Mayre Recommends...

The irrepressible Flavia returns to solve a Christmas-time, locked-door murder-mystery that takes place in her own house in a brilliant homage to Agatha Christie.

A fast-paced, cunningly plotted and laugh-out-loud mystery. Fourth in this comic police thriller series that features Lomax and Briggs. A British diplomat's wife is stabbed and a scrapbook is left behind that outlines the victim as a murderer who had escaped prosecution using diplomatic immunity. Soon more books are discovered and Lomax & Briggs are searching for a vigilante killer. This will not disappoint!

This is one of those don't leave your house, don't sleep, learn to make dinner and wash the dishes with one hand so you can finish reading, type of book. Unless is the book that I return to when I feel that the weight of the world is on my shoulders, when I find myself contemplating what I would write or say to whatever bureaucracy seems to be breathing down my neck, or just when I am trying to balance life as a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, volunteer, and employee. Unless is the story of Reta Winters, a mother, a writer, and a "wife" whose life is turned upside down when her oldest daughter drops out of society, takes to living on the street with a placard that reads, "Goodness". Reta is smart and wry, desperate to help her daughter but also forced to take care of every other person and aspect of her own life. Beautifully written, twists and turns, different from anything I have ever read.

I loved Sweetness! It reminded me of The 13th Tale, a cozy but not dumbed down mystery that cries out for one to be ensconced in flannel and drinking cup after cup of tea. Flavia reminds me a bit of Harriet (of Harriet the Spy) and of Willow--the early high school years; I love that at 11, she has both self awareness & ability to laugh at herself. It was a clever story, woven well with enough humor to help the story along without having the humor become a separate entity.

It's like Donna Tartt's Secret History with Mulder and Scully from "X-Files". Suspenseful, a bit creepy, really well-plotted - filled with twists and turns.

Historical fiction with a sense of humor. Mystery and intrigue of the Scarlet Pimpernel era combined with a Byatt-like present. A fun, funny and suspenseful read.

Great follow-up to The Rabbit Factory. Lomax and Biggs return - bringing with them another suspense-driven mystery filled with twists and turns and a few chuckles!

This gripping, futuristic novel set in a post-apocalyptic North America explores politics and humanity, responsibility, and love. The Capitol has the power and as a reminder of that, each year a boy & a girl are selected from each of the 12 districts to compete against each other, to the death.