The Scholar

The second installment in Dervla McTiernan's Cormac Reilly series, finds Cormac still being back benched by his boss, while resentment builds among the other overworked detectives. Cormac's partner, Emma Sweeney, is a research scientist; on her way into her lab late one evening, she finds a dead body in the parking lot at the university. She immediately calls Cormac and he initially offers to take charge of the case to help out his work colleague, Carrie O'Halloran, who has already complained to their boss that she is overworked. Because the victim is so disfigured by being run over several times, the police initially rely on a security ID card in her pocket, a card with Carline Darcy's name on it. Before Cormac can confirm the Jane Doe's identity, however, someone has leaked this information to the powerful head of Darcy Therapeutics, who is Carline's grandfather, and the funder of Emma's research. When circumstantial evidence links Emma to a subsequent death, Cormac is pulled off the case and comes to question his own judgment in believing Emma innocent. Once again, Cormac is struggling to find the perpetrator of the crime while battling those at work who would rather see him fail.
Reviews from Publishers Weekly, and The Independent (a detailed and rave review). 

The Ruin

This debut novel by Dervla McTiernan (Irish, but now living in Australia) introduces us to Cormac Reilly, a Detective Inspector who has just transferred from a high profile position in Dublin to Galway to accompany his significant other. But, for some reason, Cormac's boss is not giving him any active cases, instead giving him cold cases, even though the squad's other detectives are overloaded with work. When a young man, Jack Blake, apparently commits suicide by jumping into the freezing water of the Corrib River, everyone dismisses it as suicide, even though his partner, Aisling, doesn't believe it. Cormac recognizes the name of the victim. Jack was just a 5-year old boy on one of Cormac's first cases, supposedly a domestic dispute call, but what he finds instead is a manor house falling into ruin, a mother dead of a heroin overdose, and two children near starvation. The older child, Maude, disappears and Jack is put into foster care. But after Jack's death,Maude returns from Australia and insists that Jack would not kill himself. Apparently this creates some unwelcome attention in the police department and Cormac is now assigned to re-investigate the death of Jack and Maude's mother; the implication is that 15-year old Maude was somehow responsible for the death of her mother. Not only is it nearly impossible to find witnesses to events of 20 years ago, but Cormac does not know who he can trust in the department. Described as Irish noir, this is indeed a dark tale, very atmospheric in its portrayal of corruption in many places where one would expect to find protection. Compelling characters and well crafted scenery and plotting.
Reviews are available from The Guardian and Publishers Weekly.

Sorcery of Thorns

This fantasy novel by Margaret Rogerson is probably considered a YA entry, although the two main characters are in their 20's. Elizabeth Scrivener was taken into the care of one of the Great Libraries of Austermeer at Summershall when she was left on the doorstep as an infant. She has never known any other life. The books (grimoires) talk to her; they contain magic and secrets of sorcery. Some are fairly benign and others are so malevolent that they must be locked away in vaults to protect the populace. She is an apprentice when the story opens and wants nothing more than to become a Warden, i.e., an official protector of the Great Libraries. But someone has started attacking the Great Libraries and Elizabeth is the only one who wakes up when Summershall's wards are breached and the most dangerous of their grimoires is released, killing the library's Director. With the Director's sword, she manages to defeat the evil Malefict but is subsequently accused by a corrupt librarian of collusion in the attack and sent to the Magisterium for judgment. Her transportation is provided by Sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn and he looks cruel, and all sorcerers are evil, so Elizabeth has been taught. But he is kind to her, protects her from another attack by demons, and stands up for her in the Tribunal. Elizabeth doesn't know what to make of him. When she is taken into the home of the Master Sorcerer of Austermeer, she finds out that the attacks on the Great Libraries are being planned by him, to what end she doesn't know. He tries to have her imprisoned in an insane asylum, but she escapes and tries to convince Nathaniel to help her uncover the plot and defeat the perpetrator.
Elizabeth, Nathaniel, and Nathaniel's dedicated demon, Silas, are all fully drawn characters and the plot is intricate and well executed. This was an engaging and enjoyable read. Favorable review from Kirkus,

The Lesson

In spite of several positive reviews (e.g., Locus Magazine, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus), this novel by Cadwell Turnbull ultimately just left me scratching my head, unattached to any of the characters, and unsure of what "lesson" was intended for learning.
The premise is that, in the very near future, when the aliens land, they choose an island in the American Virgin Islands. They claim they mean no harm, just need a place to stay for a while doing some research, and offer cures for deadly diseases in trade. Skip 5 years into the future and the situation is a tense co-existence. The Ynaa appear in human skin but are infinitely stronger and apparently impervious to physical harm. They also respond to any perceived physical threat--a growling dog, a drunken shove or verbal threat--with extreme and usually deadly force. The story loosely centers around Mera, the Ynaa ambassador, and her assistant and "bridge" to the local populace, 20-something year old Derrick. Derrick is fascinated with Mera and seeks more than a working relationship. He has always wanted to look beyond his own world, his own view, or the accepted norms of his society, and he sees Mera as a way to help him achieve that. But by his own people, Derrick is considered a traitor, and his grandmother forced him to move out of the house when he took the job. Mera has apparently been hiding out among the humans on earth in various guises for a long time, and there are flashbacks to the time of the Maroon rebellions in Jamaica in the 18th C., when she appeared as a slave. She has a fondness for humans and questions her own people's purposes and tactics, making her the subject of suspicion from the perspective of both groups. 
Most of the reviewers I looked at consider this an analogy of the harms that come from colonialism. Some compare it to Station 11, which I liked. But, as I said, none of the characters were ones I cared about, and I just finished the book feeling empty.

Bad Axe County

John Galligan has written several other novels but he was a new author to me and this book sounded intriguing. It is dark and atmospheric. A winter storm followed by flash floods provide the weather backdrop for this story set in southwestern Wisconsin along the banks of the Mississippi River. In the little town of Fairfield and surrounds, many people struggle to make a living. Heidi White's parents were like that, working a small dairy farm and trying to create a good life for their daughter. She was a little wild but won the title of Wisconsin Dairy Queen during her senior high school year. While on a speaking tour, she got the news that both her parents were dead; according to the local sheriff, nothing was stolen so it must have been a murder suicide. But Heidi knew her dad would never do that. When she got back to the farm, she discovered the one and only gun her dad owned, for which he did not even have real bullets, was missing, but the sheriff wasn't interested; as far as he was concerned, the case the closed.
Years later, Heidi is married to Harley Kick, manager of the Rattlers baseball team and the mother of 3 children. She is also the interim sheriff of the county after her corrupt predecessor dies. But the supporters of the former sheriff are making her life a misery with their nasty remarks and chauvinistic behavior. Still she has her supporters, people who want her to run for sheriff in the next election.
When Heidi is called to investigate an assault at the local library, committed by an out-of-towner who has disappeared, she opens an ugly can of worms into sex trafficking, embezzlement, and murder--much of which has apparently been going on for years, subsidized by the former sheriff through county funds.  Moreover, Heidi has never given up on trying to find her parents' murderer. But the odds, some of her own colleagues, and the weather are all working against her. Her husband doesn't want her to investigate because he fears for her safety after someone rams her police cruiser into the swollen Mississippi, but Heidi is relentless. Hard to read at times, but also hard to put down.
Review from Kirkus offers more information on major characters, and the NY Journal of Books provides detailed plot information.

The Silent Corner

OK I admit I have NEVER read a Dean Koontz novel before, because I always associated him with the horror genre and that is something I stay away from. But I kept reading about his "Jane Hawk" series and decided to start from the beginning with this one, published in 2017. Jane was an FBI agent, happily married to a smart and loving man who was the father of their adorable young son. Then her husband apparently kills himself, leaving a note that says "I very much need to be dead." Jane knows her husband did not kill himself and in trying to find out who could have made him do this, she uncovers an anomaly in the U.S. suicide statistics. More people than usual are committing suicide and, when Jane investigates further, she finds a number of them were similarly well adjusted,  highly productive people with no signs of depression or mental illness. But then someone breaks into her house and makes it clear that if she persists in her inquiries, her son will be abducted and sold into sexual slavery outside the U.S.
She quickly buys a junker car, sells her house at a fire sale price, closes out her bank accounts, and drives cross country to hide her son with people she believes will not be connected to her. Then she goes on the road to interview the people left behind by the anomalous suicides. She is technically on leave from the FBI but goes completely off grid since she realizes that the conspiracy behind the deaths is probably very high up in the food chain and wide-spread. She trusts no one. She figures out that a brilliant but power hungry scientist has created a way to inject people with nano-technology that gives him control over their minds. This man, Bertold Shenneck, is her target.
The pace is relentless, the plotting intricate and scary, and the prose is excellent. You will root for Jane all the way as she battles people who are determined to kill her and who can enlist her most trusted colleagues as well as strangers to hunt her down. Can't wait to read the next installment, The Whispering Room. Kirkus calls this Koontz's "leanest, meanest thriller." And there is also a glowing review from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and good words from Booklist.

Six Years

I have certainly read other books by Harlan Coben with great enjoyment (e.g. Fool Me Once, Missing You,  Long Lost & The Woods) and this one did not disappoint. He is a prolific author of twisty thrillers, several of which have been made into films or TV series. When Professor Jake Fisher sees an obituary on the Lanford College alumni page, he is plunged into a world of well-kept secrets, which, if revealed, have deadly consequences. Six years ago, the one true love of his life, Natalie, suddenly dropped him, married a supposed former boyfriend and made Jake promise never to intrude in their lives. He made a promise. But now that man, Todd Sanderson, is apparently dead and Jake cannot help going to the funeral to at least get a glimpse of Natalie. But the widow is not Natalie and so Jake begins searching for her where they met, a small town in Vermont near an artists' retreat. But his questioning of the locals elicits a cloud of lies and ignites an attempt on his life by very scary people. When he learns that Todd was tortured and murdered by the same people who kidnapped and attempted to kill him, he knows he is on the right track--but it's one that could lead to his death or the deaths of those he most cares about.
Reviews from The Washington Post, Kirkus, and Publishers Weekly.

The Darkness Knows

This debut novel by Cheryl Honigford received good reviews as a cozy type mystery. It's set in 1938 Chicago, a time when still too many people suffer the after effects of the Depression and everyone is worrying about events in Europe that threaten war. Protagonist Vivian Witchell was in the right place at the right time to pick up a good role in a popular detective series, "The Darkness Knows,"  that airs on radio station WCHI, where she had previously worked as secretary to the somewhat lecherous station manager, Mr. Hart. She is still in awe of her handsome co-star, Graham Yarborough, and in a battle with another woman actress who would do anything to get Viv's part in the broadcasts. When Viv stumbles over the dead body of another radio star in the staff lounge late one night, it turns her world upside down, not only because of the horrifying discovery, but also because there's a letter with the body suggesting that Viv's radio character might be the next victim. Is some crazed fan killing off the make-believe characters in WCHI's radio shows, or is one of the station's staff using this as a clever diversion? Station manager Mr. Hart is taking no chances and assigns the special consultant to "The Darkness Knows," P.I. Charlie Haverman, to keep Viv safe. It's a harder job than it sounds, for when Viv receives her own threatening letter, she determines to find out who the killer is before she becomes the next victim, and she refuses to stay safely tucked away at home. Sparks begin to fly between Viv and Charlie on several levels, predictably. We get some tantalizing glimpses of Chicago in the post-Depression years, and insights into the golden age of radio. This is the first of the "Viv and Charlie Mystery Series" and I may check out the next installment, Homicide for the Holidays.
Short reviews from Kirkus and Publishers Weekly, with a lengthier one with lots of info on plot and characters from The New York Journal of Books.

The Cat, the Devil, the Last Escape

This is apparently one of many cat-based novels by Shirley Rousseau Murphy, including over 20 in the "Joe Grey" cat mystery series featuring a feline P.I., but I had never encountered them. In this sequel to an earlier novel, The Cat, the Devil, and Lee Fontana, also co-authored with her husband, Pat J. J. Murphy, our protagonist is Misto, currently in ghost form, although he has had several lives in physical form. He has attached himself to Lee Fontana, a thief who is cursed by an ancestor's deal with the devil. Lee is dying of emphysema and is currently in jail, where Misto visits him daily, offering comfort and support. But Misto is also trying to look after one of his former owners, a little girl named Sammie, and eventually we will find out that Sammie and Lee are related. As it turns out  Lee's little sister is also Sammie's great aunt. Misto communicates with both Sammie and Lee, although no one else can see, hear, or feel him. Sammie has prophetic dreams, a trait shared with Lee's younger sister. When the devil uses ones of his pawns to get Sammie's dad, Morgan, mistakenly locked up for murder, their paths will cross. It's an interesting premise and the characters, settings and plot are reasonably well executed. For some reason, however, it did not totally grab me. I have checked out the first of her Joe Grey series to satisfy my curiosity.

The Address

This book by Fiona Davis was selected by my mystery book group and focuses around the (in)famous Dakota building in New York City. Two protagonists are occupants there, 100 years apart--in 1884 when it was just opening and in 1984 when it had gained infamy as the place where John Lennon was killed (1980). Theodore Camden, one of the architects of the grand apartment house brought Sara Smythe from her position as head of housekeeping at a posh London hotel to become the "manageress" of the building, which was, at the time, on the far outskirts of New York City. She and Theodore are like minded and this soon leads to a passionate affair --ended, ostensibly, when she went mad and stabbed him to death. We learn all this from Sara's point of view. The unraveling of this story will tie her to the more contemporary narrator, Bailey Camden, a recovering drug addict, tangentially connected to the Camden name through her grandfather, who was adopted by the Camdens. Bailey's cousin, who is heir to the apartment where Theodore Camden and his family lived in the Dakota, has decided to totally gut the place and remodel, hiring disgraced designer and "cousin" Bailey to live there temporarily and manage the Project. When Bailey discovers property belonging to the Camden in the basement of the building, she begins to investigate, prodded by the building manager, who points out a striking resemblance between Bailey and an old photograph of Sara Smythe.  The ending won't surprise anyone, but it is an interesting look into the Gilded Age of architecture and culture in New York City. The title is appropriate as the building itself is the most well-developed character of the book.
Reviews from the Historical Novel Society, Kirkus, The Chicago Review of Books, and Publishers Weekly.