Starlight Book Review -Brittany Cavallaro’s A Study in Charlotte – 🇺🇸

Cover of A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro on a blue colored background | Image Source: Goodreads

RUSA SRC – Region #4 Northeast – Connecticut

3.8/5 When taking on the 2023 Stellar Reading Challenges (SRC), particularly with the U.S.-centric one, I aimed to read books set in the “less popular states.” When I saw book set in Connecticut, as opposed to New York, and that it offered a contemporary twist on Sherlock Holmes on The Book Girls’ Guide. The first book in the Charlotte Holmes Series, A Study in Charlotte, fit the bill. Click here to see The Book Girls’ Guide’s post on

Check out the Regional U.S.A. (RUSA) Tour by clicking here.

“The last thing Jamie Watson wants is a rugby scholarship to Sherringford, a Connecticut prep school just an hour away from his estranged father. But that’s not the only complication: Sherringford is also home to Charlotte Holmes, the famous detective’s great-great-great-granddaughter, who has inherited not only Sherlock’s genius but also his volatile temperament. From everything Jamie has heard about Charlotte, it seems safer to admire her from afar… From the moment they meet, there’s a tense energy between them, and they seem more destined to be rivals than anything else. But when a Sherringford student dies under suspicious circumstances, ripped straight from the most terrifying of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Jamie can no longer afford to keep his distance. Jamie and Charlotte are being framed for murder, and only Charlotte can clear their names. But danger is mounting and nowhere is safe—and the only people they can trust are each other.”

For the most part, I enjoyed A Study in Charlotte. I liked how Sherlock Holmes and John Watson truly existed in the Charlotte Holmes universe crafted by Cavallaro. Jamie and Charlotte intrigued me. While Connecticut remains on my leap list, I imagined with ease the Sherringford campus in the Nutmeg State. Someday, I might read the next in the Charlotte Holmes Series. I took off 1.2 stars on my rating for perhaps some arbitrary reasons — 1) I have yet to read Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes Series and I had to return my copy a number of times because others wanted to read A Study in Charlotte.

Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.

Starlight Book Review – Karin Slaughter’s Triptych – 🇺🇸

Cover of Triptych (Will Trent #1) by Karin Slaughter on a light green background |
Image Source: Goodreads

RUSA SRC – Region #4 Southeast – Georgia

4/5 I admit that I watched ABC’s Will Trent before I cracked the spine on an any of the books by Karin Slaughter which inspired the show. I enjoyed becoming acquainted with Will, Angie, Amanda, and, of course, Betty the Chihuahua. Still and all, I thought Triptych might be just the ticket for literary travel to Atlanta, Georgia in the Regional U.S.A. (RUSA) Tour Stellar Reading Challenge (SRC).

Click here to learn about the RUSA Tour SRC.

Trigger Warnings (TW): Triptych contains the following which may require TW for readers — Trigger warnings: murder, rape, mutilation, kidnapping, sexual relationships between teenagers and adult men, drug abuse, child abuse, mentions of self harm, death of a parent, slut shaming, misogyny, wrongful conviction, wrongful imprisonment.

“In the city of Atlanta, women are dying—at the hands of a killer who signs his work with a single, chilling act of mutilation. Leaving behind enough evidence to fuel a frenzied police hunt, this cunning madman is bringing together dozens of lives, crossing the boundaries of wealth and race. And the people who are chasing him must cross those boundaries too. Among them is Michael Ormewood, a veteran detective whose marriage is hanging by a thread—and whose arrogance and explosive temper are threatening his career. And Angie Polaski, a beautiful vice cop who was once Michael’s lover before she became his enemy… But another player has entered the game: a loser ex-con who has stumbled upon the killer’s trail in the most coincidental of ways—someone who may be the key to breaking the case wide open…”

Slaughter surprised me from the beginning of Triptych with her first point of view – third person omniscient for Michael Ormewood. Maybe the fault of this falls to watching the show before reading any of the books. Yet, as I considered the title of this very book — Triptych — I realized the need for three separate points of view. While definitely gritty, rough, and even brutal (much of John Shelley’s experience made me squint, poor guy!), I liked the sweet gems offered throughout Triptych. Will’s interactions with Betty stand out the most in this regard. Also, I enjoyed reading a little about Georgia – Agnes Scott College, Stone Mountain, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. I might read another in this series when I’m in the mood for something darker because I found Will Trent in particular rather intriguing.

Check out an article about Will Trent the TV Show and its adaptation to screen by clicking here.

Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.

Starlight Book Review – Joe R. Lansdale’s The Donut Legion – 🇺🇸

Cover of The Donut Legion by Joe R. Lansdale on a light peach background | Image Source: Goodreads

RUSA SRC – Region #2 Southwest – Texas

3.75/5 As I mentioned in a previous Starlight Book Review (SBR), I set a lowkey goal of reading “new to me” authors in 2023. Someone recommended I read Joe R. Lansdale’s The Donut Legion as a book set in my home state of Texas. So, I took on reading a Lansdale book for the first time.

Check out the Regional U.S.A. (RUSA) Tour by clicking here.

“In this standalone, Edgar-award winning author, Joe R. Lansdale, whom “few can match” ( Booklist ) beams a light on an East Texas town where a QAnon-style, evangelist cult is brewing trouble… Charlie Garner has a bad feeling. His ex-wife, Meg, has been missing for over a week and one quick peek into her home shows all her possessions packed up in boxes. Neighbors claim she’s running from bill collectors, but Charlie suspects something more sinister is afoot. Meg was last seen working at the local donut shop, a business run by a shadow group most refer to as ‘The Saucer People’; a space-age, evangelist cult who believe their compound to be the site of an extraterrestrial Second Coming… Along with his brother, Felix, and beautiful, randy journalist Amelia “Scrappy” Moon, Charlie uncovers strange and frightening details about the compound ( a massive, doomsday storehouse of weapons, a leashed chimpanzee!) When the body of their key informer is found dead with his arms ripped out of their sockets, Charlie knows he’s in danger but remains dogged in his quest to rescue Meg… Brimming with colorful characters and Lansdale’s characteristic bounce, this rollicking crime novel examines the insidious rise of fringe groups and those under their sway with black comedy and glints of pathos.”

For the most part, I enjoyed reading The Donut Legion. I treated myself to the audio version in which a number of actors, author Lansdale included, lent their voices. This added such dimension to my reading of the book. As a screwball comedy, I expected a down to earth explanation for Meg’s disappearance among other things. As a dweller of the Texas Gulf Coast region reading something set in the Piney Woods (East Texas), I felt transported by Lansdale’s renderings of this part of the Lone Star State. I knocked off a star and a sliver for some of “potty humor” in this rollicking novel but otherwise recommend this book to readers with stronger stomachs.

For descriptions of Texas Regions, click here.

Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.

Starlight Book Review – Peter Heller’s Celine 🇺🇸

Cover of Celine by Peter Heller on a cream-colored background | Image Source: Goodreads

RUSA SRC – Region #1 West – Wyoming

4.15/5 Alongside reading books set in certain places, I set a number of unannounced goals. In 2023, I aimed to read books by “new to me” authors as well as books set in specific states within each region. While I met Peter Heller at a book event nearly ten years ago, I never opened one of his books until now. Also, the idea of Celine, an older protagonist appealed to me. Thus, I selected Peter Heller’s Celine as my first West Region book, designating it as a book set in Wyoming.

Check out the Regional U.S.A. (RUSA) Tour by clicking here.

“From the best-selling author of The Dog Stars and The Painter, a luminous, masterful novel of suspense–the story of Celine, an elegant, aristocratic private eye who specializes in reuniting families, trying to make amends for a loss in her own past… Working out of her jewel box of an apartment at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge, Celine has made a career of tracking down missing persons, and she has a better record at it than the FBI. But when a young woman, Gabriela, asks for her help, a world of mystery and sorrow opens up. Gabriela’s father was a photographer who went missing on the border of Montana and Wyoming. He was assumed to have died from a grizzly mauling, but his body was never found. Now, as Celine and her partner head to Yellowstone National Park, investigating a trail gone cold, it becomes clear that they are being followed–that this is a case someone desperately wants to keep closed… Combining the exquisite plotting and gorgeous evocation of nature that have become his hallmark, with a wildly engrossing story of family, privilege, and childhood loss, Peter Heller gives us his finest work to date.”

I found Celine a sparkling novel and a nice way to kick off my RUSA Tour experience. The eponymous character fascinated me. Celine paints a rich, detailed portrait of Celine Watkins, and to some extent, other players in Celine. I also liked reading about Celine and her husband, Pete, traveling to Yellowstone National Park in order to help a young woman named Gabriela discover what happened to her father, Paul. This helped me gain a sense of place. While I enjoyed Celine, I still wanted a little more in the end of this book. Some readers might argue that this quality makes the book even more stellar but it altered my rating somewhat on this book.

Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.

Starlight Book Review – Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon

Cover of The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett on a brown background | Image Source: Goodreads

Back in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge – 1930s

Published 1930

3.9/5 I cannot recall a time I hadn’t heard of Sam Spade or falcons from Malta. As an avid reader of mysteries, I knew of Dashiell Hammett’s private eye novel The Maltese Falcon. When I discovered The Maltese Falcon was published in 1930, I decided I wanted to read it for the Back in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge (SRC), the prospect of discovering books from the 1920s thrilled me.

“A treasure worth killing for. Sam Spade, a slightly shopworn private eye with his own solitary code of ethics. A perfumed grafter named Joel Cairo, a fat man name Gutman, and Brigid O’Shaughnessy, a beautiful and treacherous woman whose loyalties shift at the drop of a dime. These are the ingredients of Dashiell Hammett’s iconic, influential, and beloved The Maltese Falcon.” 

I think The Maltese Falcon established the Detective Mystery Subgenre. I found much to admire in Hammett’s writing — well-drawn characters, an interesting storyline, a colorful setting. Since some of elements in The Maltese Falcon seemed cliché, I imagined that it was because Hammett created what many other writers in various media try to emulate to this day. Also, some of the expressions and treatments in 1930s California would hopefully not fly in the world of 2022. Setting aside 1930s conventions and attitudes, I recommend this book to any reader eager to discover the genesis of a subgenre.

Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.