Four Stars

Best for:
Fans of cozy mysteries.

In a nutshell:
Laurence and Eva are getting married in Italy. The bride is running late to the ceremony and then we hear a scream. So … what’s happened?

Worth quoting:
N/A (though the writing is good, just nothing stood out to me).

Why I chose it:
Working my way through Hindle’s back catalogue

Review:
Third book of Hindle’s that I’ve read and probably my favorite so far. This book is 360 pages long and the murder in question isn’t revealed until page 150ish. That’s WILD set-up but it works so well.

While we get many different perspective chapters, I’d say the main character of the book is Robyn. Robyn is meeting her boyfriend’s Toby’s family for the first time at this wedding, and it’s a rough go. Toby’s family is super wealthy, and Toby is interested in opening and running a bar, not working for the family business. But his brother (the groom) and his mother are absolutely determined to get Toby in, and they do not like Robyn, as she is ‘just’ a bartender, and they think she’s steering Toby astray (she’s not).

Eva is a rich influencer and a brat, Laurence is a stuck up private school boy (as are most of his friends). But we also have Stephen – a friend who went to school with Laurence but was a scholarship kid, and his wife Abigail.

The wedding is taking place in the height of summer in Italy, and things heat up literally and metaphorically. A magazine is covering the event, so there’s a photographer and Eva’s agent in tow.

The writing in this is great, and I get such a sense of who each of these people are. I made the mistake of having about 150 pages left when I got in bed last night, and had to stay up late to finish it because I couldn’t put it down.

Best for:
Fans of Agatha Christie-style mysteries.

In a nutshell:
Will is hosting a murder mystery party on New Year’s Eve, and a few town folk are attending. In the background looms a fight over the use of a lighthouse that was the scene of a tragedy.

Worth quoting:
N/A

Why I chose it:
I thoroughly enjoyed his book Death in the Arctic. And while it didn’t figure into my choice, I saw that the blurb on the front was by Ragnar Jónasson, one of my favorite authors.

Review:
I read this book in one day, and it had me hooked from the start.

Like his previous book that I read, the murder doesn’t happen until maybe 1/4 of the way through the book, and that’s fine. We get back story, but not all of it. History comes out over the course of the night.

The Hamlet Hall is a manor house turned hotel in a very tiny town on the southern coast of England, and the owner Ian is trying to revive it during the off season. At Will’s suggestion, he agrees to host a murder mystery party on New Year’s Eve. Will is a young man who is still dealing with a trauma he experienced as a small child, and he is looking to use the evening to figure some things out.

Meanwhile, the attendees include Gwen and her husband – she wanted to use the lighthouse for a memorial but was outbid by a former townie, who is turning it into a fancy home. Nigel is also there – he took the contract for that work, so most of the town hates him and his wife, And Martha and Edgar are there – they own a shop in town that has been robbed, and they think Nigel’s workers are at fault. There are also three actors to help the show along, including one not from town.

The book takes place basically over the course of one night, which is one of my favorite kinds of stories. I was sort of able to figure out part of what had really happened, but there are enough surprises and twists that it didn’t spoil any thing for me.

Three Stars

Best for:
Those who enjoy very psychologically-focused thrillers.

In a nutshell:
CN: Sexual Assault, Murder

Emma is a psychologist who is sexually assaulted at a conference, but manages to survive, unlike the serial killer’s other victims.

Or did she make it all up?

Worth quoting:
N/A

Why I chose it:
I found Fitzek’s previous work to be interesting and wanted to read more.

Review:
Three stars is probably a bit harsh for this book – more like 3.5 if that were allowed. The book isn’t bad, I just didn’t find it nearly as compelling or interesting as the other one. That said – the book is good, and it kept me guessing.

Emma is a psychologist, married to a police detective. As a child, she had an imaginary ‘friend,’ Arthur, who she was once scared of but eventually came to rely on. After working through her childhood trauma and recognizing Arthur as a art of her imagination, she has moved on. But while at a conference, she is attacked by ‘the Hairdresser’ – a man who assaults his victims, shaves their heads, and then kills them. But she is not killed.

But no one believes her. Yes, her hair has been shaved, but the hotel room she claimed to be in doesn’t exist, and the hotel has no record of her checking in. The room as she described it had art that the hotel doesn’t have, and no hiding places for the perpetrator. Emma is fragile and distraught, and for months can’t leave her home, as the trauma of it all led to he having a miscarriage. Her husband tries to be supportive, but she’s clearly on the edge.

One day, a package is delivered, which sets her down a bizarre road. The book skips backward and and forward, to a time when it appears she is perhaps confessing to her dear friend, an older psychologist. Or is she?

We don’t know until the very end if any of Emma’s experiences are real. But we do learn that at one point she has lied about something important. Is that proof she is lying now? If she is – does she even know she’s lying? Or is she just being expertly gaslit?