Dear Great Book Guru, Friday nights in the summer here in Sea Cliff are truly magical.  From 7 to 10pm music fills the sandy shores of Sea Cliff Beach, the sun begins to set, and the crowd grows mellow.  I get there early, have dinner at the Beach Café, and settle down with a good book as I wait for the music to begin.  I haven’t read a mystery this entire summer - do you have one you would recommend?  

Friday Night Music Lover

Dear Friday Night Music Lover, I just read a very unusual and compelling mystery noir: OUR KIND OF CRUELTY by Araminta Hall.  Told from the unreliable perspective of Mike Hall, a young banker driven mad by his obsessive love for Verity or V as he calls her.  The two met in college – she the daughter of a wealthy family while he is the son of an abusive, alcoholic single mother. When the book opens, Mike is in prison for having killed someone and is discussing his defense.  Nothing is as it seems as he recounts the details of his relationship with V over an eight year period and its recent unraveling.  Who is telling the truth, who has the most to lose, who are these people ???  Set in present day London, this novel is a beautifully written but devastating description of love gone mad…. Recommended!