January/February
#1/75: Shadows Reel (Joe Pickett #22) by C. J. Box (4/5) (mystery)
Joe and Marybeth both make discoveries that put them in the crosshairs of a pair of desperate men who are willing to kill to achieve their goal. Meanwhile, Nate is on the hunt for the man who attacked his wife and stole his birds.
#2/75: Storm Watch (Joe Pickett #23) by C. J. Box (/5) (mystery)
Joe investigates a mysterious death while Nate is approached by a shady group of militants that want Nate to help them.
Caught up in this series until the next one comes out next month!
#3/75:A Cruel Deception (Bess Crawford #11) by Charles Todd (/5) (historical fiction mystery)
In the aftermath of WWI, Bess travels to France to save a troubled officer from drug addition and a mysterious killer.
#4/75: The Diplomat’s Wife by Pam Jenoff (3.5/5) (historical fiction)
Marta survived her imprisonment by the Nazis, and has hopes for her future with Paul, the American who rescued her. But while waiting for him in London, his plane crashes and there are no survivors. A kind diplomat gives her a job and then marries her, not knowing that she is pregnant with Paul’s baby. When Marta is asked to go on a mission to help find a Communist spy, she agrees, not realizing the danger.
#5/75: The Expatriates by Janice Y. K. Lee (4.5/5) (fiction)
A tragic incident in Hong Kong causes three American women’s lives to collide in unexpected ways.
#6/75: The Exiles by Jane Harper (4.5/5) (fiction)
Investigator Aaron Falk arrives in a small Southern Australia town on the anniversary of the disappearance of the mother of a young baby. When the older daughter begs for information, Falk and his friend Raco can’t leave the case alone.
#7/75: Powder Burn by Carl Hiaasen and Bill Montalbano (3/5) (suspense)
Chris Meadows has stayed far away from the Miami drug trade. But that all changes when he witnesses the hit and run death of his ex-girlfriend by a group of drug smugglers. Now he is in a fight for his life, not only from hitmen, but also crooked Miami cops who would rather exploit than protect him.
#8/75: Call the Midwife (Book 1) by Jennifer Worth (4/5) (memoir)
Stories of her work as a midwife in London slums after WWII. This was the basis for the PBS series.
#9/75: Shadow of the Workhouse Book 2) by Jennifer Worth (4/5) (biography)
Stories of people she met while working as a midwife. These people all experienced the horrors of the workhouse.
#10/75: Resurrection Walk (Haller #7) by Michael Connelly (4/5) (thriller)
After getting a wrongfully convicted man out of prison, Mickey Haller is inundated by requests from people claiming their innocence. He enlists the help of his half-brother Harry Bosch to go through the letters, who finds a case worth pursuing. A woman was convicted of killing her police officer husband, but the facts don’t add up.
#11/75: An Irish Hostage (Bess Crawford #12) by charles Todd (3/5) (historical fiction)
Bess has been asked to be the witness for a fellow nurse. But this nurse lives in Ireland, where the memory of the Easter Rising of 1916 is still fresh and the English are seen as the enemy. When Bess arrives, she discovers that the groom is missing.
#12/75: The Cliff’s Edge (Bess Crawford #13) By Charles Todd (4/5) (historical fiction)
Bess agrees to travel to Yorkshire to help a friend of her cousin recover from surgery. While there, the news of a terrible accident causes Bess to travel to a remote estate to help. One man has been killed, and the other gravely injured. But the families have taken sides and the police are involved. When another death occurs, it seems that no one is safe.
#13/75: The Maharani’s Pearls and A Hanging at Dawn (Bess Crawford series) by Charles Todd (4/5) (novellas)
Young Bess comes back from a forbidden visit to a fortune teller to find her mother and the Maharani in a private discussion. When Bess recognizes one of the Maharani’s attendants as a man she saw near the fortune teller’s tent, an alarm is raised.
Young Simon has been discovered as underage and may be dismissed from service. But Melinda steps in and has him sent out to India to work for her cousin Richard, While there, he is accused of a terrible crime and may be put to death.
Since these were short I counted them as one book.
#14/75: Farewell to the East End (#3) by Jennifer Worth (4/5) (memoir)
Final sagas of the author’s time working as a midwife in the East End of London during the 1950s