The Silkworm (Cormoran Strike #2) by Robert Galbraith

 

Private investigator Cormoran Strike returns in a new mystery from Robert Galbraith, author of the #1 international bestseller The Cuckoo's Calling.

When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, Mrs. Quine just thinks her husband has gone off by himself for a few days—as he has done before—and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home.

But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine's disappearance than his wife realizes. The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were to be published, it would ruin lives—meaning that there are a lot of people who might want him silenced.

When Quine is found brutally murdered under bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any Strike has encountered before... 

The murder plotline for this one was more graphic than the first book. I considered if I should read it because I hated all the language in the first book by this author.  But the character storyline is what kept me wanting more and wanting to see where the story went. It was interesting to see how it all ended and it wasn't one that I saw coming. 

The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike #1) by Robert Galbraith

After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.

This book caught my attention because it was by J.K Rowling, the author of the famous Harry Potter series, but under a different name. I really liked the premise of this book and the character development and I had no idea who the killer was until revealed and the way he figured it out.  The downside to this book is the language.  I was so tired of all the F-bombs dropped that I almost stopped partway through the book because it was unavoidable.  But if the  mystery hadn't been so good I would have.   So if you don't mind the language, then this is a book for you.  I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads because of the language itself.

 

One of Us Is Next (One of Us Is Lying #2) by Karen M. McManus

 

The highly anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestselling thriller everyone is talking about, One of Us Is Lying! There's a new mystery to solve at Bayview High, and there's a whole new set of rules.

Come on, Bayview, you know you've missed this.

A ton of copycat gossip apps have popped up since Simon died, but in the year since the Bayview four were cleared of his shocking death, no one's been able to fill the gossip void quite like he could. The problem is no one has the facts.

Until now.

This time it's not an app, though—it's a game.

Truth or Dare.

Phoebe's the first target. If you choose not to play, it's a truth. And hers is dark.

Then comes Maeve and she should know better—always choose the dare.

But by the time Knox is about to be tagged, things have gotten dangerous. The dares have become deadly, and if Maeve learned anything from Bronwyn last year, it's that they can't count on the police for help. Or protection.

Simon's gone, but someone's determined to keep his legacy at Bayview High alive. And this time, there's a whole new set of rules.

I had really enjoyed the first one and as clues started to unfold I had figured out who it was before they revealed it in the first book.  This book was harder to piece together and kept me guessing.  But it was fast paced as long as I could keep the characters apart in my head as I was listening to it via audiobook. 

One of Us Is Lying (One of Us Is Lying #1) by Karen M. McManus

The Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars, One of Us Is Lying is the story of what happens when five strangers walk into detention and only four walk out alive. Everyone is a suspect, and everyone has something to hide.

Pay close attention and you might solve this.

On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.
Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule.
Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess.
Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.
Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.
And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High's notorious gossip app.

Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention, Simon's dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn't an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he'd planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who's still on the loose?
Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.

I really enjoyed this mystery book.  At first I had to figure out each person storylines to keep them straight, but when that all fell into place I could delve into the mystery.  Before they revealed who it was I had a good hunch at what happened.  But it was fast paced and a great read.