Welcome to What I’ve Been Reading Lately, a feature where I’ll be giving short reviews of what I’m currently reading:
All links lead to the StoryGraph listing.
The Christmas Jigsaw Murders by Alexandra Benedict
Rest. In. Pieces.
On 1st of December, renowned puzzle setter, loner, and Christmas curmudgeon Edie O’Sullivan finds a hand-delivered present on her doorstep. Unwrapping it, she finds a jigsaw box and, inside, six jigsaw pieces. When fitted together, the pieces show part of a crime scene – blood-spattered black and white tiles and part of an outlined body. Included in the parcel is a message: ‘Four, maybe more, people will be dead by midnight on Christmas Eve, unless you can put all the pieces together and stop me.’ It’s signed, Rest In Pieces.
Edie contacts her nephew, DI Sean Brand-O’Sullivan, and together they work to solve the clues. But when a man is found near death with a jigsaw piece in his hand, Sean fears that Edie might be in danger and shuts her out of the investigation. As the body count rises, however, Edie knows that only she has the knowledge to put together the killer’s murderous puzzle.
Only by fitting all the pieces together will Edie be able to stop a killer – and finally lay her past to rest. (Credit: Poisoned Pen Press)
I love Christmas mysteries and I love jigsaw puzzles so this sounded like the perfect book to read during the 12 days of Christmas. It is very complex, intriguing and sinister so far, just like with Benedict’s previous books, so I know I am in for exciting ride with this one.
The Midnight Game by Cynthia Murphy
When a group who have met on a creepy Deddit thread decide to meet in real life, they only have one plan in mind: they are going to summon the Midnight Man. And once you start the Midnight Game, you must finish it – there’s no other way out!
Six strangers. One night. But how many survivors? (Credit Scholastic UK)
This one reminds me of the times when you were kids, and you challenged yourself to chant “Bloody Mary” in a bathroom with the lights out. So far, this is becoming a chilling and twisty mystery that only Murphy can bring with her books!
Imposter Syndrome by Joseph Knox
On the run from his shady past, Lynch has just arrived in London, still looking over his shoulder to make sure he isn’t being followed. 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 five 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. But far from tricking them, his subterfuge is instantly discovered. He strikes the devil’s bargain with them – their silence for his cooperation in finding out what really happened to Heydon.
But Lynch’s investigation goes too deep and uncovers the fact that 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 know for certain: the only person he can trust is himself. (Credit: Sourcebooks Landmark)
Feral Volume 1 by Tony Fleecs and Trish Forstner
The Walking Dead meets The AristoCats in this purrfect new series for readers in search of Don Bluth-style artwork and pulse-pounding thrills from the creative team behind the bestselling Stray Dogs!
Meet Elsie, Lord Fluffy Britches, and Patch, three indoor cats lost in the not-so-great outdoors during a nightmarish rabies outbreak.
Without their humans to protect them, the cats rush to find their way home before they’re eaten by the forest full of rabid beasts on their tails.
Don’t get bit.
Don’t get scratched.
Don’t become…FERAL.(Credit: Image Comics)
When I found out that the same team behind Stray Dogs was coming out with another graphic novel in a similar style, I knew I had to immediately get my hands on it. If you have not had a chance to read Stray Dogs, then you need to go out and read it immediately. It is a must read for any comic book fan and Feral is seeing the same success!
Sherlock Holmes and The Telegram From Hell by Nicholas Meyer
June, 1916. With a world war raging on the continent, exhausted John H. Watson, M.D. is operating on the wounded full-time when his labors are interrupted by a knock on his door, revealing …
Sherlock Holmes, with a black eye, a missing tooth and a cracked rib. The story he has to tell will set in motion a series of world-changing events in the most consequential case of the detective’s career. Amid rebellion in Ireland and revolution in Russia, Germany has a secret plan to win the war and Sir William Melville of the British Secret Service dispatches the two aging friends to learn what the scheme is before it can be put into effect. In pursuit of a mysterious coded telegram sent from Berlin to an unknown recipient in Mexico, Holmes and Watson must cross the Atlantic, dodge German U-boats and assassination attempts, and evade the intrigues of young J. Edgar Hoover, while enlisting the help of a beautiful, eccentric Washington socialite as they seek to foil the schemes of Holmes’s nemesis, the escaped German spymaster Von Bork.
Sherlock Holmes and mystery fans will both appreciate this one. Although this is a Holmes mystery not written by Arthur Conan Doyle, as you read it, you completely forget it. Meyer does a wonderful job of capturing the ambience and cadence of what made Doyle’s Holmes stories so great. And I also appreciate that this story takes place in World War I. You don’t see a lot of historical fiction/mysteries taking place during the first World War so it was extremely refreshing.
What I Plan to Read Next:
The Queen’s Spade by Sarah Raughley
A young lady can take only so many injuries before humiliation and insult forge a vow of revenge . . .
The year is 1862 and murderous desires are simmering in England. Nineteen-year-old Sarah Bonetta Forbes (Sally), once a princess of the Egbado Clan, desires one thing above all else: revenge against the British Crown and its system of colonial “humanitarianism,” which stole her dignity and transformed her into royal property. From military men to political leaders, she’s vowed to ruin all who’ve had a hand in her afflictions. The top of her list? Her godmother, Britain’s mighty monarch, Queen Victoria herself.
Taking down the Crown means entering into a twisted game of court politics and manipulating the Queen’s inner circle–even if that means aligning with a dangerous yet alluring crime lord in London’s underworld and exploiting the affections of Queen Victoria’s own son, Prince Albert, as a means to an end. But when Queen Victoria begins to suspect Sally’s true intentions, she plays the only card in Victorian society that could possibly cage Sally once again: marriage. Because if there’s one thing Sally desires more than revenge, it’s her freedom. With time running out and her wedding day looming, Sally’s vengeful game of cat and mouse turns deadly as she’s faced with the striking revelation that the price for vengeance isn’t just paid in blood. It means sacrificing your heart. (Credit: HarperCollins)
Hey, Zoey by Sarah Crossan
Imagine discovering an animatronic sex doll hidden in the garage. What would you do?
Dolores initially does nothing. She assumes the doll belongs to her husband, David, and their relationship is already strained. They’re not young, they’re not old; they have no children, they keep up with the markers of being middle class and Dolores is well versed in keeping men’s secrets.
But then, Dolores and Zoey start to talk …What surfaces runs deeper than Dolores could have ever expected, with consequences for all of the relationships in her life, especially her relationship to herself.
Hey, Zoey is a propulsive story of love, family, and trauma in our tech-buffered age of alienation, as strange as it is familiar. (Credit: Bloomsbury)
The Life Impossible by Matt Haig
“What looks like magic is simply a part of life we don’t understand yet…”
When retired math teacher Grace Winters is left a run-down house on a Mediterranean island by a long-lost friend, curiosity gets the better of her. She arrives in Ibiza with a one-way ticket, no guidebook and no plan.
Among the rugged hills and golden beaches of the island, Grace searches for answers about her friend’s life, and how it ended. What she uncovers is stranger than she could have dreamed. But to dive into this impossible truth, Grace must first come to terms with her past.
Filled with wonder and wild adventure, this is a story of hope and the life-changing power of a new beginning. (Credit: Viking)
The Examiner by Janice Hallett
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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