Book Recommendation – A Talent For Murder

According to my Goodreads “Year in Books,” I read 60 books last year. I was a bit overzealous when I said I wanted to read 100.

Among those 60 were The Kind Worth Killing and The Kind Worth Saving by Peter Swanson. They feature Lily Kintner and Henry Kimball. Two friends who become friends in a very odd way. No spoilers here. In June of 2024, he released A Talent For Murder. This is the third book to feature Henry and Lily.

It recently became available on the Libby or Hoopla app from my library. It is a book that you can easily read as a stand alone if you had to. Any reference as to what happened in the first two books, is brief and not rehashed. I have stopped many books in a series because the spend half the book retelling the previous book.

This book had plenty of suspense and I really enjoyed it. Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

A newlywed librarian begins to suspect the man she married might be a murderer—in this spectacularly twisty and deviously clever novel by Peter Swanson, New York Times bestselling author of The Kind Worth Killing and Eight Perfect Murders.

Martha Ratliff conceded long ago that she’d likely spend her life alone. She was fine with it, happy with her solo existence, stimulated by her job as an archival librarian, constantly surrounded by thought-provoking ideas and the books she loved. But then she met Alan, a charming and sweet-natured divorcee with a job that took him on the road for half the year. When he asked her to marry him, she said yes, even though he still felt a little bit like a stranger.

A year in and the marriage was good, except for that strange blood streak on the back of one of his shirts he’d worn to a conference in Denver. Her curiosity turning to suspicion, Martha investigates the cities Alan visited over the past year and uncovers a disturbing pattern—five unsolved cases of murdered women.

Is she married to a serial killer? Or could it merely be a coincidence? Unsure what to think, Martha contacts an old friend from graduate school for advice. Lily Kintner once helped Martha out of a jam with an abusive boyfriend and may have some insight. Intrigued, Lily offers to meet Alan to find out what kind of man he really is . . . but what Lily uncovers is more perplexing and wicked than they ever could have expected.

Swanson is one of those writers that is creative and throws many surprises at you. I am already excited to see his next offering.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Book Recommendation – The Christmas Guest

Now that it is officially the Christmas season, I’d like to offer up a holiday read for you. If you are looking for a quick holiday mystery to read, let me offer up one to you. I stumbled on author Peter Swanson when “Eight Perfect Murders” came up as a suggestion on Goodreads. That led me to read a few of this other books (The Kind Worth Killing, The Kind Worth Saving, Nine Lives, etc…).

When I saw that he had a Christmas book, I added it to my “to read” list. It’s been on there since just after Christmas last year. Since all the decorations are up, I thought this would be a good book to read by the lights of the tree.

The book is a novella. It is something that I read in one sitting. It wasn’t as good as some of his other stuff, but there was still a big twist in there which helped boost my rating of the book.

Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

An American art student in London is invited to join a classmate for the holidays at Starvewood Hall, her family’s Cotswold manor house. But behind the holly and pine boughs, secrets are about to unravel, revealing this seemingly charming English village’s grim history.

Ashley Smith, an American art student in London for her junior year, was planning on spending Christmas alone, but a last-minute invitation from fellow student Emma Chapman brings her to Starvewood Hall, country residence of the Chapman family. The Cotswold manor house, festooned in pine boughs and crammed with guests for Christmas week, is a dream come true for Ashley. She is mesmerized by the cozy, firelit house, the large family, and the charming village of Clevemoor, but also by Adam Chapman, Emma’s aloof and handsome brother.

But Adam is being investigated by the local police over the recent brutal slaying of a girl from the village, and there is a mysterious stranger who haunts the woodland path between Starvewood Hall and the local pub. Ashley begins to wonder what kind of story she is actually inhabiting. Is she in a grand romance? A gothic tale? Or has she wandered into something far more sinister and terrifying than she’d ever imagined?

Over thirty years later the events of that horrific week are revisited, along with a diary from that time. What began in a small English village in 1989 reaches its ghostly conclusion in modern-day New York, many Christmas seasons later.

The book was a nice read while I waited for the one I had on hold. It wasn’t like some of his other books, but the twist caught me off guard. Once that happens, the rest of the story all falls into place.

I would have given the book 3.5 stars, but the twist brought it up to 4 stars for me.

Wednesday Reading

Every Vow You Break is the third Peter Swanson book I have read this year. So far he’s 3 for 3. I have enjoyed each one of his books and will add his remaining 7 to my list of books to read. This one was a bit more of a suspense/thriller than the last two. It had me guessing and questioning characters all through the book. There were some very shady ones, and there were times I thought I knew who I could trust and was wrong.

I could easily see this one being made into a film. Here is the Goodreads synopisis:

A bride’s dream honeymoon becomes a nightmare when a man with whom she’s had a regrettable one-night stand shows up in this psychological thriller from the author of Eight Perfect Murders.

Abigail Baskin never thought she’d fall in love with a millionaire. Then she met Bruce Lamb. But right before the wedding, Abigail has a drunken one-night stand on her bachelorette weekend. She puts the incident—and the sexy guy who wouldn’t give her his real name—out of her mind, and now believes she wants to be with Bruce for the rest of her life.

Then the mysterious stranger suddenly appears—and Abigail’s future life and happiness are turned upside down. He insists that their passionate night was the beginning of something special and he’s tracked her down to prove it.

Does she tell Bruce and ruin their idyllic honeymoon—and possibly their marriage? Or should she handle this psychopathic stalker on her own? To make the situation worse, strange things begin to happen. She sees a terrified woman in the night shadows, and no one at the resort seems to believe anything is amiss… including her perfect new husband.

While the synopsis was a good enough tease to get me to read it, the book is so much better than what synopsis gives you.

Side Note:

When I first started book thoughts on my blog, I was doing it more for me. I never thought these little teases and recommendations would come to anything. The fact is, that they have. I have gained some new followers who also read many books. I have gotten some fantastic recommendations from my own followers (Beth – I’m reading yours now and love it!). Dave, another blogger friend used an off the cuff comment I made about whether or not to finish a book and turned it into a very insightful blog. He also read one of the books I had read and liked it.

That, in itself, makes me very happy. I’m glad that I am not just typing stuff that doesn’t offer you, my reader, something. I hope that my writings gives you something to think about, something to laugh at, something to read, something to listen to, or something to share with others. I appreciate you making this blog a small part of your day.

Keith

Timely Book Recommendations

Today is National Book Lover’s Day! Incidentally, it is totally a coincidence that I have a couple books to share with you. With all that’s going on this way, I haven’t really planned that much ahead. I recently finished two books that I really enjoyed and wanted to share with the other book lovers who follow my blog and often recommend books to me.

Nine Lives – Peter Swanson

Nine Lives is the second book I have read by Peter Swanson. The First was Eight Perfect Murders. I wrote about that one here:

Book Recommendation – Eight Perfect Murders By Peter Swanson

I really enjoyed this book. Much like Eight Perfect Murders, the basic idea is what interested me. Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

Nine strangers receive a list with their names on it in the mail. Nothing else, just a list of names on a single sheet of paper. None of the nine people know or have ever met the others on the list. They dismiss it as junk mail, a fluke – until very, very bad things begin happening to people on the list. First, a well-liked old man is drowned on a beach in the small town of Kennewick, Maine. Then, a father is shot in the back while running through his quiet neighborhood in suburban Massachusetts. A frightening pattern is emerging, but what do these nine people have in common? Their professions range from oncology nurse to aspiring actor.

FBI agent Jessica Winslow, who is on the list herself, is determined to find out. Could there be some dark secret that binds them all together? Or is this the work of a murderous madman? As the mysterious sender stalks these nine strangers, they find themselves constantly looking over their shoulders, wondering who will be crossed off next….

The book itself was actually very good. I want to say so much about the story, but every thing I want to mention would be a spoiler, so I will just leave you with the above synopsis and hope that it peaked your interest as much as it did mine.

No Rest For The Dead – Various Authors

This book is one I got for one reason and one reason only – the amount of authors involved. Take a look at the cover. There are some really big authors involved in this book. Each wrote a chapter or two for the story.

Before I even opened it, I wondered just how this would flow. Then I began to wonder if they all got together in a room to decide the story line and who would write what. I mean, really, it is hard to write one entire book, but at least if you are in total control of it – you know where you are going with it. Did they write the ending first? Did each author read the pervious one’s chapter and write from there? I still don’t know.

What I can tell you was that it flowed pretty well. I never got the sense that a different author was writing this chapter or anything like that. As a bonus, the story was actually one that came together nicely.

Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

When Christopher Thomas, a curator at San Francisco’s Museum of Fine Arts, is murdered and his decaying body is found in an iron maiden in Berlin, his wife Rosemary Thomas is the prime suspect. Long suffering under Christopher’s unfaithful ways, Rosemary is tried, convicted and executed.

Ten years later, Jon Nunn, the detective who cracked the case, becomes convinced that the wrong person was put to death. Along with financier Tony Olsen, he plans to gather everyone who was there the night Christopher died and finally uncover the truth about what happened that fateful evening.

Could it have been the ne’er do well brother Peter Hausen, interested in his sister’s trust fund having got through his own; the curatorial assistant Justine Olengard, used and betrayed by Christopher; the artist Belle who turned down his advances only to see her career suffer a setback; or someone else all together? No Rest for the Dead is a thrilling, page-turning accomplishment that only the very best thriller writers could achieve.

Happy National Book Lover’s Day!

Book Recommendation – Eight Perfect Murders By Peter Swanson

I recently finished another book that was on my “To Read” list. It was one that I actually listened to the audiobook while driving to and from work. To be honest, I hoped for a bit more, but it was still a very good book.

Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

A chilling tale of psychological suspense and an homage to the thriller genre tailor-made for fans: the story of a bookseller who finds himself at the center of an FBI investigation because a very clever killer has started using his list of fiction’s most ingenious murders.

Years ago, bookseller and mystery aficionado Malcolm Kershaw compiled a list of the genre’s most unsolvable murders, those that are almost impossible to crack—which he titled “Eight Perfect Murders”—chosen from among the best of the best including Agatha Christie’s A. B. C. Murders, Patricia Highsmith’s Strangers on a Train, Ira Levin’s Death Trap, A. A. Milne’s Red House Mystery, Anthony Berkeley Cox’s Malice Aforethought, James M. Cain’s Double Indemnity, John D. Macdonald’s The Drowner, and Donna Tartt’s A Secret History.

But no one is more surprised than Mal, now the owner of the Old Devils Bookstore in Boston, when an FBI agent comes knocking on his door one snowy day in February. She’s looking for information about a series of unsolved murders that look eerily similar to the killings on Mal’s old list. And the FBI agent isn’t the only one interested in this bookseller who spends almost every night at home reading. The killer is out there, watching his every move—a diabolical threat who knows way too much about Mal’s personal history, especially the secrets he’s never told anyone, even his recently deceased wife.

To protect himself, Mal begins looking into possible suspects . . . and sees a killer in everyone around him. But Mal doesn’t count on the investigation leaving a trail of death in its wake. Suddenly, a series of shocking twists leaves more victims dead—and the noose around Mal’s neck grows so tight he might never escape.

My Thoughts

I love a good mystery and the books on Malcom’s list are classics. I will warn you that if you are unfamiliar with any of them, there are spoilers referenced in regard to each book. If you are planning on reading them, do it before reading Eight Perfect Murders.

The story is told from Malcom’s perspective – his narrative. There are times where you wonder what, if any, involvement he has in any of the murders and just what secrets he is hiding. He has a sense of mystery about him, at least that is how I felt about him.

I loved the whole idea that someone could find this list on a blog and then begin copying the plots from these books. I should have seen the ending coming, but didn’t. It was a satisfying read.