ginasbookreport

A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie Publisher:  William Morrow Paperbacks Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre:  Mystery / Cozy Mystery Read This If You Love:  Fans of the Miss Marple series and classic mysteries “Oh, I am sure—about the murder . It’s the murderer  I’m not sure about.” In this classic Miss Marple mystery (book #10), Marple is on vacation very far from her beloved home of St. Mary Mead. However, wherever she goes, murder seems to follow her—even all the way to the Caribbean. Staying at the hotel of the St Honore, Miss Marple is getting to know the fellow guests. In short time, one of the guests is dead and while the doctor assumes it was high blood pressure and old age, Miss Marple isn’t so sure. She soon finds herself working alongside Mr. Rafiel (who is both wealthy and elderly) to solve the murder and to unravel all the other connections before more bodies pile up. This is one of my favorites of the Miss Marple books because we not only get her throughout the e

The Last Word by Taylor Adams Publisher: William Morrow an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: Mystery / Thriller / Horror Read This If You Love: Riley Sager / Simone St. James / Stephen King “In a story, the author is God.” Emma is dealing with, or avoiding dealing with, all that life has thrown her way. She has isolated herself and set about reading free and 99 cent books off of Amazon. The book that her only neighbor recommends is  Murder Mountain  and it was just sooooooo bad. She couldn’t stop herself from writing a scathing one-star review. When the author requests she change it, a series of events kicks off that leaves Emma fighting for her life while reckoning with her past.  “She cupped her fingers to the glass, squinting out into acres of coastal prairie. Searching for her killer.”  The Last Word is not for the faint of heart. It’s a heart pounding horror novel that will keep you up at night and looking around the corner in a dark room.

Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: Mystery / Cozy Mystery Read This If You Love: A Caribbean Mystery “Yes, you are right, Madame. The sky is blue, the sun is shining, and yet you forget that everywhere there is evil under the sun.” Arlene Stuart is beautiful and catches all the eyes of the sun seekers at Leathercombe. Men are drawn to her beauty and women are drawn to her ease of capturing men’s attention. Now, Arlene is laying on the sand and she will never get up again. Who killed her? Poirot is on the case, and it is all the best that Christie has to offer.   Classic Christie is delivered via this 24th novel featuring Hercule Poirot. Pause to acknowledge how amazing it is that Christie was so prolific! Poirot is still as interesting of a detective even 24 books in and was still hitting all the right notes. Evil Under the Sun  is one of my favorite featuring the mustached character. Right before I re-rea

The Golden Gate by Amy Chua Publisher:  Minotaur Books an imprint of St. Martin’s Press Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre:  Historical Fiction / Mystery Read This If You Love:  Historical Fiction / History “Nothing added up. I had a dead presidential candidate in the Claremont stripped half-naked with flowers sticking out of his mouth.” The Golden Gate weaves a mystery around the history of Berkeley and San Fransisco in the 1930s and 1940s. When a dead presidential candidate shows up in the storied Claremont hotel, Detective Al Sullivan is on the case. While investigating the homicide, Sullivan gets pulled into the peculiar Bainbridge family and their complicated past. Who committed the murder, why, and how reads like a classic gum-shoe detective tale. However, The Golden Gate  is packed full of historical details along the way.  While I enjoyed the core mystery, I prefer my historical fiction novels to better integrate the facts into the story versus having long passages of histor

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch Publisher: Ballantine Books Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: Science Fiction Read This If You Love: Sea of Tranquility  / TV show Fringe “As long as I’m with you, I know exactly who I am.” Gina’s Review Jason Dresden is happily going along with his life when he is abducted. He wakes up surrounded by people in hazmat suits. They seem to know him, but he has no idea what is happening. He soon discovers that his wife is not his wife and his son was never born. How is this possible? The only thing Jason knows is that he will do anything to get back to his old life.  I read this book as a buddy read with my husband, so you will see his take on Dark Matter below. Blake Crouch has quickly become a favorite author of mine and I was so happy to share his work with Patrick because sci-fi is his reading preference. Dark Matter  is my favorite of Crouch’s novels, but I’ve yet to find one that I didn’t enjoy. This novel is suuuuuch a fast read. I flew through i

Zero Days by Ruth Ware Publisher: Gallery / Scout Press Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: Mystery Read This If You Love: The Italian Job “I stopped dead.” Jack is a pen tester who comes home to find her husband murdered. Who did it and why? We spend the entire novel with Jack on the run. Ugh. Often billed as the modern Agatha Christie, Ruth Ware is one of my favorite modern mystery authors. However, Zero Days  wasn’t in that same vein and instead was more of an action thriller. While many people enjoy this genre of a constant physical chase, it is not for me. I want more of a plot with characters I can invest in and cheer on. I found Jack to be a daft character who drove me nuts. How was she so slow on the uptake about what was going on and who was responsible? From the first page, we are on the go with Jack and it doesn’t stop until the last page. For me, that was far too strung out and overall the book could have been 100 pages shorter.  Will I still happily read all future Ruth

Scenes of the Crime by Jilly Gagnon Publisher: Bantam an imprint of Random House Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: Mystery / Thriller Read This If You Love: Fans of Pretty Little Liars “Vanessa has been gone for fifteen years. I should know. I was one of the last people to see her alive.”  Emily is a screenwriter who sets out to uncover the truth about what happened when her best friend disappeared on a college friend trip. Fifteen years after Vanessa went missing, Emily gathers the same group of women to see if there is a story she can weave into a script. Maybe, she can also find out if she killed Vanessa…she was the last to see her, after all. The story is told through real time/past time and a film script. It adds to an intensity that builds to a crescendo.  This fast-paced mystery has a dark edge that will keep you guessing about what REALLY occurred. The setting has an atmospheric quality to it that set up a sort of locked-room mystery trope. Add this one to your to be rea