Dead Pretty is book 5 in the Aector McAvoy series.  In this book the focus is very much on Pharoah and the mess of a life her disabled husband has dropped her in without much notice.  Aector and Roisin also feature prominently, reaffirming their life together after the events of the last couple books.  Aector is trying to solve the case of missing girl, while Pharoah is seemingly off on her own tangent involving a man recently exonerated after being convicted.  As Aector delves further into his case, he begins to wonder who he can trust.  Another very good read in this great series!

Flamingo Fatale has been on my TBR list for a long time.  It is written by James Dean who writes a number of cozy mysteries under several pen names.  I finally got to this one because an ebook of it was available on Hoopla.  This is a trailer park themed cozy and the characters provide the “local color” that people would stereotypically expect from them.  The shotgun toting neighbor, the single mom working multiple minimum wage jobs, the teen mom, young men with criminal records, and the like but this is balanced by the fact Wanda and her family come across as real people.  People who are doing their best and yet still struggling to make it.  I think this is something that readers from various places or stages in life can relate to.  I enjoyed this, but I would say it is a little grittier than the average cozy.  Now that I’ve met the basic cast of characters, I will read another in the series.

Snap is another “I need to get to that” from my TBR.  I read Rubbernecker by this author and really liked it so I put this one on my TBR.  This was a solid thriller, with a cold missing person case being connected to something happening in the present day.  The character of Jack, is both tragic and heroic.  The lengths and depths he goes to in order to care for his sisters after the disappearance of his mother versus what should have been his life from the glimpses of his life before her disappearance is heartbreaking.  While the character of Jack provokes an emotional response from the reader, I didn’t really feel much for Catherine and her part of the storyline.  A good read, but I’d recommend Rubbernecker over this.

Now You See Me by Lesley Glaister is not really a mystery read, more of a gradual  unveiling of secrets of two damaged people.  Lamb and Doggo meet and bond, but both have secrets that are inevitably going to tear them apart.  This was just not for me, but perhaps a younger reader could relate more?