Skin and Bones

Skin and Bones by Paul Doiron
5/13/25; 368 pages
St. Martin's/Minotaur Books 

Skin and Bones: And Other Mike Bowditch Short Stories by Paul Doiron is a very highly recommended collection of eight short stories featuring Maine game warden Mike Bowditch. Don't miss this excellent collection!

Seven of these were previously released and one is brand new. This collection can definitely be read by those new to the series, but expect to be inspired to start reading all the novels featuring Mike Bowditch. Those following the series will certainly enjoy reading this collection.

The writing is top-notch and the plot of these tales are all interesting, complex, and compelling. Not all the stories prominently feature Bowditch, some are via his mentor, Charlie Stevens. All of them provide a perfect introduction to the series or fill in some backstory to the novels. And, since they are short stories, you can choose to leisurely read them as you have time rather than all at once. The stories include:The Bear Trap, Rabid, Backtrack, The Imposter, The Caretaker, Skin and Bones, Snakebite, and Sheep’s Clothing (new).

Skin and Bones: And Other Mike Bowditch Short Stories is a great choice and will be equally enjoyed by fans and newcomers of the series. Thanks to St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

 

Dying to Meet You

Dying to Meet You by Sarina Bowen
5/13/25; 368 pages
HarperCollins

Dying to Meet You by Sarina Bowen is a very highly recommended mystery with Gothic vibes that follows the structure of a procedural with a little romance thrown in on the side.

Rowan Gallagher is an architect who is working for Hank Wincott on the restoration of the family's historic mansion in Portland, Maine. She works closely with Hank's assistant Beatrice. Rowan is still hurt that reporter Tim Novak recently broke up with her via text and she's been tracking his movements using an app. When she sees his car is parked nearby, outside the Wincott mansion, she takes her dog out for a walk, expecting to find him with someone else. Instead she finds him in his car, dead. Tim was shot and Rowan is on the police's list of the main suspects. She begins to undertake an investigation on her own.

The narrative is told through three points-of-view in alternating chapters. Rowan is the main voice. Rowan is a fully realized, complex character who has both strengths and weaknesses. The other two points-of-view are Rowan's 16-year-old daughter, Natalie, and Hanks young secretary, Coralie. 

Natalie never liked Tim, but she also saw things she didn't tell her mother. She and her mother have a believable mother/daughter relationship. Hank is exploiting Coralie. Even the mansion itself is a character as it is reported to be haunted and the restoration crew are uncovering suggestive murals and disturbing graffiti. Then Harrison, Rowan's ex and Natalie's father is discovered to be in the area.

While the opening is even paced, my appreciation of the novel increased with each subsequent chapter as Rowan uncovered new information and looked into what Tim was investigating. The alternating viewpoints work very well to propel the plot forward and introduce fresh leads and discoveries. The plotting is intricate and progresses with each new discovery. Personally, I could have done without the romance included and stuck with finding clues to solve the mystery of who murdered Tim. The ending is riveting. 4.5 rounded up.

Dying to Meet You is a good choice for those who enjoy mysteries with a little added romance. Thanks to HarperCollins for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

Run for the Hills

Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson
5/13/25; 256 pages
Ecco

Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson is a humorous, uplifting, very highly recommended road trip novel featuring half-siblings finding each other while on a cross-country journey looking for their father.

Madeline (Mad) Hill, 32 years-old, and her mom run their organic farm in Coalfield, Tennessee together after her father left twenty years years ago. Then Reuben (Rube) Hill, in his forties, pulls up to their farm stand in a PT Cruiser and informs Mad that she is his half sister. Their father left Rube thirty years ago in Boston. He hired a detective and knows of two other half siblings, Pepper (Pep) Hill, a 21 year-old college basketball star in Oklahoma, and Theron (Tom) who is 11 years-old and living in Utah. Rube has a last address of their father living in Northern California. Mad agrees to accompany Rube to meet Pep, Tom, and hopefully find the father who left each of them, reinventing himself along the way.

Hilarious, heart-warming, quirky, and hopeful truly describe this well-written cross-country dysfunctional family adventure. I was totally immersed in the intriguing and masterfully written story throughout and loved this story. It follows the siblings as they meet each other, travel together, and learn about how their father reinvented himself into a whole different person each time he moved on. They all grew up as single children so any sibling is a new experience.

The characters are all portrayed as unique individuals who are all very different from each other in personalities and interests, but they still see shared characteristics between them, with Tom being the exception which is explained. They also share the heartbreak 0f a father who left them when they were children and never contacted them again. It has an impact on them, as does the version of their father they experienced individually. They all have very different memories of their father.

Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson is perfect for anyone seeking an entertaining road trip novel. Thanks to Ecco for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

Where the Rivers Merge

Where the Rivers Merge by Mary Alice Monroe
5/13/25; 352 pages
HarperCollins

Where the Rivers Merge by Mary Alice Monroe is a very highly recommended historical family drama. This is the first book in a planned two book series about a families home in the ACE Basin, an area named for the Ashepoo, Combahee, and Edisto Rivers in the southeastern corner of South Carolina. The second book will be The River's End.

In 1988, 88 year-old Eliza Rivers Chalmers DeLancey has reach a level of success as the CEO of the family business, the DeLancey Group and in charge of the family's traditional plantation home and surrounding land, Mayfield. She has already put conservation easement on four thousand acres of the land and plans to put the last thousand acres, where Mayfield is located, into a conservation plan to protect it from development. Her son, Arthur opposes this and is scheming against her, but Eliza is prepared for his machinations.

After a tense and dramatic board meeting, Eliza sets off to Mayfield, accompanied by her college-age granddaughter, Savannah, and also the granddaughter of her closest childhood friend and grandniece Norah. Once at Mayfield, Eliza shares their family's history with the young women. The novel jumps back in time to 1908, when Eliza is 8 years old and tells her story of growing up at Mayfield and her friendship with Covey, Norah's grandmother.

This well-written historical fiction family saga opens each chapter with an interesting note about the various flora, and fauna found in the area of the ACE Basin. As Eliza grows up with a love for the land, the narrative follows the different expectations and societal norms of those days. This first novel tells Eliza's story and follows historical events up to her first wedding in 1926.

Eliza is a fully realized character full of self confidence and determination which is displayed even when she is young. Her family isn't portrayed as perfect. All the characters have flaws as well as strengths. What the story of her childhood does an excellent job of is showing her love of the land, her deep ties to Mayfield, and her unstoppable spirit to persevere. It establishes the foundation behind why she is determined to protect the land and her heritage as an adult.

Where the Rivers Merge will be relished by those who enjoy historical fiction and family dramas. Thanks to HarperCollins for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

Smoke and Embers

Smoke and Embers by John Lawton
5/13/25; 416 pages
Grove/Atlantic
Inspector Troy Novel #9

Smoke and Embers by John Lawton is a highly recommended detective/spy fiction set in 1950 and the ninth in the Inspector Troy series. This novel is more about events in the aftermath of WWII and the Holocaust than one that prominently features Scotland Yard inspector Frederick Troy.

Opening in London, Inspector Troy learns that his sergeant has been conducting an affair with the known mistress, Bryce Betancourt, of infamous London racketeer Otto Ohnherz, a German refugee. His associate Jay Fabian is said to be an Auschwitz survivor but there are doubts about his identity and he is suspected to be a spy. The two men also donated to the campaign of Troy’s brother, Rod, who was reelected as an MP for the Labour Party. After the opening intrigue, the novel jumps back in time to 1945 Poland during the end of the war. From here the action proceeds to cover changing identities across several countries and years.

This is an even paced novel that will hold your attention as it increases in complexity, deception, and intrigue with each chapter. The short chapters keep the steady pace moving as the cunning subterfuge continues across several countries and the layers of deception build as they try to survive. The historical details, descriptions of events and areas combined with the dialogue between characters help keep narrative interesting.

As mentioned, Inspector Troy actually plays a minor role in the novel. The focus is more on several other characters, the flood of refugees, and how they do what they need to do to ensure their survival following the end of WWII. The characters are portrayed as fully realized interesting individuals. No spoilers here, but the ending is great. There is an Afterword section which adds further details and information.

Smoke and Embers will best be appreciated by those who enjoy espionage fiction and post WWII novels. Thanks to Grove/Atlantic for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The Language of the Birds

The Language of the Birds by K.A. Merson
5/13/25; 368 pages
Random House/Ballantine

The Language of the Birds by K.A. Merson is a highly recommended mystery featuring an intelligent neurodivergent teen who excels at solving codes and ciphers.

After her father's death, seventeen-year-old Arizona, her mother, and her dog Mojo are traveling in their Airstream trailer to scatter his ashes in some of his favorite places. In California’s Bodie State Historic Park she and her mother go their separate ways and agree to meet at 4:00. When her mother doesn't show up, after giving her more time, she talks to Stephen Gordon, a park ranger, to report her mother is missing. 

Later, back at the Airstream she finds it has been searched and a note “Your father should have provided us with the information that we seek. His death could have been avoided. Now we have your mother.” Included is a lengthy list of random letters that she is told to decode. She discovers Stephen Gordon is not a park ranger. He has kidnapped her mom and now he wants her to search for the clues to uncover a secret her dad, a cartographer for the U.S. Geological Survey, was guarding.

Arizona is not your average teenager. She loves cryptography, solving puzzles and cracking codes. Once the task placed before her is solved, the kidnappers give her more codes to solve and clues to find. With Mojo at her side, Arizona tackles each mystery and task placed before her. She also makes a friend, Lily, which is a huge accomplishment.

It reads like a YA novel, but adult readers can also appreciate the clues Arizona must solve while trying to save her mom. Adult readers will have to set disbelief aside several times as the plot develops, but it is entertaining and well-written. Along with solving the codes, the plot involves literature, alchemy, history, and geography.

It surprised me how much I enjoyed many aspects of this novel, especially the history and literature incorporated into the plot. The solution to solving the codes is explained in the book (Those who aren't interested can skim.) There are illustrations included in the story to assist readers in following the mystery and the solution/answer Arizona finds along the way. The ending was great. I could see this becoming a series with Arizona breaking codes and solving mysteries.

The Language of the Birds will be best appreciated by those who love solving codes and ciphers as part of a greater mystery. Thanks to Random House/Ballantine for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

My Friends

My Friends by Fredrik Backman
5/6/25; 448 pages
Atria Books 

My Friends by Fredrik Backman is an exceptional, heartbreaking, humorous, very highly recommended story of friendship, art, trust, and finding your people. This is a masterpiece and certainly will be the best book I've read this year, perhaps even over several years. Admittedly, I am a long time admirer of Backman's work but My Friends is a life-list book.

An artist's first painting, “The One of the Sea,” is being sold and eighteen-year-old Louisa needs to see the painting for her own reasons. Her best friend Fish recently died and Louisa knows that the painting isn't about the sea, it's about the small group of friends on a dock in the corner of the painting. Circumstances result into her running from a security guard and crashing into a homeless man in the alley. Only he isn't homeless, he is the artist of “The One of the Sea” who calls himself C. Jat, and he is dying.

In the hospital later the artist tells Ted about Louisa and proclaims "She's one of us!" The us is the group of four friends, the friends in the painting from twenty-five years earlier and the ones he knew at fourteen and fifteen, when he painted “The One of the Sea.” These friends are Joar, Ted, Ali, and the artist. The artist, who had Ted buy his painting back, tells Ted to give the painting to Louisa and this leads to the two embarking on a cross country trip where she learns about the friends and how they saved each other from their bruising home lives and in school.

The dual timeline works perfectly in My Friends. The present day is Louisa and Ted on their trip while Ted tells the story of when they were teens in a working class neighborhood and how they helped each other survive. Louisa talks about how Fish helped her survive. The story is emotional and I was tearing up and openly crying throughout. Their interactions can also be humorous. These young characters went through so much. He points out that the world has spent thousands of years practicing how to puncture the lungs of children who are different.

The characters come to life under his careful, compassionate, and insightful portrayal. They are all fully realized individuals with vulnerabilities, strengths and weaknesses. These teens know that they can love and trust each other, which is a combination that can be difficult to find in life. They took care of their friendship and helped the artist survive being different while encouraging his artistic pursuits.

As Backman notes several times in the well-written narrative that, the most dangerous place on earth is inside us. He writes: No one can explain why some fourteen-year-olds want to die. Nature gains nothing from unhappy children, yet they are still walking around everywhere, without the words to describe their anxiety. Also that a "Lack of self confidence is a devastating virus. There is no cure."

There is a plethora of observations about what art is and there were so many quotes I saved. A few examples: Art teaches us to mourn for strangers, isn't chronological, is what we leave of ourselves in other people, and art doesn't need critics, art has enough enemies already. Art needs friends.

My Friends is a must read book that is sure to become a classic, on many lists of one of the best books ever, and a top book club choice. Thanks to Atria Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.