Author: Carole Lynn Jones

Writer

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Book review crime fiction mystery reading suspense thriller

Read and Review (R&R) “Don’t Believe It” by Charlie Donlea

This month’s book club read was Don’t Believe It by Charlie Donlea. If you haven’t read anything by him, I would recommend adding one of his books to your TBR list.

This suspense novel centers around a woman, Grace Seabold, who has been imprisoned for ten years in St. Lucia for the murder of her boyfriend, Julian Crist.

Sidney Ryan is an up-and-coming film producer who in the past produced two documentaries shedding light on a person in jail who was believed to be wrongfully convicted. This puts her in the radar of every convict in the country who believes they are innocent. Grace Seabold is one of those convicts. She writes to Sidney asking for her help to dig into her story and show the world she is innocent. Sidney travels to St. Lucia, meets with Grace and heads back home to make a pitch to the suits at Events, the station for which she is working as a producer. Given the green light, Sidney starts investigating the murder and the cast of characters that will make up the documentary The Girl of Sugar Beach. With each episode, more and more people become hooked on the one episode a week documentary which has Sidney finding things out along with the viewers. As Sidney becomes increasingly entwined in the case and begins to uncover inconsistencies, she and her audience of twenty million viewers are starting to believe that Grace Seabold is innocent. But is she?

Although about three-quarters of the way through the book, I was pretty sure who might be behind the murder, I wasn’t 100% sure. With an ending I didn’t see coming, Charlie Donlea had me turning pages and reading this book in a week’s time. I will have to say I had hoped for a different ending, but it was cleverly done. This is the second book I have read by this author. The first was titled, Twenty Years Later. Charlie Donlea is a master storyteller. His books are full of plot twists, and I will definitely pick up another novel by this author.

Categories
Book review crime debut novel fiction suspense

Read and Review (R&R) – “In The Dark I See You” by Mallika Narayanan

Some of the reviews I post on my blog are of books written by Pittsburgh authors who I’ve met through The Mary Roberts Rinehart Chapter of Sisters in Crime. When I can, I like to highlight local authors and reviews are so important whether you are a new author or established.

To that end, I hope you read this review and pick up In The Dark I See You. It is the debut psychological suspense novel written by Mallika Narayanan, one of the members of our local chapter and an award-winning writer of flash and short fiction.

I really enjoyed this book.

The suspense slowly builds as the characters backstories and current days are revealed through a weaving of multiple timelines and two points of view. I thought from both a writer and reader perspective that she did a great job of this. I myself have never tackled dual points of view and am always impressed when I read someone who has.

The author is skilled at character development and her characters were flawed and relatable. Making one of the character’s blind added depth.

The end twist was unpredictable and a WOW moment which I didn’t see coming until the actual reveal.

I felt the complex storyline, plot twist, and ending make any reader want to pick up another book by this author.

The below is the blurb on the back cover –

When a young woman, Sarah Connelly, is found murdered in her home in New York’s elite Sleepy Point suburb, it triggers questions about the neighbor who discovered the body, Audrey Hughes. This kind of attention is the last thing Audrey wants. Moving to Sleepy Point was supposed to provide her with a new, quiet start after a trauma left her with incurable blindness. But the other reason she settled next door to Sarah was to spy on her. Police scrutiny moves Audrey like a pawn on a chessboard from witness to suspect, after it’s revealed that she had a volatile argument with Sarah hours before her death. The deeper the police delve into the case, the murkier the truth becomes. As the book twists and turns through alternating points of view and timelines, a compelling and complex scheme emerges that threatens all involved . . . and the ticking clock of investigation collides with the explosive secrets Audrey and Sarah have been keeping.

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Book review fiction mystery reading Uncategorized

Read and Review (R&R) – “Up Jumped the Devil” by Martha Reed

One of my latest reads was Up Jumped the Devil by Martha Reed. This is the second book in the Crescent City NOLA Mystery series.

Set in New Orleans during Mardi Gras, Up Jumped the Devil is chock full of a host of well-developed interesting characters, intrigue, the lore of New Orleans, and a little bit of voodoo.

Jane Byrne is the Chief Security Officer working the graveyard shift in New Orleans’ famous St. Louis Cemetery. The story starts with Jane trying to catch graffiti vandals. With a bad knee, and a boss who wants the culprits caught yesterday, Jane enlists the help of her transgender friend, Gigi. When Jane and Gigi corner a vandal, Gigi realizes she has seen the trespasser before. When the two sleuths track the perpetrator down, they find themselves entwined in a kidnapping ring. Solving the mystery is a matter of life and death – possibly their own.

Some of the other characters are Gigi’s father, Ken, who is a musician, his wife, Leslie, and Aunt Babette, a NOLA voodoo queen.

In Up Jumped the Devil, Martha Reed’s research of NOLA shines. I enjoy Reed’s storytelling and her ability to transport readers with vivid descriptions into the story and keep them there long after they finish the book.

When book three in this series comes out, it will be on my TBR list.

Categories
Book review fiction mystery reading

Read and Review (R&R) – “Thicker Than Water,” by Liz Milliron

This month one of my reads was a well-plotted, character-filled mystery entitled, “Thicker Than Water,” by author, Liz Milliron. This book is set in Western Pennsylvania and it is the 6th book in the Laurel Highland mysteries series. In case you are wondering, the books don’t have to be read in order.

The main characters, Jim Duncan and Sally Castle are a couple moving forward in their relationship while trying to balance Jim’s Pennsylvania State Trooper position with Sally’s defense attorney career.

When a troubled college student shows up at Sally’s recently relocated law practice looking for help, Sally listens to her story, but before she can offer any assistance, the woman bolts out the door.

Two days later, Trooper Jim Duncan and his partner, Jenny Cavendish respond to a call about a missing autistic young man who claims to have seen a sleeping blue woman. When the young man is found, he directs Duncan to a cabin and in it is a deceased young woman. To complicate things, the deceased woman turns out to be the same college student that had visited Sally’s office seeking help.

On top of all that, the Thanksgiving holiday is approaching, and Sally feels pressure from her family to take her relationship with Jim to the next level – move in, tie the knot and have kids. Jim’s parents are arriving from out of town and it will be Sally’s first introduction to them. Will they also pressure Sally and Jim?

As the mystery unfolds and the cast of characters/possible suspects add up, Jim races against time to solve the crime and Sally immerses herself into investigating the suspects as she seeks justice for the deceased woman.

Will they figure this mystery out before someone else is killed? Who killed the young woman and why?

No spoilers here. You will have to read the book to find out.

Categories
book club Book review crime fiction mystery suspense thriller Uncategorized

Read and Review (R&R) – “Local Woman Missing” by Mary Kubica

This month’s book club read was “Local Woman Missing” by Mary Kubica. This is my first read by this author and it didn’t disappoint. It’s a gripping, page-turning, suburban thriller. Everyone in our book club gave it five stars.

I will admit that at first I almost didn’t continue past part one. It was disturbing and contained abuse of children. I continued, and I will say this book is one of the best recent thrillers I’ve read. Mary Kubica’s characters are well-developed and likeable. The story is fast-paced and filled with suspense, tension, mystery and an end plot twist I didn’t see coming.

It seems lately the thrillers I have been reading are told from multiple points of view and this one was as well. Local Woman Missing is told from three points of view and with 11 years before and now timelines. I still found it very easy to follow.

Shelby Tebow is the first to go missing. Not long after, Meredith Dickey and her six-year-old daughter, Delilah, vanish just blocks away from where Shelby was last seen, striking fear into their once-peaceful community. Are these incidents connected? After an elusive search that yields more questions than answers, the case eventually goes cold.

Now, 11 years later, Delilah shockingly returns. Everyone wants to know what happened to her, but no one is prepared for what they’ll find….

Wow!

Categories
book club Book review crime fiction psychological thriller reading suspense Uncategorized

Read and Review (R&R) – “Watching You” by Lisa Jewell

Watching You by Lisa Jewell is our book club’s October read. It is a psychological thriller published in 2018 and this author’s sixteenth book. She has twenty published novels.

This was my first read of her books.

Melville Heights is one of the nicest neighborhoods in Bristol, England; home to doctors and lawyers and old-money academics. It’s not the sort of place where people are brutally murdered in their own kitchens. But it is the sort of place where everyone has a secret. And everyone is watching you.

As the headmaster credited with turning around the local school, Tom Fitzwilliam is beloved by one and all—including Joey Mullen, his new neighbor, who quickly develops an intense infatuation with this thoroughly charming yet unavailable man. Joey thinks her crush is a secret, but Tom’s teenaged son Freddie—a prodigy with aspirations of becoming a spy for MI5—excels in observing people and has witnessed Joey behaving strangely around his father.

One of Tom’s students, Jenna Tripp, also lives on the same street, and she’s not convinced her teacher is as squeaky clean as he seems. For one thing, he has taken a particular liking to her best friend and fellow classmate, and Jenna’s mother—whose mental health has admittedly been deteriorating in recent years—is convinced that Mr. Fitzwilliam is stalking her.

Meanwhile, twenty years earlier, a schoolgirl writes in her diary, charting her doomed obsession with a handsome young English teacher named Mr. Fitzwilliam.

The book starts out with a diary entry and a murder and then goes back to a narrative told in multiple points of view. It took me a while to get into this book. The beginning felt too slow and filled with the routine lives of the characters (some of them a bit creepy). Once the true action started, I found myself wrapped up under a blanket and reading for three hour stretches.

I did figure out who the killer was quite early on, but Lisa Jewell’s world-building and storytelling had me hooked and I continued to read to see how it would play out.

The author did a nice job of tying up all the loose ends and even pulled at your heart strings (slightly) for the killer.

Categories
Book review crime mystery suspense Uncategorized

Read and Review (R&R) – “Twenty Years Later” by Charlie Donlea

Suspense, mystery, plot twists, and riveting, well-developed characters with secret-filled pasts.

The story is told from several perspectives and has a dual timeline of then and now. Once the story and the characters came together, I could not put this book down.

Twenty Years Later centers around Avery Mason. She is seeking her next big story as she negotiates her contract for the popular primetime show American Events. When a bone fragment of Victoria Ford, a woman who perished in 9/11, is identified through new developments in DNA testing, Avery sees an opportunity to guarantee rating gold. While doing her research, Avery learns that Victoria Ford was to stand trial for the gruesome murder of bestselling author, Cameron Young when she perished on 9/11.

Things change for Avery when she meets with Victoria’s sister, Emma, who shares tapes of Victoria’s frantic calls from the World Trade Center declaring her innocence and her plea for her sister to clear her name. Avery realizes that her story will be much bigger than she had imagined. Walt Jenkins, the lead investigator of the murder case, comes out of retirement to help Avery. But what Avery doesn’t realize is Walt has reasons of his own for helping.

Some of Charlie Donlea’s writing was repetitive, but I think the author thought keeping all the characters and plot lines straight for the reader was necessary.

This is Charlie Donlea’s sixth novel and a great read that will keep you guessing throughout.

Categories
Book review crime historical fiction mystery

Read & Review (R&R) – “The Truth We Hide” by Liz Milliron

“The Truth We Hide” is a plot-driven, interesting character-filled, well-researched, historical fiction novel.

In the fourth Homefront Mystery from Author Liz Milliron, it’s 1943 and Betty Ahern is no longer building airplane parts for Bell Aircraft. She has decided to become a full-time private investigator and is studying for her license. Betty’s best friend, Lee introduces her to an acquaintance, Edward Kettle, who has recently been let go from his job and wants her to clear his name. But, Edward has a secret he would like to keep hidden and as soon as Betty takes the case, Edward is brutally murdered. Betty finds out that Edward is a homosexual and she is left to wonder was he killed because of his sexual preference or something else. Edward’s sister wants to pay Betty to continue and clear Edward’s name and Betty must examine her own moral beliefs before moving forward. As Betty investigates further, things take a dangerous turn into the world of wartime espionage.

Among the somewhat likable, some not-so-likable suspects are a tabloid reporter, a boarding house roommate of Edward, a former coworker of Edward, Edward’s lover and a young man about Betty’s age with movie star looks. The good-looking man shows an interest in Betty which causes conflict in her feelings and makes her reflect about how her fiancé who is overseas fighting in the war will react to her choice to become a full-time PI when he returns home. Will he accept her new life decision?

This series does not have to be read in order, but if you haven’t read any of the first three, you might enjoy picking up one of those as well to get acquainted with Betty when she worked at Bell Aircraft. Also, no spoilers in this review but in case you have read the other books in this series and are wondering, Betty’s best friends Dot and Lee do appear in the book and also her detective friend, Sam, is back and working the case. Will Betty uncover the hidden truth behind Edward’s murder or will Betty’s investigation turn her into the killer’s next victim? You will have to read “The Truth We Hide,” by Liz Milliron to find out.  

Categories
Book review crime mystery reading

Read & Review (R&R) – “Ordinary Grace” by William Kent Krueger

A slow, summer read – my latest read is Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger. This book is a New York Times Bestseller and Winner of the 2014 Edgar Award For Best Novel.

It is a story of a young man, a small town, and murder in the summer of 1961.

Ordinary Grace transports you through beautifully written scenes to a time of innocence shattered in the life of a boy growing up in a small town of New Bremen, Minnesota.

Frank Drum is preoccupied with the concerns of any teenage boy, but when tragedy unexpectedly strikes his family—which includes his Methodist minister father; his passionate, artistic mother; Juilliard-bound older sister; and wise-beyond-his-years kid brother—he finds himself thrust into an adult world full of secrets, lies, adultery, and betrayal, suddenly called upon to demonstrate a maturity and gumption beyond his years.

Told from Frank’s perspective forty years after that fateful summer, Ordinary Grace is a novel about a boy standing at the door of his manhood, trying to understand a world that seems to be falling apart around him.

I was moved by this book, but I also felt that the characters were stereotypical and I did figure out who the killer was before the reveal.

While not a page turner, it is an unforgettable novel which casts the light on the hard price of wisdom and the ordinary grace of God.  

Categories
Book review short stories Uncategorized

Read and Review (R&R) – “Sidle Creek” by Jolene McIlwain

My latest read and recommendation is a book written by a member of my Sisters in Crime group. Jolene McIlwain’s Sidle Creek came out this year and is published by Melville House. It is a collection of short stories centering around the rural places and people of Pennsylvania. Sidle Creek is filled with 22 expertly crafted short stories. Jolene engulfs you in the lives of her characters and transports you through vivid imagery to the places they call home. She delves into hard issues with grace, understanding and empathy. This book and the stories within will stay with you long after you turn the last page.