Lesa Holstine

Evansville

Mystery Columnist at Library Journal

Book reviewer, Library Journal mystery columnist, book blogger & librarian. My blog is https://t.co/7VkgjpbcBW

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Articles

'The Wolf Tree' by Laura McCluskey | Mystery Debut of the Month

Jan 22, 2025 | libraryjournal.com | Lesa Holstine

McCluskey’s gripping debut features an isolated island with a brooding, storm-tossed atmosphere, reminiscent of Ann Cleeves’s “Shetland Island” mysteries. The violence and collusion lead to a shocking conclusion. ★McCluskey, Laura. The Wolf Tree. Putnam. Feb. 2025. 336p. ISBN 9780593852545. $30. MDEBUT Glasgow DI Georgina “George” Lennox and her partner, DI Richie Stewart, are sent to investigate a death in an isolated community on the barren rocky island Eilean Eadar.
‘Broken Fields’ by Marcie R. Rendon | Mystery Pick of the Month

Jan 7, 2025 | libraryjournal.com | Lesa Holstine

The author of Where They Last Saw Her brings back Cash Blackbear in a tragic, unforgiving crime novel that emphasizes the perils of the foster care system for Indigenous children. ★Rendon, Marcie R. Broken Fields. Soho Crime. (Cash Blackbear, Bk. 4). Mar. 2025. 272p. ISBN 9781641296588. $28.95. MIt’s spring in Minnesota’s Red River Valley, and Cash Blackbear is making extra money plowing fields.
'The Four Queens of Crime' by Rosanne Limoncelli | Mystery Debut of the Month

Dec 11, 2024 | libraryjournal.com | Lesa Holstine

Four iconic writers of Golden Age crime fiction—Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, and Margery Allingham—help DCI Lilian Wyles, the first woman detective chief inspector in the CID, solve a case. ★Limoncelli, Rosanne. The Four Queens of Crime. Crooked Lane. Mar. 2025. 320p. ISBN 9798892420600. $29.99. MDEBUT In 1938, four iconic writers of Golden Age crime fiction—Agatha Christie, Dorothy L.
'The Girl from Greenwich Street: A Novel of Hamilton, Burr, and America’s First Murder Trial.' by Lauren Willig | Mystery Pick of the Month

Dec 4, 2024 | libraryjournal.com | Lesa Holstine

Historical personalities bring this real story to life in a riveting account of the first U.S. murder trial for which there is a transcript. ★Willig, Lauren. The Girl from Greenwich Street: A Novel of Hamilton, Burr, and America’s First Murder Trial. Morrow. Mar. 2025. 352p. ISBN 9780063306110. $30. MJust before Christmas in 1789, Elma Sands walked out of her cousin’s boardinghouse in New York City and was not seen again.
Best Crime Fiction of 2024

Dec 2, 2024 | libraryjournal.com | Liz French |Lesa Holstine

Chambers, Diana R. The Secret War of Julia Child. Sourcebooks Landmark. ISBN 9781464219047. Chambers invites readers on adventures in espionage and romance with Julia Child before she became a beloved TV chef. In 1944, 30-year-old Julia McWilliams works as an intelligence officer for the OSS (precursor to the CIA) in Asia. She convinces her boss to send her on increasingly risky missions, encountering danger, suspected counterspies, and the man who will later become her husband, Paul Child.
What Are You Reading?

Nov 7, 2024 | lesasbookcritiques.com | Lesa Holstine

This week, if you’re even able to read, I hope you found an escape. I’ll admit yesterday was a terrible day for me. So, I picked up something that will have humor, a mystery, and some Christmas. I’m going to need that kind of book for the next four years. I reserved Jenn McKinlay’s A Merry Little Murder Plot at the library. It’s the fifteenth Library Lover’s Mystery, and the first one set during the Christmas season.
‘The Mailman’ by Andrew Welsh-Huggins | Mystery Pick of the Month

Nov 6, 2024 | libraryjournal.com | Lesa Holstine

Appearances are deceiving in this fast-paced thriller, and the characters are introduced gradually so as not to overwhelm the outstanding series debut. ★Welsh-Huggins, Andrew. The Mailman. The Mysterious Pr. Jan. 2025. 360p. ISBN 9781613166109. $26.95. MAfter his mailman father was murdered, Mercury Carter became a U.S. postal inspector with federal law enforcement powers. While investigating his father’s death, Merc was attacked and left with a traumatic brain injury.
Bill Crider, Maintaining His Legacy

Nov 3, 2024 | lesasbookcritiques.com | Lesa Holstine

When Bill Crider died in 2018, he left behind over sixty books published by New York publishers, and a collection of paperbacks that number over 10,000, most of them from his pulp collection. But, many of us are most familiar with his Sheriff Dan Rhodes series. Bill’s daughter, Angela Crider Neary and her husband, Tom Neary, recognize that. They also know that there were twenty-five Sheriff Rhodes books, and, beginning with book eleven, they’re out of print.
What I Ate In One Year by Stanley Tucci

Nov 2, 2024 | lesasbookcritiques.com | Lesa Holstine

Actor and writer Stanley Tucci talks about What I Ate In One Year (and related thoughts) in his latest book. Here are my related thoughts. I read and enjoyed his earlier book, Taste. However, if you’re a fan of audiobooks, which I am not, I’d suggest you listen to Tucci read his book. I think it would be more enjoyable to listen to the book. Beginning in January 2023, and ending early in 2024, Tucci goes through his days, relating what he ate, and who he ate it with. Sometimes, it was family.
Give Me an “R” Giveaway

Nov 1, 2024 | lesasbookcritiques.com | Lesa Holstine

This week, I’m giving away two mysteries whose authors’ names begin with R. Although Marcie R Rendon is known for her Cash Blackbear series, Where They Last Saw Her is a standalone. It’s a thought-provoking book. Quill has lived on the Red Pine reservation in Minnesota her whole life. She knows what happens to women who look like her. Just a girl when Jimmy Sky jumped off the railway bridge and she ran for help, Quill realizes now that she’s never stopped running.