I am a long-time lover of mysteries. Whether it be books, TV, or movies, I love when there is an unknown element to puzzle out. I remember staying up long past my bedtime as a child, reading because I just had to know what happened. I write across a number of genres for different age groups, but at the heart of every story I take on is a mystery that I want to figure out for myself. I love it when readers and audiences come along for the ride, joining me for the plot twists and turns.
The opening of this book had me hooked. It was late at night, I’d just finished another novel, and I opened this book, intending to read just a few pages. I quickly realized it was going to be a late night. I loved the tension and mystery created in the writing, and the dynamics between the characters had me cringing for them.
The descriptions of the teen girls had me flashing back to dance classes. Most of the action takes place on an airplane, and I loved the way the author set up a sense of claustrophobia. The characters not being able to escape each other as pressures rose really added to the tension. I highly recommend it as a fast-paced, tense read.
A long-haul flight. Two ambitious dance mums. A child in danger. Bridget and Simone aren't friends, but their daughters are in the same dance troupe: Expressions. They're flying to Los Angeles together so the girls can perform at Disneyland. Simone's daughter, Zahra, is the leader of the troupe, while Bridget's daughter, Becky, is a talent on the rise. An unexpected upgrade sees Bridget moved to business class and seated with Simone and her husband, Glen. Despite feeling out of her depth, Bridget is pleased to find that she and Simone share a lot in common, and the flight goes smoothly.…
I love a good slow reveal of backstory in a mystery. Pair that with a tense, high-stakes present-day mystery, and I cannot put the book down. The backstory in this book is complex, and the perfect number of hints were given throughout to keep me wanting to know more.
I also loved that the author had chosen a young (perhaps unreliable) narrator, which made seeing the story through her eyes all the more compelling. There were times when it felt like I understood more of what was happening than the character did, and I wanted to do the classic horror-movie-watching moment of yelling at the characters to get away. A great read that I thought about for a long time afterwards.
A girl called Gracie. A town called Coongahoola - on the dark foreboding Bagooli River. Every small town has its secrets: good, bad, funny, sad - and sometimes terrifying. They're mythologised and whispered-about by town gossips and other grown-ups until something happens to snap the past into focus. And something always happens. Things get weird in Coongahoola when 'a sighting' of the Virgin Mary attracts hundreds of 'Believers', who set up camp on the river bank and try to win local souls. Things get scary in Coongahoola when the River Children - born nine months after the town's infamous River…
Meet Tony Valenti. His high-flying corporate law career just cratered. His society marriage blew up in a bitter divorce. He's returned to the Chicago suburbs to lick his wounds and regroup in the haven of the Valenti family home. But time to heal isn't in the cards.
I love that this book focuses on the “who,” not the “what.” Most often, with mysteries, the focus is on learning about the perpetrator of the crime. In this one, I loved that the real mystery is in discovering who the victim, Alice, was. I especially love that we get to hear her story in her own words, as a second narrator telling her history after her death.
The other part of the story–events after Alice’s death and the discovery of her body–is told by another compelling character, Ruby. I’m normally wary when I see the words “strong female character,” but these are two strong, beautiful women whose heartbreaking stories held me captive in these pages.
'The most wonderful book. Unusual, beautiful, feminist, gripping, deserves to win prizes. I loved it so much.' Marian Keyes
'A brave and timely novel which will fuel the debate on women's rights to walk safely through our streets. I raced through the pages, anxious for resolution, yet at the same time not wanting this beautiful writing to finish.' Clare Mackintosh
This is not just another novel about a dead girl.
When she arrived in New York on her 18th birthday carrying nothing but $600 cash and a stolen camera, Alice was looking for…
This is one of those books that’s hard to talk about without giving too much away because the magic is in the twists and turns. At a certain point in reading, I closed the book, letting out a little “oh no” because I’d just realized what was coming, and I was both dreading it happening and couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to get to that scene.
This is very much a car crash-in-slow-motion story. I hated the antagonist. I also knew I probably would have been drawn in by her charisma if I’d met her in real life–beautiful malice is the perfect term to describe her. This book was one that I felt physically, carrying it around for several days afterward as I relived moments in my head.
So. Were you glad, deep down? Were you glad to be rid of her? Your perfect sister? Were you secretly glad when she was killed?
Following a horrific tragedy that leaves her once perfect family devastated, Katherine Patterson moves to a new city, starts at a new school, and looks forward to a new life of quiet anonymity.
But when Katherine meets the gregarious and beautiful Alice Parrie her resolution to live a solitary life becomes difficult. Katherine is unable to resist the flattering attention that Alice pays her and is so charmed by Alice's contagious enthusiasm that the two…
He’s riddled with guilt. She’s annoyed with the status quo.
The death of a crime boss’s daughter forces Detective Neil Caldera to leave NYC. He seeks refuge in the tranquil embrace of a small town, where he finds himself entangled in the labyrinth of a teenage girl’s murder. Tess Fleishman’s…
I started this book for the unlikely main character–Sister Holiday, a chain-smoking, tattooed, queer nun–but it was the mystery that kept me reading. I always love it when a writer can make me feel like I am the one on the line, like I am fighting for my life or to prove my innocence. This book did just that.
I found I was holding myself tightly as Sister Holiday investigated but just kept finding more evidence against herself. The snippets of her past life made me feel for her more and more, taking the character from an unlikely hero to someone I cared deeply about. I can’t wait to get my hands on the second in the series.
Sister Holiday, a chain-smoking, heavily tattooed, queer nun, puts her amateur sleuthing skills to the test in this "unique and confident" debut crime novel (Gillian Flynn).
When Saint Sebastian's School becomes the target of a shocking arson spree, the Sisters of the Sublime Blood and their surrounding New Orleans community are thrust into chaos.
Patience is a virtue, but punk rocker turned nun Sister Holiday isn't satisfied to just wait around for officials to return her home and sanctuary to its former peace, instead deciding to unveil the mysterious attacker herself. Her investigation leads her down a twisty path of…
A stranger just put Kelsey’s boyfriend in a coma. The worst part? She asked him to do it. Seventeen-year-old Kelsey is dealing with a lot–an abusive boyfriend, a gravely ill mother, an absent father, and a confusing new love interest.
After her boyfriend attacks her in public, a stranger on the end of the phone line offers to help. Kelsey pays little attention to his words, but the caller is deadly serious. Suddenly, the people Kelsey loves are in danger; only Kelsey knows it. Will Kelsey discover the identity of the stranger, or will his phone calls turn deadly?
Those People Behind Us is set in the summer of 2017, post-Trump election and pre-pandemic. The story takes place in the fictional city of Wellington Beach, California, a suburban coastal town increasingly divided by politics, protests, and escalating housing prices. These divisions change the lives of five neighbors--a real estate…
San Diego Private Investigator, Brig Ellis, is hired by a wealthy industrialist to help him acquire the final horse in a set of twelve palomino miniatures that once belonged to the last Emperor of China. What begins as a seemingly reasonable assignment quickly morphs into something much more malevolent.
