“12th of Never” by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro – A Nightmare All too Real

 

Short Summary

James Patterson and Maxine Paetro have made an excellent writing pair, enduring the test of time with the Women's Murder Club series, and still going strong to this day. Few have managed to produce with their consistency, and in the twelfth book of the series, titled 12th of Never, we are thrust into yet another thrilling affair as Lindsay Boxer is tasked with solving two murders. One involves a start football player, and the other, much more intricate, was seemingly predicted by a professor's vivid nightmares.

“Hell Divers III: Deliverance” by Nicholas Sansbury Smith – The Last Lifeboat

 

Short Summary

Nicholas Sansbury Smith has created a uniquely infernal post-apocalyptic landscape in The Hell Divers series, one he has been developing intricately with each installment. In the third book of the series, Hell Divers III: Deliverance, we follow the exiled divers from the previous book on their search for a long-lost hero, Xavier “X” Rodriguez, all while being hunted down by Captain Jordan, leader of humanity's remnants.

“Mastermind” by Andrew Mayne – The Impossible Illusion

 

Short Summary

Andrew Mayne has given quite enough time to Theo Cray and Jessica Blackwood in their own separate series, finally uniting them together in the first novel marking their new adventures together, titled Mastermind. In this story, they team up together to take on a sinister criminal known as the Warlock, seemingly capable of erasing entire cities from the face of the Earth.

“11th Hour” by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro – Garden of Puzzles

 

Short Summary

James Patterson and Maxine Paetro have established a partnership rarely seen in the realms of literature, having penned together over twenty books in the long-standing Women's Murder Club series. In the eleventh entry, titled 11th Hour, we see Lindsay Boxer and her crew try to solve the mystery of seven buried skulls in a famous actor's garden, all while trying to apprehend a criminal seemingly hell-bent on targeting high-time drug dealers, a streak broken when his weapon was found at the murder scene of a millionaire.

“Let's Not Do That Again” by Grant Ginder – The Perfect Political Family

 

Short Summary

Grant Ginder has added his unique voice to the realm of political humour about a decade ago, and since then has made many valuable contributions, the latest of which is titled Let's Not Do That Again. It tells the story of Nancy Harrison, whose run for senate would have been perfect, if not for her daughter Greta. 

Caught making headlines with extremist protesters in Paris, she threatens to sink Nancy's campaign, forcing her along with her son Nick on a search for Greta before it's too late for everyone.

“A Sunlit Weapon” by Jacqueline Winspear – Protecting the First Lady

 

Short Summary

Jacqueline Winspear has turned Maisie Dobbs into an essential instrument of national security in her eponymous long-standing series, and in the seventeenth instalment, titled A Sunlit Weapon, she plays a role in safeguarding the First Lady of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt. Following a couple of attacks on British pilots, Maisie is called upon by her friend to lend a hand in wild investigation setting her on the trail of a deadly conspiracy ripe for execution.

“Where They Wait” by Scott Carson – Song from Beyond the Grave

Short Summary

Scott Carson doesn't seem like he will run short of ideas for his horror novels anytime soon, with his most recent one, Where They Wait, mixing together modern technology and ghost stories. The plot follows a journalist who begins using an app for guided meditations, which includes a sad and disturbing ballad sung by a woman with a hauntingly beautiful voice. Though it is followed by a rejuvenating sleep, it also marks the beginning of nightmares, the star of which is a dead woman.

“The Man Who Died Twice” by Richard Osman – The Diamonds of Old Age

 

Short Summary

Richard Osman has created a unique and endearing cast of sleuthing septuagenarians when he published the first installment of A Thursday Murder Club Mystery series, and in the second book, The Man Who Died Twice, he pits them against some real danger. 

An old acquaintance of one of the club's members rears his head, and asks for their help in clearing his name for the theft he didn't commit of a diamond collection. When the first body hits the floor, it becomes obvious the killer will stop at nothing to get what's his, having no qualms with murdering the four pensioners hot on his tail.

“The Birthday Party” by Wendy Dranfield – The Imperfect Family

 

Short Summary

Wendy Dranfield has been putting her own experience in the world of crime as a coroner's assistant to good lately, pumping out one exciting crime novel after the next one. In her most recent work, titled The Birthday Party, we follow a mother as she frantically searches for her missing daughter who seemingly vanished into thin air in the light of day, surrounded by people. The longer the search goes, the more apparent it becomes there are people around her with something to hide.

“The Thursday Murder Club” by Richard Osman – Septuagenarian Crime Fighters

 

Short Summary

Richard Osman has taken a fair bit of time dabble in fiction as an author, and his first effort gave us The Thursday Murder Club, the first entry in A Thursday Murder Club Mystery series. It introduces us to four friends in their seventies living in a peaceful retirement village who regularly meet together to discuss unsolved crimes. When a local developer is found dead under mysterious circumstances, the four friends become embroiled in their very first live case.

“10th Anniversary” by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro – No Love for the Wicked

 

Short Summary

James Patterson and Maxine Paetro have really created something unique and noticeable with the Women's Murder Club series, and in the tenth book, titled 10th Anniversary, we see Lindsay and Yuki clashing against one another. 

While the former investigates the case of a kidnapped newborn, she comes across evidence which could exonerate the suspect in the latter's case, a woman accused of having murdered her husband in front of her two young children.

“Hell Divers II: Ghosts” by Nicholas Sansbury Smith – Lying for the Greater Good

 

Short Summary

Nicholas Sansbury Smith has crafted a truly unique and compelling world when he published the first book in The Hell Divers series, and in the second one, titled Hell Divers II: Ghosts, takes us ten years after the events of the first book. We're following a new group of young divers serving aboard a massive 260-year-old ship, and while on a mission to Earth they discover a terrible truth their captain has hidden from them.