Review: Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano

July 29, 2022July 29, 2022 Ashley LPLeave a comment

Title: Finlay Donovan is Killing It
Author: Elle Cosimano
Series: Finlay Donovan
Source: Library
Genre: Mystery, Comedy? Everything?
Trigger Warning: References mariticide, hit people, abuse and mob violence.
Summary: Finlay Donovan is killing it…except, she’s really not. A stressed-out single mom of two and struggling novelist, Finlay’s life is in chaos: The new book she promised her literary agent isn’t written; her ex-husband fired the nanny without telling her; and this morning she had to send her four-year-old to school with hair duct-taped to her head after an incident with scissors.

When Finlay is overheard discussing the plot of her new suspense novel with her agent over lunch, she’s mistaken for a contract killer and inadvertently accepts an offer to dispose of a problem husband in order to make ends meet. She soon discovers that crime in real life is a lot more difficult than its fictional counterpart, as she becomes tangled in a real-life murder investigation.

Fast-paced, deliciously witty, and wholeheartedly authentic in depicting the frustrations and triumphs of motherhood in all its messiness, hilarity, and heartfelt moments, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It is the first in a brilliant new series from award-winning Elle Cosimano.

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Book List 2022

Review: Murder Most Actual by Alexis Hall

February 25, 2022May 24, 2022 Ashley LPLeave a comment

Title: Murder Most Actual
Author: Alexis Hall
Genre: Cozy Mystery. LGBTQIA+
Source: Netgalley. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Summary: When up-and-coming true-crime podcaster Liza and her corporate financier wife Hanna head to a luxurious hotel in the Scottish Highlands, they’re hoping for a chance to rekindle their marriage – not to find themselves trapped in the middle of an Agatha Christie-esque murder mystery with no way home. But who better to take on the case than someone whose entire profession relies on an obsession with all things mysterious and macabre? Though some of her fellow guests may consider her an interfering new media hack, Liza knows a thing or two about crime and – despite Hanna’s preference for waiting out the chaos behind a locked door – might be the only one capable of discovering the killer. As the bodies rack up and the stakes rise, can they save their marriage — and their lives?

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Book List 2021 · Reviews

Review: The Box in the Woods (Truly Devious) by Maureen Johnson

August 12, 2021October 27, 2021 Ashley LPLeave a comment

Title: The Box in the Woods

Series: Truly Devious

Author: Maureen Johnson

Rated: YA

Genre: Mystery

Summary: The Truly Devious series continues as Stevie Bell investigates her first mystery outside of Ellingham Academy in this spine-chilling and hilarious stand-alone mystery.

Amateur sleuth Stevie Bell needs a good murder. After catching a killer at her high school, she’s back at home for a normal (that means boring) summer.

But then she gets a message from the owner of Sunny Pines, formerly known as Camp Wonder Falls—the site of the notorious unsolved case, the Box in the Woods Murders. Back in 1978, four camp counselors were killed in the woods outside of the town of Barlow Corners, their bodies left in a gruesome display. The new owner offers Stevie an invitation: Come to the camp and help him work on a true crime podcast about the case.

Stevie agrees, as long as she can bring along her friends from Ellingham Academy. Nothing sounds better than a summer spent together, investigating old murders.

But something evil still lurks in Barlow Corners. When Stevie opens the lid on this long-dormant case, she gets much more than she bargained for. The Box in the Woods will make room for more victims. This time, Stevie may not make it out alive.

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Book List 2021

Release Week Part 2: A Stranger in Town by Kelley Armstrong

February 11, 2021 Ashley LPLeave a comment

Title: A Stranger in Town

Author: Kelley Armstrong

Series: Rockton (Book 6)

Release Date: February 9, 2021

Genre: Mystery, horror

My Thoughts: This book. This book. I can’t believe it ended like that but at the same time I really can’t tell you how it ended because I don’t believe in spoilers.

This book was filled with tension, and anticipation that gripped me as I flipped through the digital pages and pretty much left finger imprints on my tablets. I would say this was the most mysterious book of all of the Rockton series, as several different storylines entwined.

When they stumbled across the tourist in the forest I really found myself agreeing with Dalton’s opinion about whether or not people should even be allowed in the Yukon wild. The town and its working are explored even ore in this book, who gets in, who gets out.

We also found out how hostiles were created, and it was intense (apparently that’s the watchword).

Thank you to Kelley Armstrong and her publisher for giving me a free copy of this book.

Book List 2021 · Reviews

Release Week Part 1: A Stranger in Town by Kelley Armstrong including questions with Kelley.

February 9, 2021February 9, 2021 Ashley LPLeave a comment

Title: A Stranger in Town

Author: Kelley Armstrong

Series: Rockton (Book 6)

Release Date: February 9, 2021

Genre: Mystery, horror

Summary: Detective Casey Duncan has noticed fewer and fewer residents coming in to the hidden town of Rockton, and no extensions being granted. Her boyfriend, Sheriff Eric Dalton, presumes it’s the natural flux of things, but Casey’s not so sure. Something bigger is happening in the small town they call home.

When an injured hiker stumbles from the woods, the sole survivor of a hostile attack, it’s all hands on deck. Even a member of the elusive Rockton council comes in to help. This council member also comes bearing news: Rockton is being shut down due to the hostile situation.

Casey and Eric must now race to save the town that has allowed residents to have a fresh start, away from the mistakes of their past, while also getting to the bottom of this latest attack.

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Book List 2021

Countdown to A Stranger in Town by Kelley Armstrong with Alone in the Woods

February 8, 2021February 9, 2021 Ashley LPLeave a comment

Title: Alone in the Woods

Author: Kelley Armstrong

Series: Rockton (Book 5)

Genre: Mystery, horror

Summary: Every season in Rockton seems to bring a new challenge. At least that’s what Detective Casey Duncan has felt since she decided to call this place home. Between all the secretive residents, the sometimes-hostile settlers outside, and the surrounding wilderness, there’s always something to worry about.

While on a much needed camping vacation with her boyfriend, Sheriff Eric Dalton, Casey hears a baby crying in the woods. The sound leads them to a tragic scene: a woman buried under the snow, murdered, a baby still alive in her arms.

A town that doesn’t let anyone in under the age of eighteen, Rockton must take care of its youngest resident yet while solving another murder and finding out where the baby came from – and whether she’s better off where she is.

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Book List 2021

Countdown to a Stranger in Town by Kelley Armstrong with Watcher in the Woods

February 7, 2021February 8, 2021 Ashley LPLeave a comment

Title: Watcher in the Woods

Series: Rockton (Book 4)

Genre: Mystery, Horror

Summary:

The secret town of Rockton has seen some rocky times lately; understandable considering its mix of criminals and victims fleeing society for refuge within its Yukon borders. Casey Duncan, the town’s only detective on a police force of three, has already faced murder, arson and falling in love in less than the year that she’s lived there. Yet even she didn’t think it would be possible for an outsider to find and cause trouble in the town she’s come to call home.

When a US Marshal shows up in town demanding the release of one of the residents, Casey and her boyfriend, Sheriff Dalton, are skeptical. And yet only hours later, the marshal is shot dead and the only visible suspects are the townspeople and her estranged sister, in town for just the weekend. It’s up to Casey to figure out who murdered the marshal, and why they would kill to keep him quiet.

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Book List 2021

Countdown to A Stranger in Town by Kelley Armstrong with This Fallen Prey

February 5, 2021February 5, 2021 Ashley LPLeave a comment

Title: This Fallen Prey

Series: Rockton (Book 3)

Genre: Mystery, Horror

Summary:

In This Fallen Prey, the next installment of New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong’s thriller series, Casey Duncan is about to face her toughest job as police detective in Rockton yet.

When Casey first arrived at the off-the-grid town, an isolated community built as a haven for people running from their pasts, she had no idea what to expect, with no cell phones, no internet, no mail, and no way of getting in or out without the town council’s approval. She certainly didn’t expect to be the homicide detective on two separate cases or to begin a romantic relationship with her boss. But the very last thing she expected was for the council to drop a dangerous criminal into their midst without a plan to keep him imprisoned, and to keep others safe.

Of course Oliver Brady claims he’s being set up. But the longer Brady stays in town, the more things start to go wrong. When evidence comes to light that someone inside Rockton might be working as his accomplice, helping him to escape, Casey races to figure out who exactly Brady is and what crimes he’s truly responsible for committing.

In the next page-turning entry in Kelley Armstrong’s gripping series, life in Rockton is about to get even more dangerous.

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Book List 2021

Countown to A Stranger in Town by Kelley Armstrong with A Darkness Absolute

February 2, 2021 Ashley LPLeave a comment

Title: A Darkness Absolute

Author: Kelley Armstrong

Series: Rockton (Book 2)

Genre: Mystery, Horror

Buy: Indigo here.

Kobo

Summary:

When experienced homicide detective Casey Duncan first moved to the secret town of Rockton, she expected a safe haven for people like her, people running from their past misdeeds and past lives. She knew living in Rockton meant living off-the-grid completely: no cell phones, no Internet, no mail, very little electricity, and no way of getting in or out without the town council’s approval. What she didn’t expect is that Rockton comes with its own set of secrets and dangers.

Now, in A Darkness Absolute, Casey and her fellow Rockton sheriff’s deputy Will chase a cabin-fevered resident into the woods, where they are stranded in a blizzard. Taking shelter in a cave, they discover a former resident who’s been held captive for over a year. When the bodies of two other women turn up, Casey and her colleagues must find out if it’s an outsider behind the killings or if the answer is more complicated than that…before another victim goes missing.

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Book List 2021

Countown to A Stranger in Town by Kelley Armstrong with City of the Lost

January 31, 2021February 2, 2021 Ashley LP3 Comments

Title: City of the Lost

Author: Kelley Armstrong

Series: Rockton (Book 1)

Genre: Mystery, horror

Buy:

City of the Lost on Kobo

Summary:

Casey Duncan is a homicide detective with a secret: when she was in college, she killed a man. She was never caught, but he was the grandson of a mobster and she knows that someday this crime will catch up to her. Casey’s best friend, Diana, is on the run from a violent, abusive ex-husband. When Diana’s husband finds her, and Casey herself is attacked shortly after, Casey knows it’s time for the two of them to disappear again.

Diana has heard of a town made for people like her, a town that takes in people on the run who want to shed their old lives. You must apply to live in Rockton and if you’re accepted, it means walking away entirely from your old life, and living off the grid in the wilds of Canada: no cell phones, no Internet, no mail, no computers, very little electricity, and no way of getting in or out without the town council’s approval. As a murderer, Casey isn’t a good candidate, but she has something they want: She’s a homicide detective, and Rockton has just had its first real murder. She and Diana are in. However, soon after arriving, Casey realizes that the identity of a murderer isn’t the only secret Rockton is hiding—in fact, she starts to wonder if she and Diana might be in even more danger in Rockton than they were in their old lives.