Mystery Book Club Recap

Our Mystery Book Club met yesterday and shared some great reads.
Here is a quick description of the books we talked about, plus the opinion of the person who read it:

The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware

This book is about Hal, a down-on-her-luck young woman who reads fortunes at the pier. She is struggling to pay the bills and owes a debt to a loan shark. She receives a mysterious letter bequeathing her a substantial inheritance from her late grandmother. She realizes very quickly that the letter was sent to the wrong person—but also that the cold-reading skills she’s honed as a tarot card reader might help her claim the money. Soon, Hal finds herself at the funeral of the deceased…where it dawns on her that there is something very, very wrong about this strange situation and the inheritance at the center of it.
While it was a page-turning read,the explanation of the mystery towards the end was difficult to follow and I had to reread it at least three times for it to make some sense.

The Girl Next Door by Ruth Rendell

In the waning months of the World War II, a group of children discover a tunnel in their neighborhood outside London. For that summer of 1944, the subterranean space becomes their “secret garden,” where the friends play games, tell their fortunes, and perform for each other. 60 years later, construction workers working on that land discover a tin box containing two skeletal hands, one male and one female. As the hands make national news, the friends come together once again, to recall their long ago days for a detective. Is the truth buried amid the tangled relationships of these aging men and women and their memories? Will it emerge before it’s too late?
The person who shared this novel liked the historical aspect of the book and would definitely recommend this read!

The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah

Hercule Poirot's quiet supper in a London coffeehouse is interrupted when a young woman confides to him that she is about to be murdered. She begs Poirot not to find and punish her killer. Once she is dead, she insists, justice will have been done. Later that night, Poirot learns that three guests at a fashionable London Hotel have been murdered, and a cufflink has been placed in each one’s mouth. Is there a connection to the frightened woman? While Poirot struggles to put together the bizarre pieces of the puzzle, the murderer prepares another hotel bedroom for a fourth victim...
The person that read this title said they couldn't put this book down and that it was very well written. As an Agatha Christie fan, they appreciated the way it was reminiscent of a classic Christie story. While they did recommend reading it, they thought the story was a bit convoluted and had too many twists.

Interested in joining?

April Mystery Book Club: Wednesday, April 17 @ 10:30am
Theme: "Woman" or "Girl" in the Title

I've put together a list of 10-15 books each month that the theme and have the books set aside and available for you to check out. See the Adult Reference Desk if you want to see the list of remaining titles and check out a copy.

We hope you'll join us!

Happy Reading,
Natalie @ La Quinta Library