Review: The Burning by Linda Castillo

 

The Burning (Kate Burkholder #16) by Linda Castillo

Publication Date: July 9th 2024 by Minotaur Books & Macmillan Audio

Pages: 320

Audio Book Length: 9hrs 31min

Narrator: Kathleen McInerney

Source: Publishers

Rating: ★★★½

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Libro.fm |  Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Kate is called to a grisly murder, a man burned at the stake. As Kate investigates, she finds a lot of potential suspects due to the victim's background. Unfortunately, one of the connections is personal to Kate and a BCI Agent makes waves about her being biased. Tomasetti is also brought into this complicated case.

 

The town of Painters Mill is a small one, so Kate is a very hands-on Chief of Police, investigating suspects and following up on leads right along with her officers. I really like Kate and her officers: Glock, Mona, Skid, and Pickles. They’re a good team, more than just work colleagues.

I was addicted from page one, but man Kate made several TSTL decisions that were completely frustrating! It’s hard to believe a seasoned police chief making such stupid and rash decisions, especially when she keeps getting her ass handed to her!

The Burning is book sixteen in the Kate Burkholder series, but could be read as a standalone. Each book focuses on a case that’s solved by the end. There is the romance between Kate and Tomasetti that begins in book one. I read the first two books in the series and then skipped ahead to book fifteen and sixteen, but I’d like to go back and work my way through the rest of the books at some point.

I’ve listened to the series from the start and really enjoyed Kathleen McInerney’s performance! Her accents and performance of Deitsch accents are well done. I listened at my usual 1.5x normal speed.

3.5 Stars

Book Description

Chief of Police Kate Burkholder investigates a gruesome murder that reveals a little-known chapter of early Amish history in this new installment of the bestselling series by Linda Castillo.

Newlywed Chief of Police Kate Burkholder is awakened by an urgent midnight call summoning her to a suspicious fire in the woods. When she arrives at the scene, she discovers a charred body. According to the coroner, the deceased, an Amish man named Milan Swanz, was chained to a stake and burned alive. It is an appalling and eerily symbolic crime against an upstanding husband and father.

Kate knows all too well that the Amish prefer to handle their problems without interference from the outside world, and no one will speak about the murdered man. From what she’s able to piece together, Swanz led a deeply troubled life and had recently been excommunicated. But if that’s the case, why are the Amish so reluctant to talk about him? Are they protecting the memory of one of their own? Or are they afraid of something they dare not share?

When her own brother is implicated in the case, Kate finds herself not only at odds with the Amish, the world of which she was once a part, but also the English community and her counterparts in law enforcement. The investigation takes a violent turn when Kate’s life is threatened by a mysterious stranger.

To uncover the truth about the death of Milan Swanz, Kate must dive deep into the Anabaptist culture, peering into all the dark corners of its history, only to uncover a secret legacy that shatters everything she thought she knew about the Amish themselves―and her own roots.

 

Mini Review: Thanksgiving Blessing by Marta Perry

 

Thanksgiving Blessing (The Promise Glen #6) by Marta Perry

Publication Date: October 24th 2023 by Berkley & Tantor Audio

Pages: 272

Source: Publisher & Library audio

Rating: ★★★½

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Nate inherits the property next to Becca’s and they get off on the wrong foot when he proposes to buy her farmstand and she has no intention of selling. Of course, there’s a romance brewing that neither wants to acknowledge. Both are grieving the death of their mates, and Nate’s also struggling to raise his younger teenage brother. They end up helping each other, growing close along the way.

I enjoyed seeing Becca and Nate’s feelings grow, and each helping each other without taking over. Becca needed that with her mother’s doubts over her handling the orchard on her own and Nate needed to realize he could do a good job with his brother. Nate’s doubts over letting love back in and his ability to care for his brother were a bit repetitive, and I wished the romance was developed more instead of one minute they’re reluctant friends/neighbors and then they’re together. I did enjoy the added bits of mystery and suspense surrounding fires and destruction in their town. The story was easy going and heartwarming with supportive family, friends and community.

I alternately read and listened to Thanksgiving Blessing. Lauren Pedersen did a wonderful job narrating. I listened at my usual 1.5x normal speed.

3.5 Stars

Book Description:

When Promise Glen is struck by a vandalism spree around the Thanksgiving holiday, a community’s values—and two weathered hearts—are put to the test.

As a widow with two-year-old twins and a struggling orchard, Rebecca King’s dreams of expanding her business seem near impossible. To make matters worse, a troublesome string of destructive acts around Promise Glen threatens her roadside fruit and vegetable stand, forcing Rebecca to accept the help of her condescending new neighbor, Nathan Mueller.

Nathan didn’t intend to offend Rebecca with his offer to share the stand, especially since he’s a widower and single parent himself. He admires Rebecca’s strength and kindness in the face of adversity. If only they hadn’t started off on the wrong foot…

Despite their best efforts to shield their hearts, working side by side through the busy harvest plants the seeds of a budding friendship. But when the vandalism spreading through Promise Glen escalates to arson and rumors blaze through the town, they’ll have to learn to rely on each other more than ever. As Thanksgiving approaches, Rebecca and Nathan are forced to reconcile with their own grief, forgive what can’t be changed, and come to truly understand the core values of the love and gratitude.

Review: The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett

 

The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett

Publication Date: October 24th 2023 by Atria

Pages: 208

Source: Publisher 

Rating: ★★★½

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Sarah Jane MacDonald is the chairperson for the Fairway Flyers a group organizing plays and in this instance a pantomime (which I had never heard of before this book) of Jack and the Beanstalk during the Christmas season. Organizing it is a challenge with Celia, a co-chair (?), jealous and undermining her efforts and with the crazy mishaps at every turn. On opening night, a body is discovered and it’s interesting to see how it all comes together and plays out by the end.

 The Christmas Appeal was fun. The story is told through an epistolary format: emails and text messages, and it did take me a little bit to get into the story since I hadn’t read the first book in the series. Also, the way the text messages displayed on my Kindle were so small I’d have to either magnify through my phone or enlarge the font every time I’d get to a page where we went back to texting. I think I would’ve fared better reading it on my iPad because I could enlarge the page without so much hassle. I’m sure this isn’t a problem with a print copy or the finished e-copy, but it did slow my progress and impact the pace of the story for me.

The discovery of the body didn’t happen until well into the story so most of it is the politics, backbiting and hilarity between these crazy characters! It all works out and there’s a little twist in the end I enjoyed!

3.5 Stars

Book Description:

This immersive holiday caper from the “modern Agatha Christie” (The Sunday Times, London) follows the hilarious Fairway Players theater group as they put on a Christmas play—and solve a murder that threatens their production.

The Christmas season has arrived in Lower Lockwood, and the Fairway Players are busy rehearsing their festive holiday production of Jack and the Beanstalk to raise money for a new church roof. But despite the season, goodwill is distinctly lacking among the amateur theater enthusiasts with petty rivalries, a possibly asbestos-filled beanstalk, and some perennially absent players behind the scenes.

Of course, there’s also the matter of the dead body onstage. Who could possibly have had the victim on their naughty list? Join lawyers Femi and Charlotte as they investigate Christmas letters, examine emails, and pore over police transcripts to identify both the victim and killer before the curtain closes on their holiday production—for good.