6 December Thrillers Written by Women

The further we get into December the less interested I am in books that make me think. I want escape, and I want to be entertained. The most I want to ponder when I'm reading this month is along the lines of whodunit.

Here are a half dozen thrillers and mysteries that will suit me just fine. Which ones call to you?

A Madness of Sunshine by Nalini Singh (Berkley, Dec. 3): This is a missing person thriller set in a small town in New Zealand. The characters include an outsider big-city detective who ends up as the town's only cop and a prodigal daughter who's returned home after an eight-year hiatus. The two team up to search for clues and sort through the suspects, churning up old crimes and deep secrets among the villagers. The New Zealand countryside plays a role in this dark thriller in which everyone seems to be hiding something. Opening lines:

She returned home two hundred and seventeen days after burying her husband while his pregnant mistress sobbed so hard that she made herself sick. Anahera had stood stone-faced, staring down at the gleaming mahogany coffin she’d chosen because that was what Edward would’ve wanted. Quiet elegance and money that didn’t make itself obvious, that had been Edward’s way. Appearances above everything.

Audiobook: Narrated by Saskia Maarleveld (Penguin Audio; 10 hr; 59 min) [digital and audio copies provided by the publisher]

Reputation by Sara Shepard (Dutton, Dec. 3): This thriller involves a small Pennsylvania college town, hacked email, and a murder. When tens of thousands of personal emails are dumped into a searchable public database, all hell breaks loose. When an investigative reporter returns home to help her newly widowed sister, they can't help but start looking into the husband's death, unearthing secret upon secret while a killer remains on the loose. Opening lines:

Maybe you got it at birth. Maybe you gained it through hard work. Perhaps you have yours because you’re charitable, or ambitious, or an asshole. It’s your reputation. Everyone’s got one. And if you think reputations don’t matter, you’re wrong.

Audiobook: Narrated by Lisa Flanagan, Allyson Ryan, Phoebe Strole, Brittany Pressley, and Karissa Vacker (Penguin Audio; 13 hr, 3 min) [digital and audio copies provided by the publisher]

The Wives by Tarryn Fisher (Graydon House, Dec. 30): This psychological thriller is set in Seattle and is told through the eyes of a woman who is knowingly in a polygamist marriage, even though she has never met the other women. All is fine until it's not, and the legal wife discovers the identity of one of the other woman. She meets her, incognito, and discovers her mild-mannered husband may have a violent streak, and she begins to fear for her own safety. Opening lines:

He comes over on Thursday of every week. That’s my day, I’m Thursday. It’s a hopeful day, lost in the middle of the more important days; not the beginning or the end, but a stop. An appetizer to the weekend. Sometimes I wonder about the other days and if they wonder about me. That’s how women are, right? Always wondering about each other—curiosity and spite curdling together in little emotional puddles. Little good that does; if you wonder too hard, you’ll get everything wrong.

Audiobook: Narrated by Lauren Fortgang (Harlequin Audio; 9 hr) [digital and audio copies provided by the publisher]

All That's Bright and Gone by Eliza Nellums (Crooked Lane Books, Dec. 10): In this mystery, set in the Detroit area, six-year-old Aoife and her slightly older neighbor set out to find out what really happened to Aoife's dead brother, why her mother has been hospitalized, and what her lawyer uncle isn't telling her. The story, with themes of family, grief, secrets, and redemption, is told through Aoife's eyes. Opening lines:

I know my brother is dead. I’m not dumb like Hazel Merkowicz from up the street says.

Sometimes Mama just gets confused, is all.

Like every year on the feast of Saint Theodore, his birthday, Mama sets out an extra plate for Theo, with a candle on it instead of food because I guess Theo isn’t hungry. And Mama says, “Isn’t this nice? It’s like we’re all together again.”

Audiobook: Narrated by Jesse Vilinsky (Blackstone; 9 hr, 16 min) [digital copy provided by the publisher]

Thin Ice by Paige Shelton (Minotaur, Dec. 3): In this first in a new mystery series, a thriller author takes on a new identity and hides out in a small Alaskan town while police try to track down a man who kidnapped her. Settling into her new home, she agrees to help both the local police department and the newspaper, which gives her a good platform for researching her own assailant. Small, remote towns, however, are not always as safe as one would think. Opening lines:

The good thing about being suddenly overcome with fresh terror is that you forget everything else you were afraid of. At least temporarily.

The pilot next to me in the two-seat prop plane angled his almost toothless grin my direction and said loudly, “A little bumpy today. You’ll get used to it.”

Audiobook: Narrated by Suzie Althens (Dreamscape; 9 hr, 17 min) [digital copy provided by the publisher]

Good Girls Lie by J. T. Ellison (Mira, Dec. 30): When a British high school student gets a scholarship to an elite boarding school in Virginia, she thinks she is leaving all her troubles and dark past far away across the ocean. But mean girls, secret societies, and shadowy corners of campus haunt her and any other girl who refuses to play along with the popular kids. Can our hero truly escape her past? Opening lines:

The girl’s body dangles from the tall, iron gates guarding the school’s entrance. A closer examination shows the ends of a red silk tie peeking out like a cardinal on a winter branch, forcing her neck into a brutal angle. She wears her graduation robe and multicolored stole as if knowing she’ll never see the achievement. The last tendrils of dawn’s fog laze about her legs, which are five feet from the ground. It rained overnight and the thin robe clings to her body, dew sparkling on the edges.

Audiobook: Narrated by Fiona Hardingham (Harlequin Audio; 11 hr, 53 min) [digital and audio copies provided by the publisher]

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Stacked-Up Book Thoughts: A Bookish Weekly Reset 1

First off, I totally stole the idea of a "weekly reset" from some (non-book) YouTubers I follow. I love the idea and so am going to do this for the remaining Mondays in December.

What is a weekly reset? In terms of work, planning, cooking, housecleaning, and organizing, it's a day to catch up, reprioritize jobs, set your goals for the week, and so on. For my blog, it's going to be a kind of combination of Sunday Salon, Monday reviews, Mailbox Monday, Currently, and whatever else you want to throw in there.

December in my world means more socializing, getting work done before the Christmas break, taking time to shop, and focusing on family and friends. Reading doesn't disappear, but it plays second fiddle to everything else. While I'm in the holiday mood, I don't really feel like sitting down to write a thoughtful review (even one of only one paragraph) of every book I've read. My weekly reset is a chance to review, organize my upcoming reading list, and tell you what what's on my book stand.

A Book to Put on Your List

Nothing More Dangerous by Allen Eskens (Mulholland, Nov.) is everything I love in a coming-of-age story. Set in a small town in the Ozarks, this is the story of the summer 15-year-old (white) Boady Sanden learned just how far white men would go to maintain the status quo. This beautifully written book is told in retrospect, as Boady recalls the consequences of befriending the son of the new factory manager: not only was Thomas's family black and from the North, they were financially well off and educated. With so many points against them, trouble was sure to follow; would things have gone differently if Boady had been more aware? Other themes are local politics, the police, atoning for past sins, depression and loneliness, the joys of boyhood, and a sort of murder mystery. The unabridged audiobook (Hachette Audio; 10 hr, 27 min) was wonderfully read by Kevin Stillwell, who kept the characters straight, was sensitive to pacing, and believably conveyed the emotions of a young teen boy. This book is likely to be one of my most memorable of the year.

Books I'm Reading

• Total Gut Balance by Mahmoud Ghannoum (Countryman Press, Dec. 24): Not very sexy, I know, but I'm on a quest to learn more about gut health and how it affects our overall well-being, including our immune system. This book focuses on the fungi that live in our gut (our mycobiome). The author summarizes current research and provides some meal plans and recipes. My initial impression is that the information is well researched and the recipes look good.
• Highfire by Eoin Colfer (Harper Perennial; Jan 28, 2020): I loved Colfer's Artemis Fowl books for middle grade and young teen readers and couldn't wait to read his first adult novel. This is a kind of modern-day fantasy that takes place in the Louisiana bayous. The two principal characters are Vern, the last of the dragons, who loves pop culture and vodka and hopes to spend the next millennium with minimal contact with humans, and Squib Moreau, a young teen who got caught in the middle of something big and dangerous one night after sneaking out of his bedroom window. Humor, action, and mayhem are on the horizon. The fantastic Johnny Heller is the narrator (Harper Audio; 9 hr, 19 min).

New to My House in Print

• The Perfect Love Song by Patti Callahan Henry (Thomas Nelson; Oct. 8): a Christmas romance
• NVK by Temple Drake (Other Press; Nov. 26): an urban fantasy set in modern-day Shanghai
• Clean Getaway by Nic Stone (Random House Children; Jan. 7, 2020): Stone's first middle-grade novel
• The Tenant by Katrine Engberg (Scout Press; Jan. 14, 2020): crime fiction / murder mystery set in Copenhagen
• The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampire by Grady Hendrix (Quirk; April 7, 2020): Set in Charleston in the 1990s
• Aftershock by Adam Hamdy (Hachette; Dec. 3): A thriller set in London featuring a local DI and an FBI agent
• The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner (St. Martins; May 26, 2020): Set just after WWII a group of people gather to preserve Austen's home and legacy
• The Lost Diary of M by Paul Wolfe (Harper; Feb. 20, 2020): The imagined diary of a murdered ex-lover of JFK
• No True Believers by Rabiah York Lumbard (Random House Children; Feb. 11, 2020): Young adult contemporary thriller involving Islamophobia and white supremacy in suburbia
• The Keeper by Jessica Moor (Penguin; Mar. 24, 2020): Thriller set in England that explores violence against women and girls 

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Weekend Cooking: The List Edition

On this first December weekend, I thought I'd do something fun for Weekend Cooking. It seems like it's been a really long time since I wrote a links post.

On my daily wanderings around the internet and social media, I often come across interesting foodie articles or fun lists. Some of the articles I read carefully, others, I just kind of skim, and some I bookmark for later.

Today's collection falls into the middle and latter categories. These are all posts I've run across within the last week, and all are on my list to read more carefully over the weekend. I hope you find something fun to read or a new recipe to try.

Note that some of the following lists are set up as slide shows. Yes, I hate them with a vengeance too, but sometimes you just have to bite the bullet.

I Love a Good List

• Martha Stewart shares her site's 10 Most Popular Recipes from 2019. I have my eye on the Peruvian Style Roast Chicken and Potatoes (shown) and the Lime Pudding Cups.
• Better Homes & Gardens revealed the 8 kitchen design trends we'll see in 2020. I'm all for blue and more blue (apparently Pantone's color of the year), and I've always been a fan of wood and Shaker style, so I guess I'm either ahead of the times or just so behind I've become trendy.
• Business Insider shared the 30 biggest food trends of the last decade. I am definitely in on a number of the trends, like avocado toast, non-dairy milk, and hard seltzer, but I've stayed away from others, like charcoal foods and juicing.
• You probably already know about the New York Times's 12 stunning cookies you can bake this holiday season. Gingery brownie cookies? Peppermint stripes? Stamped citrus shortbread? Blood orange window cookies? I truly can't pick a favorite from this list.
• Here's something fun: The Star has compiled a list of cocktails to match your birth sign. Mine is definitely right up my alley, but the one for Mr. BFR's sign is a total miss. Still, a fun way to discover new cocktails.

Let's Get Cooking or Baking

• I'm not much of a traditional Christmas fruitcake fan, but Mary Berry's Christmas Cake Bites over at Hello look so pretty, I'd like to make them just for the festive factor. On the other hand, I'm not sure I'd like quite that much fondant on top.
• Eating Well, one of my favorite magazines, gathered a list of 15 soups and stews featuring chickpeas. What's more satisfying on a cold night than a steaming bowl of soup? The flavors will take you around the world, featuring recipes from Italy, India, the New World, Africa, and the Mideast. Shown is the Turkish Chickpea and Lamb Soup.
• I like all-one dishes, so was happy to see that Kitchn gathered a week's worth of one-bowl dinners. The photos all look appealing, especially the soba noodle bowl. One is Thai, but I can sub a different nut for the inevitable peanuts.

On the Thanks but no Thanks List

• Business Insider had an article about scented logs for your fireplace. You may be thinking woodsy or spicy, but you'd be wrong. This year you can make your house smell like , . . fried chicken! Yes, KFC is selling logs that smell like their secret 11 herbs and spices. Just say no.

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Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page.

NOTE: Mr. Linky sometimes is mean and will give you an error message. He's usually wrong and your link went through just fine the first time. Grrrr.
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AudioFile Magazine's Best 2019 Audiobooks in Memoir

As you know, I'm a huge audiobook fan and have been since the last century (doesn't that make me sound old?). You probably also know that I freelance for AudioFile magazine, writing reviews and blog posts. Thus I'm doubly thrilled to have the chance to feature one of the categories in AudioFile's best audiobooks of 2019.

I was tapped to highlight the Best 2019 Audiobooks in Memoir. The magazine's editors picked the following audiobooks because of the strength of the voices of the authors who generously shared their stories both to educate and inspire us. The audiobooks on this list were also picked because of exceptional performances of the narrators.

Memoir can be tricky to read because the narrator is tasked with conveying the author's emotions and personality while drawing a curtain around their own reactions. The other side of the coin is the author-narrator who, of course, brings authenticity and and intimacy to the performance but is not a professional voice artist.

The narrators of the six audiobooks on AudioFile's list of Best in Memoir for 2019 brilliantly met all the challenges of reading these personal true stories. The links lead to AudioFile's reviews. For all the Best Audiobooks 2019, visit the AudioFile website.

The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World written and read by Melinda Gates: Gates has long been known as a philanthropist along with her husband, Bill Gates. You often hear the name Gates associated with various arts programs and events. But as Gates's memoir reveals, her interests in helping others has a special focus on women around the world. She talks about the need to improve women's health care, to increase women's opportunities, and to level the playing field when it comes to salaries. She advocates for women in rural communities in underdeveloped countries and for women in the high-rises of big city corporations. Gates, an experienced public speaker, reads her own story with confidence and good expression.

Trailblazer: A Pioneering Journalist's Fight to Make the Media Look More Like America by Dorothy Butler Gilliam, read by January LaVoy. I was the magazine's reviewer for this excellent memoir that is so much more than Gilliam's transformation from preacher's daughter with a narrow future to first black woman reporter and, later, columnist for The Washington Post. Her life and career spans both the feminist and the civil rights movements and allowed her a front-row seat at some of American's most significant turning points. If you're a woman or a person of color (especially if you were born in the mid-20th century), her story will resonate on a personal level, depending on your age and situation. For anyone still facing socially sanctioned restrictions (in other words if you're not white, male, and Christian), you'll find so much of Gilliam's story to relate to. LaVoy's performance hits all the right tones--in emotions, pacing, and personality.

The Aye-Aye and I by Gerald Durrell, read by Rupert Degas. This memoir of Durrell's expedition to Madagascar to save an endangered primate, the aye-aye, from extinction will appeal to animal lovers and Durrell lovers alike. Durrell vividly coveys his obvious passion for animal conservation, describing exotic and rare sharks, snakes, and tortoises and also describes the problems of deforestation. Listeners will be charmed by Durrell's humor and may get a little twitchy at the descriptions of dangerous animals, horrible weather, and man-eating mosquitoes. Degas captures the essence of a multitude of characters, believably renders a variety of accents, and brings this memoir to life.

Mama's Boy: A Story from Our Americas written and read by Dustin Lance Black. This memoir by an Academy Award winner is as much a tribute to the author's mother as it is a testament to how opposites can find common ground despite their differences. Black, a screenwriter and LGBTQ activist was raised in Texas by a politically and socially conservative mother who had more than her fair share of personal struggles. As we enter the holiday season, with its potentially tense gatherings of loved ones from a variety of political and personal beliefs, Black's memoir teaches us that bridges can be built. Black's narration underscores the full range of emotions of this inspiring story.

Forever and Ever, Amen: A Memoir of Music, Faith, and Braving the Storms of Life by Randy Travis with Ken Abraham, read by Rory Feek. For many of us, the name Randy Travis evokes the essence of country music and the Nashville scene. But many of us, like me, may not know why Travis has stopped recording. In his memoir, Travis himself talks about the stroke that took away his singing voice but also tells listeners about how winning a talent contest took him to Nashville, a marriage, and fame. He also frankly talks about the downhill side: splitting up with his wife and issues with alcohol. Still, in the end, he hasn't lost either his love of music or his love for his god. Feek, a singer himself, reads this inspirational memoir with charm and empathy.

From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home written and read by Tembi Locke. In her memoir, Locke shares the joys of falling in love with an Italian chef, marrying, and then adopting a baby girl. Although she and Saro were head-over-heels happy and were warmly embraced by her Texan family, his Sicilian family did not hesitate to express their disapproval that he married not only an American, but a black American. After Saro lost his life to cancer, however, Locke was surprised and grateful to find solace at her in-laws' home, where she was nourished both emotionally and physically by their love as well as by the lifestyle and food of Sicily. Locke's performance is heartfelt and engaging.

To learn even more about the don’t-miss audiobooks of the year, be sure to follow AudioFile magazine on Twitter, like them on Facebook, and subscribe to their podcast.

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Stacked-Up Book Thoughts: 5 Current Book Reviews

Hello, December! Where the heck did this year go? We may be a few weeks away from winter, but the weather here has definitely taken a downward turn. It's been windy, a little icy, and cold.

We haven't had any major snow yet, so that's something to be grateful for. I'm also glad we took the time to get the deck ready for winter. We didn't finish with the yard work -- but there's always next year, right?

Another thing I'm happy about is that it seems as if my workload is finally under control. It's crazy how busy I was. My reading suffered horribly, but I plan to make up for lost time in December.

I'm not going to review everything I read or listened to over the last month (or however long it's been since I did a Monday post). Instead I picked five books to talk about.

I assume everyone has read Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea (Doubleday, Nov. 5). The premise of this book hit a ton of my buttons: a fantasy set in modern times involving stories and books and an alternative world with portals to our own. Unfortunately, Starless Sea didn't totally work for me. Here's the good: I loved the stories within stories, the blending (in the book's reality) of truth and fiction, and the nonchronological plot threads. I also liked the alternative world, with its caves and library and kitchen and, yes, starless sea. However, despite so many positive elements, I was left, at the end, with a vague feeling of being unsatisfied and maybe even thinking (just a little), "So what?" On the other hand, the audiobook (Random House Audio; 18 hr, 37 min) is absolutely beautifully narrated by a full cast, and it was the fabulous performances of Dominic Hoffman, Dion Graham, Bahni Turpin, Fiona Hardingham, Allan Corduner, and Jorjeana Marie that kept me going. Bravo to the narrators; I hope they win some awards. (digital and audio copies provided by the publisher)

Here's a novel you may have missed. Heddi Goodrich's Lost in the Spanish Quarter (Harper Via; Sept. 10), takes place mostly in Naples near the end of the twentieth century and is told in retrospect after our protagonist hears from her college lover after a long silence. The book is billed as fiction, though much of the main character's life mirrors the author's including her name. Heddi moves from America to Italy on a high-school exchange program and ends up staying in the country all the way through college. When living in the Spanish Quarter of Napels, finishing university, she meets Pietro, and the two fall for each other hard. The novel is a love story to the ancient city, Mount Vesuvius, and all things Italian as well as the story of a group of young people facing their futures, full of hope and opportunity, yet still very much influenced by their families and their past. Heddi and Peitro's relationship and the pain and trials of their transitioning to full adulthood are universal enough to draw you in and unique enough to keep you interested. Goodrich wrote Lost in the Spanish Quarter in Italian and translated the book to English herself. Recommended to those who like character-driven novels. Warning: you'll be planning a trip to Naples even before you finish the book. (audio copy provided for a freelance assignment)

Do you read the New York Times column "Modern Love"? If you don't, you've been missing out. Fortunately, you can read about 30 of the essays in the collection Modern Love, Revised and Updated, edited (with others) by Daniel Jones (Broadway, Oct. 1). Each of the essays reprinted here really shine. I can honestly say there were no misses for me. The stories cover all kinds of love from romantic relationships to parent-child relationships. Some are funny (as in dating mishaps), some are sad (those that ended in death), and others are almost unbearably moving. One of my favorites involved an Evangelical woman who loved her church and her god but was later surprised to realize that she loved a woman from her Bible study class even more. Another one is about a man who meets some of his many children for the first time: he was sperm donor when he was in college and one of his sons finds him through a DNA/genetics site. There are also stories of adoption, dating when you're disabled, and much more. If you're an audiobook lover (Random House Audio; 8 hr, 9 min), you don't want to miss this all-star cast performance. Each narrator did a credible job, bringing out the many emotions without going over the top. (audio copy provided for a freelance assignment)

A few weeks ago, I included Wild Life by Keena Roberts (Grand Central, Nov. 12) in a nonfiction round-up. I really enjoyed this memoir of a girl growing up divided between a remote research camp in Botswana and a Philadelphia Main Line private school. Keena's parents are well-known field primatologists who studied baboon communication and social behavior in a colony of monkeys who lived on a string of islands a long way from any kind of town. Keena's story is a fascinating look at life in one corner of Africa, with its incredible beauty, haunting sounds, and many dangers. She was curious, level-headed, smart, and self-sufficient at an incredibly young age. Despite her impressive Africa skills, Keena found it difficult and sometimes frustrating when she had to adapt to America. Even sitting in a classroom all day was hard for her. Add on the fact that she had missed out on television and other pop culture, and you can see why it wasn't always easy for her to fit in. Still, because she returned to the same school each trip home, Keena was able to make some lasting friends who helped her survive the mean girls. The audiobook (Hachette Audio; 9 hr, 42 min) is read by Chloe Cannon, who picks up on Keena's personality and her obvious love of the wild places of her childhood. (audio copy provided by the publisher)

Another book I featured in my nonfiction round-up was Gareth Russell's The Ship of Dreams: The Sinking of the Titanic and the End of the Edwardian Era (Atria, Nov. 19). I'm one of those people who have been fascinated with the Titanic story since I was a child. I don't really know why, but I've never gotten tired of learning more about the tragedy. Russell's take is a little different from others. Although he does give details about the actual night of the sinking, the loading of the lifeboats, and the sights and sounds of that horrible night, he places the passengers and the whole phenomenon of the luxury liner in the contemporary global context. He talks about immigration, old versus new money, various prejudices (ethnic and religion), political issues, social conventions, and other concerns of the fading Edwardian Era. He focuses on a handful of passengers to make his points of how various people were treated and/or expected to be treated in the years leading up to World War I. He also paints a much more realistic picture of the evacuation of the Titanic than sensational movie scenes have led us to believe (for example, third-class passengers were not locked below decks). This is as much a history of the mid-1910s as it is a story of the Titanic and its passengers. I tried the audiobook (Simon & Schuster Audio; 12 hr, 35 min), but I didn't click with narrator Jenny Funnell. Her performance was fine, but a few mispronunciations and odd pauses sent me to the book. Your mileage may vary. (audio and digital copies provided by the publisher)

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