• Winter Lost, Patricia Briggs
• What Waits in the Woods, Terri Parlato
• The Serial Killer’s Apprentice, Katherine Ramsland & Tracy Ullman
• Such a Lovely Family, Aggie Blum Thompson
• Bless Your Heart, Lindy Ryan
• One Perfect Couple, Ruth Ware
• The Lost Bookshop, Evie Woods
• Three Inch Teeth, C.J. Box

Rereads: the Oz books by Frank Baum, the Sheriff Longmire books by Craig Johnson, and “Like Me” series by Crista and Becca Ritchie

Patricia Briggs is a great person AND a great writer. I love all her books, and Winter Lost is just as good as any of her others in the Mercy Thompson series. Please start at the beginning and read your way through one of the best urban fantasy series that is. Mercy is a daughter of the Trickster, Coyote, and an auto mechanic. Everyone in her world is more than they seem, which is sometimes fun and sometimes very unpleasant indeed.

Esme Foster must return to her hometown when her career as a ballerina is cut short by an injury. This is never good in a thriller. Her brother has been taking care of her ailing father, the house is falling apart, and her father is gravely ill. Old friends resent the fact that Esme didn’t communicate with them while she was dancing. And Esme has terrible memories of the night her mother died, memories no one believes. Esme is a strong character who faces many unpleasant things at one time, and I really enjoyed Who Waits in the Woods.

I don’t read a lot of nonfiction, but I met Katherine Ramsland at the Writers’ Police Academy and found her super intelligent and interesting. The Serial Killer’s Apprentice is an account of the apprehension and trial of Elmer Wayne Henley, Dean Corll’s “apprentice” in several murders in the Houston area. Why and how this young man was recruited and groomed by Corll, and  ultimately stopped Corll’s killing spree by shooting him, is fascinating and grim.

Aggie Blum Thompson’s Such a Lovely Family dissects the wealthy Calhoun family, picture-perfect on the outside, opening with their annual cherry blossom party. Son Nate, a marine biologist, has brought his young son and his fiancée home for the party, daughter Ellie Grace and her husband Zak, and the oldest son, Trey. Thom and Ginny make an attractive older couple, together for years and apparently devoted to each other and their children. But at this party, Thom is shot dead and Ginny is gravely wounded, and the can of worms is open. Surprises galore in this one!

Bless Your Heart is a more-or-less tongue in cheek novel about the Evans women, who have been burying their town’s dead from their funeral home for decades. Luna, the teenage daughter of Grace, granddaughter of Lenore, great-granddaughter of Ducey, is in for a shocking awakening when one of the dead in the funeral home gets up. But the other womenfolk are used to this . . . because keeping the dead, dead, is the Evans job.

Ruth Ware’s One Perfect Couple was a wow of a book. Several couples are recruited to be participants in an experimental reality show. They will be isolated on a tropical island with a film crew and face a series of ‘tests’ to determine which couple will be deemed perfect. When scientist Lyla and her wannabe actor boyfriend, Nico, join the cast at the last minute, Lyla is skeptical. And from the moment they arrive at the tiny island, things begin to seem sketchier and sketchier. And then people begin to die. This was a great read.

The Lost Bookshop has about a ton of charm. Often I don’t like books that switch timelines frequently, but Evie Woods makes it work as the stories begin to interweave into an amazing narrative. I won’t ruin any of the surprises, but there are a lot.

C.J. Box’s Three Inch Teeth is Box’s twenty-fourth novel featuring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett. That is an achievement in and of itself, right? Joe Pickett is an enduring and interesting character, a man who loves his family and his job, but who is often in danger . . . this time from a rogue bear, and from a criminal who has a long-time grudge against Joe and one of his friends. Suspenseful, to say the least.

BLOG: 

With so many books to read (you should see my office and my TBR bookcase in my bedroom), you may wonder why I reread books.

Sometimes I just need something familiar, something I know will take me to the place I want to go in my head.

Sometimes, as a writer, I’m studying how other writers achieved some effect I admire.

Sometimes, I love a character so much I just want to spend more time with him/her.

You may have similar reasons for rereading, if you do. There are books I’ve read three to five times: Daniel O’Malley’s The Rook, Anne Bishop’s Written in Blood, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, every single book by Jane Austen, Barbara Pym’s wonderful and microscopic examinations of British life, Mrs. Gaskell’s Cranford. I really could go on and on.

Frank L. Baum’s Oz books have a special place in my life, because the fantasy is just outrageous and exciting. My favorite book of his is probably Ozma of Oz, because it introduces the character of Princess Languidere, an intensely vain royal with many heads. She can change them at will, and they all have different temperaments. I find her fascinating, and though she’s a minor character and that book is the only one in which she appears, I think of her often.

During the pandemic, I reread my own Sookie Stackhouse books. And then all of Patricia Brigg’s books. And all of Anne Bishop’s books. And other series I had admired along the way. I enjoyed every minute of this retrospective reading.

Really good writing is just like a good wine. You don’t want just one bottle.

Charlaine Harris