Review: The Paxton's Tower Murders by Stephen Puleston

The Paxton's Tower Murders (A Detective Caren Waits Mystery, #1)

by Stephen Puleston

Release Date: June 16, 2025

2025 Independently Published

Ebook ARC; 315 Pages

ISBN: 979-8284500903

ASIN: B0FDJ71QB6

Genre: Fiction / Mystery

Source: Review copy from author

 

4 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

Detective Inspector Caren Waits was ready to prove herself on her first day in a new job—but she wasn’t expecting a murder. When a small-time drug dealer is found dead near The Paxton’s Tower, Caren is thrown into a case that demands her full attention.

Leading an unfamiliar team, she must prove she has what it takes to command respect and catch a killer.

But when a second body turns up at the same location, Caren knows she’s dealing with someone calculated and ruthless. As the investigation deepens, she finds herself chasing a murderer who always seems one step ahead.

 

My Thoughts

The Paxton's Tower Murders is the first book in a new series by this author and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Having read most of the Inspector Drake series, I was happy to read a new series featuring a character who appeared in the Drake series. Caren was starting her new job in a new town and had barely settled in when she was called out on her first case. I would be quite nervous as well if I were in her shoes and hadn't even had an opportunity to check in, to figure out the layout of where I was working, or to even have met my team, so to say she was a bit uptight and nervous was understandable. 

 

Personally, I liked Caren better in this book than in the Inspector Drake series, but it's only because I got to learn more about her. Because the book is about her, reading her inner thoughts as she juggled motherhood and a demanding job was interesting, and I could relate to her struggles to provide a normal childhood for her son while being exhausted. The fact she was a bit cool to her colleagues did not bother me as she is the boss and understands the importance of a functional team. Considering the mystery surrounding her predecessor, her more distant behaviour was understandable, but she definitely opened up as the book progressed. She was determined, fair, and was able to see the strengths and weaknesses in her team members and use them appropriately. My only question mark with regards to Caren is her behaviour towards her underlings and it is something to which I rolled my eyes constantly: a 'please' and 'thank you' would not be remiss once in a while, and if you want a cup of coffee, get off your tuff and go make it yourself. In many offices, the way that was demanded would land you in a behaviour, aka manners and DEI training, course. To me, that speaks of a lack of confidence in yourself to be a leader; there's a way to do without being a jerk.

 

The plot itself had many twists and turns and was quite interesting. The murder investigation itself was done in such a way as to introduce people who lived in the community, people we will probably see in future books, so I liked that a lot. There was also a secondary story woven through the narrative, that of Karen's husband who died in an accident a year ago. That one did not resolve itself in this book, but it definitely made me curious as to know what happened. The investigation did allow Caren to grow as a character and to connect better with her team, something I definitely enjoyed. While the ending was rushed, it was still satisfactory.

 

Verdict

The Paxton's Tower Murders was a strong start to a new series and I enjoyed both the character and the plot development. It is well written and I liked the descriptions of the Welsh landscape and some of the background information the author provided. And as a I mentioned above, while I enjoyed Caren's character development, there were some things that did not sit well with me with regards to how she treated her team so hopefully that is all part of her future character development and now displaying how a leader should behave towards one's team. All in all, the mystery and investigation were fun, and I will be reading the next book in this series. 

 

Review: Difficult Girls by Veronica Bane

Difficult Girls

by Veronica Bane

Release Date: July 8, 2025

2025 Delacorte Press

Ebook ARC; 336 Pages

ISBN: 978-0593903988

ASIN:  ‎ B0DJQBYC7F

Audiobook: B0DJWJJWCT

Genre: Fiction / YA / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

3 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

After the incident last year, Greta Riley Green is looking for reinvention, a fresh start, a chance to run away from the many secrets she’s suddenly hiding. When fate pulls Greta into the orbit of Mercy Goodwin, star of the park’s most popular show, it feels like things are looking up. Beautiful and confident, Mercy dazzles audiences daily. And Mercy has a secret to share, if Greta will just meet her at lunch the next day. 

Only, when the time comes, Mercy is a no-show—as she is every day after that. She just stops coming to work. Greta knows something is wrong. She can’t help thinking back to the night of the party. Did Mercy seem upset? Terrified, even? Could she be in trouble? It wouldn’t be the first time a talented young performer came to a sinister end at Hyper Kid. . . .

 

My Thoughts

Difficult Girls is one of those books where I enjoyed the second half of the book far more than I enjoyed the first half, and I will be honest, I almost DNF the book halfway through. I'm glad I did persevere though, as I was curious to know what happened to Mercy and how everything would tie together at the end. I do have to say however, that Greta is probably one of the most annoying FMC that I have come across in quite a while and is the main reason why I almost put this book aside.

 

This story is set in an amusement park and I always like a setting like this as there is so much scope for imagination and for something to go terribly wrong. The mystery itself was rather intriguing and I did enjoy how it unfolded and how the unsolved murder from the past tied into the present-day one. There were lots of twists and turns, even if some of them were quite predictable, and I liked how it all unfolded. Naturally, there were a lot of things that were coincidences and where you just had to accept that they happened even if they were not quite believable, but I chose to go with them and just enjoyed the ride. Yes, there was a general tendency to over-explain concepts and it could, at times, be repetitive, but the writing style was clear and it did flow very well.

 

Now we come to an area with which I had problems, the character development. First of all, I really did not like the main character, Greta. Sorry, but no wonder she got herself into so much trouble in the past as her judgment skills are so incredibly poor I just wanted to shake her through most of the book. Let me explain. So, here's this guy she met , no SAW, maybe twice, and she had already convinced herself how great he was, how perfect he was, how he would never treat anyone poorly like she had been treated in the past, how he was just so, so, so NICE, and he was going to be hers. And it just goes on and on. For a guy she said maybe three words to and maybe had seen twice.  And then there's this other guy who she judges harshly because someone has a nickname for him that she misinterprets, and it becomes so repetitive in her thoughts it's what almost made me DNF. Honestly, I've seen this technique used in writing in other books to use as red herrings and it simply does not work; in fact, it seems like a sloppy way of trying to throw off a reader and create an unreliable narrator. Because of this, there was not a lot of room left to develop any of the secondary characters which affects any empathy shown for their situations. The character development was a bit of a mess. It also created a situation where I was rolling my eyes every time Greta had any space for inner monologues. So juvenile!! 

 

Verdict

Difficult Girls actually had a strong mystery behind it so there was no need to create an unreliable narrator, one whose judgment skills were so poor it became cringeworthy. The clues were interesting and I enjoyed how the mystery unfolded as well as how it tied to the one from the past, and it was believable. The character development was lacking however, and the FMC was in dire need of help. I don't mind flawed and vulnerable characters at all, but she was silly. Did she redeem herself in the last quarter of the book? Yes, a bit, as she realized she was putting her own wishes into people, but it was not enough to really make her likable. With that being said though, I would read another book by this author as I thought the mystery was strong and I did like some of the other characters.  

 

Review: House of Ash and Bone by Joel A. Sutherland

House of Ash and Bone

by Joel A. Sutherland

Release Date: July 1st, 2025 (First published September 2023)

2025 Tundra Books

Softcover ARC; 344 Pages

ISBN: 978-1774881002

ASIN: B0BP6P5VKY

Audiobook: B0BPMZSPX6

Genre: Fiction / YA / Horror

Source: Review copy from publisher 

 

3 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

Seventeen-year-old Josephine Jagger is a talented writer with special abilities she doesn't fully understand. Over the years she has developed methods to cope with the voices she hears in her head, but the old house her family has inherited in Vermont makes Josephine question what's real and what's not more than anything she's ever encountered before. It's filled with shadows, and whispers, and the unshakable feeling of being watched. Josephine then catches her first glimpse of a shadowy woman with long hair, pale skin, and impossibly wide smile and hollow pits for eyes. Her name is Dorcas, the ghost of a witch who died three hundred years ago. She has summoned the family to Vermont to ensnare them — then consume them — in order to rise from the grave and live again . . .

 

My Thoughts

House of Ash and Bone was an entertaining read, but I think it really misses the mark when it comes to horror as well as intentions. There were quite a few themes running through it, ones that were rather interesting, but when you have too many of them, none of them get explored into any depth so the overall story seems rather superficial. I also really wished that Josephine didn't have any 'magical' powers as I think it would have made this much more compelling as it wouldn't have relied so much on her abilities and it would have been a spookier setting for her and her family. Relying on 'magic' kind of downplays the horror element for me.

 

So let's talk about Josephine. How do you like the reference to Little Women, something I think was done on purpose. I think this author is a fan so I kind of like that idea. Maybe someone should write a horror novel based on those women, but I digress.  I rather liked Josephine as a main character. She was determined, smart, sincere, and loyal to her sisters.  Because of her ability to hear the thoughts of others and see things when she is dreaming, she is the only one to realize something was not right in the house. The pantry is always stocked with food, their personal bedrooms are stocked with everything they personally desire, and all their needs are met without them remembering a thing about how it happened, except for Jo. Josephine is the clearest character as the other ones seemed to move in a more dreamlike state, something that was done deliberately to show the reader something clearly was wrong. While I didn't necessarily mind the way this was done, it did make character development for the rest of the characters to be rather difficult and honestly, I couldn't tell you their names if my life depended on it at this point.

 

The story itself is well-paced and the haunting atmosphere is definitely there in the setting as you have this old decrepit house with a forest that has a reputation for being haunted surrounding it. There are ghostly apparitions and things that go bump in the night. The family constantly forgets what they were doing and why. So, all the elements are definitely there. However, the execution felt stilted and while there were some nice twists and turns, something else would destroy the tension that was being built up, either some dialogue that didn't quite match what was happening or something else. In fact, the dialogue pulled me out of the story a few times and I had to re-immerse myself into it to get a feel for the haunting atmosphere again and again. I do think the author likes the classics as well as fairy tales though, as I was definitely getting vibes of Hansel and Gretel from this book. In fact, lots of Grimm's fairy tale references were peppered throughout the book and I had fun looking for them.

 

Verdict

House of Ash and Bone was a story that kept me entertained even if there were issues with execution and character development. I've already mentioned that I liked the main character, but I did think her behaviour was inconsistent for a seventeen-year-old girl and it didn't help that the character development for the other characters was almost non-existent. The twists and turns were fun, if predictable, but I have to say though, that I really liked that ending as it was the highlight of the book for me.  If you like stories set in eerie locales with an atmosphere, then I suggest giving this one a go. 

 

 

Review: Death at the White Hart by Chris Chibnall

Death at the White Hart

by Chris Chibnall

Release Date: June 10, 2025

2025 Pamela Dorman Books

Hardcover ARC; 340 Pages

ISBN: 978-1593831571

ASIN: B0D3C3JDMT

Audiobook: B0DJH8VWLT

Genre: Fiction / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

3.5 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

Nothing keeps a village together like secrets.

A man is found dead, tied to a chair in the middle of the road, with a stag’s antler’s on his head. The gruesome scene stuns the town, especially when they learn that it is Jim Tiernan, owner of the White Hart pub, who has been found murdered. Is it a personal vendetta, or something more macabre? Tierney’s pub is at the center of village life and he knew everyone’s secrets.

Detective Nicola Bridge grew up in Fleetcombe, and has been craving a juicy case ever since she moved back from the big city. DC Harry Ward is ten years younger, and their partnership is somehow stronger, and more satisfying even than her marriage. Together, they are determined to crack the storybook façade to find out just what the people of Fleetcombe have to hide.

 

My Thoughts

Death at the White Hart definitely had a lot going for it with an intriguing mystery, interesting and quirky characters, a setting that was picturesque, and it was fairly easy to read. I don't typically read something based off recommendations of 'he wrote this...' and 'she penned this...', but fell into this trap just by that one word 'Broadchurch'. I should really know better as I think it set my expectations a bit too high. So, while all the elements of a really good story were there, the execution did not work for me.

 

In a mystery like this, I usually tend to prefer the investigative side of the narrative so while I had my quibbles with Nicola and crew, I did find this part more interesting. Nicola had some personal issues to deal with as she negotiated the case and I liked her first officer, even if his theories got a bit wild and funny. Seeing his enthusiasm was a breath of fresh air and as he worked hard to impress Nicola, and she took the time to push him back to facts and figures, focusing on the reality of the investigation and away from the fantastical, something which could be easy to do if one were not careful. It was a good way to introduce the reader to local legends and I do enjoy this kind of thing. I didn't particularly like Nicola at the beginning of the book, but she did grow on me as the story unfolded. However, I will say this over and over again, stop using personal issues to excuse bad behaviour on the job. Having issues at home does not give one license to treat your subordinates like s&**. 

 

But while I did enjoy the dialogue and the back-and-forth between the characters, I don't think the multiple POV worked very well in this book as it gave too much information away to the reader. I don't know about other readers, but I pretty much figured out the culprit within the first POV chapter and I had to grind my teeth through some of these other similar chapters that felt like filler; when a reader is led along by the nose like a good little puppy to the water bowl with all the answers in it, more than once in case you missed it the first time, you know you have a problem. Let us figure it out ourselves. Don't tell us, but show us through your writing and dialogue what happened.  

 

Verdict

Death at the White Hart had some positive elements to the story and I definitely like the setting. However, I did think the multiple POV destroyed the tension of the story and gave away too much information, to the point where it was easy to figure out the culprit. While it was an okay read, it was kind of tropey and relied a lot on misunderstanding to proper the story forward, including many repetitive actions.  Overall, this was an average murder mystery.