This is Not a Game by Kelly Mullen

THIS IS NOT A GAME by Kelly Mullen introduces readers to Mimi, a resident of Mackinac Island, Michigan, and her videogame designing granddaughter, Addie. Mimi and Addie attend a local gala which morphs into a locked room mystery after a murder occurs, and guests are trapped due to a storm. That may sound conventional, but debut author Mullen provides plenty of twists and suspects as she compares the two women’s sleuthing adventures to a video game: “about stimulating the hypothalamus of the player. Making them feel joy, pride, empowerment, victory, self-determination.” At one point Addie says, “as players, we need to ask ourselves what mission we need to complete. What is this level telling us?” There are also multiple whimsical literary and game references (e.g., Carmen San Diego) throughout. Poor Mimi, though, “was silent as she tried to absorb everything... just revealed to them. It was becoming difficult to discern who was a victim and who was an accomplice in this whole blackmail scheme.” The surprises keep coming in THIS IS NOT A GAME, a light, entertaining read. Hopefully, Mullen will have future opportunities to hone her craft and develop these inviting characters further. 

The Museum Detective by Maha Khan Phillips

THE MUSEUM DETECTIVE by Maha Khan Phillips is an intriguing mystery set in Karachi, Pakistan. The main character is Gul Delani, an archeologist who is called upon to assist with police inquiries when a mummy is discovered. Phillips notes, “studying history was always like this, Gul had learned: you had to piece together narratives that were conflicting, and biased, and human if you were going to create a logical arc.” Readers will learn quite a bit about antiquities and the forensics involved; plus, they will likely sympathize with Gul who is saddened and frustrated by her niece’s disappearance three years earlier. Frankly, some of that plot tangent did not totally coalesce for me (including references to broken fingers on different hands) but overall, the characters were likeable, the suspense was maintained, and the setting added significantly to the appeal. I am looking forward to more in this new series which received a starred review from Library Journal (“Inspired by true events, this series opener … contains chilling, heart-pounding twists … There is a delicate balance between Gul’s professional investigation and her personal crisis regarding her family, all while being aided by a stalwart crew of friends and colleagues.”).  

Tough Luck by Sandra Dallas

TOUGH LUCK by Sandra Dallas (Little Souls) is historical fiction set in the West with a strong female protagonist. Dallas has been writing excellent fiction with similar themes since 1990 - look especially for The Persian Pickle Club, Alice’s Tulips, or The Diary of Mattie Spencer. Her latest takes place in 1863 and features Haidie Richards, a teenager girl who has promised to take care of her younger brother, called Boots. Their mother has died recently, and they set out from the middle of the country towards Denver in order to find their father who left in search of gold. Along the way, they team up with a variety of characters: a freighter named Jake, former orphanage resident Teresa, two tough spinster sisters, and a card shark named Corny. Haidie dresses and passes as a boy in this adventuresome tale which offers humorous observations and homespun wisdom such as when dealing with animals on the wagon train: “it is all right to swear at them, because they don't understand it and it helps your soul. But you’ll get more cooperation with kindness than meanness. I believe that's a lesson for life, with mules and with folks both.” TOUGH LUCK received a starred review from Library Journal which described the novel as being “full of humor, heart, and hope.” 

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

WILD DARK SHORE by Charlotte McConaghy was the #1 IndieNext pick for March 2025 as well as a LibraryReads selection. Called harrowing, the story certainly offers a feeling of isolation and menace. It is set near Antarctica on Shearwater Island, the site of a global seed vault, and home to Dom Salt and his children teens Raff and Fen, and 10-year-old Orly, all of whom have come to love and cherish the local wildlife (e.g., whales, seals, penguins). The family is scheduled to be leaving the island soon as rising waters have imperiled the research facilities housed there. As they wait for evacuation by ship, another small boat is wrecked, and a stranger, Rowan, is washed ashore. Readers learn of connections to the island and will begin to have suspicions regarding the family members who, along with their new visitor, provide narration and conflicting points of view. Book groups will find much to discuss as one becomes increasingly engaged and concerned for the island and its inhabitants. McConaghy does an excellent job of maintaining tension and slowly revealing secrets; the action really picks up near the end. WILD DARK SHORE received starred reviews from Booklist (“complexly plotted, tragic, and all-consuming tale of the battle to survive in a catastrophically changing world”) and Library Journal (“a race against time tests each person's love and loyalty”).

Conquering Crisis by William McRaven

CONQUERING CRISIS by best-selling author and retired Admiral William McRaven (Sea Stories and Make Your Bed amongst others) is subtitled “Ten Lessons to Learn Before You Need Them.”  McRaven once again shares insightful advice based largely on his varied military career where he says, “I learned early on what actions must be taken to resolve the crisis quickly and come out with one's professional and personal reputation intact.” In this new collection he describes what he sees as five phases of a crisis: assessment, reporting, containment, shaping the outcome, and managing. For example, his first lesson is “First Reports Are Always Wrong,” and he notes that in a chaotic crisis there frequently is early inaccurate or misleading information, using both the WWII Battle of the Bulge and a 1983 exercise near Chile to illustrate the point. Subsequent lessons include ideas like “Bad News Doesn't Get Better with Age” or “Weaponize the Truth.” In addition to the memorable examples (McRaven is a great storyteller), each chapter/lesson is summarized with a few key points. Publishers Weekly says, “leaders looking for an edge in high-pressure situations will find value here.” I concur.

Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks

MEMORIAL DAYS by Geraldine Brooks (Horse) was both difficult and comforting to read. Brooks wrote it after the totally unexpected death of her husband, Tony Horwitz in 2019. She deftly combines the shock of those first days and weeks with a period three years later when she ventured to Australia to reflect on her grief and their long life together. Having just experienced loss, I was astounded by the astuteness of many of her observations:

On being alone: “What big plans we had. How many more adventures there would be for us…” AND “Now I wrestle the wheelie bag over the rough ground by myself. I let sadness come and accept it. This is how it is now. Lonely.”

On family and marriage: “This wobbly trio. It was how we would have to go on. We would have to learn to balance ourselves in an unfamiliar asymmetry. And we would all have to learn to stop setting the table for four.” AND “In 35 years Tony and I had settled into an amicable division of labor within the marriage, taking responsibility for the tasks for which each of us had aptitude.” She wisely recommends, “Jot down all the tasks you don't bother to mention that keep the household afloat, the set of torches that only you have learned to juggle. All the little things your partner didn't expect to need to know, until the day they never expected to happen.”

On how hard it is to find space and time to grieve: “… a cascade of consequences. My credit cards froze, because Tony was the primary card holder. In my gray mist of sadness, I did not want to think about credit cards, but I had to, since our bills were paid that way, and if I didn't immediately get to work on making other arrangements, we mightn’t have lights or phones the following month. I knew I was lucky to have the wherewithal to pay those bills. For so many the death of a spouse is also the death of the breadwinner.” AND “I was used to seeing my desk covered with notes for my fiction, not legal documents, financial spreadsheets, and baskets of condolence notes.” AND “I haven't cried like that for Tony. … I was afraid to give way to it. I knew that if I started, I mightn't be able to stop. So I shut it down. And for the past two years, I haven’t been able to cry at all.” 

On advice from friends: “Do your work. It might not be your best work, but it will be good work, and it will be what saves you.” AND, from a widower friend: “The first time he had ventured out after losing his beloved wife, Gretchen, no one had mentioned her, and he had been hurt and angered. He realized that he needed to speak of her first, to allow others to do so.” 

In conclusion: “I do know this: my job is to carry his light. To keep him vibrantly illuminated for my sons, and for their children -- his grandchildren -- when they get here.”

MEMORIAL DAYS received starred reviews from both Booklist and Publishers Weekly. Related titles to pursue include Year of Magical Thinking by Didion and Crying in H Mart by Zauner. Brooks also mentions The Light of the World by Elizabeth Alxander and A Widow’s Story by Joyce Carol Oates.  

Personally, I want to highly recommend the “Daily Meditations For Working Through Grief” contained in Healing Through Loss by Martha Whitmore Hickman, providing much needed solace to millions since it as originally published in 1994. Some recent non-fiction texts which I have been slowly exploring and hope to review shortly include Can Anyone Tell Me? by Meghan Riordan Jarvis; My Last Gift by Kim Boyer; Renegade Grief by Carla Fernandez; and What Your Body Knows About Happiness by Janice Kaplan.

Brooks alludes to the comfort from music. Here is Coldplay and Dick Van Dyke with All My Love:

The Ride by Kostya Kennedy

THE RIDE by Kostya Kennedy is subtitled “Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America,” but this book encompasses so much more. Kennedy, an award-winning author, writes about the others (William Dawes, Samuel Prescott, possibly Sybil Ludington) who rode that night and about the other rides which Revere undertook on behalf of the Sons of Liberty. This text is full of fascinating facts and additional insight into Revere’s character and motivation. For example, he describes Revere’s life as an adolescent and the friendships formed then (one of Revere’s sons is named for fellow Patriot Joseph Warren). Another interesting tangent is the discussion of the portrait by John Singleton Copley, saying “You step away from the portrait and you come back to it, and you recognize something of the irreverent. You get the strong feeling that Paul Revere is up to something.”. THE RIDE (which includes an extensive bibliography) received a starred review from Booklist and praise from other reviews like Library Journal (“An important book for readers seeking a deeper understanding of a crucial moment in American history. It will captivate history scholars, students, and enthusiasts from start to finish”). Definitely worth a read and reflection on America’s founding values.

The Maid's Secret by Nita Prose

THE MAID'S SECRET by Nita Prose (The Maid and The Mystery Guest) is a LibraryReads Hall of Fame selection for April and received a starred review from Publishers Weekly. Unfortunately, I was disappointed in this series offering. It was not centered on Molly, but instead told the story of Flora, her grandmother, who was involved in a youthful romance many years ago. Yes, there were ties to wealth, both in the past and involving a stressful theft in the present, but the mystery, while surprising, was not especially engaging. And most of the events (how many people own a Fabergé egg?) were hard to imagine as having any connection to reality. I missed Molly’s gentle goodness, her reliance on her grandmother’s wisdom, and the drama within the hotel walls. Looking forward to a return to form in the next in this series.

How to Retire by Christine Benz

HOW TO RETIRE by Christine Benz offers “20 lessons for a happy, successful, and wealthy retirement.” The text is overflowing with ideas and suggestions compiled by Benz who is the director of personal finance and retirement planning for Morningstar. For each “lesson” topic (e.g. Lifestyle, Social Security, Spending Plan), she interviews an expert and then summarizes the discussion with her key takeaways and a list of related resources. The topics are varied and reflect the complexity of the retirement transition; experts do not always agree and there is a lot of “it depends,” but that makes sense give the range of personal situations. Other lessons focus on topics like Housing, Adaptability, Healthcare, Taxes, issues for Women, and creating an Estate Plan. And, Benz has developed a companion podcast hosted on the Morningstar site which certainly merits attention. There are so many books on this subject, of course, but Benz’ compilation has consistently been in the top ten of Amazon’s list of Best Sellers in Retirement Planning and was chosen as the first selection for the newly revived Color of Money Book Club coordinated by the Washington Post’s Michelle Singletary. Readers may also enjoy the monthly (or so) perspective on being retired written by Stephen and Karen Kreider Yoder. HOW TO RETIRE is an extremely useful resource both for those planning retirement and those just beginning that adventure. I took copious notes … and agree with the Foreword where Jonathan Clements writes, “There are no wrong choices here, except choosing not to choose and instead drifting through retirement, with scant thought to how you'll make the most of your time and how you'll ensure that you’re financially okay up until the end. … First, read the pages ahead with pen in hand … Second, view retirement not as a done deal, but as a long period of trial and error. … you're going to be making it up as you go -- and that's a big part of the fun.”

Trust Me on This by Lauren Parvizi

TRUST ME ON THIS by Lauren Parvizi is a quick read with likeable characters, two sisters who seem so dissimilar due to different mothers, different life experiences, and different dispositions. Zahra Starling is older, divorced, angry, and abrupt. Aurora (or Aura Star, her professional name) is younger, vulnerable, more naïve, and generally optimistic. Their father, a powerful force in their lives, tells them he is quite ill and asks to see them together. Thus begins a crazy road trip from Los Angeles, through Paso Robles, to Seattle. Along the way, there is plenty of angst with each of their Moms, a budding romance and a horribly broken one, plus reflection by each on her career goals. Of course, it turns out that these sisters need each other even if they cannot see it at first. Zahra “prefers stability to surprises,” finds cooking to be “an equation she could solve,” “a form of active meditation.” Aura is a people pleaser which has created deep conflicts for her. The growth that both experience – largely due to emulating aspects of the other’s personality – pulls in readers who will be rooting for both sisters to overcome trauma and learn to forgive and to trust each other. Parvizi writes with empathy and insight: “you spend so much time wondering when and how your number might be called, but once it happens, the specifics hardly matter …. It was impossible to remember the last time you did the smallest things you took for granted, and it was usually those things you wished you could remember most.” Evoking abundant emotions, TRUST ME ON THIS is a family drama filled with descriptions of wonderful food and scenery (e.g., the cathedral of redwoods).  Enjoy the journey.   

The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Bostwick

THE BOOK CLUB FOR TROUBLESOME WOMEN by Marie Bostwick (Esme Cahill Fails Spectacularly) is one of my favorite books of the year so far. Bostwick has created another work of historical fiction, focusing on the early 1960s and the suburbs of Washington, DC. Four main characters form a book club and become close friends, calling themselves The Bettys in homage to the first book they read together, The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. Readers meet Margaret Ryan who aspires to be a writer and helpmate to her accountant husband, Walt. Charlotte Gustafson is wealthy, creative and unhappy, trapped in a loveless marriage to Howard. Viv Buschetti adores supportive husband Tony, but she yearns to put her nursing skills to work as she manages six (make that seven!) children. Bitsy Cobb is younger and less sure of herself (except for her love of horses) and is married to an older man, Kingsley, a veterinarian. Each woman faces questions about her purpose, a possible career, and the state of her marriage and family, especially relative to societal norms. As Bostwick writes, “They had been raised to believe that the road to a happy, successful adulthood was well defined but extremely narrow, and that deviating from the path was not only irresponsible but wrong, a quick route to certain disaster.” Yet, these four quickly grow to support each other and Bostwick delves into personal crises with historical details as background (e.g., remember “the underground currency of American housewives,” S&H Green Stamps? And who knew that a married women could not open a bank account at that time without her husband’s signature?). Facing adversity, these four women learn together to appreciate what Eleanor Roosevelt used to say, “A woman is like a tea bag. You never know how strong it is until it's in hot water.” This would be a marvelous book group selection as there is much to consider and discuss here. Katherine Graham and other Washington socialites make cameo appearances. In its starred review of THE BOOK CLUB FOR TROUBLESOME WOMEN Library Journal says, "Bostwick's latest is ideal for fans of historical fiction and those who enjoyed Bonnie Garmus's Lessons in Chemistry, Kristin Hannah's The Women, or Kate Quinn's The Briar Club, which explore the historical roles of women and the challenges they faced within a society structured to define and limit their roles in and out of the home." Highly recommended.

Book groups may also enjoy some of the other selections that the Bettys considered: The Group by Mary McCarthy; Herland (1915) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman; A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute; short stories by Flannery O’Connor; Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis; Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates; Dearly Beloved or Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh.

Lost in Austin by Alex Hannaford

LOST IN AUSTIN by Alex Hannaford is all about “The Evolution of an American City” which has seen phenomenal growth since Hannaford first arrived around the turn of the century. Hannaford, an award-winning podcaster and journalist, outlines Austin’s distinctive history and shares impressions from longtime residents. Our “Texas My Texas” book group will be discussing this title and one member has already remarked, “I expected this book to be very dry, but instead found many interesting observations.” Hannaford does adopt a somewhat academic tone and includes many negative comments about growth, infrastructure, racism, gentrification, and climate change. However, his comments will prompt much discussion, including questions like:

• Is Austin [still] a frontier town? Was it ever?
• Is Austin still "the live music capital of the world"? Why or why not? 
• The city has seen dramatic growth in population (and property prices, taxes, and rents...); it is number 11 in terms of size of US cities, yet 181 in terms of density How has that contrast impacted its "culture"? 

I am curious as to whether readers feel that his observations about climate change ("we weren't getting a spring or fall any more, just stiflingly hot summers that lasted from April to November") are accurate.  He writes at length about issues of affordability, also addressed in this KVUE report. Hannaford opines “in the decades since the era of LBJ and Governor Ann Richards, Texas had succeeded in creating an ‘anti-California culture,’ which has alienated highly educated people working in innovative technology that Austin had fought so hard to encourage to the city.” It certainly makes one wonder whether "transplants" are welcome in Texas or in Austin currently. Hannaford clearly misses the Austin he once knew, but I do wonder to what extent he is mourning the changes in Austin versus mourning the changes in himself as he ages, or perhaps both. Kirkus summarizes LOST IN AUSTIN by saying, “the ultimate impression is that of a city steadily losing its distinctiveness and livability. A model of first-rate reportage.” For more on Hannaford’s observations, see the reviews in Texas Monthly, local station KXAN, and Los Angeles Review of Books.  Additional perspective on famous Texans and how Texas has changed over time is provided in Lone Stars Rising from Texas Monthly.

Some relevant resources include images of changes to the Austin Skyline and a series of before and after photos, both from The Austin Statesman. The newspaper also published a pictorial review of 38 years of SXSW.

Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (On a Dead Man)

VERA WONG'S GUIDE TO SNOOPING (ON A DEAD MAN) by Edgar Award winning author Jesse Q. Sutanto is the second in the series about this feisty, take-charge Chinese grandma. As such, it blends appearances by previous characters with a whole new set of people who need Vera’s help. One is Millie, a young girl who is clearly distraught about the disappearance of her friend, Thomas. Turns out he was also known as Xander Lin and appeared online as boyfriend to Aimes, a young internet influencer, trying to find herself. Xander was represented by the same firm, run by TJ (who has a charming teenage daughter, Robin). Readers learn that Xander had asked the people in his life, including his honorary grandfather, Qiang Wen, to help him set the record straight and reveal something big. Afraid of disrupting their own lives, they refused his request and are filled with despair when Xander’s body is found. Vera, generally unafraid of anything, steps in and pushes the group to solve the mystery of Xander’s life and death. I found the mystery to be quite puzzling and I really enjoyed the way a sense of community was developed with each other and with Oliver, Julia, and Sana who appeared in the first Vera Wong book. Although tackling some serious subjects, this is a fun, entertaining read – particularly the dialogue between Vera and her son, Tilly and his girlfriend, a cop named Selena Gray. Looks like there are more Vera Wong stories (including bickering with her neighbor, Winifred) in our future – likely away from her teahouse and its San Francisco setting. I am looking forward to them. VERA WONG'S GUIDE TO SNOOPING (ON A DEAD MAN) is a LibraryReads Hall of Fame selection for April.

The Last American Road Trip by Sarah Kendzior

As today is a National Day of Hands Off protest, I thought I would post about a new book from a prolific social commentator. She writes, “Lincoln warned in 1838 that if the United States of America died it would be by its own hand. But what we have is more like assisted suicide. It is easy to love your homeland and hate your government. I've done it all my life and consider myself in the company of patriots…. You love it like a child and you love it like a parent, with an irrational depth and the fiercest desire to protect it from harm. You mourn the lost leverage of the ordinary American -- of elections, of courts, of protest, of documentation. You remember when those things seemed to matter or at least when the powerful felt obligated to pretend they did.” THE LAST AMERICAN ROAD TRIP by Sarah Kendzior (The View from Flyover Country) is generally VERY well-written, but oh so sad as America experiences such an unnecessary demise.

Just a couple of weeks into the new administration, Publishers Weekly described this text as a “poignant portrait of life in the Trump era.” I read (and listened to) a preview of THE LAST AMERICAN ROAD TRIP a few months ago and found then that I had to do so in shorts bursts – partly to reflect on her emotional writing and partly because this book can be upsetting. Given the events of the past two months, Kendzior’s comments seem even more prescient (and distressing) now. Kendzior writes at length and with much affection about Missouri, Mark Twain, and her efforts to expose her own children to the American Heartland between 2016 and now, saying, “A lot has changed since we first hit the road. My daughter went from being a fourth grader to a twelfth grader. My son went from being a kindergartner to an eighth grader. And the United States went from being a flawed democracy to a burgeoning autocracy; we drove past the point of no return and kept on driving.” She writes so expressively; for example, “raising children in the world running out of time means contending with two clocks ticking at once: the moments you spend with them as they grew up and the years left for your country, for the planet, for everyone. The first clock is a marvel of memory. The second a countdown to doom. You cannot live your life by these clocks, only alongside them. You forge ahead regardless of the odds because that is your obligation as a parent.”

I could keep quoting from THE LAST AMERICAN ROAD TRIP for quite a while, but end with this reflection: “The people who want to destroy my country are banking on us not missing America. To miss America is to remember America. To remember America is to explore America. To explore America is to see the best and worst in everything -- to reconcile, to repent.” 

Homestand by Will Bardenwerper

HOMESTAND by Will Bardenwerper is all about “Small Town Baseball and the Fight for the Soul of America.” Bardenwerper, a former soldier turned author and journalist, recounts (and deplores) the impact of the MLB’s decision in 2020 to close 42 minor league teams by focusing on the Batavia Muckdogs team and their fans. The western New York town first hosted a baseball team in 1897 and traditions run deep. In addition to highlighting the financials and greed driving this MLB decision, Bardenwerper profiles many local characters. He will bring smiles to reader faces as they learn about Batavia’s efforts to attract and support a collegiate team. Happily, this text evokes fond memories of small-town baseball and so much more; Robert Putnam (Bowling Alone) describes it as “a well-written paean to a sense of community that is now sadly in danger of being lost in America. Read HOMESTAND, and savor it while you still can.” HOMESTAND received a starred review from Library Journal which called this title a “must-purchase.” Have to add: GO, Cubbies, GO!!