Review: "Last One Out," Jane Harper

The town of Carralon, about five hours west of Sydney, Australia, has been dying ever since the Lentzer mining company moved in. The coal operation bought out homes, and brought noise and dust, while keeping workers on-site with their own housing and services. Only a few residents remain; the pub only opens once in a while. The medical center has been shuttered.

Sam Crowley, home from college, is interviewing his neighbors for a school project, asking about their experiences before and after the mine’s arrival. It’s his 21st birthday. His mother, Rowena, has made a lasagna for a special family dinner. Sam never shows up.

Thus begins a gripping story of the ties that bind us, for better and for worse.

Ro has returned to Carralon to mark the fifth anniversary of Sam’s disappearance. She had left her husband, Griff, and started a new life in Sydney. 

Ro is still consumed by Sam’s disappearance. She pores over the notebook he left behind. Ro visits the site where her son was last seen. It’s a cluster of three houses on the outskirts of town. They have stood empty since the mine's management bought them and are falling into disrepair.

One is a sandstone bungalow once owned by Bernie, the father-in-law of Ro’s best friend.  A second is an ivy-covered cottage where Ann-Marie, a former co-worker, lived. The third, a farmhouse, was home to Warren, Griff’s cousin. Warren had committed suicide several years before Sam disappeared.

What was Sam looking for in this desolate neighborhood? Did his questions uncover old secrets? Did he come too close to finding something that somebody wants hidden? Ro asks questions herself, but gets nowhere—until she and Griff find bloody boards on Warren’s deck, along with a mysterious key. Then she realizes she might have a chance of finding out what happened to her son.

An air of desolation, of impending doom, imbues the pages of this book. Ro’s pain is palpable. Everyone left in town is stuck, in one way or another. Their lives are deeply intertwined. Once, their closeness brought them joy. Now, it seems like entrapment.

Jane Harper is one of my favorite authors, but as I reached the three-quarter mark of the novel, I worried that maybe Ro would have to drive away from Carralon forever, without getting the answers she desperately needed—and deserved. Maybe this was just a book about dealing with inexplicable loss.

But I was not disappointed. Ro finally turns that long lost key and uncovers the harsh and painful truth of what happened to Sam. In doing so, she opens a door that lets the light in at last.

Review: "The Ending Writes Itself," Evelyn Clarke

Arthur Fletch, the famed, prolific writer (think James Patterson) has died. He’s left an unfinished manuscript behind,

The only people who know this are his agent, his editor and the six authors they have summonsed to Fletch’s magnificent home on the island of Skelbrae, off the coast of Scotland.

There, Fletch’s agent throws down a gauntlet. Who among them can finish the great author’s last novel and claim a $2 million prize—$1 million for the completion and $1 million to relaunch his or her career?

They’re all midlist writers. Their careers are in the doldrums, or worse. This is a life-changing opportunity.

And they don’t know each other. No one in the group has much name recognition. Remember that. It’s important.

Do Sienna and Malcolm have the best chance? They’re thriller writers, but their marriage is about to break up. So maybe not.

Jaxon is a self-assured sci-fi scribe, but he seems to spend most of his time staying ripped. Millie, who pens YA, is cute and bouncy, yet shrewd. Perhaps not shrewd enough. Cate, the youngest and most “literary” of the bunch, portrays a “poor me” persona. But what’s the real story underneath that baggy cardigan?

Priscilla, the romance writer, is pretty in pink—but has a curiously flat affect. Finally there’s Kenzo, an acerbic author of horror novels who might be the most level-headed of them all.

At first, the writers spend more time bickering and snooping on each other (and boozing) than they do writing. But as the 72-hour deadline bears down on them, they get to work. Unfortunately, so does a murderer.

The Ending Writes Itself has received glowing reviews and a blurb from Stephen King. It’s cleverly plotted and a witty, sarcastic take on both writers and the publishing world they inhabit. It evokes Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. The killer, once revealed, is ripped from the headlines, as we used to say. The resolution is wryly satisfying, especially for those readers who are also writers.

I enjoyed the book, but was annoyed by the excessive use of italics. As in “She knew she shouldn’t be surprised,” when a character, in a flashback, remembers an experience of mild sexual harassment. Why is this helpful? Plus, it was just one in a long line of useless italics. Authors should be limited to no more than five italicized words or phrases per book.

I realize that the technique was probably meant to be part of the satirical style, but I have to say out of dozens of italicized words I only found one that was truly worthwhile, and that was when the murderer appears “holding what looks like a mother-f#$%^ crossbow.”

Overall, It was a book that I could appreciate for its construction and humor and insightful take on the publishing world, but one that I couldn’t sink into it emotionally. Shall I call it a page-turner without much heart?

Review: "Missing," E. A. Jackson

It’s a hot summer in London in 1990 when Baby Bella goes missing. Detective Inspector Martha Allen has misgivings about taking the case. She’s never handled anything like it. Allen could reveal she’s pregnant as an excuse; then again, she’s ambitious. So she strides headfirst into a case that will ultimately haunt her for nearly 30 years.

Thomas and Vivien Carpenter have come to the city for a getaway from their home in Wells, in the southwest of England. They’re staying at the Bellevue Hotel in Pimlico. Their daughter, Bella, slumbered in a Moses basket by an open window, while her parents slept in bed. Thomas awoke in the early hours of the day to find the baby gone.

Officers are called in from across the city; this is a big case. Allen enlists the help of Detective Constable Manley Desbury. She doesn’t know him, but they develop a solid working relationship.

Promising leads are followed but turn out to be dead ends. A scrap of fabric, a smear of blood are all the detectives have as clues. No one has seen anything. Allen is desperate. She wants to find the baby, of course, but she also envisions her career going down the tubes if the case is not solved.

Then, a beautiful young woman shows up with Baby Bella. Nell Beatty says she found the tot on a park bench. Allen starts to question her, but she disappears. She’d given the police false information, and they are unable to find her again.

Allen wants to keep the case open; she doesn’t think the whole story has been told. But when even Desbury lets her know he thinks she’s pushing too hard, she backs off.

Then, in 2020, just before the pandemic causes shutdowns and a massive disruption to everyday life, DI Desbury calls Allen, now in admin at Scotland Yard. A body has been found on his turf in Bristol. It’s Nell Beatty.

Allen can’t help herself. The wound of what to her was an unfinished case is reopened. She has to find out what really happened to Baby Bella.

Desbury is willing to help her, to a degree. He also needs to find Nell Beatty’s murderer. The trail is thin, and Allen has to remind herself “this is why they call us the plod.” Eventually, Allen does learn enough to close the case in her own mind, and to move on with her life.

For the reader, though, there’s one final twist.

This was a deeply satisfying, page-turning read, as much about the cost of not solving a crime as it is about solving it.

I knew from the first page I was going to enjoy it. Allen is a likable, relatable character and her tenacity is admirable. The suspense is intense; kernels of of the truth emerge, but it is truly not until the final page that all is revealed.

I enjoy police procedurals in general, but Missing is something more. The detective work is there, but this is also Allen’s story. And, of course, Baby Bella’s.

Review: "The Secret Lives of Murderers' Wives," Elizabeth Arnott

No one else wants to be friends with Beverley, Elsie and Margot. Their husbands were serial killers.

They first turn to each other for support, but when one young woman, and then another, and another, are murdered, they decide they have to do something.

Because who better knows the mind of a man who kills?

It’s 1966, and Los Angeles is simmering in a heat wave. Beautiful Beverley is able to keep up her middle-class lifestyle on the earnings she made as a teen model. But she is fearful, anxious and worries constantly about her two children. Her relationship with a police officer who was involved in her husband’s case only takes the edge off a little.

Beverley feels guilty, though she was not involved in her husband’s crime. Finding the killer of the young women, who is now at large, would help her find peace of mind as well as see justice served. 

Elsie is paving a new life for herself. She’s raised herself out of the typing pool at the L.A. Signal newspaper. But her new job as administrative assistant to the editor doesn’t get her the writing assignments she wants. When a new female crime reporter joins the staff, however, Elsie enlists her help. She wants to solve the crimes to prove her worth. And get a byline.

Glamorous Margot was married to a politician and lived the high life. She still has connections, and still looks the part in her designer wardrobe, but lives in a rundown apartment and works in a department store. Margot wants to pretend nothing is wrong, but she is searching for meaning in her life.

Told through their alternating perspectives, the women follow leads and clues, moving from lavish parties to trailer parks. The killer does bizarre things with the victims' bodies—one is strung from a porch. Another has an arrow put through her eye. What could it possibly mean? 

Beverley swallows her pride and buries her trepidations, to visit her husband in prison. She  has tried to remember what a good father he was, to separate that man from the murderer he became. But she faces him as the beast he is in an effort to gain more insight. Though she was married to a murderer, it turns out there’s more for her to learn

The women go down several wrong alleys and, naturally, antagonize the police. They almost break up because the tension is so great. But they stick it out, and stay together. They become fearless and a bit reckless. The resolution is horrifying, but it gives them a way to move forward with their lives—in more ways than one.

Review: "The Pie & Mash Detective Agency," J.D. Brinkworth

The final project for Jane and Simon's "Private Investigation Level One" class is a daunting one. A woman called Nellie Thorne has gone missing. In 1971. In 1997. And in 2025. Oh, and a few times in between.

It can’t possibly be the same Nellie. Is it coincidence? Is Nellie a ghost? Is it part of some kind of weird game?

Jane Pine and Simon Mash must solve the mystery to pass the class and go pro. They’ve already got the name of their aspirational enterprise picked out: “The Pie and Mash Detective Agency.”

Their instructor, Gavin Smith, smiles inwardly as he gives them their assignment. While other students are dealing with fabricated cases, he investigated the actual 1997 Nellie Thorne disappearance. He was never able to solve it, and it haunts him. In more ways than one—his sleuthing got him involved with some bad guys, which resulted in lasting physical injuries.

Yet this doesn’t stop him from sending out two hapless millennials into what could be a world of danger.

They do mean well. They do try. But they really don’t know what they’re doing.

Jane is a small, unemployed programmer who is very keen to become a detective. Her tag on Simon’s phone is “Jane (Girlfriend).” 

Simon is tall, good-looking and goofy. On Jane’s phone, he appears as “World’s Sexiest Man.” He seems to organize team-building events for corporate types. He has a wealthy mother named Penny who has a busier (also crazier) social life than Jane and Simon.

Simon likes the fun bits of detecting, like buying orange tartan trench coats for the pair. He’s already come up with a catchphrase for the agency: “Smash!”

Not surprisingly, Jane is the one who gets things done. Eventually.

The two start by meeting Dev Hooper, boyfriend of the latest missing Nellie. The three of them decide that maybe some paranormal activity might be involved, so they call in a ghost hunter for a nighttime rendezvous in some nearby woods. When Simon discovers a pregnancy test wand jammed in Dev’s toilet, they’re able to put that theory to rest. Clearly, Nellie is still very much alive.

Jane does research in the local library, with the help (of a sort) from the world’s worst librarian, Linda. Really, she makes the tots in story time cry. Jane also connects with Bernard Parker, a policeman who worked on the case.

At the same time, Gavin feels compelled to get involved (without Jane and Simon knowing) and he gets back in touch with Parker, whom he knew back in the day.

Although the case seemed confounding at first, I suddenly had an insight into the truth about the case. Which was a good thing, because I was afraid the story might veer off into the woo-hoo, and I wouldn’t have liked that. No worries. It turns out that I was headed in the right direction, but the real story of Nellie Thorne was more surprising—and satisfying—than I was imagining.

Jane, Simon and Gavin crack the case in a wild and crazy denouement. Despite themselves. A sequel to this fun and funny cozy mystery seems to be promised in an intriguing letter that appears on the last page of the book.

Smash!

Review: "Murder on Charity Lane," Jo Nichols

Golda Barkofsky, 82, the sharp-eyed fairy godmother who owns the Marigold Cottages in Santa Barbara, California, is back. So are her energetic and eclectic tenants.

Murder is not far behind.

In The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective, the tenants of the quaint bungalow court reluctantly teamed up to solve a case. Now they’re a solid band of crime-fighting buddies—with, to put it euphemistically, a flexible moral compass.

They solve cases their way.

It all starts off so innocently. Mrs. B brings CJ into the group, in hopes that she’ll hit it off with tenant Ocean, an artist and mother to Riley and Miles. CJ helps Mrs. B fasten her bra after water aerobics class at the Y. Now there’s an endorsement! CJ works as an assistant to the fabulously wealthy Frank DeYoung. The elderly man lives with his wife Karina in an amazing house on Charity Lane in swanky Hope Ranch.

Learning this, Mrs. B has another idea. She gets CJ to invite tenants Sophie, recently promoted to development director at the New Vic Theatre, and Nicholas, a city planner (they’re now a couple and living together) to a party at the DeYoungs' house. Maybe Sophie can rustle up some donations.

Instead, Sophie and Nicholas witness a horrible event. Frank DeYoung is killed when he falls down the stairs. And his wife claims CJ pushed him.

CJ, who has just moved into Sophie’s old cottage.

Detective Sergeant Vernon Enible is not amused that the Murder Collective is involved with another possible murder. But he can’t stop them. The whole gang is involved. 

Lily-Ann brings her organizational skills (and knowledge of the wealthy, and exquisite fashion sense). Anthony contributes his physical strength and knowledge of the seedier side of life (he’s an ex-con).

Hamilton, who serves kombucha at Collective meetings and never leaves the house except for medical appointments, extracts information from a police officer through favors on the online fantasy game Realm of Rangers, which they both play.

The stakes soar when Mrs. B uses the Marigold as collateral to get CJ out of jail. Then CJ disappears. Then there’s a second murder…

In between the non-stop action, the members of the Collective try to communicate via group chat (Anthony can’t type, which leads to amusing spell-check corrections) and take risks even they know they shouldn’t be taking.

In the end, they tie up all the loose ends in their own inimitable style. Detective Enible is happy to take the win.

I enjoyed the humor in this book, the sparkling “SoCal” setting, and the warmth of the relationships among the characters. The story is told in alternating viewpoints by various characters, who are all so different, but all dedicated to their shared vision of justice. They also truly care about each other.

Spoiler alert: Many mentions are made to the events in The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective. That’s necessary because the characters are still grappling, to varying degrees, with how they handled the situations in the first book.

--------

I received an advance e-copy of Murder on Charity Lane from NetGalley. It will be published on August 18, 2026.

Review: "A Field Guide to Murder," Michelle L. Cullen

Harry Lancaster, 69, has traded world travel for a condo on the deceptively peaceful Lakeside Lane in Columbus, Ohio. He’s a retired anthropologist who once traveled the world with his wife, Mags, working for aid organizations.

Now Mags is gone and Harry has fractured his hip. Help has arrived in the form of a young nurse, Emma Stockton. She’s burned out from her former work in critical care, and is giving caregiving a try.

Harry is frustrated by his limited mobility and entertains himself by keeping an eye on the neigborhood with his high-powered binoculars. But his boredom is soon alleviated when his neighbor Sue calls. She’s in distress. Harry and Emma rush over (as best he can with his cane), but Sue is dead when they arrive.

The police decide Sue accidentally ate a poison fungi—she liked to forage. But Harry isn’t convinced. He’s noticed strange goings-on. His previously genial neighbors are acting suspiciously. Nobody seemed to like Sue, so suspects abound.

When a second neighbor is attacked, Harry is devastated, but knows he’s on the right track.

Emma is reluctant at first to join Harry in his sleuthing, but she can’t very well let him charge around on his own. Besides, she’s feeling at loose ends with her career move, and she’s having qualms about her upcoming marriage to Blake, a handsome doctor who seems to be a Prince Charming.

Harry has lived a life of adventure and loves exotic foods. Emma’s idea of a perfect meal is a pepperoni and pineapple pizza at her favorite restaurant. But they learn from each other. Harry starts thinking about life after recovery—and he’s also determined to get Emma out of her rut.

A real pleasure of A Field Guide to Murder is the relationship between this mismatched pair. Harry — adventurous, cosmopolitan, a devoted eater of Indian, French, and Ethiopian cuisine — is bemused by Emma’s devotion to pepperoni-and-pineapple pizza. They needle each other, learn from each other, and slowly draw each other out of their respective ruts. 

The supporting cast of neighbors-with-secrets keeps things lively, and the setting is attractive: Harry can walk, cane and all, from his seemingly idyllic street straight into a bustling commercial district. I enjoy food descriptions in my mysteries, and this one features several, including a yummy afternoon tea scene.

This cozy mystery is warm, engaging and well-plotted. I finished it with a smile—and a snack.

Review: "Storm Tide," Paul Doiron

When NetGalley sends me an invitation to download the upcoming Mike Bowditch novel, I do not hesitate to say yes. And then start reading. Immediately.

The Maine game warden is back on patrol duty after his shenanigans in Canada in Pitch Dark. Will he ever return to investigator status? The question hovers over Mike for the entire book.

It depends on whether he can keep his nose clean, and fans of the series know that though Mike has grown more mature over the years, sticking to the straight and narrow is impossible for him.

This is true even though he’s stationed close to home in the Belfast-Camden area. Wife Stacey is expecting. Billy Cronk and family live nearby. Wolf dog Shadow prowls his outdoor refuge. If only Mike could be content with living a quiet life.

Nope. He responds to a fire at a McMansion. A neighbor, Karen Kershaw, stands outside the burning building, holding a baby. Mike tries to save the father, but fails. He’s devastated, but then learns the man was implicated in a child’s disappearance and likely death.

Mike wants to investigate the fire, even though it’s a state police matter. But when he tries to question the neighbor, she disappears. Meanwhile, he starts getting ominous messages from somebody who knows a lot about him. In fact, the stalker seems to have interacted with Mike when he covered the Machias area, a decade or more ago.

Mike is determined to find out what’s happening in both situations. Are they connected? He’s not exactly reckless, but he does take chances, and gets himself (and Billy) in trouble (to put it mildly) more than once.

But has he ever faced three villains before? One is an evil genius, the worst kind of bad guy. Then there’s the huge, dim-witted but single-minded thug. The third thinks he has a moral agenda, and that includes killing Mike if necessary.

And what about the mysterious neighbor, Karen Kershaw? How does she fit into all this?

Whew. Luckily for my blood pressure, the story is stretched out over nearly a year. The brief interludes of calm (a visit to Charley and Ora Stevens’ homestead always soothes me) don’t thwart the pacing of the book. It’s a page-turner, with the hair-raising scenes nicely (thankfully) complemented by the characters beloved by readers and the richly evoked Maine setting.

Take the scene where Mike is in the headquarters of Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, just across the Kennebec River from where I write. He gazes out a window and sees a sturgeon leap out of the water.

After everything Mike endures in these pages, a flash of the unexpected and beautiful feels exactly right. It’s the kind of detail that stays with you long after you turn the final page.

 

----------

Storm Tide will be released on June 30, 2026.

Review: "The Final Problem," Arturo Pérez-Reverte

A romantic villa near Corfu. A storm rages in the Ionian Sea, isolating the island. Nine guests. Four hotel staff. Three murders. The resolution is anything but elementary.

It’s 1960, and Ormond Basil’s star has faded — though it’s not yet extinguished. When the Italian producer Pietro Melarba invites him aboard his yacht, ostensibly to discuss a new project, Basil sees reason for hope. Under the stage name Hopalong Basil, the actor worked with the biggest names of the day — Errol Flynn, “Larry” Olivier, Joan Crawford. But he’s best known for the 15 films he made based on Sherlock Holmes stories and novels. 

Basil, along with Melarba and his Lebanese girlfriend, an opera diva, stops at the tiny island of Urakos to dine at the Hotel Auslander when the storm strands them there. It’s a beautiful location, so not exactly a hardship.

Until British guest Edith Mander is found dead — hanging from the rafters of the beach cabana.

The police can’t possibly make their way out from mainland Greece. Dr. Kerabin, a Turk, examines the body and pronounces the death a suicide. But the hotel staff and the remaining guests (a German couple; two Greeks; an Auschwitz survivor and Mander’s British traveling companion) are uneasy. They look to the man they identify with one of the world’s greatest (albeit fictional) detectives.

Basil, always debonair and dignified, demurs — until “Paco” Foxa, a Spanish mystery novelist, eagerly volunteers to play Watson. The game is soon afoot. Has the duo met its Moriarty? There are two more deaths, and devilish clues left behind.

The name Ormond Basil is no accident — Basil Rathbone was an iconic real-life portrayer of Holmes. It’s one of many delightful winks Pérez-Reverte offers to readers steeped in the canon.

The Final Problem is a delightful tribute to both the Holmesian oeuvre and the golden age mystery novel. It nods to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None as well as the classic locked-room tradition. Chapters are introduced with quotes from the Holmes tales: “I am accustomed to have mystery at one end of my cases, but to have it at both ends is too confusing.” (The Adventure of the Illustrious Client.) Foxa is a student of the great detective, and he and Ormond Basil fluidly trade quotes and observations from the stories.

The tone is literary on all levels; Basil tells the tale, his narrative peppered with fond reminiscences of mid-century celebrities. He continually insists he is not Holmes, but he clearly relishes his role in the investigation and takes the job seriously.

The Final Problem is a grand mystery with an intriguing, extremely satisfying conclusion --- as elegantly constructed an anything Holmes himself might have admired.

Review: "It's Not Her," Mary Kubica

Mary Kubica has done it this time. She’s filled an entire book with unlikable characters.

I didn’t think I could finish—never mind enjoy—such a novel. However, I decided to heed the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”

Why couldn’t I read a book with an abysmal setting? Plus, I don’t remember the characters eating much more than cereal. Oh, wait—they drank some beer. I love an exciting location and evocative food descriptions, but there was none of that here.

So what did I get out of this book?

A great story.

And I learned that nasty characters can sustain my interest.

Courtney Gray tells the story in alternating chapters with her niece, Reese. Courtney, a preschool teacher, is kind, intrepid, and fiercely protective of her family. But even she has made an unfortunate mistake in the past—one that undoubtedly plays into her family’s tragic predicament.

Courtney, her husband Elliott, and daughter Cass have joined Courtney’s brother’s family at a rundown resort camp on a northern Wisconsin lake. Nolan Crane, an unemployed software engineer, doesn’t have much to say—perhaps because his wife Emily is such a control freak. Their daughter Reese, seventeen, seems to simmer with anger.

Then there’s fourteen-year-old Wyatt Crane, a baseball star and the apple of his mother’s eye. Unfortunately, he’s also a gambler, thief, and blackmailer. Mae Crane, only ten, is Cass’s best friend. You might assume the younger girls are innocents—but you’d be wrong.

After a sleepover with Cass, Mae heads back to her family’s cabin. Minutes later she returns to the Grays’, covered in blood and unable to explain what has happened.

Elliott is out fishing, but Courtney rushes to the Cranes’ cabin and finds Nolan and Emily brutally murdered. Wyatt eventually appears, claiming he slept through the attack after his mother gave him a Benadryl the night before. Reese, however, is nowhere to be found.

Courtney’s narrative follows the investigation as Detective Evans arrives at the scene. But Courtney is determined to find Reese herself. Meanwhile, Reese’s chapters recount her relationship with Daniel Clarke, a young camp employee whose influence on her grows increasingly dark. Reese is also grieving the loss of her once-close friendship with Skylar back home—a rupture she herself set in motion.

Reese suggests Elliott may have behaved inappropriately toward her. Courtney begins to question her husband’s fishing alibi. Emily had wanted to speak to Elliott about something—but what? Elliott claims he can’t remember.

Hovering over everything is the disappearance of a young girl several years earlier. Could Reese’s disappearance be connected? Or did Reese kill her parents and run?

Tensions mount as Courtney throws caution aside to find her niece—and the killer. I found myself marveling at the characters’ perspicacity as the pages turned.

Sometimes, it really is all about the story.