Triple Cross by James Patterson

 Alex Cross catches a serial killer.  Again.

3.5 stars.

The Girl Before by J.P. Delaney

 Audio.  10 hours.

Read by Emilia Fox, Finty Williams, and Lisa Aagaard Knudsen.

Two women who lived at the same address have a lot more in common than that.  Jane knows that Emma died in the house, but was it an accident, suicide, or murder?

3.5 stars.

Loses 1/2 a star for killing an animal unnecessarily.  

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

 Audio.  12.5 hours.

Read by Clare Corbett, Daphne Kouma, Julia Winwood, Sope Dirisu, Sofia Zervudachi, and Charlie Anson.

When a down-on-her-luck Jess arranges to stay with her brother in Paris, she finds him missing and sets about to find him.  Interesting twist at the end.  I found Mimi's character to be very annoying, but otherwise, enjoyable.

4 stars.

The Fourth Monkey by J.D. Barker

 Detectives on the trail of a unique serial killer.  They suspect he's dead, but is he?

5 stars.

The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

Audio.  9CDs.  (No time listed.)
Read by Julia Whelan

Vanessa is desperate to keep Nelly from marrying her ex-husband.  Is she jealous or is there another reason?  Several twists and turns I enjoyed including one at the very end I never saw coming.

5 stars.

Death of the Black Widow by James Patterson and J.D. Barker

 Police detective Walter O'Brien encounters a female victim at a homicide scene.  Or is she?  Thus starts a lifelong pursuit of a serial killer, or maybe a family of killers?

Good story if you're comfortable briefly suspending reality.

Stand alone novel, which was nice.

4.5 stars.

A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson

 Audio.  16.5 hours.

Read by Alex Jennings

A companion novel to Life After Life, this time tells Teddy's story,  of being a WWII bomber pilot and his aftermath.

5 stars.

The Darkest Place by Phillip Margolin

 Audio.  5 CDs.  (Time not listed.)

Read by Therese Plummer.

Attorney Robin Lockwood returns home after a tragedy and teams up with a local attorney there on a complex case.  Will she win?  Should she?

4.5 stars.

The Long Weekend by Gilly Macmillan

 Audio.  8.75 hours.

Read by Olivia Poulet.

Three couples plan to spend a vacation in a remote cabin, but a strange package, and the sudden absence of the men, leads to trouble.  Once I got the characters straight in my head, it was a very good story.

4 stars.

The Bitterroots by C. J. Box

Audio.  10 hours.

Read by Christina Delaine.

P.I. Cassie Dewell, working for a defense attorney, must confirm the facts of a rape case, but when she starts turning over stones, she finds more than she expected.  Set in Montana.

Subtracted 1/2 a  star because of the animal stuff.  I don't need to know/think about how forest fires affect the local wildlife.  Also, some of the cow stuff made me sad.

3.5 stars. 

The 13-Minute Murder by James Patterson

 Audio.  10 hours.

Read by MacLeod Andrews, Kevin T. Collins, Becky Ann Baker and Christopher Ryan Grant.

Three unrelated stories about murders.  The first was pretty unbelievable and the second had quite a twist at the end.  Third was okay.

3.5 stars.

The Passenger by Lisa Lutz

 This was sitting in my book pile for probably 2 months.  I'm so glad I read it and didn't just return it when we drove to NC.  It was excellent!

A woman is on the run, but why?  We follow her various scams to stay off the radar until the end.

5 stars.

The Trespasser by Tana French

 Audio.  21 hours.

Read by Hilda Fay.

Listened to this on a 3,000 mile road trip and it really helped pass the time.  Detectives Conway and Moran are in charge of what seems to be a routine murder.  But is it?  

5 stars.

The Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

Audio.  15.75 hours.

Read by Samantha Bond and Allan Corduner.

Did the famous author of a mystery series fall, or was he pushed?  

His latest manuscript may hold the answers.

5 stars.

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

 Are we real?  Is time real?  Colonies on the moon.  The story was a bit confusing at times, but I think if I had read it in one or two sittings I would have enjoyed it even more.  I'm going to re-read some time in the future and ponder it all again.  Excellent characterization.

5 stars.

The Collective by Alison Gaylin

 Best book I've read in awhile.  How far will a mother go to exact revenge on her daughter's murderer?  Camille is going to find out.

5 stars.

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

 Poppy and Alex rom-com.  Happily ever after.  I didn't really care for this, but it could be because I'm too old to have these kinds of feelings.

3 stars

22 Seconds by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro

 Latest in the Women's Murder Club series.  Can the SFPD and FBI crack a drug and gun smuggling gang while trying to solve a string of homicides of current and former police officers?

4 stars.

French Braid by Anne Tyler

 The Garrett family in Baltimore.  Nothing much happens, but great characterization, as always.

4.5 stars.

The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth

 Sisters Rachel and Tully suspect their dad is not the great guy they always thought he was when marries a woman younger than they are.

4 stars.

The Emergency by Thomas Fisher

 A Chicago doctor discusses the racial imbalance of health care, both before and during Covid.

4 stars, for non-fiction.

The Witch Elm by Tana French

 Audio.  22 hours.

Read by Paul Nugent.

Toby, the protagonist, starts off by explaining how he's always been a lucky guy.  Then a bunch of bad stuff happens, including the discovery of the body of his former classmate.  Is he still feeling lucky by the end?

4.5 stars.

I subtracted a half star because I thought it could have ended sooner.

The Red Hunter by Lisa Unger

 An old house brings together Zoey, whose family was murdered there, and Claudia who inherits it and decides to restore it.  A missing bag of drug money might be in the old place, too, attracting some undesirables.  

I liked the story, but the POV changes were kind of clunky.  I had trouble recognizing whose chapter it was until I got into it a few paragraphs.

4 stars.  

The Accomplice by Lisa Lutz

 Luna and Owen, and all their friends it seems, have secrets.  And people around them die.

Randomly grabbed this off the new book shelf in the library.  Didn't expect to like it so much.

4.5 stars.

All the Broken People by Leah Konen

On the run from her abusive ex-boyfriend, Lucy heads to upstate New York, but finds more than she'd hoped for.

I liked most of the book, but felt the ending got a bit convoluted. 

4 stars. 

The Hidden by Melanie Golding

 Ruby becomes involved with a family where nobody is what they seem.  A bit of fantasy, which I usually dislike, but not enough to bother me.

4.5 stars.

What Happened to the Bennetts by Lisa Scottoline

 When a local family disappears, everyone begins to speculate.  I really liked part I and would have given that a 5, but part II kind of had me rolling my eyes.

4 stars.

True Crime Story, A Novel by Joseph Knox

Zoe Nolan, 19, disappears.  Story told as a series of interview excerpts of all the people in Zoe's life.  I could not put this book down.  Interesting twists.

5 stars.

The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

 Dystopian Child Protective Services somehow have you sympathizing with the abusive parents.

4 stars

The Last Widow by Karin Slaughter

 Audio.  16.5 hours.

Read by Kathleen Early

Will Trent and the GBI take on white supremacists

4 stars.

Fear No Evil by James Patterson

 Latest Alex Cross installment.  I had high(er) hopes for this, as no co-author was listed.  It was okay, but as usual the incredible acts by all the characters made it a bit much.  Everyone has to be magnificent!  Eleven year old Ali solving crimes.  <eye roll>

3 stars.

Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham

 Audio.  11.5 hours.

Read by Mark Deakins.

Sebastian Rudd works out of his reinforced van defending the worst of the worst criminals.

Best Grisham books I've read in a while.

4.5 stars.

One Step Too Far by Lisa Gardner

 Frankie Elkin, alcoholic and people finder, this time in Wyoming.

I finished this in two days.  My heart was racing and I had to keep going until I was finished.  I considered removing a half star due to some of the repetitive parts about her past with Paul, but it was so good otherwise I couldn't.

5 stars.

Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult

 I didn't buy into the premise, but it was still a good book.  Good look at the doctors and patients of the pandemic.

4 stars.

Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout

 Audio.  7 hours.

Read by Kimberly Farr

A lovely little story told by Lucy about her ex-husband.  Not much physical action, but the characterization is wonderful.

4 stars.

Back of Beyond by C.J. Box

 Audio.  9 discs.

Read by Holter Graham.

Detective Cody Hoyt has a murder to solve, but it becomes even more urgent when he learns his son might be in danger.

4 stars.

Please Don't Tell by Elizabeth Adler

Audio.  9 hours.

Read by Bernadette Dunne. 

A serial killer in San Francisco.  Dr. Vivvie and her new beau Detective Merlin have to put the clues together.

4 stars.

Such a Quiet Place by Megan Miranda

 Audio.  8 CDs.

Read by Rebekkah Ross.

Ruby is convicted of a double murder, then freed 14 months later when the conviction is overturned.  Why has she returned to the same neighborhood where the neighbors still believe she's guilty.  Did she do it?  Or does one of the the others in this tight knit community have something to hide?

Mostly the book was okay, but the end got kind of preachy.

3 stars.

Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

 Joy Delaney goes missing and her four children must explore the possibility that their father is to blame.

4 stars.

A Line to Kill by Anthony Horowitz

 Audio.  9 hours.

Read by Rory Kinnear.

Anthony and Hawthorne attend a small literary festival to promote their book, but end up solving two murders.  Well, mostly Hawthorne solves them, as usual.

Great narrator and interesting story.

5 stars.