“The Nine Minute Diner” is a fascinating concept—a novella that focuses on the brief moments before a fatal robbery in a diner from the perspective of the sixteen patrons there at the time. As each person gives their account of events, they explain to the police recorder how the events of their life brought them to that particular diner on that day just before the traumatic events occurred. It’s up to the reader to decide how reliable each narrator is when they both give their account of the crime, and the events of their life up to that moment. While each of the sixteen characters have a distinct personality, not all were necessary as it tended to spread the unifying incident between each character far too thin.

Harrow does a lovely job making the actual house that is Starling House become a living, breathing entity that seems to care for the unwanted things in Eden, like Opal and Arthur. Coiled up within the house is a mystery as to who the Starling’s are, and why they are so steadfast on never ever letting the coal company, run for generations by the Gravely family, have access to their land. But loneliness is an insatiable beast of its own, and when two lonely young adults find themselves in the same orbit, one small act of kindness unleashes the very thing the Wardens of Starling House have been tasked with keeping at bay for generations.

I love a good family mystery that spans generations. Throw in the creepy, small-town vibes where everyone knows each other and keeps mum on the darker aspects of this small town locked in time, and you already have the makings of a very spooky, and atmospheric thriller. But then add some ghosts and unsolved murders on top of that? Perfection. Or, mostly perfection. In “The Sun Down Motel” the story goes between a flashback and flashforward narrative between Carly (the present) and Vivian (the past) to uncover the spooky goings on of Fell, New York, and the Sun Down Motel as a whole. Both Viv and Carly have fairly tragic lives, but the one thing Carly clings too after the loss of her mother, is finding out what happened to her aunt who disappeared in 1982. While, Vivian, desperate to find herself after her parents’ divorce, lands in Fell where she immediately gets sucked into the mystery of several murdered women, and the run-down motel she works at connection to all the dead girls.

While I have a hard time classifying “Sadie” as the thriller it’s listed as, it’s such a heart wrenching and beautifully told mystery that I’m going to mostly ignore the lack of “thriller” aspects. Sadie is a young woman on a crusade to find her sister’s killer, and perhaps heal a teeny tiny bit from her own horrific abuse (trigger warning for child sexual assault and pedophilia). Sadie has been through the worst life has to offer, but she lives for Mattie, her younger sister. Sadie develops the fierce maternal instincts she wishes she had in return from her own mother, who was absent at best due to her alcohol and drug addiction. So, when Mattie is brutally taken from Sadie, she believes there is nothing left of her; her heart, her soul, her LIFE, have been torn out and the only option she sees is to find the person responsible and give them a bit of an “eye for an eye” style justice. Sadie knows, when she starts out on this quest that, if she succeeds, she’ll never be the same, that the hunt for the truth and justice and retribution will change her forever. But she also knows success isn’t guaranteed. And while it took me a bit to appreciate the podcast style duel POV, I absolutely adored the way Sadie’s trauma and grief were presented (and yes, I know that sounds weird).

This was my first Edwardian historical fiction romance and I have to say, it was kind of charming. You still have the formal gowns and bodices of regency romances, the demure courtship practices, and the flowery language that makes historical fiction romances so delicious, but there are just enough modern touches (like cars) to give it a bit of a twist. In “Proper English” we follow Pat, who is about to embark on a new adventure with leaving her family home now that her brother is married. With no desire to marry a man, Pat needs to figure out what her new purpose is now that she’s not managing a household estate. She has dreams to open a shooting school for women, or perhaps becoming a lady’s companion, but nothing is grabbing her yet. She hopes that a house party where she can shoot and show off her marksmen skills with her brother, their family friend, and a few others will be just the break she needs to figure out what new direction her life will take. That’s until the house party gets crashed by her friends’ fiancée, and a slew of guests neither she nor her brother were expecting. As Pat’s passions kindle for Fen, a locked door “whodunit” murder mystery threatens to destroy not just her blossoming romance, but her brother and her friends' life as well. You’ll come to this book for the sapphic romance, but stay for the murder mystery, trust me.