The Running Bibliophile

Halloween Night Murder  by Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, and Liz Ireland  is a collection of three novellas centered around Halloween. I received an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of this book from NetGalley for free in exchange of my honest review, and I have to say that I wasn't disappointed in the least as I gave it a resounding five out of five stars. The first novella is Halloween Night Murder  by Leslie Meier and Lucy Stone receives a late night trick - or - treater at her home in Tinker's Cove, Maine. The next morning, she learns that the teenager died shortly after coming to her house in a hit - and - run. Desperate to learn what happened, Lucy discovers some long held secrets in her small town. I wasn't expecting the outcome of who all was involved in the wrong doings in this story, but one of the characters that was unlikable ended up redeeming themselves some what by the end. I wasn't ready for the story to end and wanted more! I always feel like I'm visiting wi...

The Engagement Party by Darby Kane opens with college friends meeting at a luxurious house on a private island in Maine to celebrate an engagement. Tensions arise when Emily's name is brought up and secrets about her death are about to be spilled. Will this friend group stay intact for the weekend? A big thank you goes out to NetGalley for the Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) that I received for free in exchange for my honest opinion. I was excited to read The Engagement Party by Darby Kane as I love "locked room" stories and always enjoy seeing if I can figure out who the culprit or culprits are before they're revealed. Darby Kane did a fantastic job with throwing suspicion across various characters making me second guess myself at times. The characters I suspected are as follows: Ruthie - the fiancé of Will Sierra - the protector, friend, and business partner of Mitch Cassie - attorney and wife of Alex, mother of Zara, friends with Mitch and Will Alex - atto...

The Lifeguard by Richie Tankersley Cusick opens with Kelsey and her mom taking a ferry over to Beverly Island to vacation with her mom's boyfriend and his three children. However, Kelsey's beach vacation isn't the paradise it should be. There's a note under her pillow from Beth, who's missing, and Issac, the local drunk, won't stop bothering her. On top of that, there have been several drownings on the island. Little does Kelsey know that lifeguards don't always save people.  I am in the process of rereading my way through my childhood. When scrolling through Instagram, I saw a post from the user talespointhorrorbookclub where they were voting between two books for their book club, one of which was The Lifeguard by Richie Tankersley Cusick. I decided that this should be the next book for me to reread. Not remembering much about the YA Novel, it was like reading it for the first time. However, as the book progressed, little tidbits starting coming back to m...

He's everywhere . . . Trish thinks he's  just a weird customer at Muffin-Mania where she works, but suddenly, Trish thinks she sees him everywhere. She has no one to confide in and no where to hide in The Mall by Richie Tankersley Cusick. The Mall by Richie Tankersley Cusick is a book I read in high school, and I remember being completely creeped out by it. I swore I'd never work in a mall . . . little did I know that I would several years later. I thought I recalled who the mystery man was, but my recollection was completely wrong. Rereading this book as an adult, I was still completely unsettled by the storyline, and I wish there had been a thunderstorm while reading it so I could have had that extra creepy feeling. It's great that a young adult book can still have the same affect on me as an adult that it did when I was a teen . . . that just shows what a talented writer Richie Tankersley Cusick is. It was even better than I remembered. There is nothing negative I ...

In the Hall with the Knife (Clue Mystery, #1) by Diana Peterfreund is a novel in the Young Adult genre based on the famous board game and movie Clue . Several students, their headmaster, a janitor, and a proctor are stranded at Blackbrook Academy in Maine when a winter storm comes early. The next morning, Headmaster Boddy is found dead with a knife in his chest. Did one of the students murder him, or was it a looter? When I received an email recommendation from BookBub.com for In the Hall with the Knife (Clue Mystery, #1) by Diana Peterfreund, I knew I had to purchase the book as the board game Clue is one of my all time favorite board games. I knew absolutely nothing about the book other than it was based on the board game, and I was pleasantly surprised with the storyline. The story is told from the different students stranded at the school . . . Orchid McKee, Scarlet Mistry, Beth "Peacock" Picach, Finn Plum, Samuel "Mustard" Maestor, and Vaughn Green. I love t...

Trick or Treat Murder (A Lucy Stone Mystery, #3) by Leslie Meier is set in Tinker's Cove, Maine, and the entire town is preparing a party in a dilapidated mansion to celebrate Halloween. However, everyone is on edge because there has been a rash of fires thought to be the work of an arsonist. The latest one killing a summer resident. Who will be the latest victim? Is anyone else a fan of Halloween like I am? This was the perfect book to put me in the mood for the holiday, and this is a must read if you do like Halloween. It brought back so many memories of my childhood of trick or treating and the Halloween parties that my parents and the rest of the parents in the neighborhood put on for us kids that were similar to the one in Trick or Treat Murder . Having an arsonist setting fires in the book only made it creepier, but not scary. There were quite a few red herrings in the book. With that being said, there were clues to who it really was, and I dismissed those clues much to my c...

April Fools by Richie Tankersley Cusick tells a story about three friends - Belinda, Hildy, and Frank - who attend an out of town party that none of them were supposed to be at. On their way home, they are involved in a horrific car accident. They leave the scene and vow never to speak of it again, but then, Belinda starts receiving disturbing pranks, and she is on a mission to find out who is the culprit. This is another book I decided to read on my way rediscovery of my childhood. April Fools is one of the first books I read by Richie Tankersley Cusick and was one of the reasons she was my go to author for young adult horror novels. In rereading this novel as an adult, it has stood the test of time and should be a must read for any kid who loves books in the horror genre. The only references that they may not completely get is the mention of a tape deck in the car and a facsimile, or fax for short. And, although this book falls into the horror genre, it does have some romance elemen...

  The Silent Scream (Nightmare Hall, #1) by Diane Hoh opens with six students arriving at Nightingale Hall dubbed Nightmare Hall, which is their off campus dorm at Salem University. After the students learn the deep, dark secret that another student committed suicide in the dorm, odd things begin happening. Diane Hoh was a very popular author in the 1990's with a slew of books to her name. It seems as though she simply vanished into thin air as I haven't heard of any new books written by her. I'll have to look into what happened to her and why she hasn't continued writing, or if she has continued writing, why I haven't heard of those books. In my attempt to reread my way through my childhood, I picked up The Silent Scream (Nightmare Hall, #1) by Diane Hoh. Since this wasn't a book that I reread a ton as a kid, I really didn't remember too much about the book with a couple of exceptions, and those parts that I did remember, I only remembered when I started ...

Nothing bad will happen, right? That's what the members of Shadyside High School's Outdoors Club thought when they decided to go on their overnight camping trip anyways when their club advisor cancelled it. It's all fun and games until Della gets lost in the woods and stumbles across a stranger on Fear Island. When the stranger starts threatening her, Della does the unthinkable, and everyone in the Outdoors Club swears secrecy of what happened. But someone else saw what happened and is sending the members mysterious notes. The Overnight (Fear Street, #3) by R.L. Stine did not disappoint me in my attempt to reread my way through my childhood. I vaguely remembered the storyline as I was reading this book but not enough to remember exactly what happened, so it was like reading it for the first time. When I was a tween and teen, I read the Fear Street books out of order and loved this horror series. As an adult, I'm reading them in order, and I'm seeing connections wi...

In the days leading up to Halloween, I decided that I wanted to read a spooky book but one that wasn't too long. Perusing my bookshelves at home, I came across one of my favorite YA Authors when I was a tween and teen . . . Richie Tankersley Cusick. How apropos would it be to read her book entitled Trick or Treat ? Regrettably, I didn't finish reading Trick or Treat before Halloween like I wanted to. The reason is simple . . . it creeped me out even though I ended up remembering who "did it" early on. Reading it late at night didn't help either as every little creak or noise in the house made me even more jumpy. Because of this, I kept putting it down after reading a chapter or two a night. I was in awe that a book that I hadn't read in 15 - 20 years and geared towards teens could still spook me like it did. Although, it was written in the late 1980's, the story holds up and is still enjoyable. I think the tweens and teens of today would enjoy Tric...