The Swifts: A Dictionary of Scoundrels by Beth Lincoln Illustrated by Claire Powell Mystery Juvenile Fiction * * * Stars (Pretty good) All of the Swifts are named by their family dictionary, which chooses a name that, while open to interpretation, fits each Swift to a T. Shenanigan and her sisters (Phenomena and Felicity) live with their Arch-Aunt Schadenfreude (matriarch of the Swift family), Uncle Maelstrom, and Cook (not a Swift by blood, but still … Read more
A Magic Steeped in Poison Book of Tea #1 by Judy Lin * * * * Stars (Great!) Tea laced with magic and a fantasy laced with romance, mystery, and suspense! Ning is competing for a court position, but she’s had to falsify some information in order to enter. She was NOT her mother’s apprentice – her sister was, but her sister is deathly ill from the same poison that ended their mother’s life. Ning … Read more
Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf Mystery * * * * Stars (Great!) It’s been a year since Najwa’s best friend Trina died during a Scrabble tournament, and it’s been that long since Najwa has competed. She’s returning to the competition circuit now as a tribute to her friend’s memory. Being around her former friends and rivals is both comforting and upsetting, and things get even worse when someone starts posting clues from Trina’s … Read more
A Complicated Love Story Set in Space by Shaun David Hutchinson LGBTQ+ Mystery Romance Science Fiction Suspense Thriller * * * Stars (Pretty good) Noa wakes up in space – literally in a spacesuit floating outside a spaceship. He has no idea how he got there. At least he isn’t alone. DJ reaches out to him from the ship with some rather unfortunate news – the ship may explode if they don’t do something to … Read more
The Counselors by Jessica Goodman Mystery Suspense Thriller * * * Stars (Pretty good) Goldie, Ava, and Imogen have been best friends since they met at camp their first summer and now they are counselors. Over the past year, however, they’ve kept certain details about their lives hidden from one another and their secrets are getting in the way of their friendship. Goldie, for instance, is still dealing with the fallout from the car accident … Read more
Teen Killers Club Teen Killers Club #1 by Lily Sparks Mystery Suspense Thriller * * * Stars (Pretty good) Signal Deere supposedly killed her best friend, but she was framed! Looking at spending the rest of her life in prison, Signal opts instead to take a deal that will train her to be a teen assassin. Unaware of exactly what this entails, she finds herself at a training “camp” with other teen killers, decidedly lacking … Read more
The Final Gambit The Inheritance Games #3 by Jennifer Lynne Barnes Mystery Romance Suspense Thriller * * * Stars (Pretty good) Pretty satisfying conclusion to the Inheritance Games trilogy. Avery Grambs manages to unravel the mystery surrounding her unexpected inheritance as well as survive the terms of its settlement. Family drama! Romance! Secrets! Puzzles! The game/puzzle-solving elements are fun. What will she do with the money? What would you do? It’s interesting to speculate. For … Read more
The Innocence Treatment by Ari Goelman Dystopian Mystery Science Fiction Suspense Thriller * * * Stars (Pretty good) Lauren Fielding has always been extremely trusting, generous, good natured, and friendly – so much so that her condition is viewed as a disability, because she can’t tell when people are trying to take advantage of her. She has to be supervised outside of her home and at school and has aides assigned to her to keep … Read more
I Am Not a Serial Killer John Cleaver #1 by Dan Wells Horror Mystery Supernatural Suspense Thriller * * * Stars (Pretty good) 15 year old John Wayne Cleaver is a sociopath and he is obsessed with serial killers. While he finds them fascinating, he’s also concerned that he might become one, so he comes up with rules he has to follow in order to keep that part of himself locked away. When a series … Read more
All These Bodies by Kendare Blake Historical Fiction Mystery Supernatural Suspense Thriller * * * * Stars (Great!) It’s 1958 and Michael Jensen, aspiring teen journalist, gets the opportunity to interview the prime suspect in a string of unusual murders, 15-year-old Marie Catherine Hale, where the victims have been found exsanguinated (drained of all their blood). She’s caught red-handed (and red everything else as she’s covered in the blood of the dead when she’s arrested), … Read more