Perfect Kill (Callanach and Turner #6) by Helen Fields

This is the 6th book in a crime thriller series featuring DI Luc Callanach and DCI Ava Turner. Although most of these stories are set in Edinburgh, Scotland, as they work for the MIT there, Luc is currently assigned in France as Scottish liaison officer to Interpol working on tracing a human trafficking case. A Scottish national's body had been found in Flandres and all that remained of the young man was a shell -- most of his internal organs had been removed. It seems that there is something more sinister going on that might tie into a missing persons situation that Ava is dealing with. From the backroom, filthy brothels where the trafficked women are used and abused to the sterile interior of a quasi operating theater, this is a complicated investigation that is grisly and chilling.

If you haven't read the previous five books in the series, I'd urge you to start at the beginning. This is a really good collection that has interesting characters, fabulous plots, and interesting settings. The writing is top-notch and the author spins the tales and lavishes us with incredible details. The relationship between Luc and Ava is quite complex and their history together is checkered with a bit of drama, but it works well. I do enjoy these books and they are very absorbing often requiring that I read them from cover to cover in a single sitting.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for this e-book ARC to read, review and recommend. I hope that #7 is in the works but I understand that Helen Fields is writing a standalone novel coming in February of 2021.

This is the 6th book in a series that I urge you to read from the beginning, in order.
Genre - crime thriller, police procedural, Scotland

First Cut by Judy Melinek and T.J. Mitchell

Just zipped through this one and I truly hope it is the debut of a new series featuring Dr. Jessie Teska. It's a crime thriller whose protagonist is a spunky Polish medical examiner/forensic pathologist in the city of San Fransisco. The plot is complicated and the details are incredible as would be expected since the author is actually a medical examiner who wrote a memoir, "Working Stiff: Two Yeears, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner" along with her husband, T.J. Mitchell. I loved that book and this happens to be her first fiction novel. If you love medical thrillers, you won't be disappointed!

Jessie has left her job in LA under a bit of a cloud and is hired on at the San Francisco Office of Chef Medical Examiner. It's a far cry from the state-of-the-art facility that she'd worked in LA, but needs must and she jumps right in as assistant medical examiner dealing with sudden, violent, and unexpected deaths. She lives in a converted cable car in the city famed for the Golden Gate Bridge and rued for the near constant fog.  Her first call-out takes her to the Tenderloin with her boss, Dr. Michael Stone, and they find a dead man who was shot multiple times after attempting to steal a computer. Jessie volunteers to do the autopsy and finds a fragment of the computer's serial number embedded in his tissue. The next day brings a new case -- a mutilated woman found in a hotel room -- her body was cut open to retrieve drug packets that she'd swallowed. Then, another, a young woman is discovered dead in her home -- a probable accidental drug overdose. This woman had died from an injection of "Soul Sister" a potent mix of heroin and fentanyl and Jessica believes that there is foul play involved but her bosses want her to close the case.  There's something going on here that seems to tie these 3 separate deaths together. Add in a bitcoin scheme and this all turns into a very complex investigation involving some very powerful people. NO SPOILERS.

I really enjoyed this and hope that there will be more books with this main character and her job. I like Jessie and her enthusiasm for her job. I've never been to San Francisco, but I liked all the descriptions about the setting. My favorite parts, however, were all the medical details and I simply can't get enough of those. I find the whole subject quite fascinating and the the cases wholly believable. More, please.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin for this e-book ARC to read, review and recommend.

This is, I hope, the first in a new series.

Genre - crime thriller 

Why She Ran (Detective Iris Locke #2) by Geraldine Hogan

 This is the second book in the Detective Iris Locke crime thriller series and I think it's quite important that you have read the first book prior to getting into this one as there are many significant events that occurred that are necessary to know about before delving in.

DS Iris Locke is still reeling from the revelations and loss but she is trying to come to terms and get back into her job -- the one thing she still has left. She's now living in a boarding house but has decided to stay with the Corbally station Murder Team in Limerick. She's done with Dublin but knows she belongs here in the town where she was raised despite everything that happened. Her colleague, DS Ben Slattery calls about a case. Seems that a murder has taken place at Curlew Hall, a residential care center for troubled kids who have rich parents. A young carer, Rachel McDermott has been bludgeoned and left dead on the kitchen floor of one of the bungalows. The patient she was assigned to watch, Eleanor Marshall, the 15-year-old daughter of a prominent local businessman, has disappeared. The full force is called out to do a massive search for Eleanor -- did she kill Rachel and why? Everyone loved Rachel so what happened inside the bungalow and has something happened to Eleanor -- who is a vulnerable girl with severe epilepsy and a checkered history? The investigation begins. NO SPOILERS.

The writing is very good, but the story moved quite slowly with lots of interviews back and forth with same people and the usual difficulty in getting information from them. The setting was well-described and there was a sense of menace that wasn't fully realized. The two main characters, Locke and Slattery, have a decent partnership and proceed diligently in their work going without sleep or food. There were many references to what had recently happened to Iris but a paragraph or two summing it up completed would be really helpful to refresh the Reader's memories with all the details. That would make it easier to relate more to Iris and her current emotional status. I would have to say that this installment didn't grab me as much as the first book but I do plan to catch the next one to see what happens for Iris in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this e-book ARC to read and review.

This is the second book in the series and I believe it doesn't work very well as a standalone so read the first one prior.
Genre - crime fiction, police procedural

The Blossom Twins (DI Natalie Ward #5) by Carol Wyer

This crime thriller, the 5th in the DI Natalie Ward series, begins like most others in this genre. Two sisters go to a free open-air concert and one of them goes missing only to be found, strangled to death, under an arbor swathed with roses. When Natalie and her team arrive, she's struck by the notion that the position of the body and the presence of the petals might indicate a connection to a previous case that she worked years ago. That killer, however, died in prison. Natalie and her colleagues are going to work this as they do every case -- meticulously and thoroughly. They aren't making much progress interviewing everyone who knew the dead teenager when two other girls, 13-year-old twins Erin and Ivy Westmore, disappear from the tent in their backyard where they'd been camping overnight. Now Natalie is convinced that there's a copycat killer on the loose or that the police had convicted the wrong man in the 2014 cases. Because the team is down a man as DS Murray Anderson is off on a vacation to Australia, the new boss brings in DS John Briggs - the detective who Natalie had worked with on the original Blossom Twins case. Although they don't see eye to eye, they are pursuing all the leads, butting heads, and getting nowhere. Can they find this killer before he strikes again? NO SPOILERS.

I thought I had this one worked out -- until I most certainly didn't. I appreciate the courage it took for Carol Wyer to write this ending as it definitely shifted up my rating for this novel. The suspense at the end was quite crazy and made the slow slog through the very detailed police procedural segments well worth waiting for. Although I'll admit that I don't really like Natalie very much, let's face it -- she's not much of a presence as a mom -- but she definitely does love her job and she's very good at it. Her personal life no longer interests me (same old same) but I am very interested to see what will happen in the next installment given the changes in store. The writing is good, the setting very interesting, and the descriptions are so vivid that you almost feel as if you are right there. Lots of characters that I'd like to get to know better.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this e-book ARC to read, review and recommend. I've been along for the ride having read all of the books in this series and I plan to stick around to see where Carol Wyer is taking us next.

This is the 5th in the series and I do believe they should be read from the beginning, in order.
Genre - crime fiction, police procedural

Murder at the Dolphin Hotel (Miss Underhay #1) by Helena Dixon

A lovely, historical cozy mystery set in Dartmouth, 1933.

It's summer and the start of the tourist season in riverside Dartmouth at the Dolphin Hotel. The fashionable place is owned and managed by Mrs. Treadwell and her granddaughter, Miss Kitty Underhay. As the story opens, a dead body has been fetched out of the river -- the man was a Dutch foreigner -- and the police are involved. Murder is not common in Dartmouth and this news has everyone a bit on edge. So, when Mrs. Treadwell has to leave to attend a relative, Kitty learns that Captain Matthew Bryant has been retained to provide security in her grandmother's absence. At the same time, Kitty finds out that Grams has been receiving threatening letters that hint of an item of great value that the sender wants back. Kitty has been in the care of Grams since she was 6 years old when her mother, Elowed, disappeared during the war. Kitty has no memories of her father. It's a mystery that gets more involved after an assault on the former mayoress and a couple more murders. Everything is complicated by a nosy reporter and the scheduled visit by an entertainer from the US. With plenty of intrigue and a surfeit of suspects, can Kitty and Captain Bryant figure out what the treasure is, find it, and make sure it is secured? NO SPOILERS.

As the first in a new series, this installment introduces us to the two main characters. I really enjoyed getting to know Kitty and Matthew and am eager to see what new adventures and mysteries await. I absolutely loved the time period and the setting and couldn't get enough of the period details of a time long gone. The narrative is well-written and the words flew by as I devoured this in a couple of hours. Lots of action and fun trying to guess which were the bad guys.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this e-book ARC to read, review and recommend. I definitely want to read the next book in this series.

This is the first in a new series so, of course, I want to read these in order.
Genre - cozy mystery, historical 1933, Dartmouth

Shatter the Night (Detective Gemma Monroe #4) by Emily Littlejohn

"People would be killed. Lives would be changed. And Cedar Valley would never be the same again."

Evil had crept into Cedar Valley and Detective Gemma Monroe and her colleagues are soon involved in a very complicated case that had it roots in events from long ago. The death of her grandfather's friend, Judge Caleb Montgomery, in a car bombing is just the first incident in what will prove to be a demanding investigation that requires the talents and skills of many different people to bring this killer they've dubbed "Ghost Boy" to justice. NO SPOILERS.

This is the 4th in the series and, although I've only read #3, I had no difficulty jumping right into this well-written crime thriller. It was great to reconnect with familiar characters and meet some new ones. I was most pleased, however, by further development in Gemma's character and I like her quite a lot. She's not a mess like many in this genre and, though she has her scars and some sad things in her past, she's a good detective, plays nicely with her fellow team members, and uses her head to manage the procedural aspects of this escalating situation. I am excited about the developments in her personal life as well, and I hope she can settle in with Brody and baby Grace and combine being a mother and a detective with a happy home life. The plot is quite convoluted and there's a lot going on until it all finally comes together in a satisfying conclusion. It was easy to read in a single sitting and I enjoyed the setting as well as the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for this e-book ARC to read, review and recommend. I look forward to the next installment in this series.

This is the 4th book in the series and I've only read one other and, though I wish I'd gotten in at the beginning, this worked fine for me.
Genre - crime thriller, police procedural, Colorado setting

The Argument by Victoria Jenkins

This is a seriously twisted domestic drama that starts out slowly and shatters with a deviation that I really didn't expect. Sure, mothers and teenaged daughters don't always see eye to eye...

Whenever I see the words, psychological thriller, I get a bit blasé. I've read hundreds of them and pride myself on spotting those important clues that give away the direction long before the denouement. Since this novel is narrated by both mother and daughter, I figured one of them had to be unreliable. Is it Hannah, the overprotective mother who just wants to keep her daughters safe or is it 15-year-old Olivia who is doing everything she can to try the patience and love of her parents? Then there's Michael, the doting husband, who's given Hannah everything she ever dreamed of having after a pretty bad childhood. And, Rosie, the younger sister who just follows the rules and appears to be the daughter they love more. There's a lot going on and I'll say no more so that you can appreciate this disturbing tale WITHOUT SPOILERS.

I've decided to rate this 4 stars because of the ending. I did read this in a single sitting over a couple of hours because I just had to know before I slept. Some of it seemed very slow but that was what ended up making the startling climax and conclusions so "in your face." It sure brought out all the feels. I can't wait to read more reviews!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this e-book ARC to read, review and recommend.

This is a standalone and is not part of any series.
Genre - Domestic drama, psychological drama

The Girls in the Lake (Beth Adams #2) by Helen Phifer

This second book in the Beth Adams series finds Dr. Adams, a Forensic Pathologist in the Lake District, living with her boyfriend, DS Josh Walker. Beth is still fixated on her abusive ex, a man who tried to kill her -- twice -- but he's safely locked in prison and now, after 7 long years, she's feeling like she can come out of her self-imposed shell thanks to Josh. This happy little world is upset, however, when the bodies of two females are pulled from Lake Windermere in the space of 24 hours. Then, at a drinks party on a fancy boat, another girl is pushed into the same lake. These events have the same 3 people in common. Is this a serial killer at work or were the drownings accidental? NO SPOILERS.

This is me -- I love science and, as a nurse, I devour all details medical. I've long had a fascination with the work of the forensic pathologist and have read extensively in the sub genre as well as watched all the tv shows. So, I am super picky. And that's where my problem began. Beth Adams is no Kay Scarpetta nor is she a pale comparison to Dr. Quincy (just to name two) and since I know a little bit about the actual JOB duties for this position, I found myself scoffing in disbelief at the things that Beth does in this book. Even so, I continued to read and discovered that I simply don't really like any of the characters. And don't get me started on the stupid issues that Beth and Josh had during the course of their investigation! The plot was a little thin and the perpetrator obvious so there were no surprises except maybe that Beth manages to live despite needing yet another rescue or two!

I guess I might be done with this series despite my eagerness to read about a pathologist and cop who are romantically involved as well as work partners assuming each would stick to his/her strength. Maybe it's different in the Lake District to how this could possibly be done in the USA, but even when taking liberties with it for the sake of the story, it should not be quite so unbelievable? I hate being disappointed but this was a very quick read with lots of emotional angst filler so I can move on. I had such high hopes but accurate scientific detail alone can't carry a series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this e-book ARC to read and review.

This is the second in a series which I think should be read in order.

Genre - crime thriller, mystery

Dark Hollows by Steve Frech

The werewolf "brings destruction to itself and all those around it. It is in his nature."

Jacob Reese, former bagman for a small time drug dealer, has gone straight. He's bought himself a coffee shop in The Hollows, a tiny town in Vermont. Once Groundworks was in the red, Jacob decided to turn a cottage on his property into a B&B, taking advantage of the huge tourist traffic in that New England area. Although he's careful about his renters, he makes a mistake when he hosts Rebecca Lowden to stay for just one night. For one thing, she looks eerily like a former girlfriend, Laura Aisling. But, he knows that despite appearances that this cannot be Laura because he knows that Laura is dead. And it all comes rushing back to him...and soon he's in the middle of a nightmare. NO SPOILERS.

The main theme of this quick read is guilt. Jacob can't escape it and can't save himself. In short, he's a mess and runs around like a crazy person trying to figure out what's going on, who's doing this, and why. Every bit as unbelievable as you might imagine, a great deal of suspension of disbelief will be required as the tale unfolds. Perhaps you will be surprised at the twists, but if you're paying attention, you'll see the setup from the start. I was engaged while reading and it kept my attention as I raced through in a couple of hours. The time shifts were interesting because of the way they were inserted into the narrative. Jacob is the main character and basically the total focus and all I could see was a man drowning under the weight of his past and his mistakes. I really didn't care for the ending but I can make a logical guess though I think I really hoped it would conclude another way. I would say this is a mystery more than anything else.

Thank you to NetGalley and HQ (HaperCollins Publishers) for this e-book ARC to read and review.

This is a standalone and is not part of any series.
Genre - mystery

Wrong Victim (DCI Rachel King #3) by Helen H. Durrant

DCI Rachel King, divorced from Alan with two teen-aged daughters, works for East Manchester CID along with several other team members. This crime mystery begins with a call out to Hawthorne Lodge Nursing Home where an elderly resident, Francis Baslow, has been found murdered -- he was suffocated and his ring finger has been removed. In addition, confetti has been spread all over the tiny room. When the officers go to make the notification and bring in Baslow's daughter to ID him, she stuns by saying that the dead man is not her father. It's on! And a complicated case this turns out to be with links to a previous investigation involving human traffickers and the criminals responsible for that illegal activity. There's a lot going on in this police procedural with Rachel unsure of whom to trust and Jed McAteer has skipped town. Can the team unravel this murderous mess and solve their case? NO SPOILERS.

This is typical fare that has all the standard elements of this genre, including a female detective who is really starting to annoy me. She doesn't listen to anyone, has her own opinions, steamrolls over people and makes mistakes while trusting her "instincts." I'd like to get to know the other team members a bit better, especially DCI Mark Kenton and DC Elwyn Price. To be honest, the whole case wasn't really that interesting and it seemed drawn out and convoluted with some of them working at cross purposes, withholding information, etc. and though I've read and enjoyed the previous 2 books in the series, I was hoping that Rachel would have gotten her act together both personally and professionally by now. I'll give the series another shot with book #4, however, as things might be changing for Rachel given the last sentence in this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Joffe Books for this e-book ARC to read and review. 

This is the third book in the series and they should be read in order.
Genre - Crime thriller, police procedural

Winter Dark (Embla Nyström #2) by Helene Tursten

This crime thriller set in rural Sweden by an author new to me was an engaging introduction to Detective Inspector Embla Nyström of Vastra Gotaland County Bureau of Investigation Mobile Unit. She and her two colleagues, Superintendent Goran Krantz and Hampus Stahre, are sent to help in Stromstad after a series of crimes rocks the area. The cases include "two missing children, a fatal stabbing, arson with a presumed fatality, a serious assault and the murder of a police officer." What in the world is going on in that town? NO SPOILERS.

This was extremely descriptive police procedural with all the details. I had not read the first book in the series, but this worked fine as a standalone with enough background information to get me up to speed and allow me to appreciate the development of Embla's character. I like her -- she's no nonsense and independent and I definitely liked that she didn't go off on her own half-cocked and get herself into trouble as many book detective protagonists typically do. I really want to read more about her so will want to obtain the next installment in this series. I liked the writing style and the setting and feel that I'll really like learning more about all members of the team. The cases were resolved and they weren't as grisly as the murder plots I'm used to reading.

Thank you to Soho Crime and NetGalley for this e-book ARC to read and review. Forgive the lack of appropriate Swedish umlaut throughout and consistently placed in my review.

This is the second in series and I wish I had read #1 first although it worked OK as a standalone.
Genre - Mystery, crime thriller, police procedural, set in Sweden

The Lies We Hide by S.E. Lynes

"Motivations are mysterious things; what we do and why."

Just finished this and must say that my thoughts are all over the place. First of all, as I am used to S.E. Lynes writing psychological thrillers, I was not at all expecting this dark domestic drama full of sadness that permeated through the narrative as it dealt with spousal abuse, drug addiction, imprisonment and death. A bright light that did shine through however was the stress on the importance of family love and the certainty that family can provide redemption as well as it can slowly kill a person by degrees. It's not luck that puts you in one type or the other. Our own choices and the decisions made can affect where we end up, or with whom, but that doesn't answer the big question -- if you marry and/or stay with the wrong kind of person, is that on you -- and if it is, then what does that mean for the children born into such a bad relationship? Because they certainly suffer and, worst of all, they have no control over the situation. I guess what I'm trying to say is that this book deals with those issues and will elicit a lot of your own introspection as you read.

This novel is told in shifting point of view and in past and present time shifts. The different narratives allow the reader a glimpse into the minds of the main characters and their reactions to the different events that occur. Carol is married to a drunken abuser named Ted. When she's had enough, she leaves him stealing away into the night with her two children, Graham and Nicola. You'd think that getting away would allow her to rebuild her life, but life with Ted as left scars on them all. Graham turns to drugs and Nicola buries herself in school work with ambitions to get to University. Things go from bad to worse and it doesn't look like there is going to be any sort of happy ending for this poor family. Help comes in unexpected ways, however. A listening ear. A kind friend. A gentle soul. NO SPOILERS.

I love the writing and the way the author puts a thought out there for the reader to consider. I both empathized with Carol, and like many women who've never experienced domestic violence, I suspect sometimes you'll want to shake her when you see her do something but that's only because you'll fear for her. Since the story is somewhat reflective given the way it's written, you'll likely have to pause a few times as the revelations come. Though none of it really surprised me, I can say that it felt right and wasn't a "shocking twist" per se. I did enjoy this though it's really not the type of book that I gravitate toward for entertainment but I'm glad I read it.

Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for this e-book ARC to read, review and recommend.
3.5 stars rounded up to 4 just because there was this incredible sweetness to it despite all the difficulty this family experienced.

This is a standalone that is not part of any series.
Genre - domestic drama, triggers for domestic abuse

A Madness of Sunshine by Nalini Singh

Atmospheric and suspenseful, this mystery thriller drew me in and kept me fully engaged and guessing until the very last page!

Golden Cove, New Zealand -- "It's lovely and dangerous and beautiful."

Anahera Spenser-Ashby, née Rawrir, returns to her childhood home from London where she'd been living for the past 8 years -- she's just buried her lying, cheating husband. She had never intended to go back, but now she settles in the cabin where her mother had died and finds that much has changed in this wild land at the bottom of the world. Shortly after Anahera reconnects with her best friend, Josie, who now owns the town cafe, a 19-year-old girl named Miriama disappears. Miriama was scheduled to leave Golden Cove to do an internship with professional travel photographers and was the most beautiful girl in the small community where everyone knew and watched over everyone else. Golden Cove's sole policeman, Will (a former detective in Christchurch), and the majority of its inhabitants begin an intense search but no trace of Miriama is found. The community has lost one of its own and the circumstances are eerily similar to disappearances that occurred one summer years ago -- three women had walked into the bush and never came out. Those cases were considered a matter of tourist accident, but was a serial killer hiding in Golden Cove and could that person now have taken Miriama? Will has a huge job ahead of him. NO SPOILERS.

I really enjoyed this one, especially because the setting was so interesting and new to me. I've not read any other books by this author, but the writing was excellent and the narrative style as it shifted between Anahera and Will was extremely effective in advancing the story in their points of view. The characters were very appealing and relatable and I didn't even mind the romance part so much. I kept guessing until the climax and big reveal and found the conclusion very satisfying. I'm sorry to leave Golden Cove behind.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Books for this e-book ARC to read, review and recommend.

This is a standalone and is not part of any series.
Genre - mystery thriller, romance -- unusual setting

The Shape of Night by Tess Gerritsen

I'll be the first to admit that I rarely read romance of any kind, much less delve into books with supernatural elements, but I have to say that I really enjoyed this gothic suspense novel by an author whose books I've read since I discovered her medical thrillers back in the day. I've not kept up with the R and I series, but I was curious and decided to give this departure a go: 3.5 stars rounded up to 4

Yes, there's a damsel in distress. Ava Collette, a 30-something food writer, has done a bad, bad thing and she escapes Boston and her beloved older sister, Lucy, to Maine to finish a book that has gone way past deadline. She also wants to forget so she drowns her sorrows in cooking and alcohol. She arrives in August and plans to stay until October. She brings her Maine Coon cat, Hannibal.

The setting: Ava runs to Tucker Cove and a 150-year-old mansion on the cliff overlooking the ocean. The place she has rented is known as Brodie's Watch and was built by a sea captain who went down with his ship in about 1861 so the place has a history. The house is a bit forbidding at first, but when she enters, she feels that she is welcomed and safe. Plus it has a great kitchen and is beautifully redone inside, especially after the workmen finish a turret room and a widow's walk up top. Tucker Cove is a very small New England town where everyone knows the "insiders" and of course, are a bit distrustful of the tourists.

The characters that interact with Ava are all quite interesting and seem a bit secretive. The most intriguing is what appears to be the ghost of Captain Jeremiah Brodie himself. In fact, Ava soon believes that she is actually able to hear, see and touch him, "Here in my house, what you seek is what you will find."

The plot is where things get a bit crazy as Ava soon discovers that every single woman who has stayed in the house has died -- some in the house, but things escalate when a woman's body is found in the sea and it turns out that...well, NO SPOILERS. Is Ava gone crazy in some sort of alcohol fueled hallucination sequence or is there a killer in Tucker Cove?

The writing is fantastic and when combined with the gothic overtones and the supernatural elements, the narrative zings along and I couldn't put this book down as I was desperate to find out what was going on and if Ava would be OK. The crazy erotic scenes and Ava playing amateur sleuth just added to the whole package and, while unbelievable to this skeptic, I found it all quite fun.

I had almost decided to skip this one entirely after reading some reviews, but I like to form my own opinion and I hope you will enjoy this one as much as I did. Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for this e-book ARC to read, review and recommend.

This is a standalone and is not part of any series.
Genre -- gothic romantic suspense, mystery, erotica, supernatural elements