The Summer Guests

 I thought Tess Gerritsen hit it out of the park with the first book in this new series, The Spy Club.  She has only added depth with this new novel, The Summer Guests.  This is The Martini Club sereis, featuring Maggie Bird and her ex-CIA friends. 

Maggie has retired and moved to Purity, Maine to live out the rest of her life in obscurity along with a few other ex-operatives.  They gather together for a pot luck dinner with martinis under the cover of a book group. But when murder comes to Purity it is hard for them to stay away.

Jo Thibodeau is the new young acting police chief.  The cases that are presenting themselves are more than a small town police force is prepared to handle. So slowly Jo is getting comfortable accepting assistance from the Maggie and her friends.

This time a young girl has disappeared in her purple swimsuit with her goggles. She, and her mother, are visiting the summer home of her new step father and his family.  While everyone seems to have an alibi for the time of the disappearance, her mother will not sit by and wait for the police to find her daughter. An excellent swimmer it is hard to believe she may have drown in the lake behind the house.

 Jo is trying to go through proper channels and procedures to find the girl,  Maggie and her friends use their special talents to investigate and help find out how a crime committed years ago ties into the situation in current day.

The relationships between summer people and year round home owners is strained. There seem to many secrets that these long time residents know and will not share. These must be revealed before any answers will surface.

My Sister is Going to Kill Me

Nina Simon, it turns out, writes from experience. She has a sister and they did a Grand Canyon trip together. 

Definitely a fun book to read, especially if you have a sister! This was an entertaining mystery that covered a lot of ground.  Hiking down into the Grand Canyon, whitewater rafting and camping out under the stars. That is quite a trip for two sisters with very different interests. 

Then layered onto that is the mystery aspects of the story with a group of campers who are all connected to a lifestyle company that is about to launch a new innovative product.  This is a chance for the board of directors to bond with thee investors and announce the new product with an influencer along for the ride. 

When things get sticky and uncomfortable, the sisters start to bond and when the CEO of the company turns up dead, those sisters really try to patch their differences and work together. There are obstacles along te way to test them and a murderer to find.  All making for a fun storyline.

Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel

 Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel by Lucy Foley is, I am sure, the first of many in the new Agatha Christie series by a new author.  Sophie Hannah has been the author, authorized by the Christie estate, to continue the Hercule Poirot series.  Now Lucy Foley is continuing the Miss Marple series.

I am not sure that I felt the true Christie ‘s Marple character or the same style of writing, but it was all close enough that it was a pleasure to read.  It was a great twisty mystery.  Though I felt along the way that the murderer was too obvious, in the end of course I was wrong  and the talented Foley managed to bring it all to closure in an unexpected way.

If you have followed and visited with Miss Marple in St Mary Mead, you will know her friend, Dolly Bantry.  Dolly has taken the advice of her new young assistant, Diana Glass and brought Jane Marple along for a delightful cold weather vacation in a luxury hotel at the top of a snow covered mountain.

Reading this novel told from the perspectives of Diana, along with a few of the other guests at the hotel that week, we learn of the death of a prominent politician and another unlucky guest.  The politician’s wife  shares her story, the famous actress is also a guest at the hotel and after the two murders, a man announces he a French policeman on vacation, but he is happy to investigate until the police arrive. 

Coincidences abound as the plot thickens and Miss Marple deploys her usual quiet, inquisitiveness as she listens and observes the surroundings.  Knitting always in her hands she appears to be just a simple old woman and is often underestimated.  

It was definitely a fun, intriguing mystery novel written by an experienced and excellent author of mystery.

Mother, Daughter, Sister, Stranger

Isn’t it surprising that even if you grow up in the same house with parents and siblings that when you reconnect with your siblings later in life you realize how different you all are.  Also how different your memories are of the past.

That is what I was thinking about as I read Mother, Daughter, Sister, Stranger the newest exciting thriller from author Hank Phillippi Ryan. This is a fast paced well plotted novel that will keep the reader guessing about the ending all the way through.  With misinformation and just a cause for self doubt as the characters are introduced and then interact. 

Bea and Eliza are sisters, who grew up with a busy mother who was a professor and a father who spent a lot of time on the road traveling.  When the Bea is graduating from college, they jump in the private personal plane and with her father flying head for their vacation home. The plane goes down and both of their parents are killed but the girls survive.  They go to live with their aunt, their mother’s sister. Every year on the anniversary of the fiery crash they gather at the cemetery for a special remembrance ceremony. 

Surprisingly this year Bea is nowhere to be found as the special day approaches. She has left her daughter Piper with Eliza for a sleepover and has not returned home. Then she misses the cemetery gathering and Eliza is extremely worried. But deciding who to trust and ask for help becomes complicated. As secrets from the past come to light and Eliza learns more about her childhood she is not sure who to trust and who is a possible threat to her and Piper. She is desperate to save her sister, though she is not sure Bea is in danger or where she could be.

This is a novel of intrigue, family relationships, secrets and trust. The plot is well written, keeping the reader on their toes,  guessing who you think is responsible. But every time you think you have it all figured out there is another twist that sends the plot in a different direction opens more options for a thrilling ending.

How to Get Away With Murder

 How To Get Away With Murder is a clever mystery novel.  Make sure you are reading the book written by the author Rebecca Philipson.   You have to watch some titles are used by a multiple of authors.

This story is about a young woman, Samatha, who is rising in the police force when a difficult experience with her partner causes her to take a 6 month leave from the police force. Supported by her father’s best friend the police chief, Harry, Samatha wants to come back to work when she hears about a young girl found dead in the park.  Next to her body is a copy of the book, How To Get Away With Murder.

Samatha was traumatized at work and is under  psychiatric care, but it is very important to her to see justice for this young girl. The investigating officers are reading the book to find out what the killer may do next, and to figure out who the killer really is. The author of this self help book is Denver Brady , an alias for the real serial killer.  The police detectives are reading the book as they search for the criminal staying just maybe one step ahead of him.  Or could he be leading them down a garden path of misdirection?

The characters are well developed and the plot is very intriguing. 

Holmes, Marple and Poe

 James Patterson writes this new series with Brian Sitts.  Using the well known and loved classic mystery novel detectives as inspiration, these authors have created a team of detectives that will solve any crime.  They can even work more than one case at a time. Sharing their unique specialities they each contribute something to solving of each mystery.  Though in addition their individual eccentricities also can get in the way of their work as they help each other through the lows and demons they each face.

 Book two is already available and I do hope there will be more to follow.  I enjoyed this mystery both for the twisty cases but also for the way the authors captured the personalities of the Homes, Marple and Poe.

I Am Not The Only Murderer in My Retirement Home

 Fergus Craig has written an entertaining mystery novel about the life of an aging and former serial killer.  Carol has done her time and paid her dues and now leaving the prison sentence behind she is moving into a senior living establishment.  She has decided to turn over a new leaf and lead a honest life.  She has had enough of prison.  

When a fellow resident dies, Carol is the first person on the scene and calls the police.  But when they realize who she is and learn about her past, her freedom may be at stake.  The police may think they do not look any further than Carol for the crime, but Carol insists she is innocent.

This time Carol may have to prove who the real killer is to be able to prove her own innocence.