Review: "It Could Have Been Her," Lisa Jewell

By Liz Soares
 

Lisa Jewell has combined darkness and light to create a perfect thriller.

 

The light is Jane Trevally, aged 55, who lives with her four dogs in Rosebery Hall, Dorset. The once-grand manse is falling down around her, and is filled with awful memories—Jane’s parents drank themselves to death and she had a miserable childhood.  But Jane is stuck, unable to move on.

 

Then an adorable Westie shows up on her property. Jane would be happy to add the pup to her pack, but feels she must at least try to find its owner. She learns the dog had been staying with a young woman in a neighbor’s Airbnb rental. She tracks his home to a mysterious corner of Hampstead Heath in London.

 

When she arrives at the house in the Vale of Heath, Jane has a flashback. She met a man in a bar in her 20s and he brought her back to this place, where he lived with his wife and two children. She felt anxious about the situation, and quickly left. She’s always felt that she escaped some kind of dire fate.

 

The story of the house and the people who live there is the dark side of It Could Have Been Her. In flashbacks, the man who answers the door to Jane and takes back Hugo, the Westie, tells his tale. Stuart is a gentle man who wants to drift through life. He was living in a squat (albeit a well-organized one) when he met Jessamine in a pub. He soon becomes involved with her highly dysfunctional life with her daughter, Daisy, and mother, Annie, in that sinister house in the Vale of Heath.

 

The family’s life slowly spins out of control, as told in alternating chapters with Jane’s investigation. She wants to know how Hugo ended up in Dorset, and what happened to the young woman he was with. She wants to know more about the people who live in the house. Had evil things really happened there, as she once suspected?

 

Oh, yes. And there’s even a clown involved.

 

Jane begins to fancy herself a private eye. She married two rich men—one a viscount. She was an excellent stepmother to their children and donated most of her divorce money to an animal shelter in Spain (where she volunteered for years), but other than that she’s never held a “real” job. Jane is feeling like she might have found a purpose in life.

 

She stays in her second husband’s London flat while he is in the States, and thinks maybe she would like to return to the city.

 

Jane is not a lonely “dog lady.” Apparently, she’s quite a looker and keeps up appearances with expensive haircuts and Botox treatments. She has a good relationship with her stepchildren, especially the loveable, flamboyant Dexter, whom she enlists in her investigation.

 

Readers met Jane in Jewell’s previous nail-biter, Don’t Let Him In. She was an old girlfriend of murder victim Paddy Swann and helped his daughter solve his case. I thought she was an interesting secondary character. I’m so glad Jewell has given her a chance to shine. And from the way Jane and Dexter were talking, there could be more cases on tap. Fingers crossed!

Review: "The Au Pair," Teddy Wayne

By Liz Soares

 

Steven Hammer published his first book, The Blooms of August, to great acclaim, but his second novel flopped. Now he does endless research on his current work of  "literary fiction," teaches a single college eriting course as an adjunct and plays competitive online "Risk."

Oh, the irony.

His wife, Lucy Myers, is beautiful and driven, too obsessed with the investment company (focused on operations that “do good”) she runs to pay much attention to their kids, Sophie and Caleb. She rakes in the cash and pays Steven a stipend to give him some pseudo independence.

Lucy is too busy to hire a new nanny after sweet, middle-aged Constanza dies on the job (of natural causes) in the couple’s luxurious Brooklyn apartment. And she doesn’t appear to notice that Steven is recommending a stunning young Norwegian to replace Constanza.

Of course, he did forward to Lucy the most unbecoming photo of Astrid he could find.

Astrid is a good nanny, though. She’s circumspect, serious and wants to be a writer. She gets the kids to eat fish! Eventually, she confides to Steven that she loved his second book. In fact, she idolizes him in her stoic and literal way. 

Steven falls hard. The two begin a torrid affair, which they somehow manage to keep secret. When the family heads to the Catskills for a two-week vacation at a posh rental, however, tensions reach the tipping point. Tragedy results.

The Au Pair is a compelling thriller with an undertone of wry, dark humor. Steven is a compromised protagonist. He is really selfish. And sometimes, spectacularly unmotivated. I spent half the book silently exhorting him to get off his duff and write. Steven faces a number of moral dilemmas. His approach to them is—interesting.

I did find it fascinating to contemplate what people will do for love. I remember when an acquaintance left his wife for another woman. I could see why he wanted to leave the wife, but not why he felt so strongly that he would leave behind his young son. It did have a detrimental effect on the child.

It was only later that I realized the new woman loved him and that was what he wanted and needed most of all.

I wasn’t able to cut Steven that much slack, though.

I finished this book in three days (typically I take five). I can’t say more about what happens to Steven, Lucy and Astrid without ruining the suspense for future readers. I can say that I suspect Steven was named for Mike Hammer, hero of Mickey Spillane’s PI novels. By the end of the book, Steven thinks he has found his writing voice again by writing a crime novel. And that really comes as no surprise at all.

Review: "The Tailor," Tim Sullivan

By Liz Soares

 

I broke a personal rule when I began The Tailor. It is the 8th in the DS George Cross series, and I had only read the first one. 

But the opportunity to read an advanced reader’s e-copy was too good to pass up, as I had thoroughly enjoyed The Dentist  So I took my chances, and was not sorry I did.

Cross is “on the spectrum.” He is ruled by routine and literal in his outlook on life and his dealings with others. His ability to laser-focus serves him well as a detective, and he does try (without much success) to understand his fellow humans.

Although Cross leads a quiet personal life, it has evolved, a little, since his first case. However, it was easy to catch up on the changes at home and the station over the past books.

His former partner, Josie, is now a detective inspector. Alice Mackenzie, who was a sort of civilian employee, is now a fully fledged detective constable. She is partnered with Cross and is now better equipped to deal with his quirky ways. For example, she attaches a luggage tracking device to his bicycle, so she can locate him when he leaves the station without telling her. As he is wont to do.

The series is solid police procedurals that focus on victims with what I think of as taglines—a politician, a monk, an ex-wife, etc. The books are quiet, but not cozy, and well-paced.

The case at hand involves a man found dead on a train to London. Billy Titcomb ran a bespoke tailoring service with his twin sister, Gwen. He was en route to the airport for a flight to Dubai, but the expensive suits he was bringing to his exclusive clients are nowhere to be found.

Cross, though by no means a flashy dresser, is intrigued by the process of personal tailoring. It involves so much detail, which he likes. Moreover, though expensive, the suits last for years, and are ultimately a cost-effective choice.

He ends up buying one, though he almost doesn’t make it through the fitting.

Cross’ obsession with tailoring doesn’t distract him him from the case. He burrows into the case with his usual bulldog tenacity. He wonders about Billy’s wife, Min, a brilliant, driven Chinese national wih a cool demeanor. But was Billy himself involved in some sort of shady dealings? What secrets could those missing suits possibly hold?

As he closes in on the truth, Cross is abducted (off his bike) and held captive. The resulting scenes are both unnerving and darkly humorous. 

George is a fascinating and ultimately likable character. Like his coworkers, upon his return to the station after his ordeal, I give him, and this series, a standing ovation.

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I read The Tailor as an advance reader’s copy provided by GroveAtlantic through NetGalley. It will be published on August 11, 2026.

Review: "Storm Tide," Paul Doiron

By Paul Carrier

 

Mike Bowditch, a Maine game warden, was a man on the rise in previous novels by Paul Doiron.

After starting out in the Warden Service as a callow, reckless guy with a knack for breaking the rules, Bowditch matured enough to win a promotion to inspector, the Warden Service term for a detective.

But then his better angels abandoned him when he chased a suspect into Canada without authorization from his superiors or the Canadian government. That got him demoted. To make matters worse, a review board later decided to place him on paid leave for several months, because of his infractions.

So Bowditch is not, at least for the time being, a working warden when Storm Tide, the latest novel in the Bowditch series, kicks into high gear. But he still has a lot on his plate.

Bowditch being Bowditch, getting sidelined doesn’t stop him from investigating a suspicious and catastrophic fire that kills a husband and his wife. The widely reviled husband, Brian Malloy, had been accused of abducting and murdering a son he had with another woman.

Heading into rural Washington Couny, Maine, with his pregnant wife Stacey so she can be with her parents for a home birth, Bowditch quickly gets drawn into a second case, this one involving a man who dies when a train runs over him. The train’s crew could not see the victim until it was too late, and there’s reason to believe someone deliberately placed the man on the rails.

Were all three deaths — at the house and on the tracks — linked vigilante killings? How did the killers (or killer?) decide whom to target? Will the culprits/culprit be identified and apprehended before the death toll rises?

In the midst of all this mayhem, Bowditch gets unsettling texts and phone calls from a man who refuses to identify himself but seems to know Bowditch. A mysterious white van keeps turning up in Bowditch’s orbit. So does a dangerous-looking hulk who seems to be up to no good.

Bowditch’s life really takes a turn for the worse when he is abducted by a crazed scallop diver. The kidnapper, who may be conspiring with the mystery caller/texter, imprisons Bowditch aboard a boat and tries to drown him. (It's a close call, but Bowditch survives.)

And that’s just for starters.

The propulsive plot races along at a breakneck pace as Bowditch’s seemingly endless adventures/misadventures continue apace. Doiron has a knack for pulling readers along at warp speed, and Storm Tide is no exception.

Fortunately, there are occasional breathers. The birth of the Bowditchs' son, for one. And the always appreciated wit and wisdom of Stacey’s parents, especially her father, Charley Stevens, a retired Warden Service pilot whose statewide connections allow him to gather intel and pull strings for his son-in-law from time to time.

Then there’s the potentially risky but entertaining relationship between Bowditch and Shadow, a wolf dog he adopted quite a while back. Bowditch allows Shadow to sleep in the house before his son is born. Despite his wolfish ways, Shadow is very protective of Stacey during her pregnancy.

The wolf-dog hybrid even travels with Bowditch on occasion. “I climbed behind the wheel while Shadow stuck his big head through the space between the front seats,” Bowditch says at one point. “He lapped my unshaven check with his obscenely long tongue. His breath was rank. I pushed his muzzle away only to have him thrust it back at me, undeterred.”

A Maine native, Doiron is a registered Maine guide who knows his way around the Pine Tree State, including its wilder corners (human and  otherwise). But here's a piece of advice. Once you crack open Storm Tide, get ready to set your other priorities aside for a while. You’ll be far too busy flipping pages. 

Review: "Vermilion Drift," William Kent Krueger

By Paul Carrier

The iron ranges around Lake Superior did not figure prominently in William Kent Krueger's earliest Cork O'Connor crime novels, which feature a protagonist who is a county sheriff turned private investigator in rural Aurora, Minnesota. But an old iron mine is front and center in Vermilion Drift, the 10th novel in the lengthy O'Connor series.

It's 2010 or thereabouts. Wealthy mine owner Max Cavanaugh hires O’Connor to track down his beautiful, intelligent and narcissistic sister, Lauren, who runs a local retreat for artists but has recently disappeared. O’Connor’s tasks multiply when Cavanaugh, a mining company official named Lou Haddad, and consultant Eugenia Kufus all receive anonymous written threats.

The notes seem designed to torpedo a tentative government plan to bury nuclear waste in the mine. It’s that plan that Kufus is researching, as she tries to determine whether the mine is stable enough to handle the waste.

All three identical notes contain a single curt message: We die. U die. Later, Haddad finds the same warning painted on a wall in the mine. Haddad insists, persuasively, that the message could not have been painted by anyone who was authorized to be in the mine, which supposedly has only one way in and out.

That claim — that there is a carefully controlled single access point to the mine — proves to be incorrect. Someone found a secret entryway, and used it to create a sealed chamber of horrors in a tunnel.

Removing that subterranean room’s wall to gain access, O’Connor finds six human bodies, five of which are nothing more than skeletal remains. The sixth body has not been there long enough to become skeletal, although decomposition is well underway.

All of the bodies are female, and four of them turn out to be Indigenous. That suggests a connection to the unexplained disappearances of several Ojibwe women and girls back in the mid 1960s, a mystery that came to be known in Aurora as The Vanishings.

The other two murder victims are Cavanaugh’s mother and sister. Both were shot with the same revolver, a gun that O’Connor inherited from his father, who died when O'Connor was still a boy. O'Connor has not had the weapon for years, having given it to Henry Meloux, an aged Indigenous man, for safekeeping. The revolver has disappeared from Meloux’s hiding place, however, and its whereabouts are unknown as the police investigation of the murders continues.

It testifies to Krueger’s skill as a writer that O’Connor, whose heritage is a mix of Irish and Ojibwe (aka, Chippewa) is such a well-rounded character. A widower whose three children are out of town for the time being, he is trying to come to terms with his altered lifestyle while helping local and state officials with the murder cases.

Sifting through his deceased mother's journals, O'Connor finds vague clues that may link his father, Liam, to The Vanishings in some unexplained way. (Liam was the county sheriff when The Vanishings occurred.) Lonely and troubled, O’Connor is dogged by persistent nightmares in which he pushes his father to his death. (In fact, the senior O’Connor was gunned down during a crime spree, while trying to protect an elderly woman who had stumbled into the line of fire.)

Krueger is not a writer of cozy mysteries, and the crimes that preceded most of the six mine murders are particularly gruesome. But Krueger describes them obliquely, making the disclosures a bit more bearable for the reader than they would be if the author had played them up for shock value.

There are so many twists in Vermilion Drift that answers to some of the most important secrets remain elusive until the final chapters. As with every puzzle in this dark and cleverly plotted novel, the late revelations are well worth the wait.

Review: The Dying Light," Ann Cleeve

By Liz Soares

Tide House sits in an enviable spot on the North Devon coast. Hannah Armstrong’s parents own it, and she and her friend, Lottie, head down from London a day ahead of them and her brothers for a getaway. The young women have completed their secondary education and are headed for uni. They are looking forward to a little freedom in a beautiful spot. Plus, a nearby farm is hosting a music festival that could be fun.

But when Hannah’s parents arrive, they find Lottie dead in their pool—and Hannah missing.

Detective Inspector Matthew Venn and his team—DS Jen Rafferty and DC Ross May—are quickly on the case (their fourth outing) in this absorbing and satisfying mystery.

Paul Armstrong is a member of Parliament, which opens up all sorts of possible motives. The team also has its eye on pub owner Jim, who seems to have anger management issues. Lottie had fashioned herself as a snarky influencer, so there could be trouble there too.

The farm’s owners, Bob and Tessa Brennan, are salt of the earth. Their son, Jake, is in a relationship with Hannah. The festival brought in crowds of strangers, and the Brennans also rent out “glamping” pods. The girls were at the concert and could have met any number of strangers.

Then the team discovers that Karen and Geoff Kinzalow, two of the glamping guests, know the Armstrongs. Their daughter was friends with Lottie and Hannah. Are they in the area simply by coincidence?

There are more than enough leads, but the case seems stuck. Matthew finds himself distracted by his husband, Jonathan, who is preparing to meet his birth mother. Jonathan is understandably anxious and while Matthew tries to be understanding, he also feels jealous.

Tensions mount as the team seems to be treading water. Then, suddenly, another young person goes missing…

The truth, when uncovered, is unexpected, yet totally believable.  

Jonathan meets his mother, and that encounter is surprising, too.

Ann Cleeves has once again produced a gentle, solid and very human mystery. She has a knack for final twists that are not shocking or jarring, but just right.

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I read A Dying Light as an advanced reader’s copy provided through NetGalley. It will be published on September 29, 2026.

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Review: "It's Not What You Think," Clare Mackintosh

By Liz Soares

Nadeeka, a single mother of two, races home from work after an unsettling call from her partner, Jamie. He says he’s at the office, but she hears a train in the background. A woman’s voice. Jamie must be at the house. Is he having an affair?

Jamie is indeed at home when Nadeeka arrives. But he’s dead. Murdered.

Clare Mackintosh is a favorite author of mine, and her latest thriller is a humdinger. There are three—count ‘em—three twists in this one. Which certainly kept me swiping the e-pages on my Kindle, but makes it a tad difficult to write a review. I certainly don’t want to give all away, so I’m treading carefully.

Nadeeka, needless to say, is shocked by the discovery. A few days later, she goes to the police station to see if she can get her phone—taken for evidence—back, and is shocked once again.

Detective Chief Inspector Lauren Caldwell now takes over the narration (which alternates between several characters). She’s smart and efficient, but somewhat distracted. Lauren’s getting married in a few days—the day after Christmas, in fact. Her fiancé is one of her subordinates, Fraser Hogan.

But how can she be worried about assembling wedding favors and dealing with venue drams when this case just keeps getting stranger and stranger? What exactly was Jamie up to that led to his death? Nothing good, it appears. Nadeeka doesn’t believe what Lauren is learning. Jamie was a good man. She begins her own investigation.

Which leads the reader into twist two.

Lauren’s official investigation is facing a lot of odds in this case, but the cops circle in slowly and the truth becomes more clear. Unfortunately, in a way. Because twist three is heartbreaking.

Whew.

It sounds crazy and complicated, but it’s a straightforward, relentless, sometimes breathtaking ride. Nadeeka and Lauren are sympathetic, relatable characters and the readers are rooting for them to have closure. The story of Jamie’s death (and subsequent events) is both timely and disturbing.

A thriller, indeed!

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I received an advanced reader’s copy of this book through NetGalley. It will be released on September 22.

Review: Last One Out," Jane Harper

By Liz Soares

The town of Carralon, about five hours west of Sydney, Australia, has been dying ever since the Lentzer mining company moved in. The coal operation bought out homes, and brought noise and dust, while keeping workers on-site with their own housing and services. Only a few residents remain; the pub only opens once in a while. The medical center has been shuttered.

Sam Crowley, home from college, is interviewing his neighbors for a school project, asking about their experiences before and after the mine’s arrival. It’s his 21st birthday. His mother, Rowena, has made a lasagna for a special family dinner. Sam never shows up.

Thus begins a gripping story of the ties that bind us, for better and for worse.

Ro has returned to Carralon to mark the fifth anniversary of Sam’s disappearance. She had left her husband, Griff, and started a new life in Sydney. 

Ro is still consumed by Sam’s disappearance. She pores over the notebook he left behind. Ro visits the site where her son was last seen. It’s a cluster of three houses on the outskirts of town. They have stood empty since the mine's management bought them and are falling into disrepair.

One is a sandstone bungalow once owned by Bernie, the father-in-law of Ro’s best friend.  A second is an ivy-covered cottage where Ann-Marie, a former co-worker, lived. The third, a farmhouse, was home to Warren, Griff’s cousin. Warren had committed suicide several years before Sam disappeared.

What was Sam looking for in this desolate neighborhood? Did his questions uncover old secrets? Did he come too close to finding something that somebody wants hidden? Ro asks questions herself, but gets nowhere—until she and Griff find bloody boards on Warren’s deck, along with a mysterious key. Then she realizes she might have a chance of finding out what happened to her son.

An air of desolation, of impending doom, imbues the pages of this book. Ro’s pain is palpable. Everyone left in town is stuck, in one way or another. Their lives are deeply intertwined. Once, their closeness brought them joy. Now, it seems like entrapment.

Jane Harper is one of my favorite authors, but as I reached the three-quarter mark of the novel, I worried that maybe Ro would have to drive away from Carralon forever, without getting the answers she desperately needed—and deserved. Maybe this was just a book about dealing with inexplicable loss.

But I was not disappointed. Ro finally turns that long lost key and uncovers the harsh and painful truth of what happened to Sam. In doing so, she opens a door that lets the light in at last.

Review: "The Ending Writes Itself," Evelyn Clarke

By Liz Soares

Arthur Fletch, the famed, prolific writer (think James Patterson) has died. He’s left an unfinished manuscript behind,

The only people who know this are his agent, his editor and the six authors they have summonsed to Fletch’s magnificent home on the island of Skelbrae, off the coast of Scotland.

There, Fletch’s agent throws down a gauntlet. Who among them can finish the great author’s last novel and claim a $2 million prize—$1 million for the completion and $1 million to relaunch his or her career?

They’re all midlist writers. Their careers are in the doldrums, or worse. This is a life-changing opportunity.

And they don’t know each other. No one in the group has much name recognition. Remember that. It’s important.

Do Sienna and Malcolm have the best chance? They’re thriller writers, but their marriage is about to break up. So maybe not.

Jaxon is a self-assured sci-fi scribe, but he seems to spend most of his time staying ripped. Millie, who pens YA, is cute and bouncy, yet shrewd. Perhaps not shrewd enough. Cate, the youngest and most “literary” of the bunch, portrays a “poor me” persona. But what’s the real story underneath that baggy cardigan?

Priscilla, the romance writer, is pretty in pink—but has a curiously flat affect. Finally there’s Kenzo, an acerbic author of horror novels who might be the most level-headed of them all.

 

At first, the writers spend more time bickering and snooping on each other (and boozing) than they do writing. But as the 72-hour deadline bears down on them, they get to work. Unfortunately, so does a murderer.

The Ending Writes Itself has received glowing reviews and a blurb from Stephen King. It’s cleverly plotted and a witty, sarcastic take on both writers and the publishing world they inhabit. It evokes Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. The killer, once revealed, is ripped from the headlines, as we used to say. The resolution is wryly satisfying, especially for those readers who are also writers.

I enjoyed the book, but was annoyed by the excessive use of italics. As in “She knew she shouldn’t be surprised,” when a character, in a flashback, remembers an experience of mild sexual harassment. Why is this helpful? Plus, it was just one in a long line of useless italics. Authors should be limited to no more than five italicized words or phrases per book.

I realize that the technique was probably meant to be part of the satirical style, but I have to say out of dozens of italicized words I only found one that was truly worthwhile, and that was when the murderer appears “holding what looks like a mother-f#$%^ crossbow.”

Overall, It was a book that I could appreciate for its construction and humor and insightful take on the publishing world, but one that I couldn’t sink into it emotionally. Shall I call it a page-turner without much heart?