The Kaiju Preservation Society

 Fiction by John Scalzi

https://www.audible.com

In early 2020 Jamie Gray is abruptly fired from his job just before the pandemic shutdown and is forced to do food delivery since no one else is hiring. Then he gets a chance to work for a mysterious organization called KPS, the eponymous "Kaiju Preservation Society." But what is a Kaiju, and how are they being preserved? The answers are surprising!

This was a fun story and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

I also listened to recently by this author: The Interdependency Trilogy

I also listened to recently from Audible Originals: The Mystery of Mrs. Christie

The Nothing Man

Fiction by Catherine Ryan Howard 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

"The Nothing Man" is the name given by the Irish press to a serial killer who foils police by leaving no traces of himself behind. Although he stopped killing over fifteen years ago, people still remember that name, so when a new book comes out with that title, it draws a lot of attention.

But it especially draws the attention of the Nothing Man himself, an old guy named Jim who works as a department store security guard and who is secretly pleased with himself for getting away with his crimes. Jim becomes obsessed with the book and its author, Eve Black, a woman whose whole family he had killed. He is desperate to know what Eve remembers about the night of the murders, although she had been only twelve at the time and was hiding in a bathroom.

This was an exciting premise and a great thriller story.

I also read recently by this author: The Liar's Girl

The Golden Hour

Fiction by Beatriz Williams

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

In 1943 Lulu Thorpe travels to war-torn England from Nassau, the Bahamas, with one goal in mind: to get her husband back. Benedict Thorpe had been working undercover for the British government and had been captured by the Germans.

Lulu had met and married Benedict during her two years working as a magazine journalist in Nassau. She was specifically covering the society pages and focusing on the serving governor of the island: the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, who of course were formerly King Edward VIII of England and the divorcee Wallis Simpson. Lulu comes to England with inside information about the semi-royal couple that she hopes to leverage into her husband's rescue if possible. Her other idea is to contact Benedict's older sister for help. 

The story then goes back in time in two directions: to Lulu's 1941 arrival in Nassau, and to a Swiss asylum at the turn of the century where Benedict's parents met. It takes a rather convoluted journey through those timelines and finally returns to 1943, where Lulu is still holding out hope to get Benedict back.

This was a long book and it was somewhat confusing. I almost gave up in the middle. All in all it was a good story worth reading, but I think it might have been better if organized differently.

I also read by this author: The Summer Wives

The Mystery of Mrs. Christie

 Fiction by Marie Benedict

https://www.audible.com

In 1926, mystery novelist Agatha Christie disappeared for eleven days, sparking a huge scandal, only to return unharmed without much public explanation. This is a historical fact, but what actually happened to Mrs. Christie during that time is a mystery. 

In this book, author Marie Benedict puts forth her ideas about what really happened during those eleven days. It's pretty good.

I also read by this author: The Personal Librarian

Hidden River

 Fiction by Adrian McKitry

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

I have read two books by this author that I loved, but then I have also read some that I didn't like at all. The last one I read (see below) made me sorry I had spent the time on it, so when this one started getting really bad I quit reading.

I also read recently by this author: Fifty Grand

Come to the Window

 Fiction by Howard Norman

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

It's 1918 in Nova Scotia. "Come to the window," says Elizabeth Frame to her new husband, as she stands in the moonlight looking from their honeymoon hotel room. She has seen a whale beach itself and finds the sight moving, but her husband doesn't come to look at it. So... she shoots him in the head.

Wait, what?

Yes, this is a weird book. I didn't really like it. 

Displacement

 Fiction by Justin Pick

https://www.amazon.com

This book is set in 1998; technically, I'd say that's historical fiction, although it pains me to admit it.

In the story an eighteen-year-old boy called Liam Donohue goes to the police station to confess murder, and insists on telling a long convoluted story about it. A long-suffering detective listens to the whole thing with measured skepticism. 

It's hard to tell what's real and what is imagined in Liam's recollections, so the detective isn't wrong to suspect his veracity. The reader also cannot be sure of the truth, and indeed the plot stretches believability quite a bit. The ending is definitely a surprise.

It was a pretty good story but I didn't love it.