Naomi Kuttner's The Retired Assassin's Guide to Amateur Theatrics
In the third volume in this mildly silly but very entertaining series, retired assassin Dante and pals get roped into a local production of Macbeth (Dante is cast as "Murderer number one" lol), but unfortunately a cast member dies in an apparent accident pretty quickly, and also the theater is haunted by an angry ghost, who may have been murdered during the LAST local production of Macbeth. Solid mystery and great characters. A-.
Molly Harper’s A Cute Little Murder
VERY fun story involving a woman who was the sidekick in a mystery-solving-teen vlogging duo. Now she needs money, so when her now-television-star friend wants her to come help solve a cold case for a new program, she’s on board. Lots of fun characters, I did think the cold case mystery solving was more interesting than the modern day mystery, but this story manages to balance everything (including new friendships and romance!) really well. I LOVED Lainey and hope this is the start of a series. A.
Richard Osman’s We Solve Murders
I probably should have read something Important for book 200, but a) I didn’t remember what number I was on, and b) I wanted to read a fun mystery! The second book in this series just came out, which reminded me I never read the first one. It’s very entertaining with great characters, centering on a woman who works for an elite protection agency (currently guarding an amazing author who’s pissed off a Russian oligarch), when suddenly former clients are getting killed and it’s clear she’s being framed. So she calls in her beloved father in law, a former cop turned PI in a small town in England (the kind of PI who finds lost dogs and checks insurance claims) to help figure out who the real killer is. He’s fine with helping, as long as he gets back in time for pub trivia. Very funny and action-packed, I has a couple quibbles with the end but enjoyed this a lot. A-.
Janice Hallett’s The Silent Appeal
Hallett’s latest returns to the acting troupe from her earlier The Appeal, which I only vaguely remember, so I definitely felt like I was missing some stuff at first. Once again lawyers are reading a bunch of emails and text messages, this time to see if they can figure out why a client may have pleaded guilty to a murder they didn’t commit. Some good twists here and I enjoy the format a lot, though at a certain point I’m was like, who is dead??? (The murder doesn’t happen until very late in the story.) Very entertaining, regardless. A-.
__
A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on September 1st.
Patricia Wentworth's Touch and Go
I needed a break from all the post-apocalyptic books I've been reading, so here we are with a classic mystery! I think this was recommended in the New York Times--they've had a couple of classic mystery roundups recently--but I have read and enjoyed some of Wentworth's Miss Silver mysteries, so this seemed like a good bet. It involved a woman who takes a job as governess/companion to a teenage heiress--and then she realizes someone is targeting the girl. Pretty satisfying mystery even though I guessed all of it—Wentworth tells a good story and loves a happy ending. A-.
__
Content warning for use of the n-word--did y'all know "eeny meeny" used to be racist????
Claudia Gray’s The Late Mrs Willoughby
I do wonder how this is on ongoing series—like wouldn’t you run out of Austen characters to kill off at a certain point? Anyway, this one involves the characters from Sense and Sensibility, there’s another death, Darcy jr and Girl Tilney are visiting for various reasons and start trying to solve things again. I like both these characters a lot, but I think this series is one that benefits from being read in between other things, and not all in a row (or maybe I was just a little bored after correctly calling the killer and waiting for ages for the reveal). I was also annoyed about romantic miscommunications but that can partially be chalked up to the time period. This was fine but I’m definitely taking a break for something else. B+.
Claudia Gray's The Murder of Mr Wickham
All right, trying out some Jane Austen fanfic here, lol. (There has been a lot of Pride and Prejudice discussion on Bluesky recently, and these were recommended--and I have enjoyed books by Gray before.) I can't tell if the audience for these is die-hard Austenites (who probably don't want fanfic!) or more casual fans like me, though it definitely assumes a lot of knowledge of her less-popular works that I only vaguely remember. Anyway, everyone is married blah blah, there's a house party at Emma's with all the main couples and some of their kids, and Darcy Jr and the daughter of the main character from Northanger Abbey have to solve a murder! I actually love murder mysteries set at British house parties, so ok! The victim is, of course, Mr Wickham, who seems to have invented Ponzi schemes and shows up unannounced for a spot of blackmail—and many of the guests have reason to hate him. Solid mystery, and I liked the main characters a lot (Darcy Jr seems to be on the autism spectrum). The solution is a little eh but I don’t think there was a way to make this really work. Entertaining anyway, I’ll definitely be picking up book 2. A-.
Lucy Foley’s Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel
Normally I eschew modern writers pairing up with the estates of long-dead writers to resurrect beloved characters, but I am a sucker for Miss Marple, so figured I’d try this. Murder at an isolated luxury hotel in the Alps in 1950 (where Miss Marple is hanging out with her friend from The Body in the Library), war secrets, affairs, lost treasure, etc. Honestly a solid mystery—it dragged a bit in the second half but then picked back up—but it doesn’t at all feel like an Agatha Christie story to me. It didn’t feel like Miss Marple. A fun read though! A-.
__
A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in September.
Julia Seales’ A Most Agreeable Murder
This is a firmly tongue-in-cheek historical mystery, full of Austen references, involving a young woman who is obsessed with true crime (and a handsome detective with a newspaper column). When a very eligible bachelor (Mr Croaksworth) is murdered at a ball (at Stabmort Manor), she has to figure out who did it—while still being a proper lady. Luckily the detective’s disgraced former partner is on hand! Also, her youngest sister is definitely a werewolf, if you suspected this book is a little bit silly. I liked this a lot, and will probably read the sequel at some point, but I need a break first. 😹 A-/B+.
Emma Garman’s The Kindness of Strangers
This mystery is set in a boarding house in England in the early 1950s, and everyone has secrets—and that’s before they conspire to cover up a murder! That’s not a spoiler—that happens first thing, and then the story flashes back to the lead up to the death, interspersed with bits of the investigation. Parts of this were surprising, parts were predictable, and I had mixed feelings on the ending(s). But I really did enjoy all the characters! I look forward to whatever Garman does next. B+.
Cat Sebastian’s Hither Page
I was having one of those moods where I’d get twenty percent into a book and then totally lose interest, so I decided to try and reread this instead. Still an entertaining mystery/queer romance set in a small town in England just after WWII, where the local doctor and a spy try and solve a murder. I love all the side characters in this one! It’s a little simpler than some of Sebastian’s more recent stuff but still a good read.
Susan Juby’s Contemplation of a Crime
Another really fun read!! In this one, our Buddhist butler accompanies her billionaire boss (but he’s like, a kind and self-aware billionaire) to a retreat his son is running, to help a group of people with political differences learn to get along, except things do not go according to plan and everyone has to band together to save the day! All the butler pals are back and there are even more dogs in this one! I love this series, I hope more are on the way. A/A-.
Susan Juby’s A Meditation on Murder
The second Helen Thorpe mystery finds our Buddhist butler dispatched to try and sort out a wealthy young wannabe influencer, who is unaware she’s being targeted for internet drama. Lots of good dogs and horses in this one! Great characters again—I was glad that Nigel popped back up—and though the mystery’s conclusion was over the top, I still liked this a lot. Can’t wait to read book three (and then be bereft while waiting for more). A:A-.
Susan Juby’s Mindful of Murder
Absolutely delightful and slyly funny mystery involving a butler, a former Buddhist nun, who is tasked with determining who will inherit her mentor’s upscale yoga retreat … and also reluctantly solving her mentor’s murder with the help of her two best friends from butler school and some other characters (emphasis on CHARACTER lol). I definitely cackled more than a few times, loved the narrative voices here. It also goes pretty deep on Buddhism to good effect! The mystery ends up being solid, too—a very fun read and I’m psyched for book 2. A.
Tansy Rayner Robert’s Curse of Bronze
Super cute supernatural mystery involving a woman who inherits the family home after her curse breaker aunt is turned into a bronze statue, and she has to figure out who did it, with the help of all sorts of people (a lion librarian, a sort of vampire, a talking teapot, some werewolves, etc). I do think this would have been stronger if it was longer, but I liked it a lot and will be reading volume two when it comes out next month. B+.
KJ Charles’ All of Us Murderers
Rereading this for book club (finished with 15 minutes to spare lol), it remains a delightful confection of mysterious gothic tropes and a sweet queer romance. Here is my original review!
KJ Charles’ An Unsuitable Heir
Pretty solid wrap up to this trilogy—once again I have a slightly hard time suspending my disbelief on the romance bc although I love the characters and love them together, I just can’t deal with people professing their love after literally two weeks. One of the characters is nonbinary (not expressed in those terms, of course) which was cool. I can’t decide how I feel about the resolution of the mystery, but I liked all the other bits of the wrap-up. Fun series! A-.
KJ Charles’ An Unnatural Vice
The second book in the Sins of the Cities books involves one of the friends from the first book, a journalist, and the spiritualist who he basically thinks is a hot fraud with legs for days (actually he’s more interested in his eyes but I do like to throw in the occasional pop culture reference). Anyway, they have to team up to deal with stuff from the first book (I do appreciate that this seems to be a legit trilogy) and angrily hook up. I was a little less into the romance in this one, but the overarching mystery is pretty intriguing. A-.
KJ Charles' An Unseen Attraction
KJ Charles has a huge backlist I haven't read yet, and I was in the mood for a queer romance and/or a mystery, so here we are! One of the dudes is a taxidermist and I could have done with WAY FEWER in-depth descriptions of his art (I've been a vegetarian for 35 years lol, these images felt like a horror movie). The other dude runs a boarding house where the taxidermist lives and is adorable and awkward. Then another boarder is murdered, someone sets fire to the taxidermist's shop, like WHAT is going on, can we figure it out and also make out a bunch, adorably. I loved everything about this that didn’t involve dead animals! A/A-.
Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club
Reread for book club, and I’d forgotten how much I like this book! Really solid mysteries and great characters, lots of time developing everyone and a good mix of narrative voices. This did kick off a wave of wacky/cozy British mysteries but I don’t think any others have grabbed me like this. Now I wish the Netflix movie had been a miniseries to see it justice.
