The Busybody Book Club

 The Busybody Book Club by Freya Sampson adds another clever cute mystery to the new genre of elderly persons solving mysteries. It seems to be a growing trend.

Thhis time we meet Nova Davies, a young woman who has taken on a position at the area's community center as an activity director.  New to the area, living with her fiancé and his parents, she is looking forward to her upcoming wedding.

When Michael, one of the book club members disappears, Nova and the other members resolve to solve the mystery of his disappearance.  Leading the charge is Phyllis, an Agatha Christie fan, who imagines herself as Miss Marple.  

With many twists, turns and discoveries Nova finds her job in danger, her wedding on the edge.  But around the last corner the answer to the mystery may be within reach.  Can this small group of unusual characters save the day?  They come together seeing strengths in each other and themselves they didn't realize before. 

Bringing together a group of lonely individuals to create a group of friends, this is a entertaining mystery novel with a satisfying end.

Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)

 Second book even better than the first!!!  So Vera Wong's Unsolicited  Advice for Murderers was an interesting first mystery novel by Jesse Q. Sutanto.  I enjoyed reading it but was not sure I was looking forward to another book about Vera Wong. 

But now I am hooked and I am already looking forward to another in this series.  Vera Wong has grown on me.  Her cute word plays and obvious misunderstanding of the English language and especially any new saying and clever sayings of the Gen Y group of young people.  

Also though the mysteries are clever and the writing style is wonderful, there is something very endearing about Vera Wong.  It is what the people she meets feeel about her.  They are not sure why but they fall in love with her and are willing to do whatever she asks of them.  Well by the end of book two I also feel that wasy about Vera.  I was crying real tears as the sad and lonely characters in this book found love and acceptance.  How so many people from different backgrounds come together to eat the mouthwatering food and tea that Vera prepares in her restaurant.

Malice Aforethought

Author, Avree Kelly Clark, surprised me with this very interesting novel, Malice Aforethought.

Very intriguing story of two women killed in New England and how the police and town officials went about solving the crimes and finding the killer.  Written as a novel but in the style of a police procedural ... this is a captivating plot with interesting characters.  The reader is caught up in the mystery and concerned about how the criminal will be caught.  There is no scientific DNA discovery ability at this time.  Timeline and the ability to travel between locations along with personality assessments ments become very important to the evidence and in determining guilt or innocence.

This is a story that takes place in New Hampshire which in itself is interesting.  It is written as a novel but follows true facts about women who were killed in neighboring towns.  Thinking of the period it takes palce in, it is interesting to see how they solve the crime without all the modern forensics that are at our disposal today.

The Retirement Plan

 The Retirement Plan by Sue Hincenbergs.  It is an entertaining beach read about marriage and relationships. 

Very relatable to those of us of a certain age who have raised children with a group of friends. The kids have flown the coup and now the four couples are still friends.  The men all fish together and share drinks over barbeque.  The women are all best friends and share their confidences.  

But every person has a secret they are not sharing, not with their friends or with their spouses .  It is hard to keep those secrets without impacting your relationships.  When one of the husbands, Dave,  is found dead in his  driveway everything goes sideways.  Then men are worried someone is after them, they reach out for protection.  The wives see that Dave’s wife collects a big insurance claim and looks like she is set for an exciting future.  That gets the other wives thinking, maybe they want to take out a hit on the remaining husbands.

Food for thought, about marriage, your relationships, trust and love.  

Deep Lake House

 Deep Lake House by DJ Geribo, written from the point of view of the house itself, this slim novel follows the guest who have come and stayed there over the years.  A guest house that welcomes guests for a week or two at a time.  Looking at the guests who have stayed there in each decade, from the 1890s to present day.  Some families return year after year, some only come once.  The house watches the family dynamics and intereactions as it ages in place.

A Swim Back Home

A Swim Back Home by Denise Sawyer, has an interesting storyline about a woman who is trying to hold onto a childhood interrupted. Her parents moved from her childhood home in NJ to MA and she has always regretted it. It has made her a hoarder. 

When she experiences an accident in her swimming pool, she feels like she is time traveling back to her childhood. Now an adult in a her 11 year old body, she is back in her NJ home.

 A different concept makes for interesting reading and also brings in a rare scientific phenomenon that was something this reader had never heard of before.

The Spy Coast

 The Spy Coast , the first in a new series by Tess Gerritsen.  This was a mystery novel about a former CIA operative named Maggie Bird, who has retired to a small town in Maine.  She is enjoying retirement as chicken farmer and living a quiet life on the beaten pat.

When a young woman shows up at her door looking for another operative from the past, Maggie is not happy to have been found.  This is the beginning of a run for her life.  Now she has to figure out who is looking for her and why.  She and a few other friends from the past gather for a book discussion group and call themselves the Martini Club.  When things get really dangerous for Maggie, they gather together behind her to help save her life.

This seems like the beginning of a new series of cases the Martini Club will be able to start solving, keeping their hand in with the talents they used in their former lives.  They are also getting to know the new police chief in town,  Jo Thibodeau.

Maggie has to return to her past and confront her ghosts and some of the horrible things that happened to her as worked in the field for the US.  It is a matter of who you can trust and who is out to get you, to save themselves.