Wild Sign by Patricia Briggs

Leah and Bran's relationship has been touched on in past books but the origins of it have remained murky. It is cleared up a little bit in this story when Leah's past comes to haunt her present. 

The book opens with Leah, Rachel, Sage, and Anna on a girls' outing some time before the beginning of the last book. They are having some drinks (although alcohol doesn't affect werewolves) when Sage gets Leah to open up a little bit about how the two became mated. And even just this section proves Briggs' mastery of timelines as she deftly bobs and weaves between the past and present of two overlapping series.

This new story sends Charles and Anna along with the berserker, Tag, to the California mountains where a whole town has disappeared. They were there one week after being checked on by the Forest Service and then... gone. An old evil has popped up again and is joining forces with a group that has had past interactions with both the Alpha and the Omega as well as the Columbia pack.

I wish we had seen a little bit more with Bran and Leah. After the big set up of learning more about her past, we don't see a lot of them. Of course, the series does focus more on Anna and Charles so that makes some sense.

Four stars

Follows Burn Bright

Gifted an ebook on Kindle

This book came out March 16th, 2021

Opinions are my own

Spring by Janis McCurry and Lynn Mapp

I hadn't read any of The Matchmaker Chronicles before but the premise always sounded like a good one and I thought the cover of this was really cute. Even though this is book four, I didn't feel lost about characters even without an info dump. I was even a little disappointed that it seemed like this was the end of the series.

Matchmakers Maggie and Rina are flummoxed. They've been asked to help Christie find a husband... but not for love. Instead, she wants to get her hands on shares of a medical supply company that her uncle is threatening to sell off but she wants to keep it in the family (as well as make sure that their employees still have a job).

The man she's decided to match herself with is one of Rina's sons who needs the money to develop a gaming theater which sounds REALLY cool. 

Both Christie and Aaron were very mature and I really wish that there had been a little more conversation between the two of them but were some other stories competing for page space. Maggie has her own B plot with a man named Joe who is a world traveler but seems to be settling down. It was nice to see. There was also a side plot of a waitress meeting a wealthy man who is hiding who he is that would have been nice as its own book.

Three stars

This book came out March 18th, 2021

Follows Winter

ARC kindly provided by Mapp & McCurry LLC and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

The Truth About Lies by Aja Raden

This is an incredibly readable nonfiction book that looks at the lies people tell and why we believe them. Raden discusses several stories that actually overlap with another book on lies that I read recently but comes at them differently. The stories themselves are interwoven with information about why it is so easy to believe them, even when we see proof of "the truth" right in front of our own eyes. And more startling, even when people come out and SAY that they've been lying, people will refuse to believe it.

Four Stars

This book comes out May 11th, 2021
ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Hen of the Baskervilles by Donna Andrews

Caerphilly has started a local Un-Fair to help fill the gap left by the local State Fair (and to fill their city coffers). Part of the fair is also in Clay County. So is the dead man. At least partially. While he wasn't a prime specimen (never helping his wife; now cheating on her), it wasn't necessary to kill the man. Unless he was somehow connected to the thefts and vandalism that are threatening to close the fair. And then there's the added aggravation of the Clay County deputy who is dead set on sticking his nose into every aspect of the case.

Good thing Meg Langslow is on hand to help figure out exactly what was going on.

Three and a half stars

This book came out July 16, 2013

Meg Langslow #15

Follows Some Like it Hawk

Followed by Duck the Halls

Audiobook borrowed from Libby 

Opinions are my own

Reread August 2023, November 2024 as Audible book

Some Like It Hawk by Donna Andrews

The town of Caerphilly is in trouble. The ex-mayor has mortgaged the town to the hilt and taken off with all of their money. One town clerk, Phineas Throckmortion, has managed to barricade himself in the basement of the courthouse for almost a year and a half (with the help of a secret tunnel and several townsfolk.) 

However, a vice-president of the Evil Lender has just been found dead in that same basement and it seems like Phineas is the only man who could have done the job.

Three stars

This book came out June 17th, 2012

Meg Langslow #14

Follows The Real Macaw

Followed by Hen of the Baskervilles 

Audiobook borrowed from Libby

Opinions are my own

Reread August 2023, as Audible book November 2024

The Father Hunt by Rex Stout

Lilly Rowan is a good friend of Archie's. One day, her secretary, Amy, asks Archie if he (not Nero) can help track down her father, a man whose name she never knew. Archie demurs, saying he only works for Nero and that Nero is very expensive. Well, Amy comes up with the money to pay Nero's salary and the boys are off on a case that tracks back twenty years and overlaps with the death of Amy's mother.
A good Nero Wolfe book. 

Three stars

Follows Death of a Doxy

Followed by Death of a Dude

This book came out May 28th, 1968

Audiobook borrowed from Libby

Opinions are my own

After the Funeral by Agatha Christie

A wealthy man has died. Since he was ill for so very long, no one thinks much of it. Except his youngest sister, who declares at the reading of his will that he was murdered. Still, no one thinks much of it until the sister herself is murdered. It is then that everything is turned topsy-turvy and it's up to Poirot to come in and untangle this web and figure out what really happened and why.

The solution to this one ends up being a little convoluted but it is a really good story with characters that you start to care about.

Three and a half stars

Follows Mrs. McGinty's Dead

Followed by Hickory Dickory Dock

This book came out in March 1953

Hard copy borrowed from library

Opinions are my own