The Killer Question by Janice Hallett

I have really enjoyed Hallett's bookI have really enjoyed Hallett's books in the past, especially the updating of the epistolary style. This book was a little bit heavier on texting which made for a bit of a slog.

This is, once again, a story within a story. The conceit is that the nephew of two people killed five years ago is shopping the idea of a short true crime series based around the events. We are reading the information that the nephw is sending to the producer's assistant, all of it over text messaging.

The main story is around his aunt and uncle who run a pub which includes a trivia night. They are part of a group chat of other pubs in the area who also run trivia nights so we get to know a bit about the owners, but even more about the dedicated players who go to the different pub nights. Everything is upended by the discovery of a body as well as a new group that starts sweeping the quizzes. 

While I liked the overall story, I kept having to stop and come back since reading text messages got a bit tedious. Later in the book, we got some longer paragraphs but by then we're getting in to the twists so it's a little bit of whiplash from a number of directions. 

Three stars

This book comes out September 23, 2025

ARC kindly provided by Atria Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Faithful Unto Death by Caroline Graham

Alan and Simone Hollingsworth are new to town. He works long hours in the city while she is left to fill her time. However, it seems like Alan may be raather possessive as he tends to call her often to see where she is in the day. One day, her neighbor stops by but Simone isn't home. And that is the start of a myster. Where did Simone go? And why are others in the neighborhood disappearing as well? Like the rather ugly girl from next door, Brenda. 

Troy moves further away from his television portrayal. He is so rude to the local cop, Parrot, that they miss valuable information.

All sorts of sordid secrets will be revealed before the end of this story. It's not quite as bad as the previous story but still quite a lot going on in a little village. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out  in 1996

Chief Inspector Barnaby #5

Follows Written in Blood

Followed by A Place of Safety

Audiobook of mine in Audible

Opinions are my own

Face the Fire by Nora Roberts

Four stars

This book came out 

Three Sisters Island, #3

Follows by Heaven and Earth

Hard copy I own

Opinions are my own

Written In Blood by Caroline Graham

The Midsomer Worthy Writers’ Circle club has invited a prominent writer to visit them. And, of all the shocks, he actually shows up. One member is not excited to see him. He actually request of another member that the two not be left alone. When they are, the member ends up dead. 

Inspector Barnaby and Sergeant Troy are in Midsomer Worthy to try and solve the murder though the investigation will uncover any number of the secrets the villagers would prefer to have hidden.

Three stars

This book came out  in 1994

Chief Inspector Barnaby #4

Follows Death of a Hollow Man

Followed by Faithful Unto Death

Audiobook of mine in Audible

Opinions are my own

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King, Will Patton (Narrator)

T

he long-anticipated follow-up to "The Shining" has a now grown-up Danny Torrance fighting demons, both literal and physical. Still struggling with the events from the first book as well as his "Shining," we find out that Danny has inherited his father's alcoholism and upped the ante with a drug problem.

He's finally landed in a place where he can get clean when a message appears in his brain, "Abra." There's no follow-up for a long time. Until Abra, a child whose talent is even greater than Danny's own, reaches out to him for help. There is a group, the True Knot, that has extended their own lives by feeding off the "steam" of children like Abra. And now that they know that she exists, a child with more shining than they've ever seen, they're coming after her full bore.
I quite enjoyed this book. It was a little light (not much depth) but it's a book for fun, did it really need to be very deep? I wish we could have seen more about the former lives of The True Knot folks (especially Rose) but since the book was so long already, I can see why that didn't happen.

Three and a half stars

This book came out September 24, 2013

The Shining #2

Follows The Shining

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Heaven and Earth by Nora Roberts

Ripley Todd has an okay life. Yeah, she's living with her brother and his new wife and, sure, she's having sort of a dry spell with her own sexual escapades and, well, she's a witch which she's not really enjoying but life is still okay. Then MacAllister Brooke comes to Three Sisters Island. Dr. Brooke is there to study the legend of the Three Sisters. He's very interested in mystical forces and UFOs and then becomes
very interested in Ripley Todd. 

She's not indifferent to him but they have two very different attitudes toward her powers. Of course, Ripley's going to have to learn to trust both Mac and her own powers in order to save her own life as well as those of her "sisters."

Four stars

This book came out 

Three Sisters Island, #2

Follows Dance Upon the Air

Followed by Face the Fire

Hard copy I own

Opinions are my own

The Dos and Donuts of Love Adiba Jaigirdar

The Great British Bakeoff has been popular for over a decade. In this story, it’s the teen Irish version and Shireen Malik has made the cut. So, however, has her ex-girlfriend (and daughter of the rival doughnut shop owners), Chris. Shireen wants to win so that her own parents shop, Drive Me Glazy, will get more exposure. No one is buying many doughnuts in their town these days.

The other contestants are interesting.There’s one boy who seems determined to start fights. And then there’s Niamh. Could she be a new friend… or more?

I read about his in the NPRs best book of 2023 list. I didn’t find quite as much delight in the book that the article writer did but agree that it was a cute book.

Three stars

This book came out June 6, 2023

Borrowed as hard copy from library

Opinions are my own