The Bird Watcher by Jacquelyn Mitchard

 A young woman is accused of murder and her best friend from high school, now working as a journalist, covers the case.

3.5 stars.

Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man) by Jesse Q. Sutanto

 Audio.  11 hours.

Read by Eunice Wong.

Vera Wong finds a distressed young woman outside the police station and brings her home for tea.  The woman confesses her friend Thomas is missing and Vera sets out to find him.

4 stars.

Cross & Sampson by James Patterson and Brian Sitts

 Each character has an independent story with only the briefest of intersection.  Sampson works a bombing case while Cross searches for his missing son.

It was weird reading an Alex Cross book where his story is written in the third person and Sampson's is firt person.  Best I can remember, Alex Cross was always told through the first person.

3.5 stars.

The Astral Library by Kate Quinn

 Down on her luck Alix discovers a magical library where someone can live inside a book.  It sounds great until the library and its patrons come under attack.

Not a big fan of fantasy, so a bit disappointing for me.

3 stars.

Judge Stone by Viola Davis and James Patterson

 In rural Alabama, a doctor is arrested for performing an abortion, now a felony since the Supreme Court overturned Roe.  Judge Mary Stone finds herself in the middle of a storm as protestors from around the south descend on her small town.

4 stars.

All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker

Audio.  14.5 hours.

Read by Edoardo Ballerini.

Patch saves a girl from being abducted, but then ends up being the one taken.  He spends a year locked away in the dark with a girl named Grace.  When they are rescued, Grace disappears and Patch spends years trying to find her.

This was a beautifully written story.  The only part I couldn't accept was why he made finding this girl his life's work.  It would have been 5 stars but for this.

4 stars.

All This Could Be Yours by Hank Phillippi Ryan

 Tessa Calloway has written a best selling novel and is on tour when strange things begin to happen.

This book was such a slog.  It could have been a good story if it was 100 pages shorter.

2 stars.

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

 Audio.  10.75 hours.

Read by Eunice Wong.

When a dead body shows up in Vera's tea shop, she's intent on proving it was murder and finding the culprit.

4 stars.

It's Not Her by Mary Kubica

Two families go to a resort in the woods.  When one couple is murdered and their teenaged daughter goes missing the police (and the other mother) try to find the missing girl and the killer.

The first part was kind of dull, but it picked up at the end.

4 stars. 

The Invisible Woman by James Patterson and Susan DiLallo

 Former FBI agent, Elinor Gilbert, is recruited by her former boss to go undercover as a nanny for a suspected money launderer.

Quick read.  Very little gore.

4 stars.

Anatomy of an Alibi by Ashley Elston

 Camille appears to have a perfect life, but when she starts suspecting her husband of being involved in something shady, she hatches a plan to discover what it is.  

Meanwhile, Aubrey is contacted by the man convicted of killing her parents professing to have proof he is innocent of the crime.

The two women's lives intersect and old secrets are revealed.

The writing was good, but I didn't care about any of the characters.

3.5 stars.

Serial Killer Games by Kate Posey

I read this as part of a Goodreads challenge.  I probably wouldn't have finished it otherwise.  

Dolores and Jake meet at work and begin a tentative relationship partly based on the theory that there is a serial killer loose in their city.

2 stars. 

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

 Audio.  9 hours.

Read by Carrie Mulligan.

Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices...

Nora is depressed and takes an overdose of pills, but instead of dying, she finds herself in a library with all the books of the lives she could have lived had she made other choices.  The librarian gives Nora the chance to live as many of those lives as she wants until she finds one she wants to stay in.

5 stars.

Never Flinch by Stephen King

 Audio.  14.5 hours.

Read by Jessie Mueller.

P.I. Holly Gibney is back, this time acting as a bodyguard to a women's rights activist.  On the side, she's helping her detective friend, Izzy, work a serial killer case.

No supernatural stuff in this one, just plain old human evil.

4 stars.

Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding

 Picked this to fulfill a Goodreads challenge even though I'm pretty sure I read it once upon a time.

Bridget is a 30-something single woman navigating life.

This felt pretty dated.  I probably enjoyed it more when I was younger.

2.5 stars.

Dear Debbie by Freida McFadden

Advice columnist begins a vigilante spree.

3.5 stars. 

The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean

 Missing for over two years, teenager Ellie Black reappears in the Washington woods, but cannot, or will not, say where she's been.

4.5 stars.

Gone Before Goodbye by Harlan Coben and Reese Witherspoon

 Disgraced and stripped of her medical license, Maggie McCabe, grieving the murder of her husband, agrees to fly to Russia to perform surgery on an oligarch and his mistress.

4 stars.

King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby

 A mother's disappearance has lasting effects on a family.  When the youngest child gets involved with drug dealers, his older brother must return home to Virginia from his prosperous life in Atlanta.  

I was surprised at how unflatteringly Black characters are portrayed by this Black author: drug dealing, drug using, adultery, murder, securities fraud.  

4 stars.

The Rules for Breaking by Ashley Elston

Audio.  9 hours.

Read by Alexa Elmy.

After finally getting out of witness protection, Anna finds herself back in trouble when an assassin starts looking for her.

I didn't like this as much as the first book mostly because it was hard to believe that these three kids could escape from their situation.

3.5 stars. 

Rage by Linda Castillo

 Latest story features Chief Kate Burkholder investigating the deaths of three Amish young adults.

3.5

The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb

 Corby goes to prison for the accidental death of his son because he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol.  

I liked the beginning of the book, but didn't like that so much of it was about his time in prison.  The animal cruelty was also unnecessary.  Also, the abrupt death of the protagonist was too jarring.  This could have been a 5 star book for me with some changes.

3 stars.