Death at Morning House

 Death at Morning House by Maureen Johnson                                     YA Mystery

(from Amazon)  The fire wasn’t Marlowe Wexler’s fault. Dates should be hot, but not hot enough to warrant literal firefighters. Akilah, the girl Marlowe has been in love with for years, will never go out with her again. No one dates an accidental arsonist.  With her house-sitting career up in flames, it seems the universe owes Marlowe a new summer job, and that’s how she ends up at Morning House, a mansion built on an island in the 1920s and abandoned shortly thereafter. It’s easy enough, giving tours. Low risk of fire. High chance of getting bored talking about stained glass and nut cutlets and Prohibition.  Oh, and the deaths. Did anyone mention the deaths?  Maybe this job isn’t such a gift after all. Morning House has a horrific secret that’s been buried for decades, and now the person who brought her here is missing.  All it takes is one clue to set off a catastrophic chain of events. One small detail, just like a spark, could burn it all down—if someone doesn’t bury Marlowe first.

(My Review)  Morning House has a history...of murder.  

Marlowe, seeking to escape an incident she was responsible for, becomes a tour guide at a historic house with a past of it's own.  She soon discovers it secrets (both recent and past), and tries to discover the answers before it's too late.  This was such a great read.  I loved the parallel timeline mysteries, that reminded me of Johnson's Truly Devious series.

How Can I Help You?

How Can I Help You?  by Laura Sims                             Mystery/Psychological Thriller

(from Amazon)  No one knows Margo’s real name. Her colleagues and patrons at a small-town public library know only her middle-aged normalcy, congeniality, and charm. They have no reason to suspect that she is, in fact, a former nurse with a trail of premature deaths in her wake. She has turned a new page, so to speak, and the library is her sanctuary, a place to quell old urges.  That is, at least, until Patricia, a recent graduate and failed novelist, joins the library staff. Patricia quickly notices Margo’s subtly sinister edge, and watches her carefully. When a tragic incident in the library bathroom gives her a hint of Margo’s mysterious past, Patricia can’t resist digging deeper—even as her new fixation becomes all-consuming and sends both women hurtling toward disaster.  Chilling, incisive, and darkly humorous, How Can I Help You is a propulsive work of psychological suspense that asks how far we might go to justify our most monstrous desires.

(My Review) This book was wild!  The story was told from two point of views.  Margo has been working at the library for two years, when they hire Patricia as the new Reference Librarian.  Both have secrets.  This book was deliciously evil. 

Such Charming Liars

Such Charming Liars by Karen M. McManus                               YA Mystery

(from Amazon)  For all of Kat’s life, it’s just been her and her mother, Jamie—except for the forty-eight hours when Jamie was married and Kat had a stepbrother, Liam. That all ended in an epic divorce, and Kat and Liam haven’t spoken since.  Now Jamie is a jewel thief trying to go straight, but she has one last job—at billionaire Ross Sutherland’s birthday party. And Kat has figured out a way to tag along. What Kat doesn’t know, though, is that there are two surprise guests at the dazzling Sutherland compound that weekend. The last two people she wants to run into. Liam and his father—a serial scammer who has his sights set on Ross Sutherland’s youngest daughter.  Kat and Liam are on a collision course to disaster, and when a Sutherland dies, they realize they might actually be in the killer’s crosshairs themselves. Somehow Kat and Liam are the new targets, and they can’t trust anyone—except each other.  Or can they? Because if there’s one thing both Kat and Liam know, it’s how to lie. They learned from the best.

(My Review)  Another solid mystery from Karen M. McManus.  Kat accompanies her mom (who is a jewelry thief), on a weekend heist.  When her mom becomes sick, Kat has to take over and get caught up in a web of chaos, that they might not escape from.   

Wilder Girls

 Wilder Girls by Rory Power                                                   Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction

(from Amazon)  It's been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty's life out from under her.It started slow. First the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning their bodies strange and foreign. Now, cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves on their island   home, the girls don't dare wander outside the school's fence, where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. They wait for the cure they were promised as the Tox seeps into everything.  But when Byatt goes missing, Hetty will do anything to find her, even if it means breaking quarantine and braving the horrors that lie beyond the fence. And when she does, Hetty learns that there's more to their story, to their life at Raxter, than she could have ever thought true.

(My Review)  Students at a secluded private school are quarantined because they are starting to suffer horrific physical changes.  Being isolated on an island, the government sends them supplies to keep alive, but they are sending them barely enough to keep alive.  When her friend goes missing, Hetty goes searching for her and learns things are not quite as they seem.  I thought this story was creative and interesting.

Bright Young Women

 Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll                               Mystery Thriller/Historical Fiction

(from Amazon)  January 1978. A serial killer has terrorized women across the Pacific Northwest, but his existence couldn’t be further from the minds of the vibrant young women at the top sorority on Florida State University’s campus in Tallahassee. Tonight is a night of promise, excitement, and desire, but Pamela Schumacher, president of the sorority, makes the unpopular decision to stay home—a decision that unwittingly saves her life. Startled awake at 3 a.m. by a strange sound, she makes the fateful decision to investigate. What she finds behind the door is a scene of implausible violence—two of her sisters dead; two others, maimed. Over the next few days, Pamela is thrust into a terrifying mystery inspired by the crime that’s captivated public interest for more than four decades.  On the other side of the country, Tina Cannon has found peace in Seattle after years of hardship. A chance encounter brings twenty-five-year-old Ruth Wachowsky into her life, a young woman with painful secrets of her own, and the two form an instant connection. When Ruth goes missing from Lake Sammamish State Park in broad daylight, surrounded by thousands of beachgoers on a beautiful summer day, Tina devotes herself to finding out what happened to her. When she hears about the tragedy in Tallahassee, she knows it’s the man the papers refer to as the All-American Sex Killer. Determined to make him answer for what he did to Ruth, she travels to Florida on a collision course with Pamela—and one last impending tragedy.  Bright Young Women is the story about two women from opposite sides of the country who become sisters in their fervent pursuit of the truth. It proposes a new narrative inspired by evidence that’s been glossed over for decades in favor of more salable headlines—that the so-called brilliant and charismatic serial killer from Seattle was far more average than the countless books, movies, and primetime specials have led us to believe, and that it was the women whose lives he cut short who were the exceptional ones.

(My Review)  Wow!  This book at times, hard to read, but so good.  There is such a interest in true crime, and a fascination with serial killers.  I know that I am guilty of watching/reading my share of true crime books/documentaries.  However, it was after watching a Netflix series on Jeffrey Dahmer, that I started to feel uncomfortable with my fascination - it was focused on the victims.  After watching, I felt very different about viewing this genre as "entertainment".  It is hard to focus on them without thinking about how the survivors and victim's families feel.  I think that is what I found so intriguing about this book.  It follows the survivors of the target of a serial killer.  In the book, it was interesting how the author points out how the language around the suspect is so positive, as opposed to how the victims are treated.  

Before She Was Found

 Before She Was Found by Heather Gudenkauf                                 Psychological Thriller

(from Amazon) For twelve-year-old Cora Landry and her friends Violet and Jordyn, it was supposed to be an ordinary sleepover--movies and Ouija and talking about boys. But when they decide to sneak out to go to the abandoned rail yard on the outskirts of town, little do they know that their innocent games will have dangerous consequences.  Later that night, Cora Landry is discovered on the tracks, bloody and clinging to life, her friends nowhere to be found. Soon their small rural town is thrust into a maelstrom. Who would want to hurt a young girl like Cora--and why? In an investigation that leaves no stone unturned, everyone is a suspect and no one can be trusted--not even those closest to Cora.  Before She Was Found is a timely and gripping thriller about friendship and betrayal, about the power of social pressure and the price of needing to fit in. It is about the great lengths a parent will go to protect their child and keep them safe--even if that means burying the truth, no matter the cost.

(My Review)  This is a story of friendship, bullying, and catfishing.  Three 12-year-old girls meet late at night, one gets beaten, almost to death.  Was it one of the girls?  Was it someone else?  What happened that night?  This was a very engaging read.

That's Not My Name

 That's Not My Name by Megan Lally                                    Teen & YA Mystery/Thriller

(from Amazon) She thought she had her life back. She was wrong. It was a mistake to trust him.  Shivering and bruised, a teen wakes up on the side of a dirt road with no memory of how she got there―or who she is. A passing officer takes her to the police station, and not long after, a frantic man arrives. He's been searching for her for hours. He has her school ID, her birth certificate, and even family photos. He is her father. Her name is Mary. Or so he says.  When Lola slammed the car door and stormed off into the night, Drew thought they just needed some time to cool off. Except Lola disappeared, and the sheriff, his friends, and the whole town are convinced Drew murdered his girlfriend. Forget proving his innocence, he needs to find her before it's too late. The longer Lola is missing, the fewer leads there are to follow…and the more danger they both are in.

(My Review)  This was a fast-paced thriller.  This story keeps you on the edge of your seat from the very beginning all the way until the end.