mystery Archives

Darling Girls

Chosen Sisters Author: Sally Hepworth Some families are biological. Some families are found. Some are created by trauma. The latter is true for Jessica, Norah, and Alicia. Each of them underwent a horrific experience at Wild Meadows where their unpredictable foster mother, Miss Fairchild, oscillated between cloying dependence and ruthless revenge. When Miss Fairchild directed her vitriol towards a new toddler, the girls decided to risk losing each other and report her. They thought it ended there. They were taken from Wild Meadows, raised separately, yet somehow able to keep their connections with one another. They presumed the toddler had been [...]

Frances Carden2024-09-14T21:47:58-07:00September 14th, 2024|Tags: abuse, botm, character study, foster care, mystery, thriller|

All the Dangerous Things

We've Seen It All Before Author: Stacy Willingham Isabelle Drake hasn’t slept in a year. Not since the day her infant son, Mason, was stolen out of his crib. How could she not have heard? Not have checked earlier? Not have known? And what about all those nights she hated motherhood, the stress, the strain, the demand? Is the absence somehow her fault? The police have no leads. Her husband has now moved on to a new relationship; it’s been a year. He wants to move on with his life. Everyone has accepted that Mason is gone. Probably dead. Certainly, never [...]

Frances Carden2024-09-14T14:13:05-07:00September 14th, 2024|Tags: book review, mystery, read, reading, thriller|

Nine Lives To Die

When Pets Investigate Author: Rita Mae Brown The town of Crozet, Virginia is preparing for a snowy Christmas season. Almost everyone in town is busily involved in some holiday charity preparations, bringing food and company to those in need or continuing to work with the local youth organization, Silver Linings, in their blowout annual fundraiser. But someone isn’t feeling the holiday spirit. They want to take, not give. With two bodies of prominent citizens, bastions of Silver Linings no less, discovered, the town is desperate to find the culprit. Meanwhile, on a nearby farm that belongs to Harry and her husband [...]

Frances Carden2024-08-12T18:43:35-07:00August 12th, 2024|Tags: book review, cozy mystery, Mrs. Murphy, mystery, read, reading|