Smile for the Cameras by Miranda Smith
The original cast of an iconic slasher film gathers at an isolated cabin to film a reunion documentary, the first time they've all been together in years, but this time the deaths are real. Told from the point of view of Ella, the film's final girl, the book moves back and forth between the past and present. I enjoyed the writing, but there's nothing particularly new or suspenseful here.
One Sharp Stitch by Allie Pleiter
Shelby grew up in her mom's needlepoint shop. She knows the techniques and the customers and has the skills to take over for a month while her parents are travelling, but she wishes they'd chosen her almost too perfectly organized sister instead. Everything is working out until she finds the featured artist of the shop's monthly trunk show dead. That probably should have been the end of Shelby's involvement with what at first looks like a tragic accident, but the artist's family insists that she continues to sell her scissors and canvases in the shop. Fans of crafty cozies will enjoy this one, which has a nice balance of murder mystery and needlework.
Jane isn't an unreliable narrator. We know from the beginning that she's been stalking Colin, a man she had a brief relationship with and isn't ready to let go. Throughout the book, the reader knows almost everything Jane knows. There are plenty of revelations, but they're all new information to Jane. It's a little like "You" and a little like "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" and keeps twisting in unexpected directions that I wasn't expecting it to go.
Wicked Fun by Dave Pasquantonio
Twenty years after Jane Hawkins's last real life murder, she only kills people in the pages of her mystery novels. A well liked member of her small community, she lives a quiet and predictable life. Then a true crime podcaster shows up at her book signing wanting to interview her about her husband's unsolved murder. No one has ever suspected her before, which puzzles me because she seems to be just figuring out how things work. It's an entertaining read with an ending hook that has me looking forward to a sequel.
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