Kumara School
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Niners Fan
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sheerinkazemi
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Claire
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MK
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Niners Fan
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(57,076 pages read)
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Maverick
This is the second Library hold that popped up today and is part of the Brash Brothers series. Maverick is the lawyer and has difficulty in saying 'No" to pro-bon cases that remind him of the struggles his mother had during his childhood. Cadence runs a 'not for profit' dog rescue and is just as busy. When Maverick disc overs that Cadence and her grandmother Tess (Nan) are living at the rescue, he takes them into his home. The issues here are overwork, rejection and abandonment by a parental figure. As in the other titles in this series there are a ew 'chuckle' moments and one seriously funny 'laugh out loud' scene.
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John
Three library holds have came in at a once, and this was one of them. This is part of the Brash Brothers series and is about John, Colton's brother, who was in prison for murder (accidental but since it was a public defender he ended up with a much longer sentence). He has been released and comes back to the building where the brothers all live and meets Abby. It's not an exciting plot but does look at issues such as rehabilitation, choice, adjustment to a new environment. These guys, and what they get up to, are funny - seriously 'laugh out loud for several minutes with giggles at the end' funny, so it's good that I have two more to read.
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Nick.
This one of a series about a found family of boys who became millionaires - a very common trope but Jenna Myles has created really strong characters who all end up finding that one woman. There is a lot of humour and some incredibly 'laugh out loud' funny sections. The events during the time in the hospital when Holly is having her baby were one good example of this.
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Arcanum 101
Tomas Torres is a pyrotechnic talent and is sent to a mysterious boarding school, where all the students have 'gifts' - storm caller, witches, healers, wizards etc. Tomas has to learn to control his gift as there are test in his future that will determine his fate. A magic boarding school story that was a page turner that kept me engrossed till the end.
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A Poisoned Package
This is the third book about activities in the Morrisey, an apartment building in Seattle. Security has been increased there with two recent murders but now packages are going missing. One of them turns out to be poisoned chocolates putting the thief in hospital and now Meg has to find out who is trying to murder the original recipient. This takes her into Seattle's theatre scene. Again, a well researched mystery which was a really enjoyable read.
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A Secret Staircase.
The second in a series about the Morrisey, an apartment building in Seattle and the quirky residents, including Meg Dawson, who can see and speak to ghosts. The author really researched Seattle as this book uses the Underground as part of the plot. Meg discovers a way in to the Underground from the Morrisey and then stumbles over 2 bodies of women who died there a century apart, but who are linked as family. This was really enjoyable and it was fun to see the main character develop.
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The Body in 3B
The Morrisey is an apartment building in Seattle with mostly owned apartments and some short-term rentals. Meg Dawson has moved back there to the apartment she grew up in looking for a safe Meg becomes involved with the investigation. She has an advantage over the police as Meg can see and speak to ghosts. So -not the most original plot device but the author makes it seem reasonable and, at times, funny - so - final judgement is that it was an enjoyable read.
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A Scandal in Battersea.
This is the twelfth novel in the Elemental Masters Masters series. Nan Killian and Sarah Lyon-White, along with their ward Suki are celebrating Christmas with their friends Dr John Watson and his wife Mary, who are both Elemental Masters. It is also a time when dark powers are active and women start disappearing, and when they reappear, they are no longer sane. As usual, this was a 'keep on reading - you're nearly finished' book by a really good author.
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A Study in Sable.
Thís is the eleventh of the Elemental Masters series. Nan Killian and Sarah Lyon-White are working for Lord Alderscroft known as the Wizard of London, and with Dr John Watson, on cases that Holmes does not take that are involved with magic and spirits. They deal with one old foie but discover a more sinister case involving a German Opera star. It is another 'keep reading till the end if you can' book from a favourite author.
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Dead Reckoning.
Not my usual genre but since Mercedes Lakey is a favourite author I thought I'd try it. Jett is a 17-year-old girl looking for he brother in the Old West, and for safety reasons she is dressing as a man - one who can handle a gun. She arrives at a new town and stops by the saloon where trouble is about to start when the town is invaded by... zombies. With the help of two allies she meets after escaping the zombies Jett succeeds in finding the villain and stopping the zombie invasion. As I said, not my usual genre - a mix of horror, steampunk and alternative history - , and although it is very well written, I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I might.
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The Mangrove Murder
Back on the nostalgia kick here. Published in 1963 this is written by two New Zealand authors who generally wrote in other genres. Pauline Marshall is worried about her brother David and ends up stumbling across a murder. Inspector Wright does end up solving it but not before Pauline is in real danger. This is a treasure trove of social history in that the attitudes, language and activities of a very 'British' New Zealand are clearly depicted by two authors who were very goods observers indeed.
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The Graham Effect.
And now for a complete change from mysteries and nostalgia, a romance from one of my favourite authors. Gigi Graham has three simple goals (to her) - she wants to qualify of the women's national ice hockey team, win Olympic gold and move out of her famous father's shadow. To do this she needs help from Luke Ryder, the new co-captain of their college team. And Luke is willing to help her make the national team if she in turn puts in a good word with her father Garrett Graham on his behalf. It takes a while, and a lot of twist and turns to get to the HEA, but it does all work out.
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Behind the Walls.
This is the sixth Jolie Gentil mystery and she has now bought a hurricane (Sandy) damaged house in Ocean Alley and is renovating it. She and her friend Scoobie find a small sack of jewellery hidden on a wall. Latere she is mugged by a purse thief and a burglar. and later an elderly auctioneer is found dead on her porch swing. Some vacant houses in the town are being torched. and there's still the Peeping Tom from book number 5 to worry about. So many mysteries for Jolie to solve - which she does in her own unique style. I think I enjoyed this one the most so far.
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Trouble on the Doorstep.
In this book Jolie Gentil has survived Hurricane Sandy, helped organise the wedding of her Aunt Madge, and had to deal with a sobbing woman who arrives at the B&B at midnight. There is also a shady deal happening with the storm repairs at Silver Times, the assisted living home, which has led to a hit and run death and later a stabbing. All this is up to Jolie to solve. Now I know who's who it was much easier to go with the flow with this story and so I enjoyed it much more.
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Black Boots and Buttonhooks.
Thai is my last nostalgia burst for a while. This is the third book about the pioneer Tarrant family who lived in the King Country in the North Island and is set in 1908. May Tarrant and her family are clearing land near Piopio. She and her mother are spending the winter at the Grand Hotel in Te Kuiti because conditions are too rough on the land, but in the Spring they travel to the farm at Paremako by coach and by sledge. At nine years of age May is considered old enough to milk the cow and ride a horse and be caned by her teacher at their bush school. This is pioneer New Zealand at its best, and I only sorry that I could never find to buy the first book 'No One Went To Town'. The boos are based on the author's family stories and truly do show how ordinary life was lived at the turn of last century,
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A River Rules My Life.
Still in the realm of nostalgia this is Mona Andersin's description of life on Mount Algidus, a very remote sheep station in the Rolleston Range in the Southern Alps, and the river that rules her life is the Wilberforce. She lived there for 23 years and wrote about her life on the 100,000 acre sheep run, the people who lived at the station, and the animals. It is so readable and depicts a way of life that is almost legendary. Her personal voice is entertaining and the humour is so very 'country' at times that the chuckles are frequent and prolonged. She seems to typify the resilience that is a hallmark of a 'pioneer' compared to urban New Zealand. I almost wish I'd been able to listen to the radio talks that she writes about in this book.
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The Year of the Shining Cuckoo.
This is probably my favourite Joyce West children's book. She was born in Auckland in 1908 and her parents were both teachers; she spent a lot of her childhood living in remote school district where her parents taught in Maori schools, so this is as authentic a glimpse as one can get of a time long gone, and attitudes and actions from that time. Johnnie lives on a remote dairy farm in Northland with his aunt and grandfather. He desperately wants to own for himself a horse called Golden Melody and, with the help of his friends Rudy and Raine, sets out to earn enough money to buy 'his' horse. It is a summer of adventures, setbacks, and some unexpected help. You can't help reading this story with a smile on your face, as Joyce West's desire to accurately record a life, time and places which she loved shines through in her writing.
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Tales Out of School.
This was actually two books I remember getting from the Public Library as an 8 or 9 year old, and years later Kotare Books republished a few titles, so I bought them because I remembered liking them so much. They were originally published in the 1930s and the social attitudes, language and details of everyday life are an historian's delight. Oddly enough Phillis Garrard wasn't even a New Zealander, and only lived here in Taihape for two years. Thís is a collection of stories from The Doings of Hilda and Hilda's Adeventures, and I remember being so jealous of where she lived and that she rode to school on a horse each day! And now I've been a teacher, I reread the sections on school, and the subjects taught and how Mac deals with them (corporal punishment!) and I marvel. They were originally published in the 1930s and you know, I still enjoyed reading this possibly more than when I was that young voracious reader, who wished the Library would let you have more books out that the miserly 5 at a time.
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Uncles Three at Kamahi,
Esther Glane was born in 2881 and worked as a journalist for the Christchurch Sun and later the Press. She wrote three children's books and this is one of them. When their parents make an overseas trip during the Christmas holidays the six Malcolm children go to stay with their uncles on a remote high country sheep station. The uncle's peaceful life is gone with 6 children aged 9 to 20 all planning to have a great deal of fun - the story is narrated by 1e3 year old Ngaire. The adventures are so real as are the characters they meet, and the language and social attitudes are an historian's delight, because they are a glimpse into the minds and thought processes of our past.
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Mouse in School.
rereading the Drovers Road series had me searching my shelves on a nostalgia trip and I found some gems. This is one was originally published as a book in 1983 - but before that it was stories in the New Zealand School Journal! It is the classic English 'school' story but in a New Zealand setting and is the story of Rachel, known as Mouse, whose father is a headmaster, This has it all - hockey games, bush trips, judgmental adults and is so much a product of a very "british" New Zealand.
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Any Port In a Storm.
I seem to have come in at number 4 in a series, so there's backstory I didn't know, but a good author can make it easy to catch up. Jolie lives in a beachside town in New Jersey and works as a real estate appraiser and volunteers at a food pantry. There is a fundraiser for the pantry and after it is over a young man is found dead and the murder weapon was planted in Jolie's car. His parents are suing her in a civil suit for half a million dollars so she has to find out who really killed Hayden. I didn't actually work out the killer until pretty much the last chapter - so really this should be a 3.5 star verging on 4.
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A Body at the Seance.
This is the second in the London Ladies Murder Club series. In the winter of 1921 in London Mabel Canning, in her capacity as one of the Useful Women's Agency members, is hired to attend a séance by Mrs Plomley, whose husband had died earlier in the year, burned to death in a fire. During the séance there is a flash of light and a choked sound and a crash, and when the lights do come back on - the medium has collapsed, and Stanford Plomley is there, strangled, and dead - again! This is Mabel's first official case as the investigative arm of the Useful Women's Agency and is a delight to read. And, for an historian, all the social and sartorial details ring true, which increases the reading pleasure.
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Miss Amelia's List.
This is the seventeenth novel in the Elemental Masters series. It is 1815, the year of the massive volcanic eruption that changed the weather of the world for two years, the year of Napoleon's escape for Elba and the Battle of Waterloo, and the year when Miss Amelia Stonehold and her cousin Serena Meleva have arrived in England from the Americas. They are both magicians and accepted by the Huntmaster of London. They move to Axminster looking for a property for Amelia's brother, and perhaps husbands for themselves, and they face peril in a hidden temple of the Roman God Glykon. This was, like the other Lackery titles in this series, well worth reading, and once more a 'sit and read it to the end' experience.
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Dying to be Found.
While in a Halloween Cemetery tour with her best friend and her children, Photine and two of the boys stumble across the body of a man in an empty grave. It was murder, and what follows leads to gambling, mafia, a retired mob guy and Photine involving her family in the investigation. Oh, and ghosts too! It was more a case of getting to the end to find out who did do the murder, rather than enjoying the journey,
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Deadly Dancing.
A pseudo Janet Evanovich and the first in a series. Mars Cannon meets an exotic dancer at a bachelorette party she is organising as part of her job as an events planner. But he has a secret and a lot of aliases. This is why Mars becomes a target of a serial killer called Ther Hammer. Mildly entertaining and a couple of chuckles, but I won't be looking too hard for the second in the series.
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Steadfast.
This title is part of the Elemental Masters series. Lionel Hawkins is an Elemental magician who has Air Elemantals helping in his music hall performance. He hires Katie Langford, who is running away from a brutal husband, as an assistant. But Katie has Magic too, Fire Magic and has to learn how to use it before her husband finds her. As always, Mercedes Lackey draws you into the story and one has to just keep reading till the end.
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Bingo You're Dead.
This takes place in a small town called Goose Down in Ohio, and the main characters other than the sheriff and a small child are all members of senior centre. When Alice Duns is found dead, strangled with her own bra, the community is stunned. what follows is a series of near-death accidents for other seniors and an epic snowstorm, as people work together to find the killer. Lots of quirky characters and odd ball situations.
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Blood Red.
This one of the Elemental Masters series. It is essentially a semi-retelling of Little Red Riding Hood where Rosamund von Schwartzwald, an Earth Mage becomes a Hunt Master. She travels to Transylvania hunting a pack of evil shapeshifters who have preyed on a region for seventy years. As always Mercedes Lackey draws you in to the narrative, and once again it was a case of 'keep reading to the end because I can't find a good place to stop'.
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The Art of Murder.
At a weekend art course at an up-scale B &B near Winchester, the Chair of the group Linzi Bray is surrounded by people who loathe her. And she also has a stalker - and then she's found in a blood filled fishpond. Now Harriet Quigley and Sam Hathaway have to find the killer. I thought the blurb made this book sound more interesting than it actually was.
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The Golden Country.
This is the final book in the Driver's Road trilogy. Gay Allan has moved to Cape Lost and is about to become a farmer - but not entirely as she has to have a farm manager. Gay's cousins are also adults now and their lives have changed considerably. Gay's adult future at Cape Lost is at stake, and Joyce West doesn't shy away from writing about the attitudes to romance and marriage of the time period. It is a beautifully written depiction of a time long gone with a very happy ending. It is, for me, a classic as well as a 'feel good' read.
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Cape Lost.
This is part two of the trilogy and describes more of Gay Allan's family history and introduces us to Cape Lost, another sheep station in the wider family. Gay is growing up, and her family situation is changing. It is during a trip to Cape Lost that the secret of what happened to Great-aunt Vanessa finally comes to light - quite literally. Again, the changing social attitudes do come through - and Joyce West was so accurate in her depiction of her time and place.
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Drover's Road.
I first read this as a young girl and the trilogy has become a reread every couple of years. It was, when I first read it, an adventure story about a part of New Zealand where I'd spent little time, and it was about a way of life I'd not experienced as an urban dweller. When I reread it as an adult it was, for an historian, a treasure trove of New Zealand social history, the mores and attitudes of a time that was long gone. On the surface it is the story of Gay Allan, her home and family life, on a New Zealand sheep station, but it is also Gay's movement from childhood to the beginning of many decisions she will have to make about her life. Joyce West shows us that the 'blended family' so much a part of society today, is not a new thing. And it is beautifully written.
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Deadly Advice.
Okay - this one had me thinking. Dr Rebecca Butterman is a psychologist and also writes an advice column. Her next-door neighbour dies, apparently a suicide, but her mother doesn't believe it and asks Rebecca to talk to the police. Predictably the police brush her off. So, Rebecca investigates for herself and becomes involved in the dark side of dating, blogs and the singles scene. A quite confronting climax and a lot of unresolved issues at the end. And I imagine I'll be thinking about this one for a while.
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The Graden Plot.
First in a series awith a transplanted Texan ex-pat trying to find a head gardener job in England. For now she is getting by as a jobbing gardener and at one of her jobs in Chelsea she stumbles across something buried in the soil of a potting shed. The next day as she goes to work in the potting shed she finds a body.
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The Art of Murder.
A guest at the Lakeview Inn in Arlington discovers a hidden painting by a local artist, and within hours a thief tries to steal it and is murdered. It is up to journalist Parker Lee to expose the killer.
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Blogging is Murder.
Jade Blackwell is a blogger who lives in Wyoming. Her fellow blogger Liz is being targeted by a mysterious hacker and stalker trying to destroy her blog and her reputation. When she is found dead in Liz's kitchen, Liz is arrested, and Jade has to prove her innocence.
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Bloody Mary, Bloody Murder.
Local bartender Kalliope Brooks finds a dead body in the back seat of her car after work one night and becomes obsessed with the case - this does not make her best friend Tess, or her father, or the lead detective very happy.
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Arts, Crafts and Murder.
Georgina is adjusting to her new life in a small town when one of her dogs goes missing right before the annual arts and crafts fair. She barely has time to prepare for the show but soon learns that the prize for first place is literally something to die for. Can she find her beloved pet and catch a killer? Short and nor an author I'll look for again,
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Dolly Departed.
This was a confusing book to read - and it wasn't till near the end that all the plot twists started to make sense. The setting of Phoenix, Arizona and the repair of antique dolls and miniature making of accessories for dolls houses was an interesting change.
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Dog Days Murderous Nights.
Thank goodness this was so short - a murder mystery about a guest house owner, whose guest, a dog show photographer and judge, was murdered. Not a great read - but at least there was a choice of murder suspects.
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The Silver Bullets of Annie Oakley.
This is the sixteenth in the Elemental Masters series. Annie is in Germany as part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. A German sharpshooter called Giselle has been hired and she is an Elemental master of Air. Annie and her husband Frank discover that they also are magicians, and they have a task, which is to combat creatures of the night who threaten performers and the locals. Annie now has silver bullets in her gun. Another really great piece of writing from one of my favourite authors.
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Jolene.
This is number fifteen in the Elemental Masters series. Anna May Jones is sent to live with Aunt Jinny, an Elemental Master, and learns many new skills. When the man she loves, a stonemason, disappears, Anna May has to journey to the mountain and confront what lives in the darkness of the mine. Mercedes Lackey is one of my favourite authors and Ther is not one of her books or series that I haven't thoroughly enjoyed.
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Lady Rample Spies a Clue.
These are fluff, but entertaining fluff, set in the 1930s in England. Lady Rample and her Aunt Butty have been invited to a country house party, and to escape the heat of a London summer, they travel to Devon. When a man is found dead in their host's study, she realises that there is more going on that a simple break-in.
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Coming Home to Murder.
A classic British village cosy mystery. Returnee Liz, a former policewoman, arrives back at the village to find her friend Sylvia has been attacked at her office and is seriously injured. When Sylvia dies Liz decides to investigate. A quick read, but enjoyable.
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Drive Thru Murder.
This is the third Brandy Alexander mystery. One night as Brandy goes to a Cluck It drive thru she hears shots and sees a kidnapping. In her new rental which she is sharing with her friend Suzanne she finds some hidden rings. gets even more involved with the murder at the drive thru, has to make a decision about which man she is going to be involved with and solve a series of linked murders. This was more entertaining than the first in the series, and a fun read.
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Rescued By a Kiss.
The first in a series with Brandy Alexander as the heroine. She lives and works in New Orleans and rescues Schnauzers. At a Mardi Gras parade shew kisses a handsome man and then goes to meet him at the end of the parade. He is shot and that's when Brandy realizes that she has to save him and his dog Isabella - it is actually a far better read than the plot synopsis indicates and worth reading.
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Deadly Neighbours.
Callie and Sarah haver bought a house together and all of a sudden, the neighborhood is no longer peaceful. The local barbeque smoker explodes, the people living in the party houses in the neighborhood start dying, and the police are investigating. Detective Jeff Rowen has his eye on Callie. There are a lot of plot twists, but it all ends well.
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The Day Job is Murder.
Sean and Sara are homicide detectives in the Albany Police Department, but they can't be a couple as long as they are partners on the job. They are working a case when Sean hears that an old friend has died. And suddenly there is a solution to their dilemma.
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Bits and Pieces : Moments from the Ambulance.
These are moments from the life of Emily James, a Paramedic in a private ambulance service in the 911 system in the USA. They are short instances in time that range from touching to terrifying, to gruesome and to disgusting. It was a quick read but has real impact,
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Winter Roads : Russian Roulette.
I do recall seeing an episode of Ice Truckers, so this was an interesting read. Not great prose but entertaining. This covers a winter season when the Winter Roads in Manitoba are open for driving and delivery, and the many issues he had with Dumbass the manager of the fuel company for whom he worked.
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The Christmas Puppy.
The last Polly Parrett mystery in my collection. This is a Christmas based short story which involves a bulldog puppy, a Christmas train and a dead Santa. A couple of other small mysteries are also solved.
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Seeing Red
This time Polly gets involved with Heather Haggerty, whom she finds unconscious on a hiking trail, and then there's another murder. The real hero of this mystery is Erik the Red.
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Bird Brain.
Another Novella in the Polly Parrett series. Polly is a beneficiary of an estate provided she takes lifetime custody of a macaw called Polly. There is a murder, a stray puppy, and a family reunion as well as a murderer brought to justice.
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The Christmas Kitten.
The second Polly Parrett pet sitter mystery. A kitten in a Christmas box is left on Polly's porch, and two young sisters have gone missing form their home. The girl's stepmother is found murdered - all of this has to be solved by Polly and her friends.
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Doggone Christmas.
The first in a series of cosy mysteries about a pet sitter. Polly Parrett runs a pet sitting and concierge business in her hometown. She becomes involved with the case of a homeless veteran and his dog, and does discover the true killer.
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Heavenly Pleasures.
The second Corinna Chapman mystery. Juliette Lefebvre is the owner of Heavenly Pleasures, the gourmet chocolate shop near Corinna's bakery, and someone seems to be trying to drive her out of business by spiking her chocolates. Add in some other unpleasant occurrences involving Daniel, Corinna's man and Jason, her apprentice and you have another really readable mystery set in Melbourne.
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Earthly Delights.
Set in Melbourne, Corinna Chapman is a baker at her store Earthly Delights in Calico Alley. One morning she finds a blue-faced junkie outside her bakery, and later a mysterious man wants Corinna to provide her bread, and there are Goths, Witchcraft, a homeless boy who wants to be a baker, and other baffling mysteries to be solved. It is so well written and real, as well as being a well observed portrayal of Melbourne and city underlife. I really recommend it and best of all it's a series.
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Murder A La Carte
This is the fourth Nikki Hunter mystery, and they keep getting 'darker' - This one has a serial killer of child molesters and traffickers as the main focus of Nikki's hunt. She is asked to find out who killed his mother by a 9 year old boy, whom the killer thought was being abused by his mother (which was actually the case). Nikki find out the identity of the killer, but they get away overseas - only to return?
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Murder Over Cocktails.
In the second Nikki Hunter mystery, Nikki is asked by Jack "The Cat" McGuire to investigate real estate agent Margaret Sectio. It seems that Margaret is a serial killer. And the twists keep coming until Nikki, with the help of friends, finally solves the case. This mystery was a lot 'darker' than the first, with a few twists as the events came to a climax.
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Murder on the Menu.
After reading the 3rd Nikki Hunter mystery I checked my elibrary and found I had numbers 1,2, and 4 as well, so I guess I better read them. This is the first mystery, where Nikki is hired by a mother to investigate the murder of her daughter. She discovers three other murders that may be linked and a very obvious suspect. At some peril to herself, Nikki does find the killer. These are not as dark and gritty as the Sharon McCone PI mysteries, but still a good and convincing read.
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Dinner and a Murder.
This is the third in a series but the first one I've read and I really enjoyed it. Nikki Hunter is a Private Investigator who lives on a boat in San Francisco. At her high school reunion she reconnects with an old friend who is an air traffic controller who tells her three other controllers have died recently in 'accidents'. Nikki takes the case and ends up with her life on the line - again.
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Deep Dish Murder.
A prequel novella for the Josie Rizzo mystery series. Set in a food=loving town called Greenville, Josie arrives to do a shift at Enzo's pizzeria to find her boss lying on the floor, dying. He tells her to 'watch her back' so now she has to solve the murder. Read the prequel, won't bother with the rest of the series'
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Death in Devon.
An unrealistic mystery , with so many tropes in it that it was fun trying to work out which trope would come next. Two Canadians on an antique buying trip in Torquay end up involved in a potential murder, kidnapping and laying an historic ghost, as well as finding a long lost horse racing trophy.
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Death by the Half Dozen.
This was an odd mystery. It is set at Agatha Christie's holiday home, Greenway, and is a classic series of murders; a poisoning, 2 strangulations, 2 bludgeoned and one killed by the only innocent person there, and all watched by probate detectives Tarricone and Jac, who do find the solution, eventually.
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Murder is a Must.
The second Hayley Burke mystery. The First Edition Library is having an exhibition of Lady Fowling's life and letters, and event manager Oona Atherton is hired to stage the event. When Oona is found dead at the bottom of the stairs at the event centre there is speculation that it is because of a potentially rare Dorothy Sayers first edition. It's up to Hayley to find a solution to the murder and locate the rare book.
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Smoke and Lies.
Lady Arianna and her husband are off to the island of Elba, forced into it by Lord Gresham, the head of British security. His concern is that Napoleon may be plotting a return to France with the intention of plunging the Continent into another war, The Earl also has a Spanish cousin who has gone missing form Elba, so he feels that they have no choice but to go. The perils are many as are the collateral deaths and several traitors are unmasked. The history is accurate, and this mystery is as well written as the others that preceded it.
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Sand Trapped.
Someone murdered Jocelyn Johnson and left her body in a sand trap on the golf course. And someone killed Mimi Winkler's cat. It's up to Cara Mia to find out if the 2 deaths were connected. Lots more about the recycling and upcycling in that is the ethos of Cara Mia's store, and not quite as 'dark' as some of the other Cara Mia Delgatto mysteries.
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Ruff Justice.
This is another novella length story, and not so much a murder mystery, but more a story about elder abuse by offspring and the way in which a determined person can make sure that their wishes are carried out. A little 'dark' in content but still worth reading.
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Cast Away.
This is novella length and revolves around a relic stolen from a charity auction to which Cara Mia had donated a painting. As she was there when the theft was discovered she is a suspect. Add in a nasty man who wanted a date and the usual drama among her friends and co-workers, and you have a classic locked room mystery.
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All Washed Up.
The third Cara Mia Delgatto mystery. She finds a drowned woman on a beach walk one morning and works with a passerby to revive her. And this leads to the discovery of a plot to smuggle undocumented migrants into the USA. There is another murder, a home invasion and a rescue or two, as well as the normal running of her business and events involving her friends and employees. These books are a lot more 'thriller' than classic mystery.
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Kicked to the Curb.
At a public relations event at Cara Mia's store a reporter is really pushy and annoys Cara Mia. Three days later the reporter's body is discovered in her car's trunk. So Cara Mia has to find the killer. The fact that the death may be connected to the infamous Dozier Boys School is an added peril. This was quite 'dark' in parts, but well worth reading.
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Tear Down and Die.
The first in a series. Cara Mia Delgatto has lost her parents, her son has gone to college in Florida, so she needs a change. She decides to go to Florida to have a holiday and visit her son, and on the way she stops off to visit her grandfather. She buys a building, argues with her grandfather, stumbles across a dead body, reunites with an old flame, discovers she has an older sister she never knew existed and solves the murder. This was an interesting story - lots of information on upcycling and repurposing, and on dealing with difficult relationships.
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The Bodies in the Library.
Hayley Burke is curator of Lady Georgiana Fowling's The First Edition Socety's library in Bath, where she lives on the premises. A writer's group using the library is one of Hayley's initiatives and when one of them is found dead in the library Hayley has to catch the killer to save her job. It is a well crafted and well written story - the details about Bath are accurate (and as I remember them) and there are some intriguing red herrings to deal with during the book.
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Amphibious Thing: The Life of Lord Hervey.
Lord Hervey was heir to the earldom of Bristol, Vice-Chamberlain to George II, a favourite of Queen Caroline and a supporter of Great Britain's first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole. His friends and enemies included some of the most brilliant men and women of the eighteenth century. His private life, even by the mores of his time, was utterly scandalous. This biography covers the society, politics and attitudes of the day, and all the eccentricities in Hervey's life. It is informative, well researched, readable and entertaining. Lucy Moore read History at Edinburg University, and is also the author of 'The Thieves Opera' about Jonathan Wild and Jack Sheppard.
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The Case of the Curious Client.
This is a relatively recently written mystery but very much in the Victorian style. The research must have been extensive as the author does explain a lot of the physical scene setting and social mores. The actual client is blind and hallucinatory and since the police of the time would not be interested in what a supposedly insane person wanted investigated, he calls on the Bow Street Society, a group of volunteers who take cases the police ignore. The Society members do solve the case.
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Death Unfiltered.
The fourth Sage Caplin mystery. Now Sage and Hayley have a real coffee shop in the Button Building owned by her Uncle Jimmy. At the Grand Opening one of the other restaurant owners dies in Sage's shop and once more Sage has to find the killer. There is blackmail and people form Sage's past with her mother and a lot of other distractions, including and out of season snowstorm for Portland.
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Flat White Fatality.
The next Sage Caplin mystery, set in Portland, Oregon. Sage has been helping her boyfriend's video game business by doing motion capture work for a new game. At a team building cum birthday celebration activity, one of the programmers is found dead in the Ground Rule Roastery. Then two other programmers have near fatal 'accidents'- it's Sage who finally discovers the killer, and the coffee recipes at the end of the book are quite tempting as well.
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Ink, Red, Dead.
The third Kili Lowenstein mystery. This one is a little more gruesome than the others I read - a hoarder cat lady is discovered on the point of death and Kiki's friend Marla is hired to clean out the house. Then a body is found in the freezer in the garage and finally linked to a number of women who have gone missing. The case is eventually solved, but there's a yeucky twist at the end.
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Paper, Scissors, Death.
This is the first in the Kiki Lowenstein series. Kiki's husband dies unexpectedly and from that point on it all goes wrong for Kiki. George's insurance money goes to his mother, Kiki has to pay his business partner $500,000, and his mother is trying to take Kiki's daughter away from her. There are murders, including George's, break-ins and Kiki has to get a job in a scrapbooking store. It was worth reading, and there's a lot of information on scrapbooking, which was interesting.
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Luna and the Lie.
This author is master of the 'slow burn' and one whom I reread every so often. There was a power cut here this morning, so I reached for a real book, and decided on Luna. it's not really a romance, but it is. It's not quite a novel, but it is. Luna Allen is her own creation - and she has decided to be happy, no matter what. She has a horrible family, a job she likes, and wants someone to be her friend. I know this description sounds really lame, but this is, for me, a 5 star book, one I reread, with heroine who can be massively passive-aggressive and a very unlikely hero.
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Happy Homicides 3
A collection of twelve short stories by assorted authors, all following the themes of summer and murder. There was another Kiki Lowenstein, and an author I will look out for in the future called Deborah Sharp. It was fun trying to work out the murderer, and while some were 'humourous' a couple were quite 'dark'.
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Kiki Lowenstein Short Stories Anthology Volume 1
A good short story is an art form really - it has to be well written and tightly plotted. It has to move along with pace, but at the same time not skimp on details. These are three good stories - no overt violence, just a mystery or problem that needs a solution, all set in and around Kiki Lowenstein and her employment in a scrapbooking and crafts store. At 84 pages it doesn't take long to read, but every moment was enjoyable.
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A Murderous Affair.
My degree is in History, specialising in the Elizabethan period, so I tend to be wary of fiction set in this time period because errors by the writer really stand out - and are annoying to say the least, but this was 95% accurate, as well as being a really interesting and very twisty plot. Set post the Armada victory, the discovery of the body of a Portuguese nobleman on the banks of the Thames brings Lord Rokesby under suspicion. His illegitimate brother John Lovat is called on to investigate. And then Sir Francis Walsingham becomes involved.
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An Invitation to Murder.
It was an interesting plot idea - Lady Katherine has to prove her ability at detection to win her dowry and her independence from her father. To do this she has to unmask the Pink Ribbon Killer as well as act as a matchmaker for Miss Annie Pickering.
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Murder at Archly Manor.
Classic and very well written English country house murder mystery. Olive Belgrave has an aristocratic upbringing, no money, an unkind stepmother, and is determined to support herself, so she is thrilled to accept the job of looking into her young cousin's fiancé's background. But when he is murdered at the house party she has to discover the killer.
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Going For Two.
A sports romance where a Doctor of Physical Therapy Works for an NFL team and has to get a star quarterback through what may be his final season. He has anxiety issues and a physical injury; she has a traumatic childhood and extreme father figure issues. It is well written and I only caught a couple of errors.
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A Death, A Duke, and Miss Mitford.
A bit of froth but entertaining. Miss Mary Mitford, daughter of the vicar, has had an unsuccessful Season in London, and has resigned herself to spinsterhood. the murder is the rector of a nearby village, who it seems was a penny pincher and a blackmailer. Miss Mitford was heard saying she wished Mr. Parsims would be murdered, so when he is, she is the main suspect. Enter Henry Lockheart, Sixth Duke of Northcott, who decides to find out the real murderer because he has taken one look at Miss Mitford and fallen in love.
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A Posh Murder.
Though a small page count, the type face is tiny, which did ruin my pleasure in this story. It was published in 2021 but reads as a period country house party murder mystery complete with a titled protagonist, the Dowager Duchess of Drakeford, her ward Rex, and Inspector Whipple of Scotland Yard. There are two murders, a spymaster, many red herrings and a suitably unlikely villain.
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Spicy Murder / Corned By Cupcakes
Two short 5 and 3 chapter cosy mystery stories with baking as a central motif. The first story has a conceited foodie star as the victim, with several likely murderers. The second story has a seemingly perfect boyfriend actually being a steroid pusher and drug dealer.
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The Lanvin Murders.
Set in Portland. Joanna Hayworth owns a vintage clothing store. She finds a safe deposit box key in the lining of a Lanvin coat purchased from a former showgirl, and then begins a series of murders and strange events. The plot is tricky and the characters interesting, as is the information on vintage clothing. Worth reading.
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Service for Two.
Another lightweight cosy mystery in the Pennyfoot Hotel series. At their much loved elderly doctor's funeral a different body is discovered in his coffin, a body which turns out to be that of a jewel thief who, with an accomplice, has been using the hotel as a hiding place for stolen jewelry. Cecily has to find out who is the mastermind, and most probably, the murderer.
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Murder at Midnight.
I finally got to read this Lily Adler - I hate reading out of sequence but due dates are due dates for a library book. Lily is visiting her Adler relatives, and is stranded at a party, at along with a number of people, including Captain Hartley's family, in particular his sister Amelia. A murder occurs in the night, and Lily must assist her brother-in-law who is a magistrate, to find the culprit. There is blackmail, jewel thieves and fraudsters all involved in the situation. This book is of a similar high standard to the others in the series and they have been a delight to read. The author is certainly on my 'watch out for' list.
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Room With a Clue.
The Pennyfoot is a hotel which has become a favourite with Edwardian aristocrats for it's discretion and card rooms. When Lady Eleanor Danbury appeared to fall from the roof, it takes owner Cecily Sinclair a short time to realise she was murdered, and to save her hotel, the one she bought with her late husband, she has to unmask the killer.
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High Marks for Murder.
Set at a finishing school for girls in Edwardian England, this is the first in a series. A teacher form Bellehaven was found dead in the garden with a bloodstained branch close by. The local constable decides that it was the work of a vagrant, who is long gone, so the case is closed. Her colleagues don't agree, so you have a search for clues, a ghost, and misbehaving students before the murder is revealed. There were no jarring historical mistakes, and sufficient herrings to make it interesting.
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A Scandal in Mayfair.
Iy is 1817Lily Adler has returned to London for the Season. She is still discreetly investigating cases and a young lady asks her to discover whether her uncle is withholding her inheritance. This leads to a reacquaintance with Mr. Clive, and several murders and a clever ruse to unmask a murderer. there are no historical errors and it is a very well written mystery novel.
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Death at the Manor.
The third Lily Adler Regency mystery. Lily travels with her friends the Carroways to visit her aunt in Hampshire. But a ghost has taken up residence in Belleford Manor, the home of the Wright family. Old Mrs. Wright is found dead in her locked from the inside bedroom. Was it the ghost that killed her? will anyone else die? Well researched, with an authentic 'voice'.
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Silence in the Library.
The Second Lily Adler regency mystery. Lily's father arrives suddenly to visit her and asks her to visit an old family friend who has recently remarried. It is Sir Charles Wyatt who is murdered two days after the first visit, and Lily works with the Bow Street runner Mr. Page to discover the killer. This is a very convoluted plot, with a second murder and scandalous Wyatt family dynamics. It is well researched and so accurate in the historical details and social attitudes and mores.
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The Body in the Garden.
This was so good. It's the first in the Lily Adler series, set in Regency London. Newly widowed, Lily has come to London, determined to make a life for herself. At her friend's Ball there is a murder, which Lily hears happening and when a Bow Street magistrate is paid to have the investigation halted, Lily decides that the murdered man shall have justice. It is well written, cleverly plotted and there is clear evidence of careful research in terms of historical details.
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The Flamingo Did It.
Yet another in the Jewel Mantelle series set in Sophia Island in Florida. Jewel and Craig's house is part of the Christmas Tour, and they both are shocked when the body of the Tour organiser is found on their front lawn. Their friends all work together to find out the true murderer.
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A Bicycle Built for Murder.
The first in the Manor House Mystery series. Set during World War Two, Lady Elizabeth Hartleigh Compton has a lot of problems. Shre has the Manor House to keep running, following the deaths of her parents, Taking care of her tenants (her only source of income), and coping with all that is wartime Britain. And now the Manor House has been requisitioned, and she has American officers to house. So, the murder of Beryl Pierce is one more problem to solve. It is well written classic 'cosy' mystery and the historical details are correct.
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A Body at the Dance Hall.
Another in the Mabel Canning of Useful Women series. Living her independent life in London, Mabel is asked to chaperone a young American girl while she is in London visiting her father. At the Palais de Dance there is a murder, and from that point onwards Mabel is involved in the investigation. The fashions and attitudes of the time ring true in the writing and the plot keeps oner involved right to the very end.
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The Treasure at Poldarrow Point.
This is the third Angela Marchmont mystery and a bit of a disappointment. Angela goes to Cornwall to recover form Influenza and along with her goddaughter, Barbara, becomes involved in a search for a Queen's diamond necklace. Add in a group of thieves, a dotty old former jewel thief and an international master thief, and you have a pretty typical plot.
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The Mystery at Underwood House.
Philip Hayes delighted in keeping his family at each other's throats, and in his Will he ensured that this friction would continue after his death. But now three people are dead, and it is up to Angela Marchmont to find out the truth - and the killer. This 1920s mystery has a period 'voice' and plot twists worthy of the title.
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The Murder at Sissingham Hall.
Set in the 1920s and very much a period piece, in terms of language, social attitudes and writing style. Charles Knox has returned from South Africa, now a rich man, and is invited to spend the weekend at Sissingham Hall, now the home of his ex-fiancee and her husband Sir Neville Strickland. Sir Neville is murdered on the dead of night and now Scotland Yard must find the killer. It is Angela Marchmont who saves the day at the very end.
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Murder on the Tor.
The fourth book in the series. This involves an ancient amber necklace, a mysterious child on the Tor, a dead man, and a pair of criminal masterminds hiding in plain sight, and changes in Libby's relationship with the enigmatic Max.
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Murder at the Lighthouse.
First in a series. New person in town finds a body on the beach. The body was a former resident who had a career as a rock singer. Then an old lady who watched the beach falls down the stairs. Who is the killer? A quick read and it was the least likely person who killed her.
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A Deadly Mistake.
A fatal car accident leaves the village of Lipton St Faith with an unidentifiable young man. Then Anna Grix hears of a missing curate, and before long there are more dead bodies, Intelligence operatives, enemy agents and the bombing of Pearl Harbour to contend with. The historical details are so very accurate, the social attitudes so indicative of the time and place, this made for interesting reading.
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A Deadly Confession.
The second Lipton St Faith Mystery. While taking an evening walk Anna Grix and Lieutenant Elsner hear a woman scream and then a shot rings out. A few minutes later they find the body of a young woman. What follows is a mixture of mistreated evacuees, stolen ration books, Italian POWs, a protection racket and an AWOL serviceman. Again, the historical accuracy of the writing is a delight to read.
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A Deadly Coincidence.
Set in Norfolk during World War Two. The heroine is Anna Grix, daughter of the local Vicar of Lipton St Faith. When the local postman is found dead in a ditch the police think it's just an accident, but Anna knows better. Her investigations include a US Airforce Lieutenant, a spiv, a bookie and his henchmen and the true villain and murderer. It is written with real historical accuracy in terms of language, social attitudes and events. It is a true cosy mystery, with a twist.
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Murder at Hartigan House.
Second in a series about the adventures of Ginger, Lady Gold in London in 1923. When she arrives at Hartigan House fresh from her voyage from Boston on SS Rosa, Ginger is met by the butler Pippins, who informs her that a body has been found in a servant's room. Ginger calls in Scotland Yard and Chief Inspector Basil Reed arrives.
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Murder on the SS Rosa.
In 1923 war widow and former British Secret Service agent Ginger Gold is travelling form Boston to England with her Boston Terrier and her fiend Hayley Higgins. During the voyage the Captain's body is discovered in a pickle barrel, and Ginger works with Chief Inspector Basil Reed to discover the killer.
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The Case of the Purloined Poodle.
Kitty Worthington, now engaged to Inspector Crawford, has opened the Ladies of Distinction Detective Agency. Gigi, a beloved standard poodle has been dognapped, along with her gold and diamond collar, and it is Kitty's task to retrieve her before the thousand pond ransom must be paid.
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Murder on the Golden Arrow
In England in 1923, after being away in a Swiss finishing school, Kitty Worthington has been collected by her brother to return for her presentation at Court and her debut season. On the train journey a woman with a mysterious connection to her brother is poisoned. Kitty decides that Inspector Crawford of Scotland Yard cannot be trusted to ensure her brother's innocence. Light read but accurate with the historic details and attitudes.
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Heron Heights Homicide.
Luna Beazley, who owns Luna's Lunchette in Pineview, finds herself involved in a homicide. The new detective in town is her brother's best friend, and her childhood crush. So, Luna decides to solve the murder. Not an author I'll look out for in the future.
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Lady Rample Steps Out.
First in series set in jazz age London. Lady Rample is at odds after the death of her husband, so a friend takes her to a hot new jazz club in London. When one of the club's owners is murdered Lady Rample decides to become a lady detective.
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Murder in the Grotto.
The Christmas Fayre at Fortescue Manor is hosted by Lord and Lady Buckley-Phipps, with the mayor as Santa. The Mayor's unpopular wife is found dead in the estate's grotto, and once again it's up to Lottie to find the killer.
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Murder in the Library.
Another in the Lottie Sprigg series. Lottie, now a travelling companion instead of an orphaned maid, has returned to Fortescue Manor in Shropshire in time for a dinner designed to end a 300-year-old family feud with the Abercromby family. After the dinner, the Abercromby heir, Percy, is found dead in the library, with Lord Buckley-Phipps' letter opener in his back.
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Double Shot Death.
This is number 2 in a series. Sage Caplin is serving coffee from Ground Rules new venture, a coffee cart, at Campathon, an annual eco-friendly festival held just outside Portland. Sage stumbles across the body of Ian Rabe, a band manager, and there's a second body too. But Sage does discover the killer. Some great coffee based recipes also included.
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Miss Morton and the Deadky Inheritance.
In this third book in a series Miss Morton's father's Will becomes an issue. There are incompetent lawyers, evil South African mine owners, assorted conniving relatives, several deaths, and potentially a fortune for Miss Morton - though annoyingly the author has ended this book on a slight cliffhanger. Will there be a fourth in the series?
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Miss Morton and the Spirits of the Underworld
The second in the series set in 1830s haut monde London. Lady Caroline's employer attends a spiritualist, and Lady Caroline does as well. Madam Lavinia slips a note into her hand which contains intimate family knowledge. When she returns to visit Madam Lavinia with Doctor Harris, Madam Lavinia is found lifeless in her chair. The boom is far better than the title suggests and unusually it is also historically accurate - or at least there are no glaring errors.
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Miss Morton and the English House Party Murder.
This is the first in a series and much better than the cumbersome title suggests. Lady Caroline Morton is the daughter of a disgraced Earl who committed suicide. rather than live in unpaid servitude to the family she has become a paid companion to Mrs Matilda Fogerton. She, and her employer and her daughter, are invited to a house party to celebrate her cousin's birthday and that's when the murders begin.
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Murder Among the Pyramids
First in the 1920s Lady Traveler in Egypt series. Blix Windway makes her living lecturing ladies' groups about what she has seen on her travels. She agrees to travel with an older lady to Egypt, but they are barely on their way when rough seas, attempted robbery. and all that before she has even reached Egypt. A murder there during a tour of the pyramids convinces Blix that one of their tour party is a killer.
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Mermaid Singing / Peel me a Lotus.
This book was two for the price of one. Charmain was born in New South Wales, became a journalist in Melbourne, and married novelist and journalist George Johnson in 1947. They lived in London for a few years and in 1954 moved their family to the Greek Islands - these two books are about that time period living on Kalymnos, and the family's adaptation to, what was for them, a very primitive lifestyle. Her descriptions of their life and the people have so many funny little details that paint vivid mental pictures for the reader. It's a slice of life, written by a keen observer and with, at times, deep affection.
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Luna and the Lie
This is another annual reread for me, and probably my third equal favourite book by this author. Luna Allen is a survivor and, as you discover her backstory, you are drawn into her life. At times she seems a bit too 'happy' but it's her resilience that keeps one reading. And it's a redemption for Rip too. So, this is yet another 'slow burn' from an author who has written several of my 'happy place' books of all time.
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Lightning in a Mirror.
Number 3 in the Fogg Lake Trilogy. Olivia finally discovers who killed her mother and the Foundation finally finds the location of the Vortex. It does tie up all the loose ends and links up with Fallon Jones and Arcane. A good ending - and potentially a start in to more of the same.
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A Deadly Endeavor
Set in Philadelphia in 1921. Edie Shippen has returned after years spent in California recovering from Spanish Influenza, for her sister's engagement party to her former boyfriens. So she decides to become a modern woman. At the same time young women are being found, butchered. I can usually work out the villain and motive, but this ending was not what I was expecting - at all.
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A Body on the Doorstep.
First in a series called the London Ladies Murder Club. It's 1921 and Mabel Canning has come to London to work for the Useful Woman's Agency and be a modern woman. When she answers the door for Rosalind Despard a young man falls dead at her feet and she finds herself hunting for clues.
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The Gator Did It.
This is number 5 in a series. Jewel is not a fan of Florida's Gators football team, or of the real thing, so she is creeped out by the eccentric host of her first ever football party calling the alligators behind his mansion. When Mr. Jackson fell off his balcony the alligators took a few bites. Then the burglaries start, friend's children become involved, there are drugs involved, and finally the murderer confesses.
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The Sea Turtle Did It.
The second in a series. jewel Mantelle is out on the beach with one of her friends who runs a group called Turtle Trackerst, and there is what seems to be an early season nest, but it's actually the body of a young girl. Jewel also has to worry about cleaning up the historic house her husband inherited and so she invites a local girl to help her. There's college kids partying on the beach, a Senator's illegitimate child, a lost sketch pad, another murder, and of course, the murderer.
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The Manatee Did It.
First in a series. Jewel Mantelle has moved to the historic coastal Southern town of Sophia Island because her husband inherited a mansion in the historic district. One of the many Mantelle cousins is found floating in the marina. Jewel and her new friends do their best to solve the murder.
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Through My Eyes: CSI Memoirs that Haunt the Soul
Tamara Mickelson served 4 years in the US Airforce and in 1996 she joined the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department. Two and a half years later she accepted a position with CSI, where she processed crime scenes throughout Sacramento County. She served 20 years and then retired. She now (understandably - if you read this book, you'll know why) has CPTSD (Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. I am very grateful to live in a country where guns are not so commonplace as in the USA.
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Dirty Player.
A standalone novel. Friends from high school Greg and Julia are now an NHL star and TV sports reporter. At their High School reunion, they share a kiss, and you have the happy time, the major misunderstanding, separate time of misery for both and finally the reconciliation and HEA.
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Fox Trot Murder.
The second Goldie Weston mystery. Goldie is till writing her column Ask Mrs. Doyenne when one of her brothers, Hap becomes a murder suspect. So, Goldie gets busy finding clues to clear him, as well as trying to convince him to give up his fox-trotting night life and work at his father's latest venture - a radio station. And there's the issue of young women being recruited as bootleggers.
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The Ladies' Column.
A 1920s cosy mystery set in the USA. Goldie Weston knows a lot about everything and uses her skills to create a job as Mrs. Doyenne at her brother's newspaper. When a man she saw arguing with her fiance is murdered and her scarf is found with the body, she is drawn into the world of flappers, speakeasies, members of her own large family and special agent Zeb Marsters.
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All's fair in Love and Treachery.
The second in the Lady Petra Forsyth Regency mystery series. This is set just before the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. A murder at the Asylum for Female Orphans proves to be linked to a group of radicals plotting to overthrow the monarchy during the three days of celebration to mark the end of the war with France. It is foiled by Lady Petra and her allies and friends.
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Wait For It.
This is another of my most favourite books ever, and linked to The Wall of Winnipeg and Me. Diana is Vanessa's best friend, and, since her brother's death, aunt and guardian to Josh and Louie. She buys a house across the road from Miss Pearl and meets Dallas, and it's all on from there. This author is a master of the slow burn.
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The Wall of Winnipeg and Me
My annual Reread of one of my most favourite books ever - I love Vanessa and Aiden, and Zac, and all the complexities of this novel. Vanessa goes from being his personal assistant to his "need a green card" wife. And she doesn't realise that she is his 'ride or die'. Mariana is a master of the slow burn.
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Avenging Angels : Back in the Saddle.
Jessie Wilde is one of the Angels and she is trying to find her brother. Eric Turner of Nightingale Investigations thinks it's dangerous, and steps in, as do the other Angels. Homeless people are going missing and Jessie and the Angels and the Nightingale guys all get involved.
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Avenging Angel
First in a series and related to Kristen Ashley's Rock Chicks series. Rachel Armstrong is the first Angel and runs into Julien 'Cap" Jackson of the Phoenix branch of Nightingale Investigations, in her search for women who are going missing.
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Jane Austen - A Life
This biography fills in some of the gaps in the record of Jane Austen's life; a life for which we have few primary sources, thanks to her family's destruction of Austen's letters. No Diary has even been found, or any other personally written biographical material. Tomalin covers Austen's ill-fated love for a young Irishman, her frequent travels and visits to London, her brothers' naval service in the Napoleonic War and in the colonies. She does not subscribe to the generally held belief that Jane Austen was a sheltered and housebound spinster, whose knowledge of the world was confined to her village life. It is readable and very detailed and brings Jane to life for me in a way that other biographies have not done.
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The Demon's Den and Other Tales.
I've always loved the Valdemar book by Mercedes Lackey and also enjoyed stories form other authors set in Mercedes' world. this collection of seven stories were all published in the Valdemar anthologies but it was great to read the Herald Jors all at once rather than spread over a period of years.
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Homewreaker
Andie has a terrible track record with romance, so when her father (she has no relationship with her mother) suddenly retires, reunites with his first love from high school and moves from New York to a goat farm in North Carolina, she goes to see him to see if she can talk him, or both he and Renata, to move back to New York. And then she meets Seth.
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Least Likely Two.
Hollister goes to her 25th high school reunion and meets up with her frenemy Ben Rose. What she doesn't realise is that he's been in love with her since nineth grade. This is very readable; there's some humour mixed with a really good second chance and late in life romance.
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There's Something about Marty
Number three in the Working Stiffs series. Marty McCutcheon died on his birthday, the third husband of Victoria McCutcheon to die. Is she a black widow? She asks Charmaine to solve Marty's murder.
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Sex, Lies, and Snickerdoodles
Number 2 in the Working Stiffs series. Port Merrit's bad boy Russell Falco's body washes up on the shote of Merritt Bay. Charmaine suspects that one of his liaisons is what got him killed - and she's right, but has to survive the killer herself.
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Truly, Madly, Deeply.
Book 1 in The Working Stiffs mystery series, Charmaine Digby is a human lie detector, and a B list movie star as a mother, and is the County Coroner's newest assistant. A family friend Trudy has recently died in hospital, but the doctor is suspicious - and Charmaine has a case to solve.
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Lady Ambition's Dilemma.
This is the third of the Scott - De Quincy mysteries. Ladt Helena's nephew Deddy is arrested for the murder of an aristocratic friend, and because it was a homosexual relationship. Lady Helena does investigate and deduces the identity of the murderer. She also becomes engaged to the handsome French doctor.
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The Mirror
Number two in The Lost Bride Trilogy. Classic Nora Roberts - real world problems with a strong paranormal overlay. Sonya's inheritance of a stately mansion in Maine with resident evil witch and a curse means that she and her best friend Cleo, along with help from one of Sonya's newly found cousins and a lawyer, Trey, have a situation to handle. And there's also Sonya's cheating ex to deal with.
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The Stolen Letters
A novella in the Lady Arianna series. Her husband's relative the dowager Marchioness of Sterling has had some incriminating letters stolen. They were taken from a French diplomat along with important state papers and she needs Arianna's help. Two old foes also become involved in the situation.
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Freshly Brewed Murder
Set In Portland, Oregon. Sage Caplin, a barista with her partner Harley, has opened a Coffee Cart at the Railyard. She finds a man's body in front of her cart, the developer of the property across the street, which had caused the eviction of a whole group of food carts. Since he was murdered with Sage's box cutter, she needs to focus on finding the killer before their new business is ruined.
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Leave the Girls Alone.
Nineteen years ago Ruth-Ann's childhood friend was murdered by a convicted killer. When another young girl goes missing from her home many years later Ruth returns to New Zealand from New York to see if her suspicion that the killer had an accomplice was true.
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Lady Odelia's Secret.
The second in the Scott - De Quincy Mystery series. Lady Helena's sister Odelia is an artist and the mistress of a prominent painter, whom she proposes Lady Helena should hire to make her drawing room a showpiece. Some nasty vandalism eventually leads to the murder of another of Sir Geraint's mistresses, and the attempted murder of Lady Odelia. At the trial in the Old Bailey Lady Helena is first mentioned as an investigator.
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Rifles Six Years with Wellington's legendary Sharpshooters
Mark Urban is a British journalist, broadcaster and historian/author. This covers the Peninsula War from 1809 to June 1815 and afterwards. It's very readable and he has some amazing primary source material, including new material from a descendent of Major General Robert Craufurd. My favourite Peninsula hero Major Harry Smith appears in this.
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Lady Helena Investigates
First in a series of the Scott - De Quincy mysteries set in the Victorian period. Lady Helena is suddenly widowed and must deal with her interfering family, a mother with what appears to be dementia, local scandals and an attractive French doctor, all while mourning the death of her husband (which may not be as accidental as it first appears). Well worth reading.
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Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord.
First in a mystery series set in the Regency period. Lady Petra Forsyth discovers a plot by men of the ton to discard their wives in an asylum run by an evil man. Of course, she foils the plot but only after being drugged and taken there herself.
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Time Will Tell
One of the 'Sister' Jane Arnold series. Expensive watches found in odd places, two murdered young men, a dismembered body and a prostitution ring make for an intriguing mystery. Add in foxes, hunting, horses and hounds and you have a classic Rita Mae Brown mystery.
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Knife Skills
Trudy goes to interview chef Laszlo alman for her paper in the Valley and finds him dead - stabbed through the heart with one of his own chef's knives, so, of course, she has to find out who did it! This is all mixed up with the potential closure of her newspaper and a potential romance.
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Black Jade
Set in Dallas, Texas in 1930. Daiyu Wu refuses to be lessened by her blindness. When she smalls a burned garlic odour in a garment left at the family's laundry business, she realises that someone has soaked the dress in arsenic. She doers her best to trace the origins of the dress and find the victim, and the murderer. Wee worth reading.
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Portrait of a Dead Guy
First in a series. Artist Cherry Tucker is in competition for the commission to paint Dustin Branson - in his coffin. She has to also deal with ex-boyfriends, her flaky family, an illegal gambling ring, and a killer. Set in a zany Southern town.
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The St Valentine's Situation.
In Pinewoods Corner librarian Lacey helps Martin Weaver research the fate of a fabled ruby necklace and a vanished wife. It all ends well with the solution of two of the town's historical legends and an HEA,
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Dirty D-Man
Another of the Slayers hockey series. A classic little sister of best friend trope that includes a serious injury for the brother, and the usual angst and misunderstandings. A light and easy read.
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The Red-Hot Blues Chanteuse
Set in a vaudeville Theatre in San Francisco in 1919, Viola Vermillion has to solve the murder of her partner and lyricist before the evil industrialist arrives to retrieve a red notebook of incriminating coded information. I ended up really wanting to know what happened next....
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Bogged to Death
Number 2 in a series. A body is found in a cranberry bog during a festival and Penny goes detecting. Add in a gambling ring and a klepto cat and you have a classic cosy mystery just a bit longer than a novella.
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The Harrison: a Beautiful Place to Die
This is part of the Madeline Donovan mysteries series. It is set in Chicago in 1889. A beautiful and luxurious hotel called the Harrison (after the owners) has been built in Goose Island. Soon after its opening beautiful young girls start disappearing. Madeline is employed to look into the disappearance of one of the girls.
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Murder Offstage
This is the first Posie Parker mystery. It has secret underground nightclubs, a cursed diamond, a forgery ring and an aristocratic evil mastermind. And it's a very accurate portrayal of the 1920s.
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Murder on the White Cliffs
This is one of the Posie Parker mystery series set in the 1920s. This novel has 'bright young things' parties, drugs, several murders and Soviet agents and a traitor. And the period details are correct, which makes my historian's heart very happy.
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The Merging
This was recommended as a good paranormal mystery, but it was more a 'police against evil demons' with lots of violence story. Not an author /trope I'd bother reading again.
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The Key to Murder
This is #1 in a series called The French Quarter Mysteries. An adopted woman moves to New Orleans after the death of her adoptive parents. She finds a key and a diary in her new apartment and that's how it all begins. The 2 murders are almost incidental and I must admit it took me till almost the end before I finally worked up the identity of the murderer and his motive.
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Dirty Deal
This is a Slayers Hockey novel, with the 'suddenly a single dad' trope. It does include the issue of parents using an elder sibling as a substitute parent. Some amusing sections and a fun read.
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The Skeleton in the Closet
A bit of fluff, but entertaining fluff. It's number 2 in a series called Southern Ghost Hunter mysteries where the heroine has accidentally earthbound a deceased gangster to her property and has discovered that, with his help, she can see and speak to ghosts.
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Two A Day
The premise was a familiar trope, the 'forbidden because of workplace regulations'; romance, the characters were engaging at the start but for me there were too many sex scenes, which detracted from the humour that made the story interesting enough to read. I did finish it, and the lead-in to the second in the series is intriguing.
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Crossroads
Linked to her True North series, this is the story of Damien Rossi and Nicolette Overland. It was nice to have some gaps filled in and for them to get their HEA ending - finally. As always the dialogue was funny, insightful and believable.
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A January Promise
Life in small town Texas for an elderly woman after the death of her husband of 35 years is complicated by well-meaning people who are trying to set her up with blind dates. So, she tells a lie and then has to deal with all that happens after. Portrays dealing with loss of a spouse, and a parent.
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Blonde Date
This is a novella. It surprised me as the author covers the serious issue of consent in a college/hazing /sorority context, and shows how facing a situation is empowering. Believable plot, great dialogue and engaging main characters.
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Boyfriend
A US college romance but it does have some depth in the issues it covers - breakdown of families through divorce, death in the family, abuse by a step-sibling are all part of the plot. Best of all Bowen's dialogue is genuine and funny and her characters and their actions are believable.
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Letters from Portugal, Spain & France 1812 - 1814.
Broughton began as an assistant- surgeon in the Dorsetshire militia, and in October 1812 became assistant-surgeon of the 2nd Life Guards. Then he was appointed additional surgeon and placed in medical charge of the squadrons of his regiment being sent to the Peninsula. He was with his regiment in their campaign from Lisbon to Boulogne and later at Waterloo. His letters cover the Army and the campaigns as well as his observations of all that happened around him. As such, they are an amazing primary source, and must have been one of the sources used by Georgette Heyer for her research. Some of the stories he recounts are tragic.
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The Recollections of Rifleman Harris.
This is an account, from the rank and file soldier's perspective, of what happened during the Peninsula War and up until Napoleon was sent to Elba. I became interested in this period after reading a Georgette Heyer semi-fictionalized story called The Spanish Bride about Colonel Harry Smith and the Spanish girl he married during the Peninsula Campaign. It was so detailed that I decided to check the research - and found this account, which was fascinating. It led me to check several other sources.
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Murder at Kensington Palace
This is the third Wrexford and Sloane regency mystery. Charlotte's cousin Cedric is murdered and his twin brother is accused of the crime. To help him Charlotte must return to her aristocratic origins and rely on Wrexford's interest in science to solve the murders. A very twisted plot and historically accurate.
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I Taught Them To Cook
The story of the author's time as Head of Cookery in 1972, in an east London comprehensive school. This was the first time boys were able to choose cookery as a subject so there were issues of discipline - there was also the EXAM. It is an honest autobiography, and students then seem so much less sophisticated and less adventurous in terms of food than students today.
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A Change in Tide.
First in the Northern Lights series. Main protagonists are in their forties, and have individual challenges to work out - PTSD induced agoraphobia and loss of her career and first marriage for the heroine, and the end of a sporting career for the hero. Add in a pregnant sister, unscrupulous paparazzi and a nasty ex for the sister and there's lots going on.
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Come a Little Closer
A combination of second chance romance and semi-mystery, but well written. Part of a linked series but can be read as a stand-alone. Nice to see the high school bully/mean girl get her comeupance.
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A Journey - An Experience of a Lifetime
Autobiography of a retired Master Trooper in the Indiana State Police. An insight into how being a part of law enforcement affects the men and women who serve and impacts on their families. It covers the dark and lighter sides of police work. He began by working as a dispatcher in 1973 and applied to the Indiana State Police Recruit Academy when he was 21. He served for 21 and a half years. Really interesting to see how attitudes differ in the USA.
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Backstitched and Stabbed
Number 2 in the Grace Designs mystery series set in post-World War One Wellington. It shows how the attitudes of the time to homosexuality could lead to murder. Really accurate in terms of historical Wellington and social mores. Recommended.
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Gather the Anarchists
Historical mystery set in Wellington post-World War One during the visit to New Zealand by Edward, Prince of Wales. Number 3 in a series. Historically accurate, social history is spot on as are the events, fashion etc. Really enjoyable.
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Crash Into You
Linked to the Diamond Creek, Alaska series. Does cover issues such as sexual abuse, how influential men can get away with abuse, effects of dyslexia on confidence along with a pleasant story,