I really liked House on Fire. It’s about a blended family whose bonds are challenged when Leigh’s 14-year-old daughter Chrissy is killed in a car crash caused by Kip, the 17-year-old son of Leigh’s husband Pete. Kip is arrested for drunk driving, and as the trial date nears, Kip makes the startling claim that Chrissy had been behind the wheel. Kip has a history of lying, so Leigh chalks this up as yet another lie, but Pete wants to believe his son is innocent. And with Leigh’s best friend signed on as Kip’s lawyer and bound by client confidentiality to keep information from Leigh, the tension between husband and wife becomes unbearable.

I loved the family drama, and I think the comparisons to Jodi Picoult and Celeste Ng are spot on. The story was really compelling, and while Leigh, Stephen and Kip are clearly the main characters, I love how the author showed us how the situation impacted other people in their lives, like Leigh’s best friend, Leigh’s twin sons, Kip’s mother, and so on.

I also love how the author showed that there were never any easy decisions. The more facts we learn about the night of the car crash, the more we realize how, whomever was actually behind the wheel at the time, culpability can always be shared. Even in the first few chapters, when see Kip drinking at his friend’s party, we also see him making the responsible decision to spend the night. Ironically, while Chrissy was the victim of the crash, she was also the reason Kip left the party in the first place, because she came to warn him their parents were coming home early and Kip didn’t want her to get into trouble. So, who really was at fault with regard to the accident? Kip, for drinking and going to a party without permission? Chrissy, for causing her brother to leave the party while drunk instead of sleeping it off? Or Leigh and Pete, for coming home early, or perhaps for leaving for the weekend in the first place? Perhaps it’s no one’s fault at all, and I love that the story shows how easy it is to fall into a spiral of blame, and how messy the idea of culpability can get.

I do think the subplots about Leigh’s clients got a bit out of hand, and while I see the thematic link of her friendship with the priest, I wish the book focused more on the main plot. I also wish we’d seen more of the courtroom drama, as the trial only took up the final section of the book. The final section of the book also got a bit too melodramatic for me, and in a bizarre twist, a lot of the melodrama came from subplots related to Leigh’s clients that the author managed to link back to the main plot, but that also felt unnecessary.

Still, overall, this is a good book, and a compelling read.

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Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada and Netgalley for an egalley of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Golden Tresses of the Dead begins with the wedding of Flavia’s sister Feely, a beautifully emotional affair until the bride discovers a human finger in her wedding cake. At the end of the previous book, Flavia and family friend Dogger had formed their own private detective agency, and they immediately purloin the finger for investigation. They also receive their first official client: a woman who claims some important and sensitive letters have been stolen from her. Both mysteries eventually converge into a large story, and make for a lovely send-off for the young detective.

I’ve been a long-time fan of Flavia de Luce. A tween British girl in the early 20th century with an incredible affinity for chemistry, Flavia was Nancy Drew and Sherlock Holmes all rolled into one. I love Flavia, with her compelling blend of almost morbid glee (often over body parts and gory stuff) and utter vulnerability (my heart warms every time she speaks about admiring an adult / somewhat-parental figure in her life). She’s a child with a somewhat twisted-yet-useful interest in death, and events have forced her to grow up really quickly.

In Golden Tresses, Flavia has matured quite a bit from the 11 year old we once knew. (She’s now 12.) She still maintains her curiosity and excitement, but she also takes on more of an older sister role to her cousin Undine, and as the new owner of Buckshaw, she takes her responsibilities to the estate staff very seriously. I also found her partnership with Dogger interesting, as I found they ended up fairly evenly matched as partners. Unlike many other detective series where the lead character is a genius and the sidekick valiantly trying to keep up, I actually found Dogger a few steps ahead of Flavia for much of the story. I was slightly disappointed at first because I felt Flavia was now taking a back seat in her own investigation, but by the end of the novel, I think both detectives actually participated fairly evenly in the investigation. I don’t quite remember Dogger being this insightful in previous books, but I like that perhaps he actually was and it was just the opportunity to run a detective agency that finally gave him the opportunity to shine alongside Flavia.

I’m also glad to see the story return to Bishop’s Lacey and Buckshaw. The quaint English setting was one of my favourite parts of the series in the first place, and I had been somewhat disappointed in the later books in the series for taking Flavia away from that and, in one book, seemingly towards a more espionage-ish type story arc.

Golden Tresses was a solid, satisfying end to the series. It wasn’t my favourite Flavia book, but it was a very much welcome return to form. It was fun seeing Flavia grow up and develop as a detective and as a person, while still maintaining the rather morbid charm that hooked readers on the series in the first place.

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Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

You Owe Me a Murder is so incredibly good. I couldn’t put it down! A contemporary YA take on Strangers on a Train, the book tells the story of Kim, a seventeen year old girl, who gets pulled into a murder plot when she meets Nicki, a charismatic young woman, in the airport on her way to a school trip. Kim is struggling to get over a recent breakup, and unthinkingly tells Nicki that she wishes her ex-boyfriend were dead. It turns out that Nicki wishes her mother was dead as well, and so, at some point on the flight while getting drunk on stolen liquor, Kim agrees to Nicki’s joking suggestion that they murder each other’s intended targets. Kim thinks it must have been just a drunken joke, until her ex-boyfriend dies in a suspicious accident, and Nicki reappears to remind Kim of her end of the bargain.

You Owe Me a Murder is an exciting twisty thriller, but more than that it’s a compelling character-centric story. Kim is such an awesome heroine — relatable but also with a fantastic character arc from terror to sheer kickassery. Nicki is coldly manipulative, and makes for a believably formidable villain. There’s also a subplot about Alex, a cute boy who Kim meets on the school trip and falls in love with, and I just love how how awesomely nerdy and sweet he is.

I thought the middle was the strongest part of this novel. Eileen Cook does such a good job of ratcheting up the psychological suspense bit by bit — like Kim, we can just feel the noose of Nicki’s trip tightening around our necks, and we can very much empathize with Kim’s worry that she’s overreacting along with her fear that she isn’t. The latter part of the book, once Kim figures out the extent of Nicki’s plot, turns more into traditional thriller territory. While not quite as wonderfully tense as the lead up, this section is action-packed and fun, and brings about a very satisfying conclusion to the story.

Author Q&A: Eileen Cook on her most memorable conversation with a stranger while in transit

Since all of Kim’s troubles started with a fateful conversation with a stranger on a plane, I asked Eileen Cook what her most memorable in-transit encounter with a stranger has been. Her response is hilarious! Thanks for sharing, Eileen!

Normally, I’m that kind of person who doesn’t like to talk to people on planes. As far as I’m concerned that’s the perfect time for reading or napping. Two of my favourite activities! I’m that person who settles in and pulls out a book as soon as my butt hits the seat.

However, I do have a funny transit story. I was once on the Seabus (ferry) here in Vancouver. Suddenly from the far side of the boat I see someone READING ONE OF MY BOOKS. This is a moment I had dreamed of my entire life. I debated for about a second and then decided to approach her. I went up, interrupted the woman and said “Sorry, to bother you, but I’m the author of that book.” She gushed for a while about how much she was enjoying it. I tried to act humble, but I was eating it up. She then asked me to autograph it. I couldn’t have been more excited- this was a total stranger who wanted my autograph! I whipped out a pen (I’d been waiting for this moment for most of my life) and when she passed me the book, I realized something.

It wasn’t my book.

It looked like my book from far away (the covers were very similar) but it was NOT my book. No way I was going to admit that I was wrong. I figured she would think I was one of those odd people you sometimes meet on public transit, so I signed the other author’s name and ran away. I’ve never approached a stranger since!

Blog Tour

Check out the rest of the blog tour below!

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Thank you to Raincoast Books for an advance reading copy in exchange for an honest review.