When Cicadas Cry (Caroline Cleveland; 2024)
Zach Stander, a down-and-out attorney, is called by Eli Jenkins, a free-clinic Black client of his, to represent Eli’s nephew Sam in a murder case. Sam was found covered in blood at the scene of Jessica Gadsden’s murder in a country church on Cicada Road, outside Walterboro, South Carolina. A Black man found at the murder scene of a young white woman in the deep South brings to mind John Grisham’s A Time to Kill and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird.
To complicate matters, Jessica’s father Buford Gadsden, a powerful and somewhat corrupt local yokel, is seething with anger and thirsting for revenge for his daughter’s murder. This is Stander’s opportunity to either win a case that will restore his reputation or risk losing, sending him farther down the road to destitution or possibly death. He enlists the aid of […]
The Lost Bookshop (Evie Woods; 2023)
Join Opaline, Henry, and Martha on a magical journey that will take you places you hadn’t anticipated. Is the bookshop on a quiet street in Dublin actually there … or not? If not, where did it go? This novel intertwines mystery, romance, and magical thinking in a delightful way that will take the reader on a somewhat different reading experience.
Evie Woods is an Irish author who has scored another bestseller with this novel, first published in 2023. For us Americans, it’s always a treat to read the writing of an international writer, as their style differs somewhat from what we typically expect. The Lost Bookshop is no exception.
You will enjoy this delightful novel!
Reviewed July 2024
The Teacher (Freida McFadden; 2024)
By all accounts, Eve lives an idyllic life as a happily-married, high school teacher. The reader quickly discovers things are not as they appear. Eve and her husband Nate, also a teacher at the school, both teach a troubled teen, Addie. Addie’s got a tainted past and a suspect present, making her the target of bullying by her classmates. Her story, intertwined with Eve’s and Nate’s, will keep you guessing–usually incorrectly! A few other characters you’ll sometimes hate, sometimes love, are also thrown into the mix. The ending is something you won’t see coming. New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden’s The Teacher is a psychological thriller full or plot twists and surprises.
McFadden is a physician who specializes in patients with brain injury and, as an author, she’s a master at turning straightforward plots into convoluted story arcs that make it […]
The Girl in the Vault (Michael Ledwidge; 2023)
Michael Ledwidge is perhaps best known for being the coauthor of some of James Patterson’s novels. In The Girl in the Vault, however, he writes alone and hits a home run.
Faye Walker is a young college grad who scores an internship in a prestigious Wall Street financial firm. As the pick of the litter, and equally brilliant and beautiful, she’s destined for the one open job offer at the firm … until another intern employs a variation on the oldest profession in the world to win over the boss and get the job.
As they say, “Hell hath no fury like a scorned woman.” While that proverb typically refers to love, it applies equally to business. And, Faye’s out to prove just that.
Ledwidge’s fast-paced novel spins a tale of Faye not just getting […]
The Exchange (John Grisham; 2023)
The Exchange, John Grisham’s sequel to The Firm, was a long time coming. The two books’ publication dates are separated by thirty-two years! Mitch and Abby McDeere are back, but it’s fifteen years after his Memphis law firm Bendini, Lambert, and Locke collapsed. The couple now lives in Manhattan, where Mitch is a partner at Scully and Pershing, the largest gaggle of attorneys in the world.
Mitch is called to Rome to visit one of his elder partners there, setting in place a series of events that endangers Mitch, Abby, and his colleagues and their families. Sound familiar? Only the location has changed!
Mitch does take a sentimental trip back to Memphis, where he reunites with one of his partners from his days there. I’ll just say it doesn’t go swimmingly. He also makes a trip to, of course, Grand Cayman, allowing […]
When Cicadas Cry (Caroline Cleveland; 2024)
Zach Stander, a down-and-out attorney, is called by Eli Jenkins, a free-clinic Black client of his, to represent Eli’s nephew Sam in a murder case. Sam was found covered in blood at the scene of Jessica Gadsden’s murder in a country church on Cicada Road, outside Walterboro, South Carolina. A Black man found at the murder scene of a young white woman in the deep South brings to mind John Grisham’s A Time to Kill and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird.
To complicate matters, Jessica’s father Buford Gadsden, a powerful and somewhat corrupt local yokel, is seething with anger and thirsting for revenge for his daughter’s murder. This is Stander’s opportunity to either win a case that will restore his reputation or risk losing, sending him farther down the road to destitution or possibly death. He enlists the aid of […]
The Lost Bookshop (Evie Woods; 2023)
Join Opaline, Henry, and Martha on a magical journey that will take you places you hadn’t anticipated. Is the bookshop on a quiet street in Dublin actually there … or not? If not, where did it go? This novel intertwines mystery, romance, and magical thinking in a delightful way that will take the reader on a somewhat different reading experience.
Evie Woods is an Irish author who has scored another bestseller with this novel, first published in 2023. For us Americans, it’s always a treat to read the writing of an international writer, as their style differs somewhat from what we typically expect. The Lost Bookshop is no exception.
You will enjoy this delightful novel!
Reviewed July 2024
The Teacher (Freida McFadden; 2024)
By all accounts, Eve lives an idyllic life as a happily-married, high school teacher. The reader quickly discovers things are not as they appear. Eve and her husband Nate, also a teacher at the school, both teach a troubled teen, Addie. Addie’s got a tainted past and a suspect present, making her the target of bullying by her classmates. Her story, intertwined with Eve’s and Nate’s, will keep you guessing–usually incorrectly! A few other characters you’ll sometimes hate, sometimes love, are also thrown into the mix. The ending is something you won’t see coming. New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden’s The Teacher is a psychological thriller full or plot twists and surprises.
McFadden is a physician who specializes in patients with brain injury and, as an author, she’s a master at turning straightforward plots into convoluted story arcs that make it […]
The Girl in the Vault (Michael Ledwidge; 2023)
Michael Ledwidge is perhaps best known for being the coauthor of some of James Patterson’s novels. In The Girl in the Vault, however, he writes alone and hits a home run.
Faye Walker is a young college grad who scores an internship in a prestigious Wall Street financial firm. As the pick of the litter, and equally brilliant and beautiful, she’s destined for the one open job offer at the firm … until another intern employs a variation on the oldest profession in the world to win over the boss and get the job.
As they say, “Hell hath no fury like a scorned woman.” While that proverb typically refers to love, it applies equally to business. And, Faye’s out to prove just that.
Ledwidge’s fast-paced novel spins a tale of Faye not just getting […]
The Exchange (John Grisham; 2023)
The Exchange, John Grisham’s sequel to The Firm, was a long time coming. The two books’ publication dates are separated by thirty-two years! Mitch and Abby McDeere are back, but it’s fifteen years after his Memphis law firm Bendini, Lambert, and Locke collapsed. The couple now lives in Manhattan, where Mitch is a partner at Scully and Pershing, the largest gaggle of attorneys in the world.
Mitch is called to Rome to visit one of his elder partners there, setting in place a series of events that endangers Mitch, Abby, and his colleagues and their families. Sound familiar? Only the location has changed!
Mitch does take a sentimental trip back to Memphis, where he reunites with one of his partners from his days there. I’ll just say it doesn’t go swimmingly. He also makes a trip to, of course, Grand Cayman, allowing […]