Just finished reading...

 Mrs. Spy by M.J. Robotham (Bloomsbury Publishing, 15 May 2025).

Yes, this is a spy novel, but it feels more like a cozy mystery.

The book is written in first person, from Maggie's point of view.  We learn, in the first few paragraphs that Maggie Flynn is 45 years old, and may be growing a bunion.  During the remainder the first chapter, we learn that she's tailing someone, and that she's carrying a bag full of objects she can use to change her appearance on the fly.

Soon, we learn that she works for MI5, but that she's an ordinary 

"middle-aged parent of one very teenage girl, a widow of almost three years, and the only daughter of a mother undergoing some type of breakdown or renaissance, depending on which day of the week it is. And here I am, smack-bang in what is apparently the world’s hippest city."*

The aforementioned city happens to be London, and the year is 1965.  

She may have discovered a turncoat in the agency's administration, and doing her regular job at the same time as trying to flush out the rat is taking up a lot of time.

Meanwhile, Maggie's daughter Libby wants tickets to The Beatles' December concert at the Hammersmith Odeon.  Maggie desperately wants to find these tickets for her daughter, but Maggie is a little busy.

The book is great fun to read.  The author has done an incredible job of recreating London in the mid-1960s.  

Is it a cozy mystery?  Is it a spy thriller?  Read it and decide!

*Mrs. Spy, p. 19

Cross-posted to my Substack.

Funny Friday

 

Funny Friday

 

My favorite literary fiction of 2025

 The Library of Lost Dollhouses by Elise Cooper (William Morrow, 2025).

Lightning in a Mason Jar by Catherine Mann (Lake Union Publishing, 2025).

It's a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2025).

The Last Letter of Rachel Ellsworth by Barbara O'Neal (Lake Union Publishing, 2025).

The Page Turner by Viola Shipman (Graydon House, 2025).

The Griffin Sisters' Greatest Hits by Jennifer Weiner (William Morrow, 2025).

Mystery Monday - My 2025 favorites

For Duck's Sake (Meg Lanslow #37) by Donna Andrews ((St. Martin's Press, 2025).

Just Another Dead Author (Berit Gardner #2) by Katrina Bivald (Poisoned Pen Press, 2025).

From Cradle to Grave (Her Royal Spyness #19) by Rhys Bowen (Penguin Group, 2025).

Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds by Alison Brennan (MIRA Books, 2025).

Death of a Forest Fairy (Hungarian Tea House #4) by Julia Buckley (Julia Buckley, 2025).

The Wexford Carole (Imogen Durant #2) by Janice MacDonald (Ravenstone Press, 2025).

The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective by Jo Nichols (St. Martin's Press, 2025).

The Busybody Book Club by Freya Sampson (Penguin Group, 2025).

Funny Friday

 

Wrong Hands by John Atkinson

- originally published on Wrong Hands, 6 January 2026

Just finished reading...

 The Reckoning by Kelli Stanley (Severn House, 6 January 2026).

I read this book without knowing much about it, except that it takes place in 1985 in Humboldt County, California.  And that was written by Kelli Stanley.

The story is written in the first person (something that Kelli excels at) from Renata's point of view.  Thus, we know how she's feeling about events as they occur, and how they connect to her motivations and her background.  

We learn in the first chapter that the date is September 20, and that Renata Drake is running from something.  We also learn that she took a Greyhound bus from somewhere to Garberville, California simply because she remembered it from a photo she'd seen as a child.

At first, she's just trying to hide, but it's hard. The situation in Humboldt County at the time was akin to Prohibition earlier in the century, (except the substance was cannabis instead of alcohol) so there was a large law enforcement presence.

Yes, this book is fiction, but Garberville and its environs are real. Searching for information and photos of the area, I found that while much has changed in almost 41 years, some places look eerily similar to they way Renata describes them.  

Open-hearted and independent, Renata is at the same time vulnerable.  As a librarian, one of the things I liked most about her was her love of books and bookish people. 

Not a traditional thriller, but more of a historical mystery, this is one of those books that I wanted to read as fast as possible to find out what happened, but also slowly to savor the prose.  I think hope I managed both.

The Reckoning is the first 2026 [book] publication that I've read.  Even so, I'm certain that it will be on my "favorites" list at the end of the year.

If you read it and enjoy it, do yourself a favor and read Ms. Stanley's backlist as well.

Kelli and me at Bouchercon 2024

Kelli Stanley is the award-winning author of historical crime fiction, both novels and short stories.  

She also founded the Anthony award-winning non-profit publisher, Nasty Woman Press. Kelli earned a Master's Degree in Classics (and a double BA in Classics and Art History), loves jazz, old movies, battered fedoras, Art Deco and speakeasies. Like Renata, Ms. Stanley is also a fan of books and bookish people.

She credits Raymond Chandler, Ernest Hemingway, Cornell Woolrich, Dashiell Hammett and Thomas Hardy as some of her major influences.

Cross-posted to my Substack.