Mystery

Same Time, Next Week

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by Milly Johnson

Timewise, I can never be too far from a Milly Johnson book. I’ve been re-reading them sporadically on Audible while waiting for a new one by her. This time, I ended up reading this new title at the same time as I was listening to an old favorite, The Woman in the Middle. Unfortunately the main heroine of the older book bore a great similarity to one of the main characters in this one in personality as well as her challenges and journey. So every time I returned to this one after listening to the other, I had to get my thoughts together and reset, so to speak. It wasn’t too difficult as “Middle” had only one main story to Same Time, Next Week’s fairly equally distributed stories of five women’s paths to love and inner growth.

Same Time… follows the lives of women who start out at, or soon reach, very low points in their lives. How they find their ways to happiness, success, and their just deserts is the very familiar foundation to any reader of Milly Johnson. It didn’t break too much new ground, that’s for sure. And I am more than fine with that. With Milly, it’s not the plot, but the writing, humor, and the way she makes you care about her characters. And you can’t beat the way she always makes sure the good guys triumph and the bad guys get what they deserve. With Milly, due rewards and punishments are super-sized. And that’s a good thing, because she really puts her characters through the gauntlet at the hands of their tormentors. When the character you grow to care about suffers, you suffer along with them. The fact that you know revenge and justice are coming for all makes it all worth it.

In this one, I would say the two main characters are Amanda and Mel. Amanda is in her 50s and suffering mightily from the symptoms of menopause. Milly gives us a play by play on this stage of life, and it’s not pretty. For those who have yet to go through this, I hope your experience does not mirror Amanda’s. Take hope that her experience is not a universal one. Some sail through with just a few blips. She is faithfully and lovingly taking care of her elderly mother who does not appreciate her and has never really loved her. On the other hand, she worships her worthless and immoral son, Bradley, who only cares about what he can get out of her and is eagerly anticipating his inheritance. The elderly, those that care for them, and their struggles, is an issue that Milly has tackled before. This one is more harrowing and heartbreaking than usual.

Mel has been married, she thinks happily, to Steve for 30 years. He goes to a highschool reunion and starts having an affair with a woman he meets there. My first question was why Mel didn’t go with him, but it is never even mentioned as a consideration. Perhaps school reunions are different in the U.K. It’s not a good idea not to accompany your spouse to a high school reunion, in my view. If Mel had gone with Steve, none of her story would have happened, and that would have been a bad thing. Bad for the reader, and, as it turns out, bad for Mel. Because life without Steve teaches her that she was not so happy in her marriage after all.

Astrid, Sky, and Erin round out the quintet of women who, through the friendship group that Amanda starts, become friends and supporters of each other through their trials and tribulations. The group meets in the newly opened Ray’s Diner, a new business in Spring Hill Square, a little center that has made a number of appearances in previous books. Sky is in her late twenties and haunted by a false accusation that her father was a serial killer. It ruined his life and keeps raising its ugly head. Her sweet and gentle nature is also being taken advantage of by her landlord from hell who moved in on her and is a creepy pervert to boot. This part of the story was very disturbing and I didn’t understand how this could have been allowed to happen. She is in love with her boss who is 20 years older and the ex-husband of…Erin. The two exes were and are great friends but were unhappy in their marriage. Erin is struggling with guilt and the death of the woman she left her ex, Bon, for. Astrid, who is a trans woman, played a prominent role in Afternoon Tea at The Sunflower Cafe and was also in The Mother of all Christmases., and The Queen of Wishful Thinking. She is struggling with the death of her husband and a lack of purpose. Astrid is a great character, a real “cracker,” pun intended. “Cracker” as in the British slang version, I hasten to add.

Once again, Milly expertly weaves a lot of threads together to fashion very entertaining and satisfying journeys of all her protagonists. And of course that includes finding love as well as their paths forward through grief of all sorts to the promise of happiness and fulfillment.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

The Bullet That Missed

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by Richard Osman

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“The pool would still be here in the summer.” “Ah, but we may not be,” Joyce had replied, and she was right. It was best to grab everything while you could. Who knows when your final swim might come, your final walk, your final kiss?”

The Bullet That Missed was another great one, the third, in The Thursday Murder Club series. It picks up immediately after the second one leaves off. I found it better than the first but not quite as good as the second. It’s a close call though. I may have liked the second one better because I had forgotten how gently funny and/or wise some passages were and how endearing and well crafted were the characters, even the bad guys (well-crafted not endearing). So it was a lovely and a bit of an exciting surprise. Also, as good as Fiona Shaw was narrating this one, Leslie Manville was brilliant in the second one. In The Man who Died Twice, I was so pleased that DCI Chris Hudson had gotten himself together health and looks-wise, thanks to his new relationship with Patrice, Donna’s mother. And that a spark developed between Constable Donna and Bogdan, a character who was only supposed to be in one scene in the first book, but who was just too interesting to go quietly. In “Bullet”, the relationships are progressing happily, the latter two agreeing that they are “boyfriend and girlfriend” now. And that makes me happy.

Early in this one, Elizabeth and Stephen, her dementia-plagued husband, are kidnapped by an international money launderer, known as “The Viking”. He threatens to kill Joyce if Elizabeth does not kill a rival money launderer, who happens to be an old KGB leader and former lover of hers, Viktor Illyich. Meanwhile, A famous TV journalist asks The Thursday Murder Club to investigate the 10-year-old disappearance and murder of a young journalist who was as close as a daughter to him. Their investigation leads them to the prison where the prime suspect is imprisoned on other charges and which is also home to “Died Twice” ‘s inimitable and ruthless con-woman, Connie Johnson. As she is there courtesy of our gang, she is out for revenge. As always, murder and mayhem follow our intrepid and canny investigators, and as in the preceding book, the two plots eventually merge themselves into a highly entertaining and unlooked-for conclusion.

The twists that crop up throughout the novel, not even including the solution to the murder(s), were delicious. I don’t like using that word but it’s the perfect one. It’s hard to pick a favorite scene, but what occurs when The Viking comes for Joyce is hilarious. I love Joyce. The poignancy of Elizabeth’s beloved Stephen’s mental decline is tempered by flashes of his brilliance of old. It is he who unravels the mystery of the Viking’s identity, which eventually leads to another (delicious) twist.

Everything culminates in an exciting conclusion with answers and solutions aplenty. In both books, the titles have more than one meaning, and are more significant than you might think. Yet we are left with a few loose ends and unrevealed secrets which I sure hope will be picked up in the 4th book in the series. They better be. And that goes for the new characters we get to know. Sure wouldn’t mind even seeing Connie Johnson making a re-appearance. I have a feeling about her.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone

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By J.K. Rowling

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Re-read for 4th time (I think). 02/2025

“Doris Crockford, Mr. Potter, can’t believe I’m meeting you at last.” “So proud, Mr. Potter, I’m just so proud.” “Always wanted to shake your hand — I’m all of a flutter.” “Delighted, Mr. Potter, just can’t tell you, Diggle’s the name, Dedalus Diggle.” “I’ve seen you before!” said Harry, as Dedalus Diggle’s top hat fell off in his excitement. “You bowed to me once in a shop.” “He remembers!” cried Dedalus Diggle, looking around at everyone. “Did you hear that? He remembers me!” Harry shook hands again and again — Doris Crockford kept coming back for more.

What can I say that hasn’t already been said about this book? And by far smarter and more insightful people than me.
All I can say is I enjoyed it very much and was very entertained by Rowling’s playful sense of humor. I am amazed at the funny names she gave her characters. The humor is geared for children in this book, but there is much for adults to enjoy as well. She seems like she was having a heck of a good time writing it and sometimes I imagined that she was just cracking herself up. And I appreciated that reading the book instead of listening to it or watching the movies gave me the opportunity to pause and reflect. Knowing the series backwards and forwards, I enjoyed the foreshadowing of things yet to be and happen. Or was it foreshadowing? How far down the road did she plan out the story and details? It is said she spent 5 years planning out the series before she started writing Sorcerer’s Stone. I wonder what she would have changed if she knew then what she knew by the time she wrote the words “All was Well”? She mapped out everything before she even knew this first in the series would be written, or if written, if it would ever find a publisher. Amazing. A truly amazing woman and writer.

The only quibble I have ever had with this book was the way Gryffindor won the House Cup at the end. As a fair-minded Hufflepuff, it really bothers me. If I was a Slytherin, I can’t even imagine my reaction.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

The Man Who Died Twice

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by Richard Osman

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“More women are murdering people these days,” says Joyce. “If you ignore the context, it is a real sign of progress.”

“I’m involved about as much as I want to be with the Thursday Murder Club. If they can plant cocaine in someone’s cistern, I don’t want to think about what they’d do with my love life.”


The Thursday Murder Club, the initial book in this series is about what happens when a group of murder mystery-loving retirees are confronted with a real life murder in their own retirement community. I liked it quite well. I do not remember too much about the actual mystery, except that I have the vague feeling I was a little disappointed in that part. What I liked was the writing, the humor and the characters. However, books two, three, and four came out in the series and I let them go by with only just a little regret. But with all the publicity about the upcoming Netflix movie they came back to my attention and I decided to listen to the second one on Audible. With The Man Who Died Twice, I got the whole package. The mystery and the other goings on interested me much more than the first one, and the humor and characters were even better. I really grew attached to all in the club and their allies and the bad guys were equally entertaining. The conclusion was touching and satisfying. Justice was done, and extraordinarily so. I also want to add that the narration by the great actress Lesley Manville was brilliant.

Elizabeth, the formidable and fascinating ring leader of the Thursday Murder Club, is contacted by her ex-husband, Douglas, who wants to engage her and her friends to protect him from several organizations or personages that are looking to get back 20 million pounds worth of diamonds that they think he stole. (That pounds as in monetary unit, not weight-Ha Ha.) He believes his life is in danger and he would be right. Meanwhile, Murder Club mainstay Ibrahim, beloved by all, is attacked and beaten by a teenage thug and it is heartbreaking. Murder, Mayhem, Skullduggery, and Retribution ensue. In undertaking their changing goals as far as the Douglas assignment and their relentless pursuit of justice for Ibrahim, much is revealed about our crew. And of course our crew includes Chris, the local DCI and his partner Donna, a police constable. They are trying to put away Connie Johnson, a menace of a drug dealer and all around baddy, who has been a thorn in their side for ages.

Bogdan, a character whom I don’t even remember in the first one, was one of my favorites in this one. He is vital to the success of the Club’s missions, and and there are some personal developments regarding him, as well as Chris and Donna, that make me eager to read the third in the series to see where it all goes. The often underestimated Joyce’s emotional intelligence and Elizabeth’s experience and savvy continue to delight and amaze. We learn a lot more about Elizabeth’s background and adventures as a MI5 agent. Although it is tinged with sadness, her loving relationship with her Dementia-stricken husband Steven, was one of my favorite aspects of the book. I fully expect Ibrahim’s physical and mental recovery to be all but settled in the next entry.

I enjoy being surprised and confounded when reading a mystery as well as seeing through some red herrings and predicting some twists. This one delivered with both. I fear I may have gotten into spoiler territory in a couple of places which is not good territory to be in when reviewing a mystery. If, like me, you had some reservations over Richard Osman’s first book even if you enjoyed it on the whole, please give this one a go.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

The Mysterious Half Cat (Judy Bolton #9)

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By Margaret Sutton

“Holy Christmas!” Horace exclaimed way down in his throat. “What do you call that?” “The Half Cat!” gasped Scottie, one had to her heart. Even Judy found herself clutching Arthur’s coat sleeve in that moment of frozen terror… Let’s get out of here,” Horace whispered hoarsely and began helping Scottie through the window…..“Wait a minute!” Judy detained him “I have an idea.”

I had decidedly mixed feelings about this one. At the beginning of the book, Judy is awakened from a horrible nightmare in which Blackberry, her beloved cat, is hit by a car and cut in half! Peter and Arthur appear and Blackberry, still cut in two, gets up and follows them. The top half follows Arthur and the bottom half follows Peter as they head in opposite directions. Although obviously symbolic of Judy’s feelings being torn between the two young men, this image was very disturbing to me and it is one of the recurring themes in the book. An old beggar approaches the front porch where Judy is telling Honey about her dream and Honey buys the old man’s dream book to interpret it. The old man warns her against dreaming of cats, a coincidence which startles Judy. Peter comes by and shows the girls a mysterious coded note which he found in front of Wing Lee’s Chinese laundry. Judy is intrigued.

When the mail comes, Judy is surprised and pleased to receive a letter from an old playmate, Dora ”Scottie” Scott, who had moved to Alaska before the Roulsville flood. Scottie is coming back home with her little sister Carol. She is all alone in the world now and hopes to stay with the Boltons while she searches for lost relatives. Judy is very excited and of course the Bolton family starts making preparations to welcome Scottie and Carol into their home. Remembering that Scottie was always one for adventure and excitement, Judy thinks that maybe the mysterious note might be a good mystery for them to solve together. Judy goes to talk with Wing Lee about the note and he tells her that “spooks” come to his laundry every Wednesday. This is right up Judy’s alley and she hides out in his basement overnight (on a school night no less!) to investigate. She gets locked in and hears strange sounds and someone talking about splitting a cat in half! What?! How can Judy’s dream be connected to an old beggar, and nefarious doings in Wing Lee’s cellar? I, for one, was baffled. Surely Judy does not have psychic dreams?!

In addition to the mystery of the coded note and the “Half Cat”, Scottie and Carol’s troubles take center stage. When Scottie arrives, she is nothing like the girl Judy remembers. She is unpleasant, ungrateful and unappreciative of Judy’s efforts to make her welcome and involve her in adventure. She is also exhausted because she can not let Carol out of her sight. There is something wrong with Carol’s brain which causes her to go into trances or fly into destructive rages. She also seems to be hearing impaired. Poor Scottie has a lot on her plate, but sometimes the interested, curious, and fun-loving Scottie peeks through. Judy powers through Scottie’s sometimes nasty behaviour and sets to work to help her and Carol and solve the mystery of the “half-cat” into the bargain.

One has to appreciate the unusual step of incorporating a child who, these days, would be considered “on the spectrum” or having serious brain damage into a children’s mystery series. But it was disturbing and painful. Margaret never shied away, even in her early books, from addressing controversial topics to her young readers. In fact, Carol’s problems reflect a tragic circumstance in Margaret Sutton’s own life. How Carol’s behavior affects Scottie emotionally is very layered and authentic. The portrayal of the old beggar is also complex with paranoia, guilt, hoarding, the corruption of wealth, and repentance coming into the mix.

How Judy’s dream seemed to be repeated in real life is neatly explained at the end, to my satisfaction and relief. And Judy’s efforts, with the help of the whole gang, result in tying a kind of “half-cat”, the old beggar, and Scottie and Carol together into a hopeful happy ending. The end of the book sees Judy graduating from high school and and anxiously looking towards an uncertain future.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

The Voice in the Suitcase (Judy Bolton #8)

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By Margaret Sutton

It’s a man!” Honey, do you think he’s dead?”

“I guess so.”

“Maybe he’s just drunk,” she said…”I just want to shake him to see.”

“Don’t you dare!”

“Why not? If he’s dead he can’t hurt us and if he’s only drunk it may rouse him up….”

“I don’t want to rouse him up,” cried Honey in a panic…If you touch him I’ll scream!

“That might rouse him too.”

So, this was the first Judy Bolton I ever read. It got my attention to say the least. It starts off pretty tamely with Judy and Honey at a school picnic discussing a recent burglary of the Hamilton house. They are at a state park and the kids encounter some bums begging for food.  Remember this was written during the depression. Judy is intrigued to hear what sounds like a voice coming from one of their suitcases. Due to a misunderstanding, the school bus leaves without them and they start to walk home (40 miles!). On the way, they encounter one of the bums seemingly dead or drunk in a ditch with his suitcase. Luckily, because a girl named “Tagalong”, of the prominent Hamilton family, alerted  Peter and Horace that Judy and Honey had been left behind, they show up in the car to pick them up. They give the man a ride, but on the way he asks to be let off at a lonely house in the middle of the boonies. The name on the mailbox is “Brady.”

Back at home, Judy’s young friend Tagalong introduces her to the poor but proud Brady family. Tagalong’s BFF is Selma Brady, a friendship she keeps secret from her socially prominent and snobby family. Tagalong is a little rebel.  The Brady father’s parents, who live at the old house that “the bum” asked to be dropped off at,  are celebrating their golden wedding anniversary on Thanksgiving weekend. Selma has been dragooned into  visiting them to help them prepare for the big party and Judy volunteers to go in Tag’s place to help her. Also, Selma is afraid to go their house alone. Of course, Judy’s main interest is to further investigate the talking suitcase which she believes is still at the Brady home. To add to the excitement, we also learn that Selma’s father, Walter Brady, has been arrested for the burglary of the Hamilton home, one of a series of recent burglaries in Farringdon.

What really stood out about this, my first Judy Bolton, was how many times I thought to myself when reading, “This would never happen to Nancy Drew!” Selma’s grandmother is a hateful old witch who claims to have psychic powers. She threatens to shoot her granddaughter (and Judy) and resents all of their hard work trying to clean the house and prepare for the family reunion/anniversary party. Their house is absolutely filthy and every inch is covered in trash and dirt except for some paths through the dirty clothes and litter. Margaret description of the house and its inhabitants  is priceless. For dinner, they have dry bread dunked in milk, which the Grandfather eats  with “a sucking sound.” That night, Judy and Selma sleep in dirty beds, and are awakened by scurrying sounds and chains rattling. That morning, when Judy looks in a mirror, she sees animal tracks across her face, which Judy surmises are rat tracks. Judy’s Thanksgiving was shaping up to be one to remember, and it is just the beginning.

By the end of the story, The Brady’s house is clean, the party is a great success, The old couple have mellowed (a bit), and a falsely accused man has been proven innocent. And the voice in the suitcase has been revealed. No spoilers but the clues are all there for the alert reader

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

First Lie Wins

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By Ashley Elston

I don’t have to know these people to know everything about them. They are the ones who started kindergarten together, their circle remaining small until high school graduation. They fled town in groups of twos and threes to attend a handful of colleges all within driving distance of here. They all joined sororities and fraternities with other groups of twos and threes with similar backgrounds, only to gravitate back to this small Louisiana town, the circle closing once again. Greek letters have been traded out for Junior League memberships and dinner parties and golf on Saturday afternoon, as long as it doesn’t interfere with SEC football.
I don’t fault them for the way they are; I envy them

.
This isn’t your usual domestic thriller which is my preferred choice with my thriller reading. I’d call it an undomestic thriller, maybe. “Evie Porter”, one of many aliases, has been employed by the mysterious and menacing Mr. Smith ever since she was barely out of her teens. She is one of his operatives whom he assigns to infiltrate the life and environment of an unsuspecting target in order to get something he or one of his wealthy and powerful clients wants. She is a scam artist and, yes, engaged in criminal activities. But we like her a lot. She has “a particular set of skills,” but she is shown to have vulnerabilities, which means, the more her story is unfolded, the more we fear for her.

As the book begins, Evie has established herself as the serious girlfriend of a socially prominent small town golden boy who runs a very shady secret business on the side. Mr. Smith is very interested in this highly profitable business, and Evie’s job is to find out everything about it and report back to him. But there are two complications. The first complication is that Evie really really likes Ryan, and Ryan seems to be seriously in love with her. She wants this peaceful ordinary life in this idyllic southern town. It is the life she and her late mother used to dream of. The second complication is that even though she knows she is his best operative, she has been on seriously thin ice with Mr. Smith who has been displeased with her since she failed at her last job. She cannot fail again. Actually, a 3rd complication soon emerges. At a party with Ryan she is introduced to a new girlfriend of an old buddy of his who has recently returned to town. She bears a noticeable physical resemblance to Evie and she is introduced as Lucca Marino, which is Evie’s real name. Uh Oh. In fact, her whole closely guarded secret identity has been hijacked by this woman.

As Evie deals with “Lucca” and does her work for Mr. Smith, we get flashbacks of Evie/Lucca’s origins and how she came to work for him. We are taken through her previous missions for him: In no particular order, stealing a valuable painting from a burglar-proof safe room, framing a squeaky clean politician to make him vulnerable to bribery, retrieving damaging information that could bring down a crime boss, posing as a Nanny for a young family to retrieve a flash drive hidden somewhere in the house, and getting a successful college football coach released from his contract. The more we learn about Evie, the more we like and admire her. And the more we loathe and fear Mr. Smith. We also see that Evie is accumulating assets with each job she does, and even a friend or two. Clearly she is up to something behind the scenes. And who is Mr. Smith really? Can she ever escape this life or is she trapped until Mr. Smith decides to dispose of her?

There are, are like all good thrillers, much cleverness, many twists, and surprising reveals. I loved the ending with many threads coming together. All is revealed in great detail, which I loved and reveled in. And the final little twist….Well. I’d love a sequel.
And Bonus! No alcoholism!

Rating: 5 out of 5.

The Mystic Ball (Judy Bolton #7)

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By Margaret Sutton

As Judy stepped upon the stage she lifted her chin proudly and looked straight into Madame Wanda’s cat-like eyes….she walked cautiously over and peered down into the mystic ball….Madame Wanda burst out explosively.”Tell me! Tell the audience! Tell the whole world what you see!”
Was the woman crazy?…But to her great disappointment, there was nothing there. …“What’s the matter with it? I don’t see a thing.”
“Ah clever weren’t you?” she mocked. ”But not clever enough to see your own future! Why? Because you haven’t any future.”
Gasp went up from the audience. “Don’t you know what it means…? “Have you never heard the word–Death?”

This book has some of Judy’s best sleuthing as well as plenty of personal drama regarding one of Margaret’s most interesting character creations, Judy’s friend, Irene. I would call Irene a divisive character, but I doubt that there is any serious Judy Bolton fan who would not admit the girl is flipping crazy (as much as they might defend her and try to explain her.) Thankfully, she does get better as the books go on. And her fiance Dale is another piece of work. Irene and Dale met and got engaged in the previous book, The Yellow Phantom. In this one, they are almost torn apart thanks to Irene’s stubborn belief in a fortune teller.

The adventure begins with Judy and all of her Farringdon friends going to the theatre to watch a movie and a show featuring Wanda the Wonderful. While passing by the theatre, Judy notices a lot of electronic equipment being carted into the theatre. Now these days, anyone would know that electronic equipment + a psychic predicting the future = Fraud and Skulduggery. But remember this book was written in the 1930s when the X-ray machine was considered the latest in medical innovations and a source of amazement. Wanda singles out Irene and tells her a disastrous fortune with enough details from her past life to win her trust. The most alarming part is that she tells her that her father will die and Dale doesn’t really love her and is after her money. Like several other victims, she is given a card and sent to a special room in the back for “the remedy” to the horrific fortunes.

Judy is suspicious but as convinced as she is that Wanda is a crackpot and a con woman, she cannot convince superstitious Irene to believe in Dale’s love rather than a creepy stranger and her crystal ball. And how was Wanda so accurate about Irene’s music, her engagement to Dale and the Tower House? Irene seems to be almost under a spell by the menacing fortuneteller and insists on going back to the theatre to give her a sealed envelope. Knowing that doing so would be the last straw as far as Irene’s nerves are concerned, the girls decide they will change places with each other with Judy delivering the envelope to the theatre and Irene going back to Dry Brook Hollow to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Smeed. Irene insists that when she gets Dale’s next love letter, Judy read it and answer back in her place. I’ll let that sit a minute. I told you she was crazy. When Judy does exactly that, it results in Dale almost breaking the engagement and Irene angrily repudiating Judy as a friend. It’s quite a letter, but poor Judy meant well.

By the end of the book, Judy meets a new friend, Sylvia, gets on stage and challenges Madame Wanda, is trampled during a fake fire alarm, is hospitalized, exposes the crystal-gazer and sees her convicted of grand larceny, wins back Irene’s friendship and re-unites the two lovers. Also, the differences between Judy’s two potential swains, Peter and Arthur, are highlighted. As always with Margaret Sutton’s series, we will meet young Sylvia again in future books and will even see the Crystal Ball again which was given to Judy as a reward for her outstanding sleuthing which resulted in getting a cruel and dangerous fraudster off the streets.

This is one of Margaret’s most entertaining books, in my opinion. Irene and Dale never disappoint.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Welcome to Temptation

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by Jennifer Crusie

“That’s a movie quote, right? You know, if you do that with books, people think you’re intelligent.”
Sophie lowered her chin. “If this is your pathetic attempt to seduce me again, you’re falling miserably.”
“I don’t seduce women.” Phin shoved back his chair and stood up. “They fall into my open arms.”
“Clumsy of them.”

I first read this about 25 years ago (it seems longer). Back then, some of its aspects made me slightly uncomfortable although I loved it. I don’t take my romances as seriously as I used to. Good ones are few and far between now, but they were really really scarce back then, and much harder to find. I had a good time with this one on Audible this time around.

We meet Sophie and Amy, two sisters on their way to Temptation, a town in southern Ohio. They have a photography business and are meeting a “C” list actress there to film a movie, which is Amy’s dream. Sophie is only mildly interested but is there as Amy’s sensible overprotective older sister. Also to keep Amy on the straight and narrow. Both Amy and their brother Davy take after their father, a notorious con man and grifter. Sophie knows her way around a good con as well, but she has chosen to stay on the right side of the law and ethical behavior. Well, she tries, anyway. As they start filming their movie, Sophie to her exasperation and disapproval, sees that the movie is borderline porn. This does not make the good citizens of Temptation or their mayor, Phin Tucker, happy. Actually, Phin couldn’t care less, but duty calls and he is up for election.

This book was not the first award winner that Crusie wrote, but it was the first one that made it to the New York Times Best Seller List. It was her third non-category novel (not a Silhouette, Loveswept, or such). It’s the first “big” book by Jennifer Crusie that I remember reading and while it is the one that made me a fan of hers, I had kind of shied away from re-reading it until, a year and a half ago, I read the sequel to it, Faking It. That one picks up the story of Davy Dempsey who has business with Clea, the movie actress, in this one. Temptation, Sophie, and Phin make a brief appearance in the sequel and it put this one back on my radar.

Crusie’s books are all about humor and romance in equal measure. They are very fun and fast-paced. This one has more crazy characters than usual who are either good guys or bad guys (or gals). There are really only 3 normal sensible people in it: The two main characters, Sophie and Phin, and Phin’s best friend, the sheriff of Temptation, Wes. Oh, and Phin’s 9-year-old daughter, Dilly. Everyone else has issues galore which play out all kinds of ways that kept me turning the pages (figuratively). And then, as there often is in Crusie’s books, there’s a murder. And since this victim was poisoned, drowned, shot, and run over by a car (twice) and the body moved across town by an innocent party, it is quite the mystery.

This one was another wild ride. I think I have at least one more of her books left to re-read, but first I have to take a little break.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Here One Moment

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by Liane Moriarty

It has just occurred to me that I haven’t yet introduced myself. I apologize. One should always introduce oneself quickly!

Investing in life insurance does not increase your risk of dying. Correction: Investing in life insurance may increase your risk of dying if you are married to a murderer. I’m not trying to be funny. Just accurate.

It’s interesting when you suddenly behave out of character. An example: I went tandem skydiving for my sixtieth birthday. It was exhilarating! Obviously, I will never go skydiving again. Not if you paid me. I still have nightmares about it.

I’ve read all of Liane Moriarty’s books. They have all kept me engaged although, of course, I have liked some more than others. But I know when I pick one up, though bad and sad things might happen it will all come together in the end to a satisfying conclusion full of hope. This one kept me on the edge of my seat. Things looked pretty dark for some of the characters this book centers on, but my faith in the author was rewarded in spades.

On a shortish flight from Hobart, Tasmania to Sydney, Australia, an older woman gets up from her seat almost in a trance-like state and goes from passenger to passenger implacably predicting their time and cause of death. This book centers on 6 of them and their families, as well as Cherry, who comes to be known as“The Death Lady”. In Liane Moriarty’s signature fashion, the tension mounts as we jump from one main character to another, learn their stories, and how the prediction clouds and complicates their lives. But we spend the most time getting to know Cherry. At first, I was impatient with that because I was so worried about the other characters, whose deaths, except for one, were predicted to be imminent and shocking. That exception was the prediction for the baby son of a young mother. Her boy will drown at age 7. We see the forces of their doom gathering even as we come to care about them and their loved ones. But it was not long before I was caught up in the life of the brilliant and funny Cherry, who, it turns out, was well worth knowing. Even more than learning the fates of our principal characters, we wonder throughout what in the world possessed her to stand up in that plane and do something so devastating and so out of character.

Are Cherry’s predictions to be taken seriously? As three people on the flight die exactly as predicted, it seems maybe so. But are the apparent fates of those that remain preventable? Will believing the predictions to be true become a self-fulfilling prophecy? What about free will? Or are our futures ruled by determinism? There is lots to think and wonder about in this novel besides the gripping plot and masterful character development. How does Chaos Theory come into it? It’s the cover of the book! Or The Many Worlds Interpretation? We learn about the Monte Carlo Fallacy(or the Gambler’s Fallacy), The Call of the Void (or The Vertigo of Possibility), and The Just World Fallacy. (There’s no such thing as Karma? Shoot!) Why does Cherry look so familiar to one of the passengers? What is the significance of her strange brooch? How odd that we don’t remember the 4th person who dies. And what about Cherry’s famous fortune-teller mother? Will her beautiful predictions for Cherry come true or was she a well-meaning charlatan? What are the notebooks she speaks of?

After coming to it’s moving and satisfying (even triumphant) conclusion, I thought back on all that occurred in the book. I was amazed at how Liane brought it all together like an intricate puzzle successfully solved. She really outdid herself. Many seemingly insignificant details are important clues but I didn’t grasp their meaning and how they all came together until the end. Liane Moriarty leaves none of her signature devices and tactics by the wayside and they certainly worked to keep me enthralled. Here One Moment was brilliantly crafted and hugely enjoyable.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for a free Uncorrected Digital Galley of this book in return for an unbiased review. This book will be published September 10, 2024.

Rating: 5 out of 5.