Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller - The Irresponsible Reader

DETAILS:
Series: Ranger Makalani Pahukula Mystery, #1
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Publication Date: May 20, 2025
Format: eARC
Length: 445 pg.
Read Date: May 9-13, 2025

What’s Kaua’i Storm About?

Makalani Pahukula, who has been serving Crater Lake in Oregon as a Park Ranger for years, comes home to Kaua‘i for the first time in even longer for the celebration of her grandmother’s eightieth birthday—which is going to be a family reunion/community gathering on a pretty grand scale.

When Makalani touches down, it’s not quite the joyous occasion she’d anticipated. Yes, her parents and grandmother are delighted to see her—as is an old friend (I’m going to forget to mention this later, but we needed more of her). But two of Makalani’s cousins are missing—one is in high school and the other is a former college football star.

Their disappearances are being written off as some foolish lark—although it gets the family squabbling—each set of parents blaming the other and lashing out. Makalani doesn’t think either explanation fits the cousins she remembers (while making allowances for people changing) and she wonders why the police haven’t been involved.* After a dead body is found in the nearby forest, Makalani starts to meddle and takes it upon herself to find her cousins—over the objections of just about everyone.

* And once the police eventually do get involved, you start to understand the families’ decision not to involve them, and they certainly make things worse.

A Question of Genre

First—I’m not sure that’s the best heading for this section, but it’s close enough. Secondly—I really don’t care about this when it comes to what I think about the book, but this kept running through the back of my mind.

This is billed as a mystery, and it kind of is one—I think more of a thriller than a mystery, but we’re getting into the weeds there. And Eldridge has a reputation as a thriller writer (thrillers that I greatly appreciate, I should add).

But her thrillers also involve a good layer of something else—descriptions of a minority culture (in the U.S.), trauma, business/family culture (in other nations), and so on. She pulls that off here, too. In more than one way.

We also get a fair amount of multi-generational family drama, a little social commentary, some local history, and more.

So much so that the thriller/mystery aspect of the book takes a back-seat to everything else for significant lengths of time. It doesn’t hurt the novel as a whole—in fact, it makes it richer. There are family members and friends that I can hand this to that I can’t hand a lot of the mysteries/thrillers that I read (and I wonder if a couple of the thriller-junkies in my life would put up with this).

Culture and Language

Speaking of that kind of thing…

I am as haole as you can get—so much so that I can’t pronounce it correctly or even consistently, despite having heard it in various formats for years. So, a lot of this book took work for me to understand—work I enjoyed and was glad to do, mind you. But there was effort.

Eldridge littered this book with ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i words and phrases and Pidgin English like crazy. All—or close enough to round up—can be understood in context with a little effort. But for those who want to be sure of their understanding, there’s a great glossary in the back—including words and phrases—both Pidgin English and ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i—as well as phrases, geographical references, historical and mythological figures. I didn’t consult it (foolishly?) until I was done—that’s just how I roll. It confirmed a lot for me and fleshed some things out, too. I do recommend consulting it in the moment.

I knew about, and chose to ignore, the Glossary. Until I finished, I didn’t realize Eldridge also gave us a handy dramatis personae, which would’ve been a great aid in keeping track of the relationships between this large cast. Do you need to read/consult it? No. But I certainly wouldn’t discourage it.

But even beyond the supplemental material, this book is about as close as you can get to a documentary on contemporary Kaua‘i as you can get while keeping this a work of fiction. There’s a lot about homesteading—and the ethnic makeups required for it (past and present), those who live off the grid in public lands, and…I’m not going to be able to provide an exhaustive list, so I’m going to just stop.

I’ll summarize by saying that this is a rich and informative look at the non-touristy part of Hawai‘i (or at least one island’s version of it). Added to the tiered cake of characters and missing-person plot, this icing is just great.

So, what did I think about Kaua’i Storm?

This is going up late—I realize that, and apologize to Eldridge and Thomas & Mercer for that—but I had a hard time resisting talking about all that this novel attempts (mostly successfully) to accomplish.

It’s a very crowded book, I have to say, Eldridge puts a lot into these 445 pages. There’s a storyline involving an overly-zealous student of culture that generally felt out of place, and maybe was. It couldn’t be told at another time, as much as I wondered if it could’ve been used in a sequel instead of this book, because it seemed of tertiary importance and interest compared to everything else going on. It was also entertaining and satisfying—so I’m glad she included it.

Still, it reads like a thriller of 250-300 pages, which is a neat trick.

I didn’t enjoy this as much as a Lily Wong book (it shouldn’t feel like one, and doesn’t), and I enjoyed it in different ways than her previous work (as I should’ve). Having established this world and the characters—it’d be very easy for Eldridge to lighten up on the background material in the future, and keep the focus on the plot and characters while exploring the world (and keeping up the commentary)—making it a leaner and more focused thriller/mystery. I hope that’s where Eldridge takes it—but I won’t complain too much if she doesn’t.

How did I make it this far without talking about Makalani? This is her book more than anything. We’ve all read/watched versions of her story—the kid who couldn’t wait to leave home who comes back discovering how much she missed it, how much she’s changed—and how everyone she left behind remembers her. This version of this template is very successful. She reconnects with her past, her heritage, her family—and she sees how who she is today comes from all of that. Plus, she’s a pretty kick-ass ranger. It’s going to be fun to watch her at work. She’s tough, resourceful, and determined—but not in your typical action-hero way, more like the kind of person you could meet in real life. Likely in the line of duty as a ranger. Her connection with the land—in Hawai‘i or Oregon—and sense of duty is going to get a lot of readers to respond positively to her.

This is a solid thriller, but it’s so much more. And it’ll definitely leave you hungry for a sequel. I strongly recommend it.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Thomas & Mercer via NetGalley in exchange for this post which contains my honest opinion—thanks to both for this.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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One Death at a Time by Abbi Waxman: You’ll Laugh All the Way to the Morgue

By HCNewton

On April 21, 2025

In Abbi Waxman, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, V-Z

(not that you actually go to a morgue in this book, I was just struggling with that headline)

One Death at a Time

by Abbi Waxman

DETAILS:
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: April 15, 2025
Format: eARC
Length: 400 pg.
Read Date: April 11-15, 2025

What’s One Death at a Time About?

Natasha Mason is a twenty-something still trying to figure out what to do with her life—her alcoholism led to her leaving law school, and now she’s paying bills by delivering food and doing other gig economy standbys in L.A., and making sure she makes at least one meeting a day.

At one of these meetings, a vaguely familiar-looking woman shows up—and is not the friendliest of people. She seems—well, is—more concerned about getting her court-mandated signature than in anything else. Mason volunteers to be this woman’s interim sponsor. Now this older woman had been sober before, but on the night that led to the court-mandated meetings had a blood-alcohol level that stunned a rowdy twelve-step meeting into silence. She’d also come out of a blackout next to the dead body of a former lover/decades-long antagonist and what was probably the murder weapon. For a night she couldn’t remember—it’d clearly been eventful.

The next morning, Mason shows up at the gate of her obviously well-off sponsee. Thanks to some time on the internet, Mason knows her to be Julia Mann—a former box office star, now a lawyer taking on cases for as many Davids as she can in a city of Goliaths. Oh, and in between careers, she’d been in prison due to the death of her husband—the former business partner of the dead man she’s currently suspected of killing.

This meeting didn’t go the way Mason suspected—for one, Julia Mann’s housekeeper is an amazing cook, as Mason learned. Also, the two kept butting heads—Mason wanted to talk about Julia’s sobriety, but Julia was rather fixated on the murder. And yet…something clicked between the two. In between verbal jousts,* Julia ends up hiring Mason to be her personal assistant and help with the investigation. Mason justifies this to herself as a way to stay near Julia and keep her sober. The chance to eat more of Claudia’s cooking and make more money than an app can pay doesn’t hurt.**

Before you know it, these two have got themselves involved in a separate murder investigation (another David for Juila to work for), arson, tensions around Julia’s former career in the film industry, tensions around Julia’s future career in the film industry (she wants none of it, but no one seems to care), brushes with organized crime, multiple reasons for both or either of them to ditch their sobriety, and more things that I can fit into this rambling sentence.

* The back-and-forth between these two is reason enough to try this book. Waxman will supply several others, it should be noted.
** Yes, this makes two books in as many months about an LA-based delivery driver turning amateur investigator.

The Murder Mystery(ies)

Murder mysteries surrounding the film industry tend to have a few things in common—secrets, petty grievances that get nurtured into full-blown rivalries (or worse), scandals (for an industry reputed to be filled with amoral hedonists, there really are a lot of moral scandals), and organized crime.

One Death at a Time ticks all of these boxes—and a few others that I should’ve listed above, but forgot to. This may be Waxman’s first mystery, but she clearly understands the genre and knows how to construct a classic whodunit in a contemporary setting.

You get all the twists, turns, red herrings, and layers upon layers of competing motives for multiple suspects that you need—doled out in just the right pacing with dollops of shocks and action along the way. The final reveal is satisfying, and every loose plotline is tied up. It’s a textbook example of the genre—pleasing in every way.

The Humor/Tone/Relationships

This might be a clumsy way to tackle these ideas, but it’s where I am.

Yes, Waxman is known for Rom Coms—or Rom Com-adjacent—books, so we all know she’s funny. This seemed to me to be more overtly comedic. There are jokes—many of them—not just funny situations and loveable, quirky characters doing goofy things. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of those (as well as non-lovable, quirky characters).

This reads like Dave Barry’s kind of crime novel, with the restraint of a Richard Osman. The verbal jousting is great, and the physical comedy is almost as good. The situations are frequently ridiculous, but never so much so that you get taken out of the moment.

The technical term that best describes Mason is “wiseass,” and one with poor impulse control. Someone who doesn’t know how to keep her trap shut, powered by Waxman’s wit is a fun character to read. Julia’s no slouch in that department either, but she’s more mature, she knows that she should pick her targets with care—and is therefore usually more effective.

The rest of Julia’s team (I will not tell you about them, so you can meet them properly) and some of the other characters the reader encounters have drier wits, largely fitting into the typical Waxman model. Oh, except this one actress…nope. You wouldn’t believe me if I tried to describe her.

Mason’s support system consists of the meetings she attends, her sponsor, and her cat. Julia has a strong team of employees and friends (the Venn diagram there has a large area of overlap)—they’re just not that effective on the sobriety front, but they make up for that with their loyalty. Julia also has a pretty strong network of former friends, employers, and employees in and around the film industry. These are loyal to their grudges against her and their own self-interest—however, they (or at least most of them) want her to succeed in her search for the killer, so they can move on with their lives and careers.

You combine all of this—with a (slowly) growing relationship of affection, trust, and appreciation between our protagonists—and you’ve got yourself a great basis for comedy with heart.

Sobriety

One thing that Waxman never made light of in all of this was the sobriety of the characters. Yes, Julia would mock Mason’s approach to being her sponsor, but that was about the characters’ personality differences—both of them took it seriously.

Not all of the characters appreciated the struggle and what the characters did to preserve it—but none of the comedy was about the drinking.

The opening meeting did get me to chuckle frequently, but that was character-based humor. The book never gets preachy at the reader, just to each other.

So, what did I think about One Death at a Time?

I had a blast with this—if you couldn’t tell. This is my fifth Waxman novel, so I went into it expecting that I would. I just wasn’t sure how much I’d enjoy it, because of the genre. But if I didn’t know who she was before I picked this up, I’d be scouring the library for her Abbi Waxman now.

It does—as it should—feel very different than her previous works. I’d say this is closer to last year’s Christa Comes Out of Her Shell than the rest, but even saying that, this is different. The stakes are (obviously) higher for these characters; there are potentially lethal consequences for failure. Which might explain the more heavy-handed approach to the comedy.

I think I’ve said everything I wanted to above—the mystery part is really well done; the characters are well-designed and well-excecuted, the relationships between them are strong and obvious—you like the people you’re supposed to like enough that you wish you sat around the room with them, watching them go back and forth while eating whatever wonderful treat/meal Claudia has prepared. Also, it’s funny. That’s a one-two-three combination that I’ll always enjoy and recommend.

This feels like a standalone, but it could easily spawn a sequel or more. If it does, I’ll be first in line. If it doesn’t…well, that’s okay, too. It works really well either way.

Basically, reader, if any of the above tickles your fancy—you need to add this to your TBR. I practically guarantee you’ll have a great time.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Berkley Publishing Group via NetGalley in exchange for this post, which contains my honest opinion—thanks to both for this.

5 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett: There’s Not More than A Drop of this to Complain About (so I won’t)

By HCNewton

On April 2, 2025

In Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

A Drop of Corruption

by Robert Jackson Bennett

DETAILS:
Series: Shadow of the Leviathan, #2
Publisher: Del Rey
Publication Date: April 1, 2025
Format: eARC
Length: 480 pgs.
Read Date: March 17-21, 2025

What’s A Drop of Corruption About?

Dinios Kol arrives (as is his custom) in the canton of Yarrowdale, ahead of his boss, Ana Dolabra. They’ve been assigned to investigate the disappearance of a Treasury officer. This officer—and the rest of the Treasury delegation—is in Yarrowdale to negotiate with the King the final steps of Yarrowdale fully joining the Empire once and for all.

Right now, Yarrowdale is (rightly or wrongly) considered a backwater territory, valuable for one thing only—it’s a place that the leviathans do not travel to, so their corpses can be moved there and harvested for the copious near-magical substances used by the Empire. (incidentally, I found this whole aspect just tremendously cool. I won’t say more than that, but if we only got a novella about this part, I’d have been satisfied). This is the only place where this is safely done, so it’s hard to understate the strategic importance of Yarrowdale.

So one of the Empire’s chief negotiators going missing is no small thing—so Dolabra is assigned to find him.

Not at all shockingly (to any reader), the corpse of the officer is quickly located once Kol arrives. Its condition raises eyebrows and concerns—and that’s just the beginning, the more they investigate the circumstances around this killing the less sense things make, and the greatness of the mind behind it is seen. Dolabra is excited by the challenge, while everyone around her becomes more and more apprehensive with each discovery or conclusion she makes.

I won’t go on much beyond this—I’d love to summarize the whole book for you, but why? More victims are found, more questions are raised, the stakes keep climbing higher, and the implications for the future of the Empire are great.

Dolabra and Kol

When I talked about The Tainted Cup, I didn’t really talk about the primary characters. I hesitate to start now because I’m going to have a hard time stopping. But let me try to dip my toe into it.

Ana Dolabra is a brilliant investigator for the Empire—being sent to the trickiest investigations and given almost unlimited authority to get the answers she seeks. Due to some physical (and psychological) limitations—and the fact that she has zero interpersonal skills (and that’s being generous)—she requires a deputy to handle most of the actual investigating, bringing her the evidence and testimony that she needs to solve the crimes.

Which is where Dinios Kol comes in. He’s been altered to have a perfect memory—sights, sounds, smells, conversation…you name it, he remembers it all (even if he doesn’t want to). So he’s the perfect assistant for someone who will not interact with people of her own volition. There are jobs he’d rather perform—and places he’d rather perform them. But his family needs money to pay medical debt, and this is the surest way for him to accomplish that. He escapes into drink, drugs (I think it’s more like tobacco than anything, but I’m prepared to be shown that I’m wrong), and sex as often as he can. But is reliable when the chips are down—he has to be.

Ana Dolabra is very much in the Nero Wolfe mold—purposefully so. But she breaks the mold in all the right ways—her reasons for relying on someone else to interact with the outside world are different and less self-imposed. Her ego is as large (I wasn’t sure that was possible), and she takes some of these crimes as a personal attack on her and her genius (like Wolfe occasionally does). But she relishes the challenge—and talks openly about enjoying this case compared to the boring murders and whatnot she’s solved recently. She has a strange relationship with eating so that sometimes she sounds like her antecedent and other times the complete opposite.

Most people will not care about this (and I assure you, that paragraph could be longer)—but I’m incapable of reading any section featuring Dolabra without pausing to contrast her to Wolfe. She never comes out bad in these comparisons—just different in a creative way.

Her Archie Goodwin, Dinios Kol, can be compared and contrasted in the same way. I started to say he’s less like Archie, and I really want to. But I can really think of one major difference—what drives them. Kol’s motivation for the work (at this point, anyway, it may be shifting toward the end) is different. So he behaves with a little less loyalty. This makes him more interesting and makes up for his lack of humor. Ah, look there—I found another notable difference. Kol is far too serious to really be an Archie, but I wouldn’t want to change a thing about him.

Building on the Worldbuilding

In The Tainted Cup, Bennett introduced us to a fascinating and complex world of kaiju-esque monsters, magic-feeling science, and a massive empire that’s keeping humanity alive. it was both awesome and strange. In A Drop of Corruption, it’s almost as if Bennet tells the reader, “So you’ve seen the typical in this world, but you ain’t ready for this.” As strange and terrible as we thought things were…ha.

We get to see new augmentations, we get to see how outsiders (or semi-outsiders) regard the Empire, we learn a whole lot of history about the Empire, the monsters, the science behind the augmentations, and so much more. I’m having trouble expressing it all.

In both books so far Bennett can bring the unbelievable and indescribable to life. Din will start a sentence by saying something like, “Words cannot express ___” or “It’s too incredible to explain” or something like that—and then will falteringly describe it in such a way that the reader comes away with a pretty good idea of what Din saw. Even when he’s not calling his shot like that, item after item, phenomenon after phenomenon, creature after creature that really shouldn’t make sense when written about comes through with a level of detail that leads the reader to think they’re imagining what Bennett imagined.

Sure….it’s likely that no two readers will have similar mental images. But that’s not important—you’ll think you do.

The Author’s Note

The Author’s Note (largely an Acknowledgement section, but a little bit more) is a must-read. I don’t know if you’re prone to reading them—particularly if they feel more like an Acknowledgment than anything else. But make an exception for this one. It’s worth your time.

So, what did I think about A Drop of Corruption?

I was blown away by The Tainted Cup, and so I was apprehensive about this one—could it live up to it? I’m pleased to say that it did. I very likely enjoyed this much more—because I was ready for the strangeness and could just let it build on what the prior book did.

I feel bad saying I had fun reading about all the trauma that these victims went through, but I really did. Kol and Dolabra—and Kol’s new local acquaintances are just so well-conceived and vividly drawn, that it’d be harder to be disinterested than captivated.

The mystery kept me guessing until the end (except for the time I thought I’d figured it out, and I was very wrong). There was even a point where I wrote in my notes, “Could this be a redder herring?” and it was anything but. I won’t go into details so you can be fooled like I was, but man… The only thing I like more than the smug satisfaction of figuring out a mystery before a brilliant detective is an author who can fool me into that smugness only to pull the rug out from under me. Not to get elitist or anything, but a fantasy writer should be worse at this than a mystery writer. Bennett didn’t get that memo.

I do think you could read this book without the first in the series—but don’t do that to yourself. Buy a copy of this now (or get on your Library’s waitlist), but get The Tainted Cup at the same time. If I’m right about where this series is going (or even almost close to right), you’re going to want to be ready for it. This is just dynamite.

This book deserves more compliments from me—but who has the time? (not the guy who meant to post this a week or so ago). A great mystery novel, a great fantasy novel, with characters that you’d want to read about even if the plots weren’t worth the time or trouble.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Random House Publishing Group – Del Rey, Random House Worlds, Inklore via NetGalley in exchange for this post which contains my honest opinion—thanks to both for this.

5 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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REPOST: Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto: Come Meet Your New Favorite Senior Citizen Sleuth

By HCNewton

On March 25, 2025

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Some Real Life™ stuff has come up this week, interfering with my writing plans. So, let me dust this off. I’m a little over halfway through the sequel which is just as delightful. But that’s for another day.

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

by Jesse Q. Sutanto

DETAILS:
Publisher: Berkley Books
Publication Date: March 14, 2023
Format: eARC
Length: 352 pg.
Read Date: March 2-7, 2023

What’s Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers About?

I’m not sure that I can answer this question without just recapping the entire novel—but without the charm and warmth.

Just Try…

How much time do you have?

It Publishes Today, You Need to Get Something Posted. Just Give Us the Setup

Okay, okay, I’ll attempt it—but I really want to spend the next hour just regurgitating the whole thing.

Vera Wong is an older Chinese woman, the owner of a small tea shop in San Francisco’s Chinatown. It’s dark, dingy, and doesn’t get much in the way of customers. She has one regular that she can count on to stop in early in the morning, and then spends most of the rest of the day waiting for someone else to walk in and order. Typically in vain. But it’s her life—she has nothing else to do with her time—her husband is dead, and her son is busy with work. So busy that he rarely has time to visit—or acknowledge all of the super-helpful advice she gives him to succeed at work and/or to find a wife. This doesn’t stop her from texting or calling him frequently to offer the advice, it should be noted.

Then one day, she comes down the stairs from her apartment above the shop to discover a dead body in the middle of the floor. She has little faith that the police will be able to tell her who killed the man, so she decides to discover the identity of the killer for them. How hard can it be? She’s watched plenty of procedurals, is smart, and (unlike Sherlock Holmes) is a suspicious Chinese mother. The murderer doesn’t stand a chance.

So she helps herself to a little bit of the evidence before the police arrive so that she can hunt for the murderer. It’ll be a good change of pace for her.

She sets a trap for the murderer and ends up with four good suspects, it’ll just take her some time to figure out who killed him and why. In the meantime, she sees at least three younger people that need some guidance to get their lives in order—she decides to take that on along with her murder investigation.

Vera

I’d like to spend a few pages talking about Vera—I’m certain that if you ask me in December, she’s still going to be one of my favorite characters of 2023.

She is so human—such a mass of contradictions and differing impulses. The fact that at her, um, advanced age she’s able to chart a new course for her life, to let people in, and adapt gives me a little hope.

But it’s her spirit, her way of looking at the world, and not backing down that’s really inspiring.

Once she’s done with these characters, I could use a grandmother like this.

Be Careful

Vera knows her tea, she spends a lot of time and energy on it—certain that she can make someone just the right kind of tea for whatever they’re facing to help them through the day. If you can make it through a chapter or two (especially in the early chapters) without needing a cup of your own, I’d like to know how.

But other than needing to take the time to boil water and steep your tea, that’s not a big deal (unless you’re inspired to go shopping for more teas, which can get expensive—and can distract you from your reading). However, Vera also spends a lot of time cooking for her new friends and suspects. And she ends up spending more time cooking than making tea.

This is where you need to be careful—if you’re not, you could find yourself putting on a few pounds before the killer is identified. Sutanto’s descriptions of Vera’s creations—and the way everyone responds to them—are so vivid, so enticing, they can send you to your pantry for a snack—or to your food delivery app of choice to order some Chinese food.

I’m not saying that you should avoid these portions of the book—just be prepared so you can fight temptation (or have a handy justification to indulge yourself, if that’s more your preference).

So, what did I think about Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers?

By the time I got halfway through the opening paragraph, I’d started coming up with a list of people to recommend this book to. There was something about the voice that just jumped off of the page (er, screen) and said, “You’re going to have fun with this.” And I absolutely did—but there was more to it than that, being around these characters felt comfortable. I just wanted to spend time in their presence—like Stars Hollow, CT; the locker room of AFC Richmond; the Parks and Rec Department of Pawnee, IN; the Jigsaw Room of Cooper’s Chase retirement village; or Knight’s Bookstore in Abbi Waxman’s L.A. I don’t remember the last time that I read a cozy mystery that was so worthy of the title “Cozy.”

Yes, I wanted to figure it out. Yes, I wanted to know what happened to the characters and wanted closure for this period in their lives. But I read as slowly as I could because I wanted to linger.

It’s not just Vera that creates that feeling—it’s the other characters’ reactions to her, as well as their relationships with each other. Yes, she is undeniably the center of this little world, but it wouldn’t work without the others.

There’s a lot of gentle humor and heart—that’s what fills this charming work. But that’s not all of it—there are laugh-out-loud moments, as well, and real emotions. There’s a budding romance, a rekindled friendship, family ties, and a lot of people finding the confidence to step out into something new—or into something they’ve tried before and have been scared to try again. The found family that’s created along the way makes all of that possible—particularly the last part—the mutual support (in various forms) and encouragement from the others enable the others to make those steps.

I don’t want to give the impression that this book is all sunshine, flowers, and good times. There are portions of this that are hard to get through, sure—there’s a suspicious death, criminal behavior—at the very least the actions of a scoundrel—heartbreak and a great deal of loneliness and despair. But Sutanto doesn’t leave us there for long—she grounds the book in it, but provides a way forward—through grit, determination, and the help of others.

The murder investigation was fine—probably more than fine, actually. It was a clever little story, with plenty of good suspects and nice twists. But the book isn’t all that interested in the murder investigation, really. It’s just an excuse for these people to come together and start interacting. Vera herself doesn’t really want any of her suspects to be guilty—she’s too busy meddling in their lives to improve them (in selfless acts of assistance only, she’d hurry to tell you). But she keeps plugging away at her little list of suspects because it’s something she’s started—and wouldn’t it be exciting to actually find a murderer? (even if it’s someone she doesn’t want to get into any kind of trouble).

I talk about mysteries more than anything else here, and the fact that I’d started wrapping up the post without addressing the mystery part of this book says a lot to me. It’s the driving force behind the plot and the instigating incident—but again—it’s secondary to the rest of the storylines. Still, most readers will have a hard time finding sympathy for the murdered man, and more than once you’ll likely wonder if it’d really be that bad if no one figures out who did it. You probably won’t feel the way you usually do when a murder is solved when the culprit is named, either.

There’s just so much to commend about this book—and so little to quibble with—I’m on the verge of repeating myself and/or overhyping this thing (but boy howdy, does it deserve a lot of hype!). So I’m just going to leave it with this—go get your hands on a copy, brew yourself a nice pot of tea (I promise you’re going to want tea), and lose yourself in this book for a few hours.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Berkley Publishing Group via NetGalley in exchange for this post—thanks to both for this.

4 1/2 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.

The Library Game by Gigi Pandian: Never Ask “What’s the Worst That Can Happen?”

By HCNewton

On March 20, 2025

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

This is a week and a half late or so, mostly because I kept trying to go on and on and on about aspects of the book that I should leave for Pandian to tell you. My apologies for the delay to the nice people at Minotaur who offered me the book and have been nudging me to say something about it.

The Library Game

by Gigi Pandian

DETAILS:
Series: Secret Staircase Mysteries, #4
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: March 18, 2025
Format: eARC
Length: 320
Read Date: March 5-8, 2025

What’s The Library Game About?

The project that Secret Staircase Construction is about to wrap up has a couple of distinctive elements (on top of the sliding bookshelves, escape room, etc.)—their client is dead, and his death is not a mystery at all. Most people might not consider that very distinctive, but those people haven’t read a mystery novel featuring Tempest Raj.

This client was an aficionado of classic mysteries—okay, aficionado is an understatement—he was borderline obsessed and had the money to indulge that obsession. As his death neared, he decided to turn most of his house into a library (leaving room for an apartment for his librarian nephew), stocked with his own collection. This sounds like a dream come true for most of my readers, right?

He hired Secret Staircase to give it just the right look and touch, even turning part of it into an Escape Room. Sadly, he died before it was completed, leaving his nephew to bring his vision to life.

While the library is being finished—and waiting for official approval to make it a public entity—there’s a neighborhood festival. To get some promotion for the library (and to be good neighbors), they’ve hired some local actors to stage a little performance.

During a dress rehearsal for that performance, something goes wrong—one of the actors disappears (I’m glossing over a lot here), so they try again the next day—in the midst of that… I don’t even know how to gloss over this. It’s like they all chanted “Macbeth!” while walking under a ladder and crossing a black cat’s path or something—so many things go wrong, and a body is discovered. Tempest’s magician friend, Sanjay, appears to be the prime suspect—although the rest of the actors and workers aren’t above suspicion either.

Well, more than one person floats the idea of the deceased client’s ghost being behind it all. So, there are plenty of suspects, however unlikely.

Tempest (and her friend group and family) has her work cut out for her if she’s going to clear Sanjay’s name, find the killer, and get the Library set for the festival.

The Sense of Fun

Yes, this is a murder mystery. Livelihoods, wrongful convictions, and more are on the line. But there is a strong sense of fun to this book. Our amateur sleuths are a group of friends who’ve been down this road before (three times to be exact)—in one way or another.

They like the challenge, they enjoy mysteries, illusions, and everything else going on here—and they can’t help but enjoy this in some way—and this comes out in their interactions with each other.

There’s a sense of play here as they work through this, some running jokes, and so on. I’m not saying that books two and three were absent fun, but it was played down a bit because of everything else. This is as fun as the first book—and maybe more so, because the relationships are better settled and Tempest isn’t under that cloud anymore.

Beyond the greater sense of fun than we’ve had for a bit, there’s the cozy and warm feeling you get from reading a solid found family/friend group (in the midst of a flesh and blood family), these people like each other. It’s hard to beat that feeling.

All of that serves as a bonus to a clever mystery.

So, what did I think about The Library Game?

I was fairly convinced that the previous book in the series, The Raven Thief was going to be the last one as it wrapped up a three-book arc, serving as a nice trilogy. I was so happy to be wrong—I wanted more time with Tempest and her friends—especially Ivy (I’d take a spin-off book full of her essays on locked-room mysteries) and Abra. Not to mention the fun of imagining Ash’s culinary offerings.

Beyond the characters, Pandian knows how to deliver a contemporary locked-room crime and how to keep the tension building while keeping the whole book entertaining. I need to make time for her backlist soon to see how these books compare with her earlier offerings.

I’d like Ernest Cunningham (or Ivy, I guess) to weigh in on Pandian’s books because I’m not entirely certain that she plays fair with her clues and solutions. Particularly in this case. But that’s just to satisfy a mental itch, because I really don’t care—I thought the solution to this and the reveal were pulled off satisfyingly well.

This would make a good jumping-on point for someone new to this world and is a must-read for people who enjoyed any of the previous three. It’s a clever book, a smart mystery, filled with good friends and warm feelings. Who doesn’t want that?

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley in exchange for this post which contains my honest opinion—thanks to both for this.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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Where the Bones Lie by Nick Kolakowski: Down These Mean Streets People Must Still Go

By HCNewton

On March 10, 2025

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Nick Kolakowski

Where the Bones Lie

by Nick Kolakowski

DETAILS:
Publisher: Datura Books
Publication Date: March 11, 2025
Format: eARC
Length: 304 pg.
Read Date: February 26-Narch 1, 2025

What’s Where the Bones Lie About?

Dash Fuller used to work for a man he compared to Mr. Wolfe from Pulp Fiction, and in his employ would clean-up various messes by celebrities and other movers-and-shakers in L.A. Eventually the work got too much for him and he walked away. He tried to find a new career in Stand-Up comedy, but that’s not going so well. He’s doing better at drinking copious amounts of bourbon to numb himself, and then scurrying around picking up money from delivery driving and other gig jobs at the end of the month to pay his bills.

After one, shall we say, not-good night at a local comedy club two significant things happen for Dash. First, his old boss, Manny, shows up to badger him into doing one more job for him (he’d like more, but will settle for one, for now).

The other spins off of both—another audience member there picks up on some of what Dash does that night (but not all of it, he’s pretty good at what he does) and offers to hire him. After several years where the family had to assume he was dead, Madeline Ironwood’s father’s body has recently been discovered in a barrel found as a nearby lake has receded thanks to water shortages in the state. She’d like Dash to look into it and see if he can figure out what happened to him.

Ken Ironwood was a smuggler, and probably other things. He’s been missing since she was a young girl. He’s noteworthy enough that a true crime docuseries has started recently streaming about him, but not so noteworthy that Dash would’ve heard of him without the billboards all around town (that Madeline had to point out to him). The suspect list was so large that the LAPD and FBI gave up trying to pare down without more to go on than a missing man.

It’s not a lot for Dash to go on, but the money is okay, and it’s something that gets him out of town for a little bit.

The Traumatized Knight

I think it’s pretty obvious that Dash is supposed to be in the Hammett model more than the Chandler, but I’m more familiar with Chandler, so I’m going to lean on what I learned from L.A.’s hardboiled detective/detective-like characters from him.

Dash is a knight—a knight in tarnished, battered, and filthy armor. But a knight nonetheless—he knows how many of his choices didn’t match his ideals and ethics. His ex wondered if the good person inside him could be found—and Dash wonders the same.

This has taken a toll on him—one job in particular, but there’s also the cumulative effect from years of this—and has left him traumatized and self-medicating. This is also common to the hardboiled investigator, but given Dash’s cultural context it seems more apparent (and something he’s more willing to reflect on).

The job that Manny sends Dash on at the beginning brings all the trauma to the surface (it was close to it already, but this gave it the needed nudge). While the focus of the novel—and Dash’s attention—is Madeline’s case and her father’s fate, Dash’s struggles are a shadow over everything he does, over many of his choices (like the one to take the case), and will even interfere with his thinking on occasion.

Again, you see this all over Marlowe’s adventures—but it’s between the lines—I expect the same could be said about Hammett’s characters. But with Dash it’s clearer, it’s acknowledged, and understood—at least by some of the characters.

The Environment

California’s repeated droughts lay the foundation of the investigation into Madeline’s father’s death. The heat in L.A. as Dash and Madeline drive northward is oppressive. Wildfires threaten that city, close in on Dash and Madeline at important junctures in their search—and play a significant outcome in the endgame of that storyline.

This is possibly the most environmentally aware detective novel I’ve read. I’ve read “eco novels” that do a less effective job of addressing these issues. Part of what makes it so effective is that Kolakowski doesn’t get preachy with it, he doesn’t beat you over the head with it—it’s just seamlessly woven into the tapestry of this novel, no more noteworthy than Dash’s bad jokes, or the threat of bent cops. But it’s there. Everywhere.

I’m Glad Someone Asked

One question that had been running in my mind throughout was why Dash turned to Stand-Up, and his narration didn’t choose to reveal it, while it revealed so much about other things.

By the time that someone asked him, I was overjoyed that someone else (even if they’re fictional) had to know. The answer was satisfying enough, and in many ways didn’t tell us anything we couldn’t have/shouldn’t have figured out on our own (especially by that point in the novel), but hearing it from Dash was good.

So, what did I think about Where the Bones Lie?

This just might be the best thing Kolakowski has written so far. Which is likely a sentence I’ve written before—and I meant it then, but time has gone on and Kolakowski has gotten better.

I didn’t end up saying anything about the job that Manny hired Dash for that kick-started this whole novel, it doesn’t take long for Dash to take care of it, and we get an idea of some of the things he’s done in the past (more importantly, some of what he hasn’t done). Some of what he’s seen. This is developed through the course of the novel, too. But it gives us a taste of his old life and shows that he has the tools to build on.

Madeline’s case is the first job he’s ever had for a positive goal—to accomplish something. He’s not trying to prevent embarrassment or scandal—he’s not trying to save some studio a bunch of money, or rescue someone’s reputation, or prevent someone from facing legal charges. Sure, he has the skills—but he has to learn to use them in a different way. Which is a great place to put a character.

The supporting characters are great—particularly the “bigger bad”s (which is all I’m going to say about them). I would love to spend more time with the closest thing that Dash has to a friend, in particular.

With Chandler—like more modern writers like Ellroy or Connelly—you get a real sense of L.A. or California. And Kolakowski delivers the same here. He’s done some really specific geographic work in the past, but outside of geographic markers, I don’t know that I “felt” the area like I do here. (I want to stress that this isn’t intended as a criticism of his earlier work, it’s a compliment and observation about this one).

As far as the ending or resolutions to the various plotlines—some I saw coming, because Kolakowski prepared the reader for them. Some hit me like they came out of the blue (they didn’t, really, but they felt like it). All were satisfying in ways I didn’t expect really. There were lines that you could see Chandler writing—if not word for word, at least close paraphrases. The spirit of that age lives on in these pages.

His history suggests that the next work by Kolakowski will be something else entirely—probably not a cozy, but something he hasn’t delivered yet. But if he wants to do more like this, I’ll be first in line for it. Meanwhile, you should focus on getting this book in front of your eyeballs.

Disclaimer: I was provided with this ARC by the author in exchange for my honest opinion. The only impact this had on what I said about the book was that I could say it before I could buy a copy.

4 1/2 Stars
This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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REPOSTING JUST CUZ: Payback Is Forever by Nick Kolakowski: There’s a lot of opportunity in doom.

By HCNewton

On March 6, 2025

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Nick Kolakowski

I didn’t quite finish my post about Kolakowski’s upcoming release last night (read: I wrote 2 paragraphs that probably need revision/expansion). So, let’s revisit this bold crime novel instead.

Payback Is Forever

by Nick Kolakowski

DETAILS:
Publisher: Shotgun Honey Books
Publication Date: March 24, 2022
Format: Kindle Edition
Length: 170 pg.
Read Date: March 29-30, 2022

What’s Payback Is Forever About?

Miller’s a thief, a fairly successful one. This comes in handy because he’s not as successful when it comes to gambling. He needs to pay a debt, so he takes a job with a couple of strangers. They betray him, the job goes wrong, and Miller (and the cash) escape without his partners. They don’t know his name or home base, so he figures he’s safe for a little bit.

He’s soon contacted by a figure from his past, Rick Redfield:

“I’ve entered into an arrangement with some… men of violence, shall we say. Which means I need the services of the most violent man I know. Which is you.”

“I’m no bodyguard.”

“No. You’re capable of terrible acts, and that’s the necessary thing here. Besides, bodyguards ask too many questions.”

With the promise of a large payday on the horizon, Miller’s in—and soon finds himself involved with some Nazis who escaped from Germany in the waning days of the war, Nazi hunters, and a few more dead bodies than Miller was prepared to deal with.

Supporting Cast

Miller and most of the characters that he deals with are of a fairly typical sort—you’ll recognize the types easily. They’re interestingly-drawn and well-used, but they’re types.

Then there’s Jill Reilly—she’s Miller’s love interest and is a secretary in the Medical Examiner’s office. Given the proper circumstances, she’d probably make a pretty good Examiner herself—but between the education, she’d need, and the rampant chauvinism in the office, that’s probably not going to happen. Reilly feels like she’s got one foot in the Girl Friday type, but with a rebellious streak that keeps the other foot out of the type.

The other character that stands out as not fitting into a typical mold is Scott, Redfield’s friend who acts as a liaison to the outside world when Redfield needs to stay out of the light. He’s a timid, uncertain man—who needs to use a ventriloquist’s dummy, Colonel Longshanks, to communicate those things that are too much for Scott to handle. Miller has no patience for either of them—but can force himself to work with Scott. The Colonel on the other hand…

There was a moment where I wondered if Scott/Colonel Longshanks would over-take Monkey Man as my favorite strange Kolakowski character. He didn’t, but that he was in the running says something about the character development in this short novel.

The Hidden Agenda

If what I’ve described seems pretty straight-forward, it is. If anyone’s read Kolakowski before, that’s not how he rolls. Right?

There is something else afoot here. I don’t know that it added much (if anything), but it didn’t hurt anything either. Maybe if I was in a different mood when I read this I’d have a more positive take on the “something else,” but right now, I can take it or leave it.

The material with Miller, the Nazis, Nazi Hunters is enough to focus on and keep you entertained. If you happen to get the rest of it, that’s gravy.

So, what did I think about Payback Is Forever?

This feels like the kind of pulpy thrillers from the 1960s and 70s I’ve read—just in a post-WWII setting with a dash of Nathanael West thrown in. It’s a surprisingly effective combination, and I’d have read another 200 pages of it without blinking. Although I do think this lean, mean, streamlined approach is far more effective.

Miller’s absolutely the kind of character you want in this setting—his morality is stuck in the gray—it’s a pretty dark gray, but he’s not a full-on villain. And he’s thinking about reforming, at least a little.

There were two scenes—or parts of scenes—that make this more than a quick, fun read. There’s a visual in the last big gunfight that’s so ridiculous, so comical, in the middle of a big action scene that makes you want a film version immediately (but it may be better in your imagination).

Before that there’s another scene that I can’t describe—you start it assuming X might happen, and yet when X does happen you still sit up and pay attention because you can’t believe that Kolakowski actually did that. And then over the next 3 or 4 paragraphs, the shocking scene becomes something so unexpected that you have to read it a couple of times to make sure you read it right. Cackling while you read it every time makes the comprehension a little difficult.

A solid, stylish thriller with Kolakowski’s style and sense of character is exactly what I needed to read last week, and Payback is Forever delivered. Do yourself a favor and pick it up.

4 Stars

PUB DAY REPOST: Don’t Tell Me How to Die by Marshall Karp: The Last Days of Maggie Dunn

By HCNewton

On March 4, 2025

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Don’t Tell Me How to Die

by Marshall Karp

DETAILS:
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Publication Date: March 4, 2025
Format: eARC
Length: 336
Read Date: January 29-31, 2025

A Note of Introduction

I typically stay away from spoilers, but this is one of those books where almost everything I want to say feels like it’s in that general neighborhood. So I use illustrations from other books that are pretty well-known by this point. I can’t think of another way to do it that’s fair to Karp and this text.

What’s Don’t Tell Me How to Die About?

This is one of those novels where it’d be easy to say too much, so let me rely on whoever wrote the jacket copy at Blackstone:

I have one thing to do before I die. And time is running out.

I had it all: a fantastic husband, two great kids, an exciting career. And then, at the age of forty-three, I found out I would be dead before my next birthday.

My mother also died young. I was seventeen, and she warned me that women would flock to my suddenly single father like stray cats to an overturned milk truck. They did. And one absolutely evil woman practically destroyed his life, mine, and my sister’s.

I am not letting that happen to my family.

I have three months, and I plan to spend every waking minute searching for the perfect woman to take my place as Alex’s wife, and mother to Kevin and Katie.

You’re probably thinking, She’ll never do it. Did I mention that in high school I was voted “Most Likely to Kill Someone to Get What She Wants”?

The book takes place in three parts: 1. When Maggie and her twin sister were seventeen and was dealing with their mother’s impending death and the events after it. 2. After Maggie’s diagnosis and her trying to implement the above plan. 3. Where the weaknesses in her plan threaten to overtake everything else.

Tone/Humor

For much of this book, it felt like Women’s Commercial Fiction more than anything. But two things kept me from concluding that—1. Marshall Karp is going to write something with a mystery/crime element, period. and 2. that cover image with the blood (or whatever) writing the word “Die.”

Even before I figured out what Karp was up to with this book, it became clear that this fit in more with some of the recent books by Lisa Lutz (particularly The Accomplice)—I’m also thinking of Sascha Rothchild’s Blood Sugar or a restrained Darynda Jones—than it did with a Jennifer Weiner or Abbi Waxman.

So as I was preparing to read this novel, I said that it “looks like a return to his roots” because of some of the blurbs talking about Karp’s humor and so on. When I think of Karp and humor, I think of his Lomax and Biggs series. So that’s what I expected.

I was very wrong. It took less than a couple of pages to realize that this was a different Marshall Karp than I’d ran into before. That’s not an evaluation, that’s a description. Here’s an evaluation: he pulls it off well. Again, see Rothchild or Lutz. The more I think about the Lutz comparison, the more I like it—if you think of the change between her Spellman Files and things like The Accomplice, Karp’s new tone is somewhat similar.

Either way, you’re getting a guy who knows how to write comedy, no matter the flavor. He also knows when to pull back and let the drama take center stage.

Twists/Structure

I know that when it comes to psychological or domestic thrillers the twists are what generate headlines. While I appreciate a good twist as much as the next reader, what’s more important to me is the reveal of the twist. Plots go in strange directions sometimes—it’s how the author prepares the reader for the twist and how the author lets us in on the strange direction.

As an illustration: Benjamin Stevenson’s Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone has a moment when he says that so-and-so enjoyed her final cigarette, or maybe she lit it, or something like that. The phrase “final cigarette” is the important part. Now, the reader has two guesses as to why that phrase is used here—1. She quits smoking after this or 2. She dies. As this is in the middle of a stressful weekend with her ex-husband’s family, with her on the verge of financial problem, her ex is definitely not coming back and is with his new partner, they’re all snowed in, there’s a killer on the loose, and the book isn’t close to ending…you pretty much know how that’s going to go for her. Does that matter? Not really, it’s how Stevenson sets us up for this and then how he shows us how she dies that’s important.

Now I’m not going to spill any of the twists or reveals in this book, but Karp does a few things like Stevenson did—they’re even more blatant, you could say. But he will distract you, make you wait a lot longer for the reveal, and will throw a bunch of red herrings at you (I won’t tell you how often I made a note like, “Oh, is this how he pays off X?” because I’d also have to tell you that I was wrong equally often). I didn’t guess anything right.

He also pulls a few things from seemingly nowhere—but explains them in such a way that you retrospectively say, “of course” or “y’know, that makes sense.”

Maggie

This is one of those books that you’re only going to keep reading (initially, anyway) if you get invested in Maggie, our protagonist/narrator quickly. Other elements might keep you going eventually, but Maggie’s diagnosis, Maggie’s plight (and kooky plan), and character/voice are what’s going to get you to commit.

If you ask me, you’re going to want to commit. You can tell from the beginning that she’s smart. She’s driven. She’s brave (at least in the face of some things…like dying). She loves her family. She’s gone through a lot. She’s pretty funny. (probably pretty, too, but that’s not that important, especially when you see the world through her eyes). You later learn what a good friend she can be and why she was elected.

Now, like a parfait, or an onion, or an ogre—Maggie has layers. I’m not going to talk about those layers because you need to discover them for yourself. But she has them—and you keep learning about those layers as the book continues. Each layer—for me, anyway, and I predict for most readers—got me to like her more as a person (pretty frequently) and as a character (always). Is there a difference? Sure—one extreme example (that doesn’t apply here, but gets my point across) would be Dr. Lecter. Fantastic character, but not someone you’d want to hang out with.

So, what did I think about Don’t Tell Me How to Die?

Is this as good as the first two or three Lomax and Biggs books? Probably not—although it’s been a long time since I last re-read them, also this is a different sub-genre, so I could be wrong. Also, that’s really high bar. Is this better than anything else that Karp has done since then? Yes.

The way that Karp unspooled this was so well done. I sat back and enjoyed the ride more often than I “ought” to have, and didn’t take as many notes and whatnot as usual—I was just into the ride that much that continuing was more important than jotting things down. At least in the moment…I’d be sure to write that idea down, right after this part. Well, maybe the next bit.

I should note that I dipped back in a couple of times while writing this post to fact-check myself and even now I ended up reading a few pages or a chapter when I only needed a clause or a name. Karp just doesn’t want to let me go.

Anyone picking this book up—unless you do it blindly (and even then it’s told to you within a chapter)—knows that Maggie’s mom died almost two decades before these events. And yet—in her final moments, her last personal triumph—I was moved. I shouldn’t care this much about the impending death of a character I knew was long dead. But I did. And again, even though it’s right there in the description, “And one absolutely evil woman practically destroyed [“my suddenly single father”‘s] life, mine, and my sister’s,” watching it feels like a traffic accident—you know it’s coming, but you can’t stop watching.

Maggie’s plot, when introduced, feels like a silly rom-com plot that’s going to blow up in her face. And for most of the book, her sister treats it that way. You kind of do while you’re reading, too. It feels like one, you react like one. Then…well, you start to take her seriously. As does her sister, Lizzie (eventually).

Speaking of Lizzie. I really would’ve enjoyed more time with her, she seemed like a hoot and a half. Her kids Katie and Kevin were also the kind of characters you want more of. And if we were looking at any other part of Maggie’s life, we would’ve had more time with all three and we would’ve been perfectly content watching them go through their life. But this book just introduces them, lets us spend some time enjoying them (in pretty un-enjoyable circumstances) and then we just have to imagine the rest of their lives. Which is enjoyable enough.

I feel like I’ve talked around the book a lot, hopefully, I’ve talked about it enough. But I’m not sure what else to say. On March 4, go pick yourself up a copy (or go put it on reserve at your library now, and read it ASAP). Then we can email or chat or something about it and I can say all the things I can’t put here.

Don’t Tell Me How to Die isn’t the Marshall Karp I know, enjoy, and respect. It’s a new flavor of him that I’m getting to know, that I did enjoy and respect. And I can’t wait to see what other sides he has up his sleeve (to torture the metaphor). I’m trying too hard. I’m babbling. Go read this and I’ll shut up. Deal?

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Blackstone Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for this post which contains my honest opinion—thanks to both for this.

4 1/2 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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Thriller – This or That

By HCNewton

On February 28, 2025

In Books, Miscellany, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Thriller - This or That

Thanks to it being named The Write Reads’ Blog of the Day, I read February Reading Challenge: Dive into the World of Thrillers with “This or That” a few weeks ago, and instantly spent too long thinking about it. I know the post called for social media posts or comments to reply, but I decided to go for this instead. I thought I’d work in some recommendations along with my answers, but I have 143 pages of posts about this genre and that’s just too much to sift through.

Still, the prompts got into my head and I had to get something out.

1. Psychological Thriller or Action-Packed Thriller?

A good psychological thriller will keep me on the edge of my seat and jumping at shadows like everyone else. But I typically prefer the action-packed thriller—as long as there’s some depth to it, some decent psychology to the action and/or characters. Mindless action and destruction can be fun for a little bit, but they’re ultimately dissatisfying. By the same token, a bit of action goes a long way to improving a psychological thriller.

2. Unreliable Narrator or Detective Protagonist?

I won’t turn up my nose at a well-written unreliable narrator (or do I?). But Detective Protagonists are what got me into reading, sustained me when I really didn’t have time or resources to really read fiction, and—as anyone who’s spent 5 minutes looking at this site knows—I still read an unhealthy amount of Detective Novels. No contest.

3. Slow-Burn Suspense or Fast-Paced Plot Twists?

I honestly can’t decide—I’ve argued with myself for a few days over this. I really can’t choose. I probabaly read more Fast-Paced reads with good twists, but a Slow-Burn can be so satisfying that I don’t want to discount them. (as long as the slow-burn is actually burning, and not just meandering). This one’s a coin-toss.

4. Domestic Thriller or Crime Thriller?

I can enjoy and really get into a solid Domestic Thriller, one of my favorites so far this year is one. But Crime Thrillers are really my thing, part of that is their similarity to a good Detective novel. But it’s more than that—whether it’s a jaded criminal, a newbie criminal (who very likely won’t be around long enough to get jaded, a normal person having the worst day of their lives (whether or not they made a bad choice to put themselves there), or something beyond the typical Crime Thrillers—I can read those all day.

Go read the original and weigh-in there.

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Don’t Tell Me How to Die by Marshall Karp: The Last Days of Maggie Dunn

By HCNewton

On February 17, 2025

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Don’t Tell Me How to Die

by Marshall Karp

DETAILS:
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Publication Date: March 4, 2025
Format: eARC
Length: 336
Read Date: January 29-31, 2025

A Note of Introduction

I typically stay away from spoilers, but this is one of those books where almost everything I want to say feels like it’s in that general neighborhood. So I use illustrations from other books that are pretty well-known by this point. I can’t think of another way to do it that’s fair to Karp and this text.

What’s Don’t Tell Me How to Die About?

This is one of those novels where it’d be easy to say too much, so let me rely on whoever wrote the jacket copy at Blackstone:

I have one thing to do before I die. And time is running out.

I had it all: a fantastic husband, two great kids, an exciting career. And then, at the age of forty-three, I found out I would be dead before my next birthday.

My mother also died young. I was seventeen, and she warned me that women would flock to my sudWherdenly single father like stray cats to an overturned milk truck. They did. And one absolutely evil woman practically destroyed his life, mine, and my sister’s.

I am not letting that happen to my family.

I have three months, and I plan to spend every waking minute searching for the perfect woman to take my place as Alex’s wife, and mother to Kevin and Katie.

You’re probably thinking, She’ll never do it. Did I mention that in high school I was voted “Most Likely to Kill Someone to Get What She Wants”?