From the book blurb:
A riveting mystery that introduces a bold and audacious rookie detective assigned to hunt for a killer who is haunted by the past in this gripping murder case…

Natalie Lockhart always knew she was going to be a cop. A rookie detective on the Burning Lake police force, she was raised on the wisdom of her chief-of-police father. These cases will haunt you if you let them. Grief doesn’t come with instructions.

But the one thing her father couldn’t teach her was how to handle loss. Natalie’s beloved sister was viciously murdered as a teenager, and she carries the scars deep in her heart. Although the killer was locked up, the trace evidence never added up, and Natalie can’t help wondering―is the past really behind her?

As the newest member on the force, Natalie is tasked with finding nine missing persons who’ve vanished off the face of the earth, dubbed “the Missing Nine.” One night, while following up on a new lead, she comes across a savage crime that will change everything.

Daisy Buckner―a popular schoolteacher, wife to a cop, and newly pregnant―lies dead on her kitchen floor. As Natalie hunts for Daisy’s killer in the wake of the town’s shock, her search leads to a string of strange clues―about the Missing Nine, about Daisy’s secret life, and reviving fresh doubts about her sister’s murder.

As the investigation deepens, Natalie’s every move risks far-reaching consequences―for the victims, for the town of Burning Lake, and for herself.

Spellbinding and gripping, Trace of Evil is a novel of twisting suspense that will leave you breathless

My thoughts:

In order to get to understand Natalie Lockhart you need to know two things about her: where she comes from and her family.
Burning Lake is a small town in upstate New York, mostly famous for the burning of three innocent women convicted of witchcraft which happened in 1712. Their accusers later admitted it had all been made up. For years this event remained buried in town history until a book about the witch trials came out and put the town on the map. Hundreds of tourists come to visit its occult shops selling magic kits, spellbooks and souvenir cauldrons. 'Dabbling in witchcraft was something of a rite of passage in Burning Lake' and Natalie herself went through 'a witchy phase'.

Another thing you need to know about Natalie is that she is the youngest of three sisters, and her oldest sister Willow Lockhart was brutally murdered at the age of 18, stabbed 27 times. The perpetrator was quickly arrested and sentenced for life, although he repeatedly maintained his innocence. The tragedy marked the remaining two sisters and their parents. Their mother never wanted to have more than one child, so having lost her favourite daughter destroyed her world and will for living.Natalies father was more even in his affections. He was a police officer and often left little puzzles and mysteries for Natalie to solve. He noticed she had an inquisitive mind and a stubborn streak, and tried to teach her everything he knew about his work.

Trace of Evil focuses on two interwoven cases. The first one is called The Missing Nine and is a group of cold cases that involved mysterious disappearings over a long period of time. Any new detective in BLPD is asked to give these files a fresh look, although nobody expects a major breakthrough: there is too little reliable information to go on. The second case is the murder of  school teacher and Natalie's sister's best friend Daisy Buckner, who also happened to be the wife of one of the detectives in BLPD.
I'm not going to give away the story. Suffice it to say, the story kept me on the edge of my seat and the ending was quite unexpected. There is also a touch of burgeoning romance with an old childhood friend, which is, I hope, going to develop in the following books.

I liked Natalie for her tenacity and her courage, which I define as acting in spite of fear. She often thinks about her late father and his advice on life and work. This case (cases) were very personal for Natalie for a variety of reasons, but I would like to read the continuation of the story and find out how Natalie's character develops in the light of other experiences.

The writing was absolutely compelling, there was depth and beauty in the descriptions, which made it really difficult for me to put down the book - I needed to read it from cover to cover.

My only regret is that I did not read this book in October- with it's dark and slightly creepy atmosphere, it would have made an excellent choice for the Halloween month.
I will definitely be looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

Thank you to Edelweiss and Minotaur books for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

From the book blurb :
In the Heart of Texas, a heartthrob cowboy may get his second chance at love…

Danny Oldman, the handsome Lone Star sheriff, is still single. He tells himself, and anyone who asks, that he is married to his job―and what matters most is keeping the people of his beloved Texas hometown safe. The truth? Danny still hasn’t gotten over his high school crush. She moved away after graduation and took Danny’s heart with her.

Skylar Long never thought she would have to flee Houston and return home―where it all began for her. But that’s what happened after the man of her dreams turned out to be an actual nightmare. Now, Skylar is desperate to escape her obsessive boyfriend. Nothing shocks her more than seeing Danny again and realizing that their long-ago attraction is more powerful than ever. But can she and Danny find a way to fight against Skylar’s wealthy, powerful ex who is dead set on tearing them apart?

My thoughts:
I haven't read the first three books in the series, but it was easy to fill in the gaps. Clayton and Abby East, the protagonists of the first book are Danny Oldman's best friends and you can forgive them for being worried about Danny. The handsome sheriff may hide his loneliness behind his even temper and cheerful smiles, but his friends know he seems to spend an awful lot of time either working or staying at home and hasn't had a date in a long time. Danny lives for his job and does it really well, but all these years of seeing awful crimes have left him feeling sad and lonely. He knows he has been drinking more and more just to get through the night and it can't be good. On some nights he just gets a takeaway and eats it quietly in his car, not in a mood to talk to anybody. This is how Danny happens to witness a woman clearly trying to run away from an abusive husband or boyfriend who catches up with her and drags her out of the car by hair. When Danny intervenes he is just doing the right thing, as a sheriff and a decent man, as hopefully anybody would. The woman gratefully acknowledges his help and admits that she has a concealed gun with a permit. Who knows how the night might have ended, had Danny not arrested Matt Gaudet.
Danny knows cases like these are not easy and far from being over with the arrest. First of all, Skylar will have to prove what has been happening, even if she manages to do so and victims of domestic abuse rarely report this crime, the perpetrator might still get away with a minimum punishment, while Skylar will have to uproot all her life, trying to find a place where she can feel safe. At least, Danny can help her in the short term by taking her to her friends' ranch. Danny and Skylar went to the same school and he even had a crush on her, but she always had big dreams and it was clear she'd leave their small town in search of something bigger.
When Matt Gaudet's lawyer gets him out on a $500 bail and threatens Danny insinuating that the arrest was a set up, Danny finds out that Matt comes from one of the richest and most powerful families in Texas. He also knows he has to help Skylar.

Fans of Donna Grant will be delighted with this continuation of the Heart of Texas series. There is something comforting in coming back to the same setting and finding out how the familiar characters continue living their lives. If you are new to the series, you might still find yourself charmed by the setting and the cast. Danny Oldman is a good man who knows right from wrong and who is not afraid to stand up for what he believes in (swoon) and it seems that he almost has been waiting for Skylar to come back into his life because she is The One for him (double swoon). Skylar is trying to work out ho how to get her own life back without putting other people in danger. A romance between them is a predictable, but sweet story of second chances, and it is difficult to resist the charm of this trope. There is a lot of drama-any true love needs to overcome obstacles- and there is a Happily Ever After, of course, which makes this book so suited for this season when we tend to focus on love, family, and hope for new beginnings.
Thank you to Edelweiss and St.Martin's paperbacks for the review copy provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

From Goodreads synopsis:

A note from bartender Brian McNulty, Raymond Ambler’s friend, confidant, and sometimes adviser, sets the librarian sleuth off on a murder investigation, one that he pursues reluctantly until a second murder upends the world as he knows it. The second victim is a lady friend of McNulty’s—and the prime suspect is McNulty himself.

As Ambler pursues his investigation, he discovers that the murdered woman had a double life. Her intermittent visits to the city—a whirlwind of reckless drinking and illicit liaisons with men she met in the cocktail lounges—had their counterpart in suburban Fairfield County Connecticut where, as Dr. Sandra Dean, she practiced dermatology and lived in a gated community with a doting husband and a young daughter.

While Ambler looks into the past of Dr. Sandra Dean to understand the murder of Shannon Darling in the present, NYPD homicide detective Mike Cosgrove investigates the men in Shannon Darling’s life. She might have been murdered because she frustrated the wrong man. It could have been a jealous wife. In fact, any number of people might have murdered Shannon Darling. Or, as Ambler suspects, did someone murder Dr. Sandra Dean?

Yet, no matter which way he turns, McNulty emerges as a suspect. Ambler’s dilemma seems insurmountable: Should he keep searching for the truth behind the murders if the deeper he probes, the more evidence he finds that points to the morally rumpled bartender as a murderer?


My thoughts:
This is the third book in the series set in New York Public Library crime fiction collection, featuring Raymond Ambler, the collection curator and a few other characters that seem to make up the permanent cast: Adele, another librarian and Raymond's love interest, Johnny,Raymond's grandson, and Brian McNulty, a bartender and Raymond's friend.
Shannon Darling is working on her first research which seems to be centered around a crime writer's old letters. Raymond and Adele also keep seeing her in a bar where Shannon completely changes her behaviour under the influence of just a few drinks. She starts saying things that make her an easy target of unwanted male attention. A few days later she appears to be involved in a murder that happened in a hotel room. Was the murder victim one of the men who took advantage of her vulnerability? and where did Brian, the bartender, disappear? he tried to protect Shannon mostly from her own bad choices. When Raymond finds out that both Shannon and Brian are on the run, he knows there must be more to this attractive and mysterious woman than meets the casual eye. Then, Shannon herself is found murdered and McNulty becomes the prime suspect. Can Raymond and Adele unravel the mystery which is also connected to the crime writer's letters, and therefore, the library collection?
I hadn't read the previous books in the series, but there is enough in the book to fill the gaps. The story kept me engaged. There was something old-fashioned about it, something from black and white films with private investigators and amateur sleuths. Of course, that's what Raymond is, he is the guy who asks questions, gets data ( he keeps quoting Sherlock Holmes- 'Give me data, I cannot make bricks without clay!')and digs deep into the victim's murky past.
It was a quick and entertaining read and I would like to continue with the series especially to how Raymond's relationships with his friends and family are going to develop.

Thank you to Edelweiss and Minotaur Books for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

Synopsis:

Ellery Hathaway knows a thing or two about serial killers, but not through her police training. She's an officer in sleepy Woodbury, MA, where a bicycle theft still makes the newspapers. No one there knows she was once victim number seventeen in the grisly story of serial killer Francis Michael Coben. The only victim who lived.

When three people disappear from her town in three years, all around her birthday—the day she was kidnapped so long ago—Ellery fears someone knows her secret. Someone very dangerous. Her superiors dismiss her concerns, but Ellery knows the vanishing season is coming and anyone could be next. She contacts the one man she knows will believe her: the FBI agent who saved her from a killer’s closet all those years ago.

Agent Reed Markham made his name and fame on the back of the Coben case, but his fortunes have since turned. His marriage is in shambles, his bosses think he's washed up, and worst of all, he blew a major investigation. When Ellery calls him, he can’t help but wonder: sure, he rescued her, but was she ever truly saved? His greatest triumph is Ellery’s waking nightmare, and now both of them are about to be sucked into the past, back to the case that made them...with a killer who can't let go.

My thoughts:
Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for making this book available on NetGalley, so that the readers could catch up on books 1 and 2 of Joanna Schaffhausen's excellent series of police procedurals featuring Ellery Hathaway.
Although all novels in this series can be read as standalones, if you want to truly understand the development Ellery Hathaway and Agent Reed Markham go through, it is better to read the novels in order.
Ellery Hathaway comes from a disadvantaged and broken family. She is also a survivor of a horrifying childhood trauma. At the age of 14, she was abducted and victimised by the notorious serial killer Francis Coben. There will always be a special link between Ellery and Agent Markham as he was the person who rescued her, although he will always wonder if it migh have already been too late for the girl to ever truly recover.
The characterisation in this novel is excellent. We see how the protagonists' past made them into the people they are now. Can they turn the tide and learn to live their life differently?
The Vanishing Season is an excellent police procedural with a tight plot and interesting twists. I did guess a few things in advance, but this is actually due to the inner story logic and consistency of the characters, which are things I am always looking for in this genre.
 A well-written beginning of an engaging series with strong characters, The Vanishing Season is highly recommended for all lovers of mysteries and thrillers.

The first rule of book club:
You don't talk about book club.

Nashville Legends second baseman Gavin Scott's marriage is in major league trouble. He’s recently discovered a humiliating secret: his wife Thea has always faked the Big O. When he loses his cool at the revelation, it’s the final straw on their already strained relationship. Thea asks for a divorce, and Gavin realizes he’s let his pride and fear get the better of him. 

Welcome to the Bromance Book Club.

Distraught and desperate, Gavin finds help from an unlikely source: a secret romance book club made up of Nashville's top alpha men. With the help of their current read, a steamy Regency titled Courting the Countess, the guys coach Gavin on saving his marriage. But it'll take a lot more than flowery words and grand gestures for this hapless Romeo to find his inner hero and win back the trust of his wife.

( From the synopsis)

My thoughts:

Heart-warming... It's great to know, or rather have a bookish confirmation of something I have always believed in, there are good men out there, who care about their families, wives and children, to the extent of doing whatever it takes to make their marriage work.

Gavin is a professional baseball player who spends a lot of time travelling for work. Thea, his wife of three years, is understandably upset about the situation. She put her career on hold and has done her best to blend in and become a worthy member of WAGs - wives and girlfriends of the players of her husband's baseball team. Thea feels she is losing herself and is forgetting the dynamic, non-conformist, independent, artistic girl she used to be. Then, one night, after her husband's greatest sports triumph, the big secret is out: Thea has been faking her orgasms, and Gavin refuses to speak to her for a month. Thea asks him to leave, which he does, adding fuel to her childhood fear of being abandoned by people she loves the most.   Gavin is distraught and ready to do anything for Thea to give him a second chance. His teammates approach him with a unique solution. Gavin is to become the newest member of a secret book club for alphamale athletes who try to understand the mysterious women's language by reading and discussing romance novels. The bros already have the right book in mind: Courting the Countess, a cute Regency number that perfectly matches Thea and Gavin's situation.

I loved the premise of this book - the Book club scenes with their witty dynamics and serious deliberations on the merits of pumpkin spice lattes and the dangerous message of The Little Mermaid where the main character 'has to literally change from one species to another in order to be with a man'. All the laughs aside, these men meet together and try to help each other learn to save their marriages and relationships by listening and communicating with their loved ones. A few times in the book, Gavin is surprised to find out things about Thea, and she asks 'How come you didn't know that?'' Because I'm not a mind reader'. He keeps saying 'Talk to me. Tell me what you feel , tell me what is important for you, help me to understand what I can DO to show my love'. Gavin is such a wonderful mixture of sweetness, determination, willingness to learn and strength. Thea got pregnant very soon into their relationship, and although their twin girls are absolutely adorable and mean the whole world to them, becoming parents is a huge step in any marriage, and a big change in couple dynamics. It helps if you have already addressed (or at least are aware of ) your issues with your parents' dysfunctional marriage. It also helps to trust your partner to put your family and your relationship first, above anything else.

The Bromance Book club may be a quick read of an entertaining rom-com, but it is also a very relatable tale of second chances and family dynamics and I am really looking forward to the second book in the series.

Thank you to Edelweiss and Berkley for the review copy provided in exchange for an honest opinion.