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A wreck, a murder, a mystery
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson A STRANGER IN THE HOUSE. By Shari Lapena. Penguin Audio. Read by Tavia Gilbert. 9 hours; 7 CDs. $47. If Shari Lapena’s first suspense novel, The Couple Next Door, was as good as most people seemed to think it was, then she’s suffering from sophomore slump with A Stranger in…
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Beware the beasts
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson DEADFALL. By Linda Fairstein. Penguin Audio. Read by Barbara Rosenblat. 11 ½ hours; 10 CDs. $40. Alex Cooper is back – sort of – after her kidnapping ordeal, but she’s supposed to be on leave from work, and she’s struggling emotionally. A quiet time of healing is not in the…
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The sins of the past…
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson Y IS FOR YESTERDAY. By Sue Grafton. Random House Audio. Read by Judy Kaye. 17 hours; 14 CDs. $45. Also available in print from Putnam. You know how in stadiums after the rows of seats have been through the alphabet, the designation starts over with double letters – AA, BB,…
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Hot on the trail of a missing island
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson When Janet Ivanovich’s first Knight and Moon novel hit the stands a year ago, I quickly declared the new series my second favorite of Ivanovich’s prolific offerings (the Stephanie Plum books have a lock on No. 1). Now Dangerous Minds, the second in the series, has arrived, and, yep, it’s…
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Whom we love, what we see
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson WATCH ME DISAPPEAR. By Janelle Brown. Random House Audio. Read by Tavia Gilbert with Kaleo Griffith. 13 ½ hours; 11 CDs. $45. Also available in print from Spiegel & Grau. Billie Flanagan was a force of nature, almost larger than life. Everybody loved and admired her. Right? When Janelle Brown’s…
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High (and sometimes deep) adventure
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson NIGHTHAWK. By Clive Cussler and Graham Brown. Penguin Audio. Read by Scott Brick. 11 ½ hours; 9 CDs. $45. Also available in hardcover from G.P. Putnam’s Sons. The United States’ most advanced aircraft/spacecraft has gone missing, and the Air Force and the National Security Agency have called on NUMA, the…
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War, independence and family ties
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson THE LOYAL SON: The War in Ben Franklin’s House. By Daniel Mark Epstein. Random House Audio. Read by Scott Brick. 16 ½ hours; 13 CDs. $60. Also available in hardback from Ballantine Books. Most of us probably think we know the story of Benjamin Franklin, and certainly the story of…
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Too many motives
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson WALKING ON MY GRAVE. By Carolyn Hart. Books on Tape. Read by Kate Reading. 8 ½ hours; 7 CDs. Also available in hardcover from Berkley. Carolyn Hart is one of the grande dames of American writers of traditional, often called cozy, mysteries. She’s written a lot of books and, deservingly,…
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Still waters
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson INTO THE WATER. By Paula Hawkins. Penguin Audio. Read by Laura Aikman, Sophie Aldred, Rachel Bavidge, Imogen Church and Daniel Weyman. 11 ½ hours; 9 CDs. $40. Also available in hardcover from Riverhead Books. While I liked and was impressed by Paula Hawkins’ runaway bestseller The Girl on the…
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Disaster, resilience and Grace
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson THE STARS ARE FIRE. By Anita Shreve. Random House Audio. Read by Suzanne Elise Freeman. 8 ½ hours; 7 CDs. $35. Also available in print from Knopf. In the long, hot summer of 1947, a drought took hold in Maine with a vengeance. By October, conditions were dire, and when…