Morgan's Mysterious June

Mysteries Abound

Growing up I was always a fan of Nancy Drew and a number of other mystery series. This continued into my more mature reading habits and I thought these are some suspenseful, great reads as we head into beach season.

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

This is a funny, bizarre mystery for the true mystery lover and literary wizard. Focused on our sometimes capable heroine Thursday Next the story takes place in England  in an alternate reality where all of society takes its literary history very very seriously. The mystery comes in as an evil conglomerate starts tampering with works of fiction by entering books (FYI there is some ScFy in here too) and kidnapping main characters. Don't worry, Thursday Next is on the case and will put Jane Eyre back to its rightful condition (mostly). A fun and silly series that definitely gives you an intellectual workout I recommend reading it when you have time to really enjoy it. Also, you may need a dictionary - the vocabulary is out of this world.

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear

For the more historically inclined the Maisie Dobbs series is a fantastic way to bring together mystery, suspense and historical fiction. I found Maisie to be an engaging, intelligent and funny main character and thoroughly enjoyed learning about her background as much as I did trying to figure out the mystery. Based in England after WII this is a great book for those of you waiting for the next season of Downton Abbey or those who are looking for a more modern Sherlock Holmes. The best part is this series already has a number of installments so if you like the first you won't have to wait to continue with the characters!

The Rope by Nevada Barr (Anna Pigeon Series)

This is a fantastic (out of order) addition to the Anna Pigeon mysteries all of which take place at various National Parks. A fantastic series that doesn't necessarily have to be read in order these are fun mysteries that have great backstories and beautiful descriptions of our National Parks. Anna Pidgeon has long been a front runner for my absolute favorite heroine. She is tough, funny and bright and The Rope is the story of how she got her start as the mystery solving park ranger those of us who have read all her books know so well. This is a dark, surprising novel and definitely helps fill in some of the gaps about Anna that we have all been waiting to hear about for years. I found the secondary characters in this novel to also be interesting and engaging and overall this book seemed to fly by. I'd definitely recommend this book to a long time fan of the series or to a newcomer.