Book Review: The House Saphir by Marissa Meyer

The House Saphir
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publication: Feiwel & Friends (November 4, 2025)

Description: The "Queen of Fairytale Retellings" is back! #1 New York Times bestselling author Marissa Meyer weaves the tale of Bluebeard as it's never been told before. This is a thrilling romantasy and murder mystery, perfect for fans Meyer's Cinder and Heartless.

Mallory Fontaine is a fraud. Though she comes from a long line of witches, the only magic she possesses is the ability to see ghosts, which is rarely as useful as one would think. She and her sister have maintained the family business, eking out a paltry living by selling bogus spells to gullible buyers and conducting tours of the infamous mansion where the first of the Saphir murders took place.

Mallory is a self-proclaimed expert on Count Bastien Saphir—otherwise known as Monsieur Le Bleu—who brutally killed three of his wives more than a century ago. But she never expected to meet Bastien's great-great grandson and heir to the Saphir estate. Armand is handsome, wealthy, and convinced that the Fontaine Sisters are as talented as they claim. The perfect mark. When he offers Mallory a large sum of money to rid his ancestral home of Le Bleu's ghost, she can’t resist. A paid vacation at Armand’s country manor? It’s practically a dream come true, never mind the ghosts of murdered wives and the monsters that are as common as household pests.

But when murder again comes to the House Saphir, Mallory finds herself at the center of the investigation—and she is almost certain the killer is mortal. If she has any hope of cashing in on the payment she was promised, she’ll have to solve the murder and banish the ghost, all while upholding the illusion of witchcraft.

But that all sounds relatively easy compared to her biggest challenge: learning to trust her heart. Especially when the person her heart wants the most might be a murderer himself.

My Thoughts: THE HOUSE SAPHIR is a reimagining of the Bluebeard fairy tale. It is set in a lush fantasy world complete with monsters and ghosts.

Mallory Fontaine is a con woman having lost her magic when doing a spell to help out her older sister. She and her sister Anais are trying to survive with fake spells, bogus card readings, and ghost tours. Mallory is a self-proclaimed expert on Count Bastien Saphir who became known as Monsieur Le Bleu when he murdered three of his wives and was bested by the fourth a hundred years earlier.

Mallory gives tours of his townhouse in Morant. She has all the stories and the assistance of Saphir's ghostly first wife Triphine who is a bit of a hypochondriac. But her tour goes wrong one night when two of her clients turn out to be investigators investigating rumors of fraud. Luckily, the third client turns out to be the great-great grandson of Monsieur Le Bleu and wants to hire Mallory to remove his ghost from their country estate. 

Mallory quickly agrees in order to get away from the investigators despite her total lack of magic. She and her sister travel to the estate now fallen on very hard times. Mallory has to fake attempts to get rid of a very real and evil spirit. Along the way, she's falling in love with young Armand who isn't interested in his family's historic wine business but prefers working with medical herbs and other plants. 

When a young housemaid is murdered in the same manner as Le Bleu's wives, Mallory and Anais have to really find a way to defeat Le Bleu. They aren't quite alone. They are assisted by a pair of adventurers on a quest of their own. 

The worldbuilding in this story was intriguing. The characters well drawn and the setting elaborate. I enjoyed this retelling. 

I bought this one March 8, 2026. You can buy your copy here.

Audiobook Review: Owlknight by Mercedes Lackey

Owlknight
Author: Mercedes Lackey & Larry Dixon
Narrator: Kevin T. Collins
Series: The Owl Mage Trilogy (Book 3)
Publication: Tantor Audio (October 31, 2017)
Length: 14 hours and 27 minutes

Description: From fantasy legends Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon comes the third and final volume in a powerful saga charged with war and magic, life, and love....

Two years after his parents' disappearance, Darian has sought refuge and training from the mysterious Hawkbrothers. Now he has opened his heart to a beautiful young healer. Finally Darian has found peace and acceptance in his life. That is, until he learns that his parents are still alive - and trapped behind enemy borders....

My Thoughts: The finale of the Owl Mage Trilogy has Darian achieving mastery and also being made a knight of Valdemar. After a whole bunch of ceremonies, he finally has some time to think and to look for some sort of closure for the loss of his parents. 

It is discovered that his parents were caught in a change circle. Some bones are found and Darian's teacher uses a spell to connect the bones to the body which tells Darian that his father, whose foot was found, is alive. However, no one knows how to track change circles. Finally, a clue comes in with some of the northern tribes as they come to join the Ghost Cat tribe and take advantage of the advanced medical knowledge in Valdemar. One of the new arrivals has a vest with embroidered symbols on it that are duplicated of his mother's work. 

An expedition is formed which includes Darian, Keisha, and Keisha's sister who is a new herald of Valdemar and her companion. Others from the vale and Ghost Cat settlement also go along. The book is a story of their adventures with hostile tribes, magical creatures, and travels through areas unknown to Valdemar or the Hawkbrothers. 

This was an excellent conclusion to the trilogy. I enjoyed the descriptions of the journey and all the things the company learned on their travels. I also liked that Keisha and Darian managed to work out their differences as they planned their future together. 

I bought this one at Chirp Audiobooks March 15, 2026. You can buy your copy here.

Book Review: The King's Ransom by Janet Evanovich

The King's Ransom
Author: Janet Evanovich
Series: The Recovery Agent (Book 2)
Publication: Atria (November 11, 2025)

Description: “Thriller master” (Mystery and Suspense Magazine) Janet Evanovich takes you on a global hunt to track down missing masterpieces in this action-packed and steamy follow up to the instant New York Times bestseller The Recovery Agent.

Gabriela Rose, recovery agent extraordinaire, can find just about anything. Too bad she can’t seem to lose her gorgeous-but-infuriating ex-husband Rafer Jones. And now he needs her help. His cousin, Harley, is in trouble…big trouble.

As the president of a too-big-to-fail bank, he invested an astronomical amount of money in insuring some of the world’s most priceless artifacts at the urging of his board. It seemed like a low-risk, high-reward business move, so he jumped in with both feet. But recently, these insured pieces started going missing and worse, there’s no paper trail of Harley being directed to make these risky investments. Unless the artwork can be recovered soon, it looks like Harley is going to be heading to jail as the fall guy for an ingenious crime.

Gabriela knows what she must do: travel around the world with Rafer to find the missing works of art, keep Harley out of jail, and save both his skin and his bank. Along the way, she’ll encounter corruption, threats, murder, mysterious dark forces behind a global conspiracy to destroy the world’s wealth, and a nefarious villain who will stop at nothing to bring the world to the brink of ruin.

My Thoughts: This is the second book starring Gabriela Rose, recovery agent. She can find anything which comes in handy when her ex-husband Rafer comes to her with his cousin Harley who is in big trouble. His bank has insured a bunch of artwork that has now been stolen leaving the bank on the edge of failing and Harley holding the bag. 

Gabriela with Rafer and Harley following her around begins a journey all over the world to find the missing items - including the Rosetta Stone - to get Harley out of trouble. She's not the only one on the trail of the missing art. The mysterious Ahmed is searching for a missing Egyptian golden coffin that was part of the heist. And the group that arranged the thefts is also after Gabriela and gang. They travel from London to Egypt to Italy and all along the way Gabriela has useful friends. 

This was a fun caper story. I liked the relationship between Gabriela and her ex. There was a lot of amusing banter. 

I bought this one March 17, 2026. You can buy your copy here.

Book Review: Bark of Night by David Rosefelt

Bark of Night
Author: David Rosenfelt
Series: Andy Carpenter (Book 19)
Publication: Minotaur (July 16, 2019)

Description The next novel in David Rosenfelt’s witty, heartfelt mystery series featuring lawyer Andy Carpenter and his faithful golden retriever, Tara.

When defense lawyer Andy Carpenter’s veterinarian asks to speak to him privately at the checkup of his golden retriever, Tara, the last thing Andy expects is Truman. Tiny, healthy, French bulldog Truman was dropped off days ago with instructions to be euthanized by a man everyone thought was his owner. But now the owner is nowhere to be found.

Andy is furious. Who would want to euthanize a perfectly healthy dog with no explanation? He is willing to whisk Truman away to the Tara Foundation, the dog-rescue organization which is Andy’s true passion. They will find a home for Truman. But that’s not all the vet tells Andy. Thanks to Truman’s chip, it’s discovered that the man wasn’t Truman’s owner at all . . . Truman's real owner has been murdered.

It’s now up to Andy – with help from his loyal sidekick Tara, Truman and the rest of the gang – to solve this case. In the latest in the popular Andy Carpenter mystery series, David Rosenfelt’s charmingly clever wit and love of dogs are back and better than ever.

My Thoughts: Andy Carpenter's next case comes to him via his veterinarian. The vet has had a man drop off a dog to be euthanized. Investigation shows that the dog wasn't his but rather belonged to a man who was recently murdered. Andy wants to find the man who dropped off the dog and finds himself involved in the murder investigation. 

Things get more complicated when the man who dropped off the dog is also murdered along with his wife. Then there are the suspicious deaths of homeless men from all over the country. Since the first murder victim was a documentary film maker, Andy and his team investigate to find out if his death was related to his career.

Andy's client appears to have been set up for the crime because he happened to be the victim's last interviewee regarding his current film project. Also, items from the scene including the murder weapon were found buried at his house. 

As usual for the Andy Carpenter mysteries, the story is told from multiple viewpoints. My favorite is always Andy's viewpoint since I enjoy his sarcastic voice and quick wit. 

I bought this one June 1, 2021. You can buy your copy here.

Audiobook Review: Owlsight by Mercedes Lackey

Owlsight
Author: Mercedes Lackey & Larry Dixon
Narrator: Kevin T. Collins
Series: The Owl Mage Trilogy (Book 2)
Publication: Tantor Audio (October 10, 2017)
Length: 16 hours and 8 minutes

Description: It has been four years since Darian saw his village sacked and burned by barbarians. Taking refuge with the Hawkbrothers, he soon finds his life's calling - as a Healing Adept. But even as he learns the mystical ways of this ancient race, Darian cannot escape the dangers threatening his future. Another tribe of barbarians is approaching. The time has come...to stand up and fight.

My Thoughts: This is the second book in the Owl Mage Trilogy. It has been four years since Darian saw his village attacked and fled to the Hawkbrothers. He has bonded with an eagle owl, learned his magic, and is ready to go back to Errold's Grove to see up a vale and act as an ambassador from the Hawkbrothers to the Valdemarans. 

Meanwhile, Keisha Alder has taken over duties as healer in Errold's Grove. She tends both the humans and the animals. The area's lord wants to send her to the Healer's collegium, but she knows that there is no one to replace her in Errold's Grove. Besides, she knows that leaving Errold's Grove would be bad for her. She has been trying to learn more about being a healer from books given her by another healer, but she doesn't understand everything she reads and needs help. 

When Darian and his group get back to Errold's Grove, Keisha has a chance to work with another healer in the new vale and quickly learns about many of the confusing things from the book. She had never learned to create a shield to protect her mind and was in danger of becoming a hermit or going mad with one. 

Just as things are settling down, they learn that there is another group of barbarians coming toward Errold's Grove. They have been spotted by the Hawkbrothers' bond birds. This group is different than the group that overran Errold's Grove four years earlier. They have brought along their women and children and their animals too. 

The Queen has sent a military force to counter any attack from the new barbarians. The leader of that group joins with the leaders from the vale and the Valdemaran lands to go to meet this oncoming horde and find out what they want. 

Keisha who has been learning from the army's healers is along on the trip and is one of the first to learn that this group is following their guiding totem who has promised to find them a new place to live and healers for the debilitating disease they call the summer fever. 

The healers all fear that the disease will jump its way to the Valdemaran people who have no built-in immunity to deal with it. And the healer's oath means that they have to try to help these invaders whether or not the military and civilian authorities think it's a good idea. 

This was an excellent young adult fantasy. I loved the worldbuilding. I also loved the way the characters, especially Darian and Keisha, handle their coming-of-age journeys. The world is also full of marvelous creatures from griffins to Companions. 

I bought this one at Chirp on March 15, 2026. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: An Ordinary Sort of Evil by Kelley Armstrong

An Ordinary Sort of Evil
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Series: A Ripped Through Time Novel (Book 5)
Publication: Minotaur Books (May 19, 2026)

Description: New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong returns to Victorian Scotland in the latest in the genre-blending Rip Through Time series.

Modern-day homicide detective Mallory Mitchell has grown accustomed to life in Victorian Scotland after travelling 150 years into the past into the body of a housemaid. She’s built a new life for herself. Even though she works as an assistant to forensic-science pioneer Dr. Duncan Gray and Detective Hugh McCreadie, she considers them true friends. And with Gray in particular, perhaps, someday, something more.

Late one night, Gray and Mallory are summoned urgently to the home of Lady Adler, a patron of Gray’s undertaking business, and they assume there's been a death in the household. But instead, they arrive in the midst of a seance with a ghost demanding Gray's presence. The ghost is Lady Adler's former maid, who had gone missing but now requests that Gray investigate her murder. Although Gray and Mallory are skeptical, they agree to look into the matter, whether she's dead or alive. But unsure if there's been a murder or not, unable to call out the medium as a fraud, and concerned for the fate of the young maid, Gray and Mallory are once again drawn into a mystery much more puzzling--and more dangerous--than it first seems.

My Thoughts: The fifth book in the Ripped Through Time series has Mallory and Gray investigating the death of a young housemaid. Called in to investigate by Lady Adler, one of Duncan Gray's patrons in his undertaking business, Mallory and Gray learn that it was Madam Paix who told Lady Adler about the death during a seance. 

Gray doesn't believe in ghosts but isn't eager to alienate a patron. The puts the investigation in Mallory's hands, after all she was a police detective in Canada before traveling in time to Scotland during the reign of Queen Victoria. Gray is a scientist who is developing some forensic techniques aided by Mallory's knowledge of history. Gray, his sister Isla, and his friend Detective Hugh McCreadie are the only ones who know Mallory has come from the future. 

The young maid's body is found in a pond an apparent suicide victim as was another young woman some months earlier. Gray's autopsy indicates that she was murdered. However, the official police coroner has declared, without actually seeing the body, that she was another suicide victim. Hugh can no longer investigate without getting in trouble with his superiors because the case has been closed. 

This puts the investigation squarely on Gray and Mallory's shoulders. It isn't all that is concerning them though. With Isla soon set to marry Hugh, Mallory will no longer be able to live in Gray's house since she'll have no chaperone. Gray's offer of a marriage of convenience won't work for Mallory since she's fallen in love with him and can't image marrying a man who doesn't love her. There is a lot of tension between Gray and Mallory.

The situation gets even more complicated when they learn that Queen Victoria is a devoted reader of the chronicles of their earlier cases and wants an in-person report of how this investigation is going. 

This was another excellent episode in this series. I like the setting. I also like the way Mallory baffles both Gray and Hugh with her 21st Century slang. I also like the careful way she tries to introduce things about investigations and forensics that are well known to her but not yet invested in the Victorian period. 

I was especially pleased when I learned that one of Mallory's young informants on this case happened to be a preteen Arthur Conan Doyle. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (May 11, 2026)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date.

It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week.  It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

Want to See What I Added to My Stack? links to Stacking the Shelves hosted by Marlene at Reading Reality.

Other Than Reading...

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! We're in a cold, dry spell here in Northern Minnesota with a sunny 41 degrees as I'm writing this Sunday morning.

This past week saw two doctor's visits for me which ate up a lot of Monday and Tuesday and provided no new information. ENT says maybe Speech Therapy to deal with my chronic cough which is a path I'd never have thought of. 

The rest of the week I struggled with two of my review books. Although I ultimately enjoyed Skyring Water, it was a slog keeping track of all the various factions in this espionage thriller set just after World War II especially when being derailed by very detailed descriptions of weaponry. A Pair of Aces was also a slow go because it spent a lot of time showing the pasts and personalities of the two main characters and had very little action. It did shed a light on a period of history I don't know very much about. 

I'm hoping the stack for next week will be more exciting since it has five review books on it. I'll probably continue the In Death audiobook rereads for some variety. I was so excited when I got the review copy for Fury in Death which will be book 63 in the series. I'm up to 46 in my re-listens. 

This coming week should be quiet. I don't have any appointments. 

Read Last Week

• Murder by Design by Lee Goldberg (Kindle First) -- Goldberg introduces a new detective who solves crimes based on elements of design. His new sidekick is a wanna-be actor who narrates the story. My review will be posted on May 29.
• Skyring Water by Louis L'Amour & Beau L'Amour (Review, June 2) -- Throwback espionage thriller with stolen Nazi treasure. Read like James Bond but with Tom Clancy's technobabble. My review will be posted on May 27.
• A Pair of Aces by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray (Review, June 2) -- Historical biographical fiction tells the story of how Madam Polly Adler and ADA Eunice Carter brought down Lucky Luciano. My review will be posted on May 28.

• Stolen in Death by J. D. Robb (Kindle & Audiobook, Mine since February 13) -- The most recent In Death features a murder and a vault filled with stolen goods some of which were stolen by Roarke. My review will be posted on June 4)
• Echoes in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook Reread)

• Secrets in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook Reread)
• Scream for Me by Karen Rose (Kindle & Audiobook, Mine since December 31, 2025, and May 4) -- Romantic suspense set in Georgia. Multiple viewpoints. I rated the audiobook with 3 stars but the story with 5. My review will be posted on June 5.

Currently

• Beach Thriller by Jamie Day (Review, June 9)
• Dark in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook reread)

Next Week

• A Botanist's Guide to Tradition and Treachery by Kate Khavari (Review, June 9)
• Blood on the Sand by Kacey Ezell (Kindle, Mine since April 10)
• The Last Time We Saw Her by Jaclyn Goldis (Review, April 16)

• Murder at the Spirit Lounge by Jess Kidd (Review, June 16)
• Wildflower by Becky Jenkinson (Review, June 16)
• Restless Bones by Gillian Flynn (Review, June 16)

Reviews Posted

• Griffin Speaker by Jan M. Flynn (Review copy)
• The Anniversary by Alex Finlay (Review copy)
• Owlflight by Mercedes Lackey & Larry Dixon (Audiobook)

• The Cupid Dilemma by April Asher (Review copy)
• Rules of the Game by Nora Roberts (Audiobook)
• When You See Me by Lisa Gardner (Kindle & Audiobook, Mine)

Want to See What I Added to My Stack Last Week?

Review:

• Fury in Death by J. D. Robb (September 8)
• The Key to a Killer by Olivia Blacke (October 20)
• Infinite Wisdom by Thomas R. Weaver (November 10)

Bought:

• A Liaden Universe Constellation Volume 6 by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller (Kindle, $8.99)
• Scream for Me by Karen Rose (Audiobook Add-On, $5.61)

What was your week like?