My first recommendation is the newest from William Kent Krueger (a Minnesota author I particularly love.) Cork O’Connor is reflecting on his years spent working as the sheriff of Tamarack County in northern Minnesota, when he receives a call from his son Stephen, who is working in the Twin Cities for a non-profit helping unjustly incarcerated inmates. Decades ago, Cork was responsible for sending Axel Boshey to prison for life for a brutal murder and now Stephen is certain he is innocent. It is hard to re-investigate, as it is a closed case, and Axel refuses to help. This is number 21 in the Cork O’Connor series. 

Gentill is an Australian author. This book is a twist on the “murder on the Orient Express” genre. Joe Penvale, an Australian crime fiction writer, has treated himself to a trip on the famed Orient Express celebrating a victory over cancer and the success of first book. He is traveling with his sister, Meri. Their first morning on the train, they discover the cabin next to them has been splashed with blood, but there is no sign of the occupant. It is soon uncovered that he was a con artist and crook who happened to have a slew of enemies on the train who were tipped off that he would be there. Hmmm. A group of passengers are selected to help search for the supposed body (Joe and his sister, a retired French policeman, and a couple of true crime podcasters.) The book features twists galore, compounded by the fact that the book is set during lockdown, and often the train is not allowed to stop and let the police on board, or take off the bodies. Yes, there will be five total.

One of my favorite mystery authors; this book is number 18 in the Ali Reynolds series, set in Sedona, Arizona (with bits in Washington state, London and Los Angeles). Ex news anchor Ali Reyolds runs the very successful High Noon cyber security firm with her husband B. Simpson in Arizona. B.’s first wife, Clarice, left him to marry his first partner Chuck Brewster. This broke up the partnership in their video game company, VGI. They have not had any contact for years. Chuck is found dead after his 60th birthday party, at his home in Washington State. Their cleaner, Donna, finds Clarice stumbling around the messy house covered in his blood. When Clarice is arrested she calls High Noon, and Ali takes the call and decides to help her, finding her an attorney in the Seattle area, and directs Frigg, their AI investigator, to work remotely on the case. Other suspects: Chuck’s estranged son and his husband, recently reconciled with his father; and the cleaner Donna, who is due to inherit a substantial amount. 

A second plot thread involves a threat to one of the High Noon employees, Cami Lee, who gets help in Los Angeles and London just in time to avoid a threat from an enemy, a man she exposed.