Welcome to What I’ve Been Reading Lately, a feature where I’ll be giving short reviews of what I’m currently reading:
A Game of Lies by Clare Mackintosh
They say the camera never lies. But on this show, you can’t trust anything you see.
Stranded in the Welsh mountains, seven reality show contestants have no idea what they’ve signed up for.
Each of these strangers has a secret. If another player can guess the truth, they won’t just be eliminated – they’ll be exposed live on air. The stakes are higher than they’d ever imagined, and they’re trapped.
The disappearance of a contestant wasn’t supposed to be part of the drama. Detective Ffion Morgan has to put aside what she’s watched on screen, and find out who these people really are – knowing she can’t trust any of them.
And when a murderer strikes, Ffion knows every one of her suspects has an alibi . . . and a secret worth killing for. (Credit: Sourcebooks Landmark)
I am so excited to dive into again another Ffion Morgan mystery and this one sounds like its The Traitors but with a murder happening on live television!
The Kill List by Nadine Matheson
He will come for them, one by one…Five shocking murders
Twenty-five years ago, DCI Harry Rhimes arrested Andrew Streeter for the brutal murders of five young people. Streeter’s “kill list” of victims was found in his home, and he was convicted of all five crimes.
A legacy under threat
Now, Streeter’s convictions are being overturned, as new evidence implies the original investigation was corrupt. No one is more shocked than DI Henley. Because this case is personal; Rhimes was her old boss, and he’s no longer alive to defend himself. But when the killings start up again, Henley must face the truth: Rhimes got it wrong twenty-five years ago.
A hunt for a killer
Henley and her team reopen the original murder cases, but they must put their personal feelings to one side. Because the real killer is still out there, and he’s working his way through a new kill list…(Credit: Hanover Square Press)
Another next installment of a mystery series that I love! I’ve waited for a year for this to come out and I’m so excited that the next installment of the Anjelica Henley series has come across my way!
Where The Heart Should Be by Sarah Crossan
Ireland, 1846 Nell is working as a scullery maid in the kitchen of the Big House. Once she loved school and books and dreaming. But there’s not much choice of work when the land grows food that rots in the earth. Now she is scrubbing, peeling, washing, sweeping for Sir Philip Wicken, the man who owns her home, her family’s land, their crops, everything.
His dogs are always well fed, even as famine sets in. Upstairs in the Big House, where Nell is forbidden to enter, is Johnny Browning, newly arrived from England: the young nephew who will one day inherit it all. And as hunger and disease run rampant all around them, a spark of life and hope catches light when Nell and Johnny find each other.
This is a love story, and the story of a people being torn apart. This is a powerful and unforgettable novel from the phenomenally talented Sarah Crossan.
I’ve missed Sarah Crossan’s writing. The last novel in verse I read by her was in 2021 so its really great to dive back into her writing and her writing style. And this appears it will be another moving and emotional novel in verse.
Nora and the Map of Mayhem by Joseph Elliott and illustrated by Nici Gregory
When Atticus and Autumn’s dads leave them with their eccentric great-grandmother Nora for the weekend, they’re hoping for a few days scoffing biscuits and playing video games. But when Nora’s around, nothing ever goes quite to plan…
After a stranger from Nora’s past leaves a menacing note pinned to her front door, Atticus and Autumn are swept away on a hair-raising adventure dodging snot-flinging sea monsters, battling thunderous electrosquibs and trying to escape from a very flappy goose! (Credit: Templar Publishing)
I started reading this on my vacation and I absolutely love it so far! It has so much humor and wit that I’m ready for the excitement and adventure that I got from reading the first couple of chapters.
The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie
When an elderly priest is murdered, the killer searches the victim so roughly that his already ragged cassock is torn in the process. What was the killer looking for? And what had a dying woman confided to the priest on her deathbed only hours earlier?
Mark Easterbrook and his sidekick Ginger Corrigan are determined to find out. Maybe the three women who run The Pale Horse public house, and who are rumored to practice the “Dark Arts,” can provide some answers? (Credit: William Morrow & Company)
What I Plan to Read Next:
Black Wolf by Juan Gómez-Jurado
Antonia Scott has an unusually gifted mind, able to see what others miss, able to solve the crimes that baffle all others. The only thing she fears is herself.
Antonia is the lynchpin of the Red Queen project, created to work behind the scenes to solve the most devious and dangerous crimes. But she is unwilling to move past the last case, convinced it’s related to a personal tragedy, until a series of deadly events pulls her back in. In southern Spain, in the Costa del Sol, a key mafia figure is found brutally murdered in his villa, his pregnant wife, Lola Moreno, barely escapes an attempt to kill her in a shopping mall and is on the run. A shipping container from St. Petersburg arrives in port in Spain containing the corpses of nine woman, all who suffocated. Now Antonia, with the help of her helper and protector, Jon Gutierrez, must track down this missing Lola. But they aren’t the only ones on Lola’s trail – a dangerous contract killer, known as the Black Wolf, is also on her trail. And Antonia Scott, still plagued by her personal demons, must outwit, out-maneuver, and, ultimately, face this terrible, mysterious rival.(Credit: Minotaur Books)
The Midnight Game by Cynthia Murphy
Six strangers. One night. But how many survivors?
When a group of six strangers who have only ever spoken on a creepy Deddit thread decide to meet IRL, they have one plan in mind: they are going to play The Midnight Game and summon the Midnight Man.
Rules of the game are simple: Do not turn on the lights. Do not go to sleep. Do not leave the building.
And once you start the game, you must finish it–there’s no other way out… (Credit: Delacorte Press)
Imposter Syndrome by Joseph Knox
Expected Publication Date: December 10
Sometimes bad people must decide to do good…
On the run from his shady past, Lynch has just arrived in London, still looking over his shoulder. His phone is dead, he has no money, no contacts, no one at all. Until he runs into a young woman named Bobbie who mistakes him for her brother, Heydon Pierce, who disappeared 5 years ago without a trace.
At Bobbie’s suggestion, Lynch goes to the Pierce family home, posing as Heydon to try and con some money out of them. Unfortunately for Lynch, his subterfuge is instantly discovered. He instead strikes the devil’s bargain with the family: their silence for his cooperation in finding out what really happened to Heydon.
But Lynch’s investigation goes too deep. Turns out, Heydon Pierce was tangled up with some dangerous and powerful people in London. Everyone has their own motives to keep Heydon well buried in the past. In such a conspiracy of mirrors, there’s only one thing Lynch knows for certain: the only person he can trust is himself. (Credit: Sourcebooks Landmark)
The Examiner by Janice Hallett
Expected Publication Date: September 10
Gela Nathaniel, head of Royal Hastings University’s new Multimedia Art course, must find six students from all walks of life across the United Kingdom for her new master’s program before the university cuts her funding. The students are nothing but trouble from day one.There’s Jem, a talented sculptor recently graduated from her university program and eager to make her mark as an artist at any cost. Jonathan, who has little experience in art practice aside from running his family’s gallery. Patrick runs an art supply store, but can barely operate his phone, much less design software. Ludya is a single mother and graphic designer more interested in a paycheck than homework. Cameron is a marketing executive in search of a hobby or a career change. And Alyson, already a successful artist, seems to be overqualified. Finally, there is the examiner, the man hired to grade students’ final works–an art installation for a local cloud-based solutions company that may have an ulterior agenda–and who, in sifting through final essays, texts, and message boards, warns that someone is in danger…or already dead. And nothing about this course has been left up to chance. (Credit: Atria Books)
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