In my neverending quest to find good or at least tolerable contemporary murder mysteries/thrillers (I haven't finished a single Nordic crime novel), I stumbled upon In Strangers' Houses somehow and was immediately intrigued by the unique premise. Although the characters are a little wispy, overall the story turned out to be an OK page-turner. Well-written, with good pacing, and fun (and apparently very true) observations about the clients of cleaners. Mundy also knows how not to bloat the plot and when to linger in the characters' past without going off on a tangent too much (often a stumbling point for crime writers). Not a cozy mystery, but there's no graphic violence and it's suitable for similar moments when you just need something light and addictive. I'll probably check out the second installment as well.

Like I did last year during the dark and cold season, I lined up a few individual vampire short stories that I didn't feel like reading as part of any collections. The Transfer is my first introduction to Blackwood, and although it's kind of interesting and bizarre (psychic vampires are nothing new, but the other concept felt fresh for the time period), overall it just felt more like an OK middle of the road story. I was aware beforehand that Blackwood is a master of describing dread, though, and my expectations were definitely met here. Consider me intrigued.