Tag: detective

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

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“Success is often the result of a series of failures. Try to remember that. You never learn anything from success, but failure can teach you everything about a person. Especially yourself.”
― Alice Feeney, Beautiful Ugly

Alice Feeney is one of my favorite thriller authors. She is a master of plot twists and mixing flawed characters together to create a messy story that requires atmosphere, secrets galore, and unreliable characters. Her 2025 release, Beautiful Ugly, is full of twists and turns that still have me wondering what exactly happened.

What should be the best day of Grady Green’s life ends up being his worst day. Expecting his wife home soon, Grady is anxiously awaiting news of whether or not his latest novel is a New York Times Bestseller. Calling to see where she is, Grady is stunned to hear Abby slam on the brakes, leave her car, and go completely silent. Concerned for her safety, Grady goes searching for Abby only to find her car on the cliff edge road with the headlights still on, the driver door open, and her phone sitting in the car. He combs the area looking, but Abby has disappeared.

Flash forward a year and Grady has hit rock bottom. He has lost his house, is unable to write, and struggles to sleep. His every waking moment is consumed with grief over what happened to Abby. When his agent suggests that he travel to a tiny Scottish island to focus on his writing, Grady takes her up on the offer. He is hopeful that he will be able to write while stranded on this picturesque island with no distractions. While on the ferry to the island, Grady is hit with his first inkling that something is wrong: he sees a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife. That’s impossible. Or is it? Could Abby be hiding out on this island? And if so, why hasn’t she contacted him? What is going on?

While I enjoyed Beautiful Ugly, I have to admit that this isn’t my favorite of Alice Feeney’s, but only because the ending isn’t as tidy as I would have liked. I will say that the ending completely fits with the themes of paranoia and misery that Feeney builds up throughout this novel. Readers are never quite sure who is telling the truth as the book progresses and the end will definitely leave you wondering what exactly has happened. Give this a read and then let me know what you think in the comments below!

This title is also available in large print, CD audiobook, and Playaway audiobook.

Mystery Reads: Book Retreat Mystery series by Ellery Adams

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“There were books everywhere. Hundreds of books. Thousands of books. There were books of every size, shape, and color. They lined the walls from floor to ceiling, standing straight and rigid as soldiers on the polished mahogany shelves, the gilt lettering on their worn spines glinting in the soft light, the scent of supple leather and aging paper filling the air.”
― Ellery Adams, Murder in the Mystery Suite

When searching for a new-to-me cozy mystery, I discovered Ellery Adams’ Book Retreat Mystery series. The first in this series, Murder in the Mystery Suite, published in 2014, is an introduction to Jane Steward and Storyton Hall, a storybook resort owned by her family. This was an absolutely beautiful ode to book lovers and the stories that define their lives.

Storyton Hall is a storybook resort tucked in the rolling hills of rural western Virginia. Resort manager Jane Steward is tasked with keeping the resort and its staff happy and its guests eager to come back for additional stays. Determined to boost Storyton Hall’s bookings, Jane decides to host a Murder and Mayhem week. Fans of all things mystery will gather together for role-playing, fantasy, games, and parties. During one of the first events, a scavenger hunt, Jane is surprised to find so many of the guests incredibly invested in winning the prize, a valuable book (but Jane doesn’t think it’s quite as valuable as some of the guests are making it out to be). Her suspicions are proved false when death befalls the winner of the scavenger hunt. Did he die of natural causes? Or is one of Jane’s guests a murderer?

This series introduction is full of delightfully quirky characters, beautiful surroundings, and oh so many book recommendations. Murder in the Mystery Suite has turned the traditional cozy mystery into a more modern version that could become a favorite for years to come.

This title is also available in large print.

Book Retreat Mystery series

  1. Murder in the Mystery Suite (2014)
  2. Murder in the Paperback Parlor (2015)
  3. Murder in the Secret Garden (2016)
  4. Murder in the Locked Library (2018)
  5. Murder in the Reading Room (2019)
  6. Murder in the Storybook Cottage (2020)
  7. Murder in the Cookbook Nook (2021)
  8. Murder on the Poet’s Walk (2022)
  9. Murder in the Book Lover’s Loft (2023)

The Scammer by Tiffany D. Jackson

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“To build a future that is rooted in equality and liberation, you must imagine and pretend that it is possible. And the key part of imagination is joy. Joy is an act of resistance, it’s revolutionary. The fact that our people have survived, and thrived, defying expectation and insurmountable odds.. that deserves to be celebrated.”
― Tiffany D. Jackson, The Scammer

In her latest suspenseful young adult thriller The Scammer, Tiffany D. Jackson weaves a social horror story about college students whose lives are turned upside down by the arrival of one of their brothers. Jordyn is finally out from the protective cocoon her overprotective parents have had her in for years. After announcing her desire to attend college for prelaw at a prestigious, historically Black university in Washington, DC, her parents expressed extreme displeasure. That didn’t stop Jordyn from attending anyway, much to their chagrin. Jordyn can’t wait to finally feel like she fits in for once. Her new roommates seem perfect, while her new college feels welcoming.

When one of her new roommates asks if her older brother Devonte can stay in their dorm room, Jordyn is at first uncomfortable with this, especially when she learns that he has just been released from prison. Jordyn feels like she can’t say no to her roommate, especially when he only needs a place to stay until he gets back on his feet and she is trying to be a good friend after all.

Devonte is older, intelligent, charming, and determined to help Jordyn, her roommates, and others make better, more informed choices. He isn’t shy about giving advice, pushing his agenda on a growing group of devotees. Jordyn is skeptical of Devonte from the start, but the more he preaches, the more cautious she becomes. When Devonte’s actions start to directly affect Jordyn and her roommates, she decides enough is enough. She turns to a friend for help, but untangling herself from Devonte’s lies is going to be harder than she ever thought.

The Scammer is a dark, messy, and thought-provoking horror of a read. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading this. Tiffany D. Jackson has this unbelievable ability to write books based on real life stories. I felt like I was reading true crime nonfiction (in fact this novel reminded me of a couple true crime documentaries that I have watched in the past). This book is not for the faint of heart. It has elements of horror, thriller, and romance full of twists and turns.

This title is also available in Playaway audiobook.

No One Can Know by Kate Alice Marshall

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“The older she got, the less she thought she knew anyone at all.”
― Kate Alice Marshall, No One Can Know

In her 2024 novel, No One Can Know, Kate Alice Marshall discusses the ramifications of blindly trusting people, even family who should have your best interests at heart.

Fourteen years ago, Emma, Juliette, and Daphne Palmer left their family home never to return. What precipitated their departure has haunted the sisters forever: their parents were murdered in the house. After they were swept away from the house, they each faced their own issues. Emma became the prime suspect in their parents’ murders, Juliette left the younger two behind for college, and younger Daphne spent time in foster care not wanting to be reunited with her sisters. Now Emma and her husband are reeling from more news: she’s pregnant and he has lost his job. At a loss and with nowhere to turn, the two move back to Emma’s family home. It’s never been sold and is still owned by Emma and her estranged sisters. Emma’s reappearance in her hometown has brought up some secrets that some people would rather keep hidden. When she starts looking for answers, she soon finds her estranged sisters popping back into her life. As the three start working through their past, tensions rise. What happened the night their parents died? And what are they each hiding?

Told from multiple points-of-view as well as bouncing between the past and present, No One Can Know is a messy thriller that leads readers down dead end after dead end in a quest for answers. While the ending answered some of my questions, I still had more! I’m left with one big question: Do we finally know the truth? We may never know.

Forget Me Not by Stacy Willingham

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In Forget Me Not by Stacy Willingham, readers follow Claire Campbell as she wrestles with her traumatic childhood after the disappearance of her older sister. Claire’s older sister, Natalie, disappeared shortly after her eighteenth birthday over twenty-two years ago. Her family was destroyed in the aftermath. Authorities quickly closed the case after Natalie’s blood was found in an older man’s car. He was soon arrested and sentenced to prison for her death. Claire has spent the two decades since trying to move on from her past. She moved away from her family, hasn’t visited her hometown since, and started working as an investigative journalist. After she is passed up for a promotion, she quits her job, deciding to freelance instead. With an empty summer looming in front of her, Claire is shocked when her father calls to summon her back home.

Claire heads back home, much to the surprise of her mother. Convinced she’ll have nothing to do while stuck in her childhood home with her mother, Claire pivots and heads to Galloway Farm, the vineyard where Natalie worked the summer she went missing. When she arrives, Claire is shocked to be offered a seasonal job picking muscadines and helping with other farm tasks. At first, Claire finds this experience relaxing and idyllic, but something seems off at Galloway Farm. As she settles into the guest house, Claire discovers an old diary hidden in the floorboards written by one of the vineyard owners. The stories written are of love and rebellion, but quickly turn bad. The more she reads, the more drawn into the past she becomes. Are their connections between the people and stories in the diary to present day? Claire is soon immersed in a world of danger and intrigue as she obsesses over the truth.

Stacy Willingham kept me on my toes the entire time I was reading this title. I was engaged from start to finish in this witty, twisty story. An eerie feeling kept me on edge and filled with tension as the story progressed. If you like isolated settings, southern thrillers, domestic suspense, and family dramas with true crime vibes, give Forget Me Not a read.

This title is also available in large print and CD audiobook.

Online Reading Challenge – November Wrap-Up

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How did your reading go this month? Did you read a detective or crime fiction title for November? Share in the comments!

I read our main title: The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King.  Originally published in 1994, The Beekeeper’s Apprentice (Or On the Segregation of the Queen) is the first book in the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series by Laurie R. King. This title was also a nominee for the Agatha Award for Best Novel in 1995.

When searching for a book to read for this month, I knew I wanted to pay homage to the great Sherlock Holmes, but I didn’t want to read something written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which led me to exploring spinoffs. I eventually found Laurie R. King and her Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series. This series started in 1994 and has a total of 19 books so far. The latest book in the series, Knave of Diamonds, was published in 2025.

Let’s get into The Beekeeper’s Apprentice. It’s 1915 and Sherlock Holmes has been retired for quite a number of years. When a young Mary Russell stumbles upon an older gentleman on the Sussex Downs studying honeybees, she doesn’t realize that he is Sherlock Holmes at first. Russell is gawky, exceptionally smart, and recently orphaned, but her intellect is what attracts her to Holmes. Holmes decides to tutor Russell, which eventually leads them on a variety of cases throughout this first book. Eventually they are called to Scotland Yard to assist with finding the kidnapped daughter of an American senator. This case ends up being connected to Holmes’ past in a significant way and has deep repercussions for Holmes and Russell’s futures.

My thoughts: I quite enjoyed the fact that Sherlock Holmes was coming out of retirement a bit reluctantly in this book. Russell and Sherlock’s relationship was also intriguing. They become reluctant friends throughout this book with a relationship that changes the more they learn about each other. The disguises, danger, and problem solving was top-notch in this book. I also quite enjoyed that this book was told from young Mary Russell’s point of view which allowed me to take a step back and see Holmes through different eyes. All in all, a sold start to the series.

Next month, we will be reading historical fiction!

In addition to following the Online Reading Challenge here on our Info Cafe blog, you can join our Online Reading Challenge group on Goodreads and discuss your reads!

Online Reading Challenge – November

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Welcome Readers!

This month the Online Reading Challenge is focusing on detective/crime fiction. Our main title for November is The Beekeeper’s Apprentice or, On the Segregation of the Queen by Laurie R. King. Here’s a quick summary from the publisher:

In 1915, Sherlock Holmes is retired and quietly engaged in the study of honeybees in Sussex when a young woman literally stumbles onto him on the Sussex Downs. Fifteen years old, gawky, egotistical, and recently orphaned, the young Mary Russell displays an intellect to impress even Sherlock Holmes. Under his reluctant tutelage, this very modern, twentieth-century woman proves a deft protégée and a fitting partner for the Victorian detective. They are soon called to Wales to help Scotland Yard find the kidnapped daughter of an American senator, a case of international significance with clues that dip deep into Holmes’s past. Full of brilliant deduction, disguises, and danger, The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, the first book of the Mary Russell–Sherlock Holmes mysteries, is “remarkably beguiling” (The Boston Globe). (Picador)

Looking for some other detective/crime fiction titles? Try any of the following.

As always, check each of our locations for displays with lots more titles to choose from!

The Crime Brûlée Bake Off by Rebecca Connolly

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The Crime Brûlée Bake Off is the first book in the Claire Walker Mystery series by Rebecca Connolly. This book reminded me of The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell as both are murder mysteries that take place during British baking competitions. Think of a mix between Clue and The Great British Baking Show and that’s exactly what these books are.

Claire Walker has been selected as a contestant on Britain’s Battle of the Bakers, an incredibly popular cooking show. To say she’s thrilled would be an understatement. If she wins, Claire wants to stop teaching and kick off her career as a baker. Turning up at Blackfirth Park where the show is to take place, Claire and the other contestants are introduced to Johnathan Ainsley, the Viscount of Colburn, and the ghost rumors that surround the family and the grounds.

Jonathan is not happy that the cooking competition will be filming on his estate, but the visibility should hopefully help the estate and the town. He doesn’t want to be involved with the show or the contestants and thankfully his staff understands and is keeping them away. When someone is found murdered on the grounds, Jonathan founds himself drawn into the case . . . and drawn to Claire. The two start working together to solve the crime. Through their investigation, they discover similarities between the current case and the death of the tenth Viscountess of Colburn over 200 years ago. Claire and Jonathan also start to feel a romantic connection and can’t stay away from each other. Their budding romance combined with the murder sends the two down a road that could either lead to disaster or happiness.

I am excited to see how the romance progresses in the book and if the characters remain friends in the next books in the series. This was a fun read, but the mystery elements were too predictable for my liking. (ALSO in every other cozy mystery I have read, the police repeatedly tell citizens not to get involved, but in the story, the detective actively sought out two people to help him investigate! What?!)

The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

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“A few students who were being trained to analyze crime scenes, pore over witness testimony, and track serial killers. What trouble could we possibly get into?”
― Jennifer Lynn Barnes, The Naturals

Cassandra Hobbes, known as Cassie, has been a natural at reading people for as long as she can remember. Growing up, her mother noticed her natural skills and started training her. Now Cassie is 17 and her mother has been missing for five years. Five years ago, Cassie walked into her mother’s dressing room at the theater where she was performing and stumbled upon a bloody and destroyed crime scene. Sadly her mother was never found. Cassie has spent the last five years living with her father’s family, feeling like she doesn’t completely fit in.

While at work one day, she is approached by a young man who leaves behind a card from someone at the FBI. Cassie eventually calls the number and learns that the FBI has started a classified program that uses talented natural teenagers to crack cold cases. Cassie was flagged in the system and they would like her to join. When Cassie arrives at her new home, the teens she meet have gifts as unique as her own. One can read emotions, one can detect lies, one is a walking encyclopedia, while the last is a profiler just like Cassie. As her training progresses and Cassie gets to know the other teens, she realizes that there is something off about everyone involved in the program: they all have secrets they want to stay hidden. The two agents in charge of the program are assigned to an active case involving a killer who isn’t afraid of danger. Cassie and the others are not allowed to help on active cases, but the Naturals soon find themselves drawn to help. Their curiosity quickly turns necessary as the killer escalates and the team must use all of their skills to survive.

Jennifer Lynn Barnes wrote my favorite young adult series, The Inheritance Games. When I discovered The Naturals series, I knew that this was right up my alley. This is a fast-paced and fun read (feels weird to say that about a book with murderers, but there you go!). Watching the characters’ relationships grow was intriguing as they all have complicated backstories and their own reasons for wanting to keep secrets. Cassie’s new life couldn’t be more different than her old one, but she feels more seen and understood amongst her fellow naturals. The suspense was built naturally, while the twist completely sucked me in. My only issue was the romance subplot. This author is a fan of love triangles, but the romance here seemed forced and didn’t add much to the story. All in all, I still gave this read five stars!

Naturals series

  1. The Naturals (2013)
  2. Killer Instinct (2014)
  3. All In (2015)
  4. Bad Blood (2016)

Twelve – A Naturals Novella

The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by C.M. Waggoner

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What would you do if dead bodies kept popping up in your tiny town? Check out The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by C.M. Waggoner to discover how the residents of one town solve the crimes!

Librarian Sherry Pinkwhistle is growing alarmed by the number of people that are dying in her small town of Winesap, New York and how seemingly unconcerned and unaffected the townspeople are. Library director by day, amateur sleuth and unofficial police investigator by night, Sherry solves murders while keeping the local library running.

Solving murders has never really bothered Sherry until her very close friend is murdered and she decides she is too close to the case and therefore can’t investigate. As soon as she tells her friends that she isn’t going to investigate, weird things start happening. The sheriff starts acting erratically and her friends are suddenly very interested in Sherry continuing her investigations. More odd circumstances occur (one specific incident involving her cat pushes her over the edge!), leading Sherry to believe that an outside influence may be behind these deaths. Something unnatural is roaming Winesap and Sherry is determined to stop them.

Sherry knows she can’t figure out who is behind these murders without help, so she reaches out to her most trusted friends. With the help of the town’s new priest and her motley crew of friends, the newly formed Demon-Hunting Society gets to work! They start working out a plan to solve the latest murder and rid the community of the demon. Even though she has a group of people to back her up, Sherry still has her doubt about who she can really trust. Going off on her own may be the only way she can solve the crime, but at what cost?

I had no idea what I was getting into when I checked out this book. Sherry and her friends are an absolute riot. The circumstances in the town are wacky, yet somehow believable within the confines of the world the author has created. The characters in this book are more complicated than they seem with backstories that end up being incredibly important to the story! The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society is described as a mix of Murder, She Wrote and Buffy the Vampire Slayer – so true! While I was invested in solving the murders, the paranormal and supernatural elements seemed like a necessary road block that readers knew the Demon-Hunting Society would eventually figure out. All in all, I really enjoyed this cozy fantasy mystery.