A Lady's Guide to Gossip and Murder (#853) is the second entry in Dianne Freeman's Countess of Harleigh mystery series.
Frances Wynn is one of the American Dollar Princesses, married into the British aristocracy for her money and then ignored by her husband after the briefest of honeymoons. Her husband is now dead, so Lady Harleigh is free to enjoy London in her own house with her daughter Rose and an endless stream of company.
Life is a whirl of activities with her sister Lily on the verge of an engagement, Lily's friend Lottie dropped off with Frances by her scandalous mother on her way to Paris. While her Aunt Hetty, a financial wizard, has taken over the library and is busy straightening out the financial muddle of Frances' brother-in-law Graham. Meetings with handsome neighbor George Hazleton whose mysterious work for the government always seem to manage to involve her assistance. That proves to be especially true when a friend, Mary Archer, is found murdered in her own home and Frances' cousin Charles Evingdon is a person of interest to the police in the matter. What could Mary have been doing that led to her death?
It's all light and frothy fun here, with more than a hint of romance all around. It's a most diverting tale.
Monday, September 30, 2019
An Easy Death
Leave it to Charlaine Harris to put a supernatural spin on a Western genre novel in her An Easy Death (#852) and make it work. This book came out in 2018, and the expectation is that Gunnie Lizbeth Rose will be the lead character in a new series set in an alternative America broken into large and largely lawless territories, where a professional gunslinger for hire can be a lucrative profession if one lives long enough.
After Lizbeth's crew is killed on the job, Gunnie picks up the mission by herself and completes it successfully. Sitting at home isn't paying the bills, though, so when an opportunity to act as guide and bodyguard for a couple of Russian wizards searching Texoma for another Russian wizard comes along, Lizbeth isn't in a position to refuse it, despite her feelings about the grigori.
It's an exciting trek through sparse country with danger lurking behind every rock and tumbleweed, not least from her clients themselves. Gunnie is very young, but she's had to learn fast. The fate of the Holy Russian Empire is up for grabs and Lizbeth, unbeknownst to her clients, has a very personal stake in it all.
I'm not usually a reader of Westerns, but I did enjoy this book with its familiar landscape and touches of magic. Chances are, if you liked Sookie Stackhouse in Ms. Harris' True Blood series, you'll embrace Gunnie Rose.
After Lizbeth's crew is killed on the job, Gunnie picks up the mission by herself and completes it successfully. Sitting at home isn't paying the bills, though, so when an opportunity to act as guide and bodyguard for a couple of Russian wizards searching Texoma for another Russian wizard comes along, Lizbeth isn't in a position to refuse it, despite her feelings about the grigori.
It's an exciting trek through sparse country with danger lurking behind every rock and tumbleweed, not least from her clients themselves. Gunnie is very young, but she's had to learn fast. The fate of the Holy Russian Empire is up for grabs and Lizbeth, unbeknownst to her clients, has a very personal stake in it all.
I'm not usually a reader of Westerns, but I did enjoy this book with its familiar landscape and touches of magic. Chances are, if you liked Sookie Stackhouse in Ms. Harris' True Blood series, you'll embrace Gunnie Rose.
The Right Sort of Man
At first glance, both the cover and the title (The Right Sort of Man #851) of Allison Montclair's new mystery would suggest that it is light chick-lit fare. Happily, it turned out to be much more than that.
Just after the end of WWII in a London still plagued by shortages of most goods and food, two women meet by chance at a wedding. Gwendolyn Bainbridge is an aristocratic widow with a son, while Iris Sparks has many unusual skills she acquired during the war, but which she "cannot talk about". On the strength of that meeting, the unlikely pair decide to go into business together. What is needed more after the disruptions and losses of the previous years than a safe way to meet a partner interested in a long-term commitment? Thus the Right Sort Marriage Bureau is born.
When a young woman new to the agency is murdered on her very first date with another Bureau client, the police find evidence and arrest the young man in question. The only problem is that both Iris and Gwen are convinced that mild-mannered Dickie Trower couldn't possibly have been the murderer. The only way to prevent Mr. Trower from hanging for a crime he didn't commit is to find the real assailant. As they investigate, the women are drawn into a murky world of post-war intrigue and crime. Soon their own lives are in jeopardy...
I really hope that The Right Sort of Man is not the only appearance of Gwen and Iris. Besides being a well-plotted mystery, the setting of grimy London in the war's aftermath is unusual. The characters, both good and bad, are intriguing and well-drawn. Ms. Montclair keeps dropping tidbits about Iris and Gwen's pasts, and the high stakes both professional and personal of making a success of their fledgling business. You can't help but root for them and their championship of their lonely client. A most enjoyable read!
Just after the end of WWII in a London still plagued by shortages of most goods and food, two women meet by chance at a wedding. Gwendolyn Bainbridge is an aristocratic widow with a son, while Iris Sparks has many unusual skills she acquired during the war, but which she "cannot talk about". On the strength of that meeting, the unlikely pair decide to go into business together. What is needed more after the disruptions and losses of the previous years than a safe way to meet a partner interested in a long-term commitment? Thus the Right Sort Marriage Bureau is born.
When a young woman new to the agency is murdered on her very first date with another Bureau client, the police find evidence and arrest the young man in question. The only problem is that both Iris and Gwen are convinced that mild-mannered Dickie Trower couldn't possibly have been the murderer. The only way to prevent Mr. Trower from hanging for a crime he didn't commit is to find the real assailant. As they investigate, the women are drawn into a murky world of post-war intrigue and crime. Soon their own lives are in jeopardy...
I really hope that The Right Sort of Man is not the only appearance of Gwen and Iris. Besides being a well-plotted mystery, the setting of grimy London in the war's aftermath is unusual. The characters, both good and bad, are intriguing and well-drawn. Ms. Montclair keeps dropping tidbits about Iris and Gwen's pasts, and the high stakes both professional and personal of making a success of their fledgling business. You can't help but root for them and their championship of their lonely client. A most enjoyable read!
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
A Capitol Death
I have been eagerly awaiting Lindsey Davis' latest addition to her Flavia Albia mystery series. A Capitol Death (#850) did not disappoint.
The Emperor Domitian is back in town, ready to Triumph over the Dacians and Chattians, and the details had better be right, never mind that there are neither captives nor treasure to parade before the crowds. As an aedile, Flavia's new husband Tiberius Manlius Faustus is one of the officials charged with putting on a good show. When a man topples off the Tarpeian Rock at the end of the Triumphal route in the midst of preparations, inquires must be made, so Tiberius delegates the matter (officially!) to Flavia Albia to clear up before the Triumph.
There is no shortage of suspects in Gabinus' death, but when a second murder occurs on the Capitoline Hill, and the body is tossed off the Tarpeian Rock it muddies the waters of the investigation. Surely the deaths are linked, but how? Something about the deaths stinks. Literally. Will Flavia be able to untangle the mystery in time?
I love Lindsey Davis' combination of snark, engaging characters and mysteries that leave the reader guessing until the end. Much as I enjoyed her Marcus Didius Falco series (Marcus is Flavia's adoptive father.) in many ways I like this series even better. It's told from a female perspective in the male-dominated world of Imperial Rome, with insights into different aspects of Roman life. Flavia Albia is also an outsider. Much as her parents want her to appear to be a well-brought up young Roman matron, she can never entirely shed her former life as an orphan living on the mean streets of Londinium, allowing her to think outside the narrow box of Roman society. It makes for a thoroughly engaging series. Highly recommended.
The Emperor Domitian is back in town, ready to Triumph over the Dacians and Chattians, and the details had better be right, never mind that there are neither captives nor treasure to parade before the crowds. As an aedile, Flavia's new husband Tiberius Manlius Faustus is one of the officials charged with putting on a good show. When a man topples off the Tarpeian Rock at the end of the Triumphal route in the midst of preparations, inquires must be made, so Tiberius delegates the matter (officially!) to Flavia Albia to clear up before the Triumph.
There is no shortage of suspects in Gabinus' death, but when a second murder occurs on the Capitoline Hill, and the body is tossed off the Tarpeian Rock it muddies the waters of the investigation. Surely the deaths are linked, but how? Something about the deaths stinks. Literally. Will Flavia be able to untangle the mystery in time?
I love Lindsey Davis' combination of snark, engaging characters and mysteries that leave the reader guessing until the end. Much as I enjoyed her Marcus Didius Falco series (Marcus is Flavia's adoptive father.) in many ways I like this series even better. It's told from a female perspective in the male-dominated world of Imperial Rome, with insights into different aspects of Roman life. Flavia Albia is also an outsider. Much as her parents want her to appear to be a well-brought up young Roman matron, she can never entirely shed her former life as an orphan living on the mean streets of Londinium, allowing her to think outside the narrow box of Roman society. It makes for a thoroughly engaging series. Highly recommended.
Thursday, September 5, 2019
The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs
I devoured the entwined tales of Salem witchcraft and modern academia in The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. Katherine Howe has produced an equally enthralling sequel in The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs (#849). Appropriately enough for reading during a hurricane, one of the major plot devices here is an ancient charm called The Weather Work.
Constance Goodwin is back, no longer an eager graduate student, but a settled professor at Northeastern University, about to be considered for tenure. She is still with Sam, who literally fell into her life in the previous book. Life seems to be going well until Connie is asked to mentor a Harvard graduate student in Early American History.
Academic jealousies and unresolved issues from Connie's own doctoral work come to a head when new discoveries lead to danger to both Connie and those she loves. Is she strong enough to solve the mysteries of her own background and protect what she values most?
I loved the New England background and the peculiar history of the Salem witch trials and their aftermath. Here they are cleverly woven into Connie's personal background even though she is convinced she is the most rational being she knows. Conflicts abound, as does more than a whiff of the occult. A most satisfying read, and a worthy follow up to The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane.
(The only thing I didn't buy in this book was Connie's love of the Northeastern University campus. Yes, it's great to be able to wander up the street to Boston's Museum of Fine Arts and get in with a student ID. (How I miss being a member down in Florida!) But I did my post-graduate work myself there, and I found it rather a bleak and impersonal place. Just my opinion - I know there are many proud alums out there!)
Constance Goodwin is back, no longer an eager graduate student, but a settled professor at Northeastern University, about to be considered for tenure. She is still with Sam, who literally fell into her life in the previous book. Life seems to be going well until Connie is asked to mentor a Harvard graduate student in Early American History.
Academic jealousies and unresolved issues from Connie's own doctoral work come to a head when new discoveries lead to danger to both Connie and those she loves. Is she strong enough to solve the mysteries of her own background and protect what she values most?
I loved the New England background and the peculiar history of the Salem witch trials and their aftermath. Here they are cleverly woven into Connie's personal background even though she is convinced she is the most rational being she knows. Conflicts abound, as does more than a whiff of the occult. A most satisfying read, and a worthy follow up to The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane.
(The only thing I didn't buy in this book was Connie's love of the Northeastern University campus. Yes, it's great to be able to wander up the street to Boston's Museum of Fine Arts and get in with a student ID. (How I miss being a member down in Florida!) But I did my post-graduate work myself there, and I found it rather a bleak and impersonal place. Just my opinion - I know there are many proud alums out there!)
Monday, September 2, 2019
The Marriage Clock
In Zara Raheem's The Marriage Clock (#848) Leila Abid's parents want her to be happy. For them, this of course means marriage to a suitable South Asian Muslim. But Leila has been raised in Los Angeles with American values, and she's not at all sure she wants to be married. She's happy teaching English literature to her teenage students and feeling she's making a difference in some of their lives. Besides, she's never yet gone on a date she liked enough to pursue a relationship.
As her parents' thirtieth anniversary approaches, Leila's ammi ramps up the pressure to meet a suitable mate to an unbearable degree, even going so far as to ambush her with friends' sons, and to take her to a professional matchmaker! Finally, Leila is driven to offer a compromise; if they will let her find a possible husband on her own in the three months left before their anniversary, everyone will be happy. If she cannot, she will allow her parents (meaning her mother!) to choose her a husband. The marriage clock is ticking...
I have to admit, I found Leila's character to be way too whiny for my taste. If she was so set on choosing her own husband material, she certainly didn't seem to be making much of an effort to find one on her own despite numerous suggestions from her circle of friends. I almost gave up on this book halfway through, and all I was looking for was something light and amusing to get me through a storm; since I was trapped inside, I did go ahead and finish the book, and I was pleasantly surprised when the ending redeemed the story and finally Leila found the gumption to be true to herself.
As her parents' thirtieth anniversary approaches, Leila's ammi ramps up the pressure to meet a suitable mate to an unbearable degree, even going so far as to ambush her with friends' sons, and to take her to a professional matchmaker! Finally, Leila is driven to offer a compromise; if they will let her find a possible husband on her own in the three months left before their anniversary, everyone will be happy. If she cannot, she will allow her parents (meaning her mother!) to choose her a husband. The marriage clock is ticking...
I have to admit, I found Leila's character to be way too whiny for my taste. If she was so set on choosing her own husband material, she certainly didn't seem to be making much of an effort to find one on her own despite numerous suggestions from her circle of friends. I almost gave up on this book halfway through, and all I was looking for was something light and amusing to get me through a storm; since I was trapped inside, I did go ahead and finish the book, and I was pleasantly surprised when the ending redeemed the story and finally Leila found the gumption to be true to herself.
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