The Dis’Aster Family’s Halloween by Helen C. Johannes

October 10, 2023 By 1 Comment


The Dis’Aster Family’s Halloween by Helen C. Johannes
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Children’s (0 – 6 y.o.), Holiday, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Meet the Dis’Aster Family!

The kids are creative. The parents are outnumbered. And the pets, well, they’re unusual.

When the kids decide to enter a Halloween costume contest, what could possibly go wrong?

Come along for the ride. Can Halloween survive?

Spooky season is coming, and some folks are more ready for it than others are.

It’s always nice to see large, happy families in children’s stories. I don’t come across this sort of family very often these days, and I was intrigued by how all of the siblings might get along. Luckily, I soon discovered plenty of examples of the ways they played together and hints about what they thought about having lots of brothers and sisters. It was heartwarming to get to know the Dis’Asters and see how they tackled all sorts of things that are more complicated when you have more relatives to think about.

I would have liked to see more plot development. The first half or so of this picture book was spent introducing the many members of the Dis’Aster family and sharing their hobbies. As helpful as it was to know who everyone was, this also meant that there wasn’t as much time to show how they spent their Halloween as I was expecting. Given how important that holiday was to them, I was surprised by the smaller amount of space that ended up being saved for it.

This read like something a child would come up with if he or she were telling it. Tapping into the imaginative ways kids think can be difficult for adults, so I tip my cap to Ms. Johannes for pulling it off so well. Creativity was infused into scenes that many adult readers might assume would turn out a different way instead. I smiled every time the characters once again did something I wasn’t expecting them to do.

The Dis’Aster Family’s Halloween was an exciting ride.

Filed Under: Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Engine House by Rhys Dylan

October 6, 2023 By Leave a Comment


The Engine House by Rhys Dylan
Publisher: Wyrmwood Books
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

You can bury the bodies, but you can’t hide the truth.

When a landslip on Pembrokeshire’s stunning coastal path reveals the harrowing remains of two bodies, ex-DCI Evan Warlow’s quiet-one man and his dog-retirement is shattered. As the original investigator for the two missing persons eight years before, Evan is recalled to help with what is now a murder inquiry.

But as the killer scrambles to cover up the truth, the body count rises.

Working with a new young team, Warlow peels away the layers to reveal the dark and rotten heart that beats beneath the chocolate box tranquillity of an area renowned for its quiet beauty.

But does he still have what it takes to root out the monstrous truth before all hell lets loose?

It’s been over a year since ex-DCI Evan Warlow has retired at the height of his career for deeply personal reasons. Content to work on his small cottage, walk his dog and take it easy, he is surprised when a landslip on a coastal path reveals the hidden remains of two bodies – a married couple Evan never managed to solve the disappearance of eight years ago and one of the few cases he could never really let go of. Reluctantly allowing himself to be talked into returning to consult on the new case, he’s surprised when a few leads immediately pop up giving a new rush to the investigation. Only with the new leads, new dangers also appear to lurk.

I found this Welsh police procedural crime novel to be really exceptional. The first in a series, I admit the first few chapters initially felt a little slow to me. Once the main characters had been introduced, however, and the investigation really began to start along my interest in the plot and the pace of the story really began to pick up and I soon found myself eagerly along for the ride.

I was pleased that most of the characters weren’t too young – I felt there was a good range for the team, with a few highly experienced leaders, a few middle-career characters and a few new and somewhat naïve additions. I felt this gave the team balance but also a believability that helped sell me on the case and team as a whole. And while having one obvious villainous colleague was a little over the top to my mind, it did add some good drama and conflict.

I felt this book had some great atmosphere. The story was faintly dark and gritty and I felt was very atmospheric – very coastal and small Welsh town. Readers should be aware that there are a few issues with DCI Warlow’s personal life and private health questions remain unanswered in this story – but I expect they should/will be addressed in future books in the series. The aspects to the plot and a few of the interesting twists all get answered and squared away very nicely at the end. I felt this was an excellent police procedural style of story and I am very happy to have found a new series.

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The Skull by Jon Klassen

October 5, 2023 By Leave a Comment


The Skull by Jon Klassen
Publisher: Candlewick
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Children’s (0 – 6 y.o.), Middle Grade (8 – 12 y.o.), Holiday, Paranormal, Historical
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Jon Klassen’s signature wry humor takes a turn for the ghostly in this thrilling retelling of a traditional Tyrolean folktale. In a big abandoned house, on a barren hill, lives a skull. A brave girl named Otilla has escaped from terrible danger and run away, and when she finds herself lost in the dark forest, the lonely house beckons. Her host, the skull, is afraid of something too, something that comes every night. Can brave Otilla save them both? Steeped in shadows and threaded with subtle wit—with rich, monochromatic artwork and an illuminating author’s note—The Skull is as empowering as it is mysterious and foreboding.

Would you spend the night in a haunted house?

Otilla was a brave girl who I quickly grew to like. She was kind and sweet even when she was afraid. That’s not always an easy thing to accomplish, so it made me more curious to learn about where she came from and why she was running away from something that frightened her in the first scene. The more I learned about her, the more I wanted to know.

Some of the scenes in this picture book were pretty intense, especially since this was rated for ages 4 and older. I would be hesitant to read this with younger kids without first figuring out how much horror they can handle. Certainly some of them would love it, but I also felt that the talking skull’s biggest fear in life was much darker than what is typically written for preschoolers and elementary-aged readers.

Otilla’s friendship with the skull was sweet. Both of them had pasts they didn’t want to talk about and seemed to find difficult. It was rewarding to watch them figure out they had this in common and decide they were going to protect each other. Few things are better than having a friend who behaves so loyally!

I would have loved to see more character and plot development. The eerie setting had a nice Halloween vibe, but there weren’t a lot of explanations about who the skull was when it was alive and still had the rest of its body or how they were connected to the grand old mansion that was now slowly falling apart. As an adult, I was able to make certain assumptions about what the author might have meant based on subtle context clues, but I don’t think a lot of kids would necessarily pick up on enough of them to make sense of everything without help.

With that being said, I did enjoy the scenes that explained what the skull could and couldn’t do. For example, it could taste tea, but it could not keep tea inside of its mouth because it didn’t have a body or a stomach to digest it. There were multiple examples like this, and each one made me smile as I added more details to my mental file of what this character’s abilities and limitations were.

The Skull was a spooky Halloween read.

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The Peach Seed by Anita Gail Jones

October 3, 2023 By Leave a Comment


The Peach Seed by Anita Gail Jones
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Ginger

Fletcher Dukes and Altovise Benson reunite after decades apart―and a mountain of secrets―in this debut exploring the repercussions of a single choice and how an enduring talisman challenges and holds a family together.

On a routine trip to the Piggly Wiggly in Albany, Georgia, widower Fletcher Dukes smells a familiar perfume, then sees a tall woman the color of papershell pecans with a strawberry birthmark on the nape of her neck. He knows immediately that she is his lost love, Altovise Benson. Their bond, built on county fairs, sit-ins, and marches, once seemed a sure and forever thing. But their marriage plans were disrupted when the police turned a peaceful protest violent.

Before Altovise fled the South, Fletcher gave her a peach seed monkey with diamond eyes. As we learn via harrowing flashbacks, an enslaved ancestor on the coast of South Carolina carved the first peach seed, a talisman that, ever since, each father has gifted his son on his thirteenth birthday.

Giving one to Altovise initiated a break in tradition, irrevocably shaping the lives of generations of Dukeses. Recently, Fletcher has made do on his seven acres with his daughter Florida’s check-ins, his drop biscuits, and his faithful dog. But as he begins to reckon with long-ago choices, he finds he isn’t the only one burdened with unspoken truths.

An indelible portrait of a family, The Peach Seed explores how kin pass down legacies of sorrow, joy, and strength. And it is a parable of how a glimmer of hope as small as a seed can ripple across generations.

Fletcher Dukes and Altovise Benson shared a youthful love nearly fifty years ago, will a secret unravel their chance for a loving life together?

This novel follows the Duke family and the dynamics of their family over a span of generations. I was excited once I read the excerpt and was looking forward to reading about the Duke family’s male tradition. What a wonderful idea to follow the first peach seed talisman and how its inheritance was passed down through generations. I enjoyed the story, however I felt that the author was doing too much and there were too many storylines and backstories that watered down such a good plot. I was left wondering what the main story was.

For example, the enslaved story of Malik Wele’ did not quite fit nor really tie into the current day family event. Malik’s story could have been a quick explanation of how the tradition started. Then there was the backstory of Fletcher Dukes and Altovise Benson along with the other parts of the novel that included Bo D’s story about his battle with drug addiction and there was Siman Miller discovering and connecting with his biological family.

The story only seemed to focus on specific family members, and not much time was spent on Georgia and Mozell. It was understood that Fletcher had remorse at not having boys to continue the family tradition, but the names were odd, Fletcher’s children called him Ourdaddy and Fletcher’s nickname for his daughters were ‘son’. Not sure what purpose was served including so much talk about the Albany Civil Rights Movement, and that the family helped with the campaign for Obama, but it was mentioned several times throughout the story. The book was told from several points of view. There were a lot of characters named which made me wonder why they were being mentioned or what was their importance in the story.

I rated the book a three star because of what I stated above, however what I took from the story was that the family is resilient, that they stick together and are able to work out their disagreements and differences. I like the idea of the peach seed being passed down as a rite of passage as custom tradition. Also, there had to be someone of skill to continue to carry the knowledge of carving the peach seeds, but it seemed to stop with Fletcher. I don’t think Bo D was taught how to carve. I enjoyed reading about Fletcher and Altovise. Their past story and their love for each other was still there after so many years had passed. Their love would have been a story all to itself and the secret that Altovise brought with her gave the story some of the climax. The author included drug and alcohol addiction which was a way to show the family’s strength and endurance to overcome their obstacles and that they are able to seek help in order to stay strong.

I enjoyed the story, the realness of the situation and events made for a pleasant read. Overall, it was a good story idea, with some structure and a better outline this could have been an even better story. The idea of telling about the rite of passage, seeing the growth and maturity in the Duke family was inspiring, I will definitely give the author another try.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Bone Garden by Kate Ellis

October 3, 2023 By Leave a Comment


The Bone Garden by Kate Ellis
Publisher: Piatkus
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

The ancient gardens of Earlsacre Hall are being excavated by a local team of historians in preparation for plans to recreate the gardens in their former glory. But the dig is called to a halt when two bodies are discovered under a stone plinth. More than 300 years old and buried on top of one another, there is every indication that one of the corpses had been buried alive. Despite the intriguing circumstances, DS Wesley Peterson has little time to indulge in his hobby for archaeology: a man has been found brutally stabbed to death in a trailer at a popular vacation site. There are no clues to the dead man’s identity except for a newspaper cutting about the restoration of Earlsacre. Soon after, the body of local solicitor Brian Willerby is found during a game of village cricket. The postmortem reveals that his death was caused by being struck by a hard ball several times with some force. Now Wesley must decipher the connection between Earlsacre and the murders before any more victims arise.

DS Wesley Peterson is called in when a body is found buried under a three-hundred-year-old plinth. Even though it’s soon proven that the body was buried all those centuries ago, work in the gardens of Earlsacre Hall is halted when yet another body is found to be buried under that original grave. Wesley is deeply curious about who these people were – and why were they buried in the large gardens – but soon a man is stabbed in a rental caravan and Wesley is called away to investigate something more recent than the old skeletons. And when yet another body turns up, Wesley realizes there might be some deeply sinister secrets floating around after all.

I have been greatly enjoying this series and found this book to be a lovely addition. Wesley is really beginning to settle into the police team and the small township, and I was pleased that the author had what I felt was a good balance between the history/archaeology angle and the more current police procedural aspect of the current murders. Readers who enjoy both historical mysteries as well as modern British police procedural style murder mysteries should find this book – and the series as a whole – a good read.

I definitely feel the plot of this book can be read as a standalone. The characters are linked throughout the series, but this book does stan well by itself and aside from catching up on how everyone knows each other I feel readers shouldn’t worry about whether they’ve read the previous books in this series.

An interesting plot with a good balance between history/archaeology and the present times, this was a good read.

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Moving Is Murder by Joan Havelange

October 2, 2023 By Leave a Comment


Moving Is Murder by Joan Havelange
Publisher: BLW Publishing Inc.
Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

How well do you know your neighbours?

Linda Burton is house-sitting for her aunt’s friend in the pretty little town of Glenhaven. Linda, who has spent her working career in the city, has fallen in love with the pleasant little country village. Everyone she has met is so friendly.

Strolling down the alley one evening in search of Gertrude, a pet cat. She hears a voice complaining about burying a body. Not completely convinced she heard correctly. Linda decides to emulate her heroes. Amateur detectives. She tries her hand at detecting. Unfortunately, Linda puts her trust in the wrong person.

Can Linda outwit the killer? Will her aunt Violet figure out the clues Linda has left? And even if Violet does, will it be too late for Linda? And will Violet fall into the same trap?

Even the sleepiest small Canadian town can hide deadly secrets.

The mystery was exciting and well-paced. Linda quickly found herself wrapped up in something she was wildly unprepared for, so I had to keep reading to see how she’d react to the most recent threat to her safety. That’s the sort of storytelling that I like to find, and it made me curious to read more from Ms. Havelange than I already have so far.

There were times when I struggled with Linda’s blunt and sometimes awkward personality. Given that she had heard a lot of stories about her aunt’s previous cases, I was surprised by how socially unaware she could be in sensitive and potentially quite dangerous situations like sneaking into other people’s backyards or homes to see if they had dead bodies stashed anywhere there. This would have made more sense for the first instalment of a series, but it felt out of place for me for a character who should have known better. If this had been explained better, I would have felt comfortable choosing a higher rating as I am a fan of her and the other main characters in general and have enjoyed what I’ve read about them so far.

I appreciated the descriptions of the many reasons why some people are drawn to small town life. The narrator did a good job of explaining the benefits to knowing all of the neighbors well and of living in a quiet place that tends to stay more or less the same from one year to the next. I could feel the author’s love of this setting, and it made me smile to see her spend so much time developing it as well as the unique folks who lived in Glenhaven.

This book is part of a series, but it can be read out of order or as a standalone work.

Moving Is Murder kept me guessing.

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Do Unto Others by John Carson

September 29, 2023 By Leave a Comment


Do Unto Others by John Carson
Publisher: Vellum
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

THEY’RE RICH. THEY’RE POWERFUL. THEY’RE DEAD.

Settling into his new life, Detective Chief Inspector Harry McNeil is being kept busy, but life is going to become a lot busier.

The body of an MSP has been found slaughtered in an empty house in Edinburgh. But this is no ordinary crime scene. It’s one that Harry McNeil thinks he’s seen before. Down to the last detail, including the position of the bodies.

As they start the hunt, they’re looking for a killer who seems to know far too much detail of what goes on behind the scenes at a kill site. Somebody who doesn’t want to stop.

Then Harry recollects where he saw this crime scene before.

This killer is copying murder scenes from the past. But the past is very much going to catch up with the present…

Life is finally returning to normal for DCI McNeil, his new team is all settling down together, his home life is blissfully happy and his toddler daughter is happy and healthy. So when a particularly brutal and unusual murder scene sticks in his mind, it takes him a while to work out what his subconscious wouldn’t let go. He’s seen the exact same scene from another murder that occurred decades ago. Can his team sort everything out before another murder occurs?

I have been enjoying this long running series for a while now. While the cast of primary characters is quite large, there are a number of rambunctious and thoroughly enjoyable characters all working together. I was quite pleased that DSup Calvin Stewart played a fairly large part in this investigation as I quite enjoy him and feel his character has grown very much over the last few books. I was also pleased that for much of the book Stewart and McNeil were working two different cases. I really felt this dual approach to the plot helped the book feel a little more complicated and deeper than a lot of the previous books have felt.

Readers who pick this book up without having read any of the previous installments might struggle a little with the large cast of characters. While the plot and murders are clearly introduced and defined in this story there are a lot of characters and I do feel readers might struggle a bit to keep everyone in mind, especially as a few of the various Scotland units cross over a bit. That said, readers who have only read a few of the previous books should definitely know enough of the longer term characters that this shouldn’t prove too overwhelming and the enjoyable plot and good pace to the story should still leave this as a thoroughly enjoyable book.

Readers who enjoy a well plotted police procedural style of murder mystery – especially one set in Scotland – should find this book a really good read. I thoroughly enjoy this series and found this book to be a good addition to my collection.

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The Furthest Station by Ben Aaronovitch

September 26, 2023 By Leave a Comment


The Furthest Station by Ben Aaronovitch
Publisher: Gollancz
Genre: Contemporary, Paranormal, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

There have been ghosts on the London Underground, sad, harmless spectres whose presence does little more than give a frisson to travelling and boost tourism. But now there’s a rash of sightings on the Metropolitan Line and these ghosts are frightening, aggressive and seem to be looking for something.

Enter PC Peter Grant, junior member of the Metropolitan Police’s Special Assessment unit a.k.a. The Folly a.k.a. the only police officers whose official duties include ghost hunting. Together with Jaget Kumar, his counterpart at the British Transport Police, he must brave the terrifying crush of London’s rush hour to find the source of the ghosts.

Joined by Peter’s wannabe wizard cousin, a preschool river god and Toby the ghost hunting dog, their investigation takes a darker tone as they realise that a real person’s life might just be on the line.

And time is running out to save them.

When PC Peter Grant is contacted by a friend in the Transit Police about people being harassed on the Metropolitan line in the subway, he’s curious but doesn’t think too much of it. After a bit of investigation, he discovers that there absolutely are a various number of ghosts, all with a purpose, on the early morning commuter trains. With Abigail lending a hand, and Nightingale as back up can Peter decipher their message and unravel everything before things get critical.

I really enjoyed this short story and was exceptionally pleased that despite it’s shorter length there is a quite solid and intricate plotline and a few of our favourite characters front and center. I was particularly pleased with the movement and maturing of Abigail’s character and plot arc, I’m thinking there are definitely much bigger things in her near future. I also really enjoyed seeing Peter doing what he does best and it was a pleasure as always to see Nightingale in action.

Readers who enjoy a strong element of magic and paranormal rolled along in with their mysteries should find this an excellent book – and a great series as a whole – I’d happily pick up this shorter book as a brief introduction to the magical world Aaronovitch has created. This is a great, shorter taste of his writing style and the series, but readers who do enjoy this should go back to the beginning and enjoy the story from the start. I don’t feel readers who start here should be too confused though it’s quite clear there are a number of books preceding this one and why miss all the fun?

A quick read and loads of fun with a strong mystery and some exceptional magic and paranormal beings, this is a good time and I recommend it.

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Carnival Songs by S.V. Brown

September 22, 2023 By Leave a Comment


Carnival Songs by S.V. Brown
Publisher: Golden Storyline Books
Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Historical, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

A small city in Indiana nestled along the banks of the Ohio River, Torrenceburg is a place holding onto archaic beliefs that shroud long-kept secrets. Beginning with the eradication of the native populations in the early 19th century, Carnival Songs explores the influence of the city’s founding family upon the next two centuries of politics, religion, and its transition into the new millennia. Told from the perspective of the last heir to the family wealth and privilege, fueled by his dying mother’s confessions, the narrator searches for the truth about his parents and ancestors but discovers events far too difficult to reconcile with his love of southeastern Indiana and pride in his family history.

Nuance is the name of the game here.

Is personal experience living in a small town that is grappling with a horrifically racist past strictly necessary to enjoy this tale? No, but there are some gems in here for readers who do know what that’s like. There’s something to be said for authors who know how to speak to multiple audiences at the same time, especially for a topic as sensitive as racism and rural life. I appreciated how much time was spent exploring how racism is expressed in both subtle and explicit ways.

This book included nearly four dozen characters, some of whom were occasionally referred to by nicknames that were not always clearly linked to the person in question by that portion of the storyline. At times I struggled to remember who everyone was and how they were related or connected to everyone else. Having such a large cast also meant that there wasn’t much space for character development in the vast majority of cases. As much as I wanted to give this a higher rating, my confusion over the often complex ties between so many characters prevented me from doing so.

Adjusting to change can be difficult for everyone sometimes. The mystery elements of the plot included this fact of life, and I was intrigued by how the various characters reacted to the idea of welcoming gaming boats to their city dock as a way to improve their economy. I’ll leave it up to other readers to discover what the positive and negative consequences of this decision were, but I thought it was interesting to see how inevitable change is in even the sleepiest villages that at first glance seem most immune to it.

Carnival Songs captured the complexities of small towns nicely.

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The Funeral Boat by Kate Ellis

September 20, 2023 By Leave a Comment


The Funeral Boat by Kate Ellis
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

When a skeleton is discovered on a Devon smallholding, DS Wesley Peterson, a keen amateur archaeologist, is intrigued by the possibility that it is a Viking corpse buried in keeping with ancient traditions. But he has a rather more urgent crime to solve, when a Danish tourist is reported missing.

Wesley finds disturbing evidence that the woman has been abducted. His boss Gerry Heffernan believes that Ingeborg’s disappearance is linked to a spate of brutal robberies and that she witnessed something she shouldn’t have.

But is her disappearance linked to far older events? For it seems that this may not have been Ingeborg’s first visit to this far from quiet West Country backwater . . .

A skeleton is discovered on a small farm and DS Wesley Peterson’s boss is convinced it’s the remains of a criminal that had lived on the land then mysteriously disappeared three years ago. But the skeleton appears to have been buried in a boat – one of the rituals many Viking graves have. Wesley’s archaeologist friend, Neil, is convinced the body is extremely old, but a number of questions remain. Then when a Danish tourist goes missing, Wes and his team have to juggle both cases as well as a spate of robberies that have occurred with the local farms.

I have been enjoying this series of police procedural mysteries and am feeling the author is starting to hit her stride. I find there is a decent balance of police procedure and murder mystery – though I do admit readers looking for a heavily historical or strongly archaeology based series might find this side of the plot is often not as front-and-center as the more modern mystery and police aspects of the plot.

I am also enjoying the fact Wesley’s police colleagues and team are definitely being fleshed out a little more and the team is knitting together very well. This has been more of a slower paced arc covering the series as a whole but I am really starting to enjoy it all. This book can absolutely be read by itself and while I am enjoying the longer arc having read each of the previous books in the series, it definitely isn’t necessary to thoroughly enjoy this story on its own merits.

A fun and well written British police procedural murder mystery I enjoyed this book and can definitely recommend the series as a whole.

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