Doubleback by Libby Fischer Hellmann

From Chicago author Libby Fischer Hellmann, here's a top-notch mystery with a strong female main character, Georgia Davis.  She's feisty, proud, confident and able.  She's a good PI who isn't a "superhero" type...meaning she get afraid and is not ashamed to show it.  In Doubleback, Davis gets involved with a kidnapping/murder/financial malfeasance plot that takes her from Chicago to the Arizona-Mexico border.  Hellmann's writing style is good, though I think sometimes she can be a bit choppy.  But, the great character construction and well-laid-out plot make up for this. Though the plot can be a bit far-fetched (as most thrillers and mysteries can be), Davis also seems believable in her role...meaning she doesn't just happen to "fall" into situations, rather the escapades she finds herself in are essential to the plot.   I would read more tales about Georgia Davis and her sometimes partner-in-crime Ellie Foreman (Hellmann does a series with Foreman as more of a primary character too).

The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths

Knowing I'm always in the market for a good mystery, especially a good British one, I recently got a recommendation to read the Ruth Galloway series from Elly Griffiths.  And what I discovered is a fantastic new writer who weaves an excellent British mystery with an archaeological spin. Set in the eastern English county of Norfolk, Ruth is an archeologist who gets called in by the local authorities to check the age of a skeleton that was found. This find leads to Ruth getting emerged in a missing person's case and a whole web of mystery and murder. I VERY MUCH liked the chemistry between Ruth and the inspector who works with her...Nelson. And a surprise at the end of the book means that their relationship is only beginning.  Nelson is the kind of "man-you-love-to-hate..." meaning he's gruff and harsh, with a sweet side and a heart of gold.  And Ruth herself is a refreshing female mystery character, who is less amateur sleuth and more "right place, right time" gal.  She never ASKS to be involved in the police investigation...it just sort of happens.  And Ruth is full of spunk and vitality, though she's more than her fair share of self-effacing. I will read more from Griffiths and look forward to where she leads Ruth and Nelson next!

An Unmarked Grave by Charles Todd

One of the best beginnings of a mystery (historical or otherwise) I've read in a long while.  I was just literally fixated for the first 100 pages.  After that, we gets a little too convoluted with less-than-necessary characters and too many plotlines that pop up and lead nowhere.  But, it is a must read for those first chapters!  The story revolves around nurse Bess Crawford who is working the frontlines during WWI when she stumbles upon a body that was not shot, but rather had its neck broken.  On her way to report this, she faints and succumbs to the Spanish flu, an epidemic that taking almost as many lives as the war. Once she is better, she finds out that the only people who know of this "mysterious" body are dead, most likely having been killed. Bess is a fabulously feisty character who is almost as good of an amateur sleuth as she is a nurse.  A mother and son writing team work under the pseudonym Charles Todd and their writing is highly vivid and strong and the way they create the mounting suspense leaves the reader craving more.  I could not put this one down.  I will continue to read this Bess Crawford series for sure!