Hush Hush

In Laura Lippman's Hush Hush, the 12th installment in the Tess Monaghan mystery series, this caper is so dark and creepy and could be straight from the news headlines. When Tess is hired to work the Melisandre Harris Dawes' defense, she never experienced working anyone like her before. Once acquitted for killing her youngest daughter Isadora by pleading guilty by insanity, she fled the country after she was acquitted from all charges. But when Harmony Barnes was in charge of shooting a documentary on her story, things change. Now after ten years away from them, the spotlight is back on her and her family when the documentary told the story and shone it in another light. Her ex is newly remarried with a young baby son and accidents do happen, including one that left her trainer startled and her husband dead. Now it's up to Tess unravel the real story on what happened and if Melisandre is behind it or someone else.  While Tess is dealing with this complex case, she's busy being a mother to Carla and waited to tie the knot with her lover Crow. In the end, Tess picked the pieces to solve this mystery to set things right for everyone involved before it's too late.

This was another great installment that features Tess Monaghan. I did care for her as a private investigator, a mother and later as a wife. I've found her relatable in so many levels and wondered how she would solve this puzzle. I've found Carla Scout cute and the other cast of characters charming. I did feel a bit neutral toward Melisandre. I did love the Baltimore backdrop for the scenic locations and picturesque settings that painted the background real well. This would make you shocked and awed at the same time with non-stop drama, plenty of actions, suspense, and hints of mystery on every page.

Will you be there to read her story in Hush Hush today?

And When She Was Good

Best-selling mystery author Laura Lippmann of the Tess Monaghan series  takes us in a new journey and a darker side in her first thriller. We're introduced to Helen Lewis, someone who have lived an ordinary life with some bad shady secrets, and then to Heloise Lewis, a grown-up Helen with a son and caught up with her past. We see how Helen becomes  present day Heloise and her shaky lifestyle, while she protects her son and keeps everything in check and a distance from others, as when there's a murder or two in her secret new life. And someone has in it for her. They're after her for blood with a shocking twist of its own in the ending that really shakes things up. What a bold transition from mystery to thrillers in a heartbeat, like Nevada Barr a decade ago with her own thriller titled 13 1/2.