Category: Contemporary

Murder in Unsound Mind by Anne Cleeland

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Murder in Unsound Mind (Doyle & Acton, #13)
Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Doyle and Acton 13
Publication Date: 2/28/21
Number of Pages: 240

In 2013, when the first book of this series came out, I thought it was a wonderful, entertaining, and quirky book, but I thought it might not have longevity because not everybody appreciates quirky as much as I do. Eight years and thirteen books have proven me very, very wrong on that front. This latest addition to the series just adds more and more to the wonderfully quirky Doyle and Acton duo. I think it would be hard to jump into the middle of the series and really appreciate it for what it is. If you haven’t read any of the previous books, I’d suggest reading at least the first one or two books so you can better understand both Acton and Doyle. However, realistically I think you should read the entire series in order because each book builds on the previous book in character development, case backgrounds, etc.

If you read the last book, Murder in Revelation, you will remember that Doyle ended up in a fight for her life as well as their son’s – in their own home. Thanks to Acton, their home is better guarded and fortified than the palace, but still, their security was breached. Although she doesn’t realize it, Doyle is suffering a bit of PTSD from that earlier altercation and she has a good bit of pregnancy brain-fog. Those two things make her a bit slower to pick up on the clues about what is going on – especially what Acton is up to.

Acton is being hyper-vigilant in assuring his wife is safe and snug while she’s carrying their second child. You see, Acton absolutely adores Doyle and will go to any lengths to assure her comfort and safety – even if she isn’t exactly thrilled with his machinations. Somehow, she manages to stumble onto a case that will cause them nothing but trouble even though he’s tried to keep her assigned to the most benign things. As soon as she is at the crime scene, her Spidey-senses begin to tingle and they continue until she has all of the answers and manages to curb Acton’s revenge plot as well.

The case to which Doyle is called is the murder of the office manager at a medical clinic. The only reason Doyle is there is to see if this murder relates to the events in a previous case – Doyle thinks it might – but the perpetrator is quickly arrested and it turns out to be unrelated. Or is it? The office manager was a cooperating witness in that previous case and Doyle learns, by accident, that yet another cooperating witness in that same case has also been recently murdered.

While Doyle is quietly investigating all of that, she learns that Lady Abby, who has appeared as a not-so-nice person previously, is in London and she was trying to harass Mary who is the nanny to Edward, Doyle and Acton’s small son. When Lady Abby is found drowned in the Thames, was it an accident, suicide, or murder?

Acton is his usual enigmatic, manipulative self, but Doyle knows he is up to something and she knows she needs to figure it all out fast and put a stop to it.

All of our favorite characters make an appearance and we learn some surprising things about some of them. What will that portend for future books? Who knows? We’ll only find out with each entrancing book in the series is released. We do get a nice hint about the subject for the next book in the series. Can’t wait.

I definitely recommend this book if you love quirky, flawed characters and an excellent mystery.

The Bounty by Janet Evanovich

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The Bounty (Fox and O'Hare #7)
Barbara’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Fox and O’Hare #7
Publication Date: 3/23/21
Number of Pages: 320

This is an exciting, on-the-edge-of-your-seat, thrilling, can’t-put-it-down read. It was so engrossing I read it through in one sitting – boy did I pay for that the next day – but it was worth it! Steve Hamilton is the third co-author in this series, so I wondered how that was going to work. I definitely enjoyed the first five stories when Lee Goldberg was the co-author. I wasn’t as thrilled with the sixth one co-authored by Peter Evanovich, but this one with Steve Hamilton is good. There are definitely changes in Nick’s character though – they are subtle, but they are there. Nick isn’t as smooth and polished (think Remington Steele or Neil Caffrey from White Collar Crime) as he was in the beginning. Kate, however, is just as tough-as-nails as she ever was.

Kate and Nick are working with Interpol to track down an organization called The Brotherhood. In order to expand their organization and fund their efforts to bring a Fourth Reich to power, the Brotherhood wants to find billions of dollars’ worth of gold bullion that was buried by the Nazis just before WWII ended. In the opening scenes, Interpol knows someone is going to rob the Vatican and they assume the target is a valuable ring from the Pope’s collection. They are all set – all of the police organizations are in place – security is so tight that a flea couldn’t get through. Until – someone does get through. He definitely has world-class skills and when Nick almost catches him, he is absolutely shocked at the thief’s identity.

As they investigate and learn more and more, their ‘team’ grows to include both Kate and Nick’s fathers along with a mild-mannered professor and a former British SAS member. While they race around the countries that made up the former Axis countries, the Brotherhood is right on their heels. We travel all across those countries and back again looking for maps that contain clues to the location of the treasure. The maps are hidden in some of the most gosh-awful places – even polar bear habitats – and they contain cryptic and obscure clues. Our intrepid crew performs some death-defying stunts before they come to the end of the case. There are lots of twists and turns before the bad guys get their comeuppance and the whole thing will keep you holding your breath.

I’ll also point out that the blurb is misleading in regards to Nick and Kate’s fathers. Nick’s father didn’t teach him everything he knows – at least not how to be a world-class thief and con man. I’m not sure his father even knew about his career as a criminal. Nick’s father had done some ‘off the books’ work for the CIA and sort of lead a double life in that respect. When Nick learned of it, he and his father basically became estranged. Nick and his father share a great many talents – but they were mostly on different sides of the law. Kate and her father don’t disagree about everything. He does his best to protect her as any father would, but he listens to her, he helps her, and they collaborate on most things.

I thoroughly enjoyed this read and I hope you will as well. If you haven’t read the first five books in the series, I highly recommend those to you.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.