Midsummer Mysteries by Agatha Christie

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher HarperCollins UK in exchange for an honest review.

Having enjoyed Midwinter Murder, I was intrigued to see how this summer collection compared. I think on the whole it is a decent collection of stories, albeit it with less strong theming than the previous collection. There are certainly stronger summer stories which could have been included to rectify this but I actually think the way the collection ended up is better this way. It is clear that sacrifices have been made in terms of theme in order to present a more unique and varied collection, and I do appreciate that. Instead of 12 Poirot stories, every detective gets an outing and there were plenty of stories I'd not read before as a seasoned Christie fan which was nice.

If you enjoyed the previous book in this collection or else you just want a chance to read more of Christie's short stories, you can't go wrong here. The cover is beautiful as always and I really enjoyed the selection of stories here. It's the perfect gift for the Christie fan in your life, or for you to take away on holiday with you.

Overall Rating:

.5

The Boyband Murder Mystery by Ava Eldred

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Penguin Random House Children’s UK in exchange for an honest review.

I was a little worried when requesting this book that it would be a bit too ridiculous but thankfully, The Boyband Murder Mystery hit that sweet spot between fun and good storytelling. This is the story of Harri, a megafan of the the fictional boyband Half Light. When one of the members of the boyband is arrested on suspicion of murdering his best friend, Harri and her friends take it upon themselves to try and clear him of the crime by using their fandom expertise and skills.

There was a lot I really liked about this book. I'd say it leans more on the contemporary side than mystery, and the tone remains light and fun throughout. I wish a little more emphasis had been placed on the friendships of the girls within the fandom (only Harri and her best friend Jasmine really get much focus) but the characters are decent and you do get some nice friendship moments. One aspect I really liked was that Harri was at university. I feel a lot of these stories feature high school protagonists so it was nice to both see the uni environment on the page and also have a protagonist who could be a bit more independent without plot issues.

My only real issue with it is that it sometimes goes a bit overboard on the worship of fan culture, which wasn't unexpected and fit with the general tone and plot of the story. I will say there is a surprisingly poignant and heartfelt part about letting fandoms go and how that feels, and that was an incredibly strong bit of writing. I felt genuinely quite moved and I think it's something a lot of people can identify with. It adds a deeper sense of emotion to the book and it was very welcome.

Overall, this is a fun YA romp with a lot to like. It's perfect for not only fans of boybands, but fans of all kinds. If you want a deep or super detailed mystery, then this isn't the book for you but if you're looking for a decent and enjoyable contemporary with some fun heist elements, then give this a go for sure.

Overall Rating:

The Lamplighters by Emma Stoney

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Pan Macmillan in exchange for an honest review.

I knew requesting this book was a bit of a risk. I don't typically enjoy historical fiction but I found the temptation of a lighthouse disappearance too tantalising to resist. When I began reading it, I was worried I had made a mistake. I was initially going to DNF this book but then I couldn't. Something was making me read on, despite the features I don't typically enjoy in fiction. I couldn't put it down.

I will say, I think it's important to know going in that the mystery of this book is a little...unsatisfying. Even though I picked it up for its mystery element, that wasn't what kept me reading with the characters and the prose being the strongest factors for me. Stoney manages to create a really interesting atmosphere throughout the book, one is which is very compelling and draws you in. The characters aren't the most developed but they feel real and three dimensional. What we don't learn about the characters actually feeds quite strongly into that atmosphere I talked about and the general nature of the mystery of this book.

It's hard for me to say much more about this book because it is one of those where I think you either like books like this or you don't. If you like books with a somewhat dreamy atmosphere, a mystery driving but not being the center of the plot, and a lot of character exploration and moments, then I would say give this a try. If you want a super intricate mystery or a book heavy on historical elements, then this probably isn't what you're looking for. Having said that, it did surprise me so it might be worth giving a try if you like the sound of the blurb.

 Overall Rating:

.5

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Penguin Books (UK) in exchange for an honest review.

The Thursday Murder Club is essentially about a group of elderly people who get together to try and solve unsolved crimes, but get tangled up in a more recent case when someone is murdered in their community. It's really hard for me to sum up how I feel about this book, mainly because I find its strengths and weaknesses to largely be the same. For this reason, I'm going to deviate from my normal review format and make a list of talking points:

1. Characters-I really liked the characters of this book and I think its one of the features that is a definite strength. At first a lot of them blended together but as the story went on, I really grew attached and began to appreciate them. They are definitely the heart of the story and they're the main reason I would read more in this series.

2. Writing-Overall, I think I did like the writing of this book. I have several features I will talk about in more detail but the writing style itself was enjoyable and reasonably engaging. The plot was less so and I didn't really care for the mystery which was a bit of a shame. I just can't get very invested in criminal organisations and financial scandals, and I wish the mystery had had more of a personal element as the characters were the best part of the book and it would have been a much stronger drive in my opinion.

3. Punchlines-Speaking of writing, this book had a very weird feature whereby a 'punchline' would occur in the middle of a paragraph. For example, at one point the young female detective is on a date she isn't enjoying. You get a long list of reasons why the man is awful, and then a sentence begins with (paraphrased) 'she got out of his bed and got dressed', implying she slept with him anyway. I assume this was done for humour but it doesn't occur at the end of a scene or paragraph, but is instead just dropped in the middle. This happens a lot and sometimes it seems like it might be trying to be character development, but these punchlines were rarely brought up again and they just fell a bit flat for me. They could have been good ways to end scenes but in the middle of them, they just felt distracting.

4. Names-This is the thing that annoyed me the most about the whole book. Every single character will constantly end a sentence with the name of the person they are speaking to. For example:

A: Did you see the body B?

B: Yes I did A

A: Awful isn't it B?

Etc. My partner suggested this was to replicate how older people talk but I swear the younger characters did it too and I just found it incredibly annoying. I eventually got used to it but it was very distracting at first.

5. Ending-Highlight for spoilers. So at the end of the book, we have three bodies. These three bodies have all been murdered by different people. Two other people also pretend to have killed one of the bodies and confess to it. The problem is that all of these reveals follow each other (in different scenes but presented narratively after each other) which makes for an exhausting experience. I have already said I struggled to care about the mystery but I genuinely switched off by the third confession and had lost all interest in what actually happened. This section I do feel could have worked and was let down by bad writing/plotting/execution.

Overall, this review might appear quite negative but I do actually have fond memories of this book. I would definitely read more of these characters and I think it has real promise as a series, I just wish some little niggles could be ironed out. With a strong mystery plot though, this book would 100% be one of my favourites. It's a shame this one fell a bit flat but I am cautiously optimistic for more.

Overall Rating:

.5

Hot to Trot by M.C. Beaton & R.W. Green

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Blackstone Audiobooks in exchange for an honest review.

I am a little behind on the Agatha Raisin series but the good thing about these books is you can usually jump in and there isn't much of an ongoing story. As per usual Agatha is between men, with the potential rekindling of her relationship with James being interrupted by Charles' impending wedding to a rather horrible woman. When said horrible woman is murdered, Agatha finds herself a suspect and is forced to investigate to clear her name,

What I like about these books is you always know what to expect. They make for easy reading and even easier listening, and I really enjoyed experiencing an Agatha mystery as an audiobook. It has inspired me to go back and relisten to the whole series.

As for Hot to Trot itself, it is an enjoyable romp. These mysteries are never very complex or deep, but I always enjoy going along with Agatha for the ride. This one has a lot of travelling and a cast of interesting characters, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you're a fan of Agatha, this installment won't disappoint.

Overall Rating:

Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Penguin UK - Michael Joseph in exchange for an honest review.

Oh wow, what a treat this book was! I adore detective fiction and this was just one big love letter to it. Eight Detectives is the story of an old crime author named Grant McAllister and a young editor named Julia. Years ago he published an academic essay on the mathematical formula for writing murder mysteries, accompanied by several short stories as examples of this formula. It had little success but Julia has rediscovered this collection and wishes to publish them again, expecting a much more successful run. As she reads through the stories though, she begins to find hidden references to an unsolved murder and she suspects something sinister may be going on.

The format of this book made it a joy to read. It alternates between one of the short stories, followed by Grant and Julia discussing it afterwards. Each short story is brilliant within its own right and many have homages to famous detective fiction (for example, one is essentially a twist on Christie's And Then There Were None). All homages are acknowledged within text by Grant and so this prevented the stories from just being rip-offs, and all the stories had their own flavour and energy which made for delightful reading.

These stories on their own would make this book great but amazingly, there is a fantastic plot beyond them. Julia soon starts to spot inconsistencies in Grant's stories and these begin to add up to a bigger mystery. The whole thing is clever, delicious and fantastically done. I simultaneously wanted to power through this book and languish in the sheer brilliance of it all. I kept waiting to be disappointed but I never was. And this book actually scared me at several points as well! I am rarely scared by books but a few of the short stories truly unnerved me to the point where I didn't want to be alone.

Overall, this book is a must-read for any fans of murder mysteries. The love for genre spills onto every page and the result is possibly one of my favourite books of all time. Everything is crafted so carefully and executed so well. Pavesi has some serious talent to hit the balance so well and I could not have wished for more from a book like this.

Overall Rating:

Midwinter Mysteries by Assorted Authors

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Sapere Books in exchange for an honest review.

I really really love the idea behind this anthology. As far as I can tell, the publishing house behind this book has gotten a bunch of mystery/crime authors to write some short stories showcasing their characters in order to promote the series they write. This is a very cool idea and I think it's a great way to potentially find a new series you might really enjoy. Sadly most of these stories ended up not being for me.

I would say loosely that almost all of these are either a) police procedurals, b) historical mysteries or a c) a combination of both. With the exception of the very first story, I probably enjoyed the historical ones slightly more since I tend to lean towards historical crime fiction (unlike thrillers where I like modern day). My main problem with these is they were all incredibly short. This made it very difficult to get into the stories and also to get a taste of what the authors' true styles were. It felt like a story was just getting going and then it would end abruptly, sometimes without a sense that there had been an actual mystery involved.

Perhaps because of these stories using pre-established characters, there was also a lack of introduction of most of the cast and/or plot elements surrounding the stories themselves. This didn't help with getting into the stories either (again, the first story actually did introduce people fairly well and was one of my favourites for this reason).

Overall, this is a decent but all too brief collection of stories. They all fall a little short in various ways but the anthology was still moderately enjoyable and I do really like the idea behind it. I just wish everything was a little bit longer.

Overall Rating:

.5

See All the Stars by Kit Frick

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Simon and Schuster UK Children's in exchange for an honest review.

See All the Stars is a book that is very evocative of other books. I don't necessarily mean that as a negative but throughout reading this, I was sort of waiting for the magical thing that would make it stand out to me. I'm not sure that ever happened but this is still a very strong read.

This is the story of Ellory, a girl who a year ago had a strong friendship group and a boyfriend and, in the present day, has neither. It's told in chapters which alternate between the present day and the past and this is how the mystery unfolds. I thought this might be more of a thriller than it really is but it's closer to a contemporary in both tone and writing style. The book it most reminds me of is We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, although I did find the plot of See All the Stars more relatable and the characters more compelling. It has the same dreamy narration peppered with metaphors and deeper meanings.

My only real criticism of this book is that it lacked something, though I find it hard to place what. Near the end I began to suspect that the big reveal would in fact be a minor highschool problem and I began to worry, although thankfully this wasn't the case. Ultimately I did really like this book and I'm excited to read more from the author. The writing style and characters are the strongest elements, it's just a shame that the plot wasn't a bit more standout.

Overall Rating:

.5

The Lost Coast by Amy Rose Capetta

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Candlewick Press in exchange for an honest review.

What a beautiful beautiful book. I was so excited to read this because the words 'queer witches' are instant attention-grabbers for me, and thankfully The Lost Coast did not disappoint. This is the story of a close-knit group of witches who live in a town surrounded by redwoods. One of their group has recently 'changed' so while she is physically present, she is no longer herself mentally. They cast a spell to call someone to them to help find her and the spell brings Danny, a girl who does not know she is a witch but has strong finding magic. When Danny arrives, a boy is found dead and the mystery behind what happened to their friend becomes a little more complicated.

I think the first thing I have to discuss about this book is the writing style. I am normally not a fan of overly poetic books and this certainly counts as one. Usually extended metaphors and dreamy prose yank me out of the story and distract me from the plot. However, Capetta's writing is beautiful and I found the story so compelling that it was only occasionally that the flowery language distracted me. It still did happen but there were also some powerful and/or beautiful sentences which I really did love. This writing style definitely won't be for everyone though and it's something to bear in mind. The book also switched between third and first person between chapters which bothered me at first but I soon got used to. Again, I can see this bothering some people.

The characters are perhaps this book's biggest strength. I didn't quite fall in love with everyone in the admittedly-large cast but I almost did. Hawthorne was definitely the weakest and I kept getting her mixed up with Haven due to their similar names. Everyone else had fairly distinct personalities and I found myself missing them in the second half where there seems to be less focus on the side characters. There is a lot of queer content in this which was great and it was incorporated well into the plot. The plot itself is actually stronger than I expected from this kind of story and I found the ending satisfying which almost never happens with books where plot isn't the main focus.

Overall, this is a gorgeously-written and compelling book about queer witches and the complexities of close-knit groups. If you like the sound of this book, you're almost certain to enjoy it as the blurb gives a perfect sense of what you're going to get. This is a standalone as far as I'm aware and I'm not sure a sequel would work but I almost wish I had more from this world and I would certainly love more about these characters. I will definitely be keeping an eye on Capetta's future work.

Overall Rating:

.5

Dead Famous by Ben Elton

Confession time-I enjoy reality TV. Not all reality TV but a hefty chunk of it. Any show that has a strong focus on people interacting with each other (so think Love Island, not X Factor)  really appeals to me. Blame the psychology degrees. Anyway, this is a murder mystery based around a reality TV show which meant I HAD to pick it up, and I'm so glad I did.

Dead Famous is a pretty unique mystery in that you get about halfway through before you find out whose been murdered. Rather than being annoying, it's actually quite fun to try and work out who is dead and why. It adds another layer to the mystery which is a good thing given that I found the actual ending pretty easy to predict. However, despite the predictability I enjoyed every second.

Ben Elton's writing style is phenomenal. Every character in this is written perfectly. All of the reality stars are familiar caricatures but they have the depth necessary to prevent them from being uninteresting. The police characters take the back seat but in the way that they should. Every character has their own motivations and these are both clear to the reader and usually sympathetic or at the very least, understandable. The general pacing and other writing elements are similarly well done. This is fairly long for your average mystery but it certainly doesn't feel that way when reading it. The fact that everyone has a motive for the murder is also done well and it's no easy feat to pull off.

Sadly, this wasn't quite perfect enough to make it into the 5-star read category. The ending was very predictable and while it didn't exactly drag, there was a long time before you found out the identity of the murder victim and it may have been slightly too long. I would still strongly recommend this book if you enjoy mysteries or humorous social commentary. I don't hear enough people talking about it and it's a shame.

Overall Rating:

The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware

A new Ruth Ware book? Don't mind if I do!

It is no secret that I love Ruth Ware's writing and I'm pleased to say The Death of Mrs. Westaway is no exception. This book has a very different tone to her other ones but it is no less compelling because of it. There are very strong Rebecca vibes going on here but the thing it reminded me the most of is Agatha Christie.

Don't get me wrong-this is not a first class mystery by any standards. There are some twists in here but the focus is on the atmosphere and characters rather than the mystery itself. If you want to be on the edge of your seat and shocked by the ending, then this is not the book for you. But what I mean by the Agatha Christie comparison is the atmosphere of having a creepy old house, a closed set of characters who are a family and that focus on how each person fills a role within that family, secrets included. It reminds me most strongly of Five Little Pigs-there is that atmosphere of tragedy and everyone knowing the truth but no one speaking it.

While I did love this book, there were a few flaws that stopped it being a 4 star. Like I said, the thriller/mystery aspect is fairly easy to predict past a certain point and I wasn't particularly surprised by anything that happened. I also found the opening fairly slow in terms of getting our protagonist to the house. I understand needing to set up the context but it seemed to pile on a lot of detail that wasn't relevant later on. Finally, I would have liked a little more focus on Mrs. Westaway herself. I didn't need her to play more of a role in the story (being dead and all) but you don't get any detail about her character and it seems weird for everyone in the family to make vague generic statements about her not being nice, then say absolutely nothing else at all.

Rest assured, these are all minor niggles though. I still really enjoyed reading this book and I got through it very quickly (a good sign in a thriller). If you love atmospheric, character-focused tales with brilliant writing and an intriguing setting, you should definitely give this a try.

Overall Rating:

.5

Three Truths and a Lie by Brent Hartinger

SPOILERS AHEAD.

Oh boy. So I admittedly decided to read this book after seeing it on a Booktuber's 'Worst of 2017' list so maybe it's my own fault that yeah, it kind of ended up sucking. To be fair, this book is definitely not the worst thing I've ever read. It's just that the ending...wow.

So this book is about our main character Rob who goes to a cabin in the woods with his boyfriend Liam, Liam's best friend Mia and her boyfriend Galen. Galen gets murdered, they end up stranded in this cabin and then suspicion falls upon everyone. Blah blah blah, pretty standard thriller story.

First of all, the three truths and the lie listed on the blurb are not three truths and a lie. In fact, technically none of them are true? Also I've always played it as 'two truths and a lie' so I can only conclude that the title was changed to have it fit the story and the final twist.

I can't talk about anything else without discussing this ending. So first twist-Liam is behind everything all along. Big surprise. Rob and Liam have only been together for 3 months and yet Rob never suspects Liam once. In fact, he talks constantly about how Liam is his soulmate and acts shocked that he might not know everything about him. In 3 months? Really? By the end of the book, Mia is also dead so there is really only Rob and Liam left, and the book is told from Rob's perspective.

Now the second twist.

Liam and Rob are the same person. Yeah.

You can tell that Hartinger is trying so hard to be clever here. Admittedly, I like that 'Three Truths and a Lie' ultimately refers to three real people, one fake one. But he has this weird scene at the end where a psychiatrist points out to Liam/Rob that Liam and Rob never spoke to each other around other characters and this just reeks of self-congratulatory behaviour on behalf of the author. Like 'look, look how clever I am! See? It's totally not a nonsensical twist at all'.

Also there's another twist with Liam having hated Mia all along (see what I mean about the blurb?) which just makes him seem like the dumbest character ever. He hates her so he deliberately befriends her for years and years just on the off-chance he'll be able to murder her someday. Ah yes, perfect logic there.

I can't be totally unfair to this book. The writing style isn't the worst and I managed to breeze through it. It's just that the plot is so dumb that it overrides everything else. I picked it up out of curiousity but I'm not sure it's even worth that.

Overall Rating: