I do enjoy a good thriller and have read and/or listened to several in the last few weeks. They were all very different with one being a mystery thriller, one a crime thriller, one a legal thriller and the last being a K-9 police/mystery thriller. I enjoyed them all doing a read/listen with all but one of them and enjoying all the narrators and formats. I recommend them all.

The Daughter-in-Law by Shalini Boland, Katie Villa (Narrator)

Published November 4th 2022 by Bookouture, Hatchette UK

4 Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Seb Fletcher’s wife left him for another man several years earlier. He is finally able to move on and meets a young woman from Australia online. He flies to meet Carolyn in Australia and after a whirlwind romance, they marry and head to England where Seb’s family owns and operates a pub. What Carolyn didn’t know was that they would be living with Seb’s family above the pub. Carolyn gets a very cold reception form Lillian, Seb’s mother, and the pub employees. It seems that she is being sabotaged left, right and centre and Seb and his brother Felix don’t really stand up for her very much either. Will this marriage last? Will Carolyn ever be welcomed into Seb’s family? Will we find out who the body was that was at the beginning of the story?

The Daughter-in-Law is told from various POVs: Carolyn, Lillian (mother-in-law), and sisters, Amy and Meg. There was a past and present storyline and I was curious how it was all going to fit together and how all the narrators fit together. I felt terrible for Carolyn. Having no one on her side, no one to make her feel welcome and being blamed for things that were not her fault would have made me jump on the next plane back to Australia. Lillian was a piece of work. She ruled the roost and I surprised that her husband and two sons put up with her, as well as why Seb’s first wife left. As the story continues and the mystery is revealed, I was shocked. I was not expecting the twists that came and revealed all including how all the characters are tied together and the final reveals. Another wonderful thriller by Shalini Boland. I did a read/listen with this book and enjoyed the narration by Katie Villa. I recommend this book if you enjoy thrillers and mysteries in either format.

Silent Witness (Detective Morgan Brookes #7) by Helen Phifer

Published September 28th 2022 by Bookouture

5 Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Silent Angel is the 7th book in the Detective Morgan Brookes series and it is one that I very much enjoy. In this outing, Amanda forgoes her birthday celebration when she heads to a crime scene with Ben. A young girl has been found in a ditch in the churchyard wrapped in a white sheet. Her hair has been cut off and she is only a teen who was picked up while waiting for her sister to pick her up. She had been missing for two weeks and Morgan is concerned about what she may have suffered over that time. Forensic evidence shows that there is sandy soil on her feet that comes from a nearby island, so the team heads over to see what they can find out. When a second girl of similar age and appearance is reported missing, the team step it up to find Milly alive before they find her body.

Silent Angel is another well written crime thriller that had me guessing until the end. There were a few suspects, one being the local vicar, who recently moved to the area and found the first body. He and Morgan had a very odd relationship and he gave me the creeps. There was also some suspicion toward a police officer who was last seen in the company of the second young woman who disappeared. Now they also have to find their colleague as well as the missing girl. This book had me on the edge of my seat and I wanted Milly to be found alive, she was such a wonderful character. I found this book to be fast paced, gripping and it kept me guessing. I enjoy the team that Morgan and Ben work with and there is some problems with the team in this book that needs to get sorted. There is some romance, great friendships and a wonderful team atmosphere that keeps me reading. I am already looking forward to the next book in this series.

Murder at Black Oaks (Robin Lockwood #6) by Phillip Margolin, Thérèse Plummer (Narrator)

Published November 8th 2022 by Minotaur Books. Macmillan Audio

4 Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Murder at Black Oaks is the 6th Robin Lockwood novel, but this one was very different from the previous books I have read and/or listened to in this series. In this book, an innocent man was convicted and the prosecutor that tried the case defends a man who admits to the crime. Due to attorney/client privilege, he can say nothing. He is so distraught, he quits practicing and dedicates his life to freeing wrongfully imprisoned people. When the real murderer dies, he hires Robin to free Jose Alvarez. She is invited to his home, Black Oaks, a gothic mansion that has several stories attached to it. Robin does what she is asked and Alvarez is freed. Francis Hardy invites Robin, her investigator, Alvarez and some others to his home to celebrate and ask Robin to work on some other cases for him. Shortly after they all arrive, Hardy is dead. Who killed him and why?

This was a mystery story more than a crime thriller, but there is some twists and gripping moments that make this a thriller for me. I continue to enjoy this series and I love the characters of Robin Lockwood. She is dealing with the loss of her partner in business and life after his death in the previous novel. She works through her grief thus keeping herself sane. The stories of werewolves and murders in Black Oaks keeps the gothic feel going and keeps Robin guessing about the culprit. This was a fun closed door mystery, but the legal questions make you think about some of the rules within the legal profession that do not work in the best interest of the client and those accused of a crime. I have been enjoying the audiobooks narrated by Thérèse Plummer and she does such a wonderful job. I recommend this series, but probably not best to start with this one, as it is very different from the rest of the series.

Vanishing Hour by Laura Griffin, Julia Atwood (Narrator)

Published October 25th 2022 by Berkley Books, Dreamscape Media

4 Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Ava Burch has had enough of the corporate legal business, and has moved to the small town of Cuervo in Texas to work in her friend’s small law office. Her father, who raised and trained search and rescue dogs has recently died, so Ava has taken in her father’s dog, Huck and is now working Search and Rescue in Big Bend National Park. When she and Huck are called out for a search, they discover an abandoned campsite and she carefully photographs it all and reports it to the local sheriff. Deputy Sheriff Grant Wycoff is not impressed with this city slicker who is on the search but when she tells him about her find, he realizes that there is more than meets the eye to this woman and her dog. Her discovery reminds him about a woman who went missing a couple of years ago, and when they begin to search for clues and information, another woman goes missing under suspicious circumstances. Can they work quick enough to solve the mystery and keep another person from ending up dead?

This was another great story by Laura Griffin. I really liked the character of Ava Burch, she was smart, independent, didn’t give up, and she was resourceful. There was definitely a lot of chemistry between Ava and Grant and I liked the way they fought against it. There were several suspects and a bit of a cult atmosphere that I knew would be involved in the death, but I wasn’t sure how. The closer Ava got to solving the crimes, the more danger she was in. This was a police thriller and a mystery that I had partially figured out, but there were still some surprises along the way. I enjoyed this story and will look for more books by Laura Griffin. I did a read/listen of this book narrated by Julia Atwood. She is a new narrator to me and I did enjoy her performance. If you like an interesting mystery and police thriller, I recommend Vanishing Hour in either format.

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