The Pie & Mash Detective Agency

The Pie & Mash Detective Agency by J.D. Brinkworth, 368 pages

Jane Pye and Simon Mash are a fairly bored and fairly weird couple that signed up for a private eye class on a whim. Their classmates and instructor certainly don't take them seriously, though when their instructor gives them a case that not even he could solve as homework, Jane and Simon attack it with the same misguided enthusiasm with which they approached the class. As they consider everything from serial killers to coincidence to a ghostly urban legend, Jane and Simon bumble their way through the investigation and attempt to stay out of hot water.

I don't mind hapless amateur investigators in mystery novels, but there's something annoying about the way Jane and Simon are characterized. So much of what defines them are the stereotypes of "millennial," which they are derogatorily called so many times throughout the book that I considered creating a drinking game (I did not, as I didn't want to pass out after two chapters). It was distracting from a story that went in so many different directions (probably too many directions) and needed careful concentration to crack. All in all, it was a miss. 

How to Get Away with Murder

How to Get Away with Murder by Rebecca Philipson, 368 pages

Detective Inspector Samantha Hansen is reluctant about going back to work following a traumatic experience more than six months ago. But when a teen girl is murdered in a park near Samantha's house, she's determined to help solve the crime. Complicating matters is of a "self-help" book called How to Get Away with Murder by a man going by the pseudonym Denver Brady that is found with the body. Brady professes to be a serial killer, and chapter by chapter, tells his readers how to kill and not get caught. Was the girl's murder another one of Brady's? Is it the work of a copycat? Or is the book's presence at the crime scene simply misdirection?

This was an intriguing premise, especially as Samantha's investigation is interspersed with chapters from Brady's book, and kept my interest through the bulk of the story. However, the end got a bit convoluted for my taste, and honestly, kept it from sticking in my brain for more than a week or so after reading it. OK, but nothing amazing.

Murder at Gulls Nest

Murder at Gulls Nest by Jess Kidd, 336 pages

Novice nun Frieda was released from her vows, but kept up correspondence with her fellow novice Nora for quite a while afterward. But after sending a letter claiming that all of the residents of the long-term hotel where she lived were hiding something, Frieda's letters simply stopped, and Nora knew that something was wrong. Following her friend's footsteps, Nora also asked to leave the convent and her vows, and travels to that same hotel, Gulls Nest, to see if she can track down Frieda. She's met with a quirky group of residents, and before long, a series of murders to add to her investigation.

Set in Kent in the 1940s, this series-starting mystery introduces a winning amateur detective in Nora Breen, and the supporting characters are just kooky enough to make all of them suspects. It kept me guessing and took me directions that I didn't expect — but as I read it a while back, I can't remember whodunnit. Which perhaps gives this reread potential, but also shows that it didn't stick with me particularly well. However, if you dig WWII-era mysteries with plucky female detectives, this one is right up your alley.

The Impossible Fortune

The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman (2025) 352 pages

Osman keeps the activity fresh in his fifth installment of the Thursday Murder Club mysteries, starting with the wedding of Joyce's daughter, Joanna, where Nick, the best man, confides in Elizabeth that someone is trying to kill him. He hopes that the retired spy can help him. This case helps bring Elizabeth out of the numbness she has felt since her husband died. Nick and his partner Holly run a secretive underground cold storage facility utilized by people trying to keep information safe. Nick and Holly are trying to cash in on a risk they took long ago to take cryptocurrency in lieu of cash as a rental fee, and the value of the cryptocurrency has soared to 350 million. When one of them dies and the other disappears, the Thursday Murder Club members fan out to visit possible suspects.

Meanwhile, Ron's daughter has finally had enough of her abusive husband, pulling a gun on him. Now she's in hiding, and has left her precocious son, Kendrick, in the care of her father and brother, while her husband plots against her.

Another storyline has to do with Connie, a cocaine seller whom we met previously. Ron is responsible for her getting prison time, and she would like to kill him now that she's out. But she's been working with Ibrahim, Ron's best friend, who is trying to get her to mentor young people to keep them from going afoul of the law. Little does Ibrahim know that Connie's mentoring has encouraged a young woman to plan a heist!

The action keeps moving, while the characters that we know and love from this British series are on the hunt for a killer. Even some of the "bad guys" are lovable in their own way. The seemingly unrelated plots converge at times in this hard-to-put-down-book.

The Locked Room

 The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths (2022), 368 pages

I love this series. I love the characters and I love the cozy mysteries that take place in coastal Norfolk, England. If you are new to the series (which has been around since 2019), it follows forensic archeologist Ruth Galloway and the interesting cast of characters that live in the fictional town of King's Lynn. Sadly, this is the penultimate book in the series and I am not sure what I will do when it ends. Probably start a campaign for Griffiths to re-start it, maybe do a time-jump and have Kate, Ruth's daughter, be the new focus. I am flexible on this. 

 A huge bonus to having a forensic archeologist as the protagonist is that you get to learn a lot of interesting history about very early England. The novel includes old castles and locked rooms, but is set during the Covid pandemic. It is a pet-peeve of mine when authors completely ignore the pandemic while setting a book right in the middle of it. I appreciate Griffiths for tackling it head-on. As usual, the mystery is fine, but what I really appreciate is how Griffiths moves the character's lives forward. When we first met Ruth in 2019, she was a late thirty-something. Now she is in her early fifties with a child. Her friends and friendships have also come and gone, but the core group has matured and grown. It feels like we have been on a journey together and I will miss it. If there is a downside to the novel, it is the revelation of a trope that is just unnecessary. 

Death at the White Hart

Death at the White Hart by Chris Chibnall, 352 pages

When the owner of the White Hart pub is found dead — and gruesomely tied to a chair in the middle of the road with antlers affixed to his head — the small town of Fleetcombe is shaken to its core. On the case is Detective Nicola Bridge, who has just returned to her hometown after years working for the Liverpool police department in an attempt at a slower life. Too bad this murder and subsequent investigation into the secrets of the whole community won't let her do that.

I'm going to be completely honest and say that while I remember reading this and thinking it was a solid police procedural mystery, nothing really stuck out to me as either particularly fantastic or problematic. So solid but forgettable in my eyes. However, fans of Broadchurch will probably enjoy a complex mystery novel by the creator of that show.

The Killer Question

The Killer Question by Janice Hallett, 448 pages

Sue and Mal Eastwood are living out a second career as proprietors of The Case Is Altered, a struggling, off-the-beaten-path pub. The only thing that's really helping them thrive is a weekly pub quiz, with bespoke questions created by quizmaster Mal (none of those "from a book" questions for him!). Business seems to be improving until a body turns up in the nearby canal, and it's a man who had been kicked out of the pub quiz earlier that evening. Around the same time, a mysterious new trivia team shows up and starts beating the locals EVERY TIME with nearly perfect scores, baffling Sue and Mal and frustrating the other teams to no end. So there are two mysteries here — who killed the guy in the canal and how the heck is this new team winning??

Told in a modern epistolary style — emails, texts, transcripts of interviews and recordings — and presented as a pitch for a Netflix true crime documentary series, this is a fast-moving book that doesn't necessarily follow a linear timeline. Rather, it pops back in time to give more details the same way that one of those, well, Neflix true crime documentaries does. There are definitely some elements that didn't work for me (why did the conversations between spouses have to be via text?) and the final twist didn't seem to have a whole lot of clues leading up to it, but overall it was a lot of fun.

Leave No Trace

Leave No Trace by Jo Callaghan, 400 pages

Previously focused on cold cases, Detective Kat Frank and her AI assistant Lock are given their first "live" case: the murder of a man crucified at the top of a hill in a highly contaminated crime scene. Kat's superiors hope that by allowing the human-AI detective pair to investigate will be a PR boon, showing how the police department is using state-of-the-art technology to assist in the solving of crimes. However, Lock's lack of tact and humanity causes problems as the case explodes into a serial killer situation.

This was a surprisingly nuanced look at technology and policing, considering the pros, cons, and gray areas in a way that I didn't expect in a murder mystery. The characters, including Lock, are all three-dimensional and compelling, and the inherent mystery kept me guessing. This is the second book in the series (after In the Blink of an Eye), but stands well by itself even if you haven't read that one (I haven't yet, though I certainly will).

Also, this has nothing to do with the content of the book, but there is a note that the cover was created with AI. Leaving aside all the problems with AI art, I found it somewhat apropos that it was used for this particular book.

Homework: a Memoir

Homework: a Memoir by Geoff Dyer  (2025) 276pp
Dyer is first and foremost a writer and at times this rollicking (do they rollick in the UK?) coming-of-age memoir reads like Dickensian fiction. I keep expecting Miss Havisham and Estella to make an appearance. But Dyer would put Havisham in a caravan and Estella would be dressed in a mini skirt and drive a Mini Cooper. A literary polymath, Dyer can write about anyone and anything and he does not disappoint here. Certainly, an argument could be made that he is too stylish and too detailed, but the writing is snappy and his ability to put the reader in the setting is uncanny (of course this is not autobiography, it is memoir, much license given). Fair warning – once you read a book by Dyer you will read another and another and another.

How To Age Disgracefully

How To Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley (2024) 337 pages

Daphne lives in an apartment that has a wonderful view of London, but she's tired of feeling imprisoned there by some secret from her past. It's been 15 years, but now that she has had her 70th birthday, she wants get back out and meet people. She is outspoken and feisty, and if she wants to make friends at this late stage of life, she's got some learning to do. 

Art is an actor who has been mostly out-of-work, but he finds himself stealing things without ever needing or using what he's taken, probably because of his own sad history. 

Daphne and Art, along with a handful of other characters who have their own odd stories, meet at a senior citizen program that Lydia has been hired to run. Poor Lydia is low on self esteem, and if she thinks these seniors are going to be happy making macramé plant holders, she's got another think coming! When part of the ceiling collapses on the first day of the senior program, the building is at risk of being sold and torn down. The various groups who use the building‒a daycare, AA, and pregnant women‒are doing all they can to save the community center, with the seniors taking the lead. The seniors team up with the children in the daycare to get some good PR, which leads to their newfound group expanding. You can't go wrong with eccentric old people, babies, and dogs, can you? Fun story.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

 The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, 277 pages.

London is recovering from the devastating effects of World War II, and author Juliet Ashton is at a loss for what to write about. That is, until a stranger happens to write her a spontaneous letter after finding her name in one of her used books, and she is drawn completely into the story of the German wartime occupation of the English-owned isle of Guernsey. She is soon exchanging correspondence not only with Dorsey (the original letter writer), but also many other eccentric residents of the island, who she soon considers food friends. Soon Elizabeth is completely enthralled by the allure of the isle of Guernsey and its residents. 

I like a good epistolary novel, and I found the characters in this novel very charming. It was a little light on plot for me personally, and I think it didn't help that this isn't a period of history that is particularly interesting to me. However, I do think that fans of WWII historical fiction, especially centered on women and relationships, would probably like this book a lot. 

Knife Skills for Beginners

Knife Skills for Beginners by Orlando Murrin (2025) 313 pages

Paul is a chef who has been contacted by an old friend, Christian, a well known TV chef who is also known for restaurants he has operated. Christian is also involved in a cooking school that brings in small groups of people to learn to cook various types of foods. However, Christian has a problem: he has injured his arms and cannot teach the class, and he asks Paul to fill in for him.

Paul's not that keen on the idea, but decides to go ahead, with the proviso that Christian will be there to help manage the class. The class has 8 participants who are to live in the mansion that houses the school for the intense week of classes. When Christian doesn't show up for the first class, Paul is steamed but handles it the best he can.

A day later when someone is found dead, with his head almost chopped off with a cleaver that Paul used the day before, things look bad for Paul. Paul decides to learn all he can about Christian—whose life has some details Paul has never known—as well as the students, in order to save his own hide.

Paul is a relatable character in many respects. As a benefit, he gives the students—as well as the reader—cookery tips. The book is written by a British chef with a writing style I found unique and enjoyable. (A second book featuring Paul is set to be released this year.)

The Examiner

The Examiner by Janice Hallett (2024) 463 pages

"Six Students. One Murder. Can You Solve the Crime?" These words jump out from under the title on the book's cover. My own answer was a resounding "No!" For one thing, what IS the crime?!

Six students are admitted into a new yearlong Master's Program in Multimedia Art at Royal Hastings University in England. The tale is told through emails and group chats via an intranet/messaging system, for the most part. Sometimes the group chats are open to all the students and their instructor, Gela Nathaniel. Sometimes the messages are private. Sometimes we see diaries the students keep online. 

The students are a diverse group in age, experience, and country of origin. From the start, rather than work together, they seem to squabble a lot. The youngest, Jem, is 21, fresh out of her bachelor's degree. She's a go-getter; very confident and headstrong. But at least she shows up. Some of the others are having issues with family,  jobs or health. 

The final assignment for the masters program is for the students to work together on a multimedia installation for a real business and to install it in the company's foyer for a reception for the company's guests. An outside examiner is to evaluate the students' work. His queries, as the program nears the end, make us aware that he thinks something bad may have happened to one of the students. But what?

The Examiner was sometimes hard for me to stick with. There were long spells where I didn't like any characters; at other times a couple of characters were more tolerable. So many surprises and twists in this story.

The Murders in Great Diddling

The Murders in Great Diddling by Katarina Bivald (2024) 392 pages

Berit Gardner is a writer with 10 books to her name, but she has been suffering from a lingering case of writer's block. She recently moved from London to the village of Great Diddling, hopeful that being among the quirky residents will help get her writing again.

During a tea party in the village, at the Tawny Hall estate, an explosion kills a man that no one likes, a man who had informed several shopkeepers that they will be evicted. Detective Chief Inspector Ian Ahmed and his team determine that the death was not an accident. Suspects include several of the tea party guests. Berit, the author, and DCI Ahmed share a number of conversations about possible suspects and motives. Berit looks at the murder as if it were a novel, trying to figure out the characters and the plot, how the pieces fit together, and what information is still missing.

The eccentric characters and their interactions are compelling. For many of them, there are tantalizing unknowns in their backstories to keep the reader guessing about their possible guilt. When the villagers decide to host a book and murder festival while the murder investigation is still underway, it is a bit crazy, especially on short notice. Fun story!

Behind the Lens

Behind the Lens: My Life by David Suchet 375 pp.

David Suchet is best known for playing Agatha Christie's most famous detective, Hercule Poirot which he did for 25 years. But Suchet has been a fixture of English drama for over fifty years, performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company and on other stages. During his long and successful career he is never without his camera, having learned photography from his grandfather, to keep a record of not just his acting, but his life. In this somewhat unusual memoir he relates tales about his upbringing, drama training, career, his ancestry, his beliefs, and his family. The photos he includes are of a wide variety of subjects. Some of his life details are surprising - living with his wife on canal boats that could be moved from town to town as he performed in different theatres. Other details were a surprise to him, such as his Jewish ancestry. This is a memoir with non of the sleazy parts, only a straightforward story of Suchet's life and career. He seems to be beyond any scandal and is well respected among his peers and especially his fans.

The Midnight Feast

The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley (2024) 354 pages

Francesca and her architect-husband Owen, have opened an ultra upscale resort at the top of a cliff by the sea in Dorset, England. The resort includes part of a huge forest. A moodiness prevails in the setting, with crows‒some humongous‒seeming to cast judgement. The locals in the area are resentful of the resort owners and their rich patrons, especially angry because the resort has cut them off from their ability to go through the forest and to access the sea easily.

It's opening weekend and Francesca is obsessed with having everything just right, to get good publicity from all the top raters. But what she hadn't counted on was Bella, a young woman who came to the resort alone. Bella had spent a summer in the area 15 years ago. Something very bad happened here that summer, when Bella met Frankie, the granddaughter of the people who owned the mansion at that time, but what?

The point of view changes with the chapters‒primarily Bella, Francesca, Owen, and Eddie, a farm boy who has taken a job washing dishes at the resort. The time also pivets back and forth.

The story is often dark, with a few characters that are somewhat caricatured. Riveting, in its dark way, the story grows more complex, with the characters more connected than they seemed at first glance.

Talking to Strangers

Talking to Strangers by Fiona Barton, 388 pages

On Valentine's Day 2020, hairdresser Karen Simmons got a bit tipsy with her good friend, headed home, and then got a text from a mysterious someone and left her home to meet up. The next morning, she was discovered dead in the nearby woods. Karen had been a known user of dating apps, and led a singles group in their small town — given her intoxication, there are several people who seem to think she got what was coming to her. But police detective Elise King and journalist Kiki Nunn think otherwise, and each starts her own investigation into Karen's death. While Elise's path is more conventional and official, Kiki makes the bold decision to delve into the world of online dating herself to try to catch Karen's killer.

This book had a compelling plot, and enough subplots to keep the story interesting and keep me guessing. However, the three point-of-view characters are all women (Elise, Kiki, and Annie, whose son was murdered in the same woods 16 years earlier) and VERY hard to distinguish, voice-wise. It's a decent book, but not my favorite.

The Ministry of Time

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley, 339 pages

After several prodding interviews, our unnamed narrator is hired to a secretive job within the Ministry — she's to be a "bridge", a 24-hour assistant and monitor for a person who has been yanked out of the past and is now trying to assimilate into the 21st Century. Her "expat" is British naval officer Graham Gore, who was snatched from a doomed Arctic exploration in 1847. However, as they spend time together and the civil servant files her reports, it becomes apparent that something or someone is trying to undermine the whole time travel experiment.

This was a much more serious book than I'd anticipated, full of musing about the impacts of people from different eras merging lives and ways of thinking. It's also the least time-travelly book about time travel I've ever read — no hopping around in time or random popping up in odd spaces. However, that's not to say that it's bad... I actually really enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to people who are looking for a more literary and thought-provoking science fiction title.

I think the coolest thing about this book, however, is found in the author's note at the end: Graham is based on a real person who actually died in the expedition discussed in the book. I appreciated Bradley's dedication to research and bringing this fairly minor historical figure back to life in a big way.

The Queen of Poisons

The Queen of Poisons by Robert Thorogood, 261 pages

When the  mayor of a small English town is murdered during a planning council meeting, the suspect pool is somewhere between tiny and nonexistent — after all, there were only four other people in the room when he died and the man was universally beloved. But the Marlow Murder Club — crossword creator Judith, quirky dog-sitter Suzie, and vicar's wife Becks — are determined to figure out who poisoned the poor man's coffee and why in the world they did it.

This is the third book in this popular series, and even though I haven't read the first two, I had no trouble falling in with this winning trio of amateur detectives and their sneaky sleuthing. The characters are delightful, and the mystery kept me guessing until the very end. I will definitely be checking out the first two books in this series, as well as any others that come after.

How to Age Disgracefully

How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley, 337 pages

On her 70th birthday, Daphne decides that her years of being a virtual recluse are over, and she's going to try to make some friends to help her enjoy her older years. An advertisement for a new senior social club at the local community center seems to be just the ticket, especially at the first meeting, when Daphne realizes that her fellow members are anything but stereotypical old people. There's Art, a failed actor-turned-shoplifter, and his best friends, a former paparazzo named William; anonymous yarn-bombing activist Ruby; and former truckdriver and five-times-over widow Anna. (Oh, and Pauline, a former headmistress who doesn't much figure into the story for reasons revealed early on in the book.) When the council decides that the community center's needed repairs are more than they can halfheartedly justify, the seniors team up with the nursery school to fight the demolition, with uproariously funny results.

The characters in this book are fantastic, and all are well developed, from Daphne (who I kinda want to be when I grow up) to single teen dad Ziggy to the surprisingly talented mutt named Maggie Thatcher. I loved reading about this community, and I'll be heartily recommending this to everyone.