Thought Corridor

 Blackbeard's Lost Head by Barrett Schmanska I must admit the title was what attracted me to this story. I'm familiar with Blackbeard and had heard the legend that after he was killed, his decapitated head was hung on the riverbank in Virginia before it disappeared.  This story focuses on a former FBI agent who has heard legends about where Blackbeard's severed head is to be found and sets out to discover clues, to find it's location and solve the mystery of what happened to it and where it's been since it was last seen in the 1920's., The setting is largely based around Native American tribes and their land and this was a subject I had read very little about so it was interesting to read a story that had that as a backdrop and had a Native American character as the protagonist. I really liked the characters of Hugh and Dodge, their partnership worked really well. Overall this was an enjoyable mystery. Many thanks to the publishers, the author, and to Netgalley ...

 A Fatal Love by Louisa Treger I was vaguely aware of Ruth Ellis. I'd listened to a podcast about her case some years ago but didn't know much. This book is a fiction based on that case.  I liked the characterization and the book is really well written and paints a complex and largely sympathetic portrait of Ruth. The author does look at her relationship with the racing car driver Bradley and shows how tempestuous and abusive that relationship was. It is a really good read and very detailed in it's depictions of the abuse. If you like true crime then I would recommend this book, as though it is fictionalised it is based on evidence and its clear the author has done their research. Thank you to the publishers, the author, and to Netgalley as always for this ARC.