The Red Queen

The Red Queen by Martha Grimes
7/1/25; 256 pages
Grove Atlantic
Richard Jury #26

The Red Queen by Martha Grimes is a recommended procedural and humorous cozy mystery. This is the twenty-sixth novel in the series featuring superintendent Richard Jury. It may be best appreciated by those who have been following the series and intimately know all the characters. Many of them are present, including Melrose Plant.

Jury and Wiggins of New Scotland Yard are asked to investigate when businessman Tom Treadnor is shot through the window at The Queen pub in Twickenham. No one saw who did it and Treadnor doesn't appear to be well liked, including by Alice, his wife. He was planning to divorce her. At the same time Jury sees a photo in the newspaper of a man who is the doppelgänger of Treadnor. The man is traveling in the USA and unable to be located.

Another case involves Wiggins, Jury’s partner at New Scotland Yard. His missing sister sent a postcard to their mother and Wiggins takes off with Macalvie to find her. The two follow various clues to find her. Eventually the two investigations begin to converge. There is also an incident with a goat and some pigs.

This is a short, fast-paced novel that can be quickly read. Along the way there are some delightful scenes and humorous encounters. This doesn't represent the best novels in the series. It doesn't have the suspense or complexity of earlier novels. The investigation seems lackluster and was easily predicted. However, Grimes is in her nineties now so another Richard Jury novel is a feat in itself.

The Red Queen is a great choice for those who have been following the Richard Jury series. Thanks to Grove Atlantic for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

A Beautiful Family

A Beautiful Family by Jennifer Trevelyan
6/24/25; 320 pages
Knopf Doubleday

A Beautiful Family by Jennifer Trevelyan is a very highly recommended family drama set in 1985 at a New Zealand beach town

Alix and her family decide to go on vacation at a beach town rather than the secluded places they normally chose for their holiday. Vanessa, 15, wants nothing to do with her family, Alix, 10 (but almost 11) plans to spend as much time as she can at the beach, their mother is going to finish writing her book, and their father wants to grill and watch cricket. Alix meets a boy, Kahu, 12, who is also in town on vacation and he tells her about Charlotte, 9, who disappeared, presumed drowned two years ago. Her body was never found so the two decide to conduct their own investigation.

While Alix and Kahu are looking all over at the beach for clues during the day, Alix is noticing other things going on with her family. Her parents seem to be fighting all the time. Her mother, who is supposed to be watching her, keeps disappearing. Her sister is sneaking out at night. There is also a creepy older man who is constantly watching her.

This well-written debut mixes a coming-of-age novel with a mystery that results in a compelling family drama. The pace moves quickly and held my complete attention throughout. With each chapter another twist is revealed and the tension increases. You will be waiting for something to happen. There is so much going on, but it is told through the eyes of a child.

The narrative is told through the point-of-view of Alix. She observes and takes note of what is going on around her, but her age and naivety means she doesn't always completely understand what she is seeing so she is unable to piece the clues together. She is a fully realize character, but is still a child. Readers will quickly realize what Alix is missing and sympathize with her.

Although the novel doesn't end with everything completely wrapped up, this resonates with me. It is the story of a specific time in a child's life. Think of Alix now, as an adult, looking back at this specific memorable vacation and telling the story of it, as she understood things at that time, with the full knowledge as an adult of all the little clues she missed and didn't put together at the time.

A Beautiful Family is an excellent choice for readers who enjoy coming-of-age family dramas. Thanks to Knopf Doubleday for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The Beast in the Clouds

The Beast in the Clouds by Nathalia Holt
7/1/25; 288 pages
Atria/One Signal 

The Beast in the Clouds by Nathalia Holt is a very highly recommended account of the 1928-1929 Himalayan expedition across China and Tibet undertaken by Theodore (Ted) Roosevelt Jr. and Kermit Roosevelt, the eldest sons of Theodore Roosevelt, to find the mythical beishung, or panda bear. Chicago's Field Museum was supporting the expedition, funded by William Vallandigham Kelley. This was a time when many scientists, adventurers and hunters were searching for physical specimens for museum collections, including the American Museum of Natural History.

This is a well written story that will appeal to those who enjoy history, nature, and adventure tales. The pace is actually fast as it immediately opens with the expedition. Holt not only chronicles the brothers exploration and the many challenges, dangers, and hardships they faced, she also includes information on the plant and animal life as well as the cultures of the people they encountered as they traveled. Additionally, she focuses on the other members of the team of scientists and naturalists along with the men and women who assisted in the expedition and actually made it possible. The brothers are portrayed as realistic individuals, with their strengths and weaknesses included.

The text includes photos throughout and following it are notes and an index. The Beast in the Clouds is a real life, well researched adventure story. Thanks to Atria for providing me with an advance reader's copy via Edelweiss. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The White Crow

The White Crow by Michael Robotham
7/1/25; 368 pages
Scribner 
Philomena McCarthy Series #2

The White Crow by Michael Robotham is a highly recommended crime novel/procedural. This is the second novel featuring police officer Philomena (Phil) McCarthy (the first one is When You Are Mine) but can be read as a standalone novel.

Philomena McCarthy is a young officer with the Metropolitan Police and her husband Henry is a firefighter. When she sees a child wandering in the streets alone at night she stops and helps her. It's a little girl, Daisy, who leads Phil to her home and the discovery of the body of her mother. At the same time across town Chief Inspector Brendan Keegan responds to a violent robbery of a jewelry store and a man left with a bomb strapped to his body. The man is Daisy's father, who was taken from his home and forced by masked men to open up the store. Millions of dollars of jewelry is gone.

Complicating matters further is that Phil's family may be implicated in the robbery. Phil is the daughter of Edward McCarthy, a London gangster and leader of a criminal empire he has built with his brothers. This case may put her career and possibly her life in jeopardy, especially if it really does involve her father and uncles. Chapters alternate between Phil and the police investigation, and her father and uncles concern over a new mobster/crime boss from Eastern European moving into London.

Once again Robotham provides an extremely well written, perfectly paced, and wonderfully intricate puzzle of a thriller. The complicated, layered plot moves quickly while keeping the tension high. There are so many clues presented and questions that will arise concerning Phil's investigations along the way.  It's always a pleasure to follow an investigation with twists and surprising discoveries along the way.

Phil continues to be a fully realized, complex character and an engaging protagonist. She has keen investigative instincts, but you may question her judgment at times in the novel. You will want the best for her, but she can be a frustrating character for me. Her family is a colorful but loyal group of mobsters. DCI Keegan who is leading the police investigation can be a frustrating character, but he does experience growth.

The White Crow is a good choice for those who enjoy procedurals. Thanks to Scribner for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

Party of Liars

Party of Liars by Kelsey Cox
7/1/25; 336 pages
St. Martin's Press

Party of Liars by Kelsey Cox is a very highly recommended character-driven psychological thriller full of twists. This one is unpredictable. You will try to piece all the clues together but you won't be able to guess where the plot is going. Well played Kelsey Cox, this is a superb debut.

Sophie Matthews is being thrown a Texas-sized Sweet Sixteen party at the luxurious restored Victorian mansion where her father Ethan and his second wife Dani live in the small Texas town of Bulverde. The party is going to be a huge event and everyone attending is excited to see the inside of the renovated mansion, especially because it is rumored to be haunted. We know from the opening that someone falls to their death from a balcony the night of the party. But who was it?

The characters are important in this psychological thriller. Four characters, Dani, Orlaith, Mikayla, and Kim are narrators in alternating chapters.
Dani is Ethan's 27-year-old second wife and mother to 5-month-old Charlotte. Her dream is to open a bakery. She has struggled with paranoia and then postpartum depression. Someone is watching and threatening her.
Orlaith is the Irish nanny in her sixties. She has many dark, depressing stories to share and is superstitious. Her trustworthiness is suspect.
Mikayla has been Sophie's best friend since they were very young. As the story continues it becomes clear that she has secrets of her own.
Kim is the mother of Sophie and Ethan's first wife. She is the one who worked on renovations of the mansion. Now she's an alcoholic, anger, bitter, and holding a grudge. 

Other notable characters included in the narrative include: Ethan, a psychiatrist, father to Sophie, husband to Dani, ex-husband to Kim, and the host of the party. Spohie is the birthday girl. She is a cheerleader and her ex-boyfriend is Mason. Curtis is Ethan's partner and Dani's psychiatrist. Gemma is the wife of Curtis. There are numerous other characters, townspeople, and teens, mentioned too.

The writing is pitch-perfect, the twists and surprising revelations abound, and Party of Liars held my complete attention throughout. The plot unfolds in three parts, Before the Party, The Night of the Party (the longest section), and After the Party. As you closely follow the four narrators relating their experiences and thoughts, suspicions bound and the tension rises. The plot is set up as a locked-room whodunnit, but on a Texas sized scale with a gothic ghost story influence. Even though most of the action is during one night, the pace moved quickly because so much was going on and so many clues were dropped.

All of the characters are fully realized, complex individuals who are realistically portrayed with both strengths and weaknesses. They are so well-written and portrayed that you'll swear you know some of these people or met them before. While reading you will alternately sympathize with them, question their sanity, be suspicious, actively dislike them, and care deeply. They all seem to be lying about something. The ending completely surprised me.

Party of Liars is an excellent choice if you enjoy complex character-driven psychological thrillers. 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.

The Homemade God

The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce
7/8/25; 336 pages
Random House/Dial Press 

The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce is a very highly recommended, insightful domestic drama following a dysfunctional family and a potential murder.

Artist Vic Kemp, 76, invites his four children out to lunch to inform them that he is in love with Bella-Mae, 27, and plans to marry her. He is also going to plan to start painting his final masterpiece. He has given up drinking, drinks the special tea Bella-Mae makes, and has lost a lot of weight. He wants them to all meet at the family's summer retreat, an Italian villa on Lake Orta. Vic is a man who was a erratic parent who also has had an unhealthy hold on his children who all want his attention.

His children range from 40 to 33 years old and they are unusually close after their mother die at a young age. Basically the oldest, Netta raised them. Netta is now a lawyer who drinks too much. Susan married an older man with twin sons. she had wanted to be a chef. Goose (Gusta) is a failed artist who had a breakdown. He is his father's studio assistant. The youngest, Iris, is the most fragile. She gets entry level jobs and wears thrift store clothes.

When their father marries Bella-Mae in Italy and later dies, the family rushes to the villa. Netta is looking for the will and evidence that Vic was murdered. The others are all grieving, confronting their childhood roles and emotional scars, as well as years of things left unsaid.

This is a beautifully written, atmospheric, character driven novel that closely examines a family on the verge of collapsing when their father dies. Admittedly, it feels like a slow start, but much of that is establishing the status quo between the family members and the significance Vic plays in all of their lives as well as their individual roles in the family dynamics. Once the plot and the mystery take off, the tension and drama increase dramatically. This novel gets better with each turn of the page.

The characters are all portrayed as fully realized, complex individuals with both strengths and weaknesses. Bella-Mae is the exception as her character development doesn't receive the same attention until the very end of the novel. The four siblings have spent years donning their expected role while never honestly sharing their real thoughts or the damage done to them by Vic. During their time on the island after their father's death they are all finally heading toward facing the truth.

The Homemade God is an excellent novel that would provide a book club with lively discussions. Thanks to Random House/Dial Press for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

Don't Let Him In

Don't Let Him In by Lisa Jewell
6/24/25; 368 pages
Atria

Don't Let Him In by Lisa Jewell is a very highly recommended domestic psychological suspense novel following one one con man, or perhaps three, and the women he targets. Once you start reading this one it's impossible to put it down.

Recent widow Nina Swann receives a condolence card and soon after that a lighter from Nick Radcliffe, who claims to be an old friend of her late husband, Paddy. She meets Nick and starts a relationship with him, much to the dismay of her daughter Ash, who has bad feeling about him. Ash begins to look into Nick. In a nearby town, Alistair, husband of Martha, a florist, seems to be traveling for work more and more and she is suspicious something else is afoot. Then there is also a jump back in time following man who hates his wife and is scheming to get her money.

The writing is absolutely excellent. The tension ramps up with each revelation and shocking twist leading up to a very satisfying conclusion. Obviously, it will be clear that Don't Let Him In is following the nefarious deeds of a man who is a smooth operator and a narcissistic sociopath. His actions and thoughts are increasingly treacherous and cunning.

Give the narrative time to set up the different scenarios as it follows alternating points of views, indicated by a change in fonts. When it moves back in time, it is noted before the passage. This man's slick but devious actions will infuriate you, but keep reading. While it may seem disjointed at the beginning, things will quickly become clear and the plot becomes intense, ominous, and un-put-downable.

The characters are all portrayed as fully realized individuals with strengths and weaknesses. Following the thoughts and deeds of Nick/Alisair will anger you. At the same time you will be cheering for Ash's efforts to find out more about the man who calls himself Nick Radcliffe.

Don't Let Him In is an exceptional novel of psychological suspense. Thanks to Atria for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.