#101 Mystery Dump
The Maid, As Good as Dead, The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society, The Night Shift, Listen for the Lie, The God of the Woods
Quotes & Things
“The most important thing is to not stop questioning.” — Albert Einstein
I’m just about always reading a mystery. It is still my first choice for comfort reading, though I’ve gotten into romance in the last few years as well. I love mysteries because they are an intellectual (and sometimes emotional) puzzle, but they also have very standard story structure beats. And isn’t it nice to know what to expect? But I also read mysteries to remember that we should always keep questioning ourselves and our society. So today, I am dumping a rather large collection of my recent mystery reads into the newsletter. I liked some more than others, but I think they are all worth a read.
Book Reviews
The Maid by Nina Prose
I was pretty disappointed by this cozy mystery. One main reason is that our main character, Molly, a maid at an upscale hotel in a large city is almost certainly autistic (in a pretty stereotypical way), but the author never explicitly states so. I read that the author didn’t want to limit what people would think of her, so she kept her diagnosis vague, but I think that does a disservice to the autistic community. I also hated how other characters, at best, infantilized her and, at worst, took advantage of her naivety.
Another reason for my dislike is that the actual mystery itself was pretty boring and the ending twist did not make sense with the characters. I didn’t hate the novel and can see how Molly could be a really engaging character, but because I have an autistic person in my life, and I wasn’t a fan of how she was portrayed, I just couldn’t enjoy the set-up.
As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson
In the last installment of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder trilogy (I reviewed the first two here), we find Pip still reeling from the events of the last novel. She finds it difficult to move on with her normal life and the prospects of college ahead, buying Xanax illegally to help her sleep. In her head, she needs to complete one more case to absolve her of her ever-shifting morals, one that has an obvious villain, not muddled by seeing some good in the killers. But when Pip discovers that someone is stalking her, the case leads her to unexpected places and new dangers that she never imagined for herself.
The novel was slow to start, but once it got going, I couldn’t stop listening (again, I definitely recommend the audio). Some of the conclusions Pip came to this time were clearly meant to mislead the reader, thought I wasn’t fooled. But this novel took a turn I was definitely not expecting, and one that I didn’t really like for our likable character of Pip. This book is heavier and darker than the first two and they were dark enough. Pip’s distrust of the police and the justice system is also on display here, giving us no real easy answers to who the good guys are.
The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by C.M. Waggoner
This lovely little cozy mystery follows librarian Sherry Pinkwhistle (love the name) as she solves the many murders that have piled up in her chosen town of Winesap, NY. But there’s a devilish twist — the murders are all actually caused be a demon pushing people to kill. The demon is bored and likes Murder, She Wrote, so she has decided to make Sherry’s town into her plaything.
I thought this tweak on the cozy mystery was fun, especially when her cat, named Lord Thomas Cromwell, began speaking as the spirit of his historical namesake. The mystery was interesting and dealt with sensitively, but it’s also pretty amusing. However, some parts of the demon storyline left me wanting. The world building here is not quite complete and left me with confusion at the end.
I loved the character of Sherry, who was the most developed. I could tell that the author wanted her to be surrounded by interesting local characters, but they didn’t feel like lived-in people. If the series continues, I would be interested to see these side characters grow. All in all, it was a pleasant way to spend a few afternoons reading.
The Night Shift by Alex Finlay
All the young adult employees of a Blockbuster night shift in 1999 are killed, all except one — Ella Munroe. Fast forward 15 years to another murder spree and a different survivor that pulls Ella back into her past, trying to help this new teenage survivor cope. Chris Ford, brother to the missing suspect of the first murders is anxious to prove his brother’s innocence. And Sarah Keller, an eight-month pregnant FBI agent is set out to uncover the truth.
This was a middle-of-the-road mystery for me. It was focused more on plot than character, and we all know that, for me, character trumps plot nearly every time. I figured out the big bad about halfway through, but I still enjoyed the denouement. I liked the characters, but they all felt a bit perfunctory. Listening on audio always makes these kinds of novels go down easy, helping me with the mundanity of the household chores. But there are certainly better mysteries out there, so this one is a take it or leave it kind of situation.
Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera
Speaking of better mysteries…
Lucy Chase returns to her small Texas hometown for her grandmother’s birthday. It’s been five years since her best friend Savvy was murdered there. Most of the town thinks Lucy did it, but she still has no memory of that night, of what actually happened. She’s tried to move on, but now a true crime podcast has come to town taking up Savvy’s cold case, so Lucy decides to confront her past and learn if she really is a murderer.
This was an excellent mystery, especially on audio. I can tell that Tintera is a Texan from the chocolate sheet cake and Topo Chico references, and that the fictional town of Plumpton actually feels like Texas. Narrarator January LaVoy nails a Texas accent, as well as giving every character a distinct voice. I loved that we go back and forth between Lucy’s narration and the actual podcast episodes, both slowly revealing the details of the case, the people of the town involved, and Lucy’s past. A warning about mentions of domestic abuse that I wasn’t expecting, but Tintera also delves into this topic with nuance and understanding. I didn’t figure out whodunit until nearly the end, just before all was revealed, and it’s pretty hard to keep me guessing. A propulsive novel all the way through. I don’t like driving, and I kept hopping in the car to run errands to finish listening as soon as I could.
Get the audiobook here (and it’s on sale)
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
This is again one of those books where the less you know going into it, the more enjoyable the reading experience. But here are some things you can look forward to: multiple points of view, 1970’s summer camp vibes, dysfunctional families, lovely prose, and two missing person cases, neither of which is typical. I really enjoyed all the characters, especially camp counselor Louise, missing girl Barbara (that’s not a spoiler - literally happens on page 1), her bunkmate Tracy, and the savvy underestimated Investigator Judyta Luptack. My one quibble with the book is that I legitimately don’t understand why one character chose to marry Alice, the mother of the missing girl. That connection just never quite made sense to me.
Ultimately though, it is a story about found family, what true self-reliance looks like, and feeling lost in the Adirondack woods. It also makes me wish I had paid better attention to the outdoor skills I “learned” in Girl Scouts because these campers became more capable and learned so much in the span of two months about how to survive in the wilderness, but also how to survive in life. The ending might be a let down to some, but I found it part hopeful and part heartbreaking. The author definitely obscured the truth, but not in a way that usually irks me. The characters whose lives we can see inside genuinely don’t know the answer to the mystery, so the obfuscation and the structure of the novel going back and forth between different time periods strengthened the intrigue and didn’t take away from my enjoyment of it.
A Question for You?
Any good mystery reads lately? I’d love to add more to my TBR.
I loved The God of the Woods, glad you liked it too! Will have to add more from this list to my TBR. Thanks!