The Executioners Three by Susan Dennard Genres: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller, Paranormal
Published by Titan Books Limited on August 1, 2025
Also by this author: Truthwitch
Format: Audio/Physical (368 pages) • Source: Purchased, Spotify Audiobooks
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Discover this paranormal 90s-set mystery in a spooky small town hiding dark secrets which stretch back centuries - a perfect Halloween read for Stranger Things fans.
Freddie Gellar didn't mean to get half the rival high school arrested. She'd simply heard shrieks coming from the woods, so she'd called the cops like any good human would do. How was she supposed to know it was just kids partying?
Except the next day, a body is found. And while the local sheriff might call it suicide, Freddie's instincts tell her otherwise. So, like the aspiring sleuth (and true X-Files aficionado) she is, Freddie sets out to prove there's a murderer at large.
But her investigation is quickly disrupted by the rivalry between her school and the school of the partying teens she got arrested. For over twenty years now, the two student bodies have had an ongoing prank war, and Freddie's failed attempt at Good Samaritanism has upped the ante. Big time. Worse, the clever?and gorgeous?leader of the rival prank squad has set his sights on Freddie.
As more pranks unfurl, more bodies also start piling up in the forest. But it's the supernatural warning signs around town?each plucked straight from an old forgotten poem called "The Executioners Three"?that worry Freddie the most. She knows the poem and its blood curse can't be real, but she's quickly running out of time to prove it.
Because the murderer?or executioners??knows she's onto them now, and their next target might just be Freddie.
I’ve been wanting to reread TRUTHWITCH and finally finish that series (since I own all the books…) but they’re just intimidating and large. I saw this new release from Susan Dennard and thought it’d be up my alley… a paranormal mystery set in the 90s sounded PERFECT for the fall season.
The book follows Freddie, an NSYNC obsessed (same) teen embroiled in a prank war with the private school on the other side of town. When she comes across a body in the woods and doesn’t believe it was a suicide, she finds herself investigating more murders and strange happenings around town.
This was really fun and ended up being perfect for fall. I’d recommend it for fans of TRULY DEVIOUS (for the mystery and odd main character sleuth) and THE DEVOURING GRAY (for the YA paranormal vibes and amazing setting). I’ve been in a reading slump and eventually this one really clicked for me, and I couldn’t put it down. Reading this book in my comfy reading chair by the window with rain coming down, the dog in my lap, and a hot coffee to drink was the perfect way to binge read it.
A fun YA paranormal mystery set in the 90s with a quirky main character and lots of references to *NSYNC. What more could I ask for? I forgot how much I love Dennard’s writing style. Highly recommend for the season.
I received this book for free (hey, thanks!) in exchange for an honest review. I promise that this does NOT affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. For real.
The Killer Question by Janice Hallett Genres: Adult, Mystery/Thriller
Published by Simon and Schuster on September 23, 2025
Also by this author: The Appeal, The Christmas Appeal , The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, The Twyford Code, The Examiner
Format: eARC (448 pages) • Source: Publisher
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INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
Named a Most Anticipated Book of Fall by The New York Times, LitHub, BookBub, Goodreads, and many more!
Janice Hallett, “the new queen of crime” (Electric Literature), returns with a fresh, edge-of-your-seat mystery that takes place at a pub’s weekly trivia night, revealed through quiz categories, phone messages, and email correspondence.
Sue and Mal Eastwood run an isolated rural pub called The Case is Altered where a weekly trivia game has revived its flagging fortunes—that is, until a body is found in the nearby river. Soon after, a mysterious new team arrives and shakes up the diverse field of regulars by scoring top marks in every round...every week.
Meanwhile, Sue and Mal have a secret of their own. Before arriving here, they were caught up in a secret police operation which meant they had to leave town—and whatever happened back then seems to have finally caught up with them.
Five years later, the pub lies derelict, and their nephew Dominic is determined to make a documentary about their story. What happened at this unassuming pub? And can a single question really kill?
This has been a not-great reading year for me – I usually finish books in about 4 days but in 2025 it takes me double the amount of time on average to finish a book. On top of that, most of the books I’ve read have been just okay. I knew I could count on Janice Hallett to keep me engaged and help me finish a book closer to my normal timeframe, so I read this one a couple of months before its release when I needed it most.
I really love Hallett’s books – she’s the queen of a mixed media mystery and those are my favorite to read. I spend all year waiting for another one of her books to come out, especially just to see how she’ll use this format again in a new and unique way.
This story is centered around the pub quiz scene in a small town. It’s told through texts between pub owners about their quizzes, emails between a nephew and a TV producer, and pub quiz question sheets. I really enjoyed the mix of perspectives in this book and the back-and-forth timeline. You get to learn about Mal and Sue, along with other pub owners who host weekly quiz nights, along with their nephew, Dominic, who is pitching their story to a TV show exec. The pub now sits empty and Dominic is slowly revealing why that is. There are secret police operations and bodies found nearby.
This one was generally intriguing the whole time but the twists could’ve started a little earlier to make it a bit more interesting; there was a ton of scene setting to the point where you wondered where the mystery actually was going to be. Some parts dragged a little as a result. It had some realllllly good reveals by the end though.
All in all, another winner from Janice Hallett – she continues to be an auto-read author for me.
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