The Nancys and the Case of the Missing Necklace by R.W.R McDonald

Happy Turkey Day! Today I'm a stop on the Random Things Tour for R.W.R. McDonald's The Nancys and the Case of the Missing Necklace. 

Tippy's mom has won tickets to a cruise, leaving the eleven-year-old under the charge of her Uncle Pike and his boyfriend Devon. 

On the same day her mom leaves, Tippy's friend/boyfriend ends up in the hospital, comatose after falling from a bridge. But what was he doing there? And what did his last message to Tippy and their friend Sam mean?

But in the wake of what seems like an accident, one of Tippy's own teachers is murdered: the body discovered without its head. A lifelong lover of Nancy Drew, something passed down from Uncle Pike himself, Tippy decides it's time to do some investigating of her own. But being a real life Nancy Drew is far more dangerous than it seems in the books!

R.W.R. McDonald has created a nostalgic and fun cozy-ish mystery perfect for anyone who ever adored Nancy Drew themselves!

The Nancys and the Case of the Missing Necklace is a quirky mystery set in a quirky town with a truly quirky cast of characters. It's also the first in a series.

This was a delight to read! Heart warming and enough of that cozy feel perfect for sitting inside snuggled in blankets with a warm cup of of tea. But there's a bit of a mean and gritty edge to it as well. Just enough to satisfy my own usual craving for darker reads. 

This one is out from the good folks at Orenda now in the UK and will be out in the States in the new year.

Huge thanks to Random Things for having me on the tour! 

The Winter Job by Antti Tuomainen

Happy Wednesday! The week is halfway over. Today I'm a stop on the Random Things tour for Antti Tuomainen's latest, The Winter Job. 

All Ilmari Nieminen wants to to buy his daughter a piano for Christmas. With six days to go, his wages as a postal worker in 1982 Helsinki aren't near enough to make the purchase. So he takes a small, last-minute gig, requiring him to take time off from his job, transporting an antique couch across Finland. 

But Ilmari isn't the only one with eyes on this job or this couch. He's being tracked by a Saab and a Lada and the people inside each have their own agendas. 

Ilmari's own vehicle has issues from the start and a fortuitous stop to tackle some repairs not only helps him elude his followers (unbeknownst to him) but also puts him in the path of a friend from long ago who joins him on his journey. 

Antti is known for his humor and heart. There's a reason Steve Carrell is attached to an adaptation of his work Rabbit Factory.

The Winter Job continues that tradition in what is essentially a buddy road trip crime novel. 

Poor Ilmari is so bright eyed and full of hope. The reader wants him to succeed because his motivations are pure: to please his daughter in the wake of his divorce. But he has no money. It's all going to child support and rent. Which is why the job of transporting a couch is impossible to resist. 

 But this isn't an ordinary job from the start. The antique dealer responsible for passing over the couch (and securing the van Ilmari will be using) is only out for himself and tries to trick Ilmari. And the job only fell into Ilmari's lap because the first guy got sick. Ilmari has no idea what is so special about this couch. He has no idea he's being tracked. And he has no idea the lengths the others will go to in order to take it all for themselves. 

Meanwhile, he's thrown into a confrontation with an old friend that's been years in the making as the two men travel cross country. Needless to say, in Tuomainen style, hijinks ensue well beyond just faulty windshield wipers and crazy old aunts. 

This is a perfect addition to Tuomainen's growing list of titles. A great starting place for readers who are new to his work as well.

(This would be a great holiday crime movie, to anyone out there with the power to make it happen!)

Huge thanks to Random Things and Orenda for having me on the tour today!

Snowblind by Ragnar Jonasson Anniversary Edition

Today I'm a stop on the Random Things tour for the 10th anniversary edition of Ragnar Jonasson's Snowblind!

Ari Thorne is fresh out of the academy when he's sent to the isolated town of Siglufjörður. It means leaving his girlfriend behind in Reykjavik. It also means settling into a village that has just one point of entry: a tunnel. And in storms and bad weather, even that is cut off. A call about an intruder leads Ari into a web of intertwined cases that illustrate just how much can be hiding even in the most idyllic situations. 

But first, readers are treated to Fadeout. See, Snowblind isn't Ari's introduction. Fadeout finds the theology student searching for his missing father!

It's amazing to me that Snowblind has been out for over a decade now (ten years in English). It kicked off the Nordic Noir sub genre, as it is today. 

And sure, it wasn't the first to be translated to English. It wasn't THE FIRST of the subgenre. But it absolutely can be argued as one of the first that really got international readers to pay attention.

And Snowblind boasts some of the best hallmarks of Nordic Noir: a small, isolated village; insular culture; a whodunit where anyone could be the killer; and a detective new on the job looking for respite in a small town and getting anything but that!

I actually came to the Dark Iceland series after Hidden Iceland trilogy (now adapted for tv). I've been a fan of the author's work ever since. And in truth, the subgenre has got me through 2020 when I had such a hard time concentrating on reading. 

If you've never read Jonasson, this is your chance! Find out what all the fuss is about (trust me, you'll love it!).

Huge thanks to Orenda and Random Things for having me on the tour!

Darker Days by Thomas Old Heuvelt

Good morning! Today I'm a stop on the Random Things tour for Thomas Old Heuvelt's Darker Days!

Bird Street might seem like the perfect neighborhood. The kids are talented--prodigies event, the families seem perfect...but all is not as it seems on this idyllic street. See the residents made a deal. A deal that requires a death. A deal that turns their lives into nightmares every November. A deal that begs the question, is it worth it?

Ha! So first off, I love Thomas Old Heuvelt. His ability to dig into the meat of human fears, human feelings as a whole, is something that sticks with me every time I read his work. 

Second, I don't trust anyone on Bird Street! At least not the adults.

It's a street made up of just five houses. Five families. And the kids are affected the most by the deal these families have made. Because in November they go feral. I don't have a better way to describe it. We know from the start that the kids go on lockdown after Halloween. We know at least one has been hospitalized in recent years. And we know that this behavior is not the norm for these kids. 

We also know they're aware of it and they're exceptionally privileged the rest of the year!

It's not giving too much away to say this is a play on Faust. It's in the description. And yet it's not limited to just one person. It's the whole street. Five households colluding to manipulate fate or whatever may be in order to prosper and get their way. At the risk of everyone around them. See, I don't trust them! Because people willing to make deals with the devil...well, you'll find out what kind of people they are when you read. 

I loved Darker Days. It's told in part from the kids' perspectives, which gives it a shadow of coming-of-age feel, something I very much appreciate. And it balances out the adults' perspectives as well, giving the reader a chance to see who's really getting the short end of the stick. 

I don't want to spoil it in any way though. If you like horror about the human condition you should definitely pick this one up. And if this is your introduction to Thomas Old Heuvelt then congrats! You have a fun ride ahead of you!

Huge thanks to Random Things and PRH UK for having me on the tour!

Darker Days is out now in the UK and will be out shortly in the US.   

Lay Your Armour Down by Michael Farris Smith

Ah! Two posts in a row! Today I'm part of the Random Things tour for Michael Farris Smith's latest, Lay Your Armour Down. 

Keal and Burden have been hired for a job. Sent to a church in a small Mississippi town and told to pick up something—they'd know it when they saw it. 

Cara calls this small town home, for now. She's taken it upon herself to check in regularly on her elderly neighbor. But today the woman is worse: raccoons in her kitchen, scratched up feet and legs, and rolls of cash from who knows where. And this is how she crosses paths with Keal and Burden. 

With a quiet young girl in tow, the three adults come together in a way only chance or fate can manipulate.

I've a confession: I haven't read Michael Farris Smith before. But this one was included in the Pandi pack (a subscription box from Pandi Press), so I jumped at the chance to be on the tour. 

The writing really is trimmed of all unnecessary aspects. It's tight and spare but conveys so much both in the words and between the lines. It's an artful approach, similar to watching a quiet film where the actors convey much of the story through purposeful looks and expression. Lay Your Armour Down is that, in prose. 

Three people at very different stages of their lives but all rudderless and looking for...something. Keal is drawn into the job by Burdean, who's hired by a sinister and nameless man. Details are scarce, making the scene they arrive to even more shocking. 

It's clear throughout that these characters are brought together by a seemingly random series of events. Right place—or wrong place, etc. And while the reader may quickly have theories about where the story is headed, I promise it's not so straightforward. 

I quite enjoyed this pared down but densely told story. It might seem simple, but what the author has accomplished in getting a story like this across with probably half the number of words any other author would use is a sign of true talent! Desperation and loneliness bleed through the pages along with an underlying sense of hope. Of relying on life or fate or what have you to get you where you need to be when you need to be there. This is Southern gothic of the highest order and I'm doing my best not to include spoilers :)

If you're looking for a thought provoking read perfect for sipping iced tea and rocking on your porch, this is it!

Lay Your Armour Down is out now in both the UK and the US!

Home Before Dark by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir

Good morning, readers! Today I'm a stop on the Random Things tour for Eva Björg Ægisdóttir's latest, Home Before Dark. 

1966: Marsi's sister, Stina, goes missing on her way home from a friend's house. With no leads and just bloody clothes left behind, the case goes cold. But Marsi has a secret she doesn't dare tell anyone. Marsi had a penpal. A friend she'd written letters back and forth with, pretending to be her older more popular sister. And on the night of the disappearance, Marsi was supposed to meet her penpal at the very spot where her sister vanished. 

1977: Marsi has received another letter. Now, details she'd missed a decade ago are starting to reveal themselves and the mystery of her sister's disappearance might finally be solved. If Marsi survives.

Eva Björg Ægisdóttir has done it again! Vivid characters and a strong sense of place are hallmarks of her work. This time, she gives us a story set in 60s and 70s Iceland: no cell phones, no cloud, no streaming services. Just a small town and the secrets and mysteries that have plagued it for a decade. 

Marsi is the quiet younger sister. She envies Stina, which is why when she signs up for a penpal she decides to assume certain aspects of her sister's life as her own. To seem more interesting and exciting.  But she doesn't know what's actually going on in Stina's life. 

Relationships between sisters, families, friends, and even close knit neighbors all play a part in this psychological suspense as the story moves back and forth from 66-67 to 77. And as Marsi learns more about her sister--more than she was able to see as a child--the story becomes more clear to the reader as well. 

 

Yet another masterfully written tale that pulls the reader in from the start! If you haven't yet read the Forbidden Iceland series, this is a good place to start since it's a standalone. I promise you'll love it; and then you'll have the series itself to dive into!

Home Before Dark is out now in the UK and will be out in the US in November. 

The Woman in Suite 11 by Ruth Ware

Happy Friday! Today I'm a stop on the Random Things blog tour for Ruth Ware's latest, The Woman in Suite 11. 

It's been ten years since the events on the Aurora (The Woman in Cabin 10) and Lo Blackwood has been on pretty permanent hiatus as a travel writer. Which is why it's such a huge deal to be invited to the opening of a new high-end boutique hotel in Switzerland. 

Lo's husband is all for her attending. In fact, he suggests she take the trip and add on a visit to her mom in the UK. Lo hasn't been home to see her mom for ages. And she's never taken any kind of trip away from her husband and her kids. 

When she arrives at the airport, her flight has been upgraded to first class. The hotel itself is luxe! And while Lo was surprised to be invited--surprised she was on anyone's radar as a travel writer these days--she's even more shocked to find that some of her fellow travelers from the Aurora have been invited as well!

Before she knows it, Lo has been sucked into yet another conspiracy. And she's the prime suspect!

It was great fun to return to Lo in this latest from Ware. The Woman in Cabin 10 is one of my favorites of hers, in no small part because it takes place on a cruise ship. 

This time, we're on dry land but visiting an elite hotel in the the Alps. And Lo is at a place in her life I'm sure many have found themselves in over the past few years: trying to find herself again in the early years of parenthood and post 2020. 

And her industry has suffered more than most considering the state of journalism! Even after writing a bestselling book about her experiences on the Aurora, taking time off to have two kids has pretty much taken her name out of the travel writing game. 

And for just a little bit, being back is exactly what Lo wants. But just a little bit. 

Michelin starred food, special foraging outings, and five-star accommodations are just the start. The hotel is the latest in a long line of projects helmed by one of the biggest names in business. Or rather, his son. And if Lo can score an interview with the magnate himself, it would mean a big payday (enough to cover her flight, anyway) and a byline. But as it turns out, not everything is as it seems in this picture perfect resort. 

The Woman in Suite 11 is a perfect summer read! It's out now from Simon and Schuster in the UK and from their Gallery imprint in the US. Order a copy today from your favorite bookstore via Bookshop.org!