Vortex by Catherine Coulter

Like other recent books in the series, this one has parallel stories running through it. Dillon and Sherlock aren't actually in the same place or even working on the same case and, actually, aren't in the book as much as usual. But it was still a Coulter FBI Thriller. 

Mia Briscoe is a reporter working on a story related to a mayoral candidate for New York City. In no way did she expect it to lead to the story of a lifetime and the solving of her best friend's murder. But the man is seriously connected and all of a sudden, Mia is under attack. 

Meanwhile, Olivia Hildebrandt is under fire. The CIA operative has been attacked in her own home. She knows it has something to do with her boyfriend's disappearance. They had been on a mission to remove an undercover operative in Iran and now her boyfriend is gone. 

There was also sort of a throwaway story with Sherlock investigating a woman whose second husband has died mysteriously. I guess to reiterate what an awesome investigator she is?

Three and a half stars
Follows Deadlock

This book comes out August 10th, 2021
ARC kindly provided by William Morrow and Custom House and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie

This book definitely suffers from being an older book -- lots of derogatory reference that (hopefully) wouldn't be included in books today. The overall mystery was interesting but there were a lot, a LOT, of red herrings that resulted in some last act twists and turns.

Anthony Cade is leading tours in South America when one of his friends comes up with an assignment. If Anthony delivers a manuscript to a London publisher by the 13th, his friend would get 1,000 pounds and he'll give Anthony 250. Anthony is ready for an adventure so he takes it on. He arrives safely in London but his first night there, the waiter who delivered his dinner breaks into his room and rifles through Anthony's suitcase. While the manuscript is safe, the packet of letters that someone had been using for blackmail is gone. 

A dead body that shows up in the lounge of the person who was ostensibly being blackmailed, another a shooting occurs at a house party just when Anthony is sneaking around, a country's throne is at risk, and Superintendent Battle is called into the scene. 

Three stars

This book came out in 1925

Followed by Seven Dials

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Heaven, Texas by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

This is definitely a nineties romance with a heroine who is too sweet to live and a hero who is so overly masculine that he might die from testosterone poisoning. But it also has a sweet story of the hero's mother (in her fifties) finding new love after she's been widowed for four years. And Gracie Snow does show some signs of being a strong heroine; Bobby Tom is just a jerk.

Gracie Snow is trying to expand her horizons. She's leaving working in a nursing home and teaching Sunday school for the bright lights of Hollywood. Her first task? To get former football player Bobby Tom from Chicago to Texas where he's supposed to be starring in a movie.

Bobby Tom knows he's hot stuff. He's tall, handsome, and rich. He can get any woman he wants. But he doesn't particularly like this short, plain woman who is trying to make him do something he doesn't particularly want to do. Yes, he signed a contract but so what? They can take the delays out of his paycheck. Is he avoiding his hometown where he actually requested the filming take place? Yes. His hometown is threatened with losing the biggest employer and they are trying to bring tourism to the town by creating a shrine out of his childhood home. And it's just all too much. But annoying Gracie Snow is making the trip at least a little bit better.  By the time they make it to Texas, he's willing to pay her salary in order to keep her around.

Four stars

This book came out April 1st, 1995

Follows It Had to Be You

Followed by Nobody's Baby but Mine

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Broken Miles by Claire Kingsley

Roland Miles is the oldest of his siblings and, as such, his father expected him to take over the family vineyard. Roland ran hard and ran fast. All the way to San Francisco. Too bad his need to prove himself cost him his marriage. Not that he sees it that way. All he knows is that Zoe left him. And he's not upset by it anymore. So when his brother Leo calls and tells him that the family vineyard is about to be taken by the bank, he only hesitates for a moment. Has it really been almost two years since he's been home?

Zoe Sutton is shocked that Roland has returned. But she's even more surprised that her feelings for him don't seem to have diminished at all. Even though her heart was broken, and it's been a long time since their divorce, she is still having some feels. 

Fast, fun, and fluffy. I enjoyed the book.

Four stars

This book came out March 5th, 2018

Followed by Forbidden Miles

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Lady Osbaldestone's Christmas Intrigue by Stephanie Laurens

It is once again Christmas and Lady Osbaldestone is hosting an additional person this year, her youngest son, Christopher. He usually stays in London as long as possible, joining the family as close to Christmas as possible. But this year, his work in the Foreign Office is making him change his habits. Someone has been staking out his London residence and the higher ups are afraid it might be someone from France. The war from Napoleon looks like it might be ending soon (God willing) and Christopher's web of informants will be vital in rebuilding should the war actually be at an end. So if a French agent is staking out his house, Christopher needs to disappear. Add in to that the fact that he suddenly seems to be on the target of eligible lades, he's ready to disappear. And heading to Little Moseley might be the answer. He loves his nieces and nephews and knows that they've had fun there the last few Christmases. Joining them there might be a bit of a hardship but not entirely.

Marion Sewell is tracking Christopher but not for matrimonial purposes. Instead, she is trying to do a favor for her brother who is in the Foreign Office. But she thinks that Christopher might suspect her of the former. He certainly ran away from her in that London ballroom fast enough. But she is going to be relentless in making sure that he hears what she has to say, even if she tracks him down in the back of beyond.

The Christmas Chronicles usually focus around a mystery with a little romance on the side. This book is no different. But from the description (and even the way I described it myself), the romance seems to take the fore. However, there is actually a lot of back and forth between the children and Christopher, the children and Lady Osbaldestone, and even the children and the man sent to protect Christopher. The mystery in this one was weaker than usual and there was a lot of running around with little to show for it until a lot of action was packed into the last 5% of the book.

Three stars

This book came out in October 15th, 2020
Follows Lady Osbaldestone’s Plum Puddings 

Followed by The Meaning of Love

Borrowed as audiobook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish

I got this as an ebook but about 3 pages in realized that I wanted to hear this book in Hadish’s own voice. My local library had the audiobook so I waited for 10 weeks to hear the book rather than read it. So worth it.

Hadish has had a hard life; foster care when she was a child, getting physically abused by her mother and an older man, a series of men who weren’t good to her... and, maybe weirdly, hearing it come from her makes it even stronger and more true in the audiobook than it would have been reading it.

Sooooo... the other thing with listening to the audio is that it didn't stick in my brain. At all. I listened to the first part of the book and was loving it so much I went to Goodreads to squee before the first chapter was even done. And there was already a review. You know what? It is just as awesome the second time around. Tiffany starts with her high school experience as a mascot which became her first job. That transitioned into her job as the person at bar mitzvahs who got everyone excited to be there.

Four stars

This book came out December 5th, 2017

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

An English Trilogy by François Rivière

This book was originally published in 1992 and it has very European sensibilities with twists and endings that seem odd to this American's sensibilities. 

I was not expecting a graphic novel to start with so much text (it's a letter that takes up the first quarter of the book). However, it does set up the rest of the stories. It sets us up with a writer (Olivia Sturgess) and a literary critic (Francis Albany). While they were lovers at one point, they were better as friends. And the two get into some odd situations: some more believable than others. They include a fellow author who finds a book published years before but it contains all of his stories, a woman in black who is slowly killing off the people in Olivia's publisher's family, and Francis's memories of being on the Titanic. 

This reminded me of the Golden Age of mysteries in the fact that it referenced the classics, in this case, classic mysteries of all genres. We either see on the page or hear mentioned Christie, Sayers, Allingham, Hitchcock and more.

Three stars

This book came out June 23rd, 2021

ARC kindly provided by Europe Comics and NetGalley

Opinions are my own