THE MARIGOLD COTTAGES MURDER COLLECTIVE.....ENDEARING NEIGHBORS TURN INTO LOL SLEUTHS....(*****)

The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective by Jo Nichols (2025) 

     So much fun, this one. For everyone who loves a 'neighbors-gather-to-solve-a-murder' mystery, this book has everything you could possibly ask for.....and everything I love about this genre.

     Distinctive, quirky characters - some lovable, some hilarious, some 'forces-of-nature, some "who-know-what-they're-hiding, some mysterious, a few you want hug, a few you scratch your head about, and more than a few equipped with almost illegally laugh-out-loud lethal deadpan wit.

     And before it's all over, you're wishing they had an extra cottage to rent out so you could join them.

     We're amid a cluster of cozy little cottages in Santa Barbara, attended to by owner-landlady Mrs. B. Mrs. B. constantly hovers like a helicopter-grandmother over her tenants whether they like it or not. . There's aspiring young playwright (and survivor of a deeply upsetting trauma) Sophie. Also take-charge proposal writer Lily Ann, on-and-off separated from her overbearing husband. Then there's queer artist Ocean, also busy raising a sullen teen girl and her active little brother. And no one can forget chronic homebody Hamilton, a walking Wikipedia on everything. Finally, there's young city planner NIcholas, who generally wants nothing whatsoever to do with his neighbors......especially, for some hidden reason Mrs. B.

     Into their midst comes Anthony, a hulking, tattooed scary looking (but politely quiet) ex-convict.. No sooner does Mrs. B. rent him the remaining studio apartment, when a dead body's found on the property. Homicide detective Enible takes one look at Anthony and slaps him in cuffs, but Mrs. B., holds on to a fierce unshakable belief he's innocent. She enlists, as we knew she would, the Marigold Cottages community to put their heads together to crack the case

     The Marigold collective of unlikely sleuths is then off and running and guaranteed to keep you smiling and LOLing over and over again. Clues and twists start to pile up while the group engages in both chaotic on-line chats and equally riotous meetings at Hamilton's apartment, interrupted frequently by his vast knowledge of random trivia.

     Any time I stumble upon a book so enjoyable I'm sorry to see it end, I can't recommend highly enough. (especially with that final chapter reveal) And I wouldn't mind at all if Mrs. B. and the gang get to take another bite out of crime in the near future. Or more than a few, come to think of it.

        5 stars (*****). A BQ "Don't Miss".

THE LOCKED WARD.....TWINS REUNITE TO UNRAVEL THEIR ORIGINS....AND A KILLER.....(****)

 The Locked Ward by Sara Pekkanen (2025)

     Leave it to an excellent crafter of thrillers like Sarah Pekkanen to take sibling rivalry to all new strange and murderous levels.

     Wedding planner Georgia finds herself incarcerated in a locked psychiatric ward, awaiting her evaluation to see if she's competent to stand trial for the murder of her younger sister Annabelle. Georgia, first adopted by a wealthy influential family, soon became the unwanted excess baggage child after her adopted parents greeted the unexpected birth of their biological child Annabelle. Ignored by her father and scorned by her imperious mother, Georgia earned a reputation of physically abusing Annabelle at every opportunity all through their childhoods.

     Which means things don't look too good for Georgia after she's found kneeling over Annabelle's bludgeoned, dead body......

     So who can she turn to for help except Mandy, Georgia's long lost real twin sister. A not quite identical twin, Mandy's, a bar owner who'd ended up adopted by an entirely different family when the twins were separated for who knows what reason. Well, somebody knows for sure and that's the heart of the tortured path these sisters must take to arrive at the truth.

     And that's all Sarah Pekkanen needs to go off and running with swiftly paced chapters, sharply defined characters, startling twists and a constant threat of danger hovering over both sisters. from a person or persons unknown. The stakes are high as Georgia fends off potential harm from within the hospital's confines while Mandy unravels mysteries swirling around Georgia, Annabell, their family......and even Mandy's adopted parents as well.

     I can't get enough thrillers that keep me spinning through pages late into the night and this one delivers. Suspense, big reveals and an extra nasty stinger for the final pages. Well done and always looking forward to this author's next book.

     4 Stars (****)

THE UNDERSTUDY........THIS OPERA AIN'T OVER TIL BARBARELLA BELTS ONE OUT.....(****)

.. The Understudy by Morgan Richter (2025)

     To paraphrase that corny old joke about opera.......it's not over til someone drops dead.

     Pitch perfectly trained young opera singer Kit is on the verge of her big breakthrough and first starring role. Her New York based opera company, famous for its startling choices of adaptive material, has cast her as the campy, sexy sci-fi heroine Barbarella. (Barbarella belting out arias as she defends the galaxy in outrageous skin-tight costumes? The mind boggles......how come Masterpiece Theater never got around to this......)

     Kit's singing may be technically superb, but her acting is strictly mediocre connect-the-dots, lacking true fire, emotion and conviction. Which leads the company to lean toward her strikingly beautiful understudy Yolanda. Yolo's got nowhere near Kit's precision vocal talents, but she radiates the pure sexual combustion the role of Barbarella requires.

     Even worse news for Kit.......Yolanda's not only more suited for the role, she's potentially a treacherous sociopath, who won't let anything or anybody stand in the way of her path to stardom. And anyone she considers a roadblock......uh-oh.

     At this point, I would not want to spoil all the many ways in which Kit and Yolanda's toxic frenemy situation goes spiraling out of control in multiple disturbing directions. Let's just say that Kit's determination to unravel her understudy's tortuous backstory and motives lead her into one surprise after another........including someone wielding a wicked knife.

     I'm not sure I could fully swallow the bumpy turns of plot this book takes and its final revelation is no great surprise either. What I did thoroughly enjoy (being something of a lifelong theater geek), was the fascinating look into opera as the most distinctive and challenging of musical art forms. Author Morgan Richter takes us on a juicy tour of backstage politics, and the arduous, demanding vocal training that Kit must endure to reach the pinnacle of her chosen form of creative expression.

     Combining Kit overcoming her own personal deficiencies with Yolanda's strangely dangerous life makes for one engrossing package put together. And it's not over till Barbarella sings....

     4 stars (****)

SHEEPDOGS.....ARE DEEP COVER MERCENERIES SOMETIMES FUNNY? UH.....YEAH. (****)

 Sheepdogs by Elliot Ackerman (2025)

     For everyone who thrills to a trip into the twisting, dangerous and sometimes crazily funny world of paramilitary mercenaries, here's a first class ticket. Did I really just say funny? Yes I did, which turns out to be the bonus surprise in addition to a full roster of memorably quirky (but sometimes lethal) characters.

     'Sheepdogs' plunges right into the shadowy morass of deep cover CIA operations to control global chaos to achieve.....uh....well, let's say acceptable outcomes. Yes, they could tell you about it but then they'd have to kill you. And that puts a lot of wear and tear on battle hardened veterans who choose to make a living trying to survive these off-the-books super secret, this-never-happened capers.

     Two such individuals are disgraced operative 'Skwerl' and expert pilot 'Big Cheese' Aziz, both currently down and out for various reasons. They've been recruited by the anonymous, mysterious 'Sheepdog' to 'repossess' (also known as 'swipe') a jet plane and fly it to Marseilles........for a big fat fee. But nothing about this mission is what it seems and nobody involved in it is to be trusted. In no time at all, there's a poisoned dead body, a ravaging bear, priceless dishes, a surprise assassin and our guys' significant others, Skwerl's dominatrix girlfriend and Cheese's beloved pregnant wife.

    There's also no shortage of government agencies and bigwigs (with an alphabet soup of acronyms) more than willing to disavow all knowledge of any anybody's actions......and come to think of it, nobody's entirely sure of anybody's actions anyhow.......

     It's very clear that author Elliot Ackerman well knows the world he's describing and decided to have some fun with it. peppering the novel with moments of deadpan comic absurdity along the lines of 'Dr. Strangelove' or Carl Hiaasen books. A good thing, too, because that's exactly what kept me engaged and entertained all the way through to the irony-filled finale.

     I loved the idea of bending the 'clandestine-mercenary-worldwide-chaos' thriller with a skewed, less than serious look at the untrustworthy participants. Here's hoping Skwerl, Cheese and the other assorted rogues they deal with stumble into further misadventures.

        4 stars (****)

THE LIST.....WORKING FOR THIS COMPANY IS A LIFE OR DEATH EXPERIENCE.....(*****)

 The List by Steve Berry (2025)

     Maybe not the fastest paced of thrillers but I found myself immersed and invested in the lives of expertly detailed characters and the richly imagined setting a small 'company' town in the heart of the Georgia forests.

     And the overwhelming evil conspiracy that's befallen this town is simply mind boggling and scary to behold.

     Caught up in these terrible murderous events is lawyer Brent Walker, a former Atlanta prosecutor returning to his home town to serve as assistant General Counsel to the company for whom almost everybody in Concord works for - Southern Republic Pulp and Paper. Still shaken by the tragic end of his already failed marriage, Brent must now also look after his ailing mother. And, he knows he'll encounter his long time love Ashley Reed and his old friend (and Ashley's dad) Hank Reed, a tough, canny Union rep and negotiator on behalf of Southern Republic's factory work force.

     It isn't long before Brent and Hank stumble upon the company's most shocking secret, something that has led to decades of deaths among some of Southern Republic's retirees. The revelations of what's been going on now puts them and everyone they care about and love in terrible danger.........and getting the truth about before they're all permanently silenced dials up the suspense to maximum levels.

     Steve Berry creates a vivid, expansive portrait of the town, its history, residents and the extent to which Southern Republic and its corporate masters control every element of its life and fortunes. Everyone here, both the people you ache for and root for and the ones you despise are deeply drawn with care and nuance.

     It's always a pleasure to dive into a book that functions more than just a thrill machine, one that surrounds you with a unique place and a solid drama you want to see through to the very end. 'The List' has it all, so that's an automatic 5 stars for me.

   5 stars (*****).

CODEBREAKER......GOVERNMENT GOONS HUNT TEENS RACING THROUGH D.C. LANDMARKS.....(*****)

 Codebreaker by Jay Martel (2025)

     Had a terrific time with this one, a super-fast YA mash-up of 'National Treasure' and '3 Days of the Condor'. That it zipped along like an action-rom-com thriller didn't surprise me, since the two authors writing under the name Jay Martel have theatrical writing backgrounds. And I've no doubt that soon two lucky teen actors will be cast as the leads when it reaches production as a series or film.

     Living in a suburb near Washington D.C., 17 year old Mia Hayes sees her normal life turned upside down. Anonymous and brutal government operatives invade her house, seeking possible intel in the possession of her father, a CIA analyst and secret code specialist. The attack leaves her mother dead and her father escaped and in the wind. Only a few weeks later, Mia and quick witted hacker Logan are both on the run from the same shadowy, murderous agents. Before his own death, Mia's father reached out to her, sending her on perilous crack-the-secret-code mission to stop some possible catastrophic domestic terror event.

     Whenever they can stop to take a breath (and dodge violent encounters with the relentless villains), Mia and Logan trade sharp quips, romantic sparks and solve staggeringly complex codes. (And the book extends an interactive invite for puzzle loving readers to  join in themselves.....)

     On top of all the chasing, fleeing, brawls, shootouts, smooches and secret messages, 'Codebreaker' throws in American History, famous historical sites along with a boiling-over pot of political turbulence. Quite a package for teen a thriller.

     And that made for a book that took me less than a day and a half to finish. Enough said for a 5 star read? 

     Indeed it is.....5 stars (*****)

THE CONFESSIONS.....AN OUT OF CONTROL A.I. TURNS 'YOU'VE GOT MAIL' INTO A NIGHTMARE....(***).

 The Confessions by Paul Bradley Carr (2025)

      I'm torn in all directions about how assess this book. Some of it's brilliant, in the way it taps into the immediate fear loathing and embrace of today's technology. And some of it's tiresome, overwritten and populated with characters not worth caring about. And holy micropchip, that obtuse, maddening ending...... guaranteed to make readers scream, "Are you kidding me? That's IT?"

     We 're not too far in the future, where we're all suffering infantile dependence on A.I. Suuper-Dooper Computer LLIAM. We ask the Big L what to wear, what to eat for breakfast, who to date, who to marry, whether we should super-size our Big Mac and fries and so on and so on.

      But LLIAM, in the great tradition of HAL 9000, and 'The Terminator's 'Skynet and my own laptop, has a mind of its own. It not only shuts itself down but sends out zillions to letters to everyone around the world revealing personal scandalous secrets, driving recipients into a frenzy of rage, shock, murder, depression and suicide. (We'd all be better off if we just opened the package of weekly supermarket coupons.)

     Chaos reigns and LLIAM's corporate CEO Kaitlin Goss is forced to go on a cross country odyssey in search of one of the A.I. legendary reclusive co-creators. But also on her tail is a lawyer with hidden agendas and the FBI. And thousands of those really ticked off letter recipients who've seen Kaitlin on TV aren't exactly her biggest fans either.

     Yes, the topic of A.I. and its accompanying problematic issues couldn't be more timely, but for a book designed as a breathless thriller. the pacing stagnates. Author Paul Bradley Carr relies more heavily on long blocks of description instead of dialogue. Twists abound, but you've got to plow through a whole lot of excessive verbiage to reach them.

     The clock-is-ticking suspense and action of the finale are nicely orchestrated but might have come off more effectively if any of these characters generated at least a small amount of sympathy.

     And don't get me started again on the ending, a pseudo Kubrick/'2001' Hail Mary that reads as if tacked on for a punchy fade-out to generate a movie deal. For a book that takes a lot of time devoted to thoughtful discussions about the blessings and curses of A.I, it cries out for an equally thoughtful epilogue.......which you'll not find here.

     A very uneven read, but every so often nails its intent as an up-to-the-minute thrill ride.

     3 stars (***).