Quick Book Reviews Blog

  Short Summary Riley Sager (pen name used by Todd Ritter ) has been pumping out one sensational mystery thriller after the next, and his latest one, titled The Only One Left , captured my attention with its curious premise. The story follows Kit McDeere, a home-health aide who takes a job working for a stroke-scarred seventy-year-old woman with an infamous past. One night, the woman makes Kit an offer: she promises to tell her everything about the strange and sensational murder case which happened over fifty years ago, the one she was at the very centre of as the prime suspect.

  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.

  Short Summary Jacqueline Winspear has forced Maisie Dobbs through a number of war-time trials and murder investigations, cementing her as the best detective in Occupied Europe. In the latest novel of the Maisie Dobbs series, The Consequences of Fear , Maisie is pushed to investigate a dangerous murderer with deep-seated motivations going all the way back to the First World War.

  Jacqueline Winspear has sent Maisie Dobbs chasing after many threads connecting to the Second World War over the course of the series, and in the fifteenth novel, The American Agent , she investigates the strange murder of an American war correspondent during the Blitz in London.  Though the act is concealed by British authorities, the case finds its way into Maisie's lap, and with the help of an agent from the US Department of Justice, they try to unravel the mystery as death rains upon the country in the form of German bombers.

  Jacqueline Winspear has certainly turned Maisie Dobbs into a recognizable landmark in the modern detective genre, and in the fourteenth book of the series, titled To Die but Once , the beloved heroine returns to action in the months following Britain's declaration of war on Germany. This time she is tasked with tracing the disappearance of a young apprentice who happened to be working on a very sensitive government contract.

Jacqueline Winspear has dragged Maisie Dobbs through a number of life-changing investigations, and in the thirteenth book of the series, In This Grave Hour , she only ups the ante by taking us to September 3rd, 1939, when Britain declares war on Germany. In the midst of bombings and threats of invasion, Maisie is tasked with investigating a series of killings targeting those dispossessed from the previous war.

  Jacqueline Winspear has put Maisie Dobbs through the meat grinder of adventurism time and time again, sending her perhaps into the den of the most dangerous beast she has ever faced in Journey to Munich .  Tasked with retrieving a British subject about to be released from prison in Dachau, Maisie must venture deep into Hitler's Germany, and her Secret Service has some ideas about the whole situation.

  Jacqueline Winspear has subjected Maisie Dobbs to more life experiences than most of us could ever imagine or wish for, and in the eleventh book in The Maisie Dobbs series, titled A Dangerous Place , she returns for another round of intrigue. Finding herself in Gibraltar, Maisie becomes embroiled into a web of political intrigue following the murder of a photographer.

Jacqueline Winspear doesn't seem to run short on sordid adventures for the private eye Maisie Dobbs, and in the tenth book of the series, Leaving Everything Most Loved , she delves into London's Indian immigrant community. An Indian gentleman hires Maisie to find out who killed his sister two months ago, a case which turns truly alarming when another body is suddenly added to the pile.

Jacqueline Winspear has made a unique little nest in the mystery genre for her detective heroine, Maisie Dobbs, setting her cases during the uncertain time between the two World Wars.  In the ninth book of the series, titled Elegy for Eddie , Maisie finds herself drawn into the investigation of the supposed accidental death of a childhood friend of hers. Needless to say, the case screams of murder rather than accident.

Jacqueline Winspear has taken Maisie Dobbs on a great journey through her numerous investigations, and in the eighth book, A Lesson in Secrets , Maisie ascends ever further into her profession as a detective, taking on an assignment for the British Secret Service.  The mission places her undercover as a professor at Cambridge in order to investigate the troubling emergence of the Nazi party.

Jacqueline Winspear has taken Maisie Dobbs on one original journey after the next as an investigator in 1930s London, and in The Mapping of Love and Death she finds yet another quest worthy of the heroine's prowess.  Hired by the parents of a young man whose remains were just unearthed after years of being missing in action, Maisie is tasked with finding the nameless nurse whose love letters were among his belongings, setting on the path of a dangerous wartime story.

James Patterson and Andrew Gross are without doubt two of the best and most prominent murder mystery writers, and for everyone's pleasure they decided to collaborate on 2nd Chance , the second entry into the Women's Murder Club series.  The story follows an investigation centred around a curious public shooting outside a San Francisco church, where miraculously only a single specific victim was killed.

Jacqueline Winspear has turned Maisie Dobbs into a true mainstay of the murder mystery genre, and her sixth novel in the series, titled Among the Mad , looks to raise the stakes a bit.  This time around, Maisie is racing against the clock to find the blackmailer of the prime minister's office, whose threats include the perpetration of a murder on a massive scale should their demands not be met.

Peter Swanson has certainly distinguished himself as a unique voice in the psychological suspense genre in the past few years, and he continues his fray into the realms of murder mystery with his most recent novel, Eight Perfect Murders .  It follows the story of a bookseller who puts together a list of what he believes are the eight most perfect and nigh-unsolvable murders in fiction. Shortly after, someone starts bringing the list to life.

James Patterson might conceivably be one of, if not the most prolific author of thriller literature in the modern era. The Women's Murder Club is one of the many series he has running, and the title which kicked it off, 1st to Die , takes us to a San Francisco shocked and reeling from the recent crimes of a serial killer. In the midst of widespread fear and panic, four crime-solving friends bond together to find the culprit, each one holding part of the key to the solution.

Locking her sights on the historical fiction genre, Lyndsay Faye has already birthed a few bestsellers, with The Paragon Hotel now joining their ranks as well. Taking place in 1921, it introduces us to Alice James, a fresh arrival in Oregon with a bullet wound and five thousand dollars in cash. Soon she finds her way to the titular hotel, but at the same time tensions start rising in the city with a flood Ku Klux Klan members making a home for themselves.

Christian White has turned many heads with his debut novel which instantly became an international bestseller, and he returns to the fore with his second novel, The Wife and the Widow . Taking place on a small island town in the dead winter, the story follows two women on a collision course of discovery, both trying to unravel the secret lives of their husbands and the darkness they concealed.