The Book Club: Louise Penny’s newest mystery keeps the twists coming

Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. So we asked them, and all Denver Post readers, to share their mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer? Email bellis@denverpost.com. – Barbara Ellis

“Dominion,” by Addie E. Citchens (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2025)

“Dominion” references both the town where this novel is set and also the attitude of male dominance that permeates it. Every character here is flawed in some essential way. Some hide their flaws behind religion, others behind alcohol or drugs, some behind athletic prowess or even behind naked audacity. But revenge and deadly violence tear down all the facades, confronting the survivors with the results of their willful complicity, studied ignorance and hubris. A powerful tale of the ultimate price of misogyny, paid not only by women but also by the men who seek to exert their dominion. — 3 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver

“The Black Wolf,” by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books, 2025)

This novel is the continuation of the storyline from 2024’s “The Gray Wolf,” in which Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surete du Quebec and his chief agents, Jean-Guy Beauvoir and Isabelle Lacoste, stopped a domestic terrorist attack on the Montreal water system. They arrested the person they thought was behind the attack and referred to him as the Black Wolf. Several weeks later, Gamache is in Three Pines and still suffering from hearing loss and injuries but realizes that the attack was only a diversion from the real goal of provoking the U.S. to attack Canada to ensure its own water resources. Gamache and his team must search quietly for those responsible and stop the real conspiracy as lies spread and friends become enemies. There are many twists and turns, and new allies are found to assist in identifying and stopping the Black Wolf. — 4 stars (out of 4); Diana Doner, Lafayette

“Murder at Gulls Nest,” by Jess Kidd (Atria Books, 2025)

Lately a nun, middle-aged Nora Breen moves into a boarding house in a seaside village, slowly healing from the adversities of World War II. Her first task is to locate her young friend Frieda, but this mission is superseded by the death of a boarding house resident. Nora’s growth as an amateur detective creates the storyline, but the pleasure here is Kidd’s superlative characterizations, elevating this book far above the writing level of most cozy mysteries. I’ve read several books by Kidd, and each one is exquisite, and remarkably different. — 4 stars (out of 4); Neva Gronert, Parker

“Coded Justice,” by Stacey Abrams (Doubleday, 2025)

Abrams is brilliant, writing a credible novel about rogue AI. In this thriller, attorney Avery Keene assembles a team — a security/financial analyst, a techie (her boyfriend), and a physician — to conduct an internal investigation of a tech company poised for an IPO of an AI system designed to better serve veterans’ health care while accounting for inborn prejudice and stereotyping. Things go awry when the principal “tiger team” is exposed to carbon monoxide, killing the lead and threatening the IPO. There are plenty of suspects within the company and outside of it. Many players expect financial gain (or loss) based on the outcome of the investigation. A great page-turner. — 4 stars (out of 4); Jo Calhoun, Denver

“History Matters,” by David McCullough (Simon & Schuster, 2025)

Published posthumously, this is a collection of speeches, essays and even an interview (from the Paris Review) that, in the editors’ estimation, provide “a little more of David McCullough.”  McCullough the historian tells us repeatedly that outcomes are not inevitable, that those living through events never really know how it will all turn out. But this slim volume is much more than a defense of history. McCullough the continuous learner notes: “Our curiosity is what separates us from the cabbages.” McCullough — a two-time National Book Award winner (for “The Path Between the Seas” and “Mornings on Horseback”) and two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize (for “Truman” and “John Adams”) — was definitely no cabbage head, but there’s not that much new here. — 2 1/2 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver