Book Review: The Mystery of Three Quarters

Author: Sophie Hannah

Publication Date: August 28, 2018

Publisher: William Morrow

The world’s most beloved detective, Hercule Poirot—the legendary star of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express and most recently The Monogram Murders and Closed Casket—returns in a stylish, diabolically clever mystery set in the London of 1930.

“We Agatha Christie fans read her stories--and particularly her Poirot novels--because the mysteries are invariably equal parts charming and ingenious, dark and quirky and utterly engaging. Sophie Hannah had a massive challenge in reviving the beloved Poirot, and she met it with heart and no small amount of little grey cells. I was thrilled to see the Belgian detective in such very, very good hands. Reading The Monogram Murders was like returning to a favorite room of a long-lost home.”

   — Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl

Hercule Poirot returns home after an agreeable luncheon to find an angry woman waiting to berate him outside his front door. Her name is Sylvia Rule, and she demands to know why Poirot has accused her of the murder of Barnabas Pandy, a man she has neither heard of nor ever met. She is furious to be so accused, and deeply shocked. Poirot is equally shocked, because he too has never heard of any Barnabas Pandy, and he certainly did not send the letter in question. He cannot convince Sylvia Rule of his innocence, however, and she marches away in a rage.

Shaken, Poirot goes inside, only to find that he has a visitor waiting for him — a man called John McCrodden who also claims also to have received a letter from Poirot that morning, accusing him of the murder of Barnabas Pandy... 

Poirot wonders how many more letters of this sort have been sent in his name. Who sent them, and why? More importantly, who is Barnabas Pandy, is he dead, and, if so, was he murdered? And can Poirot find out the answers without putting more lives in danger?

I must admit that I have never read an Agatha Christie novel, so I have nothing to compare this one too. However, I must say that I really loved and adored this novel. I found it to be very atmospheric and I found myself completely submersed in the mystery. Some parts seemed slow because of the rich descriptions and all the background information that the author had to provide, but the mystery was well laid out and Sophie Hannah’s puzzles were intriguing as they unraveled. 

“It is not a pleasant thing, to be accused of something one has not done. One ought to be able to brush the untruths aside, but somehow they take hold of the mind and cause a spectral form of guilt—like a ghost in the head, or in the conscience! Someone is certain that you have done this terrible thing, and so you start to feel as if you have, even though you know you have not. I begin to understand, Georges, why people confess to crimes of which they are innocent.”

“Most certainly, there is more, and I shall find out what it is. Not one unsavory morsel will escape from Hercule Poirot!”

“You might be cleverer than I am,” I said, though the person I was addressing had no chance of hearing me, “but I wouldn’t assume you’re cleverer than Hercule Poirot.”

I am very intrigued to read the other two books by Sophie Hannah, additions to the Hercule Poirot series by Agatha Christie. Sophie Hannah has done her research well when it comes to our detective, Hercule Poirot. Many critics have negative things to say about Hannah’s writing of Poirot, but I believe she has done an outstanding job in the continuation of this series.

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at William Morrow in exchange for my honest review***

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Book Review: Ghosted

Author: Rosie Walsh

Publication Date: July 24, 2018

Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books

Seven perfect days. Then he disappeared. A love story with a secret at its heart.

When Sarah meets Eddie, they connect instantly and fall in love. To Sarah, it seems as though her life has finally begun. And it's mutual: It's as though Eddie has been waiting for her, too. Sarah has never been so certain of anything. So when Eddie leaves for a long-booked vacation and promises to call from the airport, she has no cause to doubt him. But he doesn't call.

Sarah's friends tell her to forget about him, but she can't. She knows something's happened--there must be an explanation.

Minutes, days, weeks go by as Sarah becomes increasingly worried. But then she discovers she's right. There is a reason for Eddie's disappearance, and it's the one thing they didn't share with each other: the truth.

Sarah and Eddie fall in love over the course of seven short days. Eddie has to leave on an already scheduled vacation after those seven days, promising he will call Sarah and see her when he returns. Sarah relishes in the idea of what their relationship will be and thinks she has found “The One”, until he doesn’t call or return her messages. It is like he has vanished completely. 

I thought that this story was a completely new twist on an original love story. I LOVED the story and how the author, Rosie Walsh, manages to give us a taste of mystery alongside a sweeping romance story. The twists and turns just kept coming and I loved being surprised over and over again. I thought at some point that I would figure out where the author was taking the story, but I never could get my predictions spot on. This was such a refreshing change in plot!

I craved control over this uncontrollable situation.

Seven days later Eddie and I had said good-bye. But it was a French good-bye: an au revior. An until the next time! It was not a farewell. It was not even remotely a farewell. When did “farewell” involve the words “I think I’ve fallen in love with you?”

I loved this about him. He seemed always to say what he was thinking; nothing was edited. Which was a novel experience for me, because everyone edited everything when I came back to England.

Eventually we found ourselves in the leaves without any clothes on. I had mulch in my hair, probably insects. But I felt only joy. Deep, radial branches of joy.

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at Pamela Dorman Books in exchange for my honest review***

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Book Review: Sweet Little Lies

Author: Caz Frear

Publication Date: August 14, 2018

Publisher: Harper

In this gripping debut procedural, a young London policewoman must probe dark secrets buried deep in her own family’s past to solve a murder and a long-ago disappearance.

Your father is a liar. But is he a killer? 

Even liars tell the truth . . . sometimes.

Twenty-six-year-old Cat Kinsella overcame a troubled childhood to become a Detective Constable with the Metropolitan Police Force, but she’s never been able to banish these ghosts. When she’s called to the scene of a murder in Islington, not far from the pub her estranged father still runs, she discovers that Alice Lapaine, a young housewife who didn’t get out much, has been found strangled.

Cat and her team immediately suspect Alice’s husband, until she receives a mysterious phone call that links the victim to Maryanne Doyle, a teenage girl who went missing in Ireland eighteen years earlier. The call raises uneasy memories for Cat—her family met Maryanne while on holiday, right before she vanished. Though she was only a child, Cat knew that her charming but dissolute father wasn’t telling the truth when he denied knowing anything about Maryanne or her disappearance. Did her father do something to the teenage girl all those years ago? Could he have harmed Alice now? And how can you trust a liar even if he might be telling the truth?

Determined to close the two cases, Cat rushes headlong into the investigation, crossing ethical lines and trampling professional codes. But in looking into the past, she might not like what she finds. . . .

Cat Kinsella is one of the best leading protagonists that I have read this year. She is snarky, extremely witty, flawed (and knows it), and deals with her problems openly and honestly. What more could you ask for? I would not have wanted anyone else to tell me this story. Cat works for the London Metropolitan Police and is running from her past and her family, who she feels is concealing some murderous secrets.

The story starts off by providing some background details about Cat and her family’s previous life. Not long after the first chapter or so, Cat is brought in on a new murder case and it quickly becomes personal for her. She is such a strong female lead – a police detective is the perfect job for her. We learn bits and pieces about Cat as the story progresses – I felt that she, her family, and the victim were fully fleshed out characters. 

The writing in this novel was so spot on – I constantly felt as if I were inside a police station. I learned so much lingo and technical terms; it was great! Frear, the author, must have put in a lot of time learning police procedures, interactions with suspects, etc. With that being said, this author is from England, so some of the slang used was hard for me to follow at first, but I got used to it and caught on very quickly.  

The story goes back and forth between past and present – all narrated by Cat. Cat faces a lot of personal and professional conflict, both are written superbly and realistically. My only complaint with this novel is that at times the writing seemed to dredge on and the plot was slow developing. However, once the suspense showed up, everything went into full swing!

Problem is, while the lie may be sweet as it falls from your lips, the feeling in your gut is always putridly sour.

You had a sixty-five percent chance of fathering a child with your wife. There’s a sixty-three percent chance that you killer her.

The most devastating punishments aren’t always the legal ones.

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at Harper in exchange for my honest review***

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Book Review: Rush

Author: Lisa Patton

Publication Date: August 21, 2018

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Set in modern day Oxford, Mississippi, on the Ole Miss campus, bestselling author Lisa Patton’s RUSH is a story about women―from both ends of the social ladder―discovering their voices and their empowerment.

Cali Watkins possesses all the qualities sororities are looking for in a potential new member. She’s kind and intelligent, makes friends easily, even plans to someday run for governor. But her resume lacks a vital ingredient. Pedigree. Without family money Cali's chances of sorority membership are already thin, but she has an even bigger problem. If anyone discovers the dark family secrets she's hiding, she’ll be dropped from Rush in an instant.

When Lilith Whitmore, the well-heeled House Corp President of Alpha Delta Beta, one of the premiere sororities on campus, appoints recent empty-nester Wilda to the Rush Advisory Board, Wilda can hardly believe her luck. What’s more, Lilith suggests their daughters, both incoming freshman, room together. What Wilda doesn’t know is that it's all part of Lilith’s plan to ensure her own daughter receives an Alpha Delt bid―no matter what.

For twenty-five years, Miss Pearl―as her “babies” like to call her―has been housekeeper and a second mother to the Alpha Delt girls, even though it reminds her of a painful part of her past she’ll never forget. When an opportunity for promotion arises, it seems a natural fit. But Lilith Whitmore slams her Prada heel down fast, crushing Miss Pearl’s hopes of a better future. When Wilda and the girls find out, they devise a plan destined to change Alpha Delta Beta―and maybe the entire Greek system―forever.

Achingly poignant, yet laugh-out-loud funny, RUSH takes a sharp nuanced look at a centuries-old tradition while exploring the complex, intimate relationships between mothers and daughters and female friends. Brimming with heart and hope for a better tomorrow, RUSH is an uplifting novel universal to us all.

This latest novel by Lisa Patton is told in alternating viewpoints from the perspective of three different women. A young girl, hoping to be a new pledge for a sorority on campus, named Cali. A mother, who wants to ensure her daughter has a good chance at being an Alpha Delt pledge, named Wilda. And finally, Miss Pearl, the housekeeper for the Alpha Delt house who treats all the sorority sisters like her own “babies”. 

Miss Pearl, being a woman of color, gets the lower end of the stick and is mistreated by some pretentious characters in this novel. I want to go ahead and voice that upfront because even though this novel is set in modern day, this story just goes to show how prevalent racism still is, especially in the minds of some of the southern elites. Miss Pearl’s character is charming and genuine and I loved her interactions with the girls. She helps them get to bed on nights they have been “over served” and is a shoulder to cry on when they are down and out. Because of Miss Pearl and her interactions with others in this novel, I had The Help vibes and I loved being back in that southern setting.

Cali is another character that I want to focus on because she was a young girl coming from a not so well-off family into a world of glam and glitz and southern royalty. Cali’s characters continually tries to find her way and fit in in a world where she definitely does not belong. She is smart, works hard, and loves her grandparents, but she is not used to the opulence and wealth that other characters around her are accustomed to. I loved watching her progress and interact with others. It was important to her to stay true to herself.

The southern setting, the dialects used, and the interactions among characters are completely realistic and true to reality. Lisa Patton’s writing is smooth, easy to follow, and engaging. It feels like you have sat down to listen to a friend telling you a story. The story progresses quickly and the chapters are short, which is always a plus for me. There were parts where I thought things could have been cut out and I did feel that the novel could have been shorter than the 416 pages, but I enjoyed following each of these women and seeing what they learned and how they each overcame their struggles and found their true selves.

“Well, take your junkie butt and get on outta here, then.”

The smell of catfish frying wafts from the kitchen into the dining room, setting my taste buds on fire.

Let me start by getting something out of the way. I am one of those women who compares herself to others. Yes, I’m well aware of what healthy people think about that, and I agree, it’s exhausting.

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at St. Martin’s Press in exchange for my honest review***

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Video Review: Tiffany Blues

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Book Review: A Double Life

Author: Flynn Berry

Publication Date: July 31, 2018

Publisher: Viking

“A thrilling page-turner.” —Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train

“Breathtaking . . . As shocking as it is satisfying.” —The New York Times Book Review

A gripping, intense, stunningly written novel of psychological suspense from the award-winning author of Under the Harrow

Claire is a hardworking doctor leading a simple, quiet life in London. She is also the daughter of the most notorious murder suspect in the country, though no one knows it. 

Nearly thirty years ago, while Claire and her brother slept upstairs, a brutal crime was committed in her family's townhouse. The next morning, her father's car was found abandoned near the English Channel, with bloodstains on the front seat. Her mother insisted she'd seen him in the house that night, but his powerful, privileged friends maintained his innocence. The first lord accused of murder in more than a century, he has been missing ever since. 

When the police tell Claire they've found him, her carefully calibrated existence begins to fracture. She doesn't know if she's the daughter of a murderer or a wronged man, but Claire will soon learn how far she'll go to finally find the truth.

Loosely inspired by one of the most notorious unsolved crimes of the 20th century – the Lord Lucan case – A Double Life is at once a riveting page-turner and a moving reflection on women and violence, trauma and memory, and class and privilege.

The first thing that gripped me about Berry’s new novel was the fact that this story is based on a true crime. This story is loosely based on the Lord Lucan case of the 20^thcentury, which I turn had to research. Berry’s writing is very suspenseful and will keep you turning pages, which is one of the most important factors for me in reading thrillers. Another important part of Berry’s writing that I very much enjoyed were the flashbacks from present day that helped fill in the plot and background. I love a good background story – Berry truly helped set the stage, fill you with suspense, and develop her characters this way. I loved Claire and finding out, slowly and quite mysteriously about her dad - best part of the story!

A man comes around the bend in the path. I stop short when he appears. The heath has been quiet today, under dark snow clouds, and we’re alone on a path where the oak trees form a tunnel.

It starts to snow. Only lightly, but enough to being to turn the fields and paths white. I keep walking as snow drifts over the trees, any my face feels tight and clean in the cold. I start to think about what I will say to him.

Or, they said Mum wasn’t confused, she was lying, and had staged the attack to frame my father. They were about to begin divorce proceedings, she might have lost the house, custody, access to his money. “She wasn’t stable,” said James, in an interview with the Telegraph. “You have to understand that. None of us ever knew why he was with her.”

I love how Flynn Berry builds a character with so much soul- in this case Claire, whose father killed her Nanny, attempted to kill her Mother then disappeared seemingly into thin air. I loved Berry’s choice to write this novel from the perspective of the suspect’s daughter, Claire. Most of us want to know more about the suspect in a crime, but we don’t often stop to think about the family of the suspect and what they must feel during a time like that – this novel was suspenseful, thrilling, and threw in a few twists that I did not see coming!

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at Viking Books in exchange for my honest review***

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Video Review: The Last Time I Lied

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Debut Review: Mary B

Author: Katherine J. Chen

Publication Date: July 24, 2018 

Publisher: Random House

The overlooked middle sister in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice casts off her prim exterior and takes center stage in this fresh retelling of the classic novel.

What is to be done with Mary Bennet? She possesses neither the beauty of her eldest sister, Jane, nor the high-spirited wit of second-born Lizzy. Even compared to her frivolous younger siblings, Kitty and Lydia, Mary knows she is lacking in the ways that matter for single, not-so-well-to-do women in nineteenth-century England who must secure their futures through the finding of a husband. As her sisters wed, one by one, Mary pictures herself growing old, a spinster with no estate to run or children to mind, dependent on the charity of others. At least she has the silent rebellion and secret pleasures of reading and writing to keep her company.

But even her fictional creations are no match for the scandal, tragedy, and romance that eventually visit Mary’s own life. In Mary B, readers are transported beyond the center of the ballroom to discover that wallflowers are sometimes the most intriguing guests at the party. Beneath Mary’s plain appearance and bookish demeanor simmers an inner life brimming with passion, humor, and imagination—and a voice that demands to be heard.

Set before, during, and after the events of Pride and Prejudice, Katherine J. Chen’s vividly original debut novel pays homage to a beloved classic while envisioning a life that is difficult to achieve in any era: that of a truly independent woman.

Mary Bennett is often the forgotten sister because she has no charming characteristics like Lizzy or Jane that stand out. Jane Austen paints Mary as plain, boring, dull, with her nose constantly in a book. Katherine Chen wanted a chance to put her spin on Mary’s character, and I must say I quite enjoyed this version of Mary, maybe even better than Austen’s (shhhhh!). By the time this novel ends, Mary has found a sense of self-confidence and her place in the world. I love that Chen’s approach to Mary was one of self-discovery. We do see some of the other beloved characters reappear (Lizzy, Darcy, Jane, Mary’s parents). Some I liked as characters in this novel and others I was not a fan of, but I had to remind myself often that this book is supposed to be through Mary’s eyes, so that could change a character’s appearance.

A child does not grow up with the knowledge that she is plain or dull or a complete simpleton until the accident of some event should reveals these unfortunate truths. 

Those who have tended to children or remember being young themselves will know the far range of a child’s imagination.

Because I am plain, others have always assumed in me a disinterest to the opposite sex, to romance, and accordingly, to marriage.

I have loved not once or twice but three times, which is three times more than anyone would believe of me.

Chen’s Mary is a fascinating creature. She is more outspoken than I imagined and she is smarter than anyone she meets in this novel. She is strong and will definitely be one of those female characters that you root for. I loved that Mary did not necessarily get what we see as a “happy ending” but that she was a character who found fulfillment in other places.

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at Random House in exchange for my honest review***

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Back On Booktube!

I have rejoined YouTube! Please check out my channel and listen to me talk about the releases coming out next week that I am excited for!

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