Welcome to Litsy!

Started out slow, ended with a bang. Hated most of the characters, but they made great antagonists.

3.25⭐️

#botm #lockedroommystery #52bookclub24

I started this a few weeks ago but it was a bit frustrating so I dropped it for a couple other books. I had a couple hours left on it and figured “what the heck, let‘s bash it out for the finished total.” Honestly, this book is a very HARD pass. It‘s advertisement of “cozy mystery” is anything but that. With lots of abbreviated triggers (SA, R, DV, to name a few) this really fell short of coziness. A modern spin on Orient Express. 2 ⭐️

An old seaside mansion. Dark gothic atmosphere. An exotic setting. Sinister locked-room mystery. Depraved and broken characters. A public prosecutor in search of the truth. Unreliable narrators.
Japan, unsettled nation during the aftermath of WWII. Multiple elaborate murders. Elegant, refined prose. An outstanding translation.
...

Two months passed. It was well into autumn. The air was crisp and cool, and the leaves of the Japanese maples had turned the brilliant crimson of a geisha's painted lips. On the grounds of Tokyo University Medical School, in the neighborhood of the pond made famous by Natsume Soseki's novel Sanshiro, a tall, remarkably good-looking youth was loitering about gazing at the scenery.

"Really, it is. But tell me, who is the murderer?"

"I can't talk about that right now." Tsunetaro sounded nervous, as if someone might be listening in.

"Why is that? Oh, I see, now that you mention it, this really isn't the sort of thing you can discuss on the telephone. Where are you now, at Peony? I'll come to meet you right away."
-----

What will happen now? ?

Ari Thór receives a job offer in a small village in the north of Iceland. He immediately accepts & moves there from Reykjavik. Thór arrives right at the onset of winter, which is a lot more intense than anything he has experienced. At first his duties as a police officer are more along the lines of assisting community members than investigative, as there's no real crime to speak of. This changes after the suspicious death of a renown (CONT)

What do they mean "and adapted "?!

Getting ready to start my first book of 2024 while I wait to pick up my son. I‘ve never read this author but I absolutely ❤️ a good locked-room mystery!

#thesearchparty #hannahrichell #lockedroommystery #atmosphericthriller #britlit

With elements of Agatha Christie‘s And Then There Were None…a group of college friends get together over Christmas in an isolated manor. Cue a blizzard and a murderer on the loose.

This kept my interest and had enough suspects and red herrings to have me keep second guessing the final reveal. None of the characters were really likable, except maybe Charly, and there are some pretty gruesome scenes.

#BookChain2024 #AOrTheInTitle

⬇️⬇️⬇️

I loved the sleeper train setting and enjoyed this one. However, the festive cover and Christie-like title are misleading as this is not a cozy mystery. Trigger warnings for sexual and physical assault, domestic abuse, traumatic birth and possibly other things I can‘t think of right now. I saw some reviews say there are no likeable characters, but I liked Roz, our detective, and I‘m not sure who wouldn‘t like Mary and her cat.