Review of The Swifts: A Dictionary of Scoundrels, by Beth Lincoln, read by Nikki Patel

Adventure, Audiobooks, Children's Fiction Review, Mystery, Starred Review 0

The Swifts

A Dictionary of Scoundrels

by Beth Lincoln
read by Nikki Patel

Listening Library, 2023. 9 hours, 53 minutes.
Review written October 2, 2023, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

The Swifts is a story about an adventurous family that sets themselves apart from common folk by taking their names from the family dictionary. Shenanigan Swift is a child in this family, and she’s constantly told “You can’t help your name.” People continually expect shenanigans from her, and they are not disappointed.

She and her sisters Phenomenon and Felicity live in the ancestral Swift estate while their parents are off adventuring. But adventures happen at home when Aunt Schadenfreude calls a grand Reunion of Swifts to look for the treasure hidden long ago somewhere on the estate by Vile Swift.

But this time, the Reunion is plagued by murder and attempted murder. Gumshoe Swift is obviously not up to the task of finding the culprit, so Shenanigan and her siblings — along with their nonbinary cousin Earth — take up the task.

The mystery is full of misdirection, sinister clues, and a bit of silliness, along with Shenanigan pondering whether your name is actually your destiny.

I listened to this audiobook mostly while getting way too absorbed in a jigsaw puzzle, and it provides a fun mystery adventure the whole family will enjoy (with the warning that there are some deaths). The author wasn’t going for realism, and ended up with delightfully quirky.

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of The Inheritance Games, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Audiobooks, Contemporary, Mystery, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Inheritance Games

by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
read by Christie Moreau

Hachette Audio, 2020. 10 hours, 45 minutes.
Review written March 24, 2023, from a library eaudiobook

Thanks to my friend Lisa for recommending this series to me. I’d seen the hype about the fourth book coming out this summer.

The Inheritance Games begins a series about a billionaire who died and who left puzzles for his family after him.

The biggest puzzle of all is why he left his entire multi-billion dollar estate to Avery Grahams, a teen who’d been living in her car before she got the news, in order to avoid her sister’s abusive boyfriend.

But Avery gets called to the reading of the will of Tobias Hawthorne, along with the whole family. She’s never met any of these people before. So she’s as shocked as anyone when she learns he’s left the bulk of his estate to her, passing over his grandsons, the four Hawthorne brothers.

There is a condition: She has to live in Hawthorne house for one year. It’s an enormous place, so it shouldn’t be difficult. But then someone apparently tries to kill her. And there’s the question of how she feels about the Hawthorne brothers. And she’s warned about the last girl at her new private school who lived at Hawthorne house and turned up dead.

Along with all that, the Hawthorne brothers tell her that their grandfather was always setting puzzles for them, and the letters left to them are obviously another puzzle. Avery thinks the solution to the puzzles may explain why he picked her to inherit.

But the question is: Is Avery’s existence at Hawthorne House just a part of the puzzle, or is this amazing inheritance due to something special about her?

This puzzle novel is fun, though I was a little disappointed that the clues weren’t such that the reader could really play along. Fun to watch them get solved, though. And I’m proud to say that I saw a twist at the end coming long before it happened.

And although they did solve a major puzzle in this book, the ending hints that there are more puzzles to come. The series was originally advertised as a trilogy, but book four is coming out this summer. I think I have been enticed into reading more books. And who doesn’t like a Cinderella story where a worthy but poor heroine comes into great wealth?

jenniferlynnbarnes.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Kill Joy, by Holly Jackson

Audiobooks, Mystery, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Kill Joy

by Holly Jackson
read by Bailey Carr, Raymond J. Lee, and Bruce Mann

Listening Library, 2023. 2 hours, 37 minutes.
Review written March 12, 2023, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

Kill Joy is a prequel novella to A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. It is just plain fun. I was relieved about that, having recently finished Holly Jackson’s utterly terrifying Five Survive. This one is actually not scary.

What we’ve got is the story of how Pip chose her senior capstone project that led to her investigating the murder of Andie Bell, which started the events in the A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder trilogy.

It all begins with a murder mystery party.

The party happens toward the end of Pip’s junior year. Her friends are there — friends whose names I recognize from the series. It happens at Connor Reynolds’ house, and his big brother Jamie runs the mystery and plays the part of a Scotland Yard detective.

I was waiting for the mystery party to turn sinister, and, well, I won’t tell you about that. But let’s just say that unlike any other Holly Jackson book I’ve read, this one was more fun than scary.

So that’s why I think this is a good book to read after you’ve read the whole trilogy. It’s fun to get more insight into the characters and have some fun with them and understand how it all began. If you start with the prequel, you’re going to be very misled about the level of tension in the later books. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Oh, and the audio version has the same excellent production as the trilogy, with multiple voice actors and the same theme music at the beginning and end. A great listening experience!

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Pride and Premeditation, by Tirzah Price, read by Morag Sims

Austenalia, Historical, Mystery, Teen Fiction Review 0

Pride and Premeditation

by Tirzah Price
read by Morag Sims

HarperAudio, 2021. 8 hours, 30 minutes.
Review written October 2, 2022, from a library eaudiobook

I always enjoy Jane Austen spin-offs. This book takes all the characters from my favorite Jane Austen book, Pride and Prejudice, and places them in a murder mystery.

They’re in a different social setting than before. Lizzie’s father Mr. Bennet is a barrister, owning the firm Longbourn and Sons, where Lizzie helps out and wants an official position. Instead she must endure it when Mr. Collins, a distant relative who will inherit the firm, takes credit for her work. Her father challenges her to solve a case using logic to prove herself.

And then she hears about the case of the murder of Mr. Hurst. His brother-in-law Mr. Bingley is accused of the murder. Lizzie hopes to insert herself into the case, but they have engaged the services of his friend Mr. Darcy, who works for the much larger legal firm, Pemberley.

What follows is a convoluted and melodramatic case. At first, I didn’t much like this version of Elizabeth Bennet. She didn’t seem nearly as clever, and was mostly jumping to conclusions in her attempts to sleuth. (Of course, I expected her to jump to the wrong conclusion about Mr. Wickham.)

The author does admit in a note at the end that a woman could not have done the things Lizzie does in this book. But beyond that, the solution to the case seemed a bit coincidental and convoluted.

But when I stopped worrying about the logic behind things, I had to admit it was a fun ride. And it’s always fun to watch Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy gradually change their opinions of one another, whatever the setting.

tirzahprice.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of How to Solve Your Own Murder, by Kristen Perrin, read by Alexandra Dowling and Jaye Jacobs

Audiobooks, Fiction Review, Mystery, Starred Review 0

How to Solve Your Own Murder

by Kristen Perrin
read by Alexandra Dowling and Jaye Jacobs

Books on Tape, 2024. 10 hours, 52 minutes.
Review written February 13, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
2025 Alex Award Winner

The Alex Awards are given every year to ten books published for adults that will be of interest to teens. How to Solve Your Own Murder is an excellent choice.

This is a cozy murder mystery, complete with an English village and manor as the setting. Our main sleuth is 20-something Annie Adams, who recently graduated from college and then lost her job, so she’s moved back into her mother’s house and dreams of writing mystery novels.

But one day a letter arrives from great-aunt Frances’s lawyer asking to meet with Annie because great-aunt Frances (whom Annie has never met) is changing her will. Well, when Annie shows up to the meeting, great-aunt Frances is late, but when they go to the manor to meet her there – they find her dead.

But it turns out that Frances has been expecting to be murdered since she was a teen in 1965 and got a detailed fortune that said she would likely be murdered. The local police were sick and tired of the way she thought every indigestion was poison and every last name a type of bird an omen. She found a way to have her theories taken seriously. Annie and the other possible heir, a man named Saxton, are told that whichever one of them solves Frances’ murder will inherit her entire fortune and become a millionaire. If nobody solves the case within a week, the whole estate will get parceled off and sold to developers.

Now, along with the present-day mystery and the high motivation that comes with it, there’s another mystery revealed in Frances’s old diary. In 1966, one year after getting her fateful fortune, her friend Emily disappeared, with her body never found. Annie has a feeling the two cases are linked. And meanwhile, someone’s leaving threatening notes on her pillow in her room at the manor.

So the book has two threads going, one from the past taken from Frances’s diary, and another from the present, that comes with multimillion-dollar stakes and a dash of danger. Someone killed Frances, so if Annie gets too near the truth, they may come for her, too.

It all adds up to a cozy mystery with a nice puzzle, fun characters, and plenty of suspense. I loved listening to this one.

kristenperrin.com
penguinrandomhouse.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of One Perfect Couple, by Ruth Ware, read by Imogen Church

Contemporary, Fiction Review, Mystery, Starred Review, Suspense 0

One Perfect Couple

by Ruth Ware
read by Imogen Church

Simon & Schuster Audio, 2024. 14 hours, 25 minutes.
Review written January 31, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

Okay! With this book I’ve read all of Ruth Ware’s existing work – and this one felt like something new and had me hanging on every word.

Yes, this one is a thriller like all the others, and it’s going to end with the female main character in great danger. There’s always some question about who she can trust and where the danger lies, though in this case, that came to be obvious before the dangerous confrontation – it was more a question of would she survive the confrontation. (Though I will put it in “Mystery” along with the others.)

The book sets up with Lila, a research virologist, fretting over data that doesn’t give the results she wanted. And then her actor boyfriend Nico gets a big opportunity and wants her to come with him on a new reality TV show called “One Perfect Couple.” Five couples are going to be taken to a tropical island and given tasks to achieve. People will get eliminated after each task, and the producers will be encouraging some remixing of the couples.

Lila isn’t thrilled about the whole thing. But Nico is very much hoping it will be his big break as an actor. Their plan is that Lila will get knocked out early, and if Nico’s encouraged to spend time with other women, he assures her it will purely reflect his acting abilities – only for the camera.

But during all this set-up, the book begins each chapter with a radio distress call of someone from the island in the future, not too far ahead. They’re stranded, their water is running out, and people are dead and injured – so we’re fully warned that things are going to go terribly wrong.

And they do go terribly wrong. The island hosts a resort in construction and not yet open to the public. Their first night – after one person is eliminated – an enormous storm takes out power and the desalination plant. The boat where the staff of the show were staying had left to take the eliminated contestant back to the mainland – and it doesn’t return.

The storm kills a couple people, and then the group has to figure out how to survive until a boat comes – but that turns out to be much longer than they hope. So they need to ration food and medicine – and let’s just say there are power struggles and more people start dying.

And my goodness it had me avidly listening! Perhaps it’s not the most pleasant story to spend my time with, but I did like the characters and there were even some interesting insights into toxic relationships. But mostly, it was a thrilling story that got me wondering what I would do in that situation – and tremendously glad I’ll never get in that situation.

[It’s probably just me, but does anyone else wonder why someone on a tropical island wouldn’t try to make their own small desalination scheme by trying to evaporate sea water and catch the condensation? I understand you probably wouldn’t get a lot, but every little bit would help, and it seems easier than scaling coconut trees. Why didn’t they even try? That was my only niggling question – but I also had it when reading a different book about drought in California, so it was a persistent thought.]

ruthware.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of The Turn of the Key, by Ruth Ware, read by Imogen Church

Audiobooks, Fiction Review, Mystery 0

The Turn of the Key

by Ruth Ware
read by Imogen Church

Review written December 30, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.
Simon & Schuster Audio, 2019. 12 hours, 13 minutes.

The Turn of the Key is Ruth Ware at her most frightening. Never mind what I said in my last review of one of her books – even though this is the fourth one of her books I’ve read in the last half of 2024, I had no idea what was going to happen in this one. Well, except what the person telling the story told us – she was in prison for murder for the death of a child. The book is her writing to a lawyer the other ladies in prison have said is good for no-chance cases.

Before I talk about the book, let me say that this book is extremely well-written and had me on the edge of my seat all the way. The plot wasn’t predictable, and so many small things combined to keep the tension high. So why am I not giving it a star? Well, a child dies. And even watching all the pieces come together to explain mysterious events isn’t enough to make me feel good about the story. I was left with a sinking feeling at the end of the book, so I feel like my review has to include a fair warning. Not only does someone die whom you’ve come to care about, it’s a child.

And the author absolutely tells you that right from the start. So if I wasn’t able to handle that, I probably shouldn’t have read the book. And I did thoroughly enjoy reading the book and couldn’t stop thinking about it – but it didn’t give me the usual happy feeling at the end when a mystery is solved.

Anyway, that said, the story is told by Rowan Caine. She discovered an opportunity to be a nanny for two architects and their four children in a remote part of Scotland. Rowan is up front that she told some lies to get the position, and her reasons are some of the mysteries in the book. But it has an enormous salary, and the family seems nice, and the teenage daughter is off to boarding school when Rowan is first due to arrive.

The initial interview – a day with the family – went great, but when Rowan shows up for duty, she’s told the parents are heading to a conference the very next day. The previous nannies have left because they thought the house was haunted, but Rowan firmly believes that’s a load of bunk. All the same, when she starts hearing pacing in the night above her room – where there shouldn’t even be a room – and when the “smart” house malfunctions in the night, and when the children get her told off after they lead her into the poison garden on the grounds – well, she doesn’t know what’s going on or where to turn. The lady who comes in to clean doesn’t seem to like her, and the handyman/driver is helpful, but she doesn’t want him to think she’s a neurotic female who needs to be rescued.

The situation builds, with one thing after another. Just when Rowan thinks she’s getting a break, something more happens. And it all ends with the death of a child. And when Rowan tried to explain to the police what had been going on, she only makes them more suspicious.

It’s another thriller with expertly done, twisty suspense. Pick it up with a fair warning.

ruthware.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of A Christmas Visitor, by Anne Perry, read by Terrence Hardiman

Audiobooks, Christmas, Fiction Review, Mystery 0

A Christmas Visitor

by Anne Perry
read by Terrence Hardiman

Blackstone Audio, 2006. 3 hours, 59 minutes.
Review written December 24, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.

Okay, here’s one last cozy Christmas mystery for this year. This is the second one written by Anne Perry. The sleuth in this book is the gentleman Henry Rathbone, a friend of William and Hester Monk from her Victorian mystery series. He’s the same main character as in A Christmas Odyssey, a book I decided not to review because it’s not really a cozy mystery, searching the “dark underbelly” of London for a friend’s long lost son, and contains some casual transphobia against the characters found there.

But this book has plenty of coziness and snow-covered landscapes to get you in a Christmas mood. Henry Rathbone is the title visitor, visiting a family of friends at their estate in the Lake District of England. But unfortunately, a few weeks before, Judah, the owner of the estate, was found dead after apparently trying to cross icy stepping stones late at night after his son’s recital. Judah was a judge, and meanwhile, a man recently freed after years in prison, is accusing Judah of wrongfully imprisoning him in order to buy his estate.

As the family gathers from far-flung corners of the earth, it’s left to Henry to break the news to Judah’s siblings, rather than leave it to his widow. It seems strange that Judah would have gone for that walk late at night, and no one believes the accusation for a moment, so there’s plenty to investigate, and we get time with the interesting family members at the same time.

I have clearly listened to too many Anne Perry Christmas mysteries this year – I’m starting to be annoyed by how they can be weak on actual proof of the crime, and that it’s just about figuring it out, which is often guesswork. But still, taking me to Victorian England in the snow at Christmas time is a nice way to honor the holiday.

anneperry.us

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of A Christmas Escape, by Anne Perry

Audiobooks, Fiction Review, Mystery 0

A Christmas Escape

by Anne Perry
read by Steven Crossley

Recorded Books, 2015. 3 hours, 41 minutes.
Review written December 20, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.

Yes, I’m listening to one Anne Perry Christmas novella after another in the lead up to Christmas, after I finished all the eaudiobooks my library has available that are eligible for the Cybils in the Young Adult Speculative Fiction category. Overdrive informs me that this is the thirteenth one she wrote.

I enjoyed this one for having quite a different flavor from the others – instead of being set in a remote English village, it’s set on an island in Italy, next to an active volcano. Our main character Charles Latterly isn’t obviously from any other of Anne Perry’s books. He’s a lonely gentleman going on vacation over Christmas to warmer shores. The host makes him welcome in the small hotel, with wonderful food, and assures them that it has stood safely there at the foot of the volcano for generations.

Charles goes out walking on the hillside the next day and encounters a charming fourteen-year-old girl and her elderly guardian. But when they get back to the hotel, there’s disharmony among the guests when the visiting author claims that someone tried to push him off the mountain.

And then things get much more frightening the next day when the volcano begins to erupt. To be completely safe, they need to get down to the beach, but that means walking a long way – and sure enough, before they set out they discover a murder.

I enjoyed listening to this one a bit more than the others, because the danger of the eruption had me riveted. The mystery itself felt contrived, and the motive unlikely, and it wasn’t solved by deduction so much as guesswork. But that didn’t stop me from enjoying the story. And I liked the friendly, almost fatherly relationship that developed between Charles Latterly and the teenage girl in the time of danger.

And, yes, everything resolves and most of the characters reach safety on Christmas Day.

anneperry.us

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of A Christmas Beginning, by Anne Perry

Audiobooks, Christmas, Fiction Review, Mystery 0

A Christmas Beginning

by Anne Perry
read by Terrence Hardiman

Blackstone Audio, 2007. 4 hours, 7 minutes.
Review written December 19, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.

Another cozy murder mystery for Christmas! I’ve discovered I can make up for always needing to read for the Cybils Awards in December by listening to audiobooks of some of the titles I’ve missed. Overdrive informs me that this is Number Five. I think I might have read it many years ago, but now the completist in me wants to write a review. The order definitely doesn’t matter, because most of the characters come from various others of Anne Perry’s books.

A Christmas Beginning features Superintendent Runcorn of the London police, a former boss of Monk – the main detective in one of Anne Perry’s other series. (I hope to listen to some of those other series soon.) It appears that Runcorn and Monk don’t like each other much.

In this book, Runcorn has come to the small island of Anglesey on vacation at Christmastime. To his surprise, he runs across a disagreeable man he knew in conjunction with a London case. But this is notable because during the course of that case he fell in love with the man’s beautiful sister, Melisande. He goes to church in hopes of encountering her as well. He does, but learns that her brother has gotten her engaged to a local constable who is also a gentleman. Runcorn is very aware throughout the book of his socially inferior status, which was all the more important in the late 1800s when this is set.

Later in the churchyard, Runcorn discovers the body of a beautiful young lady whom he also saw in church, the sister of the vicar. She was a friend of Melisande, who begs him to help solve the case. It turns out that the young lady had been courted by three different men, including Melisande’s brother and her current fiance. The woman seems to have been killed by someone who knew her, because she was facing the assailant and didn’t run away. So if Runcorn can figure out why those courtships ended, maybe he can learn about the case. And even though solving the case will make the local constable look good, he cares so much about Melisande’s peace of mind, he can’t bring himself to turn away.

And that’s the crux of this novella – solving the crime is dependent on learning about the relationships of the deceased. And you’ve got a little romance thrown in as well. It’s more of a story than a puzzle, but it’s a nice cozy Christmasy one – you can read about the characters out and about in the cold while you’re cozying up to this book by a fire.

anneperry.us

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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