Dark Alchemy by Various

Wizards and witches have lived in the human imagination for centuries. From ancient to modern times they have held great power in our literary lives. Here for a brand new audience is a collection of electrifying stories that show us benign and evil, ambivalent and determined characters that will stalk our imaginations and thoughts for some time to come. From the pens of Eoin Colfer, Garth Nix, Neil Gaiman, Jane Yolen and many more spring an incredible array of stories that will thrill readers young and old. This book includes stories by Neil Gaiman, Garth Nix, Mary Rosenblum, Kage Baker, Eoin Colfer, Jane Yolen, Orson Scott Card, Patricia A. McKillip, Elizabeth Hand, Andy Duncan, Peter S. Beagle, Nancy Kress, Tanith Lee, Terry Bisson, Terry Dowling, Gene Wolfe, Tad Williams and Jeffrey Ford.

My favourite was The Witch's Headstone by Neil Gaiman.

Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs

Bagged and discarded, the dismembered body of a woman is discovered in the grounds of an abandoned monastery. 

Dr Temperance Brennan, Director of Forensic Anthropology for the province of Quebec, has been researching recent disappearances in the city.

Soon she is convinced that a serial killer is at work. But when no one else seems to care, her anger forces her to take matters into her own hands. Her determined probing has placed those closest to her in mortal danger, however.

A complex mystery, good character development and a satisfying ending. It was a bit dated though. The early 90's don't seem that long ago, but a lot has changed since then both in technology and social attitudes.

8/10

The Twisted Root by Anne Perry

A young groom enlists private investigator William Monk to track down his fiancée, Miriam Gardiner, who disappeared suddenly from a party at a luxurious Bayswater mansion. But Monk soon finds the coach in which Miriam fled and nearby, the murdered body of the coachman. There is no trace of Miriam. Monk and Hester, newly married, chase down the clues as to why Miriam would run away from a marriage that promised so much...

This is another brilliant read from Anne Perry. A very twisty tale that kept me guessing until the end.

9/10

The Troubled Man by Henning Mankell

Every morning Håkan von Enke takes a walk in the forest near his apartment in Stockholm. Then, one day he fails to come home.

Detective Kurt Wallander is not officially involved but Håkan's son is engaged to his daughter Linda. A few months earlier Håkan was eager to talk to Kurt about a controversial incident from his past. Could this be connected to his disappearance?

When Håkan's wife also goes missing, Wallander is determined to uncover the truth but the investigation will force him to look back over his own past, as he comes to the unsettling realisation that even those we love the most can remain strangers to us...

The last Kurt Wallander mystery. A good ending to the series. As has happened with the last couple of Henning Mankell books they have got a bit political. This time about the Swedish defence force. I skimmed those bits.

6/10

See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt

Lizzie Borden took an ax
And gave her mother 40 whacks
When she saw what she had done
She gave her father 41. 

Or did she?

On the morning of August 4, 1892, Lizzie Borden calls out to her maid, "Someone's killed Father." The brutal ax murder of Andrew and Abby Borden in their home in Fall River, Massachusetts, leaves little evidence and many unanswered questions. While neighbors struggle to understand why anyone would want to harm the respected Bordens, those close to the family have a different tale to tell - of a father with an explosive temper, a spiteful stepmother, and two spinster sisters, with a bond even stronger than blood, desperate for their independence. 

What a sinister family with creepy secrets.
Loads of stomach churning happenings and a startling amount of “licking” peculiar things,like blood,hat rims, hands etc.
Never chop the heads off your mentally ill daughter’s pigeons.

7/10

History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund

Fourteen-year-old Madeline lives with her parents in the beautiful, austere woods of northern Minnesota, where their nearly abandoned commune stands as a last vestige of a lost counter-culture world. Isolated at home and an outlander at school, Madeline is drawn to the enigmatic, attractive Lily and new history teacher Mr. Grierson. When Mr. Grierson is charged with possessing child pornography, the implications of his arrest deeply affect Madeline as she wrestles with her own fledgling desires and craving to belong. 

And then the young Gardner family moves in across the lake and Madeline finds herself welcomed into their home as a babysitter for their little boy, Paul. It seems that her life finally has purpose but with this new sense of belonging she is also drawn into secrets she doesn’t understand. Over the course of a few days, Madeline makes a set of choices that reverberate throughout her life. As she struggles to find a way out of the sequestered world into which she was born, Madeline confronts the life-and-death consequences of the things people do—and fail to do—for the people they love.

Well written, confusing, the characters didn't feel real and the ending was blah. 

7/10

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

In a small town in Sweden it appears to be an ordinary day. But look more closely, and you'll see a mysterious masked figure approaching a bank...Two hours later, chaos has descended. A bungled attempted robbery has developed into a hostage situation - and the offender is refusing to communicate their demands to the police.Within the building, fear quickly turns to irritation for the seven strangers trapped inside. If this is to be their last day on earth, shouldn't it be a bit more dramatic? But as the minutes tick by, they begin to suspect that the criminal mastermind holding them hostage might be more in need of rescuing than they are...

A complicated and extremely unlikely story. I've enjoyed other books by Fredrik Backman a lot more than I liked this one. The bank robber was a woman who was trying to get her rent money for the next month. The older cop helped her escape the police. She ended up sharing a house with one of the hostages. It was all so complicated I couldn't keep track of who was who.

7/10