A DETECTIVE TALKS TO ANIMALS, bit that’s the least of her troubles right now. Sweet, goofy cozy mystery features litigious seagulls and an imperious cat. Light fun. SOLID B

LEGAL SEAGULL: A HILARIOUS COZY MYSTERY WITH ONE VERY ENTITLED CAT DETECTIVE (PET WHISPERER P.I. BOOK 12)
Whiskered Mysteries
2020

THE FIRST MARS COLONISTS face some unexpected events in this charming, witty novel. Both skillful near-future science fiction and a warm comedy of manners, it’s a delight. B PLUS

HOW TO MARS
Tachyon Publications
2021

AN OLD HOLLYWOOD MURDER rockets back into the headlines after 70+ years, thanks to new deaths at its site. Noir-infused tale works better as a love letter to bygone Los Angeles than as a classic mystery. SOLID B

WINDHALL
Pegasus Crime
2021

A SECRET TIME-TRAVEL EXPERIMENT could have dangerous consequences, and one government scientist must set things right. Intriguing premise, lots of action. SOLID B

THE GOLDEN MILESTONE: A NOVEL
Kilian Knight
2021

A LIFE WITH LOW VISION, and with even greater barriers of profound self-consciousness and shame, made beautiful by a passion for reading, writing, and teaching, and especially by love and friendship. Candid, uncompromising memoir. B PLUS

BLIND MAN'S BLUFF
W. W. Norton & Company
2021

RAW HONG KONG NOIR, set during the late 1980s runup to the 1997 transfer to China, sets a slow-burn thriller plot against a poetic evocation of doomed communities. B PLUS

DIAMOND HILL
World Editions
2021

A JOURNALIST’S MURDER DREDGES up unsettling connections to a teen’s long-ago death, and the Norfolk homicide team has a tough case to crack. Sharp English police procedural with strong characterization and a tight plot. B PLUS

A DARK SIN: A CHILLING BRITISH DETECTIVE CRIME THRILLER (THE HIDDEN NORFOLK MURDER MYSTERY SERIES BOOK 8)
Hamilton Press
2021

A HEADLINE-GRABBING MURDER IN GHANA lays bare a web of troubling secrets that only private detective Emma Djan can unravel. Sharp mystery with an engaging sleuth offers vivid portrayals of Ghanaian life, from glittering high-rises to the streets. B PLUS

SLEEP WELL, MY LADY (AN EMMA DJAN INVESTIGATION #2)
Soho Crime
2021

A LAVISH COMEDY OF MANNERS transposes a classic farce plot to the world of 2015’s upper-crust, high flying Millennials. Gloriously baroque prose and a killer eye for detail. B PLUS

THE PORTRAIT OF A MIRROR
The Overlook Press
2021

AN ICU NURSE’S FRONT-LINES memoir of a COVID pandemic year. Raw, real account details the struggles, burnout, and PTSD faced by many US healthcare workers trying to keep people alive in overwhelmed hospitals. An important book. A MINUS

YEAR OF THE NURSE: A 2020 COVID-19 PANDEMIC MEMOIR
Cassie Alexander
2021