• How to Write a Murder, Jessical Brody
• Truly Devious, Maureen Johnson
• When All the Crows are Gone, Lisa Unger
• We Chase Shadows, Richard Osman
• The Night Hunter, Natalie Moss
• For Real, Alexis Hall
• The Travelers, Chris Pavone
• A Curse of Beasts and Magic, Jeaniene Frost
• Gary of a Hundred Days, Isabel Murray

Jessica Brody’s How to Write a Murder is group-of-isolated-people, uninvited guests, and a hidden secret agenda novel, all rolled into one. It’s complex and challenging, and I think a lot of people will enjoy this book. The many plot threads are tightly within Brody’s control, and I have to admire her courage.

Truly Devious is another good novel based on a familiar premise: the elite school for teens who have talents beyond the norm. This particular school was founded by a tycoon decades ago, and it was kept going by his funds. His daughter was abducted, and the ransom notes were signed “Truly Devious.” It falls to a student, Stevie Bell, enrolled because she is a true crime aficionado, to search for the truth behind the abduction. Warning: this is a cliffhanger with no resolution. I am certain that will come in the next book.

Lisa Unger’s When All the Crows are Gone will be released next year in September. I was lucky enough to get an ARC. There are several story arcs in Crows, and the suspense comes from seeing how they’ll intertwine. All are compelling. You’ll see why Lisa is an internationally bestselling writer as you keep turning the pages until you reach the end.

We Chase Shadows, Richard Osman’s latest novel, reunites the detective trio of Rosie (a bestselling mystery writer), Steve (a former policeman), and Amy (Steve’s daughter-in-law and a protection agent). These three unlikely people are a pleasure to be with, as they take on a new murder case proposed by a very shady character. Rosie is up for adventure of any kind, Steve is a guy’s guy and heavily practical, and Amy is refreshingly lethal. They’re a pleasure to be with.

Natalie Moss’s first novel is set in South Africa and it’s all about the setting. The Night Hunter is about two sisters venturing back to their mother’s remote home after her death. Her mother has given the older sister, Danielle, a secret mission. Danielle is supposed to burn a storehouse, along with everything it contains. Grace, who is younger, has a wilder grief and a completely different picture of her mother than Danielle. As the girls’ party starts through the bush, people begin to die, and Danielle and Grace may not make it to their former home . . . ever.

I think I’ve read almost all Alexis Hall’s work now. He is simply a very good writer. Hall’s characters are deep, riveting, and completely relatable. (I don’t think I’ve ever used that word before. For Real is a strange-meet love story between Laurie Dalziel, a fortyish medical professional, and Toby Finch, young and desperate to meet someone he act out his fantasies with. Their relationship is unequal and rocky, but they’re both men looking for the right person, and they’re fumbling their way through their lives. It’s fun, tragic, and romantic all at the same time. This is true of most of Alexis Hall’s novels.

I enjoy Chris Pavone’s books tremendously, and The Travellers is no exception. Will Rhodes is a travel journalist for a major magazine, but he has a secret. Or two. His wife does too, which comes as no surprise. Keeping their secret occupations from each other is a combustible situation, and it only gets more difficult as Will becomes the patsy in a blackmail scheme. 

I have known Jeaniene Frost for a while. Sadly, we don’t get to see each other often, but I’ve enjoyed her work through the years. A Curse of Beasts and Magic is Jeaniene’s first (I hope) book about Raine Stone, who survives the massacre of her family only to become the host of a terrible beast. She’s trying to keep the beast under wraps by small acts of vengeance. It’s not working too well, of course. Then she meets Remy Byrne, a Warden who guards the gateways between the worlds. Will he imprison Raine, or will he help her?

If you want a good laugh, read Isabel Murray’s Gary of a Hundred Days. Gary, brought up on a secluded estate, is snatched from it when his older brothers die. Suddenly, Gary is a king. Not only a king, but a proclaimed tyrant. The befuddled and impractical Gary gets a break when he’s literally stabbed in the back, but by an inept murderer. Gary picks his moment to sneak out of the palace and goes on the run. Luckily for the charming but unworldly Gary, he is found by his former stable master, Magnus. This book is a delight, and so is its sequel, Gary the Once and Former King.

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I generally don’t talk about my politics, but I do talk about my moral beliefs, both in my books and in my life. (I hope not in a preachy way.) From that point of view, I am so happy to be living in a state that’s turned blue. Individual freedoms are the basis of the United States of America. 

In my personal life, this month I will be 75. I know, it seems incredible to me, too. I feel like the same person (though more absent-minded) I was, though now I’m living in a body like an aged house that’s been repaired quite a few times.

I could never have imagined the turns my life would take since I began writing. I could never have imagined I would achieve such success. It’s been (mostly) a great delight. I have met writers I’m in awe of. I have met writers I truly enjoy. I have met actors, and directors, and scene decorators, and drivers, and convention organizers, and book store owners and workers, who have made my life richer and broadened my horizon.

Most of all, I’ve met amazing readers, who write me the most touching messages: about how my books have affected their lives, about experiences they’ve had that have echoed mine, how much my writing has given them little vacations from their troubles. 

It’s an honor.

Charlaine Harris