Map to Paradise

Author: Susan Meissner
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2025
Pages: 352
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: With her name on the Hollywood blacklist and her life on hold, starlet Melanie Cole has little choice in company. There is her next-door neighbor, Elwood, but the screenwriter's agoraphobia allows for just short chats through open windows. He's her sole confidante, though, as she and her housekeeper, Eva, an immigrant from war-torn Europe, rarely make conversation.

Then one early morning Melanie and Eva spot Elwood's sister-in-law and caretaker, June, digging in his beloved rose garden. After that they don't see Elwood at all anymore. Where could a man who never leaves the house possibly have gone?

As they try to find out if something has happened to him, unexpected secrets are revealed among all three women, leading to an alliance that seems the only way for any of them to hold on to what they can still call their own. But it's a fragile pact and one little spark could send it all up in smoke. . .

Review: Susan Meissner is a reliably good author. This wasn't my favorite novel that she's written, but it was still very good reading. Some of the events/circumstances were far-fetched and I didn't love a couple of the characters. That said, Meissner knows how to tell a story.

Susan Meissner novels
As Bright as Heaven
Only the Beautiful

Fire and Bones

Author: Kathy Reichs
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Scribner, 2024
Pages: 288
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Always apprehensive about working fire scenes, Tempe is called to Washington, D.C. to analyze the victims of a deadly blaze. The devastated building is in Foggy Bottom, a neighborhood with a colorful past and present, and when Tempe delves into the property's history, she becomes suspicious about the ownership.

The pieces start falling into place strangely and quickly, and sending a good story, Tempe teams up with a new ally, tele journalist Ivy Doyle. Soon the duo learns that back in the 1930s and 40s the home was the hangout of a group of bootleggers and racketeers known as the Foggy Bottom Gang. While interesting, this fact seems irrelevant, until the son of a Foggy Bottom gang members is shot dead at his home in an affluent part of the district. Coincidence? Targeted attack? So many questions.

As Tempe and Ivy dig deeper, an arrest is finally made. Then another fire claims one more victim, and slowly, Tempe's instincts begin pointing to the obvious. But her moves since coming to Washington have been anticipated - and every path forward seems to bring a lethal threat.

Review: I had just a few minutes to browse the library's selection of books on CD, and this one sounded interesting. I should have, but I didn't realize this was part of a series until I popped the CD into my car's player. I had nothing else to listen to so I rolled with it.

Not only is this part of a series, it's book #23!

However, I actually enjoyed this and while I know I'm missing the backstory to some of the characters, it wasn't a problem. It remains to be seen if I'll read any of the books leading up to this, but at least I liked this a whole better than some of the novels I've chosen lately.