What We’re Reading Now by WWK Bloggers

Martha Reed

The Marsh King’s Daughter by Karen Dionne

I missed reading The Marsh King’s Daughter by Karen Dionne when it was released in 2017. Word of mouth and a movie deal starring Daisy Ridley kept this psychological thriller on my TBR radar. During a trip to Tombolo Books in St. Petersburg, FL, the paperback caught my eye, so I quickly added it to my checkout double armful. I’m glad I did because I can’t put this book down. Written in first person, it tells the tale of Helena Pelletier, a woman living in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula who is hiding a dreadful secret. Karen Dionne skillfully immerses the reader into the story and Helena’s narrative voice rings clear and true. I’m halfway through reading this now and I’m holding my breath hoping it holds up because the storytelling is simply that good.

 

Annette Dashofy

Run, Rose, Run by Dolly Parton and James Patterson

I’m currently reading—technically, I’m listening to on audio—Run, Rose, Run by Dolly Parton and James Patterson. Dolly also narrates part of it, which is sheer joy. The story follows young, ambitious, and broke (in more ways than one) AnnieLee Keys, who is determined to take her guitar and her voice to Nashville and make it big, no matter what. When retired country legend Ruthanna Ryder tells her to go home, get out of Nashville before it destroys her, immediately after telling the young woman what an incredible talent she is, does AnnieLee listen? Of course not. I can’t wait to see where this “A Star Is Born meets The Country Music Awards” tale takes me.

 

Grace Topping

Hollywood Homicide and Hollywood Ending by Kellye Garrett

Given the depressing news, I needed something to lift my spirits. I'd heard good things about Kellye Garrett's award-winning Detective by Day series and was curious as to what all the hype had been about. Kellye's first book, Hollywood Homicide, had garnered an Agatha, Lefty, Anthony, and IPPY, and been nominated for a Macavity and Barry. Definitely impressive, but would it lift me out of the morose I'd found myself in? I downloaded the audiobook version of Hollywood Homicide, and found it so entertaining that I immediately downloaded the second book in the series, Hollywood Ending. I loved them, a term I don't use all that often to describe a book. 

 

Agents and editors often talk about an author's voice. Kellye's voice is not only distinctive, it is also hilarious. She weaves an intriguing plot, populates her story with winning characters, and left me laughing with her witty dialogue and imaginative analogies and similes. With the audiobook, you get Kellye's terrific story and brilliant narration by Bahni Turpin, a winning combination. Definitely add Hollywood Homicide and Hollywood Ending to your to be read pile or listen to list. They will definitely lift your spirits. Now I'm off to order Kellye's latest book, Like a Sister. 

 

Molly MacRae

Like a Sister by Kellye Garrett

I’m five chapters into Like a Sister, Kellye Garrett’s new book about a woman’s refusal to believe the official story of how her estranged half-sister died. The book is described in blurbs as “smart,” “whip-smart,” “twisty,” “twisting,” “tight,” “surprising,” “suspenseful,” “utterly convincing,” “wholly captivating,” a “domestic suspense for the Instagram gen.,” and “a marvel.” And that’s only a smattering of the praise on the back cover.

After five chapters (59 pages), do I believe the hype? Yes. The writing, the voice, the pace—they’re clear and driving. I’ve caught glimpses of the twists ahead and tightened my seatbelt. Sparks of humor lighten the mood, especially in Garrett’s similes—as an example: “I can remember the single stall bathroom. All stark and silver, like the latest model Terminator had morphed into a sink.” The chapter endings, rather than cliffhangers, are quick jabs to my sternum. My eyes go wide, my brain says “yow!” and my hand turns the page. Good book.

 

Margaret S. Hamilton

Shakespeare’s Landlord, by Charlaine Harris

Jane Cleland recommended Harris’s Lily Bard mystery series to me. Lily is a survivor of a brutal sexual assault who settles in the small Arkansas town of Shakespeare. She lives alone, studies martial arts, and supports herself as a domestic cleaner.

Lily’s past creates her present self. In Shakespeare’s Landlord, after witnessing a body dump, Lily investigates the landlord’s suspicious death. She soon focuses on her cleaning clients in the landlord’s small apartment building.

Harris’s book is a “skinny mystery” of two hundred pages, in which she deftly inserts memorable small-town Arkansas characters and local politics. It’s a cozy, though the main character is laden with psychological trauma. First published in 1996, the series shares many attributes with Kathy Hogan Trocheck’s Callahan Garrity house cleaner series, set in Atlanta and published during the same time period.