THE DEVIL YOU KNOW
P.J. Tracy
Botox, earthquakes, and caviar for breakfast are just a few of the things that make her latest novel, THE DEVIL YOU KNOW, so very L. A.
After a celebratory party an esteemed actor, Evan Hobbes, careens over the side of a cliff to his untimely death. Evan hasn’t been having the best of times lately. A damaging video has been circulating that implies his participation. Which is the last thing he needed.
Now he’s dead and on the case is LAPD detective Margaret Nolan.
We catch up with Nolan and follow along as she unravels the mystery of Evan’s death.
This is the first book I’ve read by P.J. Tracy. I did not feel that the writing or the story offered me much as a reader. There were no characters to connect with which is fine. I love a great unlikeable character. However, there is no one to root for in the book. Including Nolan, which is unfortunate.
Outside of those things, I did not feel there was anything to take away from the novel. I did not feel inspired to continue in the series and I feel that I will soon forget most things about the book. I do not recommend it.
Thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Minotaur Books for the advanced copy and the opportunity to provide feedback!
THE DEVIL YOU KNOW…⭐️⭐️
When an acclaimed author dies at the Regency Grand Hotel, it’s up to a fastidious maid to uncover the truth, no matter how dirty—in a standalone novel featuring Molly Gray, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid, a Good Morning America Book Club Pick.
Molly Gray is not like anyone else. With her flair for cleaning and proper etiquette, she has risen through the ranks of the glorious five-star Regency Grand Hotel to become the esteemed Head Maid. But just as her life reaches a pinnacle state of perfection, her world is turned upside down when J.D. Grimthorpe, the world-renowned mystery author, drops dead—very dead—on the hotel’s tea room floor.
When Detective Stark, Molly’s old foe, investigates the author’s unexpected demise, it becomes clear that this death was murder most foul. Suspects abound, and everyone wants to who killed J.D. Grimthorpe? Was it Lily, the new Maid-in-Training? Or was it Serena, the author’s secretary? Could Mr. Preston, the hotel’s beloved doorman, be hiding something? And is Molly really as innocent as she seems?
As the case threatens the hotel’s pristine reputation, Molly knows she alone holds the key to unlocking the killer’s identity. But that key is buried deep in her past—because long ago, she knew J.D. Grimthorpe. Molly begins to comb her memory for clues, revisiting her childhood and the mysterious Grimthorpe mansion where she and her dearly departed Gran once worked side by side. With the entire hotel under investigation, Molly must solve the mystery post-haste. If there’s one thing Molly knows for sure, it’s that dirty secrets don’t stay buried forever…
THE MYSTERY GUEST
Nita Prose
Welcome to the Regency Grand Hotel where every so often there are book signings, occasionally, murders are plotted within its rooms and, as always, Molly the Maid is on the case.
So, rest assured-everything is going to be all right.
In this sequel, we follow Molly at two points in time. Part of the time we are with her she works as a maid at the Grand Regency Hotel. There is a book signing and someone ends up dead. There is a murder to solve, and the answer to the mystery lies in Molly’s past.
The other part of the time we are with Molly and her grandmother as her grandmother works for an esteemed family. This point in time holds the answer to solving this current case.
I first met Molly the Maid in Nita Prose’s THE MAID. Molly is charming and full of wisdom handed down from her grandmother. You cannot separate Molly from her grandmother’s wisdom. It is so much a part of who she is. I love Molly for her charm, her guile, and her overall desire to do good, to be good, to give good, and to see good in others.
I appreciate the unraveling of the mystery and I love the feeling of antiquity I get while reading. The writing and characters are charming and every time I revisit Molly’s world I’m reminded of the good in the world.
Thanks to Penguin Random House Audio for the advanced audiobook copy!
If you haven’t read Nita Prose and have yet to meet Molly the Maid now is your chance, this is the season!
THE MYSTERY GUEST is out today.
THE MYSTERY GUEST…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A woman uploads her DNA online, searching for her father–but the man who contacts her is Detective Chief Inspector Jonah Sheens. From the acclaimed author of Little Sister, this endlessly twisty crime novel asks: What might a family do to protect or expose a serial killer in its midst?
When the police found the first body, left on a bonfire in the fields, they worried it had the hallmarks of a serial killer.
Now, as they find the second, they know for sure.
Panic about the “bonfire killer” quickly spreads through the sedate, suburban area of Southampton. Women are urged not to travel alone at night, and constant vigilance is encouraged among the local residents. But single mom Aisling Cooley has a lot to distract her: two beloved teenage sons and a quest to find her long-lost father, whom she hasn’t seen since she was a teenager growing up in Ireland.
After much debate she decides to upload her DNA to an ancestry website, and when she gets a match she is filled with an anxious excitement, that her questions about her father’s disappearance from her life might finally be answered.
But to her horror, it’s not her father who’s found her. It’s a detective.
And they say her DNA is a close match for the bonfire killer…
A KILLER IN THE FAMILY
Gytha Lodge
This is the first book by Gytha Lodge that I have read. From the experience I had reading A KILLER IN THE FAMILY, I can tell we’re going to be great friends.
A KILLER IN THE FAMILY stars DCI Jonah Sheens. We catch up with Sheens on the case of THE BONFIRE KILLER. The killer is watching as the crime scene unfolds. They are playing with the detectives: leaving objects at crime scenes, moving Sheens’ personal items around, and inserting themselves in the investigation.
Meanwhile, somewhere across town, a woman uploads her DNA to a website that helps its members locate family members. She is looking for her father and hopes this website will lead to him and provide closure for her and her sons.
What she finds is something else entirely.
Lodge sets an incredible pace in the beginning and carries it the whole way through. It’s quick and the killer is in your face, their exploits frustrating and provoking. There wasn’t a dull moment. The second the action slows down in one POV you’re switched to another perspective with different variables, keeping the excitement going.
In A KILLER IN THE FAMILY, there are intriguing shifting perspectives that converge in the best way. That was probably my favorite thing about the book. I liked the use of DNA but could’ve used a more updated storyline. Perhaps a new and inventive way of using DNA that is innovative. That is my only complaint and it’s minor.
Thanks to Netgalley, Penguin Random House Audio, Random House Publishing Group – Random House, and Random House Trade Paperbacks for the advanced copies!
A KILLER IN THE FAMILY…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
