Summer Reading Roundup: Mystery and Thriller

 Here are some of the mystery and thrillers I read this summer. Thanks to the great publishers for providing me with copies!

Fabian Nicieza returns to West Windsor in the sequel to Suburban Dicks with The Self-Made Widow. When Derek Goode drops dead of an apparent heart attack, Andie Stern goes to the side of his wife Molly. Molly is a fellow member of the "cellulitists" (with debate over the proper pronunciation of her invented nickname) who is always unflappable, even in the face of her husband's death. Andie's dispassionate eye is suspicious of Molly's demeanor. Kenny Lee, the journalist who worked with Molly on the previous case gets a call accusing Molly of murder and both Andie and Kenny's suspicions go on high alert. The coroner concludes that the death was due to a preexisting heart condition so Andie and Kenny are going to have to do some digging to find the truth. 

Andie has a first-rate mind and her destiny as an FBI profiler went off the rails with her first pregnancy. It is fascinating to watch her pull at threads and construct theories. What casts a little bit of a pall over the book is that Andie, along with Kenny and most of the other characters in the book, are very unhappy people. Even achieving some of the successes they think they want doesn't fill that void. One bright spot is Andie's relationship with her older daughter. Andie is learning to trust her more and her daughter in turn sees a side of her mother that she didn't really know.

The Self-Made Widow has plenty of humor, some brilliant deductions, and some dogged detecting. The ending in particular sets the stage for some significant character growth. I'll be looking forward to where this series goes next.

There are few more reliable pleasures than an Andy Carpenter mystery from David Rosenfelt. In Holy Chow, Andy gets a call from Rachel Moorehouse asking him to take care of Lion if anything happens to her and her stepson is unable to take him. Lion is the Chow Chow Andy helped her to adopt and he agrees without question. When Andy is called to the reading of Rachel's will, he learns she was far richer than he knew and has left the shelter he works with 2 million dollars. He meets her stepson Tony who is promptly arrested for murder and asks Andy to defend him. Andy being a semi-retired criminal defense attorney reluctantly and predictably agrees.

When it is discovered that Rachel died from potassium chloride poisoning and that Tony is a high school chemistry teacher, Andy knows he has his work cut out for him. He pulls together his team and gets to work. This is where the story is the most fun. Andy is both clever and witty. His cleverness leads him down avenues that both shed light on the central mystery and inevitably put him in danger. His wit adds humor and levity, but it is also central to the reason some people, mostly those on the other side of a courtroom for him, both loathe and respect him. Seeing Andy and his crew unravel the mystery is half the fun, laughing along the way is the other half. Carpenter always makes sure you learn enough about the characters so that new readers aren't lost while long-time readers aren't bored. Shout-out this time around to the Bubula brigade, Andy's team of elderly hackers that play a big role in solving the mystery. Another great outing in an outstanding series.

Sam Capra returns in Jeff Abbott's latest thriller, Traitor's Dance. Sam is living a quiet life in Texas with his son, Daniel, when the shadowy government branch he works for pulls him into a case involving one of America's greatest traitors, Markus Bolt. Bolt had defected to Russia along with a list of names of spies for America and its allies. Now he has disappeared and the race is on to find him.

Sam is tasked with contacting his daughter, Amanda, in Florida to see if he shows up there or has reached out to her. Russian agents are also in pursuit as both sides try to discover the reason for his disappearance and to prevent the other side from reaching him at any cost. Meanwhile, Daniel is asking questions about his dead mother that Sam is having increasing difficulty answering and Sam's forced absence isn't helping.

Abbot creates an exciting and tense atmosphere filled with colorful characters. Not only is there a thrilling pursuit, but there is the mystery of why Bolt chose now to flee Russia. Different players with different agendas add to the confusion and keep raising the stakes. The subplot with Daniel is a little light with him being too naive and gullible making his choices more eye-rolling than concerning. Abbott adds plenty of action as events circle closer and closer together with plenty of thrilling fights and chase scenes. Capra is a fun and capable character and the end result is a book with plenty of thrills!

An elite group of female assassins are taking a celebratory cruise on the occasion of their retirement after 40 years in the business in Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn. Recruiting in their 20s by an organization, referred to only as The Museum, that rose to hunt Nazis, these women have spent decades carrying out clandestine assassinations all over the world. They are literally sailing off into retirement when they discover that they themselves are targeted for assassination. The Museum soon finds out that they are not so easily disposed of. 

The story jumps between the present and the past, when Billie, Mary, Alice, and Helen are recruited and trained together as well as some of their notable missions. Told through the eyes of Billie we come to know her best. The plot is witty and filled with both humor and thrills. Unraveling the mystery of why they are being targeted keeps you guessing all the way through. Their clever and deadly efforts to trace the problem to its source provide plenty of adventure. The way they are dismissed, underestimated, and overlooked only adds to the pleasure of seeing them succeed. The tragedy and wisdom of age, particularly for women get a very interesting treatment here and the results make it impossible not to root for them. This book reminded me of the movie RED, and is thoroughly entertaining!