William Kent Kreuger is my favorite mystery writer. I have read all his books and am a huge fan of his Iron Lake mystery series, so I was eager to read his newest novel. I was not disappointed. It pulled me in from page one and didn’t let go even after I turned the last page.
Set in the rural Midwest in the 1950s, it's that rare mystery, a whodunnit that is as much about the mysteries of life. Its sheriff protagonist, Brody Dern, is a complicated character, a good guy who’s also keeping a secret that could blow up his family if it got out. Everyone in this novel has a secret, in fact, and it all revolves around its central mystery of who killed the town bully, Jimmy Quinn, a man hated and feared by all.
Beautifully written with memorable characters, this one’s a keeper and my number-one pick for the best books I’ve read in 2023.
In 1958, a small Minnesota town is rocked by the murder of its most powerful citizen, pouring fresh fuel on old grievances in this dazzling standalone novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the "expansive, atmospheric American saga" (Entertainment Weekly) This Tender Land.
On Memorial Day, as the people of Jewel, Minnesota gather to remember and honor the sacrifice of so many sons in the wars of the past, the half-clothed body of wealthy landowner Jimmy Quinn is found floating in the Alabaster River, dead from a shotgun blast. Investigation of the murder falls to Sheriff Brody Dern,…
I adored this book, my second favorite pick of the year. Beautifully told with well-drawn characters that I came to love, it’s spellbinding. It reminded me of a fairytale with elements of mysticism. First I’d ever heard of a weretiger!
Its three central characters, Ren, Louise, and Willliam, are spiritually connected in some way both by their Chinese names and their dreams, and they cross paths at various points before they meet. Set in China in the late 1930s, just prior to WWII, it’s filled with interesting details both about the times and the customs of the culture.
There’s also a love story, which, like all the best love stories in my opinion, is star-crossed. Will Louise and Shin get together in the end? I was so sucked in by this story I stayed up past my bedtime as I was reading the final chapters to see how it ended.
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER | REESE BOOK CLUB PICK | BBC BIG JUBILEE BETWEEN THE COVERS READ
'It reminds me of Where the Crawdads Sing . . . it's an amazing book' Rhys Stephenson on BBC's Between the Covers
'You won't be able to put this one down!' Reese Witherspoon
They say a tiger that devours too many humans can take the form of a man and walk among us...
In 1930s colonial Malaya, a dissolute British doctor receives a surprise gift of an eleven-year-old Chinese houseboy. Sent as a bequest from an old friend, young Ren has a…
Who doesn’t love a good dog story? Not I! This novel had me with the dog depicted on its cover.
It’s about a wheelchair-bound war veteran, Meghan, and a woman newly released from prison, Rose, who are connected by the dog they both love. Rose trains the dog, Shark, while she’s incarcerated as part of a prison program. Meghan adopts Shark after he graduates the program as a service dog. When the two women meet, they form a deep bond as they each struggle to rebuild their shattered lives.
For me, the mark of a good book is when I upload another title by the same author onto my Kindle immediately after reading it. This was such a book. No sooner had I turned the last page than I ordered another of Ms. Wilson’s dog books. Woof!
New York Times bestselling author Susan Wilson is back another signature heartwarming audiobook—one that begs the question: Can a dog lead the way to finding one's humanity?
After spending years in prison for a crime she didn’t intend to commit, Rose Collins is suddenly free. Someone who knows about the good work she has done—training therapy dogs while serving time—has arranged for her early release. This mysterious benefactor has even set her up with a job in the coastal Massachusetts community of Gloucester, on the edge of Dogtown, a place of legend and, for the first time since Rosie's whole…
My book is about a woman on the run from her abusive husband. She stumbles on the small town of Gold Creek in California’s gold country, where she’s befriended by a group of women who call themselves the Tattooed Ladies and falls for her handsome landlord. A former art teacher, she reinvents herself as a forensic artist, and when her past collides with her present with a shocking development, her survival becomes a matter of life and death.
