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mwgerard's reviews
1704 reviews
The Farmhouse by Chelsea Conradt
This is a much better than average thriller, with strong storytelling that holds together from beginning to end. The mystery is solid, her unraveling of it is realistic, and if one chooses to believe in spirits, their assistance is unwavering. It’s a creepy and compelling novel that I highly recommend.
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
My review: https://www.mwgerard.com/accent-the-farmhouse/
After Emily’s mother dies, she and her husband decide it is time to finally leave the city and make a true life change. They both have good jobs that allow them to work remotely and the pressures of life have really taken a toll recently. It’s time for something completely different-a farmhouse in rural Nebraska.
After Emily’s mother dies, she and her husband decide it is time to finally leave the city and make a true life change. They both have good jobs that allow them to work remotely and the pressures of life have really taken a toll recently. It’s time for something completely different-a farmhouse in rural Nebraska.
Neither of them have any farming knowledge, but they won’t need it. It’s only the house and immediate yard that are for sale. The barns and the farm ground will still be managed by the original family, and they are promised they will hardly see them except for an occasional tractor going by.
Emily starts running again, allowing the clear blue midwestern sky and endless horizon envelop her. She starts to learn the dusty roads, rural scenes, and countryside sounds. But then little things stop making sense. She begins using her run tracker to check the distance from the house to the barn, and every time it changes-significantly. At night, she hears music coming from the barn hayloft but when she investigates no one is there. Then she hears the farmers talking about a young woman who disappeared. Voices whisper in her ear, warning her to hide. Whether it’s real or imagined, she sees her chance for a peaceful life slipping away.
The barn was outside my window. not looming in the distance. The haggard wood walls, the peeling paint, they were pressed against the glass pane above my kitchen sink. There was no sky. There was no garden. No sunlight. Only the decrepit edifice. Silence squeezed my skull. ~Loc. 2769
This is a much better than average thriller, with strong storytelling that holds together from beginning to end. The mystery is solid, her unraveling of it is realistic, and if one chooses to believe in spirits, their assistance is unwavering. It’s a creepy and compelling novel that I highly recommend.
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press (June 17, 2025)
Language: English
Paperback: 432 pages
ISBN-10: 1464229163
Language: English
Paperback: 432 pages
ISBN-10: 1464229163
Mysteries of the National Parks by Mike Bezemek
adventurous
informative
fast-paced
4.0
Read my review: https://www.mwgerard.com/books-for-may-25/
As someone who enjoys unexplained mysteries AND national parks this was a fun read. The author mixes up the types of odd stories — sightings, hoaxes, and just odd histories. Some of the chapters are stronger than others, like the recounting of John Muir’s hunt for giant redwoods or the Peary’s Denali summit claim. Others feel like they were included to make sure certain parks made the book. Overall, it’s packed of fun facts both about the weird history and about visiting today.
As someone who enjoys unexplained mysteries AND national parks this was a fun read. The author mixes up the types of odd stories — sightings, hoaxes, and just odd histories. Some of the chapters are stronger than others, like the recounting of John Muir’s hunt for giant redwoods or the Peary’s Denali summit claim. Others feel like they were included to make sure certain parks made the book. Overall, it’s packed of fun facts both about the weird history and about visiting today.
Season of Death by Will Thomas
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Read my review: https://www.mwgerard.com/books-for-may-25/
The strength of this novel is the ease with which the author sketches Victorian London. The banter and relationship between the lead characters is well-worn and comfortable. The mystery itself felt a bit forced but the setting and characters are what you keep reading for. This my first outing in this series, but I’m intrigued to try more.
The strength of this novel is the ease with which the author sketches Victorian London. The banter and relationship between the lead characters is well-worn and comfortable. The mystery itself felt a bit forced but the setting and characters are what you keep reading for. This my first outing in this series, but I’m intrigued to try more.
Impact of Evidence by Carol Carnac
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
3.75
Read my review: https://www.mwgerard.com/books-for-may-25/
E.R.C. Lorac, writing as Carol Carnac, constructed a tight, puzzling mystery with this one. Set in the Welsh Borders, it is a novel very much illustrative of its place and time. Carnac/Lorac is one the most prolific of the Golden Age crime writers so it’s surprising this book has been out of print since it was published in 1954. This series of re-releases from the British Library and Poisoned Pen Press is a treasure.
E.R.C. Lorac, writing as Carol Carnac, constructed a tight, puzzling mystery with this one. Set in the Welsh Borders, it is a novel very much illustrative of its place and time. Carnac/Lorac is one the most prolific of the Golden Age crime writers so it’s surprising this book has been out of print since it was published in 1954. This series of re-releases from the British Library and Poisoned Pen Press is a treasure.
Propaganda Girls: The Secret War of the Women in the OSS by Lisa Rogak
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
Read my review: https://www.mwgerard.com/books-for-may-25/
As records become declassified and available to researchers, readers are getting to learn more about the efforts of operatives during WWII. These files contain stories largely unknown, or at least unverifiable, until now. While the topic and idea of this book is a good one, the final project is only average. There are interesting details and anecdotes but the stitching that holds them together is tenuous.
As records become declassified and available to researchers, readers are getting to learn more about the efforts of operatives during WWII. These files contain stories largely unknown, or at least unverifiable, until now. While the topic and idea of this book is a good one, the final project is only average. There are interesting details and anecdotes but the stitching that holds them together is tenuous.
Fearless and Free: A Memoir by Josephine Baker
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Read my review: https://www.mwgerard.com/books-for-may-25/
Josephine Baker is an endlessly fascinating figure. Dancer, singer, icon, spy, resistance fighter, children’s advocate, philosopher. Any one of these things would be enough for a biography about her. Here we get to read about Josephine’s life in her own words. She shares her recollections through a freeform interview. The result is a charming, loose aggregation of anecdotes as she remembers details of her life. It is a total joy.
Josephine Baker is an endlessly fascinating figure. Dancer, singer, icon, spy, resistance fighter, children’s advocate, philosopher. Any one of these things would be enough for a biography about her. Here we get to read about Josephine’s life in her own words. She shares her recollections through a freeform interview. The result is a charming, loose aggregation of anecdotes as she remembers details of her life. It is a total joy.
How to Seal Your Own Fate by Kristen Perrin
How To Seal Your Own Fate is a worthy follow-up to the first novel. It brings the reader back to the cozy village of Castle Knoll to visit with its eccentric characters. Though the alternating present day/1967 narrative, the reader is also privileged to see a bit more of Aunt Frances in action as a young woman.
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Annie is trying to settle into her new life as owner of Gravesdown Estate in the quiet village of Castle Knoll. She inherited the property after the mysterious death of her aunt Frances. Annie solved her aunt’s murder and was named the heir. Now she has the task of sorting through the estate’s loose ends.
Peony Lane, the fortune-teller who warned her aunt of her future death, shows up unannounced with a prediction for Annie, though she promised she never shares a fortune unless the subject wishes to hear it. But Peony has another piece of information she wants Annie to know. She asks Annie to look through her Aunt Frances’s vast files, clippings, and diaries about Castle Knoll’s history for anything about Olivia Gravesdown. Olivia was married to Edmund Gravesdown, heir to the estate — that is until they were both killed in a car accident and it became Frances’.
Peony has always considered Olivia’s death to be suspicious. Now, nearly 60 years later, Peony wants to know for sure and she thinks her friend might have noticed something back then, something that will implicate a fellow villager. Annie has heard stories about tragedy and agrees look into it.
Peony has always considered Olivia’s death to be suspicious. Now, nearly 60 years later, Peony wants to know for sure and she thinks her friend might have noticed something back then, something that will implicate a fellow villager. Annie has heard stories about tragedy and agrees look into it.
Then days later, while sitting with neighbor/grocery shopper Beth, they discover Peony’s body in the solarium. She’s been stabbed, recently, and it means that the murderer had to slip past them — and might still be in the house.
Previously, I’d always been somewhat skeptical of fortune-tellers. But my belief system has been a bit upended as of late, and I’ve not really taken the time to think through where I stand now. Throughout my investigations last summer, I never once tried to decide if I believed Aunt Frances’s fortune. It was enough that she believed it, and I felt like my feelings on the subject either way might bias my investigation. ~Loc. 256
How To Seal Your Own Fate is a worthy follow-up to the first novel. It brings the reader back to the cozy village of Castle Knoll to visit with its eccentric characters. Though the alternating present day/1967 narrative, the reader is also privileged to see a bit more of Aunt Frances in action as a young woman.
The solution to the puzzle mystery is a little odd, but it’s perfectly enjoyable to read. And as ever, the lovely Gravesdown estate sounds just like the kind of place so many of us dream of inheriting one day. Minus, the murder, of course.
Publisher: Dutton (April 29, 2025)
Language: English
Hardcover: 320 pages
ISBN-10: 059347404X
Language: English
Hardcover: 320 pages
ISBN-10: 059347404X
Two-Way Murder by E. C. R. Lorac
Local published some five dozen works in her lifetime, but this is the first time Two-Way Murder has been in print. Her manuscript appears to have been written about 1956, a year or so before her death, which makes one wonder how final this draft was. It’s not the best Lorac novel out there, nor is it the most interesting puzzle constructed by her contemporaries. Where it shines in in her individual characterizations, specifically the various dialects. The subtle variations among the housekeeper, the publican, the retired military officers, the ingenue, the ne’er-do-well, and more are a testament to her ability to draw characters.
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Full review: https://www.mwgerard.com/review-two-way-murder/
In a quiet country town near the coast, on a foggy night, the villagers gather for the annual ball at The Fordings. Much has changed in th decade following the Second World War, but this is a tradition that continues. Even in the face of the anniversary of the disappearance of Rosemary Reeve. She was last seen after last year’s ball, running into the mist along the cliff path.
In a quiet country town near the coast, on a foggy night, the villagers gather for the annual ball at The Fordings. Much has changed in th decade following the Second World War, but this is a tradition that continues. Even in the face of the anniversary of the disappearance of Rosemary Reeve. She was last seen after last year’s ball, running into the mist along the cliff path.
Young Dilys Maine, daughter of a strict father, sneaks out to join the festivities and enjoys a ride home from Commander Brent, her beau (or so she hopes). As he spirits her through winding roads in the foggy night, their romantic evening comes to an abrupt halt when they find a dead body sprawled across the road. Commander Brent tells Dilys to make her way home on foot across the fields and he will wait for the police to arrive.
The cast of village characters becomes a network of suspects, amateur detectives, and gossips — each trying to piece together the events of the evening. They are questioned by Detective Waring, a self-described stranger, who has no understanding of the locals but has an uncanny ability to push the right buttons.
The cast of village characters becomes a network of suspects, amateur detectives, and gossips — each trying to piece together the events of the evening. They are questioned by Detective Waring, a self-described stranger, who has no understanding of the locals but has an uncanny ability to push the right buttons.
The author, E. R. C. (Edith Caroline Rivett) Lorac was a prolific author in the Golden Age of Crime fiction and became a member of the famed Detection Club. Her books were popular puzzle mysteries featuring recurring detective characters, and were set in both London and rural settings. She also published under the names Carol Carnac and Mary LeBourne, and even published a handful of short stories and a radio play.
When Jennifer Verity woke up on the morning after the Hunt Ball, she sat upin bed with her arms round her knees and indulged in the pleasure of retrospection, gurgling with laughter over some of the absurdities, hugging herself over some of the thrills of the best dance she had ever been to. Jennifer was twenty-two and as pretty as she was ever likely to be; she was an eminently practical young woman who knew just what she wanted — and she was prepared to put all her energies into getting it. ~ Pg. 53
Local published some five dozen works in her lifetime, but this is the first time Two-Way Murder has been in print. Her manuscript appears to have been written about 1956, a year or so before her death, which makes one wonder how final this draft was. It’s not the best Lorac novel out there, nor is it the most interesting puzzle constructed by her contemporaries. Where it shines in in her individual characterizations, specifically the various dialects. The subtle variations among the housekeeper, the publican, the retired military officers, the ingenue, the ne’er-do-well, and more are a testament to her ability to draw characters.
Still, it’s a fun read and an interesting glimpse, before unseen, into a popular writer’s catalog.
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press / British Library Publishing (April, 2022)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0712353836
Introduction by Martin Edwards
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0712353836
Introduction by Martin Edwards
Story of a Murder: The Wives, the Mistress, and Dr. Crippen by Hallie Rubenhold
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Read full review: https://www.mwgerard.com/reviews-very-english-murders/
The story of the Crippens never seems to truly fade away. Or if it does, it resurfaces after a brief respite. In some respects, it was so utterly incredible it can barely be believed. In other ways, it has all the elements of classic mystery novel. The characters and motives are so universal they could just as easily appear in an Agatha Christie novel as a Chaucer story (if he had ever decided to dabble in crime writing). Where Erik Larson focused on the fervor of chase and the brilliance of the technology that allowed them to be captured in Thunderstruck, Rubenhold stays closer to the hearth.
The story of the Crippens never seems to truly fade away. Or if it does, it resurfaces after a brief respite. In some respects, it was so utterly incredible it can barely be believed. In other ways, it has all the elements of classic mystery novel. The characters and motives are so universal they could just as easily appear in an Agatha Christie novel as a Chaucer story (if he had ever decided to dabble in crime writing). Where Erik Larson focused on the fervor of chase and the brilliance of the technology that allowed them to be captured in Thunderstruck, Rubenhold stays closer to the hearth.
Hawley Harvey Crippen was a quack doctor who made money selling “patent” medicines in the late Victorian and early Edwardian period. It was a prodigious time for these “wellness” fads and a rising middle class with at least a little disposable income were caught up in the Victorian obsession with physical health and standards.
How could a civilized, educated, professional man, who lived in a ten-room suburban house with a verdant garden, dismember his spouse’s body and then continue with his ordinary existence, catching the tramcar to his office and attending the theater? ~Loc. 4490
Crippen married his wife, Cora, whose dream was to become a stage performer. she changed her name to Belle Elmore and enjoyed a decent amount of success in music halls and theatres of turn-of-the-century London. Enter Ethel, the smart, indispensable typist at the office. She quickly became Crippen’s assistant and office manager for his fake patent schemes. The two began an affair.
For a number of years, the arrangement suited the pair, especially as Belle devoted herself even more to performing. But at some point, they wanted to be married and Belle stood in the way. When she “disappeared” after a sudden trip to California, her friends and colleagues immediately suspected Crippen and his mistress knew more than they were saying. Tales of Crippen and Ethel’s escape and trials entranced the reading public for months.
Edwardian newspapers loved a terrifying tale of true crime, and the story of what had been uncovered at 39 Hilldrop Crescent contained all the elements that readers relished. … Their narrative was both sensational and Gothic. It was not simply the dastardly, spine-tingling act of murder and dismemberment that drew public interest, but its characters and scenarios. ~Loc. 4498
Rubenhold reframes the daring crime around the women in Crippen’s life. His first wife Charlotte, who also died unexpectedly, is given her proper place in the story. He was never accused of her death, but looking back on it, it seems unlikely he was entirely innocent of that either. Belle (or Cora) is front and center under the limelight as she would have wanted. She is not merely a body to be found in the basement. She has a lively personality and strident spirit on the page. Crippen underestimated her closeness with fellow performers (at his own peril).
For her part, Ethel is far from just “the mistress.” Whether she knew of Crippen’s plans or helped him commit murder, she certainly helped him avoid authorities, participated in the escape, and refused to answer questions during the trial. She maintained her would always love him, even when the full scope of his deeds were known.
As Rubenhold did in The Five, the victims (and especially) the women, are given a proper place in the story and not just stock characters. She seeks to untangle the truth through newspapers, magazines, court records, and even interviews of Ethel’s grown children.
My thanks to Dutton for the e-galley. Read via NetGalley.
My thanks to Dutton for the e-galley. Read via NetGalley.
The Peepshow: The Murders at Rillington Place by Kate Summerscale
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
4.25
Read my full review: https://www.mwgerard.com/reviews-very-english-murders/
In post-war England, just as rations began to ease but neighborhoods were still rebuilding from the Blitz, and the Windrush generation began to populate the suburbs, a gritty, impenetrable fog blanketed London for five days in 1952. By the time it lifted, an estimated 4,000 people died from asthma and heart attacks and road accidents. In the months following another 8,000 people died from lingering health complications. Not included in the death toll were the bodies of murder victims stuffed in the walls of Reg Christie’s flat at Rillington Place.
In post-war England, just as rations began to ease but neighborhoods were still rebuilding from the Blitz, and the Windrush generation began to populate the suburbs, a gritty, impenetrable fog blanketed London for five days in 1952. By the time it lifted, an estimated 4,000 people died from asthma and heart attacks and road accidents. In the months following another 8,000 people died from lingering health complications. Not included in the death toll were the bodies of murder victims stuffed in the walls of Reg Christie’s flat at Rillington Place.
Notting Hill was not the quirky, desirable neighborhood it is today. It was a cheap, grungy area with sooty row houses divided into apartments. When a tenant attempted to hang a shelf in the tiny kitchen, the wall plaster crumbled and he made an unwelcome discovery. The false wall had been concealing three dead bodies. Police found more in the back garden. But it was reporter Harry Procter who realized that he had been to this location before, when a resident of another apartment in the same building was arrested for killing his wife and baby in the late 1940s. At the time he interviewed Reg Christie, an oddly calm neighbor who was now missing. Procter suspected Tim Evans was the wrong man, caught in 1949, and the real murderer has remained free – and kept killing.
Summerscale walks us through the Christie’s crimes but with a focus on each of the victims. For some, there is little more known than a name and a few biographical details, but with others – like Christie’s own wife – Summerscale has uncovered a wealth of information.
Summerscale walks us through the Christie’s crimes but with a focus on each of the victims. For some, there is little more known than a name and a few biographical details, but with others – like Christie’s own wife – Summerscale has uncovered a wealth of information.
George Stonier of the New Statesman visited North Kensington as dusk was falling on Monday in the spring of 1953. He walked past a nun, in a black-and-white coif and tunic, and a couple of West Indian men ‘with strange gaities of shirt peeing out from raincoats’, before he turned into Rillington Place. There he joined more than twenty bystanders, most of the women, who were watching No 10 in silence from the facing pavement. Every detail of the house seemed sister to him: the cracks in the front door, the shiny patches were its green paint had worn away, the five windows shrouded with curtains. ~Pg. 64
Most interestingly, she stitches in the narratives of Harry Procter and his attempt to clear the name of the wrongly convicted Evans, as well as the writing of Fryn Tennyson Jesse. Herself a prominent journalist, writer, criminologist, and novelist, she attacked the story from a different angle, though no less intense angle as Procter.
Like sensational cases do, this one attracted the attention of notable persons including Robert Sherwood, Terence Rattigan, Margaret Leighton, Christianna Brand, Anthony Berkeley Cox, and Cecil Beaton.
A man sitting next to Cox whispered to him that he had been to every Old Bailey murder trial since that of Dr Crippen, hanged in 1910 for the murder of his wife, and he thought this one unlikely to be very satisfying. ‘There’s no excitement, you see,’ he said. ‘It’s not like not knowing whether he really did it or not; he’s confessed; it’s just his sanity that’s being tried.” ~Pg.150
For Summerscale, the story to be investigated is how the puzzle fits together. There is no mystery to be solved. Rather, it is how did this thing happen? What were the dominoes that had to fall? More importantly, what had to be ignored in order for Christie to get away with it as long as he did.