Book Review: The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose (#2 - Molly the Maid Series)

The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Molly Gray is back solving mysteries in the second book of the Molly the Maid series by Nita Prose.  Molly has been promoted to Head Maid, and unfortunately there's been another murder in the Regency Grand Hotel.  Once again, her attention to detail helps her get to the bottom of the (cozy) murder of a famous mystery writer who is about to make a big announcement to a gathering of his super fans.  Many of the characters from the first book make a reappearance, plus we find out quite a lot of Molly's back story in alternating chapters entitled "Before."  This book is a lot of fun, and I would recommend that you read this series in order.

Many thanks to NetGalley for an advanced reader copy.  The book is due to be published November 28, 2023.  

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Book Review: Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #6)

Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache has suffered a great tragedy and loss in the line of duty, and has gone with his wife to Quebec City to stay with his former mentor.  It's the middle of winter and frigidly cold in Quebec; we are immediately transported there through the beautiful prose and feel the constant chill along with Gamache. 

There are three story lines in this book.  The current mystery involves the death of a Champlain historian at the Literary & Historical Society.  Another involves Gamache's doubts about a previous case; he sends Jean Guy Beauvoir back to Three Pines to investigate further (The Brutal Telling, #5).  And the third is the slow unfolding of the last case they were involved in which left them both scarred physically and emotionally.  The three story lines weave together seamlessly and the reader is immersed once again in Louise Penny's characters and locales.  

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Book Review: Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb

Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another page-turner by Brendan Slocumb - 5 stars!!  This book has alternating time frames and characters, with their stories told in alternating chapters all the while building suspense. 

Frederick Delaney is a hugely successful American composer who came to prominence in the 1920s NYC, but whose final symphony was considered an utter failure leading to his suicide.  Bern Hendricks is an African American professor of music at the University of Virginia, who has spent his career studied Delaney and his compositions.  In addition, the philanthropic Delaney Foundation helped provide him with his French horn and musical support during his school years.  

The Delaney Foundation has discovered an additional unpublished piece of his music and summons Bern to New York to help authenticate it and prepare it for performance.  He contacts his friend Eboni Washington, an expert in cybersecurity, when he starts uncovering suspicious information about who actually wrote Delaney's compositions.  

The story brings in many different themes:  race and minorities, inequality, copyright and ownership, musical composition and performance, and much more.  Brendan Slocumb is an incredible writer and I'm anxiously looking forward to his next novel!

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Book Review: One Good Deed (Archer #1) by David Baldacci

One Good Deed by David Baldacci
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the first in a new series by David Baldacci.  Aloysius Archer served in WWII, then went to prison for a crime he didn't commit.  After his release he is sent to Oklahoma where he still stay for three years, reporting to his parole officer.  A murder is committed and at once he is suspected, based on his criminal background.  The rest of the book is Archer working to clear his name and help solve multiple murders and mysteries.  He's a detective wanna-be, so I have a feeling this is the direction that the series will take in upcoming books. 

I'm giving this book 3.5 stars because Archer is an interesting character and his situation is unique.  And I definitely got a feel for what life was life in 1949.  And to be honest, Archer reminds me a lot of Reacher -- loner, homeless, coming to the aid of people in need, etc.  Even his physical description is similar to Lee Child's Reacher - 6'1" and all muscle.  

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Book Review: Normal People by Sally Rooney

Normal People by Sally Rooney
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Connell and Marianne are in the same high school in Galway, Ireland but run in completely different social circles.  Connell is a football player, good looking and popular.  Marianne is aloof, friendless, and doesn't care what people think of her.  They hook up, but Connell wants to keep things a secret.  They end up both going to Trinity College in Dublin, but roles are reversed there.  Marianne has found her place in college and has developed quite a group of friends.  Connell on the other hand, has trouble making friends or connections beyond his roommate.  Thus begins four years of getting together, hooking up, miscommunication, not saying what they are thinking, separating, and repeating this again and again. 

I'm giving this book 3 stars for characters and the plot (or lack thereof).  However, I give it a strong 4 stars for the way that Sally Rooney uses language to describe their feelings:
--“Being alone with her is like opening a door away from normal life and then closing it behind him.”
--“The whole trip felt like a series of short films, screened only once, and afterwards he had a sense of what they were about but no exact memories of the plot.”
--“Marianne had the sense that her real life was happening somewhere very far away, happening without her, and she didn’t know if she would ever find out where it was and become part of it. She had that feeling in school often, but it wasn’t accompanied by any specific images of what the real life might look or feel like. All she knew was that when it started, she wouldn’t need to imagine it anymore.”

I kept wanting things to happen and for Connell and Marianne to share their feelings honestly.  However,  this never happened.  Also, the author does not use quotation to indicate conversation.  This is the first book that I've encountered like this and found it a little unsettling and difficult to get used to. 

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Book Review: The Witch Elm by Tana French

The Witch Elm by Tana French
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Toby is an easy-going young man for whom life always seems to go his way.  One night after spending the evening with his friends in the pub, his house is broken into and he is savagely beaten.  He spends quite a long time in the hospital recovering, followed by time at home where he realizes that things will definitely not ever be the same again.  He has a limp, memory problems, muscle weakness and other neurological problems.

He goes to live with his ailing favorite uncle at the family's Ivy House where he spent many summers with his cousins.  A skull is found in a large tree on the property.  Detectives arrive, find the entire body, and needless to say the spotlight is then shone on Toby as the murderer for a variety of reasons.  Toby and his cousins try to solve the mystery on their own.  From here the story weaves between past and present, truth and fiction, in a way that only Tana French can do it.  What an enjoyable ride as a reader!

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