On probation for killing her abusive father when she was ten, 54-year-old Belfa "Bell" Elkins can no longer work as a county prosecutor.  Along with two of her colleagues—former county sheriff Nick Fogelsong and Jake Oakes, whose injury in the line of duty as a deputy has left him wheelchair-bound—she's formed a private investigation firm.  While working a case involving a missing teenager, Bell is searching an isolated stretch of land that once housed the Wellwood psychiatric hospital when she discovers a corpse.  Marks on the body suggest its owner was brutally murdered.

The remains are identified as those of Darla Gilley, a 56-year-old local who was newly divorced from her alcoholic husband.  As Bell, Nick, and Jake look into the woman's past, they discover her strange connection to Wellwood.  Sixty years ago, Darla's grandmother was also killed at Wellwood.  Her murder was never solved and Bell can't help but think the two deaths must be related.  As she digs into the family's connection with Wellwood, Bell uncovers horrifying truths about the hospital's past.  Is Bell correct in her assumption that the murders are linked?  Or is she barking up the wrong tree, one that will distract her from finding Darla's killer?  If Bell and her team don't unmask the murderer soon, will another Acker's Gap local turn up dead on Wellwood's haunted grounds?

I've been a fan of the Bell Elkins series by Julia Keller since I randomly grabbed A Killing in the Hills—the first installment—off a library shelf.  I felt immediately drawn to Bell, a tough but compassionate county prosecutor, who cares deeply about the well-being of her down-on-its luck Appalachian hometown.  Keller's descriptions of the fictional West Virginia hamlet are vivid and heartbreaking, highlighting the sad (and very real) decline of towns in that region—a place of lush and aching beauty that is being slowly but savagely destroyed by the poverty of its people and the resulting plagues of crime, opioid addiction, alcoholism, and despair.  While the town becomes a character in its own right, the series is also filled with humans who are just as intriguing and complex.  Keller can always be counted on for compelling plots filled with enough twists to keep a reader hooked.  The Cold Way Home, the series' eighth installment, is no exception.  It's engrossing, eye-opening, and surprising.  Although the killer's motive seemed a little thin to me, the murderer's identity surprised me.  I definitely didn't see it coming, which is always nice in a mystery/thriller.  It won't shock you to know that I enjoyed this newest book in a favorite series.  Keller just keeps getting better, so I'll just keep reading her!

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of Stone Mothers by Erin Kelly as well as of other books in the Bell Elkins series, including A Killing in the Hills, Bitter River, Summer of the Dead, A Haunting of the Bones (novella), The Devil's Stepdaughter (novella), Ghost Roll (novella), Last Ragged Breath, Evening Street (novella), Sorrow Road, Fast Falls the Night, and Bone on Bone)

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The Spellman Files is the first novel in a winning and hilarious mystery series featuring Isabel “Izzy” Spellman (part Nancy Drew, part Dirty Harry) and her highly functioning yet supremely dysfunctional family of private investigators.                                                                                                                                                         Meet Isabel “Izzy” Spellman, private investigator. This twenty-eight-year-old may have a checkered past littered with romantic mistakes, excessive drinking, and creative vandalism; she may be addicted to Get Smart reruns and prefer entering homes through windows rather than doors—but the upshot is she’s good at her job as a licensed private investigator with her family’s firm, Spellman Investigations. Invading people’s privacy comes naturally to Izzy. In fact, it comes naturally to all the Spellmans. If only they could leave their work at the office. To be a Spellman is to snoop on a Spellman; tail a Spellman; dig up dirt on, blackmail, and wiretap a Spellman.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Izzy walks an indistinguishable line between Spellman family member and Spellman employee. Duties include: completing assignments from the bosses, aka Mom and Dad (preferably without scrutiny); appeasing her chronically perfect lawyer brother (often under duress); setting an example for her fourteen-year-old sister, Rae (who’s become addicted to “recreational surveillance”); and tracking down her uncle (who randomly disappears on benders dubbed “Lost Weekends”). But when Izzy’s parents hire Rae to follow her (for the purpose of ascertaining the identity of Izzy’s new boyfriend), Izzy snaps and decides that the only way she will ever be normal is if she gets out of the family business. But there’s a hitch: she must take one last job before they’ll let her go—a fifteen-year-old, ice-cold missing person case. She accepts, only to experience a disappearance far closer to home, which becomes the most important case of her life.

See what I mean?  You want to read this book now, don't you?

As soon as I read the above description of The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz, I was sold.  The novel sounded quirky, charming, and hilarious.  And guess what?  That's exactly what it is.  I'm not sure I've read a more hysterical mystery novel.  Seriously.  This one had me chortling, snorting, and just loving every minute of Izzy's screwball capers.  Clever, engaging, fun, addicting—all of these adjectives describe The Spellman Files.  For pure entertainment, you really can't go wrong with this one.  There's not tons of substance here, but who cares?  Engrossing fluff that makes me laugh-out-loud is a rare and beautiful thing.  I simply could not get enough of this book.

(Readalikes:  Other books in the Spellman series [Curse of the Spellmans; Revenge of the Spellmans; The Spellmans Strike Again; Trail of the Spellmans; and The Last Word]

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If this were a movie, it would be rated: