Silent Parade by Keigo Higashino

Silent Parade by Keigo Higashino

by Carol4 Comments
SIlent Parade is the eighth in the Detective Galileo series, not all of which have been translated into English. It's the fourth that I've read, but it works perfectly fine as a stand-alone. The story begins shortly after the third anniversary of Saori Namiki's disappearance when she was nineteen. A decrepit house has burned down in Tokyo and her remains were identified in the rubble. Chief Inspector Kusanagi and his team are assigned the case because of a curious connection they have to the chief suspect. But it's not Saori's murder that's the focus. When her presumed killer is let free, he ends up dead and it's that murder the police are trying to solve. There are tons of characters, which can get a little confusing in the audio occasionally, but they each have their roles and are important to the plot. The plot itself is twisty and turny and some things are obvious and some are not what you expect....
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On the Trail of Sherlock Holmes by Stephen Browning

On the Trail of Sherlock Holmes by Stephen Browning

by Carol2 Comments
I am a huge Sherlock Holmes fan which is why On the Trail of Sherlock Holmes caught my eye. The author sets out a series of walks around London, incorporating locations that feature in stories from the canon and incidents in Conan Doyle's life. There are even tidbits about family, friends, and literary contemporaries to Doyle along with the mention of real life individuals and their stories that likely influenced his writing of Sherlock Holmes. It made me want to go to London and follow the walks and suggested side excursions. It also made me want to go back and read some of the stories again and maybe watch some of the adaptations I haven't seen. The appendices were fun too, giving a chronological timeline of the Conan Doyle stories, notable actors to have played Holmes over the years, and an alphabetical Holmes miscellany. My one complaint is that I wish there were more and better photos. I'd love full...
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The Verifiers by Jane Pek

The Verifiers by Jane Pek

by Carol4 Comments
The Verifiers is a fun book, part mystery, part family drama, and part exploration of the data we provide online to corporations and how they might use that. Claudia Lin, our amateur detective, is the youngest, and at least according to her mom the least successful, of three siblings. She has left her low-level corporate job to work at Veracity, but she hasn't told her family. Claudia is a mystery lover and Veracity is a bit like a detective agency, allowing wealthy clients to investigate people they meet on dating sites. Veracity takes on a new client, a woman who wants them to investigate two men she met online, but whom she is no longer in contact with. At first, it's just interesting, but then the client is found dead in her apartment, an apparent suicide. Claudia is a likable character. She's smart and funny. She loves books and bicycling through New York. She's a lesbian and a romantic by...
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Pay Dirt Road by Samantha Jayne Allen

Pay Dirt Road by Samantha Jayne Allen

by Carol2 Comments
Annie is back home after college, waitressing at the local diner and hanging out with her cousin and people she knew in high school. Her family is well known in town. Her grandfather used to be the sheriff, but now he owns a private investigation firm, run mostly by his partner, and drinks too much. When another waitress, Victoria, goes missing and is later found murdered, Annie is pulled in, needing to find the truth, and gets her grandfather involved too. Pay Dirt Road has a good sense of place. It's small-town Texas where land matters, where it's hard to keep secrets, where people without papers are afraid of the cops. It's a place where high school football carries a town's pride and the VFW turns into a honky tonk on Thursdays. It's a place Annie both loves and hates. Pay Dirt Road is a pretty standard mystery and Annie's not a great investigator. She shouldn't be. She's in her early twenties...
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Poison Ivy by Helena Marchmont

Poison Ivy by Helena Marchmont

by CarolNo Comments
Poison Ivy is the 12th in the Bunburry mysteries and I don't think it would be as good as a standalone - half of the fun is knowing the characters and how their relationships work. I was quite happy that Oscar is in town for most of this one, along with the rest of the usual cast. Emma and Alfie are planning a surprise party for Marg and Liz. At the hotel, Alfie meets a beautiful interesting woman. It turns out she's an old acquaintance of Oscar's and he's sure she's a murderer. This was another good entry in the series. The mystery had a twist or two. The characters are their delightful selves and I like how some of the newer ones have settled into recurring roles. It was a nice way to spend a few hours....
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What the Cat Knew by P.D. Workman

What the Cat Knew by P.D. Workman

by CarolNo Comments
What the Cat Knew is a paranormal cozy mystery that totally hooked me. Reg is tough, smart, and can run a good con, but is caring and loyal underneath it. She's setting up as a medium "for entertainment purposes only" in Black Sands, Florida. She has a couple of problems. First, turns out she actually is a medium and can contact the dead. Second, the man she contacts isn't actually dead. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. We've got our eccentric characters, this time witches and probably other magical creatures. Our amateur sleuth has a legitimate reason for investigating, apparently she's the only one who knows the man is still alive, but since he's in a coma she can still make contact. We've got a touch of romance, maybe, but I'm hoping that fades away. And there's Reg's cat, who I loved. The plot moves along quickly and it was a lot of fun. I'm not quite clear on what kind...
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