Spring Mysteries, Suspense Novels, and Thrillers

 

Spring in Chicago this year has felt like whiplash as it took us from days of sun and temps in the eighties last week to this week with a touch of snow, lower temperatures, and rain. Those ups and downs are similar to the twists and turns found in mysteries, suspense novels, and thrillers. Rainy weather calls for time inside reading. After washing the lawn furniture, cleaning the grill, and sweeping out the garage, we need books that grab us and pull us in from the first page. Mysteries, suspense novels, and thrillers do just that. Here are some delicious, newly published titles along with one that came out last year. Hard Rain and Symphony of Secrets are out today and With My Little Eye publishes next Tuesday.

*Don’t Know Tough by Eli Cranor is Friday Night Lights meets Ron Rash in a rural Arkansas suspense thriller portraying high school football star Billy Lowe, an angry kid who’s constantly terrorized by his mother’s boyfriend. When Billy snaps on the field, his new, born-again Christian, fresh-from-California, coach thinks he can save Billy. When the boyfriend is found murdered in the Lowe’s trailer, Billy is the prime suspect and the town’s playoff hopes may be over. This stellar Edgar-nominated debut is tough and tender. CC/GS/GPR, BC (2022)

+Hard Rain by Samantha Jayne Allen

is a stand-alone mystery, the second in the Annie McIntyre series focusing on Annie’s new career as a private investigator when she returns to her small Texas town after college. A horrific flood destroys several homes where low-income families live. Annie’s high school classmate Bethany survived the flood after a man in a tree pulled her to safety. She fears he may have died but wants to find him to thank him so she hires Annie. Annie’s search leads her to discover a body in a car in the river and that leads to a connection to Bethany’s church. Samantha Jayne Allen has proven that she can capture rural Texas and is a master of propulsive action. Reading Pay Dirt Road, Allen’s first in the series, a book shortlisted for the Hammett Prize, will offer insight into Annie, but this sharp, twisty, suspense thriller is stellar on its own. CC

*I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai takes Podcaster Bodie Kane back to the 1990s murder of Thalia, her boarding school roommate. Bodie returns to campus to teach students how to create podcasts and one pupil finds information that could free the man convicted of the crime. Makkai’s brilliant use of a list to highlight the seemingly endless sexual assaults of young girls is reminiscent of the best work by Julie Otsuka. I couldn’t stop thinking about Brett Cavanaugh and others as I read. Makkai is one of the best authors writing today. Perfect for book clubs. GPR/CC/SN, BC

+The Only Survivors by Megan Miranda,

Ten years ago they were the nine survivors of a deadly crash killing several of their high school classmates and two teachers. They gather every year on the anniversary of the accident in a cottage on the Outer Banks. One of them died by suicide on an anniversary and Cassidy has cut herself off from them until she receives a text with the obituary of another survivor so she joins the others at the cottage. They’re down to seven when another disappears. With flashbacks to the aftermath of the wreck and multiple twists and turns, this builds to a strong climax. Megan Miranda never disappoints. CC/GS

+Reef Road by Deborah Goodrich Royce showcases Royce’s ability to infuse a story with twists that grab the reader. The plot hinges on the unsolved murder of a 12-year-old girl in 1948, but the action takes place at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 when two unreliable narrators, a wife whose family has disappeared and a writer, meet. The writer befriends the wife and then stalks and spies on her. This taut, haunting thriller is both elegant and creepy. Royce is becoming a uniquely talented master of the unexpected. CC

+Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb

Slocumb follows his blockbuster The Violin Conspiracy with a tale weaving classical music and prejudice against Black scholars in the field. Frederic Delaney is Bern Hendrick’s favorite composer. Bern has devoted most of his academic career in musicology to studying Delaney’s masterpieces. The last of Delaney’s operas has been lost for decades so when the Delaney Foundation, the organization that funded Hendrick’s schooling, offers Bern the chance to work on the newly discovered lost opera manuscript, he's ecstatic. He brings in his friend Eboni, a computer analyst who’s worked on other operas, and together they find evidence of a Black woman who lived with Delaney who might have written some of his work. A clever mystery. CC/GS/SN

+With My Little Eye by Joshilyn Jackson

is the suspense-filled tale of Meribel Mills, a former sitcom celebrity being stalked by “Marker Man” who sends her creepy, threatening letters using scented markers. She and Honor, her twelve-year-old neurodivergent daughter, escape LA for Atlanta. Could the stalker be her ex-husband, her new boyfriend, her helpful neighbor, or someone else? Jackson’s foray into suspense produces anxiety-inducing moments and memorable characters. Honor is a fabulous, multi-dimensional charmer. Kudos to Jackson for including her in this fast-paced drama. CC/GS (Publication date: April 25.)

F.Y.I.: A reader noticed that several of these authors have appeared at the Harbor Springs Festival of the Book. Five of them are Festival alums. I first encountered Samantha Jayne Allen, Megan Miranda, and Deborah Goodrich Royce at the festival. Joshilyn Jackson and Rebecca Makkai, whose books I’d previously read and loved, have also appeared at the festival. It's a great place to hear both new authors and those you already love. This year’s festival is September 22-24. 

Because I Loved You by Donnaldson Brown

Because I Loved You by Donnaldson Brown is a unique, character-driven saga that readers will love. I adore books by authors who are so in love with their characters that they allow them to make mistakes, fail miserably, love wildly, and suffer the consequences.  In 1972, sixteen-year-old aspiring artist Leni O’Hare’s French war bride mother tries to sell Leni’s beloved horse and her cherished older brother dies at football practice leaving her bereft and vulnerable. Leni falls for her brother’s friend, the math and physics genius Caleb McGrath, the son of a wealthy rancher who can't understand Caleb’s desire to go to college. Both Caleb and Leni are products of the remote East Texas landscape where they live and they both care more about horses than people until they find each other. Caleb’s bad-boy older brother Hank helps Leni when she feels that she must leave town and disappear so Caleb will accept a scholarship at Princeton without her holding him back. 

Caleb and Leni meet by chance in the 1980s in New York City where Leni engages in the guerilla art scene and Caleb manages finances for a real estate investment firm and is engaged. Despite their circumstances, they fall in love again until Leni’s fears intervene. Their final meeting comes in 2016 when their earlier mistakes no longer matter and a revealed secret offers hope.

That Brown was once a screenwriter shows in her cinematic word pictures that create vistas allowing the reader to see and feel the remote Texas land and its “pink sunset, stretched thin like taffy across the entire sky.” Brown doesn't simply describe Leni, Caleb, and their families; she produces them out of thin air and the reader sees them as if they were on the big screen. If you love the way Kent Haruf, Leif Enger, and Larry Watson evoke family, small towns, place, and nature, you’re sure to enjoy Because I Loved You.

Summing it Up: Read Because I Loved You for its wonderful, flawed characters, and for its evocation of East Texas that makes you certain you’ve been there. Enjoy the bonus of Brown’s descriptions of Caleb and Leni’s horses and their importance in their lives. Devour it to experience their passionate romance. Select Because I Loved You for your book club because you'll want to talk with others about how hard it can be for damaged souls to risk loving fully and about the importance of becoming who you're meant to be.

Rating: 5 Stars 

Publication Date: April 4, 2023

Category: Fiction, Five Stars, Grandma’s Pot Roast, Pigeon Pie (Historical Fiction),  Book Club

Author Website: https://www.donnaldsonbrown.com/ 

Podcast Interview with the Author: https://www.npr.org/podcasts/504991626/a-novel-idea 

Read an Excerpt: https://bloomsite.wordpress.com/2022/11/01/an-excerpt-from-donnaldson-browns-debut-novel-because-i-loved-you/ 

What Others are Saying:

Kirkus Reviews: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/donnaldson-brown/because-i-loved-you/ 

"Cal and Leni first fall in love with horses, then with each other, a love that not even Donnaldson Brown’s beautifully rendered East Texas landscapes can contain. Because they’ve other loves, too, mathematics for Cal, art for Leni, which conflict with the expectations of their families and their town. There are other secrets, too, one of them buried so deep under their family trees that perhaps it should remain, but it can’t, not if Leni is to be free. Because I Loved You is deeply affecting, swooningly romantic, hard as diamonds, too: dreams don’t always add up, and trouble can sometimes be our friend.” 

        —Bill Roorbach, author of Lucky Turtle, Life Among Giants, andThe Remedy for Love 

“Equal parts Kent Haruf and Elizabeth Wetmore, Because I Loved You  embodies all of the expansiveness and intimacy of a contemporary Western page-turner, and more. Starting in a small town in East Texas and traveling to the East Coast, this vivid, riveting narrative will transport you and break your heart at same time. Readers will love Donnaldson Brown’s stunning debut.”

        —S. Kirk Walsh, author of The Elephant of Belfast 

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano is a remarkable ode to the power inherent in the belief that everyone deserves love. The novel cleverly references Little Women as four of the main characters are sisters similar to the March siblings. Hello Beautiful never forces connections to the classic tale but instead intertwines them seamlessly. Most of the action takes place over a few decades beginning in 1978 in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood with its blend of Mexican and Italian communities and on the Northwestern University campus in Evanston. Napolitano captures the old Lozano Library, murals, taverns, and parks that make Pilsen unique. Her attention to detail also contributes to strong portraits of each of the four sisters, their parents, and their brother-in-law William who are well-delineated characters whose actions realistically support the ingenious plot. 

Julia, the eldest sister, is a Northwestern student and a careful planner who’s mapped every detail of her life. When she meets William, a basketball player who’s studying history, she guides him toward becoming a history professor and doesn’t realize how much he loves basketball when a knee injury keeps him from playing. William, whose three-year-old sister died when he was only a few days old, has never felt deserving of love because his parents’ grief left them incapable of showing him affection. When he joins Julia’s large, expressive Italian family, he’s enveloped in their inclusiveness and total involvement in each other. Julia orchestrates their actions including her pregnancy shortly after they marry. When their daughter arrives, William falls into a deep depression and they divorce when he fears he will ruin his daughter’s life. 

I refuse to spoil this beautiful story by giving away the surprising twists that occur in each of the sisters’ and William’s lives and in their learning to find ways to accept that they are worthy of being loved and of loving others after Julia and William divorce. In addition to Julia, each of her sisters is unique. I was so invested in them that I found myself crying happy tears when each character found ways of connection and acceptance along with tears of sadness when circumstances interfered. Napolitano also built remarkable minor characters that I adored. William and Julia’s daughter Alice, a precocious child, had me on tenterhooks with worry because she was so well portrayed and I was invested in her future. My favorite character is William’s former teammate Kent who nurtures him and helps him find self-worth in a career he loves. The way Kent enables William to find himself and love again is both poignant and strong. Supportive male friendships that aren’t caricatures are seldom seen in novels today making their relationship one to celebrate.

Each character in this novel is real to me so I was tempted to drive to Pilsen to walk the streets, enter the parks, and stare at the murals because I was certain I’d see members of the Padavano family there. This is a novel filled with beauty and sadness because that’s real life and it’s made even more real because of its setting.

Napolitano’s 2020 novel Dear William captured me with its caring rendering of the life of a boy who was the only survivor of a plane accident. It also showed how we can become whole by loving one another. In Hello Beautiful, Napolitano outdoes herself with a cast of characters that teaches us that life is hard, but we can endure. 

Summing it Up: Read Hello Beautiful for a big-hearted family saga that will envelop you completely as you enter Chicago’s Pilsen community and become a part of the Padavano family. Select this for your book club as these characters will remain with you and you’ll want to talk about them with friends. 

For Chicagoans, this is a must-read with the neighborhood settings and even a brief visit to the glory days of the Chicago Bulls.

Rating: 5 Stars 

Publication Date: March 14, 2023

Category: Fiction, Five Stars, Grandma’s Pot Roast, Book Club

Author Website: https://annnapolitano.com/ 

What Others are Saying:

Kirkus Reviews: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ann-napolitano/hello-beautiful/ 

New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/11/books/review/hello-beautiful-ann-napolitano.html  

Publishers Weekly: http://www.publishersweekly.com/9780593243732 

“This sumptuous family saga is one of those rare novels whose singular characters are so beautifully rendered, it’s as if they’re your best friends, and you’re grateful to be in their orbit. Napolitano’s homage to Little Women, albeit set in late-20th century Chicago, will prompt you to slow down as you read, never wanting the book to end. When it does, prepare for tears.”—Oprah Quarterly

“Sweeping . . . With the vibrant and close-knit Pilson neighborhood playing a supporting role, Napolitano’s latest novel investigates the deep, maddeningly frustrating, and ever-present love of family, whether tied by genetics or by choice.”—Booklist, starred review

“This is a richly woven story about family, but it’s also a unique take on Little Women. There are no heroes or villains here, only people—flawed and loving and striving like the rest of us. ‘Generosity’ is the word that comes to mind when I reflect on this gorgeous novel.”—Allegra Goodman, New York Times bestselling author of The Cookbook Collector and Sam

“Hello Beautiful is the work of a great author at the height of her powers. Equally immersive, emotional, and brilliantly crafted, this is an early contender for best novel of the year.”—J. Ryan Stradal, New York Times bestselling author of Kitchens of the Great Midwest and The Lager Queen of Minnesota

 

Künstlers in Paradise by Cathleen Schine

Künstlers in Paradise by Cathleen Schine is a spectacular novel. It’s a charming and important recollection of 1940s Southern California and the lives of the Jewish families who moved there to escape Germany and Austria before World War II coupled with a compelling, poignant, and droll tale of life in quarantine in the early days of Covid in Los Angeles. Julian Künstler, a 23-year-old aspiring writer and sporadic student of varying subjects, loses his part-time job, his girlfriend, and his roommate in early 2020. His parents won’t give him money to keep his NYC apartment so when Mamie, his 93-year-old grandmother, breaks her wrist, his parents think: “removing their son from the disarray of his life and depositing him into Mamie’s disarray—the perfect solution. He heads to Venice, California where Mamie lives in a 1920s bungalow with Agatha, her cook and companion, a woman she refers to as her “dogsbody.”

While Julian settles in, Mamie begins to share stories of her life beginning in 1939 in Vienna when she was eleven and her accomplished Jewish family including her screenwriter mother, her pianist father, and her grandfather fled the Nazis. Schine cleverly uses language that illuminates the Künstler family as Mamie describes her uncle to Julian: “Uncle Gustav was yelling . . . in Yiddish! The forbidden, vulgar language of the shtetl, of the Jewish slums.” . . . “We never spoke what we Viennese considered a mongrel language, the speech of the poor, of Eastern European Jews, unenlightened, practically medieval.” 

“Künstler snobbery,” Julian said, nodding.

As Mamie continues weaving her tales, Covid arrives so the unlikely trio quarantines together and Julian’s presence becomes essential. As they share meals and cocktail hours in the garden, Julian’s parents remain in New York. Schine seamlessly explores the similarity between the Jewish exile in the paradise of 1940 Los Angeles and the lush garden paradise of California in 2020 when so many in New York City were dying of Covid. Mamie’s ruminations on her family’s arrival in Los Angeles before the war felt similar to the feelings of so many in 2020: “No one was happy here at first, Mamie thought. But neither were we dead.” 

Mamie is a magnificent character described by Julian’s mother as “exotic and quixotic.” “Neurotic, his father would add.” She was an accomplished violinist who'd traveled the world performing. At 93, her hair was orange-red, Julian “thought it was because she had planted herself in her new world and was determined that people see her there. Her hair was celebratory: she had survived.” Her remembrances are as colorful as her hair especially as she tells of her close relationships with Greta Garbo and composer Arnold Schoenberg and of her family’s friendships with Aldous Huxley, Anita Loos, Christopher Isherwood and others. Julian asks, “You met Charlie Chaplain? Really?” “A nodding acquaintance,” states Mamie. Those encounters make the reader feel as if they were guests at he parties that only occurred in late afternoons because the German and Austria émigrés had to abide by a wartime curfew at 8 p.m. 

Julian takes careful notes of Mamie’s memories to use in his screenplay, Exiles in Space, as his grandmother describes her past and he becomes closer to her and grows in empathy while beginning to feel that he has a purpose. As the novel begins, he isn't as exciting a character as his grandmother or as humorous a one as is the stalwart Agatha with her ever-present pocketbook and its can of Mace. Instead, the reader gets to watch his growth as he becomes more comfortable with himself.

Summing it Up: Read Künstlers in Paradise to experience five generations of a family from their roots in a fairy-tale life in early twentieth-century Vienna to survivor guilt in sunny California, followed by assimilation in 21st-century New York City. Sit in the lush garden listening as Mamie shares her memories with her grandson Julian. Experience the power of story to connect us and help us find ourselves as you revel in Mamie’s witty wordplay and wisdom as in these sentences: “I do not believe in life after death,” Mamie said. “I sometimes have trouble believing in life before death; it is all so improbable.” Buy this book and embed yourself in Maggie, Agatha, and Julian’s beautiful, improbable world.

A personal note: I wish my mother were alive to read this novel. She loved reading about the period before World War II and appreciated clever banter and exquisite sentences. In 1939 at age seventeen, she spent two months in England and France with her aunt and uncle. She told me stories about her trip and I have both the journal she kept and the passenger list from her return on the S. S. Normandie in June, 1939. Seeing names like Rosenfeld, Rosenberg, Schoeneman, Schulz, and Yaffe listed alongside American citizens including Avery Brundage and actor Ray Milland and European princes, princesses, barons, and baronesses make Shine’s story and research even more real for me. I particularly related to the stories about actors as Mom’s journal and subsequent conversations showed how enamored she was with seeing and talking with Ray Milland.

Rating: 5 Stars 

Publication Date: February 14, 2023

Category: Dessert, Fiction, Five Stars, Grandma’s Pot Roast, Pigeon Pie (Historical Fiction), Super Nutrition, Book Club

Author Website: https://cathleenschine.me/ 

Interview with the Author: https://cathleenschine.me/knstlers-in-paradise-qa 

Watch this: https://www.nbcnewyork.com/on-air/as-seen-on/bills-books/bills-books-two-novels-and-a-festival-honoring-a-great-american-author/4148595/

What Others are Saying: 

Jewish Book Council: https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/kunstlers-in-paradise

Kirkus Reviews: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/cathleen-schine/kunstlers-in-paradise/

Los Angeles Times: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2023-03-10/l-a-transplant-novelist-cathleen-schines-love-letter-to-its-refugee-generations

Publishers Weekly: http://www.publishersweekly.com/9781250805904 

Dreamy, drifty, and droll, studded with lush botanical description and historical gems. Schine’s many fans will enjoy."

—Kirkus Reviews

"Reading like a cross between Leopoldstadt and Down and Out in Beverly Hills, this does the trick as an emotionally resonant meditation on family, memory, and the need for stories."

—Publishers Weekly

"Few authors could pull off what Cathleen Schine does in Künstlers in Paradise: creating a seamless, multilayered saga about family dynamics and relationships, immigration, the early days of Hollywood and the often disturbingly cyclical nature of history. . . . Künstlers in Paradise is truly a trove of unexpected rewards." 

—BookPage, Starred Review

Love is in the Air

As Valentine’s Day approaches, my thoughts turn to books celebrating, exploring, and envisioning love. We who live in northern regions also celebrate Valentine’s Day as a time when spring’s promise seems close yet the reality of cold days beckons us to stay inside with a cup of tea and a book. Treat yourself or someone you love to one of these books this February.

+500 Miles from You by Jenny Colgan begins as Lissa, a nurse, visits patients in a distressed London neighborhood and witnesses a hit and run, the seemingly deliberate running down of a teen she knows. When she experiences PTSD, her supervisor asks her to swap jobs with a nurse in an isolated town in the Scottish Highlands for three months thinking it will be healing. Cormac, the nurse/paramedic she switches with, isn’t keen on the bustle of London but is ready for a change. The two email daily reporting on their patients and soon make a connection. I wanted an additional 100 pages so their meeting could have been fleshed out to have the depth and impact of the rest of the book, but I still loved it. I don’t cry often, but the hit and run and aftermath were so expertly written, they captured me and I shed many tears. A lovely escape with the bonus of the sensitive handling of depression and of organ transplants. Everyone needs a true romance for Valentine's Day. D/GPR/SBP/SF, BC (2020)

+The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton

portrays the dying state of Florida as frequent hurricanes and rising water levels threaten. As the latest storm approaches, Kirby’s boys disappear. While he searches for them, his wife Frida gives birth to baby Wanda alone. The novel follows Wanda through decades of losses that mirror her abandoned town and state. The four parts: power, water, light, and time offer an enlightening, yet bleak, view of climate change and the future while exploring engaging, multi-dimensional characters filled with hope along with a touch of magic realism. The book shows how difficult it can be to trust enough to love after suffering so much loss. Yet, love always wins. GPR/SN, BC (2022)

+Love & Saffron by Kim Fay was on my 2022 list but must be revisited for this holiday. Set in the 1960s, this charmingly poignant, delightful epistolary novel blends friendship, food, and life. When Joan sends Imogen a fan letter regarding her “Letter from the Island” column along with a packet of saffron from a trip to the “Far East,” a correspondence blossoms with shared recipes, advice, and kindness that will melt even the hardest heart. Taking risks in friendship and love makes for one fine escape of a novel you’ll devour in a day. One sentence seems meant for today: “The less we cement ourselves to our certainties, the fuller our lives can be.” Taking a chance on love is just what readers need in February. D/GPR/PP, BC (2022)

+Maureen by Rachel Joyce

Maureen is the third book in the Harold Fry series following the phenomenal The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and the poignant The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessey. Originally titled Maureen Fry and the Angel of the North in Britain, this 192-page novel completes the saga with Maureen’s journey to Queenie’s garden where she learns that there’s a tribute to her son. She’s not sure about visiting but feels she must. Along the way, she encounters difficulties and unexpected help and compassion. This is a solid reflection on forgiveness and love. It starts slowly until Maureen and the story find their way and love begins to overpower grief. GPR/SBP/SF, BC (2023)

+The Measure by Nikki Erlick, One morning, every adult on earth receives an indestructible wooden box inscribed “The measure of your life lies within.” The boxes each contain a string indicating the amount of time the recipient has left to live. Almost immediately, the world changes, with short stringers experiencing discrimination and eight main characters each taking a different approach to the strings they’ve been dealt. The premise is unique and the novel forms a parable filled with love and grieving that offers hope and insight. This one is certain to be a book club hit. GPR/S/SF, BC (2022)

+The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin

Alice lives alone on land that was home to her family's apple orchard. She works for the county and anticipates a promotion, but when it doesn’t come, she quits her job to concentrate on raising bees and fighting a conglomerate moving to the area with chemicals that will kill her bees and destroy her community. After she almost runs over Jake, a teen in a wheelchair, on a deserted road, she takes him home and observes his father’s cruelty and offers the boy a temporary place to live in her home. He has an affinity for the bees and wants to work with them, but she needs someone able to do more than his disability allows. When 24-year-old Harry, recently out of prison, arrives to stay with his grandfather, his skills complement Jake’s so he moves into the barn and the unique trio supports each other. This debut celebrates familial love, healing, and growth. The gentle novel cleverly teaches the reader about beekeeping and bees while exploring the theme of community in hives and in life. GPR/SN, BC (2022)

*Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro, It’s 1985 and 15-year-old Theo Wilf is driving the car because his older sister Sarah has been drinking. They crash in front of their home and Misty Zimmerman, their passenger, dies. Sarah claims that she was the driver and no one checks her for alcohol as her father, a doctor, runs out and tries to save Misty but may inadvertently contribute to her death. An omniscient narrator takes the reader ahead in time as the secrets of that day affect the family. Later, on the New Year’s Eve before 2000, Dr. Wilf again leaves his house to deliver and save the life of the premature baby being born to new neighbors across the street. He forms a relationship with Waldo, the child, who shows the doctor an app that charts constellations and forms a significant part of Waldo’s life. The app highlights the interconnectedness theme as it details “stars. . . signal fires in the dark, mysterious fellow travelers lighting a path.” That interconnectedness,  outstanding character development, and Shapiro’s incredible word pictures lead to a beautiful climax celebrating love and life. This is a brilliant novel. G (2022)

+A Winter Grave by Peter May

is a stand-alone mystery from the award-winning author of one of my favorites, the Lewis trilogy of mysteries. It’s 2051, and much of the earth is too hot to inhabit while the melting Gulf Stream has hit Scotland with rare snow and ice storms. In the northern Highlands, Addie, a meteorologist, discovers the body of a missing investigative reporter encased in ice at a weather station, she’s monitoring. Cameron Brodie, a Glasgow detective just diagnosed with a terminal disease, volunteers to investigate hoping to reconnect with his estranged daughter who lives in the village. He and a pathologist encounter evidence of murder as a storm cuts them off from the rest of the world and they can’t trust anyone in the village. When people start dying and there seems to be no safe route out, Brode must come up with a way to outsmart the bad guys. What’s love got to do with it? Everything! Love keeps a father from revealing facts that could hurt and love enables the good guys to do more than seems possible to save the world. (2023)