‘One Death at a Time’

If a crime could ever be called delightful, Abbi Waxman is its likely author. Her latest One Death at a Time will have readers laughing all the way to the final page. Julia is a former actress newly arrested for the murder of her sworn enemy who, most inconveniently, was found floating in her pool with a bullet in his back. Julia has a slight problem with alcohol and doesn’t remember the events leading to the murder, though she knows she is perfectly capable of having committed it. She spent 15 years in jail, you see, for killing her ex-husband. Is history repeating itself? Natasha is Julia’s sponsor at AA, determined to help her kick booze and discover if Julia did the killing. This is a whirlwind of a story set in Hollywood with a dynamic duo – often at odds – who I hope Waxman brings back for a sequel. 

‘The Eights’

The Eights by Joanna Miller is historical fiction at its best. Set in 1920 Oxford, when women were first officially admitted to the hallowed institution, Miller’s story follows four women who forge a tight friendship during their tough first year. In trying to convince the institution’s males that they are their equals as students, the women end up working twice as hard. Miller captures that liminal period between the world wars, haunted both by ghosts of the past and a foreshadowing of what is to come.

‘To Catch a Spy’

Who didn’t love Cary Grant in to Catch a Thief? Well, now John Robie is back in To Catch a Spy, written by Mark ONeill, who was given permission from the estate of David Dodge. ONeill seamlessly returns the reader to a glamorous French Riviera, Robie chasing criminals and attempting to win back the aloof Francie (Grace Kelly in the film). This is an action-packed caper which has the reader rooting for a rekindled romance to start between the glamorous Francie and the debonair John. 

‘Story of a Murder’

Hallie Rubenhold dives deep in her Story of a Murder investigating the infamous Crippen case. Full disclosure; I knew nothing about this murderous doctor, but was quickly invested in the extensive and well-researched case of the man, his wives, and a mistress in disguise – a criminal episode that shocked England and America during the explicit trial in 1910. Dr. Crippen by all accounts is a kind man, never mind that his first wife died under mysterious circumstances, or that he is engaged in a series of sketchy “medical” practices, or that he has managed to fool a young typist willing to overlook the problem of his current wife. Rubenhold is a historian of the first order, returning justice to a victim who throughout the trial and subsequent retellings has been repeatedly victimized.

‘The Rebel Romanov’

Any lover of Russian history will thrill with The Rebel Romanov: Julie of Saxe-Coburg, the Empress Russia Never Had. Helen Rappaport is back with another epic Romanov tragedy. In 1795 Julie of Saxe-Coburg (Queen Victoria’s aunt through marriage to her beloved Albert) set off on the arduous journey from a duchy in the German Empire – where she was living in genteel poverty – to Catherine the Great’s St. Petersburg. It is in that teeming and majestic capital of the Russian Empire that Saxe-Coburg married Catherine’s volatile and troubled grandson. The marriage didn’t last. Rumors of affairs and illegitimate children prevailed, interwoven with shadowy intrigue and family machinations in a tumultuous Russia herself going through painful growth.