Fifteen books for February, plus I re-listened to The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes to prepare for Sunrise on the Reaping on 3/18. I finally got caught up on all the current Kay Scarpetta books, even though they got harder to read towards the end.

Favorite: Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave
Least favorite: Dust

• The Antique Hunter’s Death on the Red Sea (Antique Hunter’s, #2) C.L. Miller ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
• The World’s Greatest Detective Caroline Carlson ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
• Havoc Christopher Bollen ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
• Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave (Finlay Donovan, #5) Elle Cosimano ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
• Loose Lips (Ghostwriter Mystery, #2) Kemper Donovan ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
• Knife Skills for Beginners Orlando Murrin ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
• Identity Unknown (Kay Scarpetta, #28) Patricia Cornwell ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
• Unnatural Death (Kay Scarpetta, #27) Patricia Cornwell ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
• Livid (Kay Scarpetta, #26) Patricia Cornwell ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
• Autopsy (Kay Scarpetta, #25) Patricia Cornwell ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
• Chaos (Kay Scarpetta, #24) Patricia Cornwell ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
• Depraved Heart (Kay Scarpetta, #23) Patricia Cornwell ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
• Flesh and Blood (Kay Scarpetta, #22) Patricia Cornwell ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
• Dust (Kay Scarpetta, #21) Patricia Cornwell ⭐️ ⭐️
• The Incident of the Book in the Nighttime (A Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery, #10) Vicki Delany ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Think Jurassic Park but it’s not only dinosaurs that have been resurrected. 🦣🦖🦕🦥🧟‍♂️

The book begins with a (pregnant) newlywed couple being murdered inside a fancy resort. The resort has managed to clone wooly mammoths and other extinct species. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation is brought in to investigate and things get weird…

I think the concept of the book is great, but I was underwhelmed by the writing. This was surprising because I normally love this author’s work. Perhaps it was doomed from the beginning when a word that gives me major icks was used.

I will definitely keep reading books by this author because this is the only time I haven’t really really liked their book, and this one was still ok.

Special thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy of the audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.

23 books for February – the picture is sorted from most liked at the top to least liked at the bottom

Ripley’s Game (Ripley, #3) by Patricia Highsmith
First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston
The Case of the Missing Marquess (Enola Holmes, #1) by Nancy Springer
The Lola Quartet by Emily St. John Mandel
Twenty-Seven Minutes by Ashley Tate
The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1) by J.R.R. Tolkien
Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect (Ernest Cunningham, #2) by Benjamin Stevenson
End of Story by A.J. Finn
Anna O by Matthew Blake
Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates
Medea by Eilish Quin
A Trace of Hares (Nell Ward, #5) by Sarah Yarwood-Lovett
The Framed Women of Ardemore House (Netherleigh Mystery, #1) by Brandy Schillace
The Coast-to-Coast Murders by James Patterson
Ripley Under Water (Ripley, #5) by Patricia Highsmith
The Boy Who Followed Ripley (Ripley, #4) by Patricia Highsmith
Some Shall Break (None Shall Sleep #2) by Ellie Marney
None Shall Sleep (None Shall Sleep, #1) by Ellie Marney
The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder: A Novel by C.L. Miller
Starter Villain by John Scalzi
Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice (Finlay Donovan, #4) by Elle Cosimano
No One Can Know by Kate Alice Marshall
Murder by Candlelight (The Val & Arbie Mysteries #1) by Faith Martin

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Dr Nell Ward, our favorite ecologist, is in Ireland for the wedding of her friend Conor when a body is discovered in the nearby bog. The chemistry of the bogs preserves bodies for an extremely long time. Some bodies discovered there are over 2000 years old 😱, and have been sort of mummified by the process.

The body in this story belongs to the wife of Conor’s brother, who disappeared along with her 3 month old daughter about 20 years ago. So of course Nell and Rav (and cousin Shannon and her detective boyfriend James) help figure out who did it and why, and are put in grave danger more than once along the way.

I’m so invested in these characters that I’m literally prepared to beg the author to let Rav have a happy safe time for the next book. 😬

Special thanks to Netgalley and Embla Books for an advance copy of the ebook in exchange for my honest opinion.

Publication date March 27, 2024

Stop what you’re doing and listen to this audiobook for a very funny story about sentient cats and dolphins and super villains.

Finlay & Vero are going on a road trip! And bring the kids, the ex-husband and Finlay’s mom 😱. Antics ensue (of course). I thought the funniest parts were when Finlay was talking to her agent. For some reason I always picture Joey Tribbiani’s agent Estelle 😃 when she’s speaking to her.

I like how this one immediately followed the events of book 3. I love reading about this friendship – keep the books coming!

March 5, 2024 Publish Date

Special thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced audiobook edition in exchange for my honest opinion.

This delightful locked room mystery is set in the 1920s in the Cotswolds. The amatuer detective is Arbuthnot “Arbie” Smith along with his helper Val.

Arbie has become famous recently for writing a book called A Gentleman’s Guide to Ghost-Hunting, and is therefore requested to keep watch at a nearby home where unusual things have been happening. When a murder happens while he’s keeping watch, he decides that he must figure out who did it and why.

This book is perfect for Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle fans. My favorite parts were the inner thoughts of Arbie and Val about each other. They’ve always known each other but this situation causes them to see each other in a new light.

I will be checking out the author’s other work and I really hope this becomes a series!

I also loved the narrator’s voice – I had to google him because at first I could have sworn it was Tim Curry.

Special thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK Audio for the advanced audiobook version in exchange for my honest opinion. Published on January 4, 2024.

17 for January. Last year by this time I had already listened to over 30 books because I had just discovered the Agatha Raisin series and I could do almost 2 per day at 2x speed. I’m not trying to keep up with last year’s numbers just trying to show that it’s all relative and we all just do our best. I also started trying to physically write in a notebook my thoughts on each book so I can try to remember the plots and characters better. I got one of those cute 2×3 photo printers to print the covers too.

My ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ reads of 2023

All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby
Happiness Falls by Angie Kim
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
Paper Towns by John Green
The Life Council: 10 Friends Every Woman Needs by Laura Tremaine
The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn
The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb
The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li

This book would be great for anyone who loves Agatha Christie type mysteries, or anyone who enjoyed the previous books by the author, Alex Michaelides.

Elliott Chase is friends with a famous former actress and goes for a visit on her Greek island, where there is a murder. The story shows what leads up to the murder and the aftermath of it. I don’t want to say too much more because of spoilers, but you will have fun trying to figure it out.

Thanks to @NetGalley and @macmillan.audio for an advanced edition of the audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.