This months list of reading recommendations is includes many novels in my favorite genre (crime/suspense) with several of the authors being new to me. (Also one book had a surprise acknowledgement in the end, you’ll have to read on find out, which book). I also read my first book that centers around the difficult topic of working through the grieving process. It was a beautifully written debut novel and you can read the Q&A with Tara Badstubner if you haven’t already.
I’ll Be Watching You
Allison Brennan
I’ll Be Watching You is the first Allison Brennan book that I’ve read, and the third in her Angelhart Investigations Series.
After spending months reading nothing but nursing textbooks, I needed a book that would have me hooked from the very first page, and I’ll Be Watching You definitely delivered.
Told between various points of view including Margo Angelhart and her mother Ava. Margo is determined to find out who really killed Dr. Devlin and get her father out of prison for a crime that he did not commit.
The hardest task is getting her mother to tell the truth about what really happened prior to her father respected Dr. Cooper Angelhart confessed to murdering his partner at the local VA hospital.
The further she digs into find the truth, the more Margo puts herself and the lives around her in danger.
Rating: A
The Parisian Heist
Jo Piazza
I’ve been looking forward to reading this book for months. Novels set around art heists are some of my favorite, and this one brings together the past and present with an all female ‘crew’ taking down one of the most prominent families in the art world.
In the past we meet Claire who has been entrusted to look after the widow of Theo Van Gogh following his death as she (Jo Van Gogh) travels to Amsterdam to give Vincent the notoriety that he never saw in life.
In the present (well 1990’s present) Emma is a struggling art student, who has resorted to cleaning homes in order to pay her tuition after her funding (and that of her two friends/fellow classmates) is cut off.
One of the apartments she cleans is that of Stella Swanson, a widow, who was to be the heir of the Swanson company/fortune, until her stepson foil her husband Maxwell’s plans.
Rating: A+
The Mortal Enemy Murder Club
Gloria Cho
The follow up to last years The Ex-Girlfriends Murder Club, solves picks up with one member of the Ex-Girlfriends Murder Club in jail (Elle) and the host of Dish Served Hot, Mandy Thorne seeking help from the two women she tried to frame, Kat and Olivia.
Now working in the same police station as her boyfriend, Adrian, Kat’s curiosity gets the better of her, and she attends an event at a Boba Cafe where one person ends up dead (and it’s not Mandy).
Filled with humor reminiscent of another favorite series of mine (Finlay Donovan) you’ll find yourself caught up in the plot of this wildly entertaining ‘Hu Done It’.
Rating: A+
*Also be sure to check out the Acknowledgements for a surprise shoutout!
Time Travel for Beginners
Jaclyn Moriarty
This is my first book that I’ve read by one the legendary Moriarty sisters, (perhaps you’ll be familiar with Liane Moriarty the author of Big Little Lies) and I was OBSESSED from the very first page.
I started listening to it on audiobook and author the narrator was AMAZING, I knew I could read it much faster. I literally (well figuratively) tore through this book and by the time I got the end I wanted it to keep going.
All the best parts of time travel/dual realities that you could ever want. Must read!
Rating: A+
Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel
Lucy Foley
Lucy Foley was definitely the right choice to pick up the mantle of Agatha Christie. This new story centered around one of the two most well known characters (Miss Marple) and Poriot who I’m most familiar with, truly brought the character first created by Christie, back to life.
Set at the Grand Alpine Hotel, we are introduced to a cast of characters from all walks of life. A widow, her companion and Miss Marple, a politician and his wife, ‘the friend’ who has fallen on hard and desperate times, and the aging actress.
When the first body falls the game is on, and while the readers makes many guesses as to who the murder or murders may be, it will Miss Marple who makes the final shocking reveal.
A Must READ!
Rating: A++
Every Room Remembers
Tara Badstubner
Tara Badstubner’s debut novel deals with difficult subjects (grief after losing a spouse/depression) and centers around SJ following the loss of her husband in a tragic accident. Set between Sleepy Hollow, New York where SJ lived with her husband Wyatt and Beaufort, South Carolina where SJ travels to complete her work on the renovations of the Osprey House, we are immediately swept away into the story from the very first page.
SJ leaves behind everything she knew, including her newfound friend, Avery, who works at the local Wendy’s by night and studies for MA in family therapy by day, to return to Beaufort, her hometown.
It soon becomes clear that her husband’s dog, Hawk isn’t the only one who came along for the ride.
Rating: A+
