The Bookseller by Tim Sullivan

 

First Line: "I have cancer, George."

Life has thrown Detective Sergeant George Cross a curveball in his personal life, so when the body of a bookseller is found lying in a pool of blood in his own bookshop, George must do something he's never actually had to do before: rely on his team for help.

Can the world of books really be all that cutthroat?

~

If it seems as though I've spent most of my time this year praising Tim Sullivan's George Cross mysteries, you're probably right. I've almost caught up with the series, so those of you who wish I'd dial it back will be happy.

Tim Sullivan has created a rich world of characters and mysteries that will keep readers on their toes. In The Bookseller, we see how George reacts to a family crisis, and it's every bit as funny and touching as fans would expect.

One of the things that makes George Cross so special is that he's always learning something new about himself. These characters are not static. His partner, Josie Ottey, hesitates to share some news with him, and there's a new police staff officer, Prianka Patel, who's replaced Alice MacKenzie. (Don't worry, Alice has news of her own.) I have to keep reading these books just to keep up with the characters!

But the mysteries are every bit as good as Sullivan's cast. This time around, readers will learn about the bookselling business while sorting through the list of suspects. Although there is sadness and worry in The Bookseller, readers will also get to laugh while watching DCI Carson marshal the troops to apprehend a suspect. 

Strong mysteries, wonderful characters, humor, and poignancy-- if you have yet to make the acquaintance of George and his team, what on earth are you waiting for?

The Bookseller by Tim Sullivan

eISBN: 9780802167705

Atlantic Crime © 2026

eBook, 384 pages

Police Procedural, #7 George Cross

Rating: A

Source: Net Galley

Murder by Design by Lee Goldberg

 

First Line: There are some things you need to know before I start telling you this incredible, improbable, but absolutely true story.

Struggling actor Wally Nash didn't really know what he signed up for when he agreed to be Edison Bixby's "minder." Bixby is wealthy, handsome, and-- due to a traumatic brain injury-- impulsively rude. Wally has been hired to keep Bixby from offending everyone he meets.

A former police detective with a 100% clearance rate, Bixby is now an insurance investigator who solves his cases by figuring out how the design of the man-made world around us makes them possible.

Wally's first case with Bixby looks like a simple accident, but Bixby is positive that the victim was murdered by design, subtly manipulated into causing her own demise. Now all Bixby has to do is prove his theory before more people die.

~

Having enjoyed and come to depend on Lee Goldberg's laugh-out-loud funny, fast-paced thrillers with his Ian Ludlow and Eve Ronin series, I was really looking forward to this first Edison Bixby novel, Murder by Design. Unfortunately, the book fell flat for me.

Edison Bixby's looks, wealth, and home would make him the stuff of fairy tales if not for his mouth. He's always been obnoxious, but a traumatic brain injury has loosened what few restraints he had on his tongue. No longer in the Los Angeles Police Department, he is now the stuff of nightmares for the insurance company that hired him. The man needs someone to keep a close eye on him to prevent any more lawsuits, and that's where wannabe movie star Wally Nash comes in.

We see everything through Wally's eyes, and for a while, that's entertaining. (He tends to see everything as an opportunity for his Big Break in films.) Also intriguing is Bixby's contention that the design of man-made things can be the source of crime. Then, there's the relationship Bixby has with LAPD officer Bridget McGregor. Not only did McGregor get right up my nose, but I just couldn't buy into how their relationship worked.

In fact, that wasn't the only thing that didn't quite make sense. Too many aspects felt over the top. To be honest, the suspension bridge of my disbelief collapsed two-thirds of the way through Murder by Design. Perhaps it was partially due to my low tolerance of obnoxiousness. Hopefully, your mileage will vary. 

Murder by Design by Lee Goldberg

eISBN: 9781662533600

Thomas & Mercer © 2026

eBook, 236 pages

Thriller, #1 Edison Bixby

Rating: D+

Source: Net Galley

A Smile of Relief Weekly Link Round-Up

 

I am very happy to tell you that I have heard from my Nameless Friend. In fact, the timing of their message's arrival made me think that NF and I were on the same wavelength. I'm trying not to read too much into the handwriting (it's hard!), but just hearing from them makes me feel better.

Not too much has been going on around here. After regaining my needlepoint calluses on the tips of my fingers, I've gone back to knitting and have completed a few projects. Those two star baskets that I have yet to finish are sitting across the room from my recliner, staring at me reproachfully. (Cope and adjust, baskets!)

The weather's been gorgeous. I'm hearing lots of baby birds cheeping in the back garden, and I have several not-for-tender-ears nicknames for the white-winged dove that keeps splashing the water out of the hummingbirds' solar water fountain. White-winged doves are particularly annoying because if they see other species of birds enjoying something, the doves insist on horning in and trying to take over.  I feel a tiny bit ashamed to say that I'm glad when it's dove hunting season here because they always disappear during that time. (Whoever said animals are dumb is the dumb one!)

I came across a couple of "homes" on the internet that make me smile. I wouldn't mind living in either one, although I don't think I'd get much done in the one on the right! What do you think?

Found Images

Virtual hugs to you all, my friends. Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• BookTok's critical values.
• The U.S. gender pay gap, mapped by state.
• Why we shouldn't feel guilty for not being extremely well read.
• Security envelope patterns and the people who collect them. (This is the first time I'd ever heard of this collectible!)
• Are hardback books things of "great beauty" or a dying art?
• Knox County (Tennessee) schools bans Alex Haley's Roots from libraries. (They have recently been persuaded not to.)
• The rise of the sensitivity reader.
• A lament for the MIT libraries.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• 800-year-old "hugging skeletons" are genetically confirmed as Poland's only medieval same-sex double burial.
• The Great Pyramid of Giza is remarkably resilient to earthquakes-- and it's due to the ancient Egyptians' "extraordinary" engineering knowledge.
• Daunian Kyathos: a 2,700-year-old ceramic cup from Italy that's decorated with an exuberant-looking bug-eyed fellow.
• Why was this ancient Roman soldier's gravestone hidden in a Louisiana backyard? Archaeologists solved the mystery-- and helped return the artifact to Italy.
• An 800-year-old notebook and fancy silk toilet paper was discovered in a medieval latrine in Germany.
• Amateur historians unearthed a long-lost Tudor palace visited by Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• Mediterranean monk seals hide in underwater "bubble caves" to avoid tourists during the busy summer season.
• Belugas can recognize themselves in mirrors, joining a short list of nonhuman species that show signs of self-awareness.
• 8 fascinating facts about the whooping crane, the tallest bird in North America.
• Purple martins rely on human "landlords" to provide nest boxes each spring. Can that dynamic last? (My grandparents had a well-occupied martin house.)
• Sharks in the Bahamas test positive for drugs, including cocaine and painkillers.
• Scientists have identified the world's first known dog, which pushes back the animals' genetic record by about 5,000 years.

►The Wanderer◄

• The Livraria Lello in Porto, Portugal, one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world, hides a neo-Gothic interior behind an Art Nouveau facade.
• 15 photographs showcasing the sensational scenery of Morocco.
• Mona Lisa is moving to a new home. The Louvre just announced the architects who will design her private suite.
• California is getting three new state parks and they're not where you'd think.
• Could building a dam across the Bering Strait save the planet from some effects of climate change?
• This island in Scotland is actually a man-made mini landmass resting on a wooden platform.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Miles Davis emerged from middle America to become the "Picasso of Jazz" and taught us all how to be cool.
• The surprising contents of American POW Joseph "Ed" Carter's journal.
• Historical figures born the same year (who feel like they weren't).
• Virginia teenager Mia Heller invented a filter that eliminates 96% of microplastics from drinking water.
• Faye Emerson became the "First Lady of Television" during the medium's early days. But her groundbreaking success as a late-night host is largely forgotten today.
• From basket weaving to oyster reef conservation, Gullah Geechee women are preserving a living heritage.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• 5 great mysteries set in Australia and New Zealand.
• 16 historical novels set in Scotland, Ireland, and Wales.
• 7 laugh-out-loud funny mysteries by Benjamin Stevenson.
• 14 books with unusual narrators.
• 18 bookish mysteries you can't miss.
• Travel abroad with these 19 high-stakes thrillers.

That's all for this week! No matter how busy you may be, don't forget that quality Me Time curled up with a good book!

The Brothers McKay by Craig Johnson

 

First Line: It wasn't so much of a surprise that Pepper McKay was dead as much as it was an amazement to everyone in the county that it had taken so long for him to die, or for somebody to kill him.

When Pepper McKay is found murdered on his ranch in Crazy Woman Canyon, suspects aren't in short supply-- he was one of the most hated men in Absaroka County. But Sheriff Walt Longmire quickly focuses on the people who attended a family meeting the night before his death. Those people? His very different sons: a charmer, a journalist, a monk, and a half-Native ranch hand. Each had a motive. Each insists he's innocent.

In no time at all, Walt is pulled into a web of old grudges and secrets. Then a second body turns up, and a wildfire roars through Crazy Woman Canyon, trapping Walt and making him fight for his life as the killer and the fire close in.

~

I have been a lover of Craig Johnson's Walt Longmire mysteries since the very first one, The Cold Dish, but even this diehard fan has to admit that, in the last few books, when Walt seriously began contemplating his mortality and his future, the spark that makes this series so special has been slowly flickering out. In the case of The Brothers McKay, maybe it's because I wasn't impressed by the author this book was inspired by. After reading Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, I knew he wasn't the writer for me, and my "underwhelm-ment" might have passed on to Johnson's book. Who knows?

But no matter how much I wasn't impressed by the storyline, I can always find something to enjoy in a Walt Longmire book. The wildfire scene is excellent. I was completely drawn in and even thought I could smell smoke in the house as I read. Johnson also manages to throw in one or two new characters for me to fall in love with. This time, it's Maxim Sidorov, a Russian whose English often made me smile. The other character? A mule named Borax. What an animal!

The end of The Brothers McKay promises readers that unfinished business will take Walt to the ends of the earth. It sounds like we're going to need to fasten our seatbelts. 

The Brothers McKay by Craig Johnson

eISBN: 9780593830741

Viking © 2026

eBook, 368 pages

Police Procedural, #22 Walt Longmire

Rating: B

Source: Net Galley

Murder on the Rocks by T.E. Kinsey

 

First Lines: Lady Hardcastle was looking out of the train window as we clickety-clacked through the Somerset countryside. "Don't you just adore a train journey?"

It's February 1913, and millionaire J.B. McIntyre has invited his friends, Lady Hardcastle and her maid Florence Armstrong, to spend the weekend at his recently renovated Tudor fort on a remote island off the coast of Devonshire.

The weekend quickly veers into disaster when valuable jewels go missing, and a fellow guest is murdered with a very unusual weapon. Naturally, the intrepid duo agrees when McIntyre asks them to investigate. Is the murderer one of the guests? Everyone has an alibi, and everyone has secrets that they want to keep.

When a violent storm traps everyone on the island and cuts them off from help, the stakes are raised. Lady Hardcastle and Florence must work fast before someone else is killed.

~

When I want some light-hearted, historical fun, I know I can always turn to T.E. Kinsey's Lady Hardcastle mysteries, and his latest is no exception. 

Murder on the Rocks is essentially a locked room mystery set in a remodeled Tudor fort on a remote island. An old building, an island that's easily cut off from the rest of the world. What could possibly go wrong? Just my kind of mystery!

This book has a small cast, but there are more than enough motives to go around, so everyone is a suspect. I found this particular mystery a bit easy to solve, but I enjoy the banter between Lady Hardcastle and Florence so much that I really didn't care.

If you are in the mood for a light-hearted historical mystery series with two wonderful main characters, you can't go wrong with T.E. Kinsey's Lady Hardcastle. 

 

Murder on the Rocks by T.E. Kinsey

eISBN: 9781662521577

Thomas & Mercer © 2026

eBook, 296 pages

Historical Mystery, #13 Lady Hardcastle

Rating: B+

Source: Net Galley

The Ties that Bind Weekly Link Round-Up

 

In case any of you have been wondering, I have recovered well from last week. Amazing how we take electricity, water, and air conditioning for granted!

Lately, my thoughts have been on a special person in my life, a person I have never met, a person whose name I do not know. It's one of the wonders of the internet-- these faceless meetings that can form ties that bind. I feel ties to many of you who have followed my blog faithfully over the years, and I do miss you when you don't leave comments or contact me for a period of time.

I'm missing someone right now. That someone I mentioned earlier whose name I do not even know. This person has gone out of their way to remain anonymous, but their thoughtfulness and generosity have been lifelines on many occasions. They have been silent for quite some time now, and I worry about them. Nameless Friend, I hope you're reading this and that you are well. Sending you love.

Virtual hugs to you all. Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Minotaur responds to The Last Mandarin printing snafu.
• Dad books are a dying breed.
• How forensic linguists identify criminal suspects by analyzing their writing patterns.
• BookTok made reading cool again, but it also turned authors into content creators.
• How Remarkably Bright Creatures went from bestseller to Netflix.
• An electronic eye implant restored vision in patients with age-related macular degeneration.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• Archaeologists found hundreds of huge ancient mass graves hidden in the Sahara Desert.
• A 1,200-year-old "death jar" in Laos contains generations of human skeletons.
• A doctor's kit was found on a Mount Vesuvius victim in Pompeii.
• A high-status Roman woman was buried in a lead coffin with jet hairpins and exotic resins in Colchester, England.
• How a one-of-a-kind robot led researchers deep into the Great Pyramid.
• A man spotted strange-looking rocks near a pond in Thailand. They turned out to be the bones of a massive new dinosaur species.

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• Are we more closely related to cats or dogs?
• How to see this "feathered serpent"-- one of the world's most dazzling birds-- in the wild.
• Why some birds walk while others hop.
• Scientists recorded a sperm whale birth up close for the first time. They discovered something extraordinary.
• How horses shaped the Mughal Empire.
• A secret weapon to fight carbon emissions was just discovered: beavers.

►The Wanderer◄

• The biggest El Niño event since the 1870s is now the most likely scenario by the end of this year-- and the humanitarian cost could be huge.
• Ivrea, Italy's Battle of the Oranges is raucous, sticky fun.
• 10 unique beaches from around the world.
• This historic rail corridor offers a new way to see the American West.
• Crime and the City: Medellín, Colombia.
• In one of the wettest places on the planet, Indigenous people build bridges and ladders out of living tree roots.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Photographer Richard Avedon was famous for snapping celebrities like Marilyn Monroe, but his images of Vietnam war victims and coal miners revealed the surprising power of portraits.
• Clarke Speicher, the man who reads books for a living.
• Ayelet Waldman on what quilting taught her about the creative process.
• Can DNA testing help solve the mystery of the Fourth Musketeer?
• 5 historical figures that led double lives.
• How "Seabird Sue" Schubel blends art and science to attract birds back to lost habitats.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• 20 non-fiction books that read like novels.
• 15 graduation gifts for English majors.
• 6 cozy mysteries like The Thursday Murder Club.
• 8 must-read AAPI mysteries.
• 6 ways medieval life is misrepresented in movies.
• The beguiling magic of floral mysteries.

That's all for this week! No matter how busy you may be, don't forget that quality Me Time curled up with a good book!

Ironwood by Michael Connelly

 

First Line: Stilwell could hear the plane but couldn't see it.

When Detective Sergeant Stilwell acts on a tip from a confidential informant, the operation goes disastrously wrong, and he's benched until he's cleared of all responsibility. 

Forced to cool his heels, Stilwell decides to clear out the lost and found at his station and finds a valuable backpack that was never claimed. He traces the backpack to a woman who disappeared while hiking four years ago, but the backpack was only turned in two months ago.

There's no way Stilwell can leave this alone, and when he follows this mystery, it takes him all the way to the LAPD's Open-Unsolved Unit and Detective Renée Ballard.

Ballard and Stilwell quickly learn that this case has a much wider reach than originally believed, and Stilwell risks his already shaky standing in the police department to pursue it.

~

Michael Connelly's second Catalina mystery, Ironwood, is a pleasure to read. Yes, fans do get an update on Harry Bosch, and they do get to watch Stilwell work with Renée Ballard, but that's merely the icing on the cake. Stilwell is cut from the same cloth as Bosch and Ballard, and his commitment to getting justice for victims means that he often has to find workarounds in an attempt to keep out of hot water with his superiors. I love how the gears in that mind of his are always whirring away.

Ironwood is filled with little tidbits of Catalina Island's past that give the story depth and a true sense of place, but the backbone of this book is the police station and its checkered history. Catalina is where the Los Angeles Police Department sends its disgraced officers, officers who've gotten into some kind of trouble but can't be fired. Stilwell is one such officer, although his "disgrace" was his insistence on doing the right thing when his superiors told him otherwise. This habit of the LAPD causes problems because Stilwell is never told why new officers have been sent to him. He certainly could've used more of this kind of intel before conducting the operation which went so horribly wrong.

In Ironwood, we once again see a master at work. Connelly, a master of characterization, plotting, pacing... the whole enchilada. I am definitely looking forward to seeing Detective Sergeant Stilwell butt heads with his superiors again.

Ironwood by Michael Connelly

eISBN: 9780316595391

Little, Brown and Company © 2026

eBook, 400 pages

Police Procedural, #2 Catalina

Rating: A+

Source: Net Galley

An Interesting Times Weekly Link Round-Up

 

This has been a week I could've done without. Total disruption of my sleep patterns, meal times, and on and on. Why? Because I had to have a new electrical panel installed. Then the gas and water lines had to be relocated. Then the power outlets in the house needed to be brought up to code. Then a new water heater. And now something's wrong with the pool filter. I even thought my router had given up the ghost. But the coup de grâce? The air conditioner did give up the ghost, and it was only 110°F/44°C. 

Have I been having fun? You bet! Am I ever sarcastic? Never!

Now for something completely different. Remember the photos I posted of Suzanne and Daisy's visit where we'd set up an assembly line to make felt-lined needlepoint star baskets? I've shown you photos of two of the five baskets, and now I finally have a third done. Here it is--

When I first met my niece, Karen, who lives in the Manchester, UK area, she had two black and white cats named Bonnie and Clyde. When I saw those buttons on Etsy, I had to have them for this basket. The felt lining inside I'd had for years because I knew I'd do something with it eventually. The light pink yarn is left over from the afghan I made Karen. What do you think? Think she'll like it?

The electricians are at the other end of the house working on those outlets, so I'm going to head to the corral. Virtual hugs to you all, and enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• This man thinks we don't need hardback books.
• Huntington Beach (California) ordered to pay $1 million in legal fees after a library censorship defeat.
• A man has pled guilty to a $48 million national book publishing scam.
• Is learning to read in New York City schools getting in the way of reading whole books?
• Did you know there's an independent bookstore revival underway?
• How Substack became the new book tour.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• The Athena Bowl: A silver and gold vessel of the goddess and her owl, buried in a German forest 2,000 years ago.
• A 500-year-old dental bridge is the earliest known oral care of its kind in Scotland-- and it likely held a fake tooth.
• Here's what underwater robots are finding at France's deepest shipwreck, a 16th-century merchant vessel resting at the bottom of the Mediterranean.
• In the ancient world, this pigment was worth more than gold. Archaeologists discovered it buried with babies in Roman coffins.
• Archaeologists didn't expect to find anything at this site in England. Then they stumbled upon a Roman villa and a bronze artifact dubbed "Norfolk Nessie."
• This Vincent van Gogh painting was found wrapped in an Ikea bag and a blood-stained pillow. Now, the artwork has been restored to its former glory.

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• The 15 deadliest animals on Earth.
• See 15 images that won the German Society for Nature Photography's annual contest.
• Atlantic puffins are returning to shore. Here's how to see the fleeting spring spectacle.
• A devoted dog walker converted an old school bus into the perfect vehicle to ferry canine clients to the park.
• One of the American West's most iconic birds-- the greater sage grouse-- is attempting to mate near a dangerous airport. Could robo-birds help save them?
• Octopus sex just got weirder. In addition to depositing sperm, males' specialized mating arm can "taste" female hormones. (This reminded me of the video taken of a female octopus throwing rocks at a male.)

►The Wanderer◄

• The Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague has around 100,000 bodies buried below medieval headstones, many of which mark graves with multiple bodies stacked up to 12 deep.
• This person visited the real-life homes behind beloved childhood books-- and found a new way to read them.
• Crime and the City: Ottawa, Canada.
• East Africa might break off from the continent sooner than scientists thought-- and a new ocean may fill the gap.
• 17 of the most charming small towns in the U.S.
• Five mountains that are totally off-limits-- and why.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• History remembers Mary Boleyn as the scandalous "other Boleyn girl." New research debunks the myths surrounding the Tudor mistress.
• High schooler Edward Kang developed an AI tool to diagnose autism and ADHD using the retina.
• A heartfelt tribute honoring Sir David Attenborough on his 100th birthday. (He's one of my heroes.)
• How Jane Austen influenced modern detective fiction.
• Meet Meenakshi Amma, the sword-wielding grandmother bringing women back to Indian martial arts.
• Anthony Horowitz says he uses ChatGPT in writing.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• These 27 new history books are enthralling.
• We need more geriatric heroines.
• 8 of the weirdest mystery and thriller movies of all time.
• 17 thrillers with unreliable narrators.
• These 14 books are perfect for Andy Weir fans.
• Explore Ireland  in these 22 books.

That's all for this week! No matter how busy you may be, don't forget that quality Me Time curled up with a good book!