New York Times bestselling author Peter Swanson pens a spectacularly spine-chilling novella in which an American art student in London is invited to join a classmate for the holidays at Starvewood Hall, her family’s Cotswold manor house. But behind the holly and pine boughs, secrets are about to unravel, revealing this seemingly charming English village’s grim history.

Ashley Smith, an American art student in London for her junior year, was planning on spending Christmas alone, but a last-minute invitation from fellow student Emma Chapman brings her to Starvewood Hall, country residence of the Chapman family. The Cotswold manor house, festooned in pine boughs and crammed with guests for Christmas week, is a dream come true for Ashley. She is mesmerized by the cozy, firelit house, the large family, and the charming village of Clevemoor, but also by Adam Chapman, Emma’s aloof and handsome brother.

But Adam is being investigated by the local police over the recent brutal slaying of a girl from the village, and there is a mysterious stranger who haunts the woodland path between Starvewood Hall and the local pub. Ashley begins to wonder what kind of story she is actually inhabiting. Is she in a grand romance? A gothic tale? Or has she wandered into something far more sinister and terrifying than she’d ever imagined?

Over thirty years later the events of that horrific week are revisited, along with a diary from that time. What began in a small English village in 1989 reaches its ghostly conclusion in modern-day New York, many Christmas seasons later.

Another fun and delightful read from Judy Leigh, I can always count on her for giggle-snorts as well as several good belly laughs during perusal. This missive has three senior citizen siblings reconnecting after a lifetime of poor choices for one, lack of choices for another, and handfuls of missed opportunities for the third. They fell into their second chances and found “gardening groupies” at seventy, we should all be so lucky!

Ms. Leigh’s clever humor and observant insights sparkled throughout with quirky villagers, battling journalists, vamping widows, and witty monikers given to chickens such as Hen Solo, Jabba the Cluck, Princess Lay-a, and Dora the Eggs-plorer; goats named Vincent Van Goat and The Great Goatsby; and a cat named Isaac Mewton. I dare anyone to keep a straight face while reading. In fact, I’m tossing out a double-dog dare!

Your most delightful holiday read: the sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller The Christmas Bookshop, from beloved Scottish author Jenny Colgan.

Christmas comes early–far too early–to McCredie’s little Old Town bookshop in Edinburgh. It’s summer, but an American production company has decided that McCredie’s is the perfect location to film a very cheesy Christmas movie. After all, who can resist the charmingly narrow historic street with its Victorian grey stone buildings and warmly lit shop windows?

Carmen Hogan, the bookshop’s manager, is amused and a bit horrified by the goings-on, but the money the studio is paying is too good to pass up. She uses the little windfall from filming to create new displays and fend off a buyout offer from an obnoxious millionaire who wants to turn McCredie’s into a souvenir shop selling kilts made in China and plastic Nessies. Still reeling slightly from a breakup, Carmen’s not particularly looking forward to the holidays. But just as snow begins to fall and the lights of Christmas blink on, all sorts of lovely new possibilities present themselves…for McCredie’s bookstore, and for Carmen herself.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Bronagh in the magic shop had a theory that immaculately groomed, rich, working Edinburgh women with well- behaved children were all witches, because there was no other way of doing it.

Phoebe had a frowzy face, always looking slightly suspicious of the world, as if she’d tried it all already and it hadn’t pleased her.

…he felt himself, misshapen and awkward, a paradox of desires, as the loose threads of the world pulled and stretched him every which way.

He was the kind of guy, Carmen thought, that if you disagreed with him in any way would, depending on how much he wanted to sleep with you, either call you “feisty” or ask if you were on your period. It seemed unlikely there was a middle ground. His eyes flicked her up and down in a way she couldn’t bear and made her want to kick him and run away, the way the children weren’t allowed to.

When someone is trying to wind you up and succeeds in winding you up it is one of the worst feelings on earth. You feel irritated and cheated all at once.

Every day, it seemed, she lost something. She hadn’t felt like this with the others; she’d always been excited to see them move on to the next stage: walking, talking, exploring. But if she could have a vampire bite Eric she would have.

It was Jackson McClockerty, of course, dressed in bright red Stewart tartan trousers that made his bum look frankly enormous, as if it was about to float into the air like a pair of balloons.

My Review:

Jenny Colgan always hits all the feels between generous servings of well-honed humor and acute observations. This one was as insightfully written as it was cleverly amusing. I was giggle-snorting with glee at the author’s snarky humor and oddly fractured characters, with the frozen city of Edinburgh at Christmas also having a starring role. The writing was easy to fall into, emotive, and highly descriptive. I live in the tropics yet I felt the constant chill of their drafty rooms and Arctic winds as I read.

About the Author

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Jenny Colgan is the New York Times-bestselling author of numerous novels, including The Bookshop on the Corner, Little Beach Street Bakery, and Summer at Little Beach Street Bakery, all international bestsellers. Jenny is married with three children and lives in London and Scotland.

Everyone is capable of murder. Are you?

It started with an invitation to dinner. An evening of good food and good company at a luxury villa. But as the night progresses, the party takes a dark turn.

The host makes you an offer, a party favour he calls it: another guest has committed a heinous crime, you can end their life, stop their terror. He tells you there will be no consequences; do you believe him?

Your decision will change your life. Choose carefully.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

I open my mouth. Then decide it’s best not to go into it. If there’s one thing life has taught me, it is not to play one’s cards too soon.

Well, I hate to state the obvious, but “gay people” aren’t one homogenous mass who all think the same thing. Maybe you shouldn’t believe everything you read on Twitter. Although at least you said “gay people” and not a bundle of letters.

My Review:

This one kept me guessing to the very end, and oh, how I do love it when that happens. This was my introduction to this twisty scribe. He has conjured a batch of odd and quirky characters who were itchy/scratchy and continually prodded and sparked my curiosity. I will most definitely be coming back for more.

Favorite Quote:

Now face to face, she couldn’t help arriving at the uncharitable conclusion that he must have been drawn nose first, and then the artist had lost heart.

My Review:

This is such a fun and enjoyable series that keeps me guessing as well as pleasantly entertained. This installment was the longest and most complicated mystery yet. I would never have come to this conclusion as I had been suspecting the wrong person for most of the book. This adventure was completely away from home and without her ladies for backup, yet her ever-prepared, flawlessly presented, and perfectly kitted butler was more than up to the task of keeping Eleanor alive and squabbling with clever wit and high style.

About the Author

Arsenic at Ascot
Fiona Figg Mystery #7
by Kelly Oliver

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

I’d learned the best way to defuse a cocky man was to ask his advice.

I glanced into a full-length mirror next to the clothes rack. The face I saw looking back at me was the spitting image of my Uncle Frank. Features a tad too strong to be considered feminine. It was going to take more than a Harrod’s gown to turn me into a passable lady.

A smile played on my lips. Forget about provisions and housework. I was a proper British Intelligence agent about to embark on a top-secret espionage mission for the War Office. My chest expanded to the point of bursting a button off my blouse.

My Review:

This well-plotted and humorous cozy mystery was quite the head-scratcher, I didn’t have it anywhere worked out and am still up in the air about the trustworthiness of several characters, I guess spies are like that. The situations were unique and well-contrived with clues that prickled my curiosity and tickled my gray matter. Kelly Oliver is a master storyteller and paints colorful pictures with her well-chosen words.

One girl murdered. Another one missing. And a medical examiner desperate to uncover the truth in the latest Black Harbor mystery by acclaimed author Hannah Morrissey.

On a bone-chilling October night, Medical Examiner Rowan Winthorp investigates the death of her daughter’s best friend. Hours later, the tragedy hits even closer to home when she makes a devastating discovery—her daughter, Chloe, is gone. But, not without a trace.

A morbid mosaic of clues forces Rowan and her husband to question how deeply they really knew their daughter. As they work closely to peel back the layers of this case, they begin to unearth disturbing details about Chloe and her secret transgressions…details that threaten to tear them apart.

Amidst the noise of navigating her newfound grief and reconciling the sins of her past, an undeniable fact rings true for Rowan: karma has finally come to collect.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

If there’s one thing she’s actually learned at school, it’s that rumors are like fingerprints: everyone has their own special set, and like it or not, they are part of our identity.

The girl has a lurchiness about her, a furtive expression and andante shrinking inward that suggests she’s always trying to disappear from the space she inhabits. The elephant in the room desperately wishing it were a mouse.

Sometimes, she wonders if finding nothing is worse than finding something.

Teachers shouldn’t be airing their dirty laundry in the classrooms, not like Ms. Allouez, the recently divorced chemistry teacher who allegedly had students destroy her wedding photos over Bunsen burners.

I figured I’d save myself the cost of a divorce. They’re a hundred percent preventable if you don’t get married.

Her heartbeat thrums in her ears. She can feel her temples pounding and she’s convinced that if someone were to look at her dead-on, it would appear as though there’s a pair of Beats headphones screwed to her skull beneath her skin.

How easily madness strips us of who and what we once were. It changes us into something we don’t know how to navigate.

My Review:

This addictive and twisty series has been dark and moody, bewitchingly atmospheric, and brilliantly plotted with barbs of sharp wit, keenly honed insights, and canny as well as uncanny observations. Hannah Morrissey is a special kind of evil genius.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

I don’t know what it is about him, but he makes me feel like my hand is always caught in a candy jar.

I’m pretty sure that if I wanted to even get on Zaiah’s radar— really be on his radar— I’d have to throw away my phone, makeup, 99 percent of my clothing, take up making deer jerky and canning on the weekends, and start going on long walks while reciting Thoreau.

The woman, Hannah, seriously injured Mark and another person because she had been on her phone. This turned her life, and Zaiah’s life, and Mark’s, upside- down and she went to jail. Mark lost the use of his legs permanently. Zaiah feels guilt despite Mark’s forgiveness and rather impressive ability to forgive and make the most of his life. Zaiah is now single.

My Review:

This is a sweet and humorous tale with considerable insights about social media addictions and influencers that gave me pause and something to ponder.  The main and secondary characters were uniquely endearing and inhabited story threads that were engaging and entertaining as well as informative and thoughtfully contrived.  I enjoyed the breezy writing style as much as the main character’s journey and transformation.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Pierced and gangly with a death stare that could intimidate a bull, Morgan didn’t really fit anywhere,

She had to tip her head back to look him in the eye. At five foot two, Miserelli was the personification of a firecracker: small, compact, and explosive. Some people joked that she’d stand taller and walk straighter if it weren’t for the chip on her shoulder weighing her down.

There was something about Eleanor Reynolds. Perhaps it was part of her enchantment that she reminded him of an icicle— delicate enough to shatter, sharp enough to kill.

She’d found Saoirse Reynolds as all people find one another these days: on Instagram.

My Review:

This ingeniously plotted tale kept me guessing throughout the entirety of the book. I developed and cast aside multiple theories but would never have foreseen the story threads coming together to weave these conclusions. Hannah Morrissey is a gifted scribe.