mystery

Book Review: THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIRDS by K. A. Merson

| Jessica Crawford

The Language of the Birds by K. A. Merson is a 368 page standalone debut novel from Ballantine Books with a publish date of May 13, 2025.

Genre:

Mystery, Thriller

Opening Line:

Arizona cradles the figure-eight pendant between her thumb and finger and counts the days since her dad died–seventeen, the same as her age, and a prime number.

My Thoughts:

This is an impressive debut by an author who cites the following influences: Andy Weir for showing that science and math writing can be accessible, Blake Crouch for demonstrating how genres can be blended and bent seamlessly, Steig Larsson for writing an inspirational heroine, and Stephen King for inspiring others to make a serious effort at writing.

Arizona is a neurodivergent seventeen year old traveling with her mother to spread her recently-deceased father’s ashes in some of the places he loved. After her mother goes missing at Bodie State Historic Park in California, Arizona receives a phone call from a stranger – he is part of a group that has her mother, is familiar with Arizona’s idiosyncrasies, and demands that she help them solve a cryptic puzzle if she wants to see her mother returned safely. But how do they know this about her, and how is the group that kidnapped her mother tied to her late father?

There were flavors of The Davinci Code in this story, as Arizona works her way through multiple puzzles using ciphers and all sorts of logic exercises with which I can’t pretend to be familiar. There are a lot of diagrams and maps in this book, as we follow Arizona and her dog Mojo along on this high-stakes adventure. Did I skim over many of the parts trying to explain how she figured out what the encrypted messages and riddles meant (fractals, Euclidean space, monoalphabetic substitution ciphers, frequency analyses)? You bet. Did I get a kick out of the story featuring the history of alchemy and U.S. history and geography anyway? Heck yeah!

This books tells a smart puzzle-filled adventure of a story while also showing us personal growth in Arizona as she learns a bit more about learning to trust people enough to form relationships, and that emotions can’t be dealt with in the same way as mathematical equations. On display is the author’s own love of historical mysteries, literature, and even topography/U.S. geography and an outdoor/nomadic lifestyle. Well done!

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and Ballantine Books of Penguin Random House in exchange for my unbiased review.

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Book Review: HOW TO SEAL YOUR OWN FATE by Kristen Perrin

| Jessica Crawford

How to Seal Your Own Fate by Kristen Perrin is a 320 page novel, the second in the Castle Knoll Files series, from PENGUIN GROUP Dutton with a publish date of April 29, 2025.

Genre:

Mystery

Synopsis:

Kristen Perrin is back with the second novel in her Castle Knoll series. Annie Adams is caught in a new web of murder that spans decades, returning us to the idyllic English village that holds layers of secrets.

Present Annie Adams is just settling into life in Castle Knoll when local fortune teller Peony Lane crosses her path and shares a cryptic message. When Peony Lane is found dead only hours later inside the locked Gravesdown Estate, Annie quickly realizes that someone is out to make her look guilty while silencing Peony at the same time. Annie has no choice but to delve into the dark secrets of Castle Knoll in order to find out just what Peony Lane was trying to warn her about, before the new life she’s just begun to build comes crashing down around her.

1967: A year has passed since her friend Emily disappeared, and teenage Frances Adams finds herself caught between two men. Ford Gravesdown is one of the only remaining members of a family known for its wealth and dubious uses of power. Archie Foyle is a local who can’t hold down a job and lives above the village pub. But when Frances teams up with Archie to investigate the car crash that claimed the lives of Ford’s family, it quickly becomes clear that this was no accident—hints of cover-ups, lies, and betrayals abound. The question is, just how far does the blackness creep through the heart of Castle Knoll? When Frances uncovers secrets kept by both Ford and Archie, she starts to What exactly has she gotten herself into?

Opening Line:

Her name had always been too plain, she thought, as she looked at the prison register in front of her, which required her signature.

My Thoughts:

This was another engaging murder mystery in the Castle Knoll Files.

I do think I would have benefitted from rereading How to Solve Your Own Murder before jumping into this one, to better remember the characters we were previously introduced to, their relationships and motivations. In general they are an interesting collection of folk from a seemingly idyllic English countryside, one of whom offers the possibility of a future romance for our main character, Annie.

This time, it’s the intriguing figure of Peony Lane, the fortune teller who set Great Aunt Frances on her life’s course of trying to solve her own murder before it occurred, that gets caught up in the middle of the action. What might she have to do the Foyles, Sparrows, as well as the Gravesdowns of yore? And why do these crimes always seem to come knocking right at Annie’s door?

Alternating chapters between Annie’s current timeline (in present tense POV) and young Frances’s diary entries got a bit confusing to me, as both included many of the same characters and events, and so it became difficult to keep straight who already knew what in their respective investigations. And the particulars of this mystery wind up being quite convoluted and at times a bit of a stretch.

That being said, I was still definitely entertained by this contemporary whodunnit, and would happily read the next installment of Annie’s adventures in investigating secrets in order to solve crimes.

Thank you to Dutton, Penguin Random House, and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

Book Review: A DROP OF CORRUPTION by Robert Jackson Bennett

| Jessica Crawford

A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett is the second book in the Shadows of the Leviathan series with a publish date of April 1, 2025.

Genre:

Fantasy, Mystery

Opening Line:

Before there was memory, before there was history, there were the leviathans: the colossal, monstrous creatures that lumbered ashore each wet season and went wandering the plains, bringing death and panic with them.

My Thoughts:

“You know, you are not a stupid person, Din.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” I said, pleased.

“Or, rather, not an unusually stupid person.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” I said, far less pleased.

Ana and Din return in this solid installment in the Shadow of the Leviathan series, investigating another puzzler of a crime.

The events of this book take place in a different corner of the fantasy world than those of book one, but magical corruption and contagion are still things to watch out for. The Empire is in negotiations with the kingdom of Yarrow regarding its impending annexation when a member of the Imperial treasury goes missing from a locked room at the top of a tower, parts of him later found floating in the canals. Once Ana and Din arrive to look into the matter, they come to realize they are pitted against a mastermind of uncanny intelligence and the ability to parse patterns and predict their next moves before they themselves even know what they plan to do.

The investigation sees our unusual duo team up with the local wardens led by a woman named Malo, and an organization of Apoths tasked with obtaining the reagents that provide the people of this fantasy world with their special augmentations directly from the corpses of the dreaded leviathans. We also delve more into Din’s circumstances, his desire to return to Talgaray in service to the Legion in order to both be a hero and to be closer to his lover, as well as into the mystery of what, exactly, Ana is that allows her to accomplish the things she does.

The mystery was good and twisty, and the writing amusing, and the lessons once again go beyond magical mayhem to say something about the ills that come part and parcel with society. I will certainly continue reading on on this series to see what Ana and Din find themselves dealing with next.

Thank you to Del Rey of Random House Publishing and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

Book Review: SALTWATER by Katy Hays

| Jessica Crawford

Saltwater: A Novel by Katy Hays is a 336 page standalone novel from Ballantine Books with a publish date of March 25, 2025.

Genre:

Thriller, Family Drama, Mystery

Opening Line

(After a news article regarding the death of a woman while vacationing with her wealthy family in 1992.)

Money is my phantom limb.

Synopsis:

In 1992 Sarah Lingate is found dead below the cliffs of Capri, leaving behind her three-year-old daughter, Helen. Despite suspicions that the old-money Lingates are involved, Sarah’s death is ruled an accident. And every year, the family returns to prove it’s true. But on the thirtieth anniversary of Sarah’s death, the Lingates arrive at the villa to find a surprise waiting for them—the necklace Sarah was wearing the night she died.

Haunted by the specter of that night, the legendary Lingate family unity is pushed to a breaking point, and Helen seizes the opportunity. Enlisting the help of Lorna Moreno, a family assistant, the two plot their escape from Helen’s paranoid, insular family. But when Lorna disappears and the investigation into Sarah’s death is reopened, Helen has to confront the fact that everyone who was on Capri thirty years ago remains a suspect—her controlling father Richard, rarely-lucid aunt Naomi, distant uncle Marcus, and their circle of friends, visitors, and staff. Even Lorna, her closest ally, may not be who she seems.

As long-hidden secrets about that night boil to surface, one thing becomes not everyone will leave the island alive.

My Thoughts:

Saltwater by Katy Hays is a tense and twisty thriller featuring family secrets and Rich People Behaving Badly, with a strong sense of place transporting the reader to the glistening shores and plummeting cliffsides of the Italian island of Capri.

The Lingate family is Old Money with a fixation on maintaining appearances, even when this means closing ranks when one of their own dies suspiciously. As an adult, Helen, the daughter of the deceased, just wants to live in the present, but her family seems tied down by the past. She would do anything to escape the bonds of her overly controlling family in order to experience true freedom for the first time in her life. Lorna is similarly ready to free herself from the life she is forced to live in the shadow of the rich and powerful. The two women plot together to free themselves from the unwanted constraints of the Lingates and other families like them.

This was a decent thriller with conspiring, betrayal, and murder, all set in enticing locales such as an Italian villa and on the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Who can trust whom? One aspect of this story that didn’t work so great for me was that the chapters alternating amongst three timelines, but each occurring in the same locations with almost the exact same characters present, got confusing at times. “Okay, so this chapter picks back up with Helen on a boat with Ciro, but is this the time Freddy was there with them, or Lorna? Was this before or after that other event? I can’t remember!”

Things get a tad bit convoluted and farfetched as truths are revealed, but overall I enjoyed this bracing story of suspense.

There is sexual content in this story, but nothing that happens on the page. There is violence, but nothing super graphic.

Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

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Book Review: THE MOST WONDERFUL CRIME OF THE YEAR by Ally Carter

| Jessica Crawford

The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter is a 304 page standalone novel published in 2024.

Genre:

Romance, Mystery

Opening Line

Excerpt from the Official Police Interrogation of Margaret Chase and Ethan Wyatt

December 25

Mrs. Chase: Well, of course I have his blood on my hands.

Synopsis:

Knives Out gets a holiday rom-com twist in this rivals-to-lovers romance-mystery from New York Times bestselling author Ally Carter.

The bridge is out. The phones are down. And the most famous mystery writer in the world just disappeared out of a locked room three days before Christmas.

Meet Maggie Chase and Ethan Wyatt:

She’s the new Queen of the Cozy Mystery.

He’s Mr. Big-time Thriller Guy.

She hates his guts.

He thinks her name is Marcie (no matter how many times she’s told him otherwise.)

But when they both accept a cryptic invitation to attend a Christmas house party at the English estate of a reclusive fan, neither is expecting their host to be the most powerful author in the world: Eleanor Ashley, the Duchess of Death herself.

That night, the weather turns, and the next morning Eleanor is gone.

She vanished from a locked room, and Maggie has to wonder: Is Eleanor in danger? Or is it all some kind of test? Is Ethan the competition? Or is he the only person in that snowbound mansion she can trust?

As the snow gets deeper and the stakes get higher, every clue will bring Maggie and Ethan closer to the truth—and each other. Because, this Christmas, these two rivals are going to have to become allies (and maybe more) if they have any hope of saving Eleanor.

Assuming they don’t kill each other first.

My Thoughts:

This book was pretty good, but a bit confusing in that it seemed to try to be many kinds of stories all at once. Was it a murder mystery or a romance? Cozy and lighthearted comedy, or dark and twisty?

I was the most excited when I thought it was an elaborate game in which our characters, a colorful and eccentric group gathered at an English estate, were to compete against one another to be the first to solve a fabricated mystery. But then it winds up being about actual attempted murder, and being snowed in with a would-be killer who continues to create mayhem. Then the final answer to the murder mystery portion of the story seemed to kind of come out of left field (the motive is something that the reader is not aware of until the actual moment of the final reveal). And I hesitate to call it a locked room mystery, because you never actually get the answer to the how the missing person disappeared from the locked room.

But this book is actually mostly a romance. While I liked Maggie and Ethan each individually, the romance was actually a tad creepy (he has loved her from afar for years and is way, way too intimate way too fast for someone who has yet to receive any indication that his attentions are welcome). And Maggie repeatedly doubting and needing constant reassurance had me annoyed with her by the end.

This review sounds like mostly complaints, but really it wasn’t bad. Part of my issue, too, may be that I listened to this on audio, which doesn’t always work for me. There is one narrator for Maggie’s chapters (the majority of the book), and a separate one for Ethan’s chapters. One seems very talented in general, but has some very noticeable vocal fry. Both were a bit cringey when doing voices for the opposite gender, but one far moreso than the other. And they acted out some of the same characters quite differently (e.g. one of them portrays a particular character speaking in a bold and sassy manner, while the other acts her out as super timid). With all of these things taken together, I gave this one 3.75 stars, but it may have been a 4 if I had read it with my eyes instead of my ears.

Book Review: THE MESMERIST by Caroline Woods

| Jessica Crawford

The Mesmerist by Caroline Woods is a 336 page standalone novel published by Doubleday in 2024.

Genre:

Historical Fiction, Mystery

Opening Line:

The poor young woman, the one everyone would take to calling the “ghost girl”, or worse, in a matter of weeks, found her way to the Bethany Home for Unwed Mothers by walking the railroad tracks.

My Thoughts:

The Mesmerist is historical fiction based on a real place in Minneapolis, The Bethany Home for Unwed Mothers, as well as on a true crime story that transpired in the area in 1894.

One night a newcomer arrives at Bethany Home seeking sanctuary, a traumatized young woman who, judging by her dress, worked as a “sporting woman” in a brothel. She does not seem to speak, but she does come with a suspiciously large amount of money on her person.

Abby Mendenhall doesn’t expect her charges at the Home to provide their real names, but she can’t help but wonder who the newcomer, given the appellation Faith, is—especially as it becomes clear there are people looking for her and stories of dead madams and prostitutes begin to circulate. The other inmates in the Home begin to speculate that Faith is a notorious mesmerist, and they keep their distance from her, spooked.

May is a woman whose one year at Bethany Home is almost at end, but she plans on getting herself a proposal from a gentleman before she is forced to choose between returning to grueling work in harsh conditions or else a brothel. She has set her sights on Hal, and when she meets his friends, she realizes that Faith also had crossed paths with them, in her life “before”. But what is the connection, exactly?

I enjoyed the vibes of this late nineteenth century, “Gilded Age” story, spending time among the philanthropic society ladies and unfortunate sporting women, in the parlors where various facets of spiritualism were having their heyday as entertainment. The chapters alternate among Faith, May, and Abby. The mysterious elements of the story were rather good. Sure, I gave the book some side-eye when characters convince themselves they acted against their will because someone with a magnetic personality (i.e. a mesmerist) suggested they do so. And there were some parts I would have liked to have delved into a little deeper. But the experience of reading the story was quite to my liking overall. 4.75 stars!

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Book Review: A NEW LEASE ON DEATH by Olivia Blacke

| Jessica Crawford

A New Lease on Death by Olivia Blacke is a 336 page novel, the first in a planned series called Supernatural Mysteries.

Genre:

Mystery, Paranormal, Cozy

Opening Line:

I didn’t know how long I sat cross-legged in the snow, waiting for the dead man crumples on the ground in front of my building to wake up.

Synopsis:

In this darkly funny supernatural mystery about an unlikely crime-solving duo that launches a commercial, unique, and genre-blending series, death is only the beginning.

Ruby Young’s new Boston apartment comes with all the usual perks. Windows facing the brick wall of the next-door building. Heat that barely works. A malfunctioning buzzer. Noisy neighbors. A dead body on the sidewalk outside. And of course, a ghost.

Since Cordelia Graves died in her apartment a few months ago, she’s kept up her residency, despite being bored out of her (non-tangible) skull and frustrated by her new roommate. When her across-the-hall neighbor, Jake Macintyre, is shot and killed in an apparent mugging gone wrong outside their building, Cordelia is convinced there’s more to it and is determined to bring his killer to justice.

Unfortunately, Cordelia, being dead herself, can’t solve the mystery alone. She has to enlist the help of the obnoxiously perky, living tenant of her apartment. Ruby is twenty, annoying, and has never met a houseplant she couldn’t kill. But she also can do everything Cordelia can’t, from interviewing suspects to researching Jake on the library computers that go up in a puff of smoke if Cordelia gets too close. The roommates form an unlikely friendship as they get closer to the truth about Jake’s death…and maybe other dangerous secrets as well.

My Thoughts:

This book features a murder mystery investigation by an unlikely duo: the ghost of recently deceased Cordelia Graves, and Ruby, the twenty year old who moved into her apartment after her death.

The writing was decent and there were fun elements to the story, but the pacing was not ideal. After the murder being investigated occurs and the initial evidence collected, there is zero advancement in this regard until very near to the end. What there is instead is learning a lot about Cordelia’s life before she ghosted, which was fine and relevant to the overall arc of the series, but also a whole lot of repeating the same information already provided over and over again. The characters comment on how strange it is that a mugger would not take their victim’s nice phone again and again, and I think the job duties of the front desk position at software startup TrendCelerate were listed for us at least three times. Cordelia’s limitations and bonus abilities as a ghost are also revisited many times, going over the same information. The attempted red herrings were not super successful either.

Overall I was mostly able to enjoy this paranormal story for it’s fun and quirky elements, but as a mystery it didn’t work as well as it might.

That being said, it definitely has its charms, and if the description tickles your fancy at all I do think you could consider giving it a shot yourself.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Minotaur Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

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Book Review: HYDE by Craig Russell

| Jessica Crawford

Hyde by Craig Russell is a 352 page standalone novel published in 2021.

Genre:

Mystery, Historical Fiction, Horror, Retelling/Reimagining

Opening Line:

He looked at his friend and wondered how he still lived.

My Thoughts:

Ancient Celtic mythology, ritualistic murder, Scottish nationalism, the duality of human nature!

This story is a reimagining of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. The conceit is that in the prologue, Stevenson is looking for inspiration to write a story about the duality of human nature, and his friend Captain Edward Hyde says, “Boy, do I have just the thing!” and proceeds to tell him his own story.

Hyde is a police detective with epilepsy, suffering from absence seizures during which he “loses time” and cannot remember what he did or how he got to wherever he was when he comes to. As he investigates ritualistic murders in nineteenth century Edinburgh, he begins to fear what it is he gets up to when he’s not aware of his actions.

All of the keywords used to describe this book (atmospheric, haunting, Gothic) are ones that are usually homeruns for me. In theory it sounds like a good fit for me. But honestly the way this book was written had me kind of bored and flipping pages just to be done with it already. It was still good, but not great for this reader. 3.5 stars.

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Book Review: STRANGE BEASTS by Susan J. Morris

| Jessica Crawford

Strange Beasts by Susan J. Morris is a 384 page novel published in 2024 by Bindery Books.

Genre:

Mystery, Gaslamp Fantasy

Opening Line:

Samantha Harker’s heels rang on the fine marble floors as she hurried past plaster reliefs of scenes torn from myth.

My Thoughts:

Are you interested in stories about government organizations dedicated to investigating supernatural phenomena? Are you curious what a partnership between the daughter of Mina and Jonathan Harker from Bram Stoker’s Dracula and the daughter of Professor Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes series would look like? Did you like the idea of the bookish researcher (with an academic and personal interest in the occult, like Ninth House) taking to the field like in the Emily Wilde books? The possibility of a quasi-religious/political group being behind horrific beastly attacks like in The Brotherhood of the Wolf? The scheming to trap a potential werewolf at the opera like in Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within? Do you appreciate queer representation in the books you read, with a gentle romance arc that takes a backseat to the adventurous and mysterious plot? Do you like your feminist rage to have actual, literal bite?

If you said yes to any of the above, then do I have a treat for you!

In 1903, Sam and Hel are agents of the London Field Office of The Royal Society for the Study of Abnormal Phenomena. Ostensibly, the group hunts dangerous monsters of the paranormal variety. Our two heroines are sent to Paris to look into a spree of brutal murders thought to have been committed by some kind of Capital B Beast. Their investigation takes them to illicit salons, the catacombs, the opera, and many other places besides.

The two women must learn to trust one another, which does not come easy. Sam is used to keeping her ability as a channel secret, as most people believe this means she will inevitably fall under the sway of monsters and is therefore a danger herself. Conversely, everyone knows the identity of Hel’s father, but what they don’t know is that by making the choice to free herself from his influence, she guaranteed that he will always target people she gets close to.

My one complaint is that it seems like this book tried to be and do a little too much. There’s Sam channeling, false visions, a hidden rage, Jakob Van Helsing (son of Abraham) foiling her wherever she goes in a bid to save her from her own inexorable descent into monstrousness, the men in the Royal Society discounting the abilities of the women, personal agency, the question of monster versus victim, alchemy, religious and political motivations, the potential for Moriarty to be manipulating their investigation, covert ciphers, messages sent via bees…all on top the of the basic premise of uncovering who is responsible for the murders and stopping them.

(And one extremely niggling issue: I understand that “wills o’the wisp” is probably the proper plural form, but it still sounds off enough to kick me from the immersion in the story, and it is a term that gets used SO. MUCH.)

Even with being a bit extra, this is a 4.75 star book for me. I really liked the characters, the early twentieth century Paris setting, the paranormal elements, and the investigation into the Beast killings. It was a lot of fun, and I wasn’t bored for even a moment. It does leave the door open for another adventure to come. I will be keeping an eye on this author, and this publisher, for sure.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bindery Books, and Inky Phoenix Press for the eARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

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