MADreads

After an investigation into political corruption in Paris, Capitaine Roger Blanc has stepped on a few too many toes, and is transferred from Paris to the South of France far away from political power. Or is it? Blanc, now the new boy, is assigned to the new case of a burned man at the dump in what looks like a routine drug deal gone wrong. But appearances are deceiving.

Jane's world changes the instant she meets Thalia. Both young women are waiting in line for a bus that will take them to their prestigious Oxford Creative Writing program and for Jane, the experience is heady and intoxicating. Thalia is beautiful and confident. She's smart and talented. She's wealthy and knows how to act. She has everything going for her and is beloved by all. Jane is plain and socially awkward. She's barely scraping by financially and in all aspects of her life.

True crime books, tv shows, and podcasts are everywhere, but every now and then a crime, or series of connected crimes, breaks out of one format to overtake them all. The tale of the Murdaugh family in a rural part of South Carolina is one of those. From the first stirrings about the boat crash that killed a pretty young teenager, to the deaths of a mother and her son, to the father claiming to have survived an assassination attempt and then the revelation that there were two deaths that preceded all of this? This was a crime story that had everything and then some.

If the current state of politics in the world is stressing you out, then have I got the book for you. Not only is the politician in this book hard-working and honorable (though certainly not perfect), but there is also deep discussion of cakes and pies and pastries and pizza and tacos! I'm getting hungry just writing about it.