by Terrance McArthur, Cynthia Chow, Sandra Murphy,
& Lorie Lewis Ham

It’s that time of year again, a time to look back at the books we reviewed here at KRL over the past year and share with you some of our favorites! We reviewed a LOT of books last year. All of our main reviewers share in this post their top 5-10ish favorite books they reviewed in 2023, except for me. To find my list click here and you can also enter to win a $5 Amazon gift card! Special note, one of our main reviewers, Kathleen Costa, had to leave us last summer due to an urgent family health crisis, so she won’t have a favorites list this year–so for the authors she reviewed we apologize that they won’t make it on a list this year as we can each only speak for those we reviewed ourselves–I’m sure there were many worthy of making the list!

Enjoy!
Lorie Lewis Ham, Editor-in-Chief

Cynthia Chow:

My Cousin Skinny: A Jersey Girl Mystery by E.J. Copperman
Severn House
An always reliable author who delivers laughs with a great plot that twists the tropes of classic mysteries.

Murder Off the Books: By the Book Mystery by Tamara Berry
Poisoned Pen Press
A hilarious mystery that will appeal to podcasting and mystery fans. A best-selling author deals with opening a bookstore, mother issues, and a hot handyman.

The Case of the Uninvited Undertaker: A Cozy Welsh Murder Mystery by Cathy Ace
Four Tails Publishing
A fun mystery that continues to develop five very different, but extremely intelligent women who have formed their own detective agency.

The Ghost Goes to the Dogs: A Haunted Bookshop Mystery by Cleo Coyle
Berkley
I love seeing a mystery series resume after a long break. A ghost detective assists his living partner to blend noir with the cozy mystery genre.

The Things We Keep: A Jeri Howard Mystery Book 14 by Janet Dawson
Bodie Books
An emotionally moving mystery by one of my favorite authors. 1960s San Francisco comes alive as present-day PI Jeri Howard delves into the cold case of the Zodiac Killer.

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Berkley
A very clever mystery featuring Vera Wong, an unabashed meddler who takes advantage of her senior status and her race. Asian food, language, and the culture is highlighted for readers’ entertainment.

Sandra Murphy:

Up on the Woof Top by Spencer Quinn
Chet and Bernie are in the mountains for Christmas. Fresh air, reindeer, and over the top Christmas. What more could you ask for in a job? Chet, being the canine partner of the Little Detective Agency, could ask for more treats and fewer reindeer. On the other hand, the employer wanted only Chet for the job but at the Little Detective Agency, Chet and Bernie are partners, each with their own specialty in taking down perps. It’s all or nothing.
I love the Chet and Bernie books, told from Chet the Dog’s point of view. They’ve earned an eternal spot on my Best of List. This is book fourteen in the enjoyable series.

Twas the Bite Before Christmas by David Rosenfelt
As anyone who’s met Andy Carpenter knows, he does not like being a lawyer. However, pesky cases keep turning up and when they involve a dog, well, he has a softer spot for dogs than people.
Andy runs the Tara Foundation with his friend Willie. During the holiday party, Pete, captain of the police homicide division, calls Andy. Pete’s right outside but won’t come in. He’s come to arrest Derek, one of the foundation’s best volunteers and doesn’t want to ruin the party. Derek’s in witness protection after he testified against members of his former gang. Now the police believe he killed one of the gang members. Derek says he didn’t, and Andy is inclined to believe him. After all, a guy who fosters two shelter dogs and then is so attached he adopts them, can’t be all bad. Or not bad enough to murder someone.
Andy is another eternal entry on my Best of Lists. With his love of dogs, complicated cases, and great side characters, he’s earned the spot.

Standing Dead by Margaret Mizushima
Last summer, Deputy Mattie Cobb reunited with her mother in Mexico. Mattie wanted to tell her that the Cobb brothers, who killed Mattie’s father, were both dead. Her mother still doesn’t feel safe.
Mattie and her sister Julia visit again but their mother and stepfather have disappeared. Something or someone spooked them. Now it’s up to Mattie to find them. Again.
Mattie and her canine partner, Robo, bring the thrill to the mystery thriller. They are also on my eternal Best of Lists. This is book eight and I look forward to many more. Gathering Mist will be out in October and will be reviewed here.

Viviana Valentine and the Ticking Clock by Emily J Edwards
New Year’s Eve, New York City, the year, 1950. Viviana Valentine and Tommy Fortuna have big plans for the new year. They’re private detectives who are getting married. Soon, or soon-ish. For now, it’s time to head to Times Square for the big celebration. That plan goes kaput when a shortcut through an alley puts them on the spot to see a man stab a guy in the gut.
With no Google, no phones, and most of the time, not much money, Viviana and Tommy still manage to work the case.

Winters End by Paige Shelton
In Benedict, Alaska, cabins are few and far between. Even in town, there’s rarely what could be called a crowd—except on Death Walk Day. Gril, the local law, thought it up a few years ago. Everyone’s required to report in come spring, just so he knows they’re still alive. After all, an exceptional snowfall, bitter cold, unexpected encounter with a bear, or a slip and fall, could be fatal. He says, just show up, check your name off the list, and you can go about your business for another year.
One of the people who doesn’t show is an 80-year-old man who lives high on a mountain. Orin, the librarian and somewhat of a mystery himself, agrees to go check. Beth Rivers and her dog, Gus, go along. Orin vanishes when he goes for help.
Shelton has written many enjoyable books but this is my favorite series.

Dangerous Women by Mark Castrique
Ethel Fiona Crestwater is in her 70s, the landlady of a boarding house, and seemingly a clichéd little old lady. She’s anything but. The boarders in her house are FBI agents. Ethel used to be one herself. She can still think on her feet, plan for contingencies, and she knows everyone who is anyone. Calling in a favor sometimes is as simple as reminding someone she knew them when….
A law clerk has died; another is in a coma.
This is the second book. I want to be Ethel’s best friend. She’s a good friend to have, in good times and bad. In all, de Castrique has written twenty-three books. That should keep you busy!

Wined and Died in New Orleans by Ellen Byron
Ricki James-Diaz runs Miss Vee’s Vintage Cookbook and Kitchenware Shop, located in the Bon Vee Culinary House Museum. There was trouble recently and the staff wants to move on, regain their balance, and stay safe during hurricane season. It’s Ricki’s first season and she finds herself checking the weather app a lot. A spectacular find beneath the house seems like an answer to prayers.
Unfortunately, as with most good news, there’s always someone willing to take advantage. A body brings the police and their suspicions that Eugenia Charbonnet Felice, family matriarch and head of the museum, would gain by the death. Ricki’s sure Eugenia’s innocent. After all, the woman is impeccably dressed for every occasion and would never resort to anything so crass as murder.
Byron has written several series, each more enjoyable than the next.

Harm’s Way by John Gilstrap
In a remote part of Venezuela, a drug syndicate has snatched ten missionaries and is holding them for ransom. FBI director Irene Rivers has a special interest as one of them holds a secret she needs. She hires Jonathan Grave and his hostage rescue team to retrieve him. Jonathan insists they’ll bring all ten home.
This is book fifteen in the series. If you don’t mind a high body count, breath-holding tension, and witty remarks between fight scenes, this is the thriller for you. Gilstrap also writes the Victoria Emerson thrillers plus more. Jonathan Grave usually shows up every July—can’t wait!

Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge by Spencer Quinn (not a Chet and Bernie book!)
When the phone rings in the middle of the night and the connection is bad, it’s never a good sign. When it sounds like your grandson and he’s in trouble, of course you’ll do all you can to help. And when you check your bank balance the next day and find it’s zero, ditto for all your investments, you know you’ve been scammed.
Mrs. Plansky’s got her dad to deal with and at 98, he’s still a handful. Her son and daughter both want her to fund their further attempts at owning their own businesses which will undoubtedly fail, as usual. She could have done that—before she got that phone call.
While Chet and Bernie are my favorites from him, Mrs. Plansky is someone to watch. Her older-woman looks hide a multitude of talents.

Home at Night by Paula Munier
Mercy Carr and her new husband are house hunting. It has to be big enough for the two of them, their search and rescue dogs, a cat, a teenage mom with a baby whose daddy stays over more often than not (it’s a long story). There was one ideal house but infighting with the sellers caused the deal to fall through. Now Mercy’s got her eye on a place no one else would want—Grackle Tree Farm. When she was a teen, it was the local “I dare you” house, the one friends would say “I bet you can’t spend a whole night there” and most kids didn’t.
I have to say, a mystery/thriller with a dog as part of the team for main characters gets me every time. Munier goes one step further—Mercy’s fiancé is part of a dog team too. What more could you ask for?

Hope for the Holidays by Daryl Wood Gerber
Hope Lyon lives in Portland with her husband and two kids. She has her own bakery called Pie in the Sky and is happy—until her husband spends all their money, leaves town and his family, and she has to sell the bakery. She’s forced to move back to her old hometown, Hope Valley, for a job as a waitress to make ends meet, just barely. Without telling her, the kids enter a contest to win a trip for Christmas vacation and win. Who knew they won more than a free trip? They won a love interest for their mom.
Gerber has written a number of mysteries and thrillers so this romance is different than her usual books—but equally as good.

Deceived by Mary Keliikoa
Kelly Pruett is a private investigator, just like her late father. She serves papers on the wayward, gets the goods on hanky panky-ish cheating husbands, and runs into a bit of physical danger as well. She’s the mom of Mitz, a deaf nine-year-old, is divorced from Mitz’s dad, and in a relationship with Kyle, a police detective—and caretaker of Floyd, a Basset Hound. This is the third book in the series. You can start with Deceived like I did but be warned, you’ll want to go back to the beginning and read them all. L

Terrance McArthur:
Five Books…and a Review to Be Published Later

Rhys Bowen—Peril in Paris and Proof of the Pudding—Two books by a master of historical mystery made my top five for 2023. In Peril, pregnant in Paris while her husband pursues clandestine assignments, Georgie (34th in line to the British Crown) hobnobs with starving artists, models for Coco Chanel, acts as a courier, and is accused of murder. In Proof, Georgie loans her new chef to a peculiar author whose moldy manor has a garden filled with poisonous plants. . . and murder happens. One of the guests turns out to be a mystery writer you would recognize, and they trade clues and theories as to “whodunnit.” The Her Royal Spyness series keeps going full speed ahead, with familiar celebrities of the Thirties adding to the fun.

Carrie Doyle—The Girl with the Dragonfruit Tattoo—In the third Trouble in Paradise mystery, Plum Lockhart, former travel magazine editor and current villa rental broker on the island paradise of Paraiso, cruises the Caribbean waves on a rap mogul’s yacht, trying to find out who killed a crew member. Celebrities, semi-celebrities, and crew members with secrets could all be guilty—and could all want her dead, too. Will she get back to her hunky security chief at the resort? Oddly enough, this is a funny, funny book!

Dawn Farnham—Tokyo Time—Singapore, 1942: All clocks are set 90 minutes ahead to match the time zone of Japan, whose armies now rule the island. The slightest disrespect to the soldiers is met with swift death. Eurasian detective Martin Bach and his new boss, Kano Hayashi, join to solve the murder of a rich man’s widow. A clash of cultures, a web of lies, and a blend of police procedural and historical intrigue—what a spicy combination!

Cathi Stoler— With a Twist—The fourth Murder on the Rocks mystery finds bar-owner Jude Dillane with her fiancée Eric Ramirez on a celebratory cruise (the serial killer after her is dead—she shot him!), but there are jewel thieves, a murder, disappearances, a cryptic notebook, and enough twists to get you up the hills to Huntington Lake. Along the way are the sights of Barcelona and Rome. It’s a trip with crisp dialogue and a touch of snark. Bon Voyage!

Christina Henry—Good Girls Don’t Die—(This book was read and a review was written in 2023—The review will be published next weekend.)Three women find themselves thrown into tropes of genres they read:
• A cozy mystery where the baker finds herself accused of murdering the neighbor who hates her for no logical reason;
• A horror-movie-fan birthday girl is shanghaied into the woods where a hooded menace stalks the party of college students;
• A YA reader is forced into a maze with traps and danger at every turn, with a loved one in the balance.
Each story has inconsistencies, elements that seem out of whack. What’s going on, here? Who—or what—is pulling the strings? Christina Henry is known for messing with well-known stories. These old chestnuts are in for a roast.

I hope you all find some gems here to try in the new year and I hope you hop over to check out my list! Please share with us in the comments what some of your favorite books were in 2023, and I hope you keep coming back to KRL for more reviews and giveaways every week!

Happy Reading in 2024!

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You can use this link to purchase many of these books from indie bookstore Mysterious Galaxy, and KRL gets a portion of the sale: