{I've Been Reading} Something in the Walls

 Something in the Walls by Daisy Pearce

An inexperienced child psychologist travels to an isolated village to assess a girl whose family and  community believe is possessed by a witch. The first thing she notices upon her arrival are odd stones hanging from every building. Hagstones, she's told. That's her first sign that she's stepped into a place that's far different from the world she's accustomed to. This folk horror is a slow, slow burn and at first it felt similar to other books I've read with similar premises. But this one finally gets going and when it does, it's something else entirely.  I don't want to risk spoilers, but if you enjoyed Midsommar or The Lottery, this is in that vein. 

Killing Me Soufflé by Ellie Alexander 

I'm not sure if I've read any of the other  twenty Bakeshop mysteries  by Ellie Alexander, but after reading this one I can't wait to track them down. It was a fun read with a fantastic setting and interesting mystery. Jules and her family travel to the Oregon coast where two employees from her Ashland bakery have been hired to run the restaurant at a an aging resort. Opening night is a wild success, but then the resort's manager is found dead at the foot of a rocky cliff. I love the coast and this book does an amazing job of capturing the atmosphere. There's lots of focus on the delicious sounding food, which never slows the plot because they're preparing it while talking over elements of the murder mystery. 

Disclosure -- The publishers provided me with advance review copies. 

{I've Been Reading} Tell Me You Trust Me

 Tell Me You Trust Me by Elle Owens 

This thriller had me immediately hooked. "Tell me you trust me" was the last thing Marissa's husband said to her before leaving that morning. He didn't take his car, didn't go to work, is nowhere to be found. Her loving family is absolutely everywhere, determined to take care of her. They're in the security business, after all, and they want to help her. What they won't give her is a moment to herself, a moment she desperately needs to figure out the message her husband seems to have sent her through a song title that's just appeared on their shared playlist. 

I read this through one one sitting. Marissa's desperation to figure things out kept me turning pages and the author tells the story of their marriages through the messages they're leaving one another. It's a suspenseful read that had me on the edge of my seat and trying to figure things out until the very end.

Sick Houses - Haunted Homes and the Architecture of Dread by Leila Taylor

Haunted houses, the homes of notorious series killers, those places you pass and just wonder about because they're a little odd -- that's what this book is about. And I LOVED it. The author delves into well known properties, both fictional and real, and also several that I'd never heard of. I came away from it with a fairly long list of movies I want to watch (surprising, because I love haunted house movies and have watched so many) and some new insight into movies I'd already watched. There are plenty of spoilers in the detailed plot discissions, but I don't really mind because I probably wouldn't have watched them if I hadn't read about them here. A few, I'll watch anyway. Another I'll go out of my way to avoid. The book sent me down quite a few interesting rabbit trails and I'm glad I picked it up.  

 

Fondue or Die by Korina Moss

Willa Bauer and her friends are always fun to spend some time with. In this mystery, they're running a  booth at the local Dairy Days festival, selling carefully curated snack boxes of different cheeses.  And, after the woman running the annual bauty pageant is found dead under a pile of milk jugs, they're investigating whether it was an accident or a murder. While this isn't my favorite book in the series so far, it was an enjoyable read.

Disclosure -- The publisher provided me with an advance review copy. 

{I've Been Reading} Listen to Your Sister

 Listen to Your Sister by Neena Viel

If you've ever wondered how characters wind up in those isolated horror movie cabins, and why on earth they stay once they see the place, this book makes sense of it. Things went wrong for Calla and her brothers long before they booked the reservation. By the time they reach the cabin, they have nowhere else to turn. Between the sibling dynamics, their real world problems, and whaetever the supernatural nightmare is that surrounds them, this horror novel is a LOT. At times I felt like the nightmare scenes were all dragging on for a bit too long, but it all does come together....and I've never read anything quite like it. There's a lot of strong language and intense imagry here, but it works with this book. (And I'm feeling way too old because I have no idea which Sponge Bob scene they keep referring to...) 

Her Hiding Place by Shannon Hollinger

This fast paced thriller kept me turning pages until the very end. It's not bad enough that Charlotte is in the path of a hurricane, unable to leave her job at a luxury island resort. She's got to survive while keeping the prescence of a three year old girl hidden. Bits of backstory are woven in, just enough to hint at how she got herself into such dire straits, but the bulk of the plot is set in the days leading up to the storm. I got quickly caught up in the plot and writing style and I look forward to tracking down the author's other books. 

Dead Air by William Elliott Hazelgrove

I was more familiar with Orson Welles's radio show The Shadow than his notorious War of the Worlds broadcast (and I've somehow never seen Citizen Kane at all.) Dead Air: The Night that Orson Welles Terrified America tells the story of the program and its aftermath and, while it's a bit dry at time, it's also absolutely fascinating. I know what I've heard over the years, but I'd never stopped to really thnk of what was going on in the world at the time the show aired. It's easy to imagine those radio listeners as foolish -- but we're part of a generation that fell for The Blair Witch Project and that documentary about real mermaids. If you like historical non-fiction, this is worth a read. 

Disclosure -- The publisher provided me with an advance review copy.