What I've Read | January 2023

North Carolina, USA


Welcome back to the Reading Nook & Vol. 25 of the 'What I've Read' series. The 'What I've Read" series is a monthly post and will be a combination of audible, kindle and physical books. Let me know if you've read/listened to any of these books and if so what you thought.




●THE TWIST OF A KNIFE| BY: ANTHONY HOROWITZ, Narrator:  Rory Kinnear| Audible 8hr 31m| ☆☆☆☆

I’m sorry but the answer’s no.” Reluctant author, Anthony Horowitz, has had enough. He tells ex-detective Daniel Hawthorne that after three books he’s splitting and their deal is over.

The truth is that Anthony has other things on his mind.

His new play, a thriller called Mindgame, is about to open at the Vaudeville Theater in London’s West End. Not surprisingly, Hawthorne declines a ticket to the opening night.

The play is panned by the critics. In particular, Sunday Times critic Margaret Throsby gives it a savage review, focusing particularly on the writing. The next day, Throsby is stabbed in the heart with an ornamental dagger which turns out to belong to Anthony, and has his fingerprints all over it.

Anthony is arrested by an old enemy . . . Detective Inspector Cara Grunshaw. She still carries a grudge from her failure to solve the case described in the second Hawthorne adventure, The Sentence is Death, and blames Anthony. Now she’s out for revenge.

Thrown into prison and fearing for both his personal future and his writing career, Anthony is the prime suspect in Throsby’s murder and when a second theatre critic is found to have died in mysterious circumstances, the net closes in. Ever more desperate, he realizes that only one man can help him.

But will Hawthorne take the call?

● If you've read here enough you know I love murder mysteries, this one didn't disappoint. 



 ● LOCAL WOMAN MISSING | BY: MARY KUBICA, Narrators: Brittany Pressley, Jennifer Jill Araya, Gary Tiedemann & Jesse Vilinsky | Unabridged Audible 11hr 40m | ☆☆☆

In this smart and chilling thriller, master of suspense Mary Kubica, author of the upcoming Just the Nicest Couple, takes domestic secrets to a whole new level, showing that some people will stop at nothing to keep the truth buried.

People don't just disappear without a trace…

Shelby Tebow is the first to go missing. Not long after, Meredith Dickey and her six-year-old daughter, Delilah, vanish just blocks away from where Shelby was last seen, striking fear into their once-peaceful community. Are these incidents connected? After an elusive search that yields more questions than answers, the case eventually goes cold.

Now, eleven years later, Delilah shockingly returns. Everyone wants to know what happened to her, but no one is prepared for what they'll find…

● I'm not sure why I didn't enjoy this book, maybe because it seemed to drag on. I do have to say the end was a bit of a twist.



● THE MICHIGAN MURDERS,  the true story of the Ypsilanti rapper's reign of terror |  BY: EDWARD KEYES, narrator: Pete Cross | Audible 15hr 3m | ☆☆☆☆½

In 1967, during the time of peace, free love, and hitchhiking, nineteen-year-old Mary Terese Fleszar was last seen alive walking home to her apartment in Ypsilanti, Michigan. One month later, her naked body—stabbed over thirty times and missing both feet and a forearm—was discovered, partially buried, on an abandoned farm. A year later, the body of twenty-year-old Joan Schell was found, similarly violated. Southeastern Michigan was terrorized by something it had never experienced before: a serial killer. Over the next two years, five more bodies were uncovered around Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, Michigan. All the victims were tortured and mutilated. All were female students.
 
After multiple failed investigations, a chance sighting finally led to a suspect. On the surface, John Norman Collins was an all-American boy—a fraternity member studying elementary education at Eastern Michigan University. But Collins wasn’t all that he seemed. His female friends described him as aggressive and short tempered. And in August 1970, Collins, the “Ypsilanti Ripper,” was arrested, found guilty, and sentenced to life in prison without chance of parole.
 
Written by the coauthor of 
The French ConnectionThe Michigan Murders delivers a harrowing depiction of the savage murders that tormented a small midwestern town.

● I  love true crime, especially about serial killers. I first of James Armstrong on the TV series 'A Crime To Remember'. This book is detailed oriented, to include footnotes. It's a long book but it was worth it. 



● MAKE SOMETHING GOOD TODAY  | BY & NARRATED BY: ERIN & BEN NAPIER | Audible 5hr 42m |☆☆☆¾

From Ben and Erin Napier, the stars of the hit HGTV show Home Town, comes Make Something Good Today, a memoir that tells us all to seek out the good in life, celebrate the beauty of family and friends, and prosper within our communities because everything we need in life to be happy is within our grasp. 

Long before their hugely popular TV show, an expanding family, or demolition day on their dream home, Erin began keeping a daily Online journal to help her stay focused on the positive and count her blessings in life. She never expected that her depictions of small-town life in the tiny swath of Mississippi where she Ben call home would catch the eye of a television producer and set them off on the journey of a lifetime. 

Make Something Good Today offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the struggles and triumphs of a couple that America has come to know and love for their easy humor, adoring relationship, and ability to utterly transform a place into something beautiful and personal. This is the poignant story of how Erin and Ben took a small, tight-knit town into their own hands (literally) and used ingenuity, community, and authenticity to rebuild a once-thriving American Main Street. And how, by combining Ben’s carpentry skills with Erin’s design eye, Home Town is making it clear to us all that small-town living can feel as big as you make it. 

Complete with family photographs, Erin’s hand-painted sketches, and never-before-heard personal stories, this inspirational memoir reminds us all not to give up hope that great love stories are possible, big things can bloom in small towns, and there is always magic in the ordinary if you know where to look for it.  

 ● Cute and quick listen.


Have you read any of the above books? Let me know what you thought. 


Happy reading...

Enjoy your day,  Tina 

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