My May 2023 Reads

The biggest treat this month was the new Jane Casey book about Maeve Kerrigan, The Close, straight from London as my sisters and I could not wait for its US publication. I also really enjoyed The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman, the third Thursday Murder Club book, and Lying Beside You by Michael Robotham. June will be a slower reading month due to three short trips and Middlemarch. Hmm, I guess it is no coincidence that all four books have British settings; I am nothing if not consistent.

Fiction

The Company of Heaven by Catherine Fox (2023). This is the fifth in a series by a brilliant author (herself married to a bishop) about the Anglican clergy in a fictional cathedral town and how they’ve been coping during the third year of the pandemic. My review.

The Four Graces by D.E. Stevenson (1947). Mr. Grace is the vicar in Chevil Green, near Wandlebury, and the Four Graces are his lovely daughters: Elizabeth, Sal, Tilly, and Addie. Tilly doesn’t want anything to change so is not happy when handsome young men try to sweep her sisters off their feet. My review.

Suspense

The Close by Jane Casey (2023). Maeve is busy investigating the death of a surgeon in his hospital’s parking lot when she is asked to go undercover with Josh Derwent, pretend to be a couple (now you’re talking!), and see what they can learn about one man who has died and several others who are missing. Such a treat to get this tenth book in the series! I gave it to my sister for her birthday but naturally had to give it a test run first.  My review.

Fallen by Linda Castillo (2021) (audio). In this thirteenth book about police chief Kate Burkholder, she continues her irritating habit of going after bad guys without backup and nearly getting killed. The actual mystery involves a beautiful young woman who left the Amish community, wrote a critical book about her former neighbors, and comes back to Painters Mill only to be murdered at a local motel.

Silent Voices by Ann Cleeves (2010) (audio). Vera Stanhope is growing on me. In the fourth book, she finds a woman dead in the sauna at her gym and when Vera realizes it is murder, she is delighted to have a new investigation on her hands. She abuses her staff throughout the investigation but it is really a team effort to find the killer. I have not watched the tv series but maybe I should try to find it.

Simply Lies by David Baldacci (2023) (audio). Baldacci must never sleep because the books seem to be coming every other month. This is a new series about a former NJ detective Mickey Gibson, now a single parent living in VA, making a living as a researcher until she is set up to discover a dead body. Once embroiled, Mickey lacks the common sense to protect her family by staying out of the way of pathological criminals and murderers. Mickey was not very likable, the plot was improbable, and had many holes which is not what I expect from this skilled author.

Of Manners and Murders by Anastasia Hastings (2023). When Violet’s Aunt Adelia turns over responsibility for assuming the very-secret role of popular agony aunt, Miss Hermione, Violet does not expect one of her letter writers to be murdered. She feels compelled to investigate and risks her own life in the process. I had a hard time with this mystery set in 19th-century England, although I didn't dislike it. The plot and villain seemed too obvious, the heroine anachronistic, and her relatives unconvincing.

The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman (2023). This series about the foursome living in an English retirement community in Kent and solving mysteries for the police gets better with each book. In this third book, Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim take on a ten-year-old murder.  We read the first one (reread for me) for my Radcliffe Book Group this month and for once everyone enjoyed the book. The author says that Steven Spielberg is making a movie of the first book but no information on the cast or timing has been released. My review.

Identity by Nora Roberts (2023). When Morgan is victimized by a criminal who steals her identity and kills her friend, she retreats to Vermont where her mother and grandmother live to try to rebuild her life. But her adversary resents her for escaping and is biding his time before he comes back for her.   Not Nora’s best – the heroine was too abrupt and transactional for me.

Lying Beside You by Michael Robotham (2023). In the third book about Cyrus Haven and Evie Cormac, they struggle with the disappearance of two young women and the release of Cyrus’ brother from a secure psychiatric hospital to live with them. There are so many conflicts of interest in this series that are impossible to ignore but it is still fascinating and unpredictable.

Nobody But Us by Laure van Rensburg (2022). Ellie plans a romantic weekend away from NYC for her older, sophisticated boyfriend, which turns out very differently from what he had hoped for. I got this book because it had been nominated for an Edgar but it was dreadful. If not for a long subway ride, I would not have finished it.

YA/Juvenile

The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong (2008). I think Camilla Corcoran gave me this book years ago and, when it resurfaced recently, I picked it up because I had enjoyed quite a few of Armstrong’s Rockton and Cainsville books last year before I needed a break. The premise is interesting: when Chloe starts seeing dead people and makes a scene at school, her father and aunt are worried about her and send her to a facility for troubled teens where she can get the help she needs. She wants to be ordinary but, as Chloe gets to know the other students, she begins to suspect they all possess supernatural abilities and are not troubled at all. This is the first of a YA trilogy and I am probably curious enough to read the others.

Perfect Escape by Jennifer Brown (2012). When straight-A senior Kendra gets in trouble at school, she panics and takes off with her older brother Carson for California, hoping that seeing her former best friend will solve both her problems and Carson’s OCD issues. This is one of my 20 Books of Summer; I jumped the gun by reading it on May 31. My review.

The Grace of Wild Things by Heather Fawcett (2023). Grace is a lonely orphan living on Prince Edward Island and, like Anne Shirley, she wants a home. But she also wants to learn magic so runs away to a witch to beg for training. A strong middle-grade fantasy. My review.

A Long Way from Chicago by Robert Peck (1998). Historical fiction set in 1929 about Joey and Mary Alice’s annual summer visit to their eccentric grandmother in a sleepy Illinois town. It was a Newbury nominee but lost to Holes by Louis Sachar. However, he won it in 2001 for the sequel to this book. I read this for the May de Grummond Book Club.

Romance

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston (2022). This book got great reviews but I was disappointed. The heroine is a ghostwriter who does all the work for a bestselling author but gets none of the praise and an insufficient portion of the financial benefits. She has writer’s block and an overdue manuscript when her father dies and she has to drop everything to return to the home she has avoided for years. The quirky situations she encounters got old quickly and seemed insufficient to justify staying away from her family.  I did like the ending, however.