The Last Mona Lisa

 The Last Mona Lisa written by Jonathan Santloffer is an adult novel version of the same story that I reviewed earlier.. The Mona Lisa Vanishes, a young adult non fiction book.

Interestingly both of these books were required reading at the same time.  I read the non fiction account first and judged this fictionalized story against the facts I had just learned.  This historical fiction version holds up quite well and adds a little mystery and suspense to the story.

We bring in a modern day young man, Luke Perrone, the great grandson of Vincenzo Peruggia, the man who stole the Mona Lisa from the Louvre Museum back in 1911.  The book takes us back and forth between the actual series of events that led to Peruggia stealing the painting and how it altered his life and the modern day intrigue around a diary that may have been left by Vincenzo that Luke is trying to trace and the story of whether the painting hanging in the Louvre today is the original or a fake.  There are others who also are interested in finding out the same information and Luke is in a race to get the information first before too many die, including himself.

As I said it is an entertaining mystery story and does stick quite close to the facts of history.

Every Time I Go On Vacation Someone Dies

 Every Time I Go On Vacation Someone Dies another entertaining mystery novel with a very long title. This novel is written by Catherine Mack.  

Thsi novel also is about a mystery author on a book tour interacting with her fans and readers. Along on the tour is her ex boyfriend who starts complaining that there have been murderous attempts on his life. As they travel along the Amalfi coast.  As a few murders of people involved in the tour party start to make author Eleanor Dash begin to wonder if her ex's accusations are real, she starts to work out the truth around the deaths following her book tour.  

So many different ways to approach mystery novels and so many different ways to present a new amateur detective.  

How To Solve Your Own Murder

 How to Solve Your Own Murder, written by Kristen Perrin first in what seems to be the beginning of a new mystery series.  Annie Adams comes to the country estate of her Great Aunt Frances to finally meet her.  But when she finally arrives she finds her aunt already dead.  

Annie has come to the small village of Castle Knoll, summoned by an aunt she never met.  She is brought the estate along with the solicitor,  Walter and Oliver Gordon and Saxon Gravesdown , Frances nephew, who grew up at the estate and his wife Elva.

When they arrive Frances has been murdered.  She has lived her whole life afraid that dwas going to be her end.  Her last will states that Saxon and Annie are in a competition to uncover her killer and the one that solves the mystery will inherit her estate.  

As Annie learns more about the aunt she never met she works hard to solve the mystery of her death and bring her murderer to justice.  Working with the handsome Detective Crane find the answers before someone stops her by killing her..

Everyone on This Train is a Suspect

 Everyone on This Train is a Suspect, written by Benjamin Stevenson,  is the second novel that follows the same characters, after Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone.  Definitely could win awards for mystery novels with the longest titles.  

In each of these mysteries, the author writes as a first person narrator.  Ernest Cunningham survived at the end of the last adventure and wrote the story of his experience.  The book had great sales and now his publisher has given him an advance for another novel.  As he and his girlfriend, Erin,  board a train with other authors for a special Writer's Festival, he is worried that he cannot come through with another book.

But when a dead body is discovered on the train, it is clear the next book is all set.  Again this time Ernest promises the reader that he is following the rules of of writing a murder mystery.  As you reading the book the narrator continues to make sure you are getting all the facts he is getting and sharing the facts even down to how many times killer's name is mentioned in the book and when a character should be killed off.

Though he promises to be a reliable narrator, when you get to the end of the book the twist is still surprising.  Probably all the facts that being offered are just another red herring.

Cleverly written and very entertaining style.

A Murder of Crows

 A Murder of Crows by Sarah Yarwood-Lovett is the start of another entertaining mystery series.  This time we meet a young woman with a secret who is working as an environmentalist studying bats and their habitat. There is of course a murder, a few romances and then the amateur detective accused as a suspect who though law enforcement won't listen tries to solve the case herself.

This was an interesting mystery that explores the varieties of bats and where their natural environments. We also learn about a rare type of bat and how character, Nell Ward nurses the bat back to health.

So all the elements of a good mystery are there and they do not disappoint.  There is already a follow up and I will be reading that next.

Impossible Escape: A True Story of Survival and Heroism in Nazi Europe

 

Impossible Escape: A True Story of Survival and Heroism in Nazi Europe, by Steve Sheinkin is another great book for teens and young adults to read about the Holocaust.  

Clearly explained, this is the story of a teenage young man who survived the atrocities Auschwitz and escaped to tell the world what was happening there.  This is a straight forward account of his experience.  Also the experience of his childhood friend Gerta who with her parents escaped to Hungary and survived the war in a very different way.  

There is no mistaking the serious consequences of anti-semitism and not standing up for people of other ethnic backgrounds.  What happened then could happen again.