by Janice Hallett
Atria Books, 2023. 326 pages. Mystery
Forty years ago, Steven Smith found a copy of a famous children's book by disgraced author Edith Twyford, its margins full of strange markings and annotations. Severely dyslexic and wanting to know more, he took it to his remedial English teacher Miss Iles, not realizing the chain of events that he was setting in motion. Miss Iles became convinced that the book was the key to solving a puzzle, and that a message in secret code ran through all Twyford's novels. Then Miss Iles disappeared on a class field trip, and Steven has no memory of what happened to her.
Now, out of prison after a long stretch, Steven decides to investigate the mystery that has haunted him for decades. Was Miss Iles murdered? Was she right about the code? And is it still in use today? Desperate to recover his memories and find out what really happened to Miss Iles, Steven revisits the people and places of his childhood. But it soon becomes clear that Edith Twyford wasn't just a writer of forgotten children's stories. The Twyford Code is valuable, and Steven isn't the only one trying to solve it.
This fun and twisty mystery gets even more twisty because of the way it's told, and who's telling it. Written in the format of 200 AI-transcribed voice memos intended for Steven's estranged son, general mistakes in the text transcription ("missiles" for "Miss Iles," "mustard" for "must've") help twist meanings and messages even more. Steven not only has gaps in his memory and is unsure of who to trust, but also his dyslexia both helps and complicates his search for clues in the Twyford novels since he reads messages that others cannot. A bonus feature for me: one of the people helping Steven solve the case is a curious librarian. If you like mysteries full of codes, clues, hidden meanings, and possibly hidden treasure, this book is for you.
by Anthony Horowitz
Harper, 2017, 236 pages, Mystery
When editor Susan Ryeland is given the manuscript of Alan Conway's latest novel, she has no reason to think it will be much different from any of his others. After working with the bestselling crime writer for years, she's intimately familiar with his detective, Atticus Pund, who solves mysteries disturbing sleepy English villages. But the more Susan reads Alan’s latest manuscript, the more she’s convinced that there is another story hidden its pages: one of real-life jealousy, greed, ruthless ambition, and murder.
by Peng Shepherd
William Morrow, 2022. 391 pages. Fiction
Nell Young's whole life and greatest passion is cartography. Her father, Dr. Daniel Young, is a legend in the field, and Nell's personal hero. When Dr. Young is found dead in his office, with a seemingly worthless map hidden in his desk, Nell can't resist investigating. To her surprise, she soon discovers that the map is incredibly valuable, and also exceedingly rare. In fact, she may now have the only copy left in existence—because a mysterious collector has been hunting down and destroying every last one—along with anyone who gets in the way.
by Steve Berry
Grand Central Publishing, 2023. 451 pages. Fiction
King Ludwig II of Bavaria was an enigmatic figure who was deposed in 1886, mysteriously drowning three days later. History tells us that in the years before he died Ludwig engaged in a worldwide search for a new kingdom. But a question remains: did he succeed? Enter Cotton Malone and his protégé, Luke Daniels. Everything hinges on a 19th century deed which proves that Ludwig's long-rumored search bore fruit—legal title to lands that Germany, China, and the United States all now want, only for vastly different reasons. In a race across Bavaria for clues hidden in Ludwig's three fairytale castles—Neuschwanstein, Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee—Malone and Daniels battle an ever-growing list of deadly adversaries, all intent on finding the last kingdom.
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