Monday, December 21, 2020

Their Frozen Graves by Ruhi Choudhary, Cold Wind by Paige Shelton, Noose by Eric Red, They Disappeared by Joy Ellis

 I'm trying to catch up with some reviews before 2021! 

Their Frozen Graves is the second book in this series featuring Detective Mackenzie Price.  Although I've not read the first book, the book works as a stand alone.

from description:  


"When two bodies are found dumped in a vast lake in Lakemore, Washington, Detective Mackenzie Price is first on the scene. She identifies one of the victims as Katy Becker, a local known for her work helping the community. The other victim looks strikingly similar.

Still grappling with a shocking revelation from her past, Mack is only too happy to throw herself into the case. But when she goes to break the news to Katy’s husband, the investigation takes an unexpected turn: Katy is very much alive, and has never met the women who resemble her so closely."

A twisty plot and an engrossing read.  I liked Mackenzie and may look for the first book.  

Netgalley/Bookoutre

Mystery/Police Procedural.  Jan. 7, 2021


Cold Wind is another "second book" that provided enough background that it wasn't necessary to have read the first book.

from description: "Beth Rivers is still in Alaska. The unidentified man who kidnapped her in her home of St. Louis hasn’t been found yet, so she’s not ready to go back."

 Benedict, Alaska seemed a safe place for Beth to  stay hidden because her kidnapper is still at large.  Secure in the fact that only a few people know about Beth and her situation, she is able to continue writing her thrillers under a pseudonym.

When two eight-year-old girls knock on the door to her office, Beth realizes that they either cannot or will not explain who they are or how they got there.  They are silent.  

Oh, and the body of a woman is found in a trapper's shed.  Beth gets busy trying to solve both mysteries.  She wants to find the girls' parents and to discover who the dead woman is why she was killed.   

I liked most of the book, but found the plot complications too far-fetched.  Not that you know this until the conclusion, but still.

The characters and setting appealed to me, but the resolution was disappointing because I couldn't get past all the coincidences in the explanation.

Netgalley/St. Martin's Press

Mystery.  Dec. 8, 2020.


The cover really speaks to you, doesn't it?  <grin>  In many ways the book lives up to the cover.  More Louis L'Amour   than Larry McMurtry, it is a pulp fiction Western with lots of violent deaths.

Joe Noose is a bounty hunter who brings culprits in alive.  Not all bounty hunters want to bother with the "alive" part, and a group of twelve bounty hunters follow Noose.  When Noose finds and captures the bank robber, they charge in.  Killing the bank robber and taking his body in for the bounty.

Noose follows them into town.  The bad guys end up killing a U.S. Marshall then frame Noose for the murder.  Now, Noose has a bounty on his head and twelve men in pursuit.

 Uh oh.  For Noose to save his own life and to get justice, a lot of bad bounty hunters are going to have to die.  

Action packed.  

Kindle Unlimited

Western.  2018.   


They Disappeared is the latest in the Jackman and Evans series by Joy Ellis. 

Ellis is a favorite of mine for her books set in the fens on the east coast of England.  

In this latest installment, Orac, the IT boss, has gone missing and everyone is concerned.   

The second thread involves three missing urban explorers.  Who is targeting these young men and why?  

Joy Ellis' plots keep my attention, and her characters have dimension.  I always speed right through her books.  

Kindle Unlimited.

Police Procedural.  Nov. 30, 2020.

14 comments:

  1. Downton Tabby is hilarious! And I enjoyed Shelton's first book Thin Ice. I have a copy of Cold Wind that I won from Goodreads that I'm hoping to get to soon. :)

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    1. The expression on the cats faces! I wouldn't mind reading Thin Ice--the setting and many of the characters appealed to me in Cold Wind, even if I didn't like the way things had to be explained in the last few pages.

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  2. Downtown tabby = 😂😂😂 love it!! All your thinker titles are so cool- and new to we as well!!

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    1. "Darling, He's feral!" What a send up on romance :)

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  3. Not heard of Downton Tabby! sounds entertaining.

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    1. I'm suspecting an elopement and someone being cut out of the will!

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  4. These books sound great! More to add to my TBR list. And Downtown Tabby is hilarious! Thanks for the laugh! :)

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    1. That darn TBR list just keeps growing! I add more to mine daily! :)

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  5. Your reading really reflects the season...lots of cold stuff in those titles.

    I love the surname "Noose" for an Old West bounty hunter. That right there is just about perfect. :-)

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    1. Noose was a real shoot-em up, and I enjoyed the fast pace. :)

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  6. Downton Tabby just cracks me up! And those books sound interesting to me. It's good to know that some of them work as a standalone. :)

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    1. :) I love that cartoon--it cracks me up! Books in a series that can work as standalones--always a good thing. Yes, I might want to go back and pick up earlier books for more detail, but it is important to be able to enjoy the book you begin with even if it is well into a series.

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  7. That cartoon is too cute. I'm with you, hoping I can catch up on some reviews before year end. We'll see. I especially like the sound of the first book and of course the Joy Ellis series.
    Wishing you a wonderful Christmas!

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    1. :) I don't think I'll be able to catch up on reviews. I seem to spend so much time reading and procrastinating on reviewing! Hope your Christmas was full of good things, Iliana. :)

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