Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Twice, Frederick Fife, Heartwood

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Twice, Frederick Fife, Heartwood: Reported by Rita Twice by Mitch Albom What if you got to do everything in your life -twice? The heart of Mitch Albom's newest n...

In Reference to Murder: Mystery Melange - New Year's Edition

In Reference to Murder: Mystery Melange - New Year's Edition: NPR reported that genre fiction and female authors topped U.S. libraries' most-borrowed lists in 2025. Liz Moore's The God of the W...

Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: Christmas Stalkings, ed. Charlotte MacLeod

Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: Christmas Stalkings, ed. Ch...:   Christmas Stalkings , published in 1991, was the second Christmas short story anthology edited by Charlotte MacLeod. All of the stories in...

Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THE SEVEN-LOCKED ROOM

Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THE SEVEN-LOCKED ROOM: "The Seven-Locked Room"  by J. D. Kerruish  (first published in Keep on the Light , edited by Chrstoine Campbell Thomson, 1933; re...

Patricia Abbott: Short Story Wednesday: DIME DETECTIVE MAGAZINE

 Patricia Abbott: Short Story Wednesday: DIME DETECTIVE MAGAZINE

Happiness Is A Book: Lullaby by Ed McBain

 Happiness Is A Book: Lullaby by Ed McBain

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Found Recipes: Beloved Vintage Recipes Worth Sharing by Betty Crocker

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Found Recipes: Beloved Vintage Recipes Worth Shari...:   Reviewed by Kristin Opening this book was like opening a box of recipes from my grandma. These “vintage” recipes run from the 1920s to...

Favorite Books: July through December 2025

Back in June, I gave you my favorite books of the year so far. I had 12 for you on my list.  I give you today, my favorite books of the back half of the year that was 2025. There are 13 more favorite reads below. This means, between the two lists, you now have 25 of my favorite reads for the year. 

In a few days, I will, somehow, whittle both lists down and give you my favorite reads of the year. That is going to be brutally hard. As always, making either list, is no guarantee of making the final list. 

The books below are ranked in order of appearance from July to now.

 

The Blue Horse: A Porter Beck Mystery by Bruce Borgos begins in September 2020. Covid is coming. But, the in the here and now of this beautiful September morning, Sheriff Beck and Chief Deputy Tuffy Scruggs are on horses are chatting and watching as wild mustangs are being herded for capture. Things are about to go really bad. (Rest of my review.)

 

 

Throwing Shadows: A Sheriff Hank Worth Mystery by Claire Booth is the latest read in a great series that began with The Branson Beauty. This is a series that must be read in order as events happen, create consequential ripple effects just like in real life, and people change. This picks up just a few weeks after the events of Home Fires and there are repercussions for all. We also have a surge in catalytic converter thefts across Branson County, Missouri, treasure seekers, murder, and more. (Rest of my review.)

 

A serial killer is active in At What Cost: A Detective Penley Mystery by James L’Etoile. Not just your average run of the mill serial killer either as West Sacramento Police Detective John Penley and his partner, Detective Paula Newberry, have discovered. They already knew a killer was dumping bodies and those bodies were found missing organs. Why the organs are gone and what is planned is one very creep aspect of this first book in a police procedural series. (Rest of my review.)

 

A Lonesome Place for Murder: An Ethan Brand Mystery by Nolan Chase is the sequel to A Lonesome Place for Dying. It, like that first book, is a really good read. As this book begins, Chief of Police Ethan Brand and Deputy Brenda Lee Page are slogging it out as they hike through a pasture. The mission is to find an old man and a certain horse. Both work for the small town of Blaine, Washington, near the border with Canada. The horse and the old man are fine. The body they also find isn’t. (Rest of my review.)

 

Bump and Run: A Wade Durham Novel by Richard Helms is the first book in a new series. Wade “The Blade” Durham, part time stock car driver, is also a full-time agent for the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI). He gets sent to Choctaw, North Carolina, to solve a high-profile murder. murder. Think Virgil Flowers with less colorful language. (Rest of my review.)

The Dentist: A DS George Cross Mystery is a very good read. Built around a main character that is pretty much brilliant and eccentric, the author has assembled an interesting cast of secondary characters. As the read begins, DS George Cross is at the outdoor scene of a deceased male. It is not the simple random "homeless on homeless" crime that others believe it to be. DS Cross has an incredible attention to detail. Too bad others don't. (Rest of my review.)

 

Death on a Scottish Train: A Scottish Isle Mystery by Lucy Connelly is the fourth book in this solidly good cozy mystery series that began with An American in Scotland. It has been about a year since Dr. Emilia McRoy left it all behind in Seattle and moved to Sea Isle, Scotland. The past year has been a lot, but she is happy. Other than the cold, she loves the place and the people and has made a number of friends. Life is pretty good and she feels more and more at home. Scotland, a historical train, a murder mystery and more. (Rest of my review.)

 

Fallen Star by Lee Goldberg is the sixth novel in the Eve Ronin series that began in January 2020 with Lost Hills. In this latest installment of the very good police procedural series, there are flash mobs, murder, and a lot more for Homicide Detective Eve Ronin of the Los Angeles County Sherrif’s Department. (Rest of my review.)

 

Murder in Mykonos: A Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis Mystery by Jeffrey Siger is the first book in the series originally published by the Poisoned Pen Press. Now published by Severn House, the book begins a series of at least fourteen police procedurals set in Greece. In this case, specifically, the Greek island of Mykonos. Murder, local politics, and a heck of a lot more is going on in this first book of the series. Sadly, the Dallas Public Library System has gone and pulled the entire series, except for audio versions, from the system due to the publisher change and their own stupidity. (Rest of my review.)

 

Innocence Road by Laura Griffin takes readers to far Southwest Texas in the Big Bend region and the small town of Madrone in Chisos County. This read reminded me a lot of the Josie Gray Mystery series by Tricia Fields. Innocence Road is also a very good police procedural in its own right. Leanne Everhart is back home in Madrone, Texas, and dealing with bodies, a boss that does not want to hear it, the legacy of her father’s career in local law enforcement, and a lot more. (Rest of my review.)

 

I have long been a fan of police procedurals by Bruce Robert Coffin. His latest, Crimson Thaw: A Detective Justice Novel, takes readers to Maine where Detective Justice is going through some things because he stood up for what was right. He also is working a case where a dead man was found still with his snowmobile. It helped him stay with it since he was handcuffed to it when it went into a local body of water. (Rest of my review.)

Some would call it justice. Some would call it revenge. No matter what you call it, the concept has been a long running theme of the Ed Earl Burch series. The same is very much true in the fifth book of the series, The Fatal Saving Grace: An Ed Earl Burch Novel by Jim Nesbitt. This is a novel of tying up loose ends and settling scores. It begins with Ed Earl Burch barely surviving a far Southwest Texas ambush. These days he carries a shield as an investigator for the Cuervo County District Attorney. He also plans on finding out who tried to kill him and settling the bill. (Rest of my review.)

 

EDGE: A Detective Harriet Foster Thriller is the latest read in an excellent police procedural series that began in January 2023 with HIDE. Detective Harriet Foster found the two people down in the park. The drug overdoses will send her and her team on a chase that will be full of twists and turns and hot way too close to home. (Rest of my review.)

 

In a world gone increasingly mad, it was a good reading year to this point. There were other reads that I did not include here for various reasons and yet were good reads. Hopefully, you can find some reads in my lists that will entertain you. 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2025

Lesa's Book Critiques: New Year’s Nosferatu by Heather Graham

 Lesa's Book Critiques: New Year’s Nosferatu by Heather Graham

In Reference to Murder: Media Murder for Monday

In Reference to Murder: Media Murder for Monday: It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news: THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES Claes Bang ...

Mystery Fanfare: Mysteries set at the New Year: New Year's Eve and New Year's Day!

Mystery Fanfare: Mysteries set at the New Year: New Year's Eve and ...: Wishing you the best for 2026!  May  Mystery and Mayhem only happen in crime fiction!  Today's holiday list features Mysteries, Cri...

Little Big Crimes: Level Up, by Shawn Reilly Simmons

Little Big Crimes: Level Up, by Shawn Reilly Simmons:  "Level Up," by Shawn Reilly Simmons in The Most Dangerous Games, edited by Deborah Lacy, Level Short, 2025.  I have a story in t...

Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 2026 New Year's Writing Resolution: Listen

Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 2026 New Year's Writing Resolution: Listen: Every year, I make a New Year's Resolution just for writing. I don't bother with personal resolutions, because I never keep them. (S...

Bitter Tea and Mystery: Books Read in September and October 2025

Bitter Tea and Mystery: Books Read in September and October 2025:   I am so far behind on summarizing my monthly reading that I decided to combine my September and October books in one post. I read 5 books ...

Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Fire Must Burn by Allison Montclair

  

My Christmas Eve read was an early copy of Fire Must Burn, the eighth book in the Sparks and Bainbridge series by Allison Montclair, which I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to read via NetGalley. The latest in this excellent historical mystery series is due to be released on 6 January 2026 by Severn House. Severn House has been a reliable source of good mysteries and thrillers for more than 40 years. I was concerned when I saw that the firm had been acquired recently by Joffe Books, since consolidation of publishing houses often means authors lose their contracts and readers lose favorite series. However, Joffe also has a considerable interest in crime fiction, I know because I subscribe to their newsletter, and my fingers are crossed that the author list at Severn House remains unchanged. Or expands. Expansion would be good, too.

Iris Sparks and Gwen Bainbridge continue on their quest to match the lovelorn members of the post-war London populace via their marriage bureau, The Right Sort. On the personal front, Gwen is settled into her own house away from her demanding in-laws and enjoying her flourishing relationship with Iris’s Cambridge friend Salvatore Danielli, or Sally, as everyone calls him. It is lovely to see her relaxed and enjoying life. Iris on the other hand is still grieving the loss of her fiancé and is drinking far more than she should.

Her life is further complicated when her manager from her wartime British Intelligence service contacts her and tells her that one of her Cambridge friends is suspected of being a Russian agent. The Brigadier wants Iris to find a way to coax her friend, recently returned from China, into subscribing to the services of The Right Sort and to match him with a British agent who can dig more deeply.

Neither Iris nor Gwen appreciate having their service exploited in this way but see no way of avoiding it. Iris has not seen Tony Danforth for nearly 10 years but she remembers him with affection and can’t believe that he would betray his country. She manages to visit a bookstore at the same time he does, he loves books too, and her assignment proceeds as expected. Until Tony’s apartment is bombed and he is severely burned. The questions of why and how become the next investigation of the intrepid Sparks and Bainbridge.

Flashbacks to the mid-1930s and Iris’s days at Cambridge describe her history with Danforth, which help explain her feelings about Danforth now. There are some informative bits about the status of women at Cambridge. Despite allowing women to study at the university, Cambridge did not award full degrees to women until 1948, about the time of this story.

As usual, Gwen and Iris combine their disparate skills and jointly work through the criminal problem as well as answer a couple of questions that arise along the way. Their developing friendship is a highlight of these books.

The societal inequities to which women were subjected during the first half of the 20^th century (and sometimes still are) is an ongoing theme for Montclair. Unfortunately she has no shortage of material. This title highlights some of those injustices while spinning a very good mystery with some fine plot twists. Starred review from Kirkus, and Publisher’s Weekly calls the book “a treat.”  Recommended!

 

·         Publisher: ‎Severn House

·         Publication date: ‎January 6, 2026

·         Edition: ‎Main

·         Language: ‎English

·         Print length: ‎256 pages

·         ISBN-10: ‎144831593X

·         ISBN-13: ‎978-1448315932

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link:  https://amzn.to/4pVGpRe  

 

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2025 

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.

Kathleen Marple Kalb: Reset Resolution

 Kathleen Marple Kalb:  Reset Resolution

Lesa's Book Critiques: Kevin’s Corner Annex – The Fatal Saving Grace by Jim Nesbitt

 Lesa's Book Critiques: Kevin’s Corner Annex – The Fatal Saving Grace by Jim Nesbitt

SleuthSayers: 2025: Let's Not Do That Again

SleuthSayers: 2025: Let's Not Do That Again: I could say I'm sorry to see 2025 coming to a close, but I fear my nose would grow so long that it would punch a hole right through my...

Beneath the Stains of Time: People vs. Withers and Malone (1963) by Stuart Palmer and Craig Rice

Beneath the Stains of Time: People vs. Withers and Malone (1963) by Stuart Pal...: You know, I love a good detective trope as much as the next person and my enduring, tediously documented obsession with the locked room mys...

Lesa's Book Critiques: All My Bones by P.J. Nelson

 Lesa's Book Critiques: All My Bones by P.J. Nelson