Ghosties, Mystery, New Releases, paranormal, Psychological, Spooky Season, Suspense, Women

Asylum Hotel by Juliet Blackwell

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Description

When a mysterious figure shows up in the photograph an architect takes of the derelict Seabrink Hotel, ghostly encounters and murder are unleashed.

Aubrey Spencer loves photographing classic old buildings and abandoned places that hold old secrets. The Hotel Seabrink, perched overlooking the sea, is one such place. Currently abandoned but scheduled for a major renovation, it has a torrid history. Back in the 1920s it hosted A-list celebrity clientele, and now the locals insist it is haunted by the ghosts of two young women who died there. When Aubrey goes to photograph the site before the renovation begins, she bumps into a man named Dimitri Petroff, a minor online celebrity who shares her fascination with old buildings, the Hotel Seabrink in particular.

When he is found dead the next day at the base of a cliff, the police are quick to close the investigation. But Aubrey feels unsettled by locals who claim he was murdered and that it’s not the first time someone interested in the hotel was killed. As she digs deeper into the property’s dark history (and its origins as an asylum) as well as Dimitri’s professional rivalries, she becomes mired in an unsolved murder case from several decades earlier, one with eerie parallels to the contemporary case.  But someone is determined to keep her from discovering the truth—at any cost.

My Thoughts

I’ve been a fan of Juliet Blackwell’s books for a long time, beginning with her Lily Ivory series and expanding into her later forays in longer fiction. I confess, I was very disappointed to hear that the Lily Ivory series has sunsetted, but if giving up the LI series means Blackwell has time to write mysteries like this absolute STAR of a book, I’m good!

Turns out Blackwell’s earlier writing might have been practice for this full-blown mysterious, scary, imaginative story.

Everything here works seamlessly to deliver a taut, suspenseful, and very well written paranormal mystery. It’s just the right amount of scary blended with a well-plotted mystery, resulting in a startling and very satisfying conclusion. Blackwell steps into the circle with authors like Simone St. James and Sarah Rayne, delivering a story that will keep you turning pages, albeit with all the lights on.

So well done!

Publication Date: July 29, 2025
Published By: Berkley Publishing Group
Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the review copy

Action Adventure, British, Historical, Mystery

The Grand Illusion by Syd Moore

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Publisher Description

Historical fiction inspired by the War Office response to the Nazi obsession with the occult

Step forward Daphne Devine – you are about to change the course of the war 

June 1940. As World War Two rages, Daphne Devine remains in London, performing each night as assistant to stage magician Jonty Trevelyan, aka the Grand Mystique.

Then the secret service call.

For, aware of Hitler’s belief in the occult, the war office has set up a hidden cohort to exploit this quirk in the enemy’s chain of command.

Daphne and Jonty find themselves far from the glitz and glamour of the theatre, deep inside the lower levels of Wormwood Scrubs prison. Here, they join secret ranks of occultists, surrealists, and other eccentrics co-opted to the war effort. There is one goal: to avert invasion on British shores.

Soon Daphne realises she must risk everything if there is any chance of saving her country.

My Thoughts

I first read Syd Moore’s Essex Witch Museum series a few years ago, then she dropped off my reading radar…until I came across this beauty buried in my Goodreads Want to Read list. I am very happy I found her again!

Grand Illusion is a whopper of an adventure, complete with likable (and unlikable) characters, suspense, action, a nail-biting climax, and promise of more to come.

This explores the little-known use of illusion in WWII – where the Allies used illusory effects to fool the Axis into thinking they had bigger, better & more people and equipment. Here, Moore uses Daphne and her mentor/employer Jonty to develop all sorts of illusions to trick the enemy. There’s a wonderful scene where a senior official believes he is under attack by the enemy, only to discover it’s all smoke and mirrors.

Moore also touches on the incarceration and deportation of thousands of Germans and Italians in Britain during the war. This is the first I’ve read about that and will be seeking out more information (always the sign of a good book!)

Moore is a clever, engaging writer who consistently produces quirky and imaginative mysteries that depart from the well-worn tropes used by many authors. Check out all her work, including Grand Illusion.

Publication Date: May 7, 2024
Published By: Magpie Books, Simon & Schuster
Thanks to the Central Library of Rochester & Monroe County for the book

Family, Historical, Makes You Think, Women

Moloka’i by Alan Brennert

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Publisher Description

This richly imagined novel, set in Hawai’i more than a century ago, is an extraordinary epic of a little-known time and place—and a deeply moving testament to the resiliency of the human spirit.

Rachel Kalama, a spirited seven-year-old Hawaiian girl, dreams of visiting far-off lands like her father, a merchant seaman. Then one day a rose-colored mark appears on her skin, and those dreams are stolen from her. Taken from her home and family, Rachel is sent to Kalaupapa, the quarantined leprosy settlement on the island of Moloka’i. Here her life is supposed to end—but instead she discovers it is only just beginning. 

With a vibrant cast of vividly realized characters, Moloka’i is the true-to-life chronicle of a people who embraced life in the face of death. Such is the warmth, humor, and compassion of this novel that “few readers will remain unchanged by Rachel’s story” (mostlyfiction.com).

My Thoughts

GoodReads “Want to Read” #2

I recall reading about Father Damien of Moloka’i in grammar school and remember being shocked and so sad for the people with leprosy who were banished to Kalaupapa. I am sure that memory is what drew me to this book and led me to add it to my GoodReads list back in 2012.

This is an emotional and beautiful reading experience that demonstrates the wide range of human capacity for survival. From the people in Rachel’s community who, driven by fear and disgust, shunned her family to the cold and clinical treatment Rachel experienced in hospital to the warm and welcoming community on Kalaupapa to the vibrant but full-of-heartbreak life Rachel led – this book will make you feel all the emotions.

The author writes eloquently of this difficult topic and with tremendous compassion and grace for the characters affected by leprosy. The descriptions of Hawaii add a color to the narrative that helped this reader (who has never been there) envision the beauty of the landscape. Brennert is equally adept at writing characters, and there are several here that I will remember for a long time.

As I read, I was taken back just a few years to the beginning of the pandemic. I recognized many of the same panicky reactions in the community members and the devastating impact Rachel’s illness had on her family. I think this reading experience would have been much different pre-pandemic and I think this would make a very interesting book club discussion today.

Highly recommended.

Publication Date: September 9, 2004
Published By: Macmillan
Thanks to the Rochester Public Library Winton Branch for the book

Non Fiction

Otherlands by Thomas Halliday

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Publisher Description

The past is past, but it does leave clues, and Thomas Halliday has used cutting-edge science to decipher them more completely than ever before. In Otherlands, Halliday makes sixteen fossil sites burst to life on the page.

This book is an exploration of the Earth as it used to exist, the changes that have occurred during its history, and the ways that life has found to adapt―or not. It takes us from the savannahs of Pliocene Kenya to watch a python chase a group of australopithecines into an acacia tree; to a cliff overlooking the salt pans of the empty basin of what will be the Mediterranean Sea just as water from the Miocene Atlantic Ocean spills in; into the tropical forests of Eocene Antarctica; and under the shallow pools of Ediacaran Australia, where we glimpse the first microbial life. 

Otherlands also offers us a vast perspective on the current state of the planet. The thought that something as vast as the Great Barrier Reef, for example, with all its vibrant diversity, might one day soon be gone sounds improbable. But the fossil record shows us that this sort of wholesale change is not only possible but has repeatedly happened throughout Earth history.

Even as he operates on this broad canvas, Halliday brings us up close to the intricate relationships that defined these lost worlds. In novelistic prose that belies the breadth of his research, he illustrates how ecosystems are formed; how species die out and are replaced; and how species migrate, adapt, and collaborate. It is a breathtaking achievement: a surprisingly emotional narrative about the persistence of life, the fragility of seemingly permanent ecosystems, and the scope of deep time, all of which have something to tell us about our current crisis.

My Thoughts

Goodreads “Want To Read” #1

I am not what one would term a “science nerd” but I am fascinated by the intersection of science and history and thought this book sounded fascinating.

I was not disappointed.

The author has provided a very accessible, readable explanation of the fossil record and periods of extinction and done so using storytelling at its finest. There is a good amount of information that will require greater knowledge or significant research to fully appreciate and understand, but on the whole, this is a book that will teach some new things and possibly change your understanding and perspective about the history of our planet.

As a kid who grew up on National Geographic, Otherlands delivered serious research in a similar but more complex way that kept my attention and made me want to read more. It’s a book that requires some attention and commitment, but it’s worth the effort.

Publication Date: February 14, 2023
Published By: Penguin Random House
Thanks to the Greece Public Library for the book

Arts & Crafts, Cozy, Family, Mystery

One Sharp Stitch by Allie Pleiter

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Publisher Description

When thirty-something Shelby Phillips returns to her quiet hometown just outside of Asheville, North Carolina, she reluctantly takes over her mother’s Nimble Needle needlepoint shop—and gets entangled in a murder investigation . . .

It’s only temporary. That’s what Shelby Phillips tells herself when she returns to excruciatingly harmless Gwen Lake after her graphic arts career—and the office romance blooming with it—get tossed like rejected design mockups. Her plan is as simple and fool-proof as a tent stitch: manage the family needlepoint shop during her parents’ RV vacation. It’s just a month. It’s not as if they’re retiring . . . right?

When Shelby becomes responsible for hosting a trunk show with local vendors, she’s determined to pull it off. Even if that means dealing with former classmate Kat Katsaros, a rising entrepreneur specializing in needlework scissors. Kat has changed since high school—and she’s angling to take over the Nimble Needle herself. The tension unspools when Shelby makes a terrible discovery on the morning of the event: Kat’s dead body.

Shelby can’t believe the death was an accident. That’s why she’s set on exposing who committed the murder with Kat’s own equipment. She finds help in a new friend, a potential crush, and the surprising support of her sister and the Nimble Needle stitchers. Still, Shelby must move quickly to stop the crafty culprit before her maybe not-so-temporary new life in Gwen Lake comes apart at the seams . . .

My Thoughts

Cozy mysteries are evolving! Typically, a cozy mystery features a quirky yet intelligent young woman located in an idyllic small town living their dream of running a book shop, a candy shop, a bakery, etc. The writing swings wildly between really bad and really good and the mysteries are not especially complicated. Think Nancy Drew all grown up.

Here, though, we have an example of a new trend I’m seeing in cozy mysteries – characters and settings that are a little more believable and relatable. Even though the reader must admit that the premise of a cozy mystery is always going to be, at its heart, unrealistic (dead bodies don’t just turn up in small towns), this one features characters that are a bit more real.

The mystery is also well-crafted and developed, although the identity of the killer is cleverly suggested at different times. The needlework aspect will appeal to crafters and does lend a nice subplot to the overall story. The author is skilled at their craft, for sure. I look forward to more from Allie Pleiter.

This was a pleasant afternoon read and will be popular for summer reading.

Publication Date: March 25, 2025
Published by Penguin Random House
Thanks to the Greece Public Library for the book

British, Cozy, Fantasy, Magical, Mythology

Greenteeth by Molly O’Neill

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Publisher Description

From an absolutely unmissable new voice in cozy fantasy comes Greenteeth, “an extraordinary tale about the most unforgettable heroine:” (Sarah Beth Durst) a charismatic lake-dwelling monster named Jenny Greenteeth with a voice unlike any other. 

Beneath the still surface of a lake lurks a monster with needle sharp teeth. Hungry and ready to pounce.

Jenny Greenteeth has never spoken to a human before, but when a witch is thrown into her lake, something makes Jenny decide she’s worth saving. Temperance doesn’t know why her village has suddenly turned against her, only that it has something to do with the malevolent new pastor.

Though they have nothing in common, these two must band together on a magical quest to defeat the evil that threatens Jenny’s lake and Temperance’s family, as well as the very soul of Britain.

This is a tale of fae, folklore, and found family, perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher and Travis Baldree.

My Thoughts

Like many pre-teen kids, I went through a phase where I was fascinated with all things faerie. I devoured books like The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip, The Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey, and The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. What really tweaked my imagination though was the book Faeries by Brian Froud. It was in that book that I first encountered Jenny Greenteeth.

For some reason, the short section on Jenny and the accompanying illustration have stayed in my mind over the decades, so I was immediately intrigued when I came across this book by Molly O’Neill.

Folklore fans will love this imaginative look at Jenny Greenteeth, one of the many water “monsters” that show up in British folklore. O‘Neill spins a tale about Jenny combined with some Arthurian lore.

O’Neill has successfully humanized the Jenny in this book, making her a friend, a mother, a deadly foe, and (at the end) something much, much more. The narrative description here is wonderful and the author paints vivid pictures of both Jenny’s underwater realm and the realm of man.

My early reading of Fround’s Faeries led me to discover the fact that scholarly study of the little people actually existed, so maybe, just maybe so do they! In fact, as I I read Heather Fawcett’s Emily Wilde books last year, I imagined Emily as a young Katharine Briggs.

I am so pleased to see a new generation of writers discovering those old tales and spinning them into something completely new. Greenteeth should surely find an audience among fantasy and folklore readers.

★ “Full of magic that is rich, mysterious, and exciting.” – Booklist (Starred review) 

★ “Full of magic, but even more heart.” –Kirkus (Starred review) 

★”A beautiful story of found family among the most disparate of creatures.” –Library Journal (Starred review)

Publication Date: February 25, 2025
Published By: Hachette Book Group
Thanks to the Chili Public Library for the book

Reading

Retirement Reading

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

I’ve been retired for just a little over 2 months and have spent that time catching up on my lengthy Netgalley pre-pub reading. For the first time in years, my Netgalley queue is empty!

What’s next? Tackling my Goodreads “Want To Read” list, where the earliest entry is from 2012. I’m starting at the beginning and plan to work my way through all of them.

There are 700 books in that list, although I anticipate that some of them have been read but the status not changed in my Goodreads account. It will be fun to look back on what captured my attention so many years ago.

I’m starting with the beauty shown above: Moloka’i by Alan Brennert. All the reviews use words like “transcendant” and “heartbreaking” so I’m expecting an emotional reading experience.

Another change for me – as I adjust to life as a library patron rather than employee, I am becoming reacquainted with the holds system. I’m hoping to read most or all of the GR books in print format from area libraries. We’ll see how that goes!

Stay tuned for my review.

Action Adventure, Book Tour, Detective, Mystery, Partners In Crime

After Pearl by Stephen G. Eoannou

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

April 14 – May 9 Virtual Book Tour
A Nicholas Bishop Mystery

Description

1942. War rages in Europe. Pearl Harbor still smolders. And alcoholic private eye Nicholas Bishop wakes up on a hotel room floor with two slugs missing from his .38 revolver. The cops think he’s murdered lounge singer Pearl DuGaye, mobsters think he saw something he shouldn’t have, and Bishop remembers nothing…

Together with his indomitable assistant Gia Alessi, who he may or may not have fired, a WWI vet who often flashes back to 1918, and a one-eyed female dog named Jake, Bishop tries to piece together the events that took place during his disastrous five-day bender. Along the way, he stumbles across a dirty politician, a socialite and her unfaithful husband, and a cabal of American Nazis who are undoubtedly up to no good.

Written in the spirit of classic noir, Eoannou adds his own unique voice and flair to the genre in this, the first action-packed outing of the Nicholas Bishop Mysteries.

My Thoughts

Fans of traditional noir crime fiction will thoroughly enjoy this first in a series featuring PI Nick Bishop. Eoannou delivers a clever mystery filled with witty and gritty dialog, colorful characters, and an on-the-money plot that will have you guessing right up to the end.

I especially enjoyed the Buffalo setting, although I am not a Buffalo native. I live about 60 miles to the east of B’lo but spend enough time there to recognize many of the descriptive details Eoannou includes in the narrative.

There seems to be a resurgence of crime fiction set in between the wars or just after WWII. Much of what I’ve read has had a bit of a madcap theme with very quirky characters, both human and animal. Eoannou, however, fully embraces the Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ross McDonald school of detective fiction and I LIKE IT!

Grab this one from your library or buy a copy and settle in for some entertaining reading.

Book Details

Genre: Historical Noir
Published by: Santa Fe Writers Project
Publication Date: May 1, 2025
Number of Pages: 260
ISBN: 9781951631475 (ISBN10: 1951631471)
Series: A Nicholas Bishop Mystery, Book 1

Shortlinks

Author’s Links:
Website – https://pictbooks.tours/FSfgN
Goodreads – https://pictbooks.tours/vuHGE
BookBub – https://pictbooks.tours/DOYFg    @seoannou
Twitter – https://pictbooks.tours/0ZUxp    @StephenGEoannou
Facebook – https://pictbooks.tours/VRrsD    @steve.eoannou
Amazon Author – https://pictbooks.tours/dH0fI
YouTube – https://pictbooks.tours/5jXv1    @stepheneoannou341

Retail Links:
Amazon – https://pictbooks.tours/GnUqG
BN – https://pictbooks.tours/SKzFi
Goodreads – https://pictbooks.tours/g8j2t
BookShop.org – https://pictbooks.tours/4HrBP
Talking Leaves – https://pictbooks.tours/PsJ9n

PICT Tour Page – https://pictbooks.tours/M6bi1

Author Bio:

Stephen G. Eoannou is the author of the award-winning short story collection Muscle Cars and the novels Rook, Yesteryear, and After Pearl. He holds an MFA from Queens University of Charlotte and an MA from Miami University. He has been awarded an Honor Certificate from The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and the Best Short Screenplay Award at the 36th Denver Film Festival. His latest novel, Yesteryear, was awarded the 2021 International Eyelands Award for Best Historical Novel, The Firebird Book Award for Biographical Fiction, and Shelf Unbound’s Notable Indy Books of 2023. He lives and writes in his hometown of Buffalo, New York, the setting and inspiration for much of his work.

Action Adventure, British, Fantasy, Magical, Mystery, paranormal

Piety’s Fury by Sam Ragnarsson

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Description

A missing girl. A town full of secrets. A past that won’t stay buried.

Some families keep dark secrets. Some families *are* dark secrets.

When a young girl vanishes in rural Northern Ireland, Piety, a newly appointed Queen’s agent, must return to the same orphanage she grew up in to investigate.

Lissy isn’t just any child. She has magic in her blood, a power she doesn’t understand and can’t control. It’s been driving her father to madness. It may even have killed her mother.

As Piety digs deeper, she finds more than a missing girl. A dangerous artefact, steeped in ancient power, was left in Lissy’s bedroom. A warning, a weapon, or perhaps something worse. And Lissy isn’t the first girl to disappear.

The trail leads to a quiet family farm where generations of women protect a dark secret. They all share the same magical gift, and the same tragic history; taken in by their new mother, after their real parents mysteriously died. And now that mother has her eyes set on Lissy.

To uncover the final, terrifying truth hidden in Templepatrick, Piety must untangle decades of disappearances—and confront a past that wants to stay buried.

A chilling and atmospheric urban fantasy set in 1960s Northern Ireland, Piety’s Fury is a tale of magic, mystery, and the cost of uncovering the truth.

My Thoughts

What a wild story! I haven’t read such an un-put-downable adventure in ages, and am now mourning the end because I WANT MORE!

The second in the Agents by Royal Appointment series, Ragnarsson has written one of the best fantasy/adventure stories of the year. The characters leap off the pages with smart-ass dialog and heart-stopping action centered on Lissy, a young girl who is just learning about her gift of magic. The concept here is one I’ve not read often – a family of magical beings keeping their line going by “adopting” children gifted with magic. I suppose it’s a bit similar to Mother Malkin’s “family” in Joseph Delaney’s Last Apprentice series, but this story is just so well-developed it seems wholly original.

The action never stops, and Piety and Fitz are two of the most engaging lead characters out there. As I read, I kept imagining this as a movie or TV series. It would be fantastic!

Fans of witty, fast-paced, action-packed fantasy will slurp this one up.

Highly recommended.

Publication Date: April 20, 2025
Thanks to Book Sirens for the review copy

Author Spotlight, British, Detective, Mystery

Author Spotlight – Peter Lovesey

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

I’ve never read any of Peter Lovesey’s books, but I was nonetheless saddened to read of his death on April 10. Shelf Awareness ran a short piece on his career and I learned a whole lot of things about this prolific writer whose books I clearly remember shelving way back when I was a library page.

Did you know that Lovesey is credited as the first to successfully set a detective series in the past? His series featuring the Victorian detective Sergeant Cribb explored gritty crime in settings such as music halls and underground boxing rings. Cribb’s adventures were made into a popular television series in the late 1970s, which I now must try and track down (hoping I might find an old DVD in a library somewhere!)

Lovesey went on to write a popular contemporary series featuring hard-as-nails detective Peter Diamond. This is the series I am now reading! There are dozens of Diamond stories out there, and I am determined to read each one.

Lovesey concluded the Diamond series with his last publication, Against the Grain, in 2024.

Lovesey concludes his long-running series featuring Bath detective Peter Damond with a bang, delivering an ingenious fair-play whodunit set in the small English village of Baskerville as the annual harvest festival approaches . . . Lovesey derives genuine emotion from Diamond’s potential retirement, and his golden age-style plotting is as tight as ever. This sends the series out on a high note. Publishers Weekly Starred Review

Lovesey was also apparently a stand-up human being, acknowledged by friends and colleagues as someone who led a really good life. He won multiple awards for his work, and I suspect inspired many crime fiction writers of the last few decades.

Now that I’m retired from work as a library director, I am making much more time to read and catching up with a lot of authors I’ve neglected over the years. Lovesey is one of them.

If you want to know more about Peter Lovesey, read the Shelf Awareness article and check out his website.