The Last House on the Street by Diane Chamberlain

 

Book Title: The Last House on the Street
Author: Diane Chamberlain
Audiobook Performer: Susan Bennett
My Rating: 4/5 stars
Content Rating: R (mature themes, racial injustice, violence, murder, language)

This was my first Diane Chamberlain book, and it did not disappoint! I went into this one mostly blind, which I don't typically do. But it was audio, so I didn't have a book jacket handy to read a run-down. I knew it had an eerie/creepy aspect to it, but not too scary. But beyond that, I really didn't know what to expect. 

This book is written in dual timeline (1965 and 2010), which is a format I really enjoy. We begin by meeting Kayla in 2010, an architect whose husband died after falling from a ladder while helping build their dream home. After a mysterious visit from a woman who advises Kayla not to move into the house at the end of the street, Kayla is understandably shaken.

Then we meet Ellie, a well-to-do white twenty year old who joins civil rights activists one summer in North Carolina, much to the chagrin of her family and friends.

As the two stories unfold, these two women will find themselves connected in unexpected ways. 

While I was able to figure out some of what was coming, there were a few extra twists I wasn't expecting. And the story itself was very compelling. I think the narrator did an excellent job, which is a big deal for me with fiction, it turns out. 

Definitely a good read, though it makes me sad to contemplate that these kinds of things really happened. Hate is so destructive. 

Content warnings: some language, racial injustice, murder

Body of Lies -- Iris Johansen

Eve Duncan, a nationally-known forensic sculptor, enjoys the life she is living in a lovely lake cottage in Georgia. She has her boyfriend, her adopted daughter, and has finally been able to lay to rest the remains of her biological daughter on a hillside on her property. She is at peace and has no desire to leave her sanctuary; so when she if offered a job in Louisiana, she has no problem turning it down.

But someone wants her on the job enough to dig up information which would shatter Eve's utopian life and cause her to flee her home and her life with Atlanta detective Joe Quinn, at least until she could sort out her feelings and emotions about the new -- and devastating -- information. And so Eve runs, right into grave danger. She is surrounded by half-truths, deception, and attempts on her life; because while some people want her to learn the identity of a skull in Louisiana, someone else wants to keep the skull's identity a mystery -- enough to kill for it.

Determined to identify the skull, Eve continues her work in the face of danger. With the help of Galen and Quinn, who, much to her dismay, arrives on the scene when he learns her life is danger and when he discovers some unsettling news back in Atlanta which leads him to believe Eve was tricked into taking the job; Eve is moved from safe house to safe house until she is able to finish her work and turn the skull over to the FBI. But soon they all realize they are playing in a game with very high-rolling players who have more power than any of them realized. And they will stop at nothing to get what they want.


*I decided to read this book because it had been several years since I'd started the Eve Duncan series, and I remembered liking it before. I've definitely not been missing much. Though there was suspense at times, the characters are not really believable to me. All of them are too "perfect" at what they do. And Eve Duncan is too dramatic. I'm pretty sure I'm done with this series of books now, as I don't anticipate enjoying any others in the series either.

In Their Footsteps -- Tess Gerritsen

Beryl Tavistock is a 28-year old raven-haired beauty with brains and wits to boot. She and her brother Jordan were orphaned 20 years previously when their mother and father were both killed in the line of duty, working as spies for England. However, at a present-day party for spies and other high-positioned people who ran in the same circles, Beryl and Jordan learn the truth about their parents' deaths when one party guest becomes a bit too inebriated divulges the family secret: the official ruling was that Madeline Tavistock had been having an affair, and her husband Bernard had killed them both in a passionate murder suicide.

In shock over this revelation which had been hidden from them for years, Beryl and Jordan travel to Paris where the 20 year old murder took place, in an effort to track down the truth, because they feel confident that the official ruling is wrong. Accompanying them as a favor to their old family friend is ex-CIA agent Richard Wolfe whose magnetism with Beryl creates difficulties for both of them. As they traipse around Paris, in the footsteps of their parents, murders begin anew, and the assurance that their parents were innocent becomes more and more concrete to Beryl and Jordan. But will they be allowed to learn the truth, or will it cost them their lives?

The Post-Man Always Rings Twice -- James Cain

Frank Chambers is a drifter who gets kicked off a truck near a small gas station/restaurant in California. He decides to grab a bite to eat (without being able to pay for it) at the restaurant, and the owner, a Greek man named Nick Papadakis, ends up offering Frank a job. Initially, Frank is uninterested, and plans to hit the road and continue the life he is used to living. But when Frank spots Nick's wife Cora in the kitchen, he suddenly finds a reason to stay on and work for Nick.

Before long, Frank and Cora begin a torrid affair and plan the murder of Nick Papadakis with the goal of freeing Cora from the marriage she loathes and allowing the two lovers to begin a life together. As plans fail and succeed, and as the justice system gets involved, lies, truths, betrayals, and destruction taint the future Frank and Cora dreamed about, proving that some things can only end in tragedy.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil -- John Berendt

In the heart of the Deep South, in Savannah, Georgia, a murder has occurred. A rich antiques dealer, Jim Williams, has just shot Danny Hansford, a young man with a deeply troubled and violent past. Jim Williams claims it was an act of self-defense, but the evidence leaves many questioning the truthfulness of his claim. Thus begins an almost decade-long investigation and mulitple trials as Jim Williams appeals his guilty verdict again and again.

Set amid the backdrop of Savannah -- a city where everyone knows everyone else, where gossip spreads wildly, and where superstitions fuel many fires -- this story unfolds with shocking detail, humorous characters, and witty stories of interesting Savannah.