Excellent.

Legal Tender (1996) is Rosato & Associates, Book #2.

Super high energy. Plenty of action.

Smart dialogue. Interesting characters. And humour.

In Legal Tender, maverick civil rights lawyer Benedetta “Bennie” Rosato is wrongly accused of murder – and goes on the run to prove her innocence and find the real killer. 

Publishers Weekly awarded it a “star” and raved that “Scottoline’s rambunctious fourth legal thriller may change the way readers think about lawyers. Bennie, a delightful heroine, deserves an encore; and, again, Scottoline merits a big round of applause.”

The ending is super entertaining — and as highly improbable as any legal thriller you’ve ever read. 😀

Not bad.

Tears of the Giraffe (2000) is 2nd in The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series of novels by Alexander McCall Smith, set in Botswana, which features the Motswana protagonist Precious Ramotswe.

A cozy mystery novel continues the heartwarming and slow-paced adventures of Botswana’s premier female private investigator.

• The Missing American: Her primary case involves searching for a young American man who mysteriously vanished into the African plains ten years prior. 
• The Wayward Wife: She tracks a local man’s wife to determine why she remains away from home for long stretches each day. 
• The Unscrupulous Maid: An administrative plotline unfolds involving a deceitful maid working for her fiancé, which ultimately ends in a prison sentence for the culprit

Kate Shugak, is an Aleut woman in Alaska, a private investigator alongside her fierce, half-wolf, half-husky companion, Mutt.

Though Not Dead (2010) is 18th in the series. Entertaining.

The residents of Alaska’s largest national park are devastated by the passing of 87-year-old Old Sam Dementieff, a beloved community patriarch and Kate’s uncle.

The Inheritance: Sam leaves his entire estate to Kate, along with a cryptic, one-sentence letter instructing her to “find my father”.

The Mystery: Sam’s father was an outsider who vanished decades ago, taking a priceless tribal artifact—a Russian icon—with him.

The Danger: Within days of launching her investigation, Kate is threatened by unknown entities who are tracking her every move.

King Sorrow is a 2025 horror novel by American author Joe Hill …

Arthur Oakes, an American college student in Maine, faces an evil dragon who coerces him and his friends into offering a sacrifice every Easter.

Though I’m not normally a fan of horror, the dialogue and long time span in this novel made it feel fresh and original.

Some humour, as well.

The Forever War is a 1974 landmark military science fiction novel written by Joe Haldeman that uses an interstellar conflict to deliver a powerful allegory about the senselessness of war and the isolation felt by returning veterans.

Drawing heavily from Haldeman’s personal experiences as a drafted combat engineer who was wounded in the Vietnam War, the book is widely considered a foundational classic of modern science fiction.

Plot

The narrative follows William Mandella, a physics student drafted into an elite United Nations military unit tasked with fighting the Taurans, a newly discovered, enigmatic alien species. The core mechanic driving the book’s psychological tragedy is time dilation.

• The Physics of Travel: To engage the enemy, human soldiers must travel through collapsars at near-light speeds.
• The Cost of Dilation: While a mission lasts only a few months or years for Mandella, decades or centuries flash by on Earth.
• Alienation: Every time Mandella returns from battle, Earth’s society has evolved dramatically, rendering it unrecognizable. Language, currency, global economics, and even basic human sexuality shift entirely, making the soldiers biological and social relics out of time. 

It’s an anti-war story told from the soldier’s point of view.

The Witness (2012) is an excellent read, even if you don’t normally like Romance.

Plot Overview

• The Rebellion: At 16, studious and obedient Elizabeth Fitch temporarily rebels against her strict, controlling mother. She sneaks out to a Chicago nightclub, where she is lured to a house on Lake Shore Drive. 
• The Crime: That same night, Elizabeth accidentally witnesses a brutal mob hit tied to the powerful Volkov organized crime family.
• The Escape: When official witness protection fails to keep her safe, she vanishes on her own terms. She spends the next twelve years constantly on the move.
• The New Life: Now known as Abigail Lowery, she lives a highly isolated life in the Arkansas Ozarks. She works from home as a freelance security systems designer. Her property is fortified with high-tech security, firearms, and a fierce guard dog named Bert. 
• The Complication: Her eccentric, reclusive lifestyle immediately draws the attention of the local police chief, Brooks Gleason. As Brooks tries to untangle her mysterious past, their growing romantic connection threatens her safety. The dangerous men from her past begin closing in.

Nora Roberts 200th novel. 

Everywhere That Mary Went (1993) is the Edgar Award-nominated debut legal thriller by bestselling author Lisa Scottoline.

It introduces Mary DiNunzio, a hardworking associate at a cutthroat Philadelphia law firm.

The book functions as the first entry in Scottoline’s highly successful Rosato & Associates series.

PLOT OVERVIEW

Grieving the loss of her late husband, Mary’s focus is entirely on her career — until she begins receiving sinister crank phone calls and hate mail.

Carrying on a track for partnership while simultaneously trying to discover her stalker is the conflict.

A Deeper Sleep (2007) the 15th installment in the award-winning Kate Shugak mystery series.

One of the best I’ve read, so far, though the ending is a bit disappointing.

Plot Summary

• The Acquittal: Private investigator Kate Shugak and State Trooper Jim Chopin work with the Anchorage District Attorney to convict Louis Deem for murdering his wife. 
• A History of Impunity: Deem has a long history of evading the law and has never been convicted of a crime. 
• The Verdict: Despite overwhelming belief in his guilt, the jury returns a “not guilty” verdict, setting Deem free to terrorize the local Park community.
• Fresh Blood: A few weeks later, a suspected robbery leaves two more people dead, pointing suspicion directly back to Deem. 
• High Stakes: Kate and Jim’s relentless pursuit of justice threatens to tear their relationship apart while a killer closes in on them

Alexander McCall Smith is best known for his heartwarming The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series set in Botswana, following Precious Ramotswe. 

That first book was published 1998.

Mma Ramotswe starts up her detective agency using the inheritance from her father to move to the capital city, Gaborone, to buy a house for herself and an office for her new business.

She feels a detective needs to know about people more than anything to solve problems for them. The novels are as much about the adventures and foibles of different characters as they are about solving mysteries. 

In this book, the primary over-arching plotline involves Thobiso, an eleven-year-old boy who has gone missing from his village. His father fears the boy was kidnapped by witch doctors (medicine men) to be sacrificed for ritual mutimedicine. 

Mma Ramotswe takes the case to heart. Her investigation leads her to the home of a suspicious local doctor and his wife. Near their property, she discovers a car containing a charm bag made of bone—a sign of witchcraft.

Mma Ramotswe bravely confronts the doctor’s wife, eventually tracking the boy to a secluded cattle post. She successfully rescues Thobiso and reunites him with his overjoyed family.