Whispers Under Ground (2012) is 3rd in the Rivers of London series.

Our central character is Police Constable and apprentice wizard Peter Grant.

Quite entertaining.

It’s a light read. I mainly enjoy the dry British humour.

The story begins just before Christmas when a reputable American art student, James Gallagher, is found stabbed to death on the tracks at Baker Street Underground station.

Because the murder weapon—a sharp piece of pottery—is heavily saturated with magical traces, the Metropolitan Police’s secret magical department, “The Folly,” is brought in to investigate.

As the son of a wealthy US Senator, the victim’s death threatens an international incident.

Peter has to work alongside a deeply religious FBI Special Agent, Kimberley Reynolds, who has been sent to monitor the case.

The investigation dives deep into London’s complex subterranean geography, taking Peter through:

• Enclaves of an entire hidden, secret society living entirely beneath the city.
• Active and abandoned London Underground tube tunnels.
• Disused Victorian sewer systems and forgotten bomb shelters.
• London’s buried, hidden subterranean rivers.

Excellent.

The Bomb Maker (2018) by Thomas Perry has a really good BAD GUY.

How can he be stopped?

The opening sentence of chapter one draws you straight into the action with its vividly detailed, almost fetishist description of a bomb’s construction.

So enticingly described are the levels of concentration needed not to blow one’s self up, and the obsessive degree of planning needed to cause the maximum amount of damage, that by the end of the chapter, we almost want to see …

Crime Fiction Lover REVIEW

Fullness of Time is an interesting sci-fi novella.

Mixed reviews — but the plot kept me going.

One family has some kind of genetic / medical disorder allowing them to see briefly into the future.

Hiram Granville, a modern Leonardo, secured more than a thousand patents during his lifetime, often just ahead of others who had already been working on the same ideas.

His son, John, an economics genius, never lost a cent in the stock market—or any other financial deal—and was investigated for insider trading on more than one occasion.

Now Cat, a documentarian; her researcher, Mercy; and Cracker Jack, an electronics whiz, are doing a film about the Granville clan.

What they find as they research the family is madness, suicide, a seemingly total seclusion, and a frightening glimpse about what it means to peer into the future.

Laurence Hayward has a $612 million lottery win in Sex, Lies & Serious Money (2016).

After signing on with lawyer Stone Barrington, he spend several million dollars on three cars, two apartments in the same Park Avenue building, and an extensive selection of clothing.

Good fun.

A couple of ex-cons move in trying to grab some of that new found money.

Reads like a remake of Family Jewels (2016) with nary a homicide until very close to the end. Not much sex, no more lies than usual, but some very serious money does indeed get spent on every possible status symbol you can imagine.

Kirkus

Closer Than You Know (2018) is a skillfully crafted novel.

What do you do when the worst happens?

Disaster, Melanie Barrick was once told, is always closer than you know.

It was a lesson she learned the hard way growing up in the constant upheaval of foster care. But now that she’s survived into adulthood—with a loving husband, a steady job, and a beautiful baby boy named Alex—she thought that turmoil was behind her.

Until one Monday evening when she goes to pick up Alex from childcare only to discover he’s been removed by Social Services. And no one will say why.

It’s a terrifying scenario for any parent, but doubly so for Melanie, who knows the unintended horrors of what everyone coldly calls “the system.”

Her nightmare mushrooms when she arrives home to learn her house has been raided by sheriff’s deputies, who have found enough cocaine to send Melanie to prison for years. …

Breaking Silence (2011) is another in the Kate Burkholder murder mystery series.

Mixed feelings.

The writing is average, at best.

BUT troubled Kate, as a former Amish teen turned police chief, faces interesting scenarios.

The Slabaugh family are model Amish farmers, prosperous and hardworking, with four children and a happy extended family.

When the parents and an uncle are found dead in their barn, it appears to be a gruesome accident: methane gas asphyxiation caused by a poorly ventilated cesspit.

But in the course of a routine autopsy, the coroner discovers that one of the victims suffered a head wound before death–clearly, foul play was involved.

But who would want to make orphans of the Slabaughs’ children?

And is this murder somehow related to a recent string of shocking hate crimes against the Amish?

Not bad. Interesting twists and turns.

The Storm (2026) is a slow-burn mystery by American author Rachel Hawkins.

Set in the fictional coastal town of St. Medard’s Bay, Alabama, the novel follows a dual-timeline narrative.

• 1984: During the devastating Hurricane Marie, Landon Fitzroy, a wealthy political scion and son of Alabama’s governor, is found dead. His 19-year-old mistress, Gloria “Lo” Bailey, is accused of his murder but later acquitted in a highly publicized trial.
• 2025/2026: Geneva Corliss, the struggling owner of the historic Rosalie Inn, welcomes true-crime writer August Fletcher. He arrives to research Landon’s death for a new book and unexpectedly brings Lo Baile.