Little Syllables: The Blog
Review - A Most Agreeable Murder by Julia Seales
I received a free review copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
If you’re a fan of Jane Austen, but also love a good parody, A Most Agreeable Murder may be just the ticket for you. I found this book to be amusing and fun.
This book tells the story of Beatrice Steele, a plucky young woman who secretly loves reading about murder (a completely scandalous secret in Swampshire). Her family attends the Stabmort ball to attempt to woo the rich Mr. Croaksworth and save themselves from destitution. The heir to their estate, Mr. Grub, is also in attendance, attempting to seduce Beatrice. But when Mr. Croaksworth drops dead, Beatrice sets out to find the killer. She soon discovers that most everyone in attendance has secrets they might kill to keep.
Seales has created (sometimes quite obvious) parallels to Austen’s characters and plots—Mr. Grub is clearly a Mr. Collins, but worse. I spotted a Mr. Woodhouse, a Miss Bates, a Captain Wentworth, a Mr. Bennet, and more.
One thing I especially liked about this book was the way it bucks conventions of its time, including a diverse cast of characters, showing the most eligible bachelor to also be the most insufferable bore, and allowing its heroine to pursue her own interests. This book is also great at showing why following rules simply for the sake of tradition isn’t always the best route.
A Most Agreeable Murder is lighthearted and doesn’t take itself too seriously. Some of the comic exaggerations are a bit overwrought, but I felt this was a fairly solid book for readers familiar with the tropes and willing to see them turned on their heads.
Julia Seales’ A Most Agreeable Murder comes out June 27, 2023.
Review - Unnatural Ends by Christopher Huang
I received a free review copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Christopher Huang’s new historical mystery Unnatural Ends caught me by surprise and kept me guessing. Set in the early 1920’s, this novel centers around the mystery of Sir Lawrence Linwood’s death. His last request sets his three adult children on a quest to solve his murder, much to the chagrin of the local police.
The characters that Huang has created are intricate and interesting. The three adopted Linwood siblings—Alan, Roger, and Caroline—are very different from each other, though they all grew up under the thumb of Sir Lawrence. They each take a different path to attempt to solve the mystery, and they are each led into unexpected places. It doesn’t take long before their investigations lead further and further into the past as they realize that their own mysterious origins have some bearing on the current mystery. Lady Linwood is a mysterious character in her own right, and though she seems the most likely to have some of the answers, she also is the least likely to elucidate.
This story is written from multiple points of view. We get to see scenes from the eyes of most of the story’s characters—even more minor characters—and we see different time periods. This structure gets rather convoluted, and at times I felt a bit lost as to when and where I was as an observer. Even within the present timeline, each sibling is involved in their own investigations and the events we see from one person’s point of view are not necessarily happening at the same time as what we’ve just seen from someone else’s point of view.
The mystery at play in the novel is complex. As the story progresses, suspicion is cast far and wide, relationships grow more and more complicated, and even unseen characters become important. The culmination of this, and the solution to the mystery, was satisfying and surprising. That said, some of the characters’ schemes and machinations felt too elaborate and began to feel unbelievable.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and think it is a great addition to the genre of period murder mysteries. Unnatural Ends comes out on June 20, 2023.
Review - Speak of the Devil by Rose Wilding
I received a free galley from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Speak of the Devil is a thriller that hooks you from the very first page. On New Year’s Eve, seven women find themselves in a room with a dead man—or part of him, at least. All of them have a motive for his murder, but each of them denies committing the crime.
This story follows these seven women, as well as the detective in charge of discovering the killer. The reader sees these women in the aftermath of the murder, as well as in flashbacks of their experiences with the victim. We discover motives right along with Nova, the detective, and the case becomes increasingly complex. It becomes clear that Jamie (our murder victim) was abusive throughout his life, so the stories of these women cover decades.
This is a story about a horrible, manipulative man, and the women he betrayed and destroyed. It’s also a story about how society disregards abuse victims and abusers often get more chances than they should.
This book kept me interested until the end, though the solution to the mystery felt rushed at the very end of the book. I liked the characters and thought they were well-written and complex. I also enjoyed how motives were unveiled one by one and flashbacks are interwoven with the days following the murder.
Trigger Warnings:
Sensitive readers should know this book contains sexual content, graphic violence, rape, mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse, forced outing, homophobia, and suicide.
Review - See It End by Brianna Labuskes
I received a free galley of this book from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Summing It Up
See It End is Brianna Labuskes’ latest thriller and the third installment in her “Dr. Gretchen White” series.
This book begins with a confession by detective Lauren Marconi and a plea that Gretchen not investigate the murder. Of course Gretchen can’t resist. She teams up with Assistant DA Lochlan Gibbs, determined to prove her friend’s innocence and find out the truth.
This murder mystery is entwined with the larger mystery of what happened to a series of kidnapped boys. Marconi is convinced the boys’ cases are connected, plus she has a personal reason for seeking justice for the boys. Her search ultimately leads to her arrest while Gretchen and Gibbs work feverishly to free her.
Although it’s the third book in a series, it works well as a stand-alone novel. Labuskes didn’t give me the whole backstory, but there was enough explanation of the earlier books without it feeling overwhelming. And I had enough information to understand the characters and their relationships.
I Loved
This book has both great characters and a great mystery. I especially loved the main character, Gretchen, who embraces and works with her personal flaws. Gibbs works as a perfect foil for her character, and I loved how they played off each other throughout the book.
This book kept me guessing until the end, which is just what I like in a thriller! I suspected five or six different characters throughout the book, and I was very satisfied by how it all wrapped up at the end.
Content Advisory
Sensitive readers should be aware that this book contains mentions of child abuse, kidnapping, murder, and pedophilia.
Read It
See It End by Brianna Labuskes will be available April 18, 2023!
Review - What Have We Done by Alex Finlay
I received a free galley of this book through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
What Have We Done is a thriller by Alex Finlay (side note: I’ve also read Every Last Fear and gave that one 5 stars). This new book follows a group of teens who met in a group home, went their separate ways, and grew up into very different people with a shared past. Now someone is after them all.
We have Jenna, a suburban stepmom with a secret; Donnie, a washed-up rockstar; Nico, a gambling addict turned television professional; Ben, a successful federal judge; and Arty, a wealthy tech head. And they’re all being targeted by the same assassin, who seems to be able to be in two places at once. Once they figure out that all of them were targeted, they begin to work together to figure out who is responsible.
Just like in his previous books, Finlay offers an intriguing mystery and a twisty tale. This one kept me turning pages, and I read it quickly. The author has interwoven memories into the present storyline very well. The reader uncovers things gradually, along with the characters. The characterization was very well done—each of the targets is unique, but believable.
Despite these things, in the end, I found myself unsatisfied with the book as a whole. I felt that the plot was trying to be too intricate. It was difficult to parse out which details were important for the mystery and which weren’t. Perhaps that was intentional on the author’s part, but I found it distracting. Too many red herrings along the way made the actual solution to the mystery underwhelming. And a tacked-on ending felt unnecessary.
Overall, I thought this was a good mystery, but not a great one. If you’re in the mood for a quick read, a thriller with an intricate plot and a good variety of characters, this book could fit the bill. Sensitive readers should know this novel contains violence, mentions of sexual assault, child abuse, and drug references.
What Have We Done is available now!
Review - The Maze by Nelson DeMille
I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
The Maze is the latest installment in DeMille’s John Corey series. These are contemporary detective stories. In this book, John is recently retired from his job in federal law enforcement. He’s enjoying some downtime at his uncle’s summer house when he’s approached by an old flame and a job offer with a private investigation firm.
Sometimes it doesn’t work to jump into a series in the middle, but DeMille does a decent job of catching a reader up with John’s history without getting too bogged down. I never felt like I was missing anything about the protagonist/narrator that would have helped the story.
Although DeMille is a prolific author, I had never read any of his books before. I didn’t realize what I was getting into.
Let’s just say that John Corey is portrayed as “a man’s man” and a “cop’s cop.” He’s a hyper-masculine, chauvinistic character with a fair number of ex-wives and ex-girlfriends in his wake. He rebels against authority and is a smart-ass. He’s borderline belligerent and obviously objectifies women. And yet somehow, this man keeps getting women to sleep with him.
So I had a hard time getting into this book because I really did not like John Corey.
But the mystery that is set up was intriguing enough to keep me reading, hoping John would grow on me. Spoiler alert: he didn’t.
John is entangled in an off-the-books investigation of a private investigation firm that smells of corruption. He gets hired on as a consultant at the firm and quickly alienates most everyone there, compromises the investigation, and nearly gets himself killed. He also has time to hatch elaborate plans and join in for the “Thirsty Thursday” strip show, courtesy of his new employer.
In the process, he does help uncover some crimes and corruption, culminating in an intense chase sequence where John is outnumbered and outgunned. Then, the book ends so suddenly that the reader isn’t given concrete answers on some of the book’s biggest mysteries.
This book was a miss for me, though I have to give DeMille credit for creating an intriguing mystery, a plausible conspiracy, and establishing backstory without overwhelming a reader new to the series. The Maze was released October 11.
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Review - Secret Lives by Mark de Castrique
I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Secret Lives by Mark de Castrique is an awesome thriller that kept me guessing until the end. The book is firmly grounded and very believable, with complex characters and an intricate plot.
The thing I liked most about this book was the characters—especially Edith. I love a strong female lead, and Edith was surprising and very human. Edith is an elderly landlady, a former FBI agent, and our clever detective. She carries this story from start to finish.
An unexpected benefit of reading this book was that I learned a fair bit about cryptocurrency. The story follows a group of FBI and Secret Service agents through a murder investigation, which is mixed up with a financial fraud case. Cryptocurrency is a big feature here, including how to exchange it, how to access it, and how to protect it. Whether or not the details provided in the book are accurate (which is beyond me), it felt believable and real to me.
Secret Lives is an awesome thriller that kept me guessing.
Ultimately, I gave this book 5 stars. It is excellently written, the characters are complex, and the mystery is a wild ride.
To keep the mystery going, the author casts suspicion on several different characters. There were several moments in the book when I thought I’d figured it out, but I kept guessing until the climax, when the true villain is unveiled.
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Review - The Heights by Louise Candlish
I received a free advanced copy through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Louise Candlish is not a new author for me. I read and enjoyed The Other Passenger last year (click here for my review). The Heights was a quick read for me. It kept me turning the pages!
The Heights is a story about obsession and revenge. It’s also a story about stories and the power the storyteller has to control the narrative. The novel is built around the premise that Ellen Saint is taking part in a memoir-writing class and the story we read is written by her. As the story progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that she is not the most reliable narrator. She is paranoid, obsessive, and over-protective.
Then we see things from Vic’s perspective. Vic is the father of Ellen’s teenage son, Lucas. Getting a new perspective helps the reader see Ellen differently, though it is unclear who the narrator is in this third-person POV. Vic is shown as a conflicted man. At this point in the book, it’s difficult to know who is trustworthy—if anyone. And I think this was intentionally done to throw the reader off balance.
Candlish does an excellent job of balancing characterization with the limitations of the POV she has chosen. Those limitations help increase the mystery as the reader is left wondering who to believe and whose side to take.
The Heights by Louise Candlish is available now.
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Review - The Maid by Nita Prose
I received a free copy through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Nita Prose’s début novel, The Maid, is a fun, sometimes frustrating, mystery told through the eyes of protagonist Molly Gray, a young woman with a great eye for remembering detail, but a sometimes comical ignorance when it comes to nuance. Molly is a maid at an upscale hotel, who happens upon a dead body during the course of her work. She quickly ends up at the top of the list of suspects and has to work to unravel the mystery before it’s too late.
This book has a great cast of characters—memorable, but not over-the-top. Even if the reader struggles to identify with Molly’s own personality, her backstory and relationships (especially with Gran) help her become a much more sympathetic character as the story unfolds. Through this book, the reader sees more than Molly does, but not much more. Neither protagonist or reader is sure who can be trusted, though the reader becomes suspicious much earlier than Molly does.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was a quick read, filled with memorable characters, an interesting plot, and an intriguing mystery. It was sad, funny, and surprising. I highly recommend it!
The Maid will be released January 4, 2022!
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Review - We Live Next Door by Laura Wolfe
I received a free review copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
We Live Next Door is a thriller that pleasantly surprised me. It tells the story of Jessica, a wife and mother, who has moved back into her childhood home. Now one of the (most hated) neighbors has died, and Jessica is suspicious, even though nobody else really seems to be. Jessica becomes borderline paranoid as she works to solve the mystery, and at times, seems slightly unhinged. But it turns out that she’s seeing some problems that everyone else is missing.
The plot of this novel was really well done. The characters were believable and the relationships complex. Jessica is mostly likeable, though sometimes a bit naïve. I had big issues with her husband Mark. I won’t give anything away by telling how that situation resolves, but just know that it does.
This book involves a lot of relationships and relationship issues. It’s about how we know our neighbors (and friends, and parents, and spouse) a little too well, or maybe not as well as we think we do. It also deals with domestic violence, infidelity, drug use, and of course, murder. Even though it is a murder mystery, I felt that this book was ultimately about motherhood, looking beyond outward appearances, and following your dreams.
We Live Next Door by Laura Wolfe comes out November 5.