Review: Magic For Liars

Magic For Liars, by Sarah Gailey (Tor 2019)

First line: “The library at Osthorne Academy for Young Mages was silent save for the whisper of the books in the Theoretical Magic section.”

This genre mash-up seems like it was created for me: part private investigator murder mystery, part magical campus novel, part sister story… sign me right up. The Nerd Daily calls it “Veronica Mars with a bit of Harry Potter,” which, given that those are two of my most favorite series, can’t get much better.

Ivy Gamble hasn’t talked to her twin sister in years, ever since their mother died while Tabitha was away at magic school, not doing anything to help, and non-magical Ivy and her father had to watch her suffer alone. But when the principal of Osthorne Academy for Young Mages, the school where Tabitha now works, contacts Ivy to help solve the gruesome murder of one of their faculty members, Ivy can’t resist seeing what her sister’s up to now.

There was so much about this that I liked. Ivy, despite her hard edges and bitterness, is a character you can’t help but root for, in her mystery solving, her romantic life, and her relationship with her twin. The brand of magic here felt much more intellectual and academic than in other books I’ve read, in a way that felt interesting and unique. And the mystery kept me guessing the whole way through. There were plenty of convincing red herrings and dropped clues while the author laid the groundwork for the true resolution.

If you’re looking for a fall pick that feels a bit noir, at this one to your tbr stat! Fall is the perfect reading time!

Review: The Nature of the Beast

The Nature of the Beast (Chief Inspector Gamache #11), by Louise Penny (Minotaur 2015)

First line: “Running, running, stumbling, running.”

You guys, I’ve read my favorite Three Pines book yet.

Set almost exclusively in the village of Three Pines, this 11th book in the series has an excellent central mystery as well as continued superb character development. (The relationship between Gamache and Beauvior is just too much for this tender heart. I love them so.) There’s not much I can go into, being so far along in the series, but the story starts with a boy who cried wolf, or in this case, a boy who cried giant gun in the woods, and because of his fanciful storytelling, no one believes him. But a giant gun he did indeed find, and the whole village might pay for not believing him.

I love where our main characters are in their lives at this point, and I’m so curious how Penny will keep their development going as she continues to write more books in this series.

I’ve had a lot of 4 and 4.5 stars in this series, but this is the first time I’ve given a Penny book 5 stars. The moments that had me melting and the moments that had my heart racing were too numerous to count, and I’m so delighted by them all.

Review: The Golden Spoon

The Golden Spoon, by Jessa Maxwell; narrated by a full cast (Atria Books 2023)

First line: “Betsy presses her cell phone to her ear, trying to hear.”

I knew that when I heard “Great British Baking Show meets Agatha Christie” that I was going to have to read this book. There’s not much more that could be said to express sheer entertainment, and sheer entertainment this book was.

Six contestants have descended on Grafton estate for this season’s Bake Week hosted by esteemed baker Betsy Martin. This season, Betsy is joined in the tent by co-host she cannot stand, the charming and enigmatic Archie Morris, and it’s soon clear that this season of Bake Week is going to be different than any year previous. First, there appears to be someone sabotaging the bakes, as one baker after another is set upon by disaster. And before the week is over, sabotage is going to be the least of the cast’s problems.

I loved that this audiobook was narrated by a full cast (with the one exception of the voice narrating Stella, which I thought was a terrible choice), and it really helped me get immediately invested in each character and their backstory. I loved all the Bake Week details, which make you feel just as cozy as watching an episode of GBBS, but with a sense of something sinister simmering just beneath the surface.

However, Agatha Christie Jessa Maxwell is not. While the mystery elements were fine, they were definitely not the reason I kept returning to the audiobook, and the ending felt clumsy, if not predictable. (I think we can agree that Christie’s mysteries are anything but.) Nevertheless, I had a great time listening to this one, and sped through in in just a handful of days.

Review: Kill Joy

Kill Joy (AGGGtM 0.5), by Holly Jackson; narrated by Bailey Carr, et al (Listening Library 2021)

First line: “A smear of red across her thumb pressed into the hollows and spirals of her skin.”

I was a BIG fan of the A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series when I listened to it in 2020, and so I was pumped to see a prequel novella in my Libby scroll last month. While the intensity of the original series is a bit dialed back for this prequel, it was still a ton of fun.

Pip is attending a night of costume and intrigue as the Reynolds brothers (Connor and Jamie) we know from the series are throwing a murder mystery dinner. This was immediately nostalgic for me, because my group of friends in middle and high school loved these murder mystery kits. Several of us did them for our birthdays and sometimes just on a random Friday night. Of course, the murder mystery seems to go a bit off the rails, as you might expect, and Pip isn’t sure what’s real and what’s part of the game.

I thought this was such an excellent prequel for setting up the rest of the series. In it, we see Pippa’s character development so well: we see her drive, her cleverness at piecing things together, her stellar observations skills. We get to see a lot of our known cast of characters here, too, including a scene with Mr. Ward and Ravi right at the end that leads so perfectly into A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.

Quick, easy, and a lot of harmless fun, I’d highly recommend this novella for anyone who’s enjoyed the series (or even just the first book).

Review: How the Light Gets In

How the Light Gets In (Chief Inspector Gamache #9), by Louise Penny (Sphere 2013)

First line: “Audrey Villeneuve knew what she imagined could not possibly be happening.”

I am now officially halfway through the Three Pines series, and the last two have been homeruns for me. In this one, the ninth, we finally get some resolution for one of the mysteries that has been bubbling underneath each book’s storyline since the very beginning. For me, this part was far and away more interesting that the individual book’s mystery, which was about the death of a friend of Myrna’s who happened to be part of a very famous family. I even guessed the answer to that mystery well before it was revealed, which is not usually my forte.

But the other mystery, the long game Penny was playing, with corruption in the Sûreté du Québec, had me holding my breath and flipping the pages faster than I could hardly handle. There was SO MUCH TENSION for the entire second half of the book, so make sure you have the time to spend with this one before you dive in! It was heart-wrenching, devastating, and satisfying all at the same time. Phew, what a doozy. Next one is set in the summer, so I have a little time before heading back to Three Pines… until next time!

Review: The Beautiful Mystery

The Beautiful Mystery (Chief Inspector Gamache #8), by Louise Penny (Sphere 2012)

I was just able to squeeze in my seasonal Gamache read during the fall (okay, and in the first few days of December), and it captured my attention like few other books have recently. In book #8, we are taken away from our beloved Three Pines, and our beloved cast of characters for the most part, and are brought to a remote monastery where no one has been in or out (except the residing monks) for centuries. But Gamache and Beauvoir are called in to disrupt that record, as one of the 24 monks has been found murdered in the garden, leaving one of the other 23 as the murderer.

Despite not being set in Three Pines with Clara and Ruth and Olivier and all the others, I found this one to be enthralling. I’m not sure what it was about it — the peaceful location juxtaposed against the violent crime, the deep look into a life that is normally hidden behind closed doors, or the continued strong character development of Armand and Jean Guy (which was excruciating) — but I didn’t want to close the pages of this one. I almost felt compelled to continue right into book #9 after finishing, but I’m going to try to hold off till at least January to give myself some space. Grateful that I’m still not even halfway through this series. So much left to enjoy!

Review: Never Name the Dead

Never Name the Dead, by D. M. Rowell (Crooked Lane Books, 2022)

First line: “A storm brewed outside and inside the cluttered workroom.”

In Silicon Valley, Mae is the founder of a very successful and very busy marketing company. But in Oklahoma, everyone knows her as Mud, the curly-haired, pale, half-white granddaughter of Kiowa tribe elder James Sawpole. And when her grandfather calls with a cryptic message asking for help, Mud drops everything to fly home to see what’s wrong. When she arrives at the airport in Oklahoma, though, her grandfather is not there to pick her up — instead a whole host of other tribe members who are also looking for James, and Mud soon realizes there is definitely a big mess that her grandfather is somehow in the middle of.

This murder mystery is told over the course of one single day, as Mud tries to track down her grandfather, uncover a fracking scandal destroying the tribal land, figure out who killed the man in her grandfather’s work room, and discover who has been stealing precious tribal artifacts. Despite the lengthy list of tasks at hand and the short timeline of the story, I did feel like the pace dragged a bit on this one, mostly due to its repetitiveness. But I so thoroughly enjoyed the purposeful integration of Kiowa history and tradition into the story that I can forgive it that. Rowell clearly knows her community and does a beautiful job sharing that with her readers. I did wonder about the side plot of her business back in California; I’m not sure those details contributed to the story at all, and I can only hope that Rowell is planning to make this a series and this side plot was establishing Mud’s other life, showing it how it comes into conflict with what her grandfather insists is her true path.

An interesting debut with a unique perspective! Many thanks to Crooked Lane Books and Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review: The Widows of Malabar Hill

The Widows of Malabar Hill (Perveen Mistry #1), by Sunjata Massey (Soho Press 2018)

First line: “On the morning Perveen saw the stranger, they’d almost collided.”

One of my closest friends is a big-time mystery reader and always has excellent under-the-radar recommendations, which is where I received this one! Although I’m not sure how under the radar this book is, as just recently I’ve been seeing it come up frequently!

Set in 1921 Bombay (and the years prior as it flashes back), The Widows of Malabar Hill tells the story of Perveen Mistry, the first female solicitor (lawyer) in India, who is employed by her father’s well-known firm. The book begins as she reaches out to the three widows of one of her father’s clients who recently passed away. The women live in purdah, a strict seclusion in their home in which they cannot speak to any men outside their family. But when she learns that all three women have signed over their inheritance to a charity (making their futures very precarious), she gets suspicious and investigates. The case quickly becomes even more troubling when a member of the household ends up murdered.

What makes this book so special is the simultaneous exploration of Perveen’s personal story, which holds just as much tension as the murder mystery in the forefront. This book was lengthy, and I sometimes felt the length, but the slow burn suspense in both storylines was incredible. I felt so much building dread while reading this, primarily while learning about Perveen’s past, and the widow’s mystery just added to that. It reminded me of the Inspector Gamache series for this reason — the novel’s murder mystery is truly enhanced by the main cast’s personal stories. Also like Three Pines, I felt so immersed in the culture of the setting, in this case 1920s Parsi culture in India. I’ve been intrigued by Indian culture since taking an Indian Literature class in college, and I loved learning more about this earlier time in the country’s history.

While I don’t feel an urge to immediately jump back into this series, I do think I’ll pick it up again eventually. Massey’s storytelling is excellent. The fourth volume of the series is expected to publish next year.

Review: Bellweather Rhapsody

Bellweather Rhapsody, by Kate Racculia (Mariner Books 2014)

First line: “Minnie Graves is a bridesmaid.”

Fifteen years ago a bride shot her groom on their wedding night before hanging herself in their room at the Bellweather Hotel. Now, in present day 1997, on the anniversary of their deaths, the Bellweather is overrun with teenagers who are staying the weekend for the annual Statewide music festival. The most talented singers and musicians, including the Hatmaker twins, Alice and Rabbit, plan to spend three days of solid rehearsing before performing for family, friends, and talent scouts. But they didn’t expect a young flute prodigy to go missing the first night, nor did they expect the epic blizzard headed their way.

I first heard about this book through one of the recommendations in the marvelous Bibliophile book by Jane Mount. Reading the premise had me feeling like this book was written for me: a locked-in murder mystery set in a quirky old hotel with a high school music festival as the backdrop?? What more could a person want? It sounded, quite simply, like a ton of fun, and it certainly was that. As a former band/orchestra geek who attended very similar music conferences in her past, I loved reliving all those details. I was surprised, however, to also find very nuanced characters and lots of unexpected plot twists that kept me on my toes! Racculia had me audibly gasping and saying, “I’m sorry, WHAT?” several times throughout her novel, which is just a delightful reading experience. Plus, the twists were all extremely well-crafted, not just twisting for shock value.

If you’re looking for something just a little outside the norm, something that will warm your heart while simultaneously knocking you off balance, I urge you to give this backlist title a try. Particularly excellent reading for a snowy weekend.

Review: Bury Your Dead

Bury Your Dead (Chief Inspector Gamache #6), by Louise Penny (Minotaur 2010)

First line: “Up the stairs they raced, taking them two at a time, trying to be as quiet as possible.”

In this wintry sixth novel in the Three Pines mystery series, Chief Inspector Gamache has gone to Quebec City to recuperate from a traumatic recent case, spending time with his mentor and former Chief Inspector Emile. Of course he’s not there for long before he stumbles upon a murder, this time of Augustin Renaud, renowned historian and hunter of the grave of Samuel de Champlain, founder of Quebec. But this novel is not just about Renaud’s death; it’s three mysteries in one. In addition to the murder mystery in Quebec City, Inspector Beauvoir heads back to Three Pines to re-investigate a previous case, and both Beauvoir and Gamache have flashbacks to a devastating event in the recent past, slowly revealing to the reader what happened. Of the three, it was this flashback case I was most interested in, but like the past five novels, Penny’s skill at pacing, in this instance by balancing the three cases, is what really held this book together. I was also reminded again how little I know about Canadian history (like, next to nothing).

This wasn’t my favorite of the series so far (as I always wanted to get back to the flashback case), but the writing continues to be excellent and the characters keep developing into fuller pictures of themselves. I love Penny’s storytelling so much and can’t wait to continue reading.