Bitter Fall (#2 Brock Justic) by Bruce Robert Coffin

 Tightly plotted but predictable police procedural,

Detective Brock Justice investigates the death of Summer Randall on a dark backcountry road in Greenville, Maine. What initially appears to be a fatal accident caused by a car quickly turns into a homicide investigation when the medical examiner discovers a hidden stab would. Reunited with his partner, Detective Chloe Wright, Justice navigates a complex web of suspects while facing all sorts of political fallout. 

The police details are authentic because the book is written by someone who was an actual homicide detective. The author blends the rugged Maine wilderness setting with a tense, fast-paced plot line that draws the reader in as the investigative team explores all sorts of potential suspects and red herrings. Unfortunately, before even the half way mark, I knew who the killer was and I was so disappointed that it was so obvious and it was this person. 

The author has created a character in Brock Justice who is a flawed protagonist trying to get back on track but who can’t let go of the past. He faces his nemesis and finally makes a breakthrough

I enjoyed this second book in the series and am moving on to the third. My only  issue was that the killer was so obvious and it took them ages to see it.

This is the second book in a series that should be read in order.

Genre and tags: police procedural, murder, pregnancy, best friends, 

Crimson Thaw (Detective Justice #1) by Bruce Robert Coffin

 Atmospheric police procedural that strikes a nice balance between gritty realism and fast-paced suspense.

Former star detective Brock Justice suffers a career tailspin after breaching the code of silence within the thin blue line of te Main State Police. Banished to the frozen landscape of northern Maine as punishment, Brock is assigned to the Major Crimes Unit there and paired up as trainer and mentor to a newly minted Detective Chloe Wright. Their first case begins when Chloe, on a police dive, finds a submerged snowmobile in a pond up at Blue hill. When it’s brought up to the surface, they have their homicide investigation. The pair uncover a dark web of corruption running through some of the key figures in town — on both sides of the law. Brock and Chloe navigate a new and uneasy partnership while trying to figure out who in town is an ally and who is involved in the high stakes drug operation.

You can tell this must have been written by a former homicide detective as there are so many great details about police investigation and process. There is enough mystery and many questions as the probe continues while the relationship between two dynamic main characters evolves to create mutual respect between them. This is a great series opener and I look forward to reading the next two that I have lined up on my TBR shelf. I really like the mix of small town secrets with authentic, hard-boiled investigative work.

I received this as an ARC from the publisher and recommend it. 

This is the first in a series that should be read in order.

Genre and tags: drugs, police investigation, corruption, dirty cops, counterfeit operation, Maine

Two Degrees by Alan Gratz

 I read this along with my 13 year old grandson in our book club for summer reading projects.

The main focus was on climate change — an increase of two degrees Celsius more will be enough to tip the planet into irreversible changes that will destroy it such as catastrophic sea level rise, severe droughts, wildfires, widespread ecosystem loss, and extinction events. 

The story centers on events in 3 different parts of North America as experienced by teenagers. A wildfire in California, a hurricane in Miami, and the melting of Arctic ice in Churchill, Manitoba. 

Talk about harrowing. Lots of drama and trauma.

I’m sure this will give an opportunity for lots of good discussion on the topics explored. 

Juvenile fiction

Not rated

Climate change, natural disasters, survival, teenagers

Where the Rivers Merge (#1 Rivers Books) by Mary Alice Monroe

 Poignant historical novel with a focus on South Carolina from the start of the 20th century.

Set in the South Carolina Lowcountry, this story follows Eliza Pinckney Rivers across two pivotal eras. In 1988, Eliza is 88 years old and is fighting to protect her family's ancestral estate, Mayfield, and the surrounding ACE Basin from her greedy son's development pans. As she recounts her life to her niece and granddaughter, the narrative shifts back to 1908 and details her childhood as a nature-loving free spirit. She navigates family loss, WWI, and societal pressure. This is a sweeping tale of resilience, a woman's lifelong bond with the land, and a tale of the importance of conservation. 

This lovely novel was a joy to read with the way the author fully develops and delivers multidimensional characters while also putting them into a place undergoing many societal changes including racial issues and women's rights. Eliza is a fierce matriarch whose personal growth mirrors the changing Southern landscape around her. There are vivid descriptions of the land that help the reader understand Eliza's passion to preserve it. 

Since this is marketed as a duology with the second book still a year out in 2027, there are some unresolved issues and story arcs. This is indeed a captivating exploration of legacy, female agency, and ecological stewardship. 

I was able to listen to the audio book while also following along in the e-book. The narrators, Jenna Lamia and Cassandra Campbell, delivered a fantastic performance. The accents, the cadence, and their dramatic flair added so much to bring this story to life and created a truly immersive reading experience. Highly recommended. 

This is the first in a duology that should be read in order.

Genre and tags: sweeping family saga, book club fiction, historical fiction, 1900s South Carolina, women's rights, racial issues, conservation, nature 

Tradwife by Michelle Brandon

 Domestic thriller with a not so subtle revenge motive.

In Crystal Harbor, the women curate picture perfect traditional lifestyles for social media while also navigating intense petty rivalries behind closed doors. There’s domestic drama and social jockeying while Jennifer, Miranda, and Ariel try to focus on their children and lives in a town where all are expected to follow the norms and behave properly. 

This was really a hard book to like. None of the 3 women are characters that created any feeling other than annoyance. There was always this predictable element and the ever present hovering of the secrets they were keeping but not telling the reader. I guessed immediately what was going on. Truly suburban drama and it was more tedious than compelling. The big event about the body on the beach comes way late to be a part of most of the book and it was all a bit unbelievable how the story wrapped up. 

Perhaps this was written to be some sort of cautionary tale, but the lives of these women weren’t lived in a vacuum and they all knew each other from young on yet they stayed in town. The blurb is very misleading. The story is basically 3 different points of view with only one of them actually living the tradwife lifestyle. The other two are the current wife and ex wife of one of them male characters. 

I was able to listen to the audio book while also following along in the e-book ARC, both provided by the publishers. The production had a full cast with narrators Ann Marie Gideon, Eva Kaminsky, Amanda Stribling, And Hillary Huber. Two of the voices were so annoying that I had to fast forward the audio and just read the chapters for Ariel and Tara. The publisher hasn’t indicated which of the narrators voiced which characters so I can’t identify them. Usually the audio book enhances my enjoyment of the book, but nothing really helped this time. 

This is a standalone and is not part of any series.

Genre tags: domestic suspense, tradwife, traditional roles, marriage and family, revenge, petty rivalry

The Story Keeper by Kelly Rimmer

 An atmospheric, character-driven mystery about grief, hidden trauma, and family secrets.

A new divorced woman, Fiona Winslow, returns to her family home in Australia. It’s a crumbling estate that needs a lot of work, but she’s just the person to do it. Strangely, her mother is not happy at all that Fiona has come back and doesn’t want her to do anything to the mansion. Despite all, Fiona is determined and gets to work trying to clean the place that has been abandoned for over a decade. Under the dust and detritus, she finds a box of books. Intrigued, she starts reading The Midnight Estate, a captivating story of love and betrayal that eerily mirrors her own family and this very house.

I loved the book-within-a-book structure and even though I knew at once what she was reading, I really liked the way the author did the reveals. The timelines and characters are masterfully tied together in a very gripping narrative that kept me glued to the pages. I fell in love with the characters and bristled at the coercive control and abuse. Definitely led to a haunting and satisfying conclusion.

I was able to listen to the audio book while also following along in the e-book ARC, both provided by the publishers. The narrator, Siho Ellsmore, did a fantastic job with all of the character voices. Her dramatic flair and accents really enhanced my enjoyment of the story. Her talent created a vey immersive reading experience and I highly recommend it. 

My copies of both the e-book and audio book were titled The Midnight Estate.

This a standalone and is not part of any series.

Genre and tags: mystery, abusive relationships, old houses, Australia

The Women in White by Sarah Pekkanen

 Engrossing and hard to put down, this psychological thriller blends elements of historical fiction centered on 1960s psychical experiments. 

In 1964, four young women named Betty, Kathleen, Ivy, and Helen are recruited by a university researcher to undergo high-stakes parapsychology studies testing their extra sensory abilities. As the tests grow increasing invasive, the subjects form a tight bond but the program suddenly vanishes from history, leaving the fate of the four women a mystery.

Decades later, a newly divorced woman named Riley Bell takes a live-in caretaker job for an elderly wheelchair bound Betty. Stepping into her home, frozen in the 1960s with no modern technology, Riley begins uncovering Betty’s past. 

Told in a past and present timeline and from the different women's points of view, the journey back reveals what happened to the women and the true extent of their gifts. 

What an eerie, atomospheric blend of historical fiction and psychological suspense that felt remarkably grounded in truth. The dual timeline structure creates a slow burn tension that shifts between the trauma experienced by the women in the 1960s and Riley’s present-day investigation. 

This novel shines witih its rich character dynamics and emotional depth exploring themes of female friendship and solidarity, institutional control, and the restraints placed on women in that particular time period. It also shows the scars left by being treated as research subjects rather than as persons. It was scary to see the women fall under total control of Dr. Trimble and the things he subjected those young women to in the name of pursing his own fame and glory. It was quite sad actually. 

Even though I am a skeptic about ESP and psychic abilities, I recognize it might only be because I’ve never experienced any sixth sense or lucid dreams that predicted an event or provided an answer. I really enjoyed this novel of paranormal suspense.

I was able to listen to the audiobook while also following along in the e-book, both provided by the publishers. The narrator, Saskia Maaleveld, did a fantastic job of creating unique voices for all of the main characters and I was totally immersed in the story. The production enhanced my enjoyment of the book. Highly recommended. 

This is a standalone and is not part of any series.

Genre and tags: based on real experiments of 1960s, ESP, parapsychology, test subjects, test effects, historical fiction, psychological thriller, suspense 

The Talking Bone by Rene Denfeld

 Atmospheric mystery thriller focused on exonerating a death row inmate.

Death row investigator, Ruby Spencer, known as the exonerator, travels to Georgia with just two weeks to prove the innocence of a man facing execution for the murder of a gas station cashier. While racing against the clock, Ruby also uses her skills to track down missing women who have been overlooked by society. The investigation soon unearths long-buried secrets that connect the death row case to dark truths about Ruby’s own past and family origins.

Although the premise was solid, there are a lot of things going on in this book that require suspension of disbelief at the coincidences and parallels. The core story and procedural elements are halfway decent, keeping a steady pace as the timeline winds down. The author, however, loses me when she pushes the atmospheric and supernatural elements with the bone giving her clues and information that feel out of place and detract from what could have been a sharp grounded mystery. If you strip away that extra magical realism fluff, it’s enjoyable but didn’t live up to my expectations and its full potential.

I was able to listen to the audio book while also following along in the e-book ARC, both provided by the publishers. The production had two narrators, with the primary being Allyson Ryan. I had a really difficult time tolerating her breathy and overly dramatic voice with her pauses and how difficult it was to differentiate between Ruby and the other female characters who all sounded the same. The character of Mitchell was voiced by James Shippy who did a good job for those short parts. I typically really enjoy the immersive experience of listening while reading. 

This is a standalone and is not part of any series. Yet.

Tags and genre - mystery thriller, crime thriller, missing women, murder, death row inmate, poor house, orphans, abuse, sexual assault