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Mysteries of the Month

Why I liked The Interpreter by Brooke Robinson:
The Interpreter is a highly imaginative mystery with a clever and well-worked plot. It is so well told that the reader feels the competing self-justifications and self-doubts that bedevil the story’s protagonist both at home and in court. This wonderfully original story is a must for mystery enthusiasts.
Revelle Lee is a multi-lingual interpreter and the about-to-be adoptive mother of six-year-old Elliot. Between translating for witnesses in stressful court cases and looking after the little boy, Revelle is stretched to the limit. She manages, albeit only just, until she is assigned to interpret for a defense witness in a murder trial. The victim happens to be Elliot’s Filipino babysitter. To ensure that the jury reaches a guilty verdict, she mistranslates the evidence that would have provided the accused with an alibi. At the same time, Elliot’s now-complete adoption is jeopardized by the unexpected reappearance of his birth mother. A series of events follow, unpleasant to begin with, then unnerving and finally threatening.
Is it the doings of Elliot’s real mother? Or of someone who has stumbled across the translation ‘errors’ and has blackmail in mind? Or has something in Revelle’s past finally resurfaced?

Published by Harper Paperbacks
September 19, 2023
Star Rating: 5 out of 5
Why I liked The Death of Us by Lori Rader-Day:
The Death of Us is an imaginatively and cleverly plotted mystery that will keep the reader glued to the page. Lissette’s adopted son, Callan, sends her a parent-nightmare text about a car accident. Not his car, though. Another car, in the quarry. Lissette has a violent reaction. Is it Ashley Hay’s car? Ashley, Callan’s biological mother, handed her son over to Lissette fifteen years ago and then disappeared. The young woman had had a one-night stand with Lissette’s husband, Link.
Robbie, Ashley’s boyfriend, was immediately suspected of having a hand in Ashley’s disappearance, but then his body was found on the roadside, the victim of a hit-and-run. The toxic atmosphere of suspicion and mistrust that had enveloped the small, mid-America town a decade and a half ago returns. Neighbor is leery of neighbor; friendships crumble; Lissette, her marriage fraying, even harbors half-doubts about her husband. The town’s marshal, and possible new love interest in Lissette’s life, uncovers damaging evidence that completely changes the investigation into Ashley’s disappearance and threatens to destroy Lissette’s family. That is only the start of a maze of surprising twists and unexpected turns that culminate in a nail-biting final act.

Forthcoming from William Morrow Paperbacks
October 3, 2023
Star Rating: 5 out of 5