Tag Archives: mystery

Quirky Whodunits: Jay to the World & Death and Fromage

15 Oct
Cover of Jay to the World: A Meg Langslow Mystery by New York Times Bestselling Author of Five Golden Wings, Donna Andrews. Features a drawing of six jays with Santa hats and red scarfs surrounding and pulling wrapped packages out of a mailbox decorated with Christmas lights and garland.
Cover of Death and Fromage: A Novel by Ian Moore. Features a blue cover with red white and blue stripes around the edge. There is a red hand print and a spilled glass of red wine depicted.

Jay to the World
by Donna Andrews
Jay to the World is the newest book in my favorite Meg Langslow mystery series by Donna Andrews. This story is set during Christmas season, but the mystery has appeal beyond the holiday season. When Meg’s mother is attacked, Meg learns that she has been receiving threatening letters. There are plenty of red herrings and this one of the more action-packed stories of series. Of course, it is still full of the cozy charm long term readers like myself expect such as a sweet storyline about Meg’s blue jay loving niece. The story also involves the local woman’s shelter and though nothing is particularly graphic in the story, those who are particularly triggered by violence against women should be aware. If you haven’t previously read this mysteries series and love mysteries with quirky characters than this is one you should definitely check out.

Death and Fromage
by Ian Moore
Death and Fromage is the second in Ian Moore’s Follet Valley Mystery series about a British ex-pat who is running a B&B in France. Richard is enjoying a gourmet tasting menu at a restaurant in a nearby village when controversy erupts over the use of vegan goat cheese in the chef’s signature dish. When the cheese supplier turns up dead in one of the pasteurization tanks it leads to speculation over whether he chose to end his life or he was murdered. This had been in my tbr list for a while after enjoying the previous novel in the series Death and Croissants. I found this story to also be a funny whodunnit and it will delight fans of humorous mysteries as well as fans of stories about British expats such as Peter Mayle’s memoirs set in Provence.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Riley Sager’s Next Stop after With a Vengeance

3 Feb Book cover for “With a Vengeance” by Riley Sager, featuring a dark night scene with a train crossing a tall stone bridge under a cloudy sky lit with red tones; the author’s name appears in large turquoise text.

I preface this blog, knowing that Riley Sager fans probably already read his latest and have their opinions, so if you are one of them consider this more of a look to the future and a return to what, in my opinion, made him a best-selling author. (And it’s coming in 2026).

Riley Sager’s latest, With a Vengeance, is a title in my humble opinion, every writer deserves the right to write once they’ve reached the top of Mount Career Author – a little ‘you’ve earned this’ from their publishing house after they’ve made it clear their ROI is high, and Riley has with such calling card titles as Home Before Dark, The House Across the Lake, Lock Every Door, Final Girls, and The Only One Left. 

During a pre-release chat at Union Square’s Barnes and Noble, Mr. Sager made it clear this was his stab at a ‘whodunit’ Agatha Christie-esque entanglement on a train. With a Vengeance was not a thriller mystery with supernatural elements readers grew to love in the previous titles mentioned. 

With a Vengeance fell flat, hindered by one dimensional characters, coincidences that seemed too good to be true, a protagonist who set up a way to elaborate a scheme where everything had to go right (and her pockets had to be deep). Even with suspension of belief, the originality of intent wavered mightily throughout, and honestly, but in the end the red flags were just too much to overlook. 

When he will return to those intriguing bump-in-the-night mysteries he’s built a following off of. The answer is known. The Unknown is slated for August 2026. 

A century ago, five vanished from a Vermont island, leaving behind only five dresses and a supernatural mystery. 

A century later, a struggling actress lands a role in a movie about the disappearance, her research trip to the island turns terrifying as strange occurrences and a sudden health emergency leave her and the cast stranded. A new wave of disappearances begins, and the race is on to decipher a century-old diary to prevent the island’s dark history from claiming them all. 

I’m ready for it, and I think (at least for me) this will put the sour taste of With a Vengeance out of my mouth. 

I strongly encourage these novels by Riley Sager though: Home Before Dark, The House Across the Lake, Lock Every Door, Final Girls, and The Only One Left. 

Book cover for “Final Girls” by Riley Sager, featuring a dark forest background with a lone woman in a blue dress standing beneath red title text.
Book cover for “Lock Every Door” by Riley Sager, showing a purple-lit apartment hallway with multiple doors and bold pink title text.
Book cover for “The House Across the Lake” by Riley Sager, depicting a brightly lit house reflected in dark lake water at night, with handwritten-style yellow title text.
Book cover for “The Only One Left” by Riley Sager, showing a large, ominous house perched on a rocky cliff against a red sky, with bold blue title text.
Book cover for “Home Before Dark” by Riley Sager, featuring a dark green haunted house silhouette surrounded by glowing lights against a shadowy background.

They all show his consistent truth as a writer – telling stories built around traumatized and unreliable narrators who must face a dark event or place that resurfaces from their past, forcing them to question the realism of their memories and perceptions of the world. We aren’t just trying to figure out who the real antagonist is but also grasping with the illusion of whether the person telling the story is even telling the truth. 

Each one of these is an addicting ride.

Which novel will you be checking out? Comment below.

Riley Sager’s name and cover images are linked to his author page on the BCCLS catalog to make it easy for you to reserve his titles. 

Hit subscribe to get Hoboken Public Library Staff Picks to your email!

Written by:
Sean Willey
Information and Digital Services Assistant

Tags: , , , ,

← Older Entries