Anne Hillerman: The way of the bear, Harper Collins, ebook available

I have been a lifelong fan of Tony Hillerman's thrillers set in New Mexico featuring Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn.

 His daughter Anne has continued the series after her father's passing, concentrating on detectives Chee and Manuelito who used to work with now retired Joe Leaphorn. In comparison to Tony Hillerman's work, I find her novels okay but lightweight. They make for easy reading, an armchair trip to New Mexico and never have my nerves on edge. Same goes for The way of the Bear. 

 However, the Netflix series Dark Winds is ace and really well done, all based on Tony's original writing but continued with a twist. 

 

Laurie Dove: Mask of the Deer Woman, Berkley/ Penguin Usa, read the ebook

Carrie Starr is an ex Chicago detective with an alcohol problem, a Native American heritage, and recently appointed as the new tribal marshall on the reservation where her father was raised.

 I immediately felt a connection with the narration and a protagonist who has a tragedy to overcome constantly ruffling feather with just about everyone.  Picking up on the real life facts of a rising number of native American women disappearing with very little resolve by the police to investigate the cases, the author created in Starr a complex character who makes it her mission to find a newly missing woman, Chenoa Cloud.

Dove does a fine job of weaving Native American mythology and current issues in tribal communities into an intriguing, unique thriller. I learned a sequel " Cry of the Rain crow" is scheduled for publication  later in the year, reaĺly looking forward to read more of what Carrie Starr is up to next. 

 Victor Ladato: Honey, Harper Perennial,  9780063309630, paperback

With Honey Fasinga, Victor Ladato has created one of the best octogenerian female characters I can think off, absoltuely fell in love with glamorous, inspiring, gutsy  Honey.  A literary novel with a rebellious heroine, the daughter of  a New Jersey mobster, she did the unthinkable in her Twenties and ran off to California to work as an art auctioneer in LA. Now in her eighties, she has returned home, confronted with the loss of her closest friends, her lover, her family's nephews and increasing signals of being in your eighties. Hilarious and sad at times,  I admired Honey' s guts particularly when she remembers the men in her life but also her adventurous spirit, allowing new people to join her world Female rage at it's best, loved this wonderful novel!

 Amity Gaige: Heartwood, Imprint: Fleet, paperback coming in May, ebook available,

I guess what drew me to this crime novel was the plot set around the disappearance of Valery Gillis, who goes missing hiking the tough, long Appalachian Trail.

 Leading the search party for her is Beverly, a Maine State Game warden, who is determined and confident to find her. Enter the second main protagonist, a strange elderly bird watcher, Lena, who is impaired living in a care facility and spends a lot of time online befriending some questionable contacts. Valeries diary entries during the search are the third narration in the plot, slowly shedding light to the puzzle of her disappearance.

For some reason I did not like the book as much as I thought I would, never really connected with the characters of Lena or Valerie.  Beverly I could identify the most with. It's a well written mystery but it never fully engaged me. 

 Ariel Lawhon: The wife, the maid and the mistress, Swift Press, ebook available, paperback Nov. 2026

If you are in the mood for read set in 1930ties New York of speakeasies and gangsters,  with three very strong female characters at the center of the book,  based on a real cold case around the disappearance of Judge Joe Carter, "The wife, the maid and the mistress" by Ariel Lawhon would be a perfect pick.

 I loved this atmospheric, mesmerizing mystery, told through the voices of the three women in corrupt Judge Joe Carter' s life: Stella Carter his tough, clever wife, Maria Simon, the maid who is married to detective Jude Simon who will be handling the case when Carter goes missing , and his mistress Ritzi, Sally Lou Ritz, a street-smart show girl. Great read, excellent writing , will not reveal more about the book. The author includes background information about the real characters at the end of the book. Thanks for the proof Swift Press. 

 Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney: Lake Effect, Harper Collins, 9780008799441, trade paperback

"Lake Effect" by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney is just as good as her previous bestseller " The Nest" which i adored. Set in 1977 , "The Joy of Sex" has just been published and has a lot to do with the trouble that is about to rock the foundation of two families in Rochester. 

When Nina Larkin falls in lust  and in love with Finn Finnegan, her next door neighbour,  the sexual revolution shakes up the lives of four adults and teenagers,  with the shock effect of that decision influencing everyone still years later, her daughter Clara the most. I absolutely devoured the book in 2 days, it is a great portrait of the time and the moral code then, funny, wise,  about love, desire and responsibilities towards your family and how to juggle that with your own needs.  A great read, loved Nina Larkin as a main character in particular, my heart really went out to her. Highly recommend if you like books about family dynamics. 

 Ann Patchett: Whistler, Bloomsbury, 9781037206498, large format paperback, pub date: 2. June 2026

Thank you Bloomsbury for my early proof of the upcoming Ann Patchett: Whistler, a great read and very much a feel good book. 

 Elizabeth Strout and Ann Patchett are both brilliant at dissecting families and their complicated dynamics. In "Whistler" Ann Patchett portraits that a seemingly family disaster years ago can, many years later through a fateful encounter,  turn into the most comforting, important relationship of a whole family.    As happens to Daphne Fuller, when during a visit to the Metropolitan Museum in NY, she runs into her beloved former stepfather Eddie, who disappeared from her life when her mother divorced him, never understanding what really happend . The novel unravels exactly that. 

We all need an Eddie in our lives was the overriding feeling the novel left me with. Loved the story, characters and the mood the novel left me with.