The Sanctuary by Katrine Engberg

 

Publication: February 7, 2023

Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press

Source: Publisher

 

Synopsis:

 

From internationally bestselling author Katrine Engberg, the series that is a “gripping addition to the Scandinavian crime fiction pantheon” ( Oprah Daily ) comes to a stunning conclusion as Jeppe Kørner and Anette Werner rush to untangle a long-simmering mystery before a brutal killer strikes again.

Jeppe Kørner, on leave from the police force and nursing a broken heart, has taken refuge on the island of Bornholm for the winter. Also on the island is Esther de Laurenti, a writer working on a biography on a female anthropologist with a mysterious past and coming to terms with her own crushing sense of loneliness in the wake of a dear friend’s death. When Jeppe lends a helping hand at the island’s local sawmill, he begins to realize that the island may not be the peaceful refuge it appears to be.

Back in Copenhagen, Anette Werner is tasked with leading the investigation into a severed corpse discovered on a downtown playground. As she follows the strange trail of clues, they all seem to lead back to Bornholm. With an innocent offer to check out a lead, Jeppe unwittingly finds himself in the crosshairs of a sinister mystery rooted in the past, forcing him to team up with Anette and Esther to unravel the island’s secrets before it’s too late.

With her signature “unforgettable characters and brilliant plot twists” (Kathy Reichs, #1 New York Times bestselling author), Katrine Engberg weaves a satisfying and white-knuckled finale to her Korner and Werner series that is a modern classic of Scandinavian noir.

 

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The story takes place through a series of letters from the past and several characters in the present…Annette, Jeppe, and Esther. Though it did not seem like it at first, they each contributed to the story in their own way. It was interesting to read the different points of view and try to figure out how everything would connect in the end. That curiosity kept me turning page after page. 

 

Even though The Sanctuary is book 5 of the Korner & Werner series, I did not feel lost with this being my first book by Katrine Enberg. If anything, now I want to go back and read the other four books to see what I have been missing. The author created a story that is well written and was able to keep me guessing until the very end. There were several times that I thought I knew the who but wasn’t 100% sure of the why…And man was I completely wrong. I never saw the end coming. The Sanctuary is an atmospheric tale that grabbed my attention from the very first page. I didn’t devour the story in one go, but instead I savored it over the course of several days. It was entertaining, dark, and completely satisfying. 

Sometimes mysteries can be predictable, but happily this one was not. At least not for me. 

 

The Sanctuary is an atmospheric tale that grabbed my attention from the very first page. I didn’t devour the story in one go, but instead I savored it over the course of several days. It was entertaining, dark, and completely satisfying.

 

 

 

RATING: 4 OUT OF 5.

 

 

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The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James

 

Publication: March 15, 2022

Publisher: Berkley

Source: Purchased my own copy

 

Synopsis:

 

A true crime blogger gets more than she bargained for while interviewing the woman acquitted of two cold case slayings in this chilling new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Sun Down Motel. 

In 1977, Claire Lake, Oregon, was shaken by the Lady Killer Murders: Two men, seemingly randomly, were murdered with the same gun, with strange notes left behind. Beth Greer was the perfect suspect--a rich, eccentric twenty-three-year-old woman, seen fleeing one of the crimes. But she was acquitted, and she retreated to the isolation of her mansion.

Oregon, 2017. Shea Collins is a receptionist, but by night, she runs a true crime website, the Book of Cold Cases--a passion fueled by the attempted abduction she escaped as a child. When she meets Beth by chance, Shea asks her for an interview. To Shea's surprise, Beth says yes.

They meet regularly at Beth's mansion, though Shea is never comfortable there. Items move when she's not looking, and she could swear she's seen a girl outside the window. The allure of learning the truth about the case from the smart, charming Beth is too much to resist, but even as they grow closer, Shea senses something isn't right. Is she making friends with a manipulative murderer, or are there other dangers lurking in the darkness of the Greer house? 

 

 

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“Something about the Greer mansion stifled laughter and killed happiness. It might sound dramatic, but anyone who had lived there knew it was true.”

 

The Book of Cold Cases weaves back and forth between two POV’s; Shea and Beth. Beth’s POV is the past…we get to see what her life was like when she was younger, and when her parents were alive. Shea’s POV is current day. These two women couldn’t be any more different, yet they each share a troubling past they would like to escape. Shea tries to move forward in her life while running her true crime website when she isn’t working as a receptionist in a doctor’s office. It’s because of her job at the doctor’s office that she runs into Beth. Once Beth and Shea cross paths, their lives will be forever altered. 

 

Shea is very inquisitive. A seeker of justice and the truth. Shea was very determined to find out the truth no matter how long it took or what she had to do. I liked her character at first. Towards the end, her attitude sort of shifted and I didn’t really care for that too much. 

 

Beth is basically living a self-imposed isolated life at her family’s mansion. A place very few people go to outside of Beth’s family and lawyer. She comes across as cold and manipulative. She is not very likable, however as the story progresses, I did find myself empathizing with her plight a little more. The further into the story I got, the more I kept questioning, who the murderer truly was and if Beth really was that good at manipulation.

 

There is something about a spooky yet lively mansion that just really makes a paranormal mystery even more enticing. 

I came into this story, looking for a good mystery thriller, and discovered an entertaining paranormal mystery. There were some good creepy and atmospheric parts, but I wish it would have been amped up a little more than it was. Though the story started off a little slow and dragged in the middle some, it was well written, and my interest was held all the way through. 

 

 

 

 

RATING: 3½ OUT OF 5.

 

 

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Grave Reservations (The Booking Agents #1) by Cherie Priest

Publication: October 26, 2021

Publisher: Atria Books

Source: Publisher

 

 

Synopsis:

A psychic travel agent and a Seattle PD detective solve a murder in this quirky mystery in the vein of Lisa Lutz’s The Spellman Files and Charlaine Harris’s Aurora Teagarden series.

Meet Leda Foley: devoted friend, struggling travel agent, and inconsistent psychic. When Leda, sole proprietor of Foley's Flights of Fancy, impulsively re-books Seattle PD detective Grady Merritt’s flight, her life changes in ways she couldn’t have predicted.

After watching his original plane blow up from the safety of the airport, Grady realizes that Leda’s special abilities could help him with a cold case he just can’t crack.

Despite her scattershot premonitions, she agrees for a secret reason: her fiancé’s murder remains unsolved. Leda’s psychic abilities couldn’t help the case several years before, but she’s been honing her skills and drawing a crowd at her favorite bar’s open-mic nights, where she performs Klairvoyant Karaoke—singing whatever song comes to mind when she holds people’s personal effects. Now joined by a rag-tag group of bar patrons and pals alike, Leda and Grady set out to catch a killer—and learn how the two cases that haunt them have more in common than they ever suspected.

 

 

******

 

 

Grave Reservations is a light and easy mystery that was just what I needed.

 

Leda is a fun and pretty optimistic travel agent/psychic. Detective Grady is down to earth and level-headed. He’s followed every possible lead he could with this case he is working on and gotten nowhere. The only thing he hasn’t tried by now is an actual psychic. Enter Leda, the psychic who saved his life. They both bring something to the table and they complement each other very nicely. 

 

Even though Grady asked for Leda’s help, I’m glad he didn’t pin all his hopes on her psychic abilities. He used logic and real evidence to further investigate and see if it matched what Leda saw or remembered.  Leda’s best friend Niki tagged along with them also which was something I didn’t quite understand. She had no reason to be involved in the case, but I went along with it anyways. Especially since she brought more fun to the story with her unfiltered and often comedic personality.

 

The mystery aspect of the story wasn’t super thrilling or suspenseful, however seeing all the different interactions between Leda, Grady, Niki, and her friends at the bar was fun and made things more interesting.

 

This cozy mystery is a little quirky, a little funny, and very entertaining. It’s also the first book in a series, with the second book, Flight Risk releasing November 1, 2022. 

 

 

 

RATING: 3-3½ OUT OF 5.

 

 

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Anonymous: A Madison Kelly Mystery #1 by Elizabeth Breck

Publication: November 10, 2020

Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

Source: Publisher/Purchased

 

Synopsis:

 

Madison Kelly, a San Diego private investigator, arrives home to a note stabbed to her front door: "Stop investigating me, or I will hunt you down and kill you." The only problem? Madison hasn't been investigating anyone--she's been taking time off to figure out what to do with her life. But how does she prove a negative? The only way to remove the threat is to do exactly what “Anonymous”, the note writer, is telling her not to do: investigate to see who left it. Could this have something to do with the true crime podcast she’s been tweeting about, and the missing girls?

The girls went missing, two years apart, after a night at the clubs in San Diego's famed Gaslamp Quarter, and Madison had been probing the internet for clues. She discovers that someone has been one step ahead of her, monitoring her tweets to prevent her from getting too close. Soon Madison's investigation brings up more questions than answers: are the disappearances connected? Are the girls dead or did they just walk away from their lives? And who is Anonymous, the person who will stop at nothing to keep Madison from learning the truth?

As she closes in, so does Anonymous. Set against a backdrop of surfer culture and coffee houses of San Diego, Anonymous follows Madison as she confronts the reality of the girls' disappearance in a terrifying climax where the hunter becomes the hunted--and Madison is running for her life.

 

******

 

Anonymous as an easy red and quickly caught my interest from the very first chapter. 

 

I have what could be considered a spoiler alert below. I had an issue with one of the characters in the book and his behavior but that does not affect the mystery portion of the story at all in my opinion. Still I am just putting it out there.

 

 

 

 

***SPOILER ALERT***

 

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I disliked the whole stalker situation. My main issue with it was the guy who was the stalker…he is a police officer and an acquaintance of Madison. If I remember correctly, he would sit outside her home at night and watch her. Supposedly because he was curious/fascinated by her. Madison even attempted to sort of sweep things under the rug and make it seem like it wasn’t that big of a deal. She never even reported him for his behavior. And the guy didn’t even truly apologize until the end. During the middle of the story, he said he was sorry he guessed…it wasn’t a big deal because no one got hurt and she didn’t really get scared…so I guess those are the requirements for a situation to be officially called stalking. Even when he did apologize Madison still tried to make it seem like it wasn’t a problem. I just thought it was pretty strange and I was very annoyed by it. Unless he was on a stakeout and watching her because she was a suspect or for her protection, it is creepy and unprofessional behavior. It doesn’t matter if anyone got hurt or not. 

So that was my biggest problem with the book. Luckily, he didn’t have a huge presence in the story, and I could ignore him and that situation…for the most part. 

 

Having said all of that, I did enjoy the story. It was well written and there was never really a dull moment. The mystery was appealing and kept my attention. It was easy to get caught up in the story and question what exactly was going on and who could be behind it all. I like a good PI story especially if the PI is a woman. Madison is an interesting character. She is smart, quick thinking, and determined to discover the truth no matter the risk. She did make some weird choices in the story though, that had me questioning her thought process. But that added to the drama. I am curious to see what other cases Madison gets involved in, in the future. 

 

 

 

 

RATING: 3½-4 OUT OF 5.

 

 

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🎧 Audiobook Review: His & Hers by Alice Feeney

 

 

Publication: July 28, 2020

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Source: Publisher

Time: 10 hrs. and 39 mins.

Narrators: Richard Armitage & Stephanie Racine

 

Synopsis:

 

There are two sides to every story: yours and mine, ours and theirs, His & Hers. Which means someone is always lying.

Anna Andrews finally has what she wants. Almost. She’s worked hard to become the main TV presenter of the BBC’s lunchtime news, putting work before friends, family, and her now ex-husband. So, when someone threatens to take her dream job away, she’ll do almost anything to keep it.

When asked to cover a murder in Blackdown―the sleepy countryside village where she grew up―Anna is reluctant to go. But when the victim turns out to be one of her childhood friends, she can’t leave. It soon becomes clear that Anna isn’t just covering the story, she’s at the heart of it.

DCI Jack Harper left London for a reason, but never thought he’d end up working in a place like Blackdown. When the body of a young woman is discovered, Jack decides not to tell anyone that he knew the victim, until he begins to realise he is a suspect in his own murder investigation.

One of them knows more than they are letting on. Someone isn’t telling the truth. Alternating between Anna's and Jack's points of view, His & Hers is a fast-paced, complex, and dark puzzle that will keep readers guessing until the very end.

******

"We all hide behind the version of ourselves we let the rest of the world see. "

I am always a sucker for a good suspense/thriller book. As soon as I saw the premise for His & Hers, I was intrigued. Almost halfway through, I thought I knew exactly where the story was headed. I thought I had it all figured out, but I was so wrong. There were several twists and surprises and I definitely did not expect the ending that I got. I thoroughly enjoyed it. At a time where it has been hard for me to find a book that not only interests me, but holds my interest from beginning to end, this story did exactly that. I've been struggling with finishing books and finding ones that I truly enjoy and I'm glad that I found His & Hers.

The two narrators did a great job of bringing their characters to life so to speak. It was very easy to get sucked into the story... into the suspense and mystery of it all. It had me guessing and on the edge of my seat all the way through. Those 10½ hours went by very quickly. 

 

 

 

RATING: 4½ OUT OF 5.

 

 

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Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

Publication: April 24, 2018

Publisher: Atria Books

Source: Purchased my own copy.

I feel like I have an ache in my heart after reading this book. Hours after I finished it, I keep thinking about that last page over and over again. I thought I knew what I was getting into when I began this story, but apparently I was mistaken. 

What started out as a simple girl gone missing story, turned into a more complex mystery than I had anticipated. Ellie Mack is your typical teenager in London. She is a bright, energetic, and smart girl. She has two loving parents and a brother and sister who adore her as well. At this stage in her life, all she wants is to spend time with her boyfriend Theo and pass her upcoming exams. Everything is going pretty much according to plan until that fateful day when she accepts an offer she shouldn't have and then she is never seen again. Fast forward 10 years later and most of Ellie Mack's family has moved on while her mom, Laurel is going through the motions, but is still dealing with her daughter's disappearance. Then she meets Floyd, a well dressed man who seems so sure of himself. It all seems too good to be true until Laurel meets Poppy, Floyd's daughter and she comes to a startling realization that Poppy looks remarkably like her missing daughter Ellie.  How is that possible??

Then She Was Gone was a very enjoyable read. like I said at the beginning of this review, I thought I knew where everything was going to go but I was wrong on some things. There are things I guessed but there were still some twists in the story that I hadn’t anticipated and I enjoyed that. I liked the different points of view in the story. It went from then to now and I got to see the thought process and actions of several of the main characters in the story. I loved that. I didn't really want to know exactly what happened to Ellie because I was afraid of the outcome, however I could not stop myself from reading page after page. The whole book had a sort of somber tone to it, but it was that last page...that last page that stayed with me. 

RATING: 4 out of 5

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