The Spirit Girls by Dawn Merriman

 

First line:  I should be afraid, but I'm not.

Plot summary:  Rylan Flynn can talk to ghosts. She and her friend, Mickey, film some of her encounters for their YouTube show Beyond the Dead Investigations. But mostly Rylan tries to help the ghosts crossover. But when the ghost of a young woman leads Rylan to her dead body in the woods near her aunt's house, Rylan finds herself caught up in a murder investigation. Something Detective Ford Pierce is not thrilled about. 

My thoughts:  This is a fast and fun paranormal mystery; it's a little short, and not too scary, and I really liked it. From the ghosts in her home to her penchant for filling her house and garage up with found 'treasures', Rylan is an interesting and likable character. And her longtime crush on Ford hints at the possibility of some romance in future books. It's a very promising start to this new ghostly series. And I look forward to reading more books about Rylan Flynn and the ghosts in her life. 

My rating: 4/5 stars.

Happy Reading!

The Suicide House by Charlie Donlea

 

First line:  I killed my brother with a penny. 

Plot summary:  In the summer of 2019, two students from Westmont Preparatory were killed in the abandoned house near the campus. It's rumored they were part of the Man in the Mirror secret society. One of their teachers was accused of their murders. A year later, both a newspaper reporter and a podcaster are digging into their murders, and the suicides that have followed. But the students of Westmont and their advisors are keeping secrets. Then Dr. Lane Phillips, a renown forensic psychologist, and Rory Moore, a cold case savant, get pulled in to help. And all those dark secrets start to come out.  

My thoughts:  There are a lot of layers to this mystery, with multiple character POVs interspersed with journal entries written by the murderer, and lots of shifts between the past and present. All of which slowed the pacing for me, especially at the beginning. Once I settled into the flow of the story, the pacing picked up. And I found the ending compelling. Though I have to admit, I didn't like this one nearly as much as I did Donlea's previous novel, Some Choose Darkness. Probably because with so many characters, and so much of the storyline taking place in the past, Rory's role isn't as prominent. And she's the character I like the most. But this mystery is still a good read. 

My rating:  3.5/5 stars. 

Happy Reading!

Top Ten Tuesday...

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a fun weekly meme hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week's theme:  BOOKS ON MY FALL 2024 TO READ LIST. 

Easy topic, right? 

My hardest thing was chiseling my list down to just these ten eleven books. 

Middle of the Night by Riley Sager

The Gathering by C.J. Tudor

My Vampire Plus-One by Jenna Levine

Grave Expectations by Alice Bell

The Next Everest by Jim Davidson

The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig

The Hunter's Daughter by Nicola Solvinic

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

Cold Light of Day by Elizabeth Goddard

Novice by Taran Matheru

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

Happy Reading!

The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean

 

"I have a hard time not blaming myself for what happened. I wish I didn't. I wish this was not a cautionary tale about what happens to girls who wander off in the dark. Who are made to learn there are bad people everywhere. That the truth is these people are not strangers. They are the men who you sleep with, the men you work with, the men you raise. I wish this wasn't what it means to be female--it is not a matter of if something bad will happen, but when."

Two years. Two weeks. One day. 

That's how long Ellie Black has been missing when she stumbles from the Captiol State Forest near Olympia, Washington. She's thin, bruised, clearly traumatized, and wearing a sweatshirt spattered with someone else's blood. Ellie's disappearance was Chelsey Calhoun's first case as a detective. Now she's hoping to find Ellie's abductor and arrest him. Only Ellie won't answer any of her questions, and it's clear she's keeping secrets. When Chelsey learns that the blood on Ellie's sweatshirt is from another girl who went missing before Ellie, Chelsey fears there are more missing girls out there still being held by the man or men who took Ellie. And she's determined to find them. 

"Ever since Ellie Black's disappearance, Chelsey has volunteered for any case involving violence against women. She always has plenty of work to do. All those beaten, all those bruised, all those maimed women are welcomed on Chelsey's shores. It is a type of atonement, Chelsey understands. She could not save (her sister) Lydia. She could not solve Ellie's case. ... A lump rises in Chelsey's throat, and she gulps it back. She won't allow the tears to come. All these girls. These bright, bold, beautiful girls. All that potential wasted. All those possibilities snuffed out. What could have been. The question stretches to infinity. She pulls one of Lydia's Beatrix Potter rabbits from the bed and screams into it with a shimmery, impotent rage."

This mystery is both page-turning and haunting. It alternates between Ellie's and Chelsey's POVs. I could understand and sympathize with Chelsey's intense determination to learn the truth about what happened to Ellie, and to keep it from happening to any other girls. And I liked the way Ellie's story unfolded bit by bit over the course of the novel. It kept me guessing about what secrets she was hiding. And there's a good, very unexpected twist, at the end. This is a very compelling thriller, as well as a sad commentary on the bad things that can happen to young girls in our society.  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading!

Haiku reviews...

 

Off the Beaten Path by Madison Wright

Flirty, sunny Wren

tangles with her grumpy neighbor,

single dad Holden.

Romantic comedy .... 360 pages .... 4.5/5 stars.

(Loved Holden's relationship with his six-year-old daughter, June, in this sweet romance.)

Metropolis by B.A. Shapiro

Six lives intersect

at Metropolitan Storage; 

each with their own secrets.

Fiction .... 355 pages .... 4/5 stars.

(This character-driven novel is so well-written!)

Beauty and the Beach by Gracie Ruth Mitchell

Her need for money.

His grandma's will. Two reasons

for a fake marriage (that turns out to be real).

Sweet romance .... 306 pages .... 4/5 stars.

(A charming summer romance with clever and humorous banter...and some very funny nicknames between Holland and Phoenix.)

Happy Reading!

September's bookish art...

 

Georges D'espagnat -- Woman Reading

"Do not set out to live a well-read life but rather your well-read life. No one can be well-read using someone else's reading list. Unless a book is good for you, you won't connect with it and gain from it. Just as no one can tell you how to lead your life, no one can tell you what to read for your life."

 --Steve Leveen, The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life    

The Case of the Baker Street Irregulars by Anthony Boucher

 

This classic mystery was first published in 1940. And it's very entertaining, especially if you're a fan of Sherlock Holmes. As the Baker Street Irregulars are. This group is dedicated to the great detective and know every story written about him. So when they learn Metropolis Pictures is planning to make a movie of The Adventures of the Speckled Band and have hired Stephen Worth to write the screenplay, the Irregulars are horrified. As a group, they begin a letter campaign threatening the producer F.X. Weinberg unless he fires Worth.

"...this man Worth, hereinafter to be known as that rat, is the author of many stupid and illogical mystery novels...and has many times expressed in public print his contempt for the exploits of Holmes."

Stephen Worth doesn't have a much better opinion of the Baker Street Irregulars:  "These cockeyed pantywaist deductionists. These silly-frilly nancy-pantsy dabblers who think they can write about detectives....they're going to learn something in this picture, and they're not going to like it."  

Wanting to get the Holmesians off his back (and unable to fire Worth because of an ironclad contract), Weinberg and his secretary, Maureen, devise a plan to bring five of the most well-known Baker Street Irregulars to Hollywood to oversee the script. But when Worth is murdered at their welcome reception, they all become suspects. Banding together, the Irregulars try to solve this puzzling murder. But they're stumped when every clue and red herring they find seems to point back to one of Sherlock Holmes's famous cases. It can't be a coincidence. But who's behind it all? 

Irreverent, engaging, humorous and a little zany, I thoroughly enjoyed this mystery. Boucher creates quite a cast of characters, even including a police sergeant named Watson. I found all the nods to Holmes and Watson lots of fun; though you don't have to be familiar with anything Sherlock Holmes to appreciate this mystery because the Irregulars are more than happy to explain each and every connection. There's a touch of screwball comedy in this one that I wasn't expecting, but found amusing. And while I didn't have a clue whodunnit, I loved watching the police and the Irregulars try their best to solve the crime. And the ending made me smile.  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading!