by Donna Leon
  • Apr 4, 2019 Book Review: BLOOD OATH by Linda Fairstein
• March 2019
  • Mar 21, 2019 Book Review: AFTER SHE'S GONE by Camilla Grebe
• February 2019
  • Feb 28, 2019 Book Review: THE SILENT PATIENT by Alex Michaelides
  • Feb 19, 2019 Book Review: THE LOST MAN by Jane Harper
  • Feb 1, 2019 Book Review: THE HIDING PLACE by C.J. Tudor
• January 2019
  • Jan 24, 2019 Book Review: NEVER TELL by Lisa Gardner
  • Jan 8, 2019 Book Review: An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
  • Jan 8, 2019 Happy 2019!
• December 2018
  • Dec 18, 2018 Book Review: Broken Ground by Val McDermid
  • Dec 4, 2018 Book Review: His Perfect Wife by Natasha Bell
• November 2018
  • Nov 29, 2018 Book Review: THE FIRE WITNESS by Lars Kepler
  • Nov 13, 2018 Book Review: THE DARKNESS by Ragnar Jonasson
• October 2018
  • Oct 27, 2018 MINM Book Review: The Craftsman by Sharon Bolton
  • Oct 17, 2018 MINM Book Review: The Wife by Alafair Burke
  • Oct 15, 2018 A Quick Note To Authors, Publishers, And To My Readers:
• September 2018
  • Sep 30, 2018 MINM Book Review: Button Man by Andrew Gross
• August 2018
  • Aug 31, 2018 YOU by Caroline Kepnes Book Review and Video Trailer of the Series Adaptation
  • Aug 21, 2018 Book Review: The Other Woman by Sandie Jones
  • Aug 10, 2018 MINM Book Review: Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman
  • Aug 1, 2018 MINM Review: A Noise Downstairs by Linwood Barclay
• July 2018
  • Jul 22, 2018 MINM Book Review: NEED TO KNOW by Karen Cleveland
  • Jul 10, 2018 MINM Review: A Gathering of Secrets by Linda Castillo
  • Jul 2, 2018 Book Review: THE LAST TIME I LIED by Riley Sager
• June 2018
  • Jun 23, 2018 MINM Review: Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke
  • Jun 15, 2018 On MINM: Jar of Hearts Video and Excerpt!
  • Jun 8, 2018 MINM Book Review: SHARP OBJECTS by Gillian Flynn
  • Jun 1, 2018 MINM Review: This Dark Place by Claire Kittridge
• May 2018
  • May 24, 2018 MINM Review: JAR OF HEARTS by Jennifer Hillier
  • May 16, 2018 MINM Review: Dying Truth by Angela Marsons
  • May 1, 2018 MINM Review: Don't Believe It by Charlie Donlea
• April 2018
  • Apr 19, 2018 MINM Review: Our Kind of Cruelty by Araminta Hall
  • Apr 3, 2018 MINM Review: Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskic
• March 2018
  • Mar 28, 2018 MINM Review: Tangerine by Christine Mangan
  • Mar 16, 2018 MINM Review: The Broken Girls by Simone St. James
  • Mar 6, 2018 MINM Review: THE SANDMAN by Lars Kepler
• February 2018
  • Feb 23, 2018 MINM Review: The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn
  • Feb 12, 2018 MINM Review: The Legacy by Yrsa Sigurdardottir
• January 2018
  • Jan 31, 2018 MINM Review: LOOK FOR ME by Lisa Gardner
  • Jan 21, 2018 MINM Review: Into the Black Nowhere by Meg Gardiner
  • Jan 7, 2018 MINM Review: The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor
• December 2017
  • Dec 17, 2017 MINM: Wishes our readers Happy Holidays with an excerpt from Magpie Murders
  • Dec 16, 2017 MINM Review: Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
  • Dec 5, 2017 MINM Review: The Vanishing Season by Joanna Schaffhausen
• November 2017
  • Nov 28, 2017 MINM Review: You Can Run by Steve Mosby
  • Nov 21, 2017 MINM: is Thankful
  • Nov 15, 2017 MINM Review: NIGHTBLIND by Ragnar Jonasson
  • Nov 8, 2017 MINM Review: Down a Dark Road by Linda Castillo
  • Nov 2, 2017 MINM Review: Hide and Seek by M.J. Arlidge
• October 2017
  • Oct 25, 2017 MINM Review: Bird Box by Josh Malerman
  • Oct 18, 2017 MINM Review: Good Me, Bad Me by Ali Land
  • Oct 12, 2017 MINM Review: Dead Woman Walking by Sharon Bolton
  • Oct 3, 2017 MINM Review: The Visitors by Catherine Burns
• September 2017
  • Sep 26, 2017 MINM Review: Depth of Lies by E.C. Diskin
  • Sep 24, 2017 MINM Review: Glass Houses by Louise Penny
  • Sep 24, 2017 MINM Review: Unsub by Meg Gardiner
  • Sep 24, 2017 MINM Review: Exquisite by Sarah Stovell
  • Sep 24, 2017 MINM Review: The Lying Game by Ruth Ware
  • Sep 24, 2017 MINM Review: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

The Lost Man is set in the Outback, in the interior of Australia, a vast, distant, almost primeval land of wide-open spaces, with arid, red dirt for eleven months of the year, and murky flood waters for the rest. “A land of mirages”, where homesteads can be three hours apart, and the sun can be hot enough to kill.

Told in the third person, Ms. Harper’s first standalone novel focuses on Nathan Bright, a forty-two year old, divorced father of a sixteen year old teen who lives with Nathan’s ex-wife, 1500 kilometers away, in Brisbane. When Nathan is not having one of his infrequent, Outback visits with his son, Nathan lives alone on a huge, desolate, cattle property, a generator his only source of electricity. Nathan must plan his meals six months in advance, and keep a precise inventory of supplies, as the large, refrigerated, supermarket truck from Brisbane delivers groceries to the homesteaders and cattle stations of the region only once every six weeks. When the floods come, Nathan’s home can be completely cut off, trapping Nathan in his home for weeks. Outback residents learn to never drive during the dry months without bringing survival gear, because if your car breaks down, you might not see another car for days. If you live with others, you must write in a log where you are going, and when you plan to return, as phone signals may be nonexistent. But Nathan lives mostly without human contact, unwelcome by those in the closest town of Balamara, deserted, one by one, by his staff, and left to manage his 700 kilometer property, with its 500-600 cattle, all by himself. In this rough and tumble, remote, and otherworldly landscape, this sort of isolation can put a man - or woman - in physical, as well as psychological, life or death peril. When one of Nathan’s brothers is found dead of apparent exposure to the elements near the infamous “stockman’s grave”, with its 1890s headstone, upon which is chiseled, “who went astray”, Nathan rejoins his family to investigate his brother Cameron’s mysterious death. The reader also learns why Nathan has been so removed from the others upon whom his own life, liberty, and happiness may depend.

I listened to the excellent audio book, read by Aussie actor, Stephen Shanahan, who has narrated all three of Ms. Harper’s books. The audio book includes a bonus interview with Shanahan and Jane Harper, as well as a sample of Ms. Harper’s debut story, The Dry, which I heartily recommend, and which - I called it! - is currently in production to become a film adaptation!

The Lost Man touches upon the universal themes of family relationships and bonds, the importance of community, as well as redemption, and forgiveness. Utterly compelling, and with characters I will not soon forget, The Lost Man gets my highest recommendation! It’s an instant classic!

Best for Crime Fiction Readers:

• Who appreciate mysteries that are not very violent.

• Who enjoy crime fiction and mysteries featuring “amateur detectives”.

• Who enjoy reading more literary crime fiction, such as the work of Irish crime novelist Tana French.

• The Lost Man may appeal to fans of crime fiction that takes place in the American West.

• Who enjoy reading character-driven, family sagas with complex, often suspenseful plotting.

• Who love to be transported to new places, and to different ways of life through their reading experiences!

  Pages: 352 (Hardcover)

  Length: 10 hours 59 minutes (Audio Book)

Publisher’s Blurb:

Two brothers meet at the border of their vast cattle properties under the unrelenting sun of outback Queensland, in this stunning new standalone novel from New York Times bestseller Jane Harper.

They are at the stockman’s grave, a landmark so old, no one can remember who is buried there. But today, the scant shadow it casts was the last hope for their middle brother, Cameron. The Bright family’s quiet existence is thrown into grief and anguish. Something had been troubling Cameron. Did he lose hope and walk to his death? Because if he didn’t, the isolation of the outback leaves few suspects…

Dark, suspenseful, and deeply atmospheric, The Lost Man is the highly anticipated next book from the bestselling and award-winning Jane Harper, author of The Dry and Force of Nature.

About the Author:

Jane Harper has won numerous top awards including the Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year, the Australian Indie Awards Book of the Year, the CWA Gold Dagger Award for Best Crime Novel, and the British Book Awards Crime and Thriller Book of the Year. 
Her books are published in more than 36 territories worldwide, with film rights sold to Reese Witherspoon and Bruna Papandrea. 
Jane worked as a print journalist for thirteen years both in Australia and the UK, and now lives in Melbourne.

MINM Overall Rating: 5/5 Stars!

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The central character of The Hiding Place is Joe Thorne. Complex, initially mysterious, middle aged Joe leaves Manchester, and returns to his small, hometown of Arnhill, historically a coal mining village, and to the secrets, lies, and “ghosts” of his past that still torment him, and keep him tossing and turning at night. Joe is offered a teaching position at the high school where he, formerly, was a student. He proceeds to rent a cottage that is infamous within this economically depressed and insular town for being the sight of two, horrific, and not fully understood, deaths. The settings of Joe’s perpetually damp, cold, and possibly haunted cottage, as well as the coal mine, long ago abandoned, with its dark, narrow, and low tunnels and shafts, and its ventilation ducts that open from above the mine to reveal long distances of “nothingness”, serve, in “the present”, as well as in flashbacks, to create nail-bitingly creepy, claustrophobic, and very suspenseful scenes! In The Hiding Place, Ms. Tudor revisits themes that played a large role in her debut novel, The Chalk Man: primarily, the coming of age, and the cruelty that children are capable of inflicting upon one another. In between these deeply felt scenes, Ms. Tudor intersperses dark humor, and turns of phrase both witty and profound, as well as allusions to the works of other writers, and at least one Easter egg reference to her own debut! I lost count, while reading The Hiding Place, of how many times I highlighted thought-provoking passages.

There are aspects of the plot that walk a very fine line between realism and the otherworldly, and this may leave some readers with unanswered questions. I do wonder if the author wanted these plot points to be open to interpretation. In addition to Ms. Tudor having one Doc Marten firmly planted in the psychological horror universe, with her wonderful villains, as well as other elements of the story, such as Joe Thorne’s “coping mechanisms” (one not oft written about vice, in particular), Ms. Tudor has given The Hiding Place a quite noirish feel. Some readers may ask if the author played completely fairly with them regarding her two, final twists, which are nearly impossible to predict! Others have opined that her style and themes too closely resemble those of Stephen King, one of Ms. Tudor’s favorite writers. For me, those niggles do not prevent me from declaring The Hiding Place a slam dunk that I highly recommend!

In early 2018, I wrote: “The Chalk Man is an enthralling, sometimes emotionally wrenching, yet lovingly told story by a shining new talent in the crime writing world!” I fully anticipate that C.J. Tudor’s second novel, The Hiding Place, will generate much discussion, and be every bit as popular, around the world, as this talented author’s debut! I look forward to reading whatever she comes up with next!

Best for Crime Fiction Readers:

• Who enjoy reading books with coming-of-age content.

• Who enjoy reading novels with a strong influence of psychological horror. The Hiding Place definitely contains some violence, as well as some fairly unsettling and slightly gory descriptions, so it should be approached with caution by the faint of heart. (Please note for the future:The Hiding Place would make a terrific Halloween season read!)

• Who don’t mind, or appreciate, crime fiction with supernatural elements.

• Who like to read crime fiction and mysteries with stylistic or thematic features of noir.

• Who enjoy reading about one or more unreliable narrators.

• Who love crime fiction with chapters that end with mini cliffhangers, or “danglers”, that compel the reader to keep turning the pages!

  Pages: 288 (Hardcover)

Read What Others Are Saying About The Hiding Place:

“Tudor maintains a tone of creeping dread throughout the book, of something lingering always in the background, coyly hiding its face while whispering promises of very bad things to come. In the last quarter, however, she goes for broke with outright horror, giving readers an effective jolt of adrenaline that will carry them all the way to the terrifying conclusion. Readers won’t know what hit them. Tudor came out swinging with The Chalk Man, but this one puts her firmly on the map. Not to be missed.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Tudor has crafted another fantastic horror-tinged thriller (after The Chalk Man, 2018) in the vein of John Connolly and Brendan Duffy.” —Booklist

“Tudor casts a searing light on the long-term damage wrought by grief, guilt, and regret.” —Publishers Weekly

“Some writers have it, and some don’t. C. J. Tudor has it big time—The Hiding Place is terrific in every way.” —Lee Child

“Dark, gothic and utterly compelling, The Hiding Place pulls off a rare combination – an atmosphere of unsettling evil along with richly nuanced characterization.” ­—J.P. Delaney, New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Before

“Gripping and dark, The Hiding Place descends like its very own mine shaft, getting creepier the further you go. You’ll race to the finish.” —Roz Nay, internationally bestselling author of Our Little Secret

“Deliciously creepy, impeccably plotted and laced with both wicked humor and genuine shocks, The Hiding Place is the kind of read-under-the-covers thriller you didn’t think people wrote anymore. Lucky for us, C.J. Tudor still does. An absolute corker of a book.” —Riley Sager, New York Times bestselling author of Final Girls and The Last Time I Lied

Publisher’s Blurb:

The thrilling second novel from the author of The Chalk Man, about a teacher with a hidden agenda who returns to settle scores at a school he once attended, only to uncover a darker secret than he could have imagined.

Joe never wanted to come back to Arnhill. After the way things ended with his old gang--the betrayal, the suicide, the murder--and after what happened when his sister went missing, the last thing he wanted to do was return to his hometown. But Joe doesn't have a choice. Because judging by what was done to that poor Morton kid, what happened all those years ago to Joe's sister is happening again. And only Joe knows who is really at fault.

Lying his way into a teaching job at his former high school is the easy part. Facing off with former friends who are none too happy to have him back in town--while avoiding the enemies he's made in the years since--is tougher. But the hardest part of all will be returning to that abandoned mine where it all went wrong and his life changed forever, and finally confronting the shocking, horrifying truth about Arnhill, his sister, and himself. Because for Joe, the worst moment of his life wasn't the day his sister went missing. It was the day she came back. 

MINM Overall Rating: 5/5 Stars

Thank you to Crown Publishing for a free, advanced copy of The Hiding Place, by C.J. Tudor!

This review is the honest opinion of Mystery in Minutes.

Set mainly in wintertime Boston, Never Tell is the tenth police procedural featuring Gardner’s beloved character, D.D. Warren, now a Sergeant Detective with the homicide department of the Boston Police Force, as well as a wife and mother. In this installment, that takes place one month after the events of Gardner’s previous novel, Look For Me, we also see the return of another popular Gardner character: tough and determined survivor, Flora Dane, who has evolved into Sergeant Detective Warren’s confidential informant, as well as a self-appointed advocate and protector of survivors. D.D. Warren’s professional work and Flora Dane’s “vigilante” efforts intersect, yet again, when a possible connection is discovered between a recent murder, and Jacob Ness, the sexual predator who held then college-aged Flora Dane captive for 472 days, until she was rescued by an FBI SWAT team approximately six years prior to the events of Never Tell. The plot of Never Tell thickens when D.D. realizes that the person accused of murder in the current case was involved in another killing that D.D. investigated sixteen years earlier. D.D. Warren, who is supposed to be a desk-bound supervising sergeant, cannot possibly sit this one out, and actively investigates! Lisa Gardner masterfully weaves together several investigative threads that may or may not relate to Flora Dane’s heartbreaking backstory. Something that really distinguishes Never Tell from many other works of crime fiction, is that it explores the effects of crime, and death, upon not just the victim (or survivor), but the novel explores the lifelong reverberations upon everyone - friends, colleagues, acquaintances, family - that was, or is, in that victim’s life. It should be noted that just enough information is provided by the author so that Never Tell can definitely be read without having read the previous Flora Dane or D.D. Warren novels.

I am one of those rare, crime fiction fans who have read only a few of prolific, American novelist Lisa Gardner’s books. Never Tell is my favorite so far, absolutely! From the first page to the last, I was completely gripped and engaged!

Best for Crime Fiction Readers:

• Who enjoy character-rich, American, police procedurals.

• Who appreciate crime fiction featuring one or more strong, determined, female investigators.

• Who enjoy reading courtroom drama. There is a courtroom scene in Never Tell, as well as deliberations between the accused and their defense attorney.

• Who don’t mind reading about some darker subject matter. Be prepared for some retelling of the ordeal that Flora Dane, the survivor of a lengthy abduction, went through. Please note that Never Tell is not gratuitously violent.

• Who appreciate crime fiction that illuminates the perseverance and resilience of survivors.

• Who love crime fiction that opens with suspense and danger that pulls the reader immediately into the story!

  Pages: 416 (Hardcover)

Publisher’s Description:

A man is dead, shot three times in his home office. But his computer has been shot twelve times, and when the cops arrive, his pregnant wife is holding the gun. 

D.D. Warren arrives on the scene and recognizes the woman--Evie Carter--from a case many years back. Evie's father was killed in a shooting that was ruled an accident. But for D.D., two coincidental murders is too many. 

Flora Dane sees the murder of Conrad Carter on the TV news and immediately knows his face. She remembers a night when she was still a victim--a hostage--and her captor knew this man. Overcome with guilt that she never tracked him down, Flora is now determined to learn the truth of Conrad's murder. 

But D.D. and Flora are about to discover that in this case the truth is a devilishly elusive thing. As layer by layer they peel away the half-truths and outright lies, they wonder: How many secrets can one family have?

MINM Overall Rating of Lisa Gardner’s Book, Never Tell: 5/5 Stars!

Which crime novel of Lisa Gardner’s is your favorite?

Mystery in Minutes would love to hear from YOU in the comments below!

An Anonymous Girl features Jessica Farris, a seemingly, slightly naive, somewhat impressionable millennial who supports herself in the gig economy by working all over New York City as a freelance, on-demand, make-up artist for an online beauty business. When an opportunity presents itself for Jessica to make some extra cash by participating in a mysterious psychological study, she pounces on the chance.

The researcher behind the study is Dr. Shields, whom we learn in time to be well-to-do, precise, clinical, and remote in nature, a professor at NYU, as well as a psychiatrist with a private practice.

Both of these central characters have layers of life experiences that are peeled back during the course of the novel, exhibiting what shapes their vulnerabilities, their strengths, and their motivations, eventually elevating the characters to a methodical, calculated “game of chess”. As the first hints of the psychological study’s origins are revealed, and which of the main, and supporting, characters to trust becomes less and less clear, the reader is hooked! At one point when I was reading, the tension was so tightly wound that I actually shrieked, mistaking a noise within my home for the sound of a door being slowly creaked open from the outside!

I am a reader who normally dislikes a lot of non-essential information in my stories, but for whatever reason, the numerous descriptions of physical characteristics as well as wardrobe specifics did not disrupt the flow of the narrative , and seemed to work for this particular tale. Likewise, I was not bothered by the need to suspend some disbelief. The authors held my attention throughout, and I just had to know how, and if, the story resolves (it does, and with a twist)!

Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen’s An Anonymous Girl is a thoroughly entertaining offering, that is sure to be popular among lovers of psychological suspense! A great start to 2019!

Best for Crime Fiction Readers:

• Who are fans of psychological suspense.

• Who appreciate crime fiction and mysteries that are set in New York City!

• Who don’t mind suspending a bit of disbelief in the service of an entertaining plot.

• Who don’t mind - or enjoy - reading about complicated, morally ambiguous characters, characters that are not always likeable.

• Who enjoy reading novels of domestic suspense.

• There are elements of amateur detective, and even spy, fiction in the novel, but I don’t want to muddy the waters too much. At its heart, An Anonymous Girl is the very essence of psychological suspense fiction!

  Pages: 384 (Hardcover)

Here’s a video that the authors made in 2017 when they were preparing to release their debut, The Wife Between Us. They discuss their collaboration, and their writing process.

Read the publisher’s description of An Anonymous Girl:

The next novel of psychological suspense and obsession from the authors of the blockbuster bestseller The Wife Between Us.

When Jessica Farris signs up for a psychology study conducted by the mysterious Dr. Shields, she thinks all she’ll have to do is answer a few questions, collect her money, and leave. But as the questions grow more and more intense and invasive and the sessions become outings where Jess is told what to wear and how to act, she begins to feel as though Dr. Shields may know what she’s thinking…and what she’s hiding. As Jess’s paranoia grows, it becomes clear that she can no longer trust what in her life is real, and what is one of Dr. Shields’ manipulative experiments. Caught in a web of deceit and jealousy, Jess quickly learns that some obsessions can be deadly.

From the authors of the blockbuster bestseller The Wife Between Us comes an electrifying new novel about doubt, passion, and just how much you can trust someone.

ADAPTATION NEWS!

AN ANONYMOUS GIRL has been optioned for a television series by eOne, with Sarah and Greer executive producing! (THE WIFE BETWEEN US has been optioned for film by Amblin Entertainment, with Sarah and Greer screenwriting the adaptation!)

MINM Overall Rating for the novel, An Anonymous Girl: 4.75/5 Stars

In this new year, Mystery in Minutes will continue to bring you succinct book reviews, excerpts, adaptation news, author videos, and all things crime fiction that can be read, and watched, “in minutes”, and that can help guide you to mysteries and thrillers that will, I hope, provide “escape” and enjoyment!

Thank you for being a very important part of the Mystery in Minutes community of readers!

Laura

Broken Ground features Detective Chief Inspector Karen Pirie, who is in charge of the Historic Cases Unit (read: cold cases) at Police Scotland in Edinburgh. DCI Pirie has a new immediate supervisor, Assistant Chief Constable, Ann Markie, and, as Karen Pirie discovers at the beginning of the novel, a new team member in Detective Sergeant, Gerry McCartney, originally from Glasgow, and reassigned from MIT to her unit by none other than Karen’s new boss. All of the novel’s characters are wonderful, and the dialogue throughout is strong, but the interpersonal dynamics between Karen and Gerry McCartney, between Ann Markie and Gerry, and, most especially, between Karen and Ann are absolutely delectable, as Ann Markie turns out to be the kind of cunning schemer that we readers “love to hate”! Fortunately, Karen has her best, female friend, forensic anthropologist, River Wilde, as well as Australian, female colleague, Tamsin Martineau, a lab technician at the Scottish Crime Campus in Gartcosh, to bounce ideas off of, and to banter with.

There are at least three different cases that DCI Pirie pursues in the novel, and the various plot threads are woven together masterfully, with the two main timelines, and any relative locations, helpfully identified as chapter headings. While never overwhelming, there is plenty in Broken Ground to keep the little grey cells of armchair detectives active and engaged!

As much as I still would love to travel to Scotland, after reading Broken Ground, you are unlikely to ever find me roaming the moors at night, alone, with nary a soul to hear my cries for help if ever I found myself sinking into the muddy depths of one of Scotland’s infamous peat bogs! Ms. McDermid gives DCI Pirie a case that takes full advantage of the “soft, damp, treacherous patches that (can be anywhere, and can) swallow (a person down) to the ankle and beyond”. The peat bogs of the Scottish Highlands naturally lend themselves to the suspenseful, “dark and stormy night” atmosphere that so many mystery and crime fiction fans adore!

If winter holiday preparations, or simply a busy lifestyle, makes sitting down with a book challenging, I highly recommend the audio book format of Broken Ground, narrated by Cathleen McCarron, who employs multiple accents in the telling of the tale, and gives an award-worthy performance! Listening to DCI Pirie’s accent, as imagined by Ms. McCarron, provided this American with an additional level of enjoyment. Broken Ground, by Val McDermid, is thoroughly satisfying, crime fiction storytelling that will keep listeners riveted, and readers glued to the pages!

Best for Crime Fiction Readers:

• Who are fans of complex, meaty, yet very accessible, UK police procedurals.

• Who are interested in forensic anthropology, as well as other forensic techniques.

• Who appreciate reading about strong, independent, female characters - some very likeable and admirable, and one or more others, in a way that makes for very entertaining crime fiction, not so much.

• Who are interested in learning about Scottish culture.

• Who enjoy historical mysteries and crime fiction. While Broken Ground is not predominantly a historical crime novel, the book incorporates numerous, historical actions and events that are critical to the 2018 portion of the plot.

  Pages: 432 (Hardcover)

  Length: 12 hrs. 59 mins.

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

“In Broken Ground, cold-case Detective Karen Pirie faces her hardest challenge yet. Six feet under in a Highland peat bog lies Alice Somerville’s inheritance, buried by her grandfather at the end of World War II. But when Alice finally uncovers it, she finds an unwanted surprise - a body with a bullet hole between the eyes. 

Meanwhile, DCI Pirie is called in to unravel a case where nothing is quite as it seems. And as she gets closer to the truth, it becomes clear that not everyone shares her desire for justice. Or even the idea of what justice is.” 

MINM Overall Rating: 5/5 Stars

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Val McDermid is a No. 1 bestseller whose novels have been translated into more than thirty languages, and have sold over eleven million copies. 

She has won many awards internationally, including the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year and the LA Times Book of the Year Award. She was inducted into the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards Hall of Fame in 2009 and was the recipient of the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger for 2010. In 2011 she received the Lambda Literary Foundation Pioneer Award. 

She writes full time and divides her time between Cheshire and Edinburgh.

Please note: Broken Ground would be a great choice for the British police procedural and mystery lover on your holiday gift list - it can be read as a standalone!

Happy Holidays and Happy Reading!

Laura, Mystery in Minutes

WHAT IS HIS PERFECT WIFE ABOUT?

The novel opens with husband Marc Southwood speaking on the phone with British law enforcement about the fact that his wife is missing. Marc is a bookish academic and “Uni” professor, who lives with his two daughters, aged seven and ten, and his wife, Alexandra Southwood. Alexandra is a thirty-seven year old, part-time, art history lecturer at the same University, in the north of England, where her husband teaches.

Flash back to when Alexandra was younger: after earning both a BA and an MA from Cambridge, she left England to study art - sculpture, photography, installation, video, performance - in The United States. But then, with only one semester remaining in her pursuit of an MFA, Alexandra left her Chicago art school to return to England to be with her newish-at-the-time beau, Marc. In the years since, Marc and Alexandra have loved one another, and have created a beautiful family together, and Alexandra did indeed want to be with Marc when she left art school all those years ago. But we learn that Alexandra, being a very creative and philosophical person, who thinks about things deeply and artistically, and most definitely “out of the box”, has questioned her own life choices and self-actualization, or lack thereof, as so many have done.

Memories of her courtship with Marc, as well as stories of her family life, are juxtaposed with interactions that Alexandra is now having with the unnamed character who is holding her captive. As British law enforcement looks into Alexandra’s disappearance, Marc puts on his own detective hat, and begins to investigate, determined to find out what happened to his beloved.

His Perfect Wife is not a book to be read for fast-paced, casual entertainment. It is, for the most part, a slow burn of a crime novel that, while engaging and accessible, is meant to be savored as it explores the role of art and the artist, as well as the struggle of “perfect wives” and, especially, “perfect mothers” to find the time and the focus for creative endeavors that provide many with emotional and intellectual sustenance.

You may think that you know the direction His Perfect Wife is going to take, dear reader, but Ms. Bell has several surprises and twists and turns up her sleeve that most readers are unlikely to see coming! His Perfect Wife by Natasha Bell is an intelligent debut that I am still pondering!

Best for Crime Fiction Readers:

• Who enjoy more literary crime fiction and mysteries.

• Who are interested in the world of contemporary art.

• Who appreciate mysteries and crime fiction with amateur detectives, though His Perfect Wife still includes police procedure (“the best of both worlds”).

• Who enjoy crime fiction that features unreliable narrators.

• Who appreciate thought-provoking, psychologically-complex character studies.

  Pages: 336 (Paperback)

  Length: 11 hrs. 31 mins. (Audio Book)

Publisher’s Blurb:

He thought he knew everything about her until she went missing. 

Before she disappeared, Alexandra Southwood lived an average, happy life: devoted to her wonderful husband, Marc, and caring for her two beautiful daughters. But now, held in a room against her will, Alexandra is forced to think about all she's lost, and imagine how Marc and her daughters are coping in the wake of her disappearance. She's shown news clips of Marc, desperately appealing to the public for information on her whereabouts. She tortures herself with visions of her family's devastated new reality. And as she envisions Marc's distress, she can't help but remember their courtship, their marriage--all that he saved her from and all that they've built together.

Marc's pain is visceral. He thinks of nothing but her. Even when the police discover Alexandra's bloody belongings by the river, turning their missing-persons case into a murder investigation, he cannot accept that she is lost to him. He shifts from total despair to frantic action, embarking on his own journey through the dark maze of secrets she kept and passions he never understood. Following a trail that leads him to find answers to questions he never meant to ask, he's forced to confront how frighteningly little he's grasped about the woman he loves.

HIS PERFECT WIFE is a shocking psychological portrait, an original and unrelenting thriller that ultimately proves how unknowable even those closest to us can be.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Natasha Bell grew up in Somerset and studied English literature at the University of York. She holds an MA in the humanities from the University of Chicago and an MA in creative writing from Goldsmiths. She lives in southeast London.

MINM Overall Rating: 5/5 Stars

Please Note: Some readers may find that they have to suspend disbelief a bit, and that the denouement is just a tad too…..”extraordinary”. But the writing, especially for a debut, is just so good, and the plot, so deeply considered, that I cannot, in good conscience, award The Perfect Wife with anything less than a Five Star Rating.

I was sent a free, paperback edition of His Perfect Wife by the publisher. Thank you, Crown Publishing! This review is the honest opinion of Mystery in Minutes.

The earliest chapters of The Fire Witness set a mood of disquiet and unease that pull the reader into the story right away! Ever since the Blancheford Holding Company purchased the Birgitta Home, the private holding company has been steadily reducing the supervising, night staff. Now murder has occurred at this group home for troubled, adolescent girls that is an isolated, 377 kilometers from Stockholm, deep in the dark forest, and Finnish-Swedish detective Joona Linna investigates. In his almost 15 years of service, Joona Linna has solved more complex cases than any other detective within the National Crime Unit, which is a good thing, because this particular case turns out to be not nearly as cut and dry as the initial evidence would suggest.

Based upon the two novels in the series that I have now read, these are not the oft marketed “thrillers” that drive along at a very moderate speed, and then accelerate once, as fun as that may be, for the last fifteen percent of the book. These authors really know how to write the hills and valleys of suspense that meet the Mystery in Minutes definition of a thriller! Fans of (non-gory) horror films may well enjoy the often cinematic, Lars Kepler style of writing, which, among other techniques, sometimes employs “jump scares”, such as a door suddenly slamming shut behind a character after a significant amount of breath-holding tension has been created.

At over 500 pages, The Fire Witness is not a quick read, but it certainly held my attention throughout, and the book’s short chapters, often ending on “mini cliff-hangers”, drove me to keep reading “just one more chapter”. If you enjoy a mysterious puzzle with many layers of clues that keep the reader on their toes until the very end, the plot and style of The Fire Witness will provide many hours of entertainment to both female, as well as male, readers of Scandinavian crime fiction!

Best for Crime Fiction Readers:

• Who enjoy “meatier” Scandi Crime And Nordic Noir - lengthier books, a la The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, that a reader can sink their teeth into, and that will provide many hours of entertainment.

• Who appreciate crime fiction with relatively short chapters that compel the reader to keep turning the pages.

• Who appreciate atmospheric crime and mystery novels, with a great sense of place.

• Who are not highly sensitive to darker crime fiction with non-gratuitous, yet fairly brutal violence.

• Who don't mind a fair amount of sexual content and language in their crime fiction.

• Who enjoy police procedurals, including reading about the collection of forensic evidence.

• Who love crime fiction with gripping, heart-in-the-throat suspense and action.

  Pages: 560 (Paperback)

WHAT IS THE FIRE WITNESS ABOUT?

The third installment of the #1 internationally bestselling Joona Linna series, The Fire Witness sees Joona drawn into a gruesome, mysterious murder at a home for wayward girls. 

Detective Joona Linna is on leave dealing with personal and professional issues when he gets pulled into the investigation of a horrific murder at a home for wayward teenage girls. One girl is dead, and another is missing. The local police want to close the case quickly, especially after they discover a bloody hammer under the missing girl's bed. But a woman claiming to see visions of the murdered girl insists there is more going on than meets the eye, and Joona is inclined to believe her. As he digs deeper into the case, he finds himself in dark and dangerous territory. This compelling thriller will have you turning pages long into the night.

WATCH THE FOLLOWING VIDEO TO LEARN MORE ABOUT “LARS KEPLER”!

You can read my review of The Sandman, the next installment in the series, featuring the Ahndoril’s female protagonist, Saga Bauer, who is a Security Police detective, here!

MINM Overall Rating of The Fire Witness: 4.5/5 Stars

The main character of this new Hidden Iceland series is Hulda Hermannsdottir. Hulda is a Detective Inspector with the Reykjavik police department. At the beginning of The Darkness, she is notified by her boss that instead of retiring at the end of the year, 64 year old Hulda is being pushed out of the force earlier than planned, made redundant by a younger, male officer who has already been hired, and will take over her office and her job in just two weeks time. Per her boss, she can clear her desk, and leave - with pay, of course - straightaway. Thanks for your decades of service. All of your cases have already been reallocated. Goodbye. But her boss is not putting Hulda out to pasture quite yet. No. At Hulda’s insistence that she stay until her replacement begins, Magnus permits her to look into one, final, cold case of her choosing. The result is Hulda’s reinvigorated sense of purpose, and the reader’s enjoyment of a skillfully-plotted police procedural, with a well-balanced amount of insight into Hulda’s complex and sometimes tragic upbringing and background, as well as a building tension throughout. Readers who are retired, or approaching retirement will especially appreciate, and possibly relate to, much of Hulda’s experience. What an accurate depiction, by a male author (it must be noted), of the yearnings, heartache, and challenges faced, universally, by so many women! The Darkness, expertly-translated by Victoria Cribb, is a Nordic Noir that I could not put down!

In Mr. Jonasson’s books, the remote, treacherous, and unforgiving landscape of Iceland often becomes a character in and of itself, and The Darkness is no different, as this vividly atmospheric novel shifts between “the present”, in the spring, with the life-affirming promise of new beginnings and the light and sunshine of the summertime to come, and flashbacks taking place during Iceland’s long, dark, brutally cold winter.

Just when the reader is lulled into thinking that The Darkness is going to be all about second chances, Mr. Jonasson throws the reader a major curve ball that couldn’t be more worthy of his novel’s sub-genre of Nordic Noir! The Darkness becomes, well, a lot darker. I happen to be in the camp of readers who believe that The Darkness will always work perfectly well as a standalone. But for those readers who will be left with their mouths hanging open in utter shock, asking themselves, “what did I just read?”, fear not. Mr. Jonasson made the conscious decision to do something that sets Hidden Iceland apart from the majority of series, and something potentially far more challenging for him as a writer: to begin this new series at the end of his main character’s law enforcement career, and then to write the subsequent books as prequels. I love the multi-dimensional character of Hulda Hermannsdottir, and I am very much looking forward to reading about her earlier life experiences in The Island, releasing in the US in May of 2019!

Best for Crime Fiction Readers:

• Who enjoy reading crime fiction in translation, in this case, from the original Icelandic.

• Who appreciate novels of suspense that flesh-out, and explore the psychology of, their main characters.

• Who enjoy reading Nordic Noir.

• Who love police procedurals.

• Who are interested in the potential experiences of refugees and asylum-seekers.

• Who enjoy reading about strong, independent, female characters…….at any age!

  Pages: 310 (Hardcover)

  Length: 5 hrs. 22 mins. (Audio Book)

Publisher’s Blurb:

Spanning the icy streets of Reykjavik, the Icelandic highlands and cold, isolated fjords, The Darkness is an atmospheric thriller from Ragnar Jonasson, one of the most exciting names in Nordic Noir.

The body of a young Russian woman washes up on an Icelandic shore. After a cursory investigation, the death is declared a suicide and the case is quietly closed.

Over a year later Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir of the Reykjavík police is forced into early retirement at 64. She dreads the loneliness, and the memories of her dark past that threaten to come back to haunt her. But before she leaves she is given two weeks to solve a single cold case of her choice. She knows which one: the Russian woman whose hope for asylum ended on the dark, cold shore of an unfamiliar country. Soon Hulda discovers that another young woman vanished at the same time, and that no one is telling her the whole story. Even her colleagues in the police seem determined to put the brakes on her investigation. Meanwhile the clock is ticking.

Hulda will find the killer, even if it means putting her own life in danger.

MINM Overall Rating: 5/5 Stars

One year ago, I read and reviewed Ragnar Jonasson’s crime novel, Nightblind, part of his Ari Thor, Dark Iceland series. While I enjoyed both Nightblind, and The Darkness, and they are both compelling and quick reads, I found The Darkness to be a bit grittier, and even more suspenseful!

You can read my “Mystery in Seconds” review of Nightblind here.

My next crime fiction read will transport me from Iceland to Sweden. Join me when I review The Fire Witness by Swedish husband and wife writing team, “Lars Kepler”!

I have now read six of Ms. Bolton’s books, and I know that her opening chapters always engage readers immediately, sweeping them up into the gothically-atmospheric, entertaining, and suspenseful worlds that she creates. The Craftsman opens at a cemetery high in the “wild, windswept moors” of Lancashire county in northwest England. As it happens, Lancashire is the county where Sharon Bolton grew up. A region steeped in the lore and superstitions arising from, in particular, its seventeenth century history. The Craftsman is a book that Ms. Bolton has always wanted to write.

At the beginning of The Craftsman, in 1999, main character Florence Lovelady is a senior law enforcement officer - an Assistant Commissioner - within months of retirement. She has returned to Lancashire county with her teenage son to attend the funeral of Larry Glassbrook, formerly the town of Sabden’s funeral director, as well as its casket and coffin maker (see quote below). Thirty years earlier, when Florence was a police constable and also happened to lodge with the Glassbrook family, she helped to convict Mr. Glassbrook of the murders of three young victims.

“The words ‘coffin’ and ‘casket’ are used interchangeably, but the two are quite different. A coffin is a six- or eight-sided box that follows the contours of the body: narrow at the head, widening at the shoulders, tapering in again towards the feet. Think Dracula, rising. A casket is bigger, rectangular, usually with a large, curved lid.”

After the funeral, when she goes to see the old, detached, now-in-disrepair Glassbrook home where she once was a lodger, she discovers something that requires investigation, and that has her questioning if, indeed, the Glassbrook case is truly closed…….

Most of The Craftsman takes place in 1969, before forensic DNA analysis existed, flashing back to WPC Lovelady’s investigation of the disappearance, separately, of three young teens in the small town of Sabden, at the foot of the infamous Pendle Hill. Florence is whip-smart, conscientious, and professional, with great instincts. She is also originally from the south of England. The novel touches on themes of, not only the chauvinism and condescension that Florence faces in her predominantly male “nick” in the 1960s, but also, the distrust, whether in the seventeenth century, or in the twentieth and beyond, that societies can have of “the other”. I appreciated how Ms. Bolton demonstrated growth in the character of Florence, through Florence’s increased maturity and confidence in the 1990s sections of the novel.

While The Craftsman is more of a slow, eerie burn with a bit more exposition than some of the other Sharon Bolton books that I have read, it is a great start to a new trilogy, with numerous red herrings, and a final resolution that many will not see coming. Sharon Bolton’s The Craftsman has no shortage of macabre, sinister, and spooky details to give you a fright this Halloween season!

(Image of British book cover)

Best for Crime Fiction Readers:

• Who enjoy reading British police procedurals.

• Who appreciate crime fiction and mysteries with gothic influences.

• Who don’t mind, or enjoy, elements of the otherworldly and supernatural in their crime fiction.

• Who are not “faint of heart”. While The Craftsman is not gory or overly violent, it taps into the stuff of our most chilling nightmares, which some readers may find disturbing.

• Who enjoy reading crime fiction and mysteries that have elements of the horror genre.

• Pages: 432 (Hardcover)

• Length: 11 hrs. 55 mins. (Audio Book)

Adaptation News!

The Craftsman trilogy has been optioned for television by Sid Gentle Films, the UK production company behind the critically acclaimed, international spy thriller series, Killing Eve, starring Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer! (I binge-watched the first season of Killing Eve, and it is highly addictive!)

MINM Overall Rating for The Craftsman: 4/5 Stars

Last year, I read and loved Sharon Bolton’s previous novel, Dead Woman Walking!

You can read my “Mystery in Seconds” review here.

Which crime and mystery books are you recommending for Halloween season reading?

Mystery in Minutes would love to hear from you in the comments below!

When we are first introduced to Angela, the main character of the book, she is being informally interviewed by NYPD-Special Victims Unit detective Corrine Duncan, who is investigating accusations of sexual misconduct against Angela’s husband of six years, Jason Powell. Detective Duncan says to Angela,

“How well do you really know your husband, Angela? You’re more than a bystander. You’re enabling him. Which means I can’t help you.

Don’t let Jason take you and your boy down with him.”

The reader is left to question whether or not Angela is covering up for an indiscretion, or worse, by her husband.

I have had a long-standing fascination with how people’s lives and careers are effected, and often upended, when their partners or spouses are accused of sexual misconduct. Do they ask their partners questions about the accusations? Do they not want to hear the answers because they suspect that the accusations may be true? Do they never ask questions because of legal reasons? Or, are they so certain of their partners’ innocence, that they protect them? This is the jumping off point for The Wife.

Angela becomes drawn into the accusations against her husband for reasons that go far beyond the obvious, having to do with her own past. Along the way, there are ingredients in the book of both domestic and psychological suspense, as well as police procedure. The author’s professional experience as a law professor and former prosecutor is evident as the reader is privy to not only communications between Corrine Duncan and Assistant District Attorney Brian King, as they discuss potentially bringing a criminal case against Jason Powell, but also to the strategy of defense attorney Olivia Randall, who featured in Ms. Burke’s Edgar-nominated, previous novel, The Ex.

This layered, well-plotted, richly-characterized story sucked me in from the beginning, and called my name whenever I was unable to listen to Xe Sands’ engrossing audio book narration! The Wife ramps up to a twist-upon-twist crescendo, and, ultimately, finishes with an ending that will haunt readers, long after the final sentence. The Wife has been added to my list of Mystery in Minutes favorites for 2018! Author Alafair Burke has a new fan!

Adaptation News:

Amazon Studios has acquired the rights to Ms. Burke’s book, The Wife, with the author set to write the feature script!! #ReadItBeforeYouSeeIt

Best for Crime Fiction Readers:

• Who enjoy reading psychological suspense.

• Who enjoy reading novels of domestic suspense, particularly those pertaining to a marriage.

• Who appreciate courtroom dramas, and legal thrillers and mysteries.

• Who are intrigued by unreliable narrators.

• Who enjoy reading police procedurals.

• Who are interested in the #MeToo movement and related movements and discussions.

  Pages: 340 (Hardcover)

  Length: 8 Hrs. 9 Mins.

Publisher’s Blurb:

His scandal. Her secret.

When Angela met Jason Powell while catering a dinner party in East Hampton, she assumed their romance would be a short-lived fling, like so many relationships between locals and summer visitors. To her surprise, Jason, a brilliant economics professor at NYU, had other plans, and they married the following summer. For Angela, the marriage turned out to be a chance to reboot her life. She and her son were finally able to move out of her mother’s home to Manhattan, where no one knew about her tragic past.

Six years later, thanks to a bestselling book and a growing media career, Jason has become a cultural lightning rod, placing Angela near the spotlight she worked so carefully to avoid. When a college intern makes an accusation against Jason, and another woman, Kerry Lynch, comes forward with an even more troubling allegation, their perfect life begins to unravel. Jason insists he is innocent, and Angela believes him. But when Kerry disappears, Angela is forced to take a closer look at the man she married. And when she is asked to defend Jason in court, she realizes that her loyalty to her husband could unearth old secrets.

Read What Some Others Are Saying About The Wife:

“Written by a former prosecutor with a genius for plot, this thrill ride of a novel takes a hard look at loyalty and the violence a secret can cause—especially when that secret involves a revered public figure accused of rape.” —O, the Oprah Magazine

“This might be the most gripping, insightful work from the best-selling author Alafair Burke yet. She poses a seemingly impossible, if undeniably compelling, challenge: a woman must either save her life or defend her husband, but not both.” —Entertainment Weekly

“Alafair Burke has become a virtuoso of this popular subgenre in the mystery, one forged on the tropes of Hitchcock’s “Suspicion” and “Notorious,” where marriages are suspect and spouses are suspicious.  . . . Burke is a smart and entertaining writer, and her novels frequently capture the zeitgeist of our times in perceptive and page-turning ways (sexual harassment is at core of this one).” —Minneapolis Star Tribune

“If you liked Gone Girl, Girl on the Train (don’t get me started on books with GIRL in the title; they’re WOMEN!!!), Burke has become a virtuoso of this popular subgenre in the mystery (untrustworthy narrators and suspicious marriages) . . .  Burke is a smart and entertaining writer. You’ll get sucked into this one.” —The Milwaukee Sentinel Journal

“Burke’s knowledge of criminal law and police procedures shines in this tangled plot with an unreliable narrator. Is anyone whom they seem to be?  Verdict: Edgar-nominated Burke (The Ex) has written a timely, riveting, and deeply resonant psychological suspense novel focused on sexual harassment and varying degrees of assault in both domestic and workplace settings. Fans of Linda Fairstein will devour this.” —Library Journal

“With plot twists and turns to the very end, this is a tantalizing follow-up to The Ex that will keep pages turning.” —Booklist

“[A] page-turner…. Classic domestic-thriller elements—the too-perfect couple, the unreliable narrator, the troubled past—are given a good workout in this satisfying round of ‘Who’s the Psycho?’” —Kirkus Reviews

“[A] roller-coaster of a domestic thriller.” —Publishers Weekly

“A subtly sneaky, emotionally complex, and utterly addictive novel of psychological suspense, The Wife delivers on all fronts. Burke always comes through with twisty plots and strong female characters, but she’s at the top of her game here.” —Lisa Scottoline, author of Exposed

“An intriguing, twisty psychological thriller, The Wife had me tearing through the pages, never sure which characters to trust. Smart, suspenseful, and absolutely riveting.” —Megan Miranda, author of All the Missing Girls

“Alafair Burke always delivers. The Wife is a timely, gracefully written exploration of family, crime, and the current media-soaked, celebrity-obsessed, smartphone-crazed moment. Highly recommended.” —William Landay, author of Defending Jacob

MINM Overall Rating: 5/5 Stars

Thank you for visiting Mystery in Minutes!

Look for my Halloween season book review, coming soon!

Laura, Mystery in Minutes

Morris’s ambition, drive, and savvy enabled him to eventually own his own garment business, despite his lack of a formal education beyond the sixth grade. Yet some of Morris’s Lower East Side peers took a very different path in life. Beginning in the late 1920s, they organized criminal syndicates that coerced, racketeered, and generally terrorized those that did not “play by their rules” in many New York industries, including within the garment industry.

Button Man - an ingenious title with the dual references to both a killer for hire, as well as to the book’s protagonist as a man of the clothing industry - is a highly atmospheric story, filled with the smoky speakeasies of the Prohibition era, as well as many prominent figures of the time, such as movie producer Samuel Goldwyn, Yankee luminary Babe Ruth, musician Al Jolson, comedian Jack Benny, and even actual gangsters of the period like Jacob “Gurrah” Shapiro, and Louis “Lepke” Buchalter. Given that the main thrust of the novel involves the mob, Button Man’s unflinching cruelty can shock at times, and its language can sometimes be authentically pejorative. But it is the poignancy of Morris’s relationship with one of his brothers, a brother whose sense of self-worth suffered, and who was never quite able to shake himself free from a traumatic childhood event, that effected this reader most profoundly.

Andrew Gross’s homage to his grandfather is a period piece with heart-tugging emotion, gripping suspense, a surprising twist, and a wonderful sense of place (even if the place at that time wasn’t always so wonderful for everyone). Button Man reminds us that acts of courage by even just “a few good men”, and standing up for what is right, can often make a difference of lasting and positive change for many.

Best for Crime Fiction Readers:

• Who enjoy reading historical mysteries and thrillers.

• Who are interested in the American immigrant experience, specifically that of Jewish immigrants in New York City at the turn of the twentieth century.

• Who enjoy reading about (federal) police procedure.

• Who appreciate nostalgic, coming-of-age, boy-to-manhood stories in their crime fiction.

• Who appreciate a main character that the reader can root for!

• Fans of hard-boiled crime fiction will find much to enjoy in Button Man.

  Pages: 384 (Hardcover)

Publisher’s Blurb:

Following up The One Man and The Saboteur, Gross's next historical thriller brings to life the drama of the birth of organized crime in 1930s New York City from the tale of one family.

After a string of New York Times bestselling suburban thrillers, Andrew Gross has reinvented himself as a writer of historical thrillers. In his latest novel, Button Man, he delivers a stirring story of a Jewish family brought together in the dawn of the women's garment business and torn apart by the birth of organized crime in New York City in the 1930s.

Morris, Sol, and Harry Rabishevsky grew up poor and rough in a tiny flat on the Lower East Side, until the death of their father thrust them into having to fend for themselves and support their large family. Morris, the youngest, dropped out of school at twelve years old and apprenticed himself to a garment cutter in a clothing factory; Sol headed to accounting school; but Harry, scarred by a family tragedy, fell in with a gang of thugs as a teenager. Morris steadily climbs through the ranks at the factory until at twenty-one he finally goes out on his own, convincing Sol to come work with him. But Harry can't be lured away from the glamour, the power, and the money that come from his association with Louis Buchalter, whom Morris has battled with since his youth and who has risen to become the most ruthless mobster in New York. And when Buchalter sets his sights on the unions that staff the garment makers' factories, a fatal showdown is inevitable, pitting brother against brother.

This new novel is equal parts historical thriller, rich with the detail of a vibrant New York City in the 1920s and 1930s, and family saga, based on Andrew Gross's own family story and on the history of the era, complete with appearances by real-life characters like mobsters Louis Lepke and Dutch Schultz and special prosecutor Thomas Dewey, and cements Gross's reputation as today's most atmospheric and original historical thriller writer.

MINM Overall Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

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