Tag: Books

Review : Mary Higgins Clark Presents Malice Domestic (Malice Domestic #2)

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This anthology consisting of 17 short stories is put together by the Queen of Suspense Mary Higgins Clark . Below are the teasers to some of the stories –

Goodbye, Sue Ellen – Ellsworth Hummer married Sue Ellen for her money and he has finally come to realize the truth of the old adage . With no say in the matters of the family business , Ellsworth finally sees that he would never be family and that his plans of gaining control of his wife ‘ s family business would not come to pass if his wife continued to be around . So begins a string of perfectly good attempts at murdering his wife but it seems like Sue Ellen has nine lives . . . While I was expecting something along the lines of The Murder of My Aunt ending , I was amused to see that the author had provided a brilliant spin on TMMA ending . . . ( Now that might be something of a spoiler but trust me , there is more . . . )

Even Steven – When one of four musketeers wins a trip to Las Vegas , she decides to take the other three along with her for a ladies – only trip . However , one muskeeter ‘ s husband insists on tagging along with them . This husband ends up murdered in the Las Vegas hotel room . The Audible narrator of this one deserves a special mention – her perky narration had me smiling the entire time . . .

Kim’s Game – The narrator is a young girl who has been sent to a summer camp to keep her out of her parents ‘ divorce drama . She knows that only one of the parents will be at home when she gets back . Coming from such a home , she has developed an uncanny sense of reading her surroundings . She also has enough sense to not to flaunt her gift . . . Soon , one of the camp counsellors is murdered . The police want to speak to our narrator as she was the first one at the crime scene . A second sweeping glance at the crime scene and she knows that she can identify the murderer by one of the items which (s)he has taken care to remove from the crime scene . . .

Cold and Deep – The sons are visiting their father who now lives in the family home with his daughter in law who is also his caretaker and his aging dog . While this story is primarily about a dysfunctional family ( with no mystery ) , there ‘ s a lot packed into this story . It ‘ s atmospheric & brilliant story – telling hints that there ‘ s something happening behind the doors of that crumbling family home ( while offering the reader nothing too concrete to base their ideas on except for dropping a word here and there . . . )

Now for some bad news – for some reason , Audible decided to cut out 5 or so stories from it ‘ s audiobook production ( including Clark ‘s As It Was in the Beginning ) . I have purchased both Malice Domestic #1 and Malice Domestic #3 also ( reviews will shortly follow but I expect that they too will have some stories missing . . . I feel so cheated , thanks Audible ) . So it would be better if you pick up the paperback . . . Who Shot Mrs. Byron Boyd , the first story is the weakest IMHO . There are several stories that are simply brilliant – it ‘s simply amazing how the authors manage to pack a lot into a few pages – great character development , atmospheric & innovative POV narratives , jaw dropping twists ( to name a few ) . I ‘ ve given the teasers of some of my favorites among them . . . Hopefully they can convince you to pick up this one . . .

P . S : I never realized that short story format could work brilliantly for suspense genre until I discovered Peter Lovesey ‘ s stories . The introduction to the Malice Domestic anthology has only whetted my appetite for the short story format in the crime fiction genre . So the readers can expect to see more reviews on short story anthologies ( primarily in the crime fiction genre ) in the future . . .

Rating : 4 / 5

If you have already read Malice Domestic #2 , let me know in the comments section about your thoughts on the book  . If you have any interesting recommendations , please do share them . Until the next review then . . .

Review : The Crime of Miss Oyster Brown and Other Stories by Peter Lovesey

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The first review for 2022 and I am happy that it is not going to be a rant . My first read for the year is Peter Lovesey ‘ s anthology The Crime of Miss Oyster Brown and Other Stories consisting of 18 superb short stories . The author notes in the introduction that “the unexpected is what you are entitled to expect from a short story ” . I was a bit wary about getting my hopes high with an introductory passage but I was delighted when the man actually delivered . While anthologies generally tend to be mixed bags where few stories do the heavy lifting while the other more conventional ones quietly line up to make up a good number , that is not the case here . Every story is an absolute delight – each with its own narrative style , plot structure ( to say nothing of the humor ) . Below are the teasers to three short stories from this anthology . Hopefully they can convince you to pick up this one . . .

In The Crime of Miss Oyster Brown , Oyster Brown ‘ s twin sister Pearl Brown has not been seen by the anyone in the village recently . Although long time residents of the village , their neighbors and friends know nothing of what goes on behind the closed doors of their mock Tudor style mansion . When Oyster turns up at a local chemist ‘ s with three severely scalded fingers from an accident with the kettle ( or so she says ) and a neighbor remarks that Oyster had been drawing the curtains in her sister ‘ s bedroom to give the impression that Pearl is at home , the chemist decides to investigate . . . This one has the ending which even the most imaginative crime fiction reader will not guess . . .

In The Model Con , a young woman who has enrolled with a modelling agency gets roped in for a seemingly standard assignment until she discovers it is definitely not one . While the handsome compensation definitely quelled some of the misgivings she has about the latest assignment from the same woman , she did not foresee that she would soon become a suspect in a murder investigation . . .

In Pass The Parcel , a family gathered for Christmas decide to have a game of Pass The Parcel ( obviously ! ) which has become something of a family tradition while waiting for a family member . When the parcel is finally unwrapped and it ‘ s contents revealed , things quickly take a turn from a possible cozy Christmassy suspense to something possibly sinister . . .

I am not putting out too many teasers here because with short stories it takes only a few extra plot points for the astute overly – imaginative reader to work out the trajectory of the story . With few like A case of Butterflies , Being Of Sound Mind & You May See A Strangler , while there were some plot elements which I could spot , there were still some surprises which made for a thoroughly satisfying read . And of course , a special mention to the ones with highly inventive narratives – Curl Up & Dye ( a monologue from a hairdresser who is attending to a client ) , The Pomeranian Poisoning which is entirely told in letters & Youdunnit where you , the reader , will become the murderer . . .

This one is highly recommended from me . If you have an Audible Premium membership , you are in luck – this one is included in the membership ( you can get it for free ) . . .

Rating : 4.5 / 5

If you have already read The Crime of Miss Oyster Brown and Other Stories , let me know in the comments section about your thoughts on the book  . If you have any interesting recommendations , please do share them . Until the next review then . . .

Review : Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier

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Little Secrets

Jennifer Hillier’s latest release Little Secrets seemed to be a favorite with the majority of the bloggers who reviewed it . So , when I saw it on Audible , I decided to go for it  . This is my first Hillier read . A quick summary of the plot before going for my thoughts about the book .

Plot Summary :

Marin had the perfect  life  – she is a successful entrepreneur who owns a chain of upscale salons and is married to a successful entrepreneur . Three days before Christmas , her four year old son Sebastian is taken by a stranger dressed in a Santa suit when they were both doing the last minute Christmas shopping .  A year later , her life is a far cry from the ‘ perfect ‘ life she had before Sebastian went missing  – She and her husband rarely speak . She had attempted suicide once during the initial days when the nightmare had just begun and is undergoing therapy ( although it does not seem to be helping much . Alcohol seems to be doing a much better job than all the support group sessions and the therapy sessions ) . The only thing which kept her going is her hope that one day Sebastian might be found . Now , the PI whom she had hired to keep working on Sebastian ‘ s case after the FBI search went cold has stumbled upon her husband ‘ s affair with a much younger woman .

Kenzie Li  , an  art grad student working part – time as a barista is one of those millennials who think that her life in Instagram posts should emulate a luxury life even if her real life is actually a far cry from the glamorous pics she posts on Instagram . . . That ‘ s why she has had a string of rich , married men as boyfriends – they could help her with the bills ; exotic vacations and expensive gifts were also some of the perks she could expect from these men . Marin ‘ s husband Derek is her latest catch . There is only one cause for concern – she is falling for him , although it was never part of the plan  . . .

Marin is already upto the neck in one of the worst nightmares for any parent . She is not about to lose her husband also now . She is ready to do whatever it takes to save her marriage and all the family she is left with . . .

My thoughts on the book :

The missing child premise is not a wholly new premise in crime fiction . The missing child , the long – grieving mother and her dependence on alcohol & drugs , the father who is ( almost ) finished with grieving and wants to have a fresh start and the resulting distance between the parents threatening their marriage  – all these plot points which are the staples for this premise are there in Hillier ‘ s latest release .

The novel ‘s plot line of finding out how Marin would deal with this stranger who is a threat to her marriage when she is already dealing with the trauma of a  missing child is a promising one . But Hillier ‘ s writing left me wanting more . I was expecting more in – depth characterization (if not some detailed psychological profiling ) of the protagonist and her immediate friends and family .  Instead , the story reads like a pretty decent screenplay for a suspense movie where the dialogues made me wonder if I had not read these lines before .  While the story is well paced and kept me engaged , I felt that it could have been told better . . . However , there were some secondary characters – like Frances ( from the support group ) , whom I felt exuded more genuineness of characterization than even Marin – Kenzie duo who had nothing remotely memorable or original about them . I could easily forget them with all the other crime fiction protagonists I am going to read this year . Marin has the proverbial fury of the scorned woman – only she is keen on punishing her husband ‘ s mistress instead of the husband . Kenzie knows how to play it with the gullible men who fell head – over – heels ” in love ” with her like all every other mistress . Like any other mistress , she also seems to be finally falling for a man who was initially supposed to be yet another fling . Yes , she is beautiful ( Marin thinks so and feels somewhat insecure about her own middle – aged self  like any other wife would do with a mistress . ) . Both Marin & Kenzie are cut -out – of – the – template characters – the woman who had been cheated by the husband &  the other woman with just enough to keep them from becoming downright out – of -the – template characters . . .

There are very few authors who have the knack of feeding the nitty – gritty of the police procedural to the readers without the reader being aware of it or not making it sound like Criminology 101 for Dummies . . . Unfortunately this was another sore point for me with the book  when the author decided to spell out even the smallest thing to the readers .

There were some times when I felt that the character ‘ s actions were determined to align with the goal of having the big reveal . * Spoilers ahead * – The protagonist discovers that someone has been in her house when she was not there . Even if she makes a good guess of who the intruder might be , would it not be only natural that she should report it to the police or atleast let her family know that somebody know the pass-code to the family home ? Even if she is not keen on kicking up a ruckus , wouldn’t she atleast change the pass-code ? There were several such minor details which were overlooked to facilitate the FINAL BIG REVEAL . . . Unsurprisingly , all these loop-holes left me unimpressed with the story – telling even more . . .

A quick side note :

The missing child premise  brought to mind two other books which had dealt with it superbly . Jane Casey ‘ s debut , THE MISSING , traced the fracturing of the family when the tween son  goes missing and the subsequent descent of his mother into alcoholism who keeps the boy ‘ s room like a shrine ,  waiting and wanting only to know what happened to her son . While , the final reveal left me somewhat underwhelmed , it has excellent psychological profiling of the missing child ‘ s younger sister and  mother . .

Another is The Queen of Suspense ‘ s Daddy ‘ s Little Girl which had similar themes like THE MISSING . It dealt with the revisiting of the murder of a teenager by her younger sister ( who is an investigative journalist now ) when the convicted killer is up for parole  so that she could put the man whom she believes to be the killer behind bars once and for all  . While Mary H . Clark is not into too – much psychological profiling , she still gives her characters  enough traits & quirks to give the reader a good picture about their character  and tells one hell of a great story . . .

I would definitely recommend the above mentioned books over Little Secrets any day . . .

Rating : 3 . 5 / 5

If you have already read the book , let me know in the comments section about your thoughts on the book  . . . Until the next review then . .