Books Read in 2024: Four-Star Mystery/Thriller

 Today in Adventures in January Brain Fog: Took my dad to see his nephrologist at the hospital. We've had Zoom calls the last few sessions, but he has to go in person every two years. It's at the friendliest hospital campus as far as driving and parking and navigating, but still a pain in the ass early on a January morning. My dad's mobility isn't good, so I dropped him at the front door and went to park - he said he'd head up and I would catch up with him. 

I found a parking spot with no trouble, found the elevators, stepped in an elevator with four people in it, and said "oh crap. Anyone know which floor is nephrology?" 

I don't know what the hell I was thinking. I was anxious to catch up with my dad because he's shaky in the morning (he had his poles, at least), maybe I thought there'd be a directory in the elevator? They all said apologetically they didn't know.

The two older men got off on third. I stepped off, but immediately knew it didn't look right, so I got back on and tried fourth. I got off and there was a desk right there, where a kind gentleman informed me that I wanted fifth. The elevator was still open so I got back on, hit the 5, and apologized to the two older ladies, who patted my shoulder and told me to breathe. Then I got off and found my dad and everything was fine. At least it's not twenty years ago when I probably would have been to shy to ask anyone anything and it would have taken me five times longer. 

Four-Star Mystery/Thriller

The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean: Synopsis from Goodreads: Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s life is turned upside down when she gets the call Ellie Black, a girl who disappeared years earlier, has resurfaced in the woods of Washington state—but Ellie’s reappearance leaves Chelsey with more questions than answers.

It’s been twenty years since Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s sister vanished when they were teenagers, and ever since she’s been searching: for signs, for closure, for other missing girls. But happy endings are rare in Chelsey’s line of work. Then a glimmer: local teenager Ellie Black, who disappeared without a trace two years earlier, has been found alive in the woods of Washington State.But something is not right with Ellie. She won’t say where she’s been, or who she’s protecting, and it’s up to Chelsey to find the answers. She needs to get to the bottom of what happened to Ellie: for herself, and for the memory of her sister, but mostly for the next girl who could be taken—and who, unlike Ellie, might never return.

The debut thriller from New York Times bestselling author Emiko Jean, The Return of Ellie Black is both a feminist tour de force about the embers of hope that burn in the aftermath of tragedy and a twisty page-turner that will shock and surprise you right up until the final page.

-”All she could do was stare at him blankly and mutter okay. She sensed his relief immediately. Inside, she was so angry, white-hot angry, but it was better than the fear, better than the anguish, so she nourished it a bit. Eventually, fury turned to ambivalence. Sometimes she wonders if she loves Jimmy anymore. If the only thing keeping them together is a black rope of grief and a thin string of red hope.”

My preference in mysteries is character-driven over plot-driven, and this was definitely that. The tormented detective can be a cliche, but if it's well done it works, and really, if you accept that police detectives are honest and competent (big assumption), being tormented isn't that much of a stretch, even before Chelsey's past trauma. I appreciated the attention to structural inequality, the effects on a family of a child's disappearance, the adjustment required for her return. I always think zombies are such a rich metaphor in horror for the wish to have loved ones return from death but the realization that couldn't be anything but unnatural and grotesque; this is a more realistic corollary to that. As for the reviewers who called it 'man-hating' - thbfft. If men didn't want to be hated they should have behaved better.

An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good (Elderly Lady #1) by Helene Tursten: Synopsis from Goodreads: 

- An elderly lady has accommodation problems
- An elderly lady on her travels
- An elderly lady seeks peace at Christmas time
- The antique dealer's death
- An elderly lady is faced with a difficult dilemma
Maud is an irascible 88-year-old Swedish woman with no family, no friends, and…no qualms about a little murder. This funny, irreverent story collection by Helene Tursten, author of the Irene Huss investigations, features two-never-before translated stories that will keep you laughing all the way to the retirement home.
Ever since her darling father’s untimely death when she was only eighteen, Maud has lived in the family’s spacious apartment in downtown Gothenburg rent-free, thanks to a minor clause in a hastily negotiated contract. That was how Maud learned that good things can come from tragedy. Now in her late eighties, Maud contents herself with traveling the world and surfing the net from the comfort of her father’s ancient armchair. It’s a solitary existence, but she likes it that way.
Over the course of her adventures—or misadventures—this little bold lady will handle a crisis with a local celebrity who has her eyes on Maud’s apartment, foil the engagement of her long-ago lover, and dispose of some pesky neighbors. But when the local authorities are called to investigate a murder in her apartment complex, will Maud be able to avoid suspicion, or will Detective Inspector Irene Huss see through her charade?

This was recommended by Engie. so I read it early last year. There's not much suspense once the tenor of things is established, but there is something particularly delectable about an elderly lady who is underestimated and overlooked being a bad-ass motherfucker who will fuck you up. 

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman: Synopsis from Goodreads: In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders.

But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves. Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it's too late?

-”The big meeting is a consultation about a new development at Coopers Chase. Ian Ventham, the big boss, is coming to talk to us about it. I try to be honest where I can, so I hope you don’t mind me saying I don’t like him. He’s all the things that can go wrong with men if you leave them to their own devices.”

-”Ian had felt compelled to agree to the terms because Tony had never been anything but loyal to him, and also because Tony had made it clear he would break both of Ian’s arms if he refused. Ian had seen Tony break people’s arms before, and so they were now partners.

Not for long, though. Surely Tony knew it couldn't last? Anyone can build a luxury apartment, really – strip to the waist, listen to Magic FM, dig out some foundations or shout at a bricklayer. Easy work. But not everyone has the vision to oversee someone building luxury apartments. With the new development about to start, what better time for Tony to learn his true value?”

More old people mixed up with murder! Does buzz around a book make you want to read it, or avoid it sullenly because millions of people can't possibly be right? I veer uncomfortably close to the latter at times, I'm not even sure why. But I love an unorthodox but brilliant gang - now going to spend a probably-stupid amount of time trying to figure out which particular book this makes me think of..... The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths! which features an Eastern-European caretaker, a coffee shack guy and an 80 year old neighbour of the dead woman, and a female police detective. Much like the Thursday Murder Club, which has an irresistible group of seniors and, again, a likable female police detective. I suppose you could opine that there's something a bit unseemly about treating murder like a game (with a schedule and refreshments), but I imagine when you get to a certain point of life it seems sort of natural. The characters are irresistible and the dry British humour is on point. I have not read any further in the series yet (sullen, unreasonable, obstinate) but it's basically just a matter of time.

The Lewis Man (Lewis Trilogy #2) by Peter May: Synopsis from Goodreads: A MAN WITH NO NAME. An unidentified corpse is recovered from a Lewis peat bog; the only clue to its identity being a DNA sibling match to a local farmer. A MAN WITH NO MEMORY. But this islander, Tormod Macdonald - now an elderly man suffering from dementia - has always claimed to be an only child. A MAN WITH NO CHOICE. When Tormod's family approach Fin Macleod for help, Fin feels duty-bound to solve the mystery.

Just pasting my review from Goodreads (particularly for my friend Nat who said she's here for the bitching (HI NAT): I started looking at my bookshelves and realizing I have some books I picked up as bargain reads or whatever that I really want to just read and get rid of, if not just get rid of them because I can probably get them from the library. I read this yesterday because it's a hardcover and will free up a good slot, and because I remembered reading the first book in the trilogy and liking it.

I thought it was really good. The description of the landscape and the people are definitely key, and made it easy to visualize the action. It's very sad, and probably would have been better for me not to read in February, but there was a little redemption mixed in, although it's hard to think about all the ways child abuse has been accepted and institutionalized and not just feel limitless rage and despair. I found the dual plotlines in the past and present compelling, and appreciated the resolution. Sometimes when you come from a place where poverty and hardship are endemic, a lot of people end up living sad lives. If you don't appreciate attention being paid to that, avoid this series. I do hope poor Fin gets a break in the next book.

Now, because it is February and I am cranky and less able to abide what I see as wrong and annoying, I will address some things I have seen in other reviews. I don't like to comment on those reviews because people are allowed to have their own opinions even when they are wrong and dumb, and I am trying to argue with strangers on the internet less. There are a couple of sex scenes. These sex scenes were neither overly explicit or gratuitous, they absolutely made sense in the development of the relevant relationships, and if you say "I'm not a prude but..." and object to them, well, you are a prude, so just own that because otherwise you sound ridiculous. Not liking to read about sex scenees is fine - I don't love them myself, but they're not difficult to skim, and complaining about them seems silly. Also, the notion that people are only reviewing this well because they see other people doing so and are afraid to be different? That is breathtakingly arrogant and moronic. Maybe your opinion is in the minority because you have a sophistication and intellect that 95% of the other reviewers are lacking. Or maybe your opinion is just crap.

The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett: Synopsis from Goodreads: It's time to solve the murder of the century... Forty years ago, Steven Smith found a copy of a famous children's book, its margins full of strange markings and annotations. He took it to his remedial English teacher, Miss Isles, who became convinced it was the key to solving a puzzle. That a message in secret code ran through all Edith Twyford's novels. Then Miss Isles disappeared on a class field trip, and Steven's memory won't allow him to remember what happened. Now, out of prison after a long stretch, Steven decides to investigate the mystery that has haunted him for decades. Was Miss Isles murdered? Was she deluded? Or was she right about the code? And is it still in use today? Desperate to recover his memories and find out what really happened to Miss Isles, Steven revisits the people and places of his childhood. But it soon becomes clear that Edith Twyford wasn't just a writer of forgotten children's stories. The Twyford Code has great power, and he isn't the only one trying to solve it...

-”A lot of talk inside about feelings. How feelings are like visitors with something to give you. If they knock on your door: answer. Let ‘em in. Accept the gift. Say cheers, mate. Otherwise, they said, the feeling will go away and you won’t get the gift.

I disagree. If a feeling knocks and no one answers, it’ll get p(EXPLICIT)d off. It’ll kick the door in, chuck the gift at you, and smash your best ornaments so you don’t disrespect it again. You’ll be clearing up a lot more mess than you had to start with. So it’s good, Maxine, to cry if you want. Remember that.”

But we soon pull ourselves together – because suddenly I see who fault it REALLY is. DONNA. This is all YOUR fault, I yell. If you hadn’t spotted that outline of the airfield we wouldn’t be stuck here now. Well, if you hadn’t STOLEN that map in the first place, she snaps (..) don’t misunderstand me, Maxine, it didn’t get physical. I’d never hit a woman, not even a gender neutral one.”

I first read this author's The Appeal, which was a modern epistolary novel - written entirely in emails. I was impressed by how quickly each person's voice and characteristics became clear, and enjoyed the book. I was a bit surprised when I came across this one and realized that she apparently intended to continue this technique. Truthfully, when I started this book I had my doubts. Rather than emails, the book is an apparent transcriptions of voice memos found on an old cellphone. It didn't take long to get into the flow, though.

There was a fun treasure-hunt element to this, but there was also a thread about making poor choices based in poverty and lack of a strong family foundation, reacclimating to life after incarceration and reckoning with past choices. I liked it a lot.

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett: Synopsis from Goodreads: Everyone knows the story of the Alperton Angels: the cult who brainwashed a teenage girl into believing her baby was the anti-Christ. When the girl came to her senses and called the police, the Angels committed suicide and mother and baby disappeared.

Now, true crime author Amanda Bailey is looking to revive her career by writing a book on the case. The Alperton baby has turned eighteen; finding them will be the scoop of the year. But rival author Oliver Menzies is just as smart, better connected, and also on the baby’s trail. As Amanda and Oliver are forced to collaborate, they realize that the truth about the Angels is much darker and stranger than they’d ever imagined, and in pursuit of the story they risk becoming part of it.

-Amanda Bailey: ’Oliver Menzies. We both did a journalism apprenticeship – the kind no one runs anymore. Long story short I have to work with him on this Alperton Angels case. Sour ashes of the past are rekindled with every WhatsApp. Sigh.

Minnie Davis: Rekindled? Do I sense sexual tension?

Amanda Bailey. Absolutely not. Jealousy, resentment, insecurity, Schadenfreude? Absolutely.

Minnie Davis: Planning my outfit for the wedding right now.”

3.5 stars. Back to emails for this one. The competition between the two reporters and the emails showing the cutthroat competition between two reporters and the sometimes unscrupulous tactics employed in the hope of getting the story first are quite delicious, and the growing suspicion of dark forces at work felt momentous. Then, in all honesty, I wasn't quite sure what happened at the end, and the ending I had conjured in my head seemed better. I still enjoyed the ride.

The House of Ashes by Stuart Neville: Synopsis from Goodreads: Sara Keane's husband, Damien, has uprooted them from England and moved them to his native Northern Ireland for a "fresh start" in the wake of her nervous breakdown. Sara, who knows no one in Northern Ireland, is jobless, carless, friendless—all but a prisoner in her own house. When a blood-soaked old woman beats on the door, insisting the house is hers before being bundled back to her care facility, Sara begins to understand the house has a terrible history her husband never intended for her to discover. Through the counterpoint voices of two women—one modern Englishwoman, one Northern Irish farmgirl speaking from half a century earlier—Stuart Neville offers a chilling and gorgeous portrait of violence and resilience in this truly haunting narrative.

-”’How did he take that?’

‘He was annoyed, I think. But men are like that. They think everything’s theirs and nothing’s ours except what they give us. This man was the same. I don’t say bad words, but I near said some to him.’”

3.5 stars. Not shocking, but sad and infuriating and haunting.

The Killings at Kingfisher Hill (New Hercule Poirot Mysteries #4) by Sophie Hannah: Synopsis from Goodreads: Hercule Poirot is traveling by luxury passenger coach from London to the exclusive Kingfisher Hill estate. Richard Devonport has summoned the renowned detective to prove that his fiancée, Helen, is innocent of the murder of his brother, Frank. Poirot will have only days to investigate before Helen is hanged, but there is one strange condition attached: he must conceal his true reason for being there from the rest of the Devonport family.
The coach is forced to stop when a distressed woman demands to get off, insisting that if she stays in her seat, she will be murdered. Although the rest of the journey passes without anyone being harmed, Poirot’s curiosity is aroused, and his fears are later confirmed when a body is discovered with a macabre note attached . . .

Could this new murder and the peculiar incident on the coach be clues to solving the mystery of who killed Frank Devonport? And if Helen is innocent, can Poirot find the true culprit in time to save her from the gallows?

-”Helen Acton killed Frank and she will hang for it! As for the police…no one will inform them of anything, no one is to summon them.’ He turned his hostile eyes on me. I did my best to look uninformed and unsummoned. I don’t know if I achieved the precise facial expression most likely to deter Sidney Devonport from screaming at me, but I certainly gave it my best effort.”

-”Poirot beamed at me. ‘You will not comprehend this, Catchpool, but in my heart I already have the pleasure and satisfaction of having answered every last question and solved the mystery of the death of Frank Devonport most decisively.’”

I love and admire the idea of Agatha Christie more than I love and adore reading her actual books. I had a giant omnibus of Miss Marple books that I read when I was about twelve, and when I first read And Then There Were None I thought it was really cool, but I revisited it after Eve came home from school in early high school saying she had to read a book by "Agatha Someone", and there was a hilarious misunderstanding when she said everyone was dead at the end and I was dead certain there were two people left, and we discovered that I had read the stage adaptation, which had a friendlier ending due to the fact that World War II was happening. Anyway, I read it again and it was ... disappointing.

I really like Sophie Hannah, so I borrowed this on a whim. It was fun, and seemed to contain both the seemingly insoluble puzzles of Sophie Hannah and the amusingly guileless arrogance of the Poirot character.

The Mystery of the Blue Train (Hercule Poirot #6) by Agatha Christie: Synopsis from Goodreads: A mysterious woman, a legendary cursed jewel, and a night train from London to the French Riviera -- ingredients for the perfect romance or the perfect crime? When the Blue Train stops, the jewel is missing, and the woman is found dead in her compartment. It's the perfect mystery, filled with passion, greed, deceit, and confusion.

Is Hercule Poirot the perfect detective to solve it?

Like I said, when I reread And Then There Were None and still liked the locked-room (island) mystery device but found the dialogue and characterization wanting. I accept that she was a skilled mystery writer who pioneered and perfected many techniques, but reading her was more like looking at an artefact than enjoying a reading experience. After reading the Sophie Hannah I found this in one of my school libraries and realized I hadn't really read any Poirot. I feel like I'd been sleeping on him a bit- super fun character, and the writing and characterization were more nuanced. I wasn't sure how it was all going to turn out, and I enjoyed the journey.

Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera: Synopsis from Goodreads: What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if the truth doesn't matter? Lucy and Savvy were the golden girls of their small Texas town: pretty, smart, and enviable. Lucy married a dream guy with a big ring and an even bigger new home. Savvy was the social butterfly loved by all and, if you believe the rumors, especially popular with the men in town. But after Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer.

It’s been years since that horrible night, a night Lucy can’t remember anything about, and she has since moved to LA and started a new life. But now the phenomenally huge hit true crime podcast Listen for the Lie and its too-good looking host, Ben Owens, have decided to investigate Savvy’s murder for the show’s second season. Lucy is forced to return to the place she vowed never to set foot in again to solve her friend’s murder, even if she is the one who did it.

The truth is out there, if we just listen.

-”A podcaster has decided to ruin my life, so I”m buying a chicken."

-”At this point, I’m curious how long this can go on for. He’s clearly wanted to break up for a while, and now he’s worried I’m going to murder him. Surely he will locate his balls and actually say the words ‘Please move out of my apartment and never contact me again’ soon?

On the plus side, I have more time to look for a new place white I wait for the inevitable. Just this morning I found a very promising one-bedroom with no income requirements. It looks like a dump in the pictures, and the landlord asked to see a picture of my feet when I emailed him, but, hey, it’s cheap.”

Holy cow, this murder mystery was hilarious! - are words I don't usually type. Yes, I am still helpless to resist a book about a murder podcast. Yes, I still only listen to podcasts on my way to pick up Eve (Dolly Parton's America - *chef's kiss*). Four and a half, maybe five, even just for bearing out its promise so thoroughly. In the wrong hands an overwrought, melodramatic tone could have messed this up. Lucy's voice is note perfect, I wanted to be friends with her even if it meant I might get murdered. She has to go back to her small town and everyone is fucked up and lying a little, and I loved that. Her parents are neither sappy stereotypes or monsters, just flawed people who handle the situation quite badly, which is so realistic. There's so much more than a murder mystery and the associated trauma, and all of the layers make the fact that the murder happened so much more nuanced. For a first adult novel this is remarkably assured, and I look forward to her next book.

Undone (Will Trent #3) by Karin Slaughter: Synopsis from Goodreads: When a tortured young woman enters the trauma center of an Atlanta hospital, Dr. Sara Linton is thrust into a desperate police investigation with Special Agent Will Trent and his partner, Faith Mitchell. Though guarding their own wounds and their own secrets, Sara, Will, and Faith find that they are all that stand between a madman and his next victim.

-"Will was in an unmarked black Dodge Charger, what they called a G-ride, slang for government-issued car. This particular beauty had a key scratch cutting along the panel over the back tire ad a large antenna mounted on a spring so the scanner could pick up all signals within a hundred-mile area. A blind three-year-old would've been able to tell it was a cop car."

I read a post of Sarah's that reminded me I hadn't read any Karin Slaughter for quite a while. I had read some of her earlier books which were a little meh, then some Will Trent books that were much better, and a couple of stand-alones which were excellent. This is my blog post about how disappointing it was when she merged a character from her earlier series with her newer series, because I Hate Sara Linton. I'm probably going to continue rereading the Will Trent series even with (bleah) Sara Linton is in it. Will Trent is an interesting character and the mysteries are solid. But I reserve the right to keep complaining about Sara Linton.

A Killer in the Family (DCI Jonah Sheens #5) by Gytha Lodge: Synopsis from Goodreads: A woman uploads her DNA online, searching for her father--but the man who contacts her is Detective Chief Inspector Jonah Sheens. From the acclaimed author of Little Sister, this endlessly twisty crime novel asks: What might a family do to protect or expose a serial killer in its midst?

When the police found the first body, left on a bonfire in the fields, they worried it had the hallmarks of a serial killer.
Now, as they find the second, they know for sure.
Panic about the "bonfire killer" quickly spreads through the sedate, suburban area of Southampton. Women are urged not to travel alone at night, and constant vigilance is encouraged among the local residents. But single mom Aisling Cooley has a lot to distract her: two beloved teenage sons and a quest to find her long-lost father, whom she hasn't seen since she was a teenager growing up in Ireland.
After much debate she decides to upload her DNA to an ancestry website, and when she gets a match she is filled with an anxious excitement, that her questions about her father's disappearance from her life might finally be answered.
But to her horror, it's not her father who's found her. It's a detective.And they say her DNA is a close match for the bonfire killer...

This came up as a hold at the library that I had no memory of requesting. It was a paper copy, and I wasn't able to renew it so then I had to read it quickly before my account got suspended AGAIN. I started reading it and the first couple of pages made me think it was going to be a run-of-the-mill mystery with a boring woman and her boring two kids. But I kept reading, and I was wrong. Aisling's relationship with her sons was warm and funny and real, there was witty banter (I can forgive a lot in a book if there is witty banter), and the mystery was engrossing. It was the kind of thing that when I finished the book and looked back at the record in Goodreads, I saw that the series was actually DCI Jonah Sheen, which surprised me a bit because he didn't seem to be the main part of the story. It's also annoying that - hang on - okay, never mind, I was about to type that it was annoying that my library didn't have the other books in the series, but then I checked the catalogue to be sure, and I was totally wrong and clearly cannot be trusted at all. 

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore: Synopsis from Goodreads: When a teenager vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp, two worlds collide. Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.

As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. It is Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet.

-"She was supposed to wear glasses; she owned a pair that she never wore, which resulted in her squinting frequently. Her father once told her casually that she was built like a plum on toothpicks, and the phrase was at once so cruel and so poetic that it clicked into place around her like a harness."

-"'Panic,' said T.J. But no one raised a hand.

    She explained. It came from the Greek god Pan: the god of the woods. He liked to trick people, to confuse and disorient them until they lost their bearings, and their minds.

    To panic, said T.J., was to make an enemy of the forest. To stay calm was to be its friend."

-"The one thing they agreed upon, always, was the value of their son, whom Alice loved immediately and intensely. Peter, she knew, loved him too -- but his love sometimes felt to her like an investment, something to be given on the condition that there would be a return for him later."

I was interested in reading this as soon as I heard about it, but I moved it up to get it read before the end of the year when a few people blogged about it - going to fairly lazily see if I can track down what they thought of it. Oh, Engie's post runs a few of them down - she really liked it (4.5 out of 5 stars), and says that Birchie hated it, and Stephany, Sarah and Lisa loved it - and comments on that post reveal that Jenny and Suzanne liked it but didn't love it. What about Nicole, I think Nicole weighed in too - oh, Nicole really liked it too, particularly for a character's opinion of Thoreau (author of Walden) as a pretentious git (totally agree, Nicole). Wow, this was THE book last year.

I loved it. It was the kind of mystery I hope for every time I begin one. I have no issue with anyone who didn't like it. The reviews on Goodreads that annoyed me were the ones that lauded it as very different from other mysteries - this is the same annoyance I felt when people rhapsodized about Fifty Shades of Grey or The Da Vinci Code, when that was the only book they ever read in the genre because of the zeigeist. Those reviews make me blink - like, yes, this is why many people who read mysteries READ MYSTERIES. Because a good mystery is a well-written story (oh, I disagree with Engie about the writing, I thought it was not showy, but quite perceptive and insightful, and I noted down several passages) with fully realized characters and struggles and strivings, and like in straight fiction, people sometimes die, and unlike in straight fiction, the conflict happens to be finding out why the people died. 

There was a lot going on, between the various timelines, the societal microcosm -with its attendant inequalities and figurative bloodlettings - that is the summer camp, the infuriatingly stifling role of women that traps Alice in a desperately unhappy marriage, and in the present day puts Louise in a similarly unsafe position in her dating life and with regards to the investigation . Class inequality and the differing miseries of the poor and the rich are in evidence, and then the difficulties faced by Judy, the young Polish-American police officer investigating the newest disappearance, swimming upstream against convention and bigotry.I felt like it was handled masterfully, every layer informing every other, and there are several really well-done female characters. In some books that switch between characters and time periods I'm rushing through one to get back to the other, but I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of this. In response to Engie's question of whether the ending surprised me - I think I saw where things were going a little bit ahead, but not a long way, which is sort of perfect. There were moments of connection that touched me deeply, there were moments of monstrous injustice that left me breathlessly angry, and the setting was so wonderfully rendered that I almost feel like I watched it as much as read it. 

Books Read in 2024: Four-Star Children's and YA

I am angry at my anxiety today. I keep feeling this low-grade sense of dread the night before work days. I guess this could partly be ascribed to the fact that I'm not sleeping great, and with Matt away Lucy is prone to paw at me every couple of hours to go out and then see if maybe breakfast can be served four-to-six hours early, so even if I do fall asleep, it doesn't last. But mostly it just feels like it's a drag to go to work. 

And it's not! I like my job! I get in there, and I carry books around, and I wheel carts around, and I see the kids, many of whom really really like me, and they tell me about why they like SpongeBob books or Lego books or princess books or Dog Man books, and they tell me about how they injured their wrist on the week-end so it's very difficult for them to turn pages, and then they all say good-bye to me (sometimes really loudly), and it's kind of awesome, for the most part. So maybe my nervous system could stop throwing a fucking fit about it? 

And Lord, the January brain fog. Things I did today: tried to sign in to my work computer three times, not understanding what wasn't working, then realized I was entering my personal email address instead of my work one; made a list of fairy tales to pull for a teacher, found most of them, spent several long minutes searching for one and finally realized I was looking for Les Trois Petits Cochons in the English picture book section; carried the books into the hallway on the way to the staff room to put them in the teacher's mailbox, then realized I didn't have my keys and the staff room is sometimes locked. I saw a teacher ahead of me open the door and go in, but when I got to the door it was locked. I stood there in a daze for a second, before I realized she had gone one door past the staff room into the bathroom. In my very limited defense, the door does say Staff on it. Good thing I didn't knock?

Deep breath. Pictures of Lucy, during and after a snowy walk, in case Engie's going into withdrawal.

Four Star Reads

Children's

Kingfisher Days by Susan Coyne: Synopsis from Goodreads: A magical tale of friendship and wonder -- the perfect gift for the imaginative child in all of us. One summer, in a hedge near her family's cottage in Kenora, five-year-old Susan Coyne discovered an overgrown stone fireplace. Her father said it was the home of Uncle Joe Spondoolak, an elf who'd moved in after the cottage had burned down long ago. Susan, a fanciful child, decided to become keeper of the hearth, tidying it up and leaving little gifts for the handfuls of wild strawberries, daisy chains, a tiny birchbark canoe. Overnight the gifts would disappear. One morning, there was a tiny piece of carefully folded pink paper wedged in between the mossy stones. To Helen Susan Cameron GreetingsHer Majesty, Queen Mab, has instructed me to thank you for making a home for all her people. Thus began Susan's correspondence with a precocious young fairy princess, Nootsie Tah, and her indoctrination into the world of the great and little people. Susan took the letter next door to Mr. Moir, because he knew all sorts of interesting things. Sure enough, he had an entire library filled with books about characters such as Puck, Ariel and Oberon. The letters from Nootsie Tah continued, and that summer Susan developed two unique one with a proud princess from a mystical land, and the other with a gentle gardener with infinite wisdom and patience. These would sustain her throughout her life.

I heard the author interviewed about this book years ago, and bought a copy, and then for some reason stuck it on the shelf and didn't read it. My daughter found it and wanted to take it to university to read and lend to a friend who had it on her To Be Read shelf, so I read it before she left. It is both a charming illustration of one child's summer of wonder and enchantment, and a snapshot of Canadian family cottage life at the time.

Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor #1) by Jessica Townsend: Synopsis from Goodreads: A cursed girl escapes death and finds herself in a magical world - but is then tested beyond her wildest imagination.

Morrigan Crow is cursed. Having been born on Eventide, the unluckiest day for any child to be born, she's blamed for all local misfortunes, from hailstorms to heart attacks--and, worst of all, the curse means that Morrigan is doomed to die at midnight on her eleventh birthday.

But as Morrigan awaits her fate, a strange and remarkable man named Jupiter North appears. Chased by black-smoke hounds and shadowy hunters on horseback, he whisks her away into the safety of a secret, magical city called Nevermoor.

It's then that Morrigan discovers Jupiter has chosen her to contend for a place in the city's most prestigious organization: the Wundrous Society. In order to join, she must compete in four difficult and dangerous trials against hundreds of other children, each boasting an extraordinary talent that sets them apart - an extraordinary talent that Morrigan insists she does not have. To stay in the safety of Nevermoor for good, Morrigan will need to find a way to pass the tests - or she'll have to leave the city to confront her deadly fate.

-”’But…Morrigan doesn’t mind. Do you, Morrigan?’

‘Mind what?’ Morrigan asked. ‘That I’m going to be blotted out of existence in a few hours and you’re planning a wardrobe for my replacement? Not in the slightest.’ She shoved a forkful of parsnip into her mouth.

‘Oh, for goodness’ sake!’ Grandmother hissed, glaring down the table at her son. ‘We weren’t going to bring up the D-word.’”

“‘Bad news, Mog.’ Jupiter slid down the curved marble banister one Thursday afternoon and landed in the foyer, where Morrigan and Martha were folding napkins into swans. Martha’s swans looked perfect, like they could fly off in formation at any moment. Morrigan’s looked like drunk, angry pigeons.”

From school library. Familiar formula - child is treated terribly by family of origin and then spirited away to a magical land by a protector. Stellar example, though. Fabulous world-making, great characters, solid story and appealingly playful voice. I've been recommending it often, and trying to get it into my other libraries. 

Let the Monster Out by Chad Lucas: Synopsis from Goodreads: An equal parts heart-pounding and heartfelt middle-grade mystery about facing––and accepting––your fears, perfect for fans of Stranger Things and The Parker Inheritance Bones Malone feels like he can’t do anything right in his new small He almost punched the son of the woman who babysits him and his brothers, he’s one of the only Black kids in Langille, and now his baseball team (the one place where he really feels like he shines) just lost their first game. To make matters worse, things in town are getting weird . His mom isn’t acting like herself at all—she’s totally spaced out, almost like a zombie. And then he and his brothers have the same dream—one where they’re running from some of their deepest fears, like a bear and an eerie cracked mirror that Bones would rather soon forget. 

Kyle Specks feels like he can never say the right thing at the right time. He thinks he might be neurodivergent, but he hasn’t gotten an official diagnosis yet. His parents worry that the world might be too hard for him and try to protect him, but Kyle knows they can’t do that forever. Even though he’s scared, he can’t just stand by and do nothing while things in this town get stranger and stranger, especially not after he and Bones find a mysterious scientist’s journal that might hold answers about what’s going on. But when faced with seemingly impossible situations, a shady corporation, and their own worst nightmares, will Kyle and Bones be brave enough to admit they're scared? Or will the fear totally consume and control them?

-”He had secretly admired the smaller boys’ reckless confidence on the baseball field, but now he understood clearly: Bones Malone was pure havoc. He’d barged into Kyle’s house, borrowed his clothes, built a hideous sandwich in his kitchen, and thrust himself into his world the same way he’d jum;ped into the river: with no regard whatsoever for logic, boundaries, or basic safety. The potential for disaster was high.

But he was fascinating. And he wanted Kyle’s help.

You’re exactly who I need.

Kyle was going to need another whiteboard.”

From school library. Okay, there was a lot going on here with the characters. In less capable hands the plot could have collapsed under the weight, but the author made it work. Some representation was casual, some was more pointed, but it all served the plot. Sometimes I over-sympathize with the protagonist, and it was difficult for me to not be wholeheartedly on his side even when other characters had a point, but in the end I appreciated everyone's viewpoint and all of the nuances and character flaws (except the bitchy baby-sitter, I wanted to strangle her, I am crap at maintaining objective distance when a child is treated with injustice in a book). Chad Lucas is a Canadian author who lives in Nova Scotia and is a descendant of the African Nova Scotian community of Lucasville, so adds some nice Canadian content to the library. I've added his other books to my wish list.

Y.A.

MYSTERY

Truly, Devious (Truly Devious #1) by Maureen Johnson: Synopsis from Goodreads: Ellingham Academy is a famous private school in Vermont for the brightest thinkers, inventors, and artists. It was founded by Albert Ellingham, an early twentieth century tycoon, who wanted to make a wonderful place full of riddles, twisting pathways, and gardens. “A place,” he said, “where learning is a game.” Shortly after the school opened, his wife and daughter were kidnapped. The only real clue was a mocking riddle listing methods of murder, signed with the frightening pseudonym “Truly, Devious.” It became one of the great unsolved crimes of American history. 

True-crime aficionado Stevie Bell is set to begin her first year at Ellingham Academy, and she has an ambitious plan: She will solve this cold case. That is, she will solve the case when she gets a grip on her demanding new school life and her housemates: the inventor, the novelist, the actor, the artist, and the jokester. But something strange is happening. Truly Devious makes a surprise return, and death revisits Ellingham Academy. The past has crawled out of its grave. Someone has gotten away with murder. 

The two interwoven mysteries of this first book in the Truly Devious series dovetail brilliantly, and Stevie Bell will continue her relentless quest for the murderers in books two and three.

-”’Those are strange angels,’ her mother said, craning to look.

‘They’re not angels,’ Stevie said. ‘They’re sphinxes. They’re mythical creatures that ask you riddles before you’re allowed to enter a place. If you get it wrong, they eat you. Like from Oedipus. The Riddle of the Sphinx. That’s a sphinx. Not to be confused with Spanx, which is a sidearm in the holster of the diet-industrial complex.’”

The premise is extremely cool, and the prologue was killer. I think the rest ends up at three and a half stars, if I don't deduct anything for the ending which doesn't really wrap up anything, my feeling being that even if you're continuing a series you should at least provide closure on one issue at the end of the first book. However, in copy-pasting the synopsis, I see that if I had read it thoroughly I would have been better prepared, so I guess I have no one to blame but myself. Well, and the author, because still, lame.

The setting is wonderful. Stevie is a pretty good character, as well as the supporting cast. It's a little more plot-driven than preoccupied with nuanced characterization, but the characters aren't two-dimensional either. I will definitely read the next book (it's a mountain boarding school with murder, duh), but there better not be another freaking cliff-hanger.

The Vanishing Stair (Truly Devious #2) by Maureen Johnson: Synopsis from Goodreads: All Stevie Bell wanted was to find the key to the Ellingham mystery, but instead she found her classmate dead. And while she solved that murder, the crimes of the past are still waiting in the dark. Just as Stevie feels she’s on the cusp of putting it together, her parents pull her out of Ellingham academy.

For her own safety they say. She must move past this obsession with crime. Now that Stevie’s away from the school of topiaries and secret tunnels, and her strange and endearing friends, she begins to feel disconnected from the rest of the world. At least she won’t have to see David anymore. David, who she kissed. David, who lied to her about his identity—son of despised politician Edward King. Then King himself arrives at her house to offer a deal: He will bring Stevie back to Ellingham immediately. In return, she must play nice with David. King is in the midst of a campaign and can’t afford his son stirring up trouble. If Stevie’s at school, David will stay put. The tantalizing riddles behind the Ellingham murders are still waiting to be unraveled, and Stevie knows she’s so close. But the path to the truth has more twists and turns than she can imagine—and moving forward involves hurting someone she cares for. In New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson’s second novel of the Truly Devious series, nothing is free, and someone will pay for the truth with their life.

-”She had wished so much to work on this case, and now here she was, doing deals with the devil.

Maybe, she wondered, that was what it was like to plan a murder. Maybe you make successive bad deals with yourself that you can’t back out of, until you make one that can never be reversed.”

There was kind of another cliffhanger, but at least one thing was wrapped up. I was actually pretty impressed by this as a sequel. The two timelines are both engaging - particularly the one in the past, with its faded glamour and patina of tragedy. I like the way Stevie is not blind to the fact that her compulsion to investigate true crime is not without its pitfalls, and that it is, in fact, a compulsion. Representation is incidental and not clunky (gay characters, non-binary characters). I did not love the description of the love interest, which made both the character and the author seem pretentious ("His eyes always looked half-closed, but they had more life behind them than most", "He wore a Rolex with a shattered face" - gag).

The Hand on the Wall (Truly Devious #3) by Maureen Johnson: Synopsis from Goodreads: Ellingham Academy must be cursed. Three people are now dead. One, a victim of either a prank gone wrong or a murder. Another, dead by misadventure. And now, an accident in Burlington has claimed another life. All three in the wrong place at the wrong time. All at the exact moment of Stevie’s greatest triumph . . .

She knows who Truly Devious is. She’s solved it. The greatest case of the century.
At least, she thinks she has. With this latest tragedy, it’s hard to concentrate on the past. Not only has someone died in town, but David disappeared of his own free will and is up to something. Stevie is sure that somehow—somehow—all these things connect. The three deaths in the present. The deaths in the past. The missing Alice Ellingham and the missing David Eastman. Somewhere in this place of riddles and puzzles there must be answers.
Then another accident occurs as a massive storm heads toward Vermont. This is too much for the parents and administrators. Ellingham Academy is evacuated. Obviously, it’s time for Stevie to do something stupid. It’s time to stay on the mountain and face the storm—and a murderer. In the tantalizing finale to the Truly Devious trilogy, New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson expertly tangles her dual narrative threads and ignites an explosive end for all who’ve walked through Ellingham Academy.

-”When spring came to the Ellingham Mountain, she came in glory, whipping her robes of fresh air and spreading fecund greenery over the mountain like a goddess on a fecund greenery-spreading binge.”

Reading over my notes for this book reminded me that the writing was also quite fun and funny. I just kept reading every book as it came available from the library, and was not disappointed. The conclusion to the original mystery is sad and satisfying.

The Box in the Woods (Truly Devious #4) by Maureen Johnson: Synopsis from Goodreads: Amateur sleuth Stevie Bell needs a good murder. After catching a killer at her high school, she’s back at home for a normal (that means boring) summer.
But then she gets a message from the owner of Sunny Pines, formerly known as Camp Wonder Falls—the site of the notorious unsolved case, the Box in the Woods Murders. Back in 1978, four camp counselors were killed in the woods outside of the town of Barlow Corners, their bodies left in a gruesome display. The new owner offers Stevie an invitation: Come to the camp and help him work on a true crime podcast about the case.
Stevie agrees, as long as she can bring along her friends from Ellingham Academy. Nothing sounds better than a summer spent together, investigating old murders. But something evil still lurks in Barlow Corners. When Stevie opens the lid on this long-dormant case, she gets much more than she bargained for. The Box in the Woods will make room for more victims. This time, Stevie may not make it out alive.

”’That’s the last entry,’ Stevie said, gently closing the book.

For almost an hour, she had read from the diary. Her throat was dry and her voice was starting to crack a bit. Janelle had seen this and come over with a can of sparkling water. Stevie didn’t like sparkling water, but she guzzled it and then had to turn her head and try to conceal the massive belch this caused. She was not successful.

Poirot never burped after he identified the murderer.”

How many people are they going to kill at this boarding school? I wondered, but all good, there was a scene change, and what do you know, Stevie Bell is Young Jessica Fletcher, bodies just drop wherever she goes, what's a girl to do? I'm snarking, but this was maybe my favourite book of the whole series. There's just something about a long-ago mystery, and revisiting what all the players were like, and then some small detail bringing everything into focus, and I enjoyed Stevie and her friends making fun of the Box guy who self-styles himself as a 'disruptor'.

Nine Liars (Truly Devious #5) by Maureeen Johnson: Synopsis from Goodreads: Senior year at Ellingham Academy for Stevie Bell isn’t going well. Her boyfriend, David, is studying in London. Her friends are obsessed with college applications. With the cold case of the century solved, Stevie is adrift. There is nothing to distract her from the questions pinging around her brain—questions about college, love, and life in general.
Relief comes when David invites Stevie and her friends to join him for study abroad, and his new friend Izzy introduces her to a double-murder cold case. In 1995, nine friends from Cambridge University went to a country house and played a drunken game of hide-and-seek. Two were found in the woodshed the next day, murdered with an ax.
The case was assumed to be a burglary gone wrong, but one of the remaining seven saw something she can’t explain. This was no break-in. Someone’s lying about what happened in the woodshed. Seven suspects. Two murders. One killer still playing a deadly game.

-”She had done this. She had led her friends on this trip. With a lie.

Lies, she noted, took energy. They weighed a lot. She had to think about everything she said and did now to support the lie. It sat there in her head, giving off vibes.’

Lies were radioactive.”

Same thing, but make it British. It's possible I was developing a problem. The mystery was still solid, and Stevie reaches new heights in her obsession with true crime overriding every other impulse in her life. I was outraged when there wasn't a next book, but it was probably a good thing.

Death at Morning House by Maureen Johnson: Synopsis from Goodreads: The fire wasn’t Marlowe Wexler’s fault. Dates should be hot, but not hot enough to warrant literal firefighters. Akilah, the girl Marlowe has been in love with for years, will never go out with her again. No one dates an accidental arsonist.
With her house-sitting career up in flames, it seems the universe owes Marlowe a new summer job, and that’s how she ends up at Morning House, a mansion built on an island in the 1920s and abandoned shortly thereafter. It’s easy enough, giving tours. Low risk of fire. High chance of getting bored talking about stained glass and nut cutlets and Prohibition. Oh, and the deaths. Did anyone mention the deaths?

In my defense, I read this in November, months after the others. It was just as good, though - Johnson really has a gift for creating the doomed cohort in the past and then juxtaposing it with the events of the present. I keep resolving to move away from YA, but the teen drama is treated with a light enough touch that it doesn't trivialize it but keeps a healthy sense of the absurdity. 

The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson: Synopsis from Goodreads: A new true-crime fueled mystery thriller about a girl determined to uncover the shocking truth about her missing mother while filming a documentary on the unsolved case.

Lights. Camera. Lies.
18-year-old Bel has lived her whole life in the shadow of her mom’s mysterious disappearance. Sixteen years ago, Rachel Price vanished and young Bel was the only witness, but she has no memory of it. Rachel is gone, long presumed dead, and Bel wishes everyone would just move on.
But the case is dragged up from the past when the Price family agree to a true crime documentary. Bel can’t wait for filming to end, for life to go back to normal. And then the impossible happens. Rachel Price reappears, and life will never be normal again. Rachel has an unbelievable story about what happened to her. Unbelievable, because Bel isn’t sure it’s real. If Rachel is lying, then where has she been all this time? And – could she be dangerous? With the cameras still rolling, Bel must uncover the truth about her mother, and find out why Rachel Price really came back from the dead . . .

-”She opened the nightstand drawer, contents rattling as she did. Lip balms and hand sanitizers, a little saltshaker from Rosa’s Pizza, bookmarks, pens, one AirPod – that one she felt real bad about – nail polish, a glove with the tag still on, a little figurine that might have been a Happy Meal toy, a tiny screwdriver and the black marble queen from the chessboard at Royalty Inn. Bel added one more secret to the pile: the scrunchie she’d taken today off a freshman’s desk in the science lab. The tug of shame as Bel welcomed it home, skin alive with the feeling, itchy and warm. Looking down at her menagerie of stolen things, each one small enough to hide in one hand.

Bel closed the drawer, hiding them away. Hidden but not gone. Things couldn’t get up and leave like that. Unless she was in a Pixar movie, and Bel was pretty sure she wasn’t.”

This is another case where I should maybe stop chasing the high with this author. Eve and I absolutely loved the Good Girl's Guide to Murder trilogy, and then the next book was a dismal failure in my opinion. This was fine, except compared to GGG. Several reviewers complained that Bel was an unlikable character - I actually admired that the character was written very realistically for someone whose background is trauma and whose life has been lived under exploitive scrutiny. The pacing lags a bit in the middle, but overall I would recommend this to a teen reader - it's an appealing read.

Under This Red Rock by Mindy McGinnis: Synopsis from Goodreads: Neely’s monsters don’t always follow her rules, so when the little girl under her bed, the man in her closet, and the disembodied voice that shadows her every move become louder, she knows she’s in trouble.
With a history of mental illness in her family, and the suicide of her older brother heavy on her mind, Neely takes a job as a tour guide in the one place her monsters can’t follow—the caverns. There she can find peace. There she can pretend to be normal. There . . . she meets Mila.
Mila is everything Neely isn’t—beautiful, strong, and confident. As the two become closer, Neely’s innocent crush grows into something more. When a midnight staff party exposes Neely to drugs, she follows Mila’s lead . . . only to have her hallucinations escalate.
When Mila is found brutally murdered in the caverns, Neely has to admit that her memories of that night are vague at best. With her monsters now out in the open, and her grip on reality slipping, Neely must figure out who killed Mila . . . and face the possibility that it might have been her.

Award-winning author Mindy McGinnis delivers a powerful psychological thriller, deftly exploring the dark places in the earth and the human mind, where what is real and imaginary isn’t so easily distinguishable.

-”’You okay?’ Destiny asks, her well-being check-ins apparently not over for the day.

‘Yeah, I’m fine,’ I tell her.

Over the years, I’ve perfected the delivery of this line. Being fine cannot be perky, which comes off as trying too hard. It cannot be morose, which clearly identifies it as a lie. The trick to being fine is to hit the perfect five, which exists somewhere between anhedonia and euphoria.”

Not to sound like a broken record (totally about to sound like a broken record) - Mindy McGinnis really likes to shake it up with every new book. Which is awesome, except Eve and I really just want variations on The Female of the Species (so good. So, so good). Other than that, good book. Realistic depiction of mental illness, gay representation, suspense and character growth. 

Burden Falls by Kat Ellis: Synopsis from Goodreads: Riverdale meets Stephen King in the terrifying new thriller from the author of Harrow Lake. The town of Burden Falls drips with superstition, from rumors of its cursed waterfall to Dead-Eyed Sadie, the disturbing specter who haunts it. Ava Thorn grew up right beside the falls, and since a horrific accident killed her parents a year ago, she's been plagued by nightmares in which Sadie comes calling—nightmares so chilling, Ava feels as if she’ll never wake up. 

But when someone close to Ava is brutally murdered and she’s the primary suspect, she begins to wonder if the stories might be more than legends—and if the ghost haunting her dreams might be terrifyingly real. Whatever secrets Burden Falls is hiding, there's a killer on the loose . . . with a vendetta against the Thorns.

-"Don't get me wrong. I agree Freya's death is tragic -- I'm not a monster. what's bugging me is that people aren't upset, not exactly. There's this hunger in the air, like two dead bodies in just over a week isn't enough for them now, and they want something worse -- some twist to make the horror fresh again."

And finally, an author who does some different things from book to book that I am NOT going to bitch about. The last book I read was a little more mystical, whereas this one was closer to a straight mystery/thriller (unless you were supposed to think Dead-Eyed Sadie was really a thing, which I didn't). I usually roll my eyes at the 'x meets x' hooks that publishers use, but 'Riverdale meets Stephen King' is actually pretty accurate here. Again, I found Ava's voice appealing (obviously I have a thing for witty, slightly snarky teenagers, can't imagine why. I come from a family that deals with any adversity with black humour, so this was all highly relatable. There is a love interest storyline, but it's actually really well done and feels organic. I just ordered another Kat Ellis book that I can't find in my library.

HORROR

The Black Girl Survives in This One edited by Desiree S. Evans and Saraciea J. Fennell: Synopsis from Goodreads: Be warned, dear reader: The Black girls survive in this one. 

Celebrating a new generation of bestselling and acclaimed Black writers, The Black Girl Survives in This One makes space for Black girls in horror. Fifteen chilling and thought-provoking stories place Black girls front and center as heroes and survivors who slay monsters, battle spirits, and face down death. Prepare to be terrified and left breathless by the pieces in this anthology.

The bestselling and acclaimed authors include Erin E. Adams, Monica Brashears, Charlotte Nicole Davis, Desiree S. Evans, Saraciea J. Fennell, Zakiya Dalila Harris, Daka Hermon, Justina Ireland, L. L. McKinney, Brittney Morris, Maritza & Maika Moulite, Eden Royce, and Vincent Tirado, with a foreword by Tananarive Due.

Enjoyable. A lot of traditional tropes - cornfields, graveyards, abandoned space factories, bayous, cabins by the lake - freshened and related to various aspects of living as a BIPOC, with several stories also containing queer representation. My favourite story is probably the first one, Harvesters by L.L. Mckinney - I can't resist a creepy cornfield. Queeniums for Greenium by Brittney Morris is a hilarious/infuriating take on MLMs. The Brides of Devil's Bayou by Desiree S. Evans is a great example of black Southern Gothic. And Foxhunt by Charlotte Nicole Davis - no surprises on what the 'foxhunt' actually is, but the execution is excellent. 

Tender Beasts by Liselle Sambury: Synopsis from Goodreads: After her private school is rocked by a gruesome murder, a teen tries to find the real killer and clear her brother’s name in this psychological thriller perfect for fans of The Taking of Jake Livingston and Ace of Spades. Sunny Behre has four siblings, but only one is a murderer. 

With the death of Sunny’s mother, matriarch of the wealthy Behre family, Sunny’s once picture-perfect life is thrown into turmoil. Her mother had groomed her to be the family’s next leader, so Sunny is confused when the only instructions her mother leaves is a mysterious note: “Take care of Dom.”

The problem is, her youngest brother, Dom, has always been a near-stranger to Sunny…and seemingly a dangerous one, if found guilty of his second-degree murder charge. Still, Sunny is determined to fulfill her mother’s dying wish. But when a classmate is gruesomely murdered, and Sunny finds her brother with blood on his hands, her mother’s simple request becomes a lot more complicated. Dom swears he’s innocent, and although Sunny isn’t sure she believes him, she takes it upon herself to look into the murder—made all the more urgent by the discovery of another body. And another.

As Sunny and Dom work together to track down the culprit, Sunny realizes her other siblings have their own dark secrets. Soon she may have to choose: preserve the family she’s always loved or protect the brother she barely knows—and risk losing everything her mother worked so hard to build.

-”’We’re laughing too loud – disturbing the peace. They’re always paying so much attention to us. But at the end of the day, if that was some white dude’s girl that drowned, it would have been an open-and-shut-case accident. Look at Duane, even. Had him on the news for all of a day, but now Ziggy’s gone and there’s protestors and they got her picture up everywhere. And, like, I wish Torri and Ziggy and all of them were alive, I’m not shitting on them. It’s just, like, it’s not the same for all of us. Dom is my boy, and it’s fucked up too that if it were me, without a dime to my name, they’d have already tried me as an adult and locked me up.’

I didn’t know what to say to him. Nothing he’d said was wrong. Justice wasn’t supposed to discriminate, but of course it did. And we were exploiting it too. Using every bit of money and influence to get Dom whatever we could in a way that Black people without the money couldn’t.”

This was a little different, refreshingly. Another Canadian setting - Toronto. BIPOC author, authentic references to institutionalized racism, particularly in the justice system A complicated family dynamic, parents whose desperation to see their children safe and successful yields horrifying results, and a satisfyingly twisty occult secret, without a lot of annoying love interest stuff.