The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

 The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton, 528 pages.

A man wakes up in the woods with no memory of who he is or how he got there. He will wake up to this same day eight times, each in a different body, and if he can't solve a murder that doesn't look like a murder he will have to start all over. But everyone in this decaying country estate hides layers of evil, and anyone seems capable of the crime.

This premise sounded so interesting, and it won a bunch of awards, so I had high hopes for this book. Unfortunately, I thought this book was terrible. It's essentially boot strap paradox, the book. By the end I'm not sure that we even solved the crime, because it seems like most of what happens in the house is because of one or another of the protagonist's bodies. He is also, to be honest, not that good at investigating, which I find very personally frustrating, especially in a plot with such unique avenues for gathering information. Not a mystery I can recommend I'm afraid. 

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.

Homicide and Halo-Halo

Homicide and Halo-Halo Mia P. Manansala (2022, 279 pages)

Back in Shady Palms, the annual beauty pageant has the whole town busy in preparation. Lila is extra busy as a backup judge and opening up her new Bruja Cafe with her best friend Adeena. When a major figure in the pageant turns up dead in the river, accusations are thrown across the map and the event continues.

What I liked:
✨Like before, love learning the Filipino recipes!
✨This one was more fun trying to figure out what happened, there were lots of good contestants!

What I didn't like:
💤Not usually a fan of parading around girls to be gawked at, so the pageant setting wasn't my favorite despite some very progressive changes to it
 💤The main character is very much the Main Character and it often feels like the things that revolve around her are excessive
💤Continuing the love triangle but not really developing those relationships further

 The second in the Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery series.

⭐⭐⭐ 

Arsenic and Adobo

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala (2021, 336 pages) 

Life happens and Lila moves back to her midwestern hometown of Shady Palms for a bit of a reset and to help with her aunt's restaurant, Tita Rosie's Kitchen. Her ex Derek has become a food critic that's making his way around the local restaurants, and her best friend Adeena is a barista at the cafe next door. With an untimely death, Lila and Adeena become detectives to solve a small town murder. There's a cast of characters with varying involvement, small businesses, and family drama. With Tita Rosie's Kitchen closed until the murder has been solved, Lila has nothing but time on her hands to snoop!

What I liked:
✨Cute cozy mystery! Love a small midwestern town with a murder rate of 1 per capita.
✨Filipino culture, food, and language lessons!
✨Just straight up fun! I love watching a pair of besties solve crimes. They have dreams to open their own cafe, have their own dreams and desires, and have the best friend fights like anyone else. I love these two!
✨Realistic characters in this silly world: they had outbursts, acting outside of their norm, but coming back into themselves logically.


What I didn't like:
💤Pretty love triangle-y, or maybe even a square! At one point I swear there were three men interested in our main character. Just felt a little excessive, like every man was a potential love interest.
💤A lot of characters, got a little confusing at times
💤Some high school level drama

Favorite quote: "But knowing something logically, doesn't take away the guilt."

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Fixing to Die

Fixing to Die by Elaine Viets (2013) 280 pages

Josie Marcus and her new husband Ted are house hunting in the St. Louis area. Ted's partner at the veterinary clinic, Christine, inherited a house that seems perfect, except for the kitchen. A gazebo in the yard also needs to be removed. After they buy the house, when the renovations are underway, it turns out that there's a body buried under the gazebo steps, and the body is Christine's hippy-ish sister, Rain, who had lived in the house. After a fight between the sisters some months ago, Rain said she was moving to an ashram in California and hasn't been heard from since then.

Christine is arrested for her sister's murder. Josie is determined to find out who really killed Rain. Rain had a couple of iffy boyfriends who are still in the area. The neighbors are worth getting to know, too, in case they have any ideas. 

Meanwhile, Josie's 12-year-old daughter Amelia is having bully problems at the private school she attends. And Josie is busy scouring resale shops for mid-century cabinets and appliances to have fixed up and installed in the kitchen.

The conversations between the characters feel real and the action keeps moving. As a bonus, there are numerous reference to St. Louis landmarks by the native St. Louis author.

Just Another Dead Author

Just Another Dead Author by Katarina Bivald (2025) 373 pages

In this novel we once again encounter Swedish mystery author Berit Gardner, the main character in The Murders of Great Diddling. She has agreed to be part of a two-week long workshop for writers in a somewhat run-down villa in France. Berit has published several books and will be one of the workshop teachers, but the main attraction of the workshop is acclaimed writer John Wright. Some of the would-be writers revere him, in spite of his cantankerous nature. When Wright ends up dead, the workshop goes on, partly to keep all the suspects together while the police investigate the murder. Several of the participants find that the police work is giving them a window into how investigations work, helpful if they want to write murder mysteries.

Berit's way of noticing details is helpful to Commissaire Beatrice Roche, although Roche's newbie inspector, who has been dubbed "The Mayor," is suspicious of her. Berit herself is trying to figure out who the murderer was, and is concerned that some of the younger writers at the workshop are so set on finding the murderer and writing a book about it, that they may not be considering their own safety.

I liked so much about this book. Not only was I kept guessing about whodunnit, but the characterizations are well done. Berit isn't just a smart writer trying to figure things out, she is also a person who feels kind of down about experiencing another murder up close, and realizing that she needs to widen her pool of suspects to include her friends.

She Didn't See It Coming

 She Didn't See It Coming by Shari Lapena (2025, 337 pages)

Bryden Frost: mother to a 3-year old, successful accountant, luxury condo owner, wife to Sam. 

When Sam gets a call that Bryden hasn't picked up their child from daycare, he thinks her day slipped away from her working from home and goes to pick her up himself. But when they arrive home, Bryden is gone. As if she had just left.

Notable players include a man with an accusation just down the hall; her sister more involved than thought; her jealous best friend; a man she met on a whim three months prior; HIS girlfriend; and of course her husband. A murder within a closed condo, yet the whole city is watching.

The prose flowed, the twists were reasonable, and it was all unpredictable. Perfect mix of drama and mystery. Interesting characters and the unknown was placed perfectly out of reach: not confusing, but just enough to keep you guessing. Rare for me to enjoy a book without liking most characters, but Lapena did it well. Great mystery read for those that like a little suspense that won't keep you up at night!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Drunk on All Your Strange New Words

 Drunk on All Your Strange New Words by Eddie Robson, 277 pages.

When humans speak Logi it makes them feel drunk, which makes being the translator for the Logi cultural attaché a somewhat more complicated job than many other translating positions. Lydia may not be passionate about this job, but it got her out of her dead-end hometown, and she really likes her employer. So when he is murdered while she is blackout drunk upstairs she has several reasons to be upset. Lydia has to track breadcrumbs not only to clear her own name, but to unravel the increasingly complicated plot she is trapped in.  

Sometimes science fiction books with a really interesting premise fall flat because they don't have much outside of that one great idea. This isn't one of those books. The characters are alive and compelling from the first page, and the mystery is shockingly well constructed. I did not see most of the twists coming, but did find it very satisfying how they fit together. My only real complaint is that the ending felt a little to rushed to properly resolve the great plot it followed. This feels like a great entry point for anyone interested in getting into sci-fi. 

The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective

The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective by Jo Nichols (2025) 340 pages

Mrs. B is a widow who owns 6 little cottages surrounding a little courtyard in the Santa Barbara area. She rents out the cottages to people she likes, often giving a low rate to those who need it. Her tenants include Lily-Ann, who's a perfectionist who can't live with her husband anymore; Sophie, who has had a traumatic experience, but is trying to move past it; Hamilton, who is an agoraphobic; Ocean, a gay artist who has two children; and Nicholas, who mysteriously seems to avoid Mrs. B. and the others.

A dead man is found outside Sophie's cottage one morning. The local police immediately decide who the murderer is when they see Mrs. B's latest tenant, Anthony, a large man with a bad facial tattoo, who'd spent time in prison in the past. However, Mrs. B is sure that Anthony has not committed the murder. The rest of the tenants start meeting to learn more about the dead man and people he had associated with, and to figure out who killed him. The relationships that are forged between the tenants feel real. There are a number of secrets and surprises. But the real beauty is the clever plot that kept me guessing until the very end, and has me still ruminating over it a day later. Highly recommend this book.

Murder Takes a Vacation

Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman (2025) 261 pages

Mrs. Blossom has been widowed 10 years. After she happens to find a winning lottery ticket on the ground, she decides to take a riverboat cruise that originates in Paris. Mrs. Blossom is a large woman who doesn't expect to find romance in her life again, but on her flight to London, she meets Allan, who helps her with logistics and sits near her on the plane. He helps her when she can't make her next flight to Paris, getting her situated on a train the next day, instead. She's starting to swoon over the man, surprising herself. When Allan is found dead, the police find Mrs. Blossom because he had taken a photo of her that he apparently shared with someone via text. Meanwhile, because her last employment was following people for a private detective, she notices that she is being followed. She confronts the guy whom she keeps seeing (Danny) and it's not really clear who he is and whether he can be trusted, especially when he ends up taking the same riverboat cruise that she's on. All she knows is that he tells a story of an antiquity that disappeared long ago that may have some connection to Allan. And that he has a good eye for clothing.

So who was Allan and why did he die? Who is Danny really? And why did her room get searched in Paris, and again on the riverboat? She can't find anything that Allan might have slipped into her luggage.

The novel is a fast read, with characters that resist being pigeon-holed. Mrs. Blossom is a character in Lipmann's Tess Monaghan series. I haven't read any of that series, but it didn't get in the way of enjoying this book.

Fugitive Telemetry

 Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells, 168 pages.

When a dead human shows up on Preservation, Murderbot has to make sure that it doesn't indicate a threat to Dr. Mensah. Even when it becomes clear that the Murder is unrelated, Murderbot is still pulled into the investigation with Station Security (who are SO unprepared to handle a murder). 

This was a fun little murder mystery. It was a pleasure to get to see Murderbot doing what it's good at, although I do wish there were slightly more clues to help the reader solve the case. I also had to check several times to make sure I hadn't accidentally read books out of order, because I think this story realistically makes more sense coming before book 5. This was a funny novella, and a worthy continuation to the series. 

Murder by Memory

Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite, 112 pages

Mentally alive for hundreds of years on an interstellar generation ship, Dorothy Gentleman is shocked when her consciousness is unexpectedly thrown into a new body during a solar storm affecting the space ship, just as another passenger is found murdered. Given that most people were hunkering down during the storm, it's quite possible that Dorothy's new body belongs to the murderer, and as one of the ship's detectives, Dorothy's now in the tough spot of trying to investigate while wearing the body of a prime suspect.

This is a very short and creative science fiction murder mystery, and my main complaint with it is that I wish it was longer. The complex storage and body-hopping of passengers' minds really needs much more than this slim book was able to offer, especially with the amount of financial crime and murder that's also detailed. Fun, but a bit too short.

Holy Terrors

 Holy Terrors by Margaret Owen, 560 pages.

In the nearly two years since Vanja destroyed the cult she accidentally started, she has been trying to do as much good as possible. Even if it may never entirely make up for the things that she has done, or the way that she hurt Emeric. The reformed Pfennigeist is a Robin Hood type figure, answering prayers for the poor, powerless, and abused. Which makes it a real problem for Vanja when nobles start turning up murdered with her signature red penny in their mouths. When the blessed empress herself shows up murdered in the same way, Vanja is forced into the investigation to clear the name she worked so hard to make. Even if it means working with Journeyman Prefect Emeric Conrad again. 

This intense conclusion to the Little Thieves trilogy is a much more blood-soaked addition. I wrote about the first book here in 2021, and continue to endorse the series whole-heartedly. Even with the frankly slightly excessive amount of murders, this is still a very character focused book. More specifically, it's focused on characters I love, bringing back characters from the first book who were mostly absent in the second. I'm not sure I entirely loved the heavier tone of this book, but I did think the final act was phenomenal, and served as a worthy send-off for a beloved series. 

Murder in the Dressing Room

Murder in the Dressing Room by Holly Stars, 368 pages

When drag queen Misty Divine discovers her drag mother, Lady Lady, poisoned in her dressing room, Misty is determined to see Lady's murderer caught and punished. Unfortunately, the detective assigned to the homicide is more concerned with the stolen vintage dress Lady Lady was wearing, and he's not making things easier by referring to drag performers by their non-stage names and dismissing drag as an oddity instead of a celebrated lifestyle. So Misty takes it upon herself to investigate, and ends up learning way more than she anticipated about her fellow performers.

This was an excellent murder mystery, one that manages to combine a solid mystery with a compelling amateur sleuth who has a legitimate reason for not trusting the police (that's always a pet peeve of mine), as well as a behind-the-scenes look at the world of drag. Drag plays an integral role in the character development and the story as a whole, and manages to not overwhelm the story. I absolutely loved this one, and so far, it's one of my favorite mysteries of the year. I will definitely be reading more Misty Divine books, as soon as Holly Stars writes them!

The Murderbot Diaries #6-7

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells (2021) 168 pages 

System Collapse by Martha Wells (2023) 245 pages

 
As of now, this is the conclusion of the series. I continued with the same GraphicAudio editions with a full cast. I really enjoyed book 6. It is the most straightforward murder mystery of the series. The Sec Unit uses his skills to be a detective on Preservation Station with help from many returning characters. The security staff on the station does not often have to solve murders, so his surveillance and analysis skills are very helpful. Book 7 has the return of the AI ship system ART, who I suddenly realized was missing from the murder mystery adventure previously. This is the first time we really get to see what the Preservation crew does as they go on a planet survey mission. There are colonists, who have faced a dangerous alien contamination incident. Then they learn of a separate colony that the first colony has lost contact with. A small Preservation party travels across the planet to investigate. It becomes a competition to convince the people there that Preservation's humanitarian goals in connection with a University are better for them than the corporation Barish-Estranza's aim to enslave them. The corporation does not present their deal in those terms. Preservation's crew puts together a documentary. It has the excitement of "let's put on a show," but, of course, is more how do we present the most compelling facts to unselfishly help these isolated survivors. A good message to close this series, but I could see this series continuing.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie (1926) 288 pages

I listened to the audiobook on Hoopla narrated by Charles Armstrong. Classic murder mystery with private detective Hercule Poirot. It plays with mystery tropes that were already recognized in the 1920s such as "the butler did it." Early on suspicion seems to fall on the butler, until each other family member or staff of the victim is forced to reveal their secrets. But who ultimately killed Roger Ackroyd?
 

Voyage of the Damned

Voyage of the Damned by Frances White, 459 pages

In Concordia, each province has just one person who has a single magical blessing, an ability that is passed down genetically from one leader to the next, though one of them (the emperor) has untold powers that pass through his line. To celebrate the empire, its unity, and its magical powers, the 12 Blessed board a ship for a voyage to a sacred mountain. Unfortunately, one of the 12 people on board is Ganymedes (Dee, to his friends), the Blessed of the lowly Fish province, who has a BIG secret: he doesn't actually have a blessing, and it's most likely going to appear in one of his philandering father's illegitimate offspring. But before he can worry too much about that, the Blessed start dying off dramatically, and Dee has to figure out who's killing them before he becomes a victim and his lack of magical power is discovered.

This mix of mystery and fantasy is surprisingly light and fast to read, though there are some wild twists and turns that are both hard to see and not particularly necessary. However, White did an excellent job of creating compelling characters that are easy to love or hate — there's no in-between with this crowd. I'm intrigued to see what she'll come up with next.

The Murder of Mr. Ma

The Murder of Mr. Ma by John Shen Yen Nee & S.J. Rozan, 300 pages

In this Sherlockian mystery, college professor Lao She assists Judge Dee Ren Jie in solving the titular crime, as well as a string of related murders of Chinese men in 1924 London. Judge Dee is a whip smart martial artist (as well as opium addict) whose experiences in the trenches of France give him insight into the lives of the murdered men, as well as plausible theories as to the motives behind their deaths.

The book offers a very traditional mystery setup mashed together with a stark depiction of the casual racism against Chinese people in London at that time. While I appreciated the social elements, the way in which the story was told — the brilliant detective makes discoveries and solves the crime as we watch, as opposed to hints appearing throughout to give the reader a chance to solve the mystery themself — felt a bit dated and uncomfortable for those who prefer more modern storytelling styles. Still, for those who like Sherlock stories, this one may hold some appeal.

Death in the Spires

Death in the Spires by KJ Charles, 272 pages

Almost a decade ago, the murder of gregarious Toby Feynsham tore apart a close-knit group of friends at Oxford. Why? Because one of them did it, but nobody ever was prosecuted for the crime. So when identical notes claiming each surviving friend a murderer arrive at their places of business, one of them, Jem Kite, loses his job due to the notoriety and decides to spend his suddenly free time tracking down not only the letter-writer, but also the murderer.

Told both in "present day" 1905 and flashbacks to the friends' time at Oxford in the 1890s, this historical mystery is complex and compelling, and a look at how privilege plays out in school, life, and even murder investigations. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this one. 

A Study in Emerald

 A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman, illus. Rafael Albuquerque, Rafael Scavone, and Dave Stewart, 88 pages.

This alternate history version of A Study in Scarlet takes readers to an alternate history version of London where eldritch monsters replaced all of the heads of state many generations past. Our brilliant detective is set with solving the murder of a visiting prince, and the search takes him and his new assistant through all sorts of twists in this strange London.

This comic definitely had some interesting ideas, I just wish it did a little more with them. That being said, the pace at which the story unfolded let some of the stranger elements dawn on the reader only very slowly, which I did find fairly effective. This is an interesting take on an old story, and my only real complaint is that it was so comfortable in its role as a retelling that it didn't feel the need to make the story stand on its own. But it is a quick read, and definitely interesting enough to be worth the little time I put into it.