ARC Review: Tell Me No Lies by Shelley Noble

Tell Me No Lies
Author: Shelley Noble
Series: A Lady Dunbridge Mystery (Book 2)
Publication: Forge Books (November 5, 2019)

Description: Miss Fisher meets Downton Abbey in Tell Me No Lies, part of the critically acclaimed Lady Dunbridge Mystery series from New York Times bestselling author Shelley Noble.

Rise and shine, Countess, you’re about to have a visitor.

Lady Dunbridge was not about to let a little thing like the death of her husband ruin her social life. She’s come to New York City, ready to take the dazzling world of Gilded Age Manhattan by storm. The social events of the summer have been amusing but Lady Phil is searching for more excitement---and she finds it, when an early morning visitor arrives, begging for her help. After all, Lady Phil has been known to be useful in a crisis. Especially when the crisis involves the untimely death of a handsome young business tycoon.

His death could send another financial panic through Wall Street and beyond.

With the elegant Plaza Hotel, Metropolitan Museum of Art and the opulent mansions of Long Island’s Gold Coast as the backdrop, romance, murder, and scandals abound. Someone simply must do something. And Lady Dunbridge is happy to oblige.

My Thoughts: The second Philomena Amesbury, Dowager Countess of Dunbridge mystery sees her settled in a suite at the new Plaza Hotel along with her maid and butler. Her bill is being footed by a mysterious organization who wants to use her to investigate various things. She calls her contact Mr. X and he is a total man of mystery and master of disguises.

This case begins when she is called in by some new friends to help them figure out what to do about the murder of a young man who was a suitor for their daughter and a guest at her debut party. Parry Fauks is the heir to a company but also a man who wants to be in charge now. He and many others are looking for get rich quick schemes in the volatile stock market. Suspects for his murder could be his business associates or it could be a more personal crime since he has a bad reputation among young society ladies.

Phil is busy investigating even though she is being discourage by Detective Sergeant John Atkins. But Phil is the one who has access to the high society venues where the answers might lie and Atkins needs her. So does the mysterious Mr. X but Phil isn't at all sure what he wants her to do.

When a second murder happens, the case gets even more complex. Phil, her faithful maid Lily, and butler Preswick have to use all the skills they have gathered from their study of books on criminal investigation and detective stories to solve this crime and save the reputation of a young lady.

I enjoyed the setting. I like Phil who is a woman of privilege but little money. I like that she is finding a new purpose for her life solving crimes. I liked the way that history was woven into the story.

Favorite Quote:

"Tell me exactly what he said."

She told him. "It sounds like someone doesn't want me looking into Perry Fauk's murder."

"That someone would include me."

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

Book Review: I, Robot: To Preserve by Mickey Zucker Reichert

I, Robot: To Preserve
Author: Mickey Zucker Reichert
Series: I, Robot (Book 3)
Publication: Ace (February 2, 2016)

Description: Inspired by Science Fiction Grand Master Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot stories.

2037: Robotic technology has evolved into the realm of self-aware, sentient mechanical entities. But despite the safeguards programmed into the very core of a robot’s artificial intelligence, humanity’s most brilliant creation can still fall prey to those who believe the Three Laws of Robotics were made to be broken...

N8-C, better known as Nate, has been Manhattan Hasbro Hospital’s resident robot for more than twenty years. A prototype, humanoid in appearance, he was created to interact with people. While some staff accepted working alongside an anthropomorphic robot, Nate’s very existence terrified most people, leaving the robot utilized for menial tasks and generally ignored.

Until one of the hospital’s physicians is found brutally murdered with Nate standing over the corpse, a blood-smeared utility bar clutched in his hand. As designer and programmer of Nate’s positronic brain, Lawrence Robertson is responsible for his creation’s actions and arrested for the crime.

Susan Calvin knows the Three Laws of Robotics make it impossible for Nate to harm a human being. But to prove both Nate’s and Lawrence’s innocence, she has to consider the possibility that someone somehow manipulated the laws to commit murder...

My Thoughts: In the conclusion of the I, Robot trilogy, Susan has decisions to make and problems to solve. When NC-8 is found standing over the body of Dr. Ari Goldman, Susan knows that the Three Laws of Robotics make it impossible for him to have committed the crime. However, she is in the minority since most don't understand those laws. Dr. Lawrence Robertson is arrested because he was the one who designed and programmed Nate and is therefore responsible for his actions.

Susan knows that she needs to find out who killed Dr. Goldman and how they managed to make it look like Nate did it. She gives up her residency in order to have time to work on finding the proof which causes her friend Dr. Kendall Stevens to worry about her.

She manages to free Nate from the police property department and while they are fleeing, she is shot at. She is rescued by Pal Buffoni who says that he is recently discharged from an elite military unit. He says that he has fallen in love with her and is determined to keep her safe. Susan, being alone and attracted to him, decides to accept his offer to keep her and Nate safe. Pal tries to convince her that the Society for Humanity has regrouped enough after the events of the last book to become a threat again. He also encourages her to find the lost code that divorces the positronic brain from the Three Laws that both the SFH and DoD's Cadmium are convinced she knows.

This was an exciting and fast-paced story as Susan, Nate and Pal are being chased both by bad guys and by the police who want to recapture Nate. I liked the action even though I knew about the big reveal long before Susan figured it out.

Fans of hard science fiction and robotics will enjoy this trilogy which makes a good introduction to Isaac Asimov's books about robots with positronic brains.

Favorite Quote:

In the past, Susan had frequently walked the line between informing and insulting. She did not suffer fools, gladly or otherwise, and preferred to simply purge them from her life.

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

YA ARC Review: Deadly Little Scandals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Deadly Little Scandals
Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Series: Debutantes (Book 2)
Publication: Freeform (November 5, 2019)

Description: "Think of the White Gloves like the Junior League—by way of Skull and Bones…"

Reluctant debutante Sawyer Taft joined Southern high society for one reason and one reason alone: to identify and locate her biological father. But the answers Sawyer found during her debutante year only left her with more questions and one potentially life-ruining secret. When her cousin Lily ropes her into pledging a mysterious, elite, and all-female secret society called the White Gloves, Sawyer soon discovers that someone in the group's ranks may have the answers she's looking for. Things are looking up... until Sawyer and the White Gloves make a disturbing discover near the family's summer home--and uncover a twisted secret, decades in the making. No one is quite who they seem to be in this twisty, soapy, gasp-inducing sequel to Jennifer Lynn Barnes' unputdownable Little White Lies.

My Thoughts: The sequel the LITTLE WHITE LIES is even more twisty than the first book. Sawyer Taft took her grandmother's offer for college tuition in exchange for doing the debutante thing in order to find out who impregnated her teenage mother. It seems like every piece of information she finds only adds to the mystery and the confusion.

In this book the girls are pledging a mystery and elite secret society called the White Gloves. They have a number of tasks to perform and trials to overcome. During one task bones are discovered that might tie into the mystery of Sawyer's parentage...or maybe not.

Three different time periods are interwoven into this story. The first has Sawyer and her friend Sadie-Grace drugged and tossed in a pit, the second goes back twenty-five years and tells what the future parents of Sawyer's friends are doing and what happened that resulted in a body in the lake, the third and largest section tells about the summer events, discoveries, lies, and betrayals that led up to the first part.

I really liked Sawyer who has a tough exterior and an easily bruised heart. I liked her friends/sisters/cousins Lily and Campbell too. And Sadie-Grace was always good for a bit of inadvertent comic relief because of her eternal optimism and penchant for speaking in exclamation points.

The plot is really twisty and I'm not sure, even yet, that I have figured out all of the genetic relationships. Fans of soap operas will enjoy this complex and twisted story.

Favorite Quote:

"Sawyer doesn't have second thoughts!" Sadie-Grace insisted from the golf cart behind us, loyal to the bone. "Sometimes, she doesn't even have first thoughts!"

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? (Oct. 28, 2019)

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.

I will be combining my YA and adult reading and purchases on this one weekly roundup.

Other Than Reading...

This has been another week in our new normal. I had lunch with 20 of my classmates at a local restaurant which meant choosing something healthy from a menu I didn't control. I caved and had some french fries which were delicious. I didn't eat all of the serving which I am counting as a victory. It was good to catch up on everyone's life. I had a great time.

We are still getting used to our new healthy regimen and Bill had a bit of a setback this week. He stood up after talking to me about buying an air fryer, got dizzy, lost his balance, and fell hitting his nose and mouth on the way down. I was ready to rush him to Emergency but he realized that he hadn't had much to eat and drink that day. He felt better after an apple and a peanut butter sandwich. He mentioned the fall at rehab the next day where they also suggested that he might have been dehydrated. His blood pressure tested normal. Since, he has been more careful to eat all three meals a day and drink plenty of water and he hasn't had another dizzy spell.

Bill visited his surgeon on Tuesday and got the all clear to drive. He was the chauffeur for his rehab trips on Wednesday and Friday. I still went along because I can get in 5000-6000 steps around the skywalks while he exercises. With my Curves closing on Oct. 31, I have to decide what I want to do about getting more exercise. I am thinking of joining the other Curves in town and going to exercise and walk around the Mall while he does his rehab. I was waiting to see if he would be able to drive before I made my decision. It didn't make much sense to join the new Curves when I didn't have time to attend on Monday, Wednesday or Friday. Their hours aren't really convenient to my lifestyle. They close from 12:30 to 3:30 each day. With it getting dark as early as it will now that winter is coming, I can't exercise after 3:30 and still get home before dark making me a hazard to other drivers on the road. Now that I can have my mornings back I should have time to exercise then.

With a mix of sunny and cloudy days this week, we are making a fair amount of solar power. We got this month's power bill and were pleased to see that we had created half of the power we used. With so many rainy and cloudy days, I didn't think we would do as well as we did. Today (Saturday) has been gloriously sunny and warm with a temperature near 60. I used the opportunity to trim some of the shrubbery in the front of the house to get it ready for winter since the weather man says this might be the last nice warm day of the fall. There isn't snow in the immediate forecast but cold, rain, and clouds are on the horizon. 

I have been watching the World Series and The Voice and alternating comfort books with books on my calendar which is slowing my reviewing pace. I am still a couple of weeks ahead but need to concentrate on review books this coming week. I still have eight review books with 2019 release dates including 6 being released on December 3. Then I have a nice long break before beginning the January releases.

Read Last Week

If you can't wait until the review shows up on my blog, reviews are posted to LibraryThing and Goodreads as soon as I write them (usually right after I finish reading a book.)

• Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer (YA Review; Nov. 19) - This near future science fiction mystery was a fast-paced and enjoyable story. My review will be posted on Nov. 13.
• Marked in Flesh by Anne Bishop (mine - reread)
• Etched in Bone by Anne Bishop (mine - reread) 

• Treacherous Is the Night by Anna Lee Huber (mine) - Post World War I mystery that is the second in the Verity Kent series. I enjoyed the mystery, setting and characters. My review will be posted on Nov. 14.
• Scout's Progress by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (Mine - reread)

Currently

• Mouse and Dragon by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller - reread
• Penny for Your Secrets by Anna Lee Huber (Review; Oct. 29)

Next Week

• Under Currents by Nora Roberts (mine)
• A Cowboy Like You by Donna Grant (Review; Nov. 26)
• Trust Me by Hank Phillipi Ryan (mine) 

• Just Watch Me by Jeff Lindsay (Review; Dec. 3)
• Dangerous Alliance by Jennieke Cohen (Review; Dec. 3)
• Thin Ice by Paige Shelton (Review; Dec. 3)

Reviews Posted

• The God of the Hive by Laurie R. King
• Garment of Shadows by Laurie R. King 
• All the Things We Do in the Dark by Saundra Mitchell

• The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson
• The Shadow Cabinet by Maureen Johnson

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

• Alone in the Wild by Kelley Armstrong (Feb. 4)
• A Bad Day for Sunshine by Darynda Jones (April 7)
• Hid from Our Eyes by Julia Spencer-Fleming (April 7)

What was your week like?

Book Review: Dreaming Spies by Laurie R. King

Dreaming Spies
Author: Laurie R. King
Series: Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes (Book 13)
Publication: Bantam; Reprint edition (October 6, 2015)

Description: Laurie R. King’s novels of suspense featuring Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, are critically acclaimed and beloved by readers for the author’s adept interplay of history and adventure. Now the intrepid duo is finally trying to take a little time for themselves—only to be swept up in a baffling case that will lead them from the idyllic panoramas of Japan to the depths of Oxford’s most revered institution.

After a lengthy case that had the couple traipsing all over India, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes are on their way to California to deal with some family business that Russell has been neglecting for far too long. Along the way, they plan to break up the long voyage with a sojourn in southern Japan. The cruising steamer Thomas Carlyle is leaving Bombay, bound for Kobe. Though they’re not the vacationing types, Russell is looking forward to a change of focus—not to mention a chance to travel to a location Holmes has not visited before. The idea of the pair being on equal footing is enticing to a woman who often must race to catch up with her older, highly skilled husband.

Aboard the ship, intrigue stirs almost immediately. Holmes recognizes the famous clubman the Earl of Darley, whom he suspects of being an occasional blackmailer: not an unlikely career choice for a man richer in social connections than in pounds sterling. And then there’s the lithe, surprisingly fluent young Japanese woman who befriends Russell and quotes haiku. She agrees to tutor the couple in Japanese language and customs, but Russell can’t shake the feeling that Haruki Sato is not who she claims to be.

Once in Japan, Russell’s suspicions are confirmed in a most surprising way. From the glorious city of Tokyo to the cavernous library at Oxford, Russell and Holmes race to solve a mystery involving international extortion, espionage, and the shocking secrets that, if revealed, could spark revolution—and topple an empire.

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this episode in the adventures of Mary Russell and her husband Sherlock Holmes. The Preamble has them back home and contemplating a very Japanese rock that has been placed in their garden. It is 1925.

Then we go back to 1924 and discover how the rock ends up in their garden. The story begins with Russell and Holmes boarding a ship in Bombay that will take them to Japan. Also boarding are a man Holmes recognizes as a blackmailer and a mysterious young Japanese woman. While Mary is looking forward to some quiet time to read and relax, Holmes determines to find out what Lord Darley, the blackmailer, is up to.

The young Japanese woman is Haruki Sato who has spent a year in the United States at college and is returning home. At Mary's urging, she agrees to teach both Mary and Holmes some Japanese and also agrees to give some lectures about Japanese culture on the ship. Miss Sato looks young, innocent and naive but has hidden depths.

Holmes and Russell manage to while away the sea voyage investigating Lord Darley, his new wife, and his son and learning about Japanese culture. When they disembark in Kobe, Miss Sato is there to act as tour guide and instructor. She disappears but sets them a puzzle to solve.

This leads to them assuming the roles of Buddhist pilgrims and traveling through Japan to rendezvous with her at a specific time and place. I liked seeing Japan through their eyes as they traveled. At the rendezvous, Sherlock and Mary learn what it is that Miss Sato has been preparing them for. She is a ninja in service to the Emperor, as her family has been for a couple hundred years, and Crown Prince Hirohito has a problem that needs to be solved.

Hirohito has mistakenly given away a book to the King of England that contains some information of vital importance to Japan. Darley is blackmailing him to get it back. Holmes, Russell, and Miss Sato and her family need to find a way to retrieve the book to save Hirohito and Japan from major loss of face.

After a seemingly successful conclusion, Holmes and Russell return home. But, some months later, Miss Sato appears in England because the wrong book was recovered. And the adventures resume...

I love Mary's voice as she tells the story. She is such a strong and engaging character. I enjoyed the information about the Japanese book and the wandering poet. I liked that each chapter began with a haiku. All in all, this was a very enjoyable story. I can't wait for more adventures.

Favorite Quote:

A train appeared, narrower in gauge than English or American trains. At the precise time we had been given, it came to a halt before the platform, stopped in a great hss of brakes, and opened its doors.

What followed was totally unexpected. This most methodical and polite of people were seized by a daemon. As if they were facing the last escape from a raging inferno, they began instantly to shove - those on-board to push out, and those on the platform to be the first in. Grim determination was the rule for the next two minutes, with Holmes and me, the largest objects in the stream, pushed aside by our lack of technique.

I bought and read this one in 2014 but didn't review it. I'm rereading it now. You can buy your copy here.

Book Review: The God of the Hive by Laurie R. King

The God of the Hive
Author: Laurie R. King
Series: Mary Russell (Book 10)
Publication: Bantam; 1 edition (April 27, 2010)

Description: In Laurie R. King’s latest Mary Russell–Sherlock Holmes mystery, the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author delivers a thriller of ingenious surprises and unrelenting suspense—as the famous husband and wife sleuths are pursued by a killer immune from the sting of justice.

It began as a problem in one of Holmes’ beloved beehives, led to a murderous cult, and ended—or so they’d hoped—with a daring escape from a sacrificial altar. Instead, Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, have stirred the wrath and the limitless resources of those they’ve thwarted. Now they are separated and on the run, wanted by the police, and pursued across the Continent by a ruthless enemy with powerful connections.

Unstoppable together, Russell and Holmes will have to survive this time apart, maintaining tenuous contact only by means of coded messages and cryptic notes. With Holmes’ young granddaughter in her safekeeping, Russell will have to call on instincts she didn’t know she had. But has the couple already made a fatal mistake by separating, making themselves easier targets for the shadowy government agents sent to silence them?

From hidden rooms in London shops and rustic forest cabins to rickety planes over Scotland and boats on the frozen North Sea, Russell and Holmes work their way back to each other while uncovering answers to a mystery that will take both of them to solve. A hermit with a mysterious past and a beautiful young female doctor with a secret, a cruelly scarred flyer and an obsessed man of the cloth, Holmes’ brother, Mycroft, and an Intelligence agent who knows too much: Everyone Russell and Holmes meet could either speed their safe reunion or betray them to their enemies—in the most complex, shocking, and deeply personal case of their career.

My Thoughts: After their confrontation with a villain, Holmes and Russell need to split up to confuse their enemy. Holmes takes to the sea with his son Damian who has a gunshot wound and Russell grabs Holmes's three-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter Estelle and heads south. She catches up with the pilot who flew her north and convinces him to take them to a place where they can catch a train heading further south.

However, a sniper shoots their plane and wounds their pilot which convinces them to go even further before landing to get out of the range of the villains who are after them. A plane crash lands them in the realm of Robert Goodman who is living as a hermit. They spend a couple of days there before the villains overtake them and all four are forced to flee.

Russell stashes the pilot and Estelle in a place that should be safe and travels to London with Robert Goodman to search for both Holmes brothers. Then the news comes the Mycroft has been killed outside a house of ill repute and his funeral is to be the next Sunday.

Mycroft has fallen afoul of villains of his own though they are part of the larger conspiracy. Sections from the head villains point of view let us know about a plot to depose Mycroft and take his place in the Intelligence community which he feels is his destiny. And he's more than willing to murder, Mycroft, Sherlock, Mary, and anyone else who might stand in his way.

This story is told from multiple points of view and was filled with action as our heroes new and old have to find out who is behind the massive plot and save their lives and the lives of innocent victims along the way. Holmes and Russell are apart for large parts of this story which adds their worry for each other to the tension of an already tense situation.

This was an excellent story. I loved the action and tension. I really liked Robert Goodman who was an intriguing character. I also want to know more about Damian, Estelle, and the young Scottish doctor that Sherlock kidnaps to take care of Damian's gunshot wound.

Favorite Quote:

"Not a ladder as such, it's rope. A rope ladder. If you feel up to such a thing."

"Is there sufficient anchor up there? I'd not care to get nearly to the top and have it come loose."

"Oh no, no no, that wouldn't do at all. Yes, there's a metal pipe near by, and I have a rope as well. To fasten around the pipe, that is, and tie to the ladder."

"Mr. Sosa, I don't know that I've ever had opportunity to enquire, but -- your knowledge of knots. How comprehensive is it?"

"Quite sufficient, I assure you, sir," he answered earnestly. As a boy, I taught myself a full two dozen styles and their chief purposes. I propose a sheet bend rather than a reef knot. And to fasten it to the pipe, a double half-hitch should be sufficient. No, sir; my knots will hold."

I bought this one in 2010 and am rereading it. You can buy your copy here.

Friday Memes: The God of the Hive by Laurie R. King

Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is now hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:

A child is a burden, after a mile.

After two miles in the cold sea air, stumbling through the night up the side of a hill and down again, becoming all too aware of previously unnoticed burns and bruises, and having already put on eight miles that night -- half of it carrying a man on a stretcher -- even a small, drowsy three-and-a-half-year-old becomes a strain.

Friday 56:

Then the world exploded in a racket of tearing metal and crackling trees, the screams of three human voices, and an unbelievable confusion of sound and pain and turmoil as we tumbled end over end and fell crying into the dark.

Today I am spotlighting The God of the Hive by Laurie R. King. This is the tenth book in the Mary Russell series and I first read it in 2010. It has been an interesting experience reading these mysteries without having to wait a year between each one. Here is the description from Amazon:

In Laurie R. King’s latest Mary Russell–Sherlock Holmes mystery, the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author delivers a thriller of ingenious surprises and unrelenting suspense—as the famous husband and wife sleuths are pursued by a killer immune from the sting of justice.

It began as a problem in one of Holmes’ beloved beehives, led to a murderous cult, and ended—or so they’d hoped—with a daring escape from a sacrificial altar. Instead, Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, have stirred the wrath and the limitless resources of those they’ve thwarted. Now they are separated and on the run, wanted by the police, and pursued across the Continent by a ruthless enemy with powerful connections.

Unstoppable together, Russell and Holmes will have to survive this time apart, maintaining tenuous contact only by means of coded messages and cryptic notes. With Holmes’ young granddaughter in her safekeeping, Russell will have to call on instincts she didn’t know she had. But has the couple already made a fatal mistake by separating, making themselves easier targets for the shadowy government agents sent to silence them?

From hidden rooms in London shops and rustic forest cabins to rickety planes over Scotland and boats on the frozen North Sea, Russell and Holmes work their way back to each other while uncovering answers to a mystery that will take both of them to solve. A hermit with a mysterious past and a beautiful young female doctor with a secret, a cruelly scarred flyer and an obsessed man of the cloth, Holmes’ brother, Mycroft, and an Intelligence agent who knows too much: Everyone Russell and Holmes meet could either speed their safe reunion or betray them to their enemies—in the most complex, shocking, and deeply personal case of their career.

YA Book Review: The Shadow Cabinet by Maureen Johnson

The Shadow Cabinet
Author: Maureen Johnson
Series: Shades of London (Book 3)
Publication: Speak; Reprint edition (February 2, 2016)

Description: The thrilling third installment to the Edgar-nominated, bestselling series

Rory and her friends are reeling from a series of sudden and tragic events. While racked with grief, Rory tries to determine if she acted in time to save a member of the squad. If she did, how do you find a ghost? Also, Rory’s classmate Charlotte has been kidnapped by Jane and her nefarious organization. Evidence is uncovered of a forty-year-old cult, ten missing teenagers, and a likely mass murder. Everything indicates that Charlotte’s in danger, and it seems that something much bigger and much more terrible is coming.

Time is running out as Rory fights to find her friends and the ghost squad struggles to stop Jane from unleashing her spectral nightmare on the entire city. In the process, they’ll discover the existence of an organization that underpins London itself—and Rory will learn that someone she trusts has been keeping a tremendous secret.

My Thoughts: The finale of the Shades of London trilogy was filled with action and excitement. Jane and the other members of her forty year old cult haven't stopped hunting for Rory so that she can go to the other world and bring back Sid and Sadie. Jane has had that as her goal since a failed ritual in 1973 left them in a half-alive state. To further her aims, she snatches the body of Stephen who is in the same state.

A new character named Freddie makes her appearance as someone who has the sight and who has been studying the same mysterious things that Stephen studied. Stephen was getting ready to recruit her to the ghost squad when he has his accident while rescuing Rory.

I liked the worldbuilding which made London a nexus for ghosts. I liked the idea of the Shadow Cabinet as a secret organization designed to protect the living from a ghostly invasion. I loved Rory's character and her voice. She makes a wonderful narrator.

I think that there are still stories to be told in this world and hope that the author does revisit it at some time.

Favorite Quote:

There was no pan flute music, no burbling table fountains that made you want to pee all the time, no statues of the Buddha that seemed to have no relation to actual Buddhists being present. There wasn't so much breathable air as there was incense and dust, punctuated by the occasional oxygen molecule that must have gotten lost on its way somewhere else.

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

YA ARC Review: All the Things We Do in the Dark by Saundra Mitchell

All the Things We Do in the Dark
Author: Saundra Mitchell
Publication: HarperTeen (October 29, 2019)

Description: Sadie meets Girl in Pieces in this dark, emotional thriller by acclaimed author Saundra Mitchell.

Something happened to Ava. The curving scar on her face is proof. Ava would rather keep that something hidden—buried deep in her heart and her soul.

But in the woods on the outskirts of town, the traces of someone else’s secrets lie frozen, awaiting Ava’s discovery—and what Ava finds threatens to topple the carefully constructed wall of normalcy that she’s spent years building around her.

Secrets leave scars. But when the secret in question is not your own—do you ignore the truth and walk away? Or do you uncover it from its shallow grave and let it reopen old wounds—wounds that have finally begun to heal?

My Thoughts: This first person story lets us deep into the mind of a young woman dealing with a significant tragedy in her life. Ava was raped and assaulted when she was nine years old which has left her with a scar on her face as her only visible injury. Inside she's much more damaged. Now seventeen, she doesn't go anywhere without her mother or her best friend Syd. She doesn't like being around groups of people which makes school a kind of torture for this very bright young woman.

She has a number of hidden tattoos that are all chosen because they are like tattoos that some of her favorite actors and artists have. She is having some troubles with her friend Syd who broke up with her latest and got a new tattoo without telling her while Ava was away visiting her father. She feels that she and Syd are drifting apart and she doesn't know why.

One day she's walking home from school alone when she discovers the body of a young woman hidden in a fallen tree. She can see that the girl has been assaulted. She knows she should call the police but then she remembers all of the things that happened to her after her rape and doesn't want to submit the body to the same things.

Ava also meets a girl that she has known all her life but hasn't hung out with and she falls in love with her which just adds more trauma to a girl who likes things to stay the same and who buries memories in a series of boxes in her mind. Between being haunted by the body that she names Jane, trouble with her best friend Syd, and a new romance, Ava is reeling. When she goes back to visit the body, some boy is there. She chases him down and finds his dropped phone. When he tracks her down again - he's sort of a techno-geek, he tells her that he knows who killed the girl and the evidence is on his phone.

This was a very personal story about the aftereffects of being raped. It was uncomfortable to read and I kept wondering why she - and her over-protective mother - hadn't gotten therapy to deal with these issues. Being told in the first person, it left me wanting to know more about Nick who ended up being her partner in trying to solve the girl's murder and who sort of disappeared off-stage once Ava had to tell about finding the body.

Fans of this sort of psychological thriller will enjoy reading this one. I enjoyed the hopeful ending.

Favorite Quote:

I admitted it before -- I'm broken -- but I think everybody's broken in one way or another. Mine's written on my face and underneath my skin and deep in my brain, and things aren't always okay. But you know what?

Sometimes they are. Sometimes I'm fine. Maybe even most times. So all these people peeping to see what's going to happen next in this prizefight, that's their broken.

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

YA Book Review: The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson

The Madness Underneath
Author: Maureen Johnson
Series: Shades of London (Book 2)
Publication: Speak (December 10, 2013)

Description: A new threat haunts the streets of London…

Rory Deveaux has changed in ways she never could have imagined since moving to London and beginning a new life at boarding school. As if her newfound ability to see ghosts hadn’t complicated her life enough, Rory’s recent brush with the Jack the Ripper copycat has left her with an even more unusual and intense power. Now, a new string of inexplicable deaths is threatening London, and Rory has evidence that they are no coincidence. Something sinister is going on, and it is up to her to convince the city’s secret ghost-policing squad to listen before it’s too late.

My Thoughts: First of all, this is the middle book in a trilogy. The author does enough to let the reader know what happens in the first book. Rory is in Bristol with her parents and healing from a knife wound given her by the new Ripper. She is seeing a therapist but having some trouble because she can't tell her the real story of what happened in London. Besides signing the Official Secrets Acts, she has real reason to fear that telling her story will cause her to be committed to a psychiatric facility. After all, being attacked by a ghost is not something that is easily believable.

Rory misses her friends at Wexford and especially misses Stephen, Callum and Boo who worked with her as a member of the Shade Squad whose job was to eliminate troublesome ghosts. Since moving to Bristol, she has lost all contact with them. She has also developed a startling new power. She is a living terminus; touching a ghost causes them to disappear.

Meanwhile, things aren't going well for the tean in London. As a result of their encounter with the Ripper, all three of the terminus that allowed them to remove evil ghosts have been lost or broken. The team is in danger of being disbanded leaving all three of them jobless.

Things are manipulated to get Rory back to London and Wexford and potentially save the team. Returning to London and school has problems for Rory. She is so far behind in her schoolwork and exams are so close that she doesn't have a hope of catching up and passing her exams. And she is more interested in a new mystery in which a nearby pub owner was supposedly bludgeoned to death by one of his employees. Some research tells her that the school and the are were built over a former facility where those with mental illnesses were warehoused. She fears that the battle with the Ripper has opened up a crack that is freeing some of those patients now as ghosts.

Rory is also still having issues regarding the battle too. When the head girl Charlotte raves over the therapist she is seeing, Rory decides to see her too. Jane Quaint is a mysterious character who does seem to have helped Charlotte and who helps Rory too after their first session. But Jane has a hidden agenda that runs counter to the work of the team. Jane wants to isolate Rory from her friends and family in order to fulfill Jane's agenda.

Rescue by the team leads to heartbreaking consequences and also leads to a cliffhanger ending.

Favorite Quote:

I wasted about a full minute, grinding away the airtime, tilting my head back and forth. It's hard to pretend to think. Thinking doesn't have an action stance. And I suspected that my "thinking" face looked a lot like my "I'm dizzy and may throw up" face.

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (Oct. 21, 2019)

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.

I will be combining my YA and adult reading and purchases on this one weekly roundup.

Other Than Reading...

I have been keeping busy ferrying my brother to his cardio rehab and taking him out for grocery shopping and mall walking. Hopefully, he will get an okay to drive when he sees his surgeon for an afternoon full of appointments on Tuesday. I'll probably still go with him when he does his rehab because I have been walking about 6000 steps on the skywalks that connect the various parts of the medical complex while he does his exercise. But it will be nice to let him grocery shop alone. He'll also feel much freer to do what he wants to do if he is able to drive.

We have been trying out lots of heart healthy recipes since his health adventure and liking most of them. Cooking from scratch to control sodium and fats in foods does take a lot longer than just opening up a convenient can or jar though. We're trying a new recipe for Louisiana Pork Chops tonight and then making some of the ones we've already enjoyed for the rest of the week. Portion control - a new thing for us - means that a recipe with four servings really does make two meals for us now.

I'm in the midst of still another rereading of The Others series by Anne Bishop. They are my current go-to books when I'm feeling stressed and not too happy with the new books on my stack. I am enjoying my current YA read and have a book by Nora Roberts on my pile for this week which I am looking forward to reading.

Last week's snow didn't last 24 hours and this week has been much nicer. We've had a decent amount of sunshine for five of the past seven days. The two without sun barely moved the meter on our solar collection system.

Read Last Week

If you can't wait until the review shows up on my blog, reviews are posted to LibraryThing and Goodreads as soon as I write them (usually right after I finish reading a book.)

• Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers (mine) - The first Lord Peter Wimsey adventure was an entertaining historical mystery. My review will be posted on Nov. 9.
• This Side of Murder by Anna Lee Huber (mine) - This post-WWI mystery introduces widow and former spy Verity Kent as she attends a house party with all sorts of plots and murders too. My review will be posted on Nov. 10.
• Written in Red by Anne Bishop - reread 

• Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop - reread
• The Princess Plan by Julia London (Review; Nov. 19) - I enjoyed this historical romance/mystery. My review will be posted on Nov. 12.
• Vision in Silver by Anne Bishop - reread

Currently

• Marked in Flesh by Anne Bishop (mine)
• Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer (YA Review; Nov. 19)

Next Week

• Treacherous Is the Night by Anna Lee Huber (Mine)
• Penny for Your Secrets by Anna Lee Huber (Review; Oct. 29)
• Under Currents by Nora Roberts (Mine) 

• A Cowboy Like You by Donna Grant (Review; Nov. 26)
• Trust Me by Hank Phillippi Ryan (mine)
• Just Watch Me by Jeff Lindsay (Review; Dec. 3)

Reviews Posted

• Through the Evil Days by Julia Spencer-Fleming
• In a Badger Way by Shelly Laurenston
• Pirate King by Laurie R. King 

• I, Robot: To Obey by Mickey Zucker Reichert
• Ask Me No Questions by Shelley Noble

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

Bought:

• Wolf's Bane by Kelley Armstrong
• Soul of Fire by Laura Anne Gilman 

• Striding Folly by Dorothy L. Sayers
• Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers
• Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers 

Review:

• Wicked Hour by Chloe Neill (Dec. 3)
• A Longer Fall by Charlaine Harris (Jan. 14) 

What was your week like?

Book Review: Garment of Shadows by Laurie R. King

Garment of Shadows
Author: Laurie R. King
Series: Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes (Book 12)
Publication: Bantam; Reprint edition (August 20, 2013)

Description: Laurie R. King’s New York Times bestselling novels of suspense featuring Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, comprise one of today’s most acclaimed mystery series. Now the couple is separated by a shocking circumstance in a perilous part of the world, each racing against time to prevent an explosive catastrophe that could clothe them both in shrouds.

In a strange room in Morocco, Mary Russell is trying to solve a pressing mystery: Who am I? She has awakened with shadows in her mind, blood on her hands, and soldiers pounding on the door. Out in the hivelike streets, she discovers herself strangely adept in the skills of the underworld, escaping through alleys and rooftops, picking pockets and locks. She is clothed like a man, and armed only with her wits and a scrap of paper containing a mysterious Arabic phrase. Overhead, warplanes pass ominously north.

Meanwhile, Holmes is pulled by two old friends and a distant relation into the growing war between France, Spain, and the Rif Revolt led by Emir Abd el-Krim—who may be a Robin Hood or a power mad tribesman. The shadows of war are drawing over the ancient city of Fez, and Holmes badly wants the wisdom and courage of his wife, whom he’s learned, to his horror, has gone missing. As Holmes searches for her, and Russell searches for her self, each tries to crack deadly parallel puzzles before it’s too late for them, for Africa, and for the peace of Europe.

My Thoughts: Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell find themselves in Fez, Morocco, this time. Mary and Sherlock are separated. Mary wakes up in a strange place, injured, and without her memory. She runs from soldiers and wanders the poorer area trying to remember who she is and learn where she is. She does learn that she has some skills as a pickpocket, acrobat, and thief but doesn't really learn much about herself in her explorations.

Meanwhile, Sherlock who had been off visiting a distant cousin, returns to rejoin Mary only to discover that she is missing. He immediately begins a hunt for her which leads him to Fez. In 1924, things in Morocco are tense. The country is divided between the Spanish and the French and the natives are unhappy with both. The man in charge of the French Protectorate is Holmes' cousin.  The native rebel forces are well-armed because they have had victories over the Spanish and gotten a lot of their arms from the captured armies.

The rebels themselves are not united. The two factions are controlled by Raisuni who is the last of Barbary pirates and who has made substantial funds by kidnapping and ransoming Europeans and the Abd al-Klims who are Western educated and anxious for independence for their country. The land is full of spies and supporters of all political interests. Mary soon learns that her friends Mahmoud and Ali Hzir (from O Jerusalem and Justice Hall) who are British agents controlled by Mycroft Holmes are deep in the mix of spies.

Mary has to recover her memory, rescue her friend Mahmoud, and determine who is pulling the strings, and what strings they are pulling, in this very troubled region. She is battered, shot at, and kidnapped in the course of her investigation.

What I really like about this series of historical mysteries is that I learn so much about pieces of history that I never knew about. I also really like Mary as a main character. She is an intellectual and physical equal to her husband Sherlock Holmes even though she is probably 50 years his junior and only about 24. She is a scholar and a reluctant investigator. She also has a strong moral compass that has been putting her at odds with Mycroft's machinations in these last couple books.

The language, because the stories are told in Mary's voice, is articulate and descriptive without being flowery. Mary has a dry sense of humor.

Fans of Sherlock Holmes will enjoy this series and this latest episode of Mary Rusell's and Sherlock Holmes' adventures.

Favorite Quote:

The problem was, everything I took from my pockets had seemed possessed of immense mystery and import, as if the stone, the pipe-length, the grains of sand where whispering a message just beneath my ability to hear. When everything meant nothing, it would appear, even meaningless objects became numinous with Meaning. The date pip I spat into my palm positively throbbed with significance.

It was damned irritating.

I bought and read this one in 2014 but didn't review it. I am rereading it. You can buy your copy here.

Book Review: Ask Me No Questions by Shelley Noble

Ask Me No Questions
Author: Shelley Noble
Series: Lady Dunbridge Mystery (Book 1)
Publication: Forge Books (October 16, 2018)

Description: From New York Times bestselling author Shelley Noble, Ask Me No Questions is the first in the Lady Dunbridge Mystery series featuring a widow turned sleuth in turn-of-the-twentieth century New York City.

A modern woman in 1907, Lady Dunbridge is not about to let a little thing like the death of her husband ruin her social life. She’s ready to take the dazzling world of Gilded Age Manhattan by storm.

From the decadence of high society balls to the underbelly of "horse racing, romance, murder, and scandals abound. Someone simply must do something. And Lady Dunbridge is happy to oblige.

My Thoughts: Lady Philomena Dunbridge is recently widowed and also in the midst of a new scandal when she helps solve a crime. At twenty-seven, she feels to young to be considered a dowager and too old to be back under the thumb of the father who married her to the much older and dissolute earl when she was seventeen.

Phil decides to travel to New York to visit an old school friend and start a new life for herself. Unfortunately she arrives just in time to find her old friend in the midst of a scandal of her own. Bev's husband Reggie is found dead in the arms of his mistress. He was shot with a gun he had given Bev. Worse yet, they return to Bev's home and enter her husband's locked office to find another dead man. This one is a stranger.

The police in the person of Detective Sergeant Atkins are convinced that Bev killed her philandering husband. Phil is certain that she did not and is going to clear her name and protect her own reputation. Phil is assisted by her new maid Lily and her butler Preswick who accompanied her to New York.

Phil finds herself looking into Reggie's life and especially his horse racing stable. He has the current favorite for an upcoming race. Phil is also being followed by a mysterious stranger who seems as comfortable with costumes and undercover work as the fictional Sherlock Holmes.

This story took us from the social scene of 1907 New York City and to the underbelly of corrupt police, racing conspiracies, and murder. Phil investigates the mistress, the right-hand man, Reggie's cousin Freddy and his wife Marguerite among many others as she tries to untangle a complex situation.

At first I wasn't too fond of Phil. I thought she was a little useless and aimless. But then I realized that she was a product of her environment which didn't place any more value on women than their appearance, reputation, and social clout. Once Phil decided to do something, she revealed some intelligence and skills at investigation.

I can't wait to see what happens next for her and her employees.

Favorite Quote:

"Isn't it interesting that the gentleman in the bookstore recommended a story about horses." She turned to the first page and read aloud. "'"I am afraid, Watson, that I shall have to go," said Holmes...'

"And so must we," Phil murmured.

"But where, madam?" Lily asked, sounding alarmed.

"Wherever the clues lead us, Lily."

"Ah, and are we to become detectives, madam?"

"Yes, Lily, I believe we are."

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

Friday Memes: Ask Me No Questions by Shelley Noble

Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is now hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:

Lady Philomena Dundridge's father slammed the newspaper on the tea table. "This is an outrage."

Friday 56:

Atkins turned to Bev. "Did you scream? You didn't tell me about that."

"I screamed? Yes, I must have. I really --"

This week I am spotlighting a new historical mystery. Ask Me No Questions by Shelley Noble takes place in turn-of-the-century New York. Here is the description from Amazon:

From New York Times bestselling author Shelley Noble, Ask Me No Questions is the first in the Lady Dunbridge Mystery series featuring a widow turned sleuth in turn-of-the-twentieth century New York City.

A modern woman in 1907, Lady Dunbridge is not about to let a little thing like the death of her husband ruin her social life. She’s ready to take the dazzling world of Gilded Age Manhattan by storm.

From the decadence of high society balls to the underbelly of Belmont horse racing, romance, murder, and scandals abound. Someone simply must do something. And Lady Dunbridge is happy to oblige.

Book Review: Through the Evil Days by Julia Spencer-Fleming

Through the Evil Days
Author: Julia Spencer-Fleming
Series: Fergusson/Van Alstyne Mysteries (Book 8)
Publication: Minotaur Books; Reprint edition (November 4, 2014)

Description: In Through the Evil Days, New York Times bestselling author Julia Spencer-Fleming raises the stakes for Russ and Clare, putting their new marriage, their unborn child, a missing teen, and their very own lives on the line.

On a frigid January night, Chief of Police Russ Van Alstyne and Reverend Clare Fergusson are called to the scene of a raging fire. The extent of the tragedy isn't known until the next day, when the charred remains of a man and woman are recovered―along with evidence showing they were shot execution style.

The last thing Russ needs are two potential homicides. He's struggling with the prospect of impending fatherhood, and his new wife is not at all happy with his proposal for their long-delayed honeymoon: a week ice-fishing at a remote Adirondack lake.

St. Alban's Church is still in turmoil over the Reverend Clare Fergusson's news that she's five and a half months pregnant―but only two and a half months married. Worried her post-deployment drinking and drug use may have damaged the baby, she awaits the outcome of the bishop's investigation into her "unpriestly" behavior: a scolding, censure, or permanent suspension.

Officer Hadley Knox is having a miserable January as well. Her on-again, off-again lover, Kevin Flynn, has seven days to weigh an offer from the Syracuse Police Department that might take him half a state away. And her ex-husband's in town―threatening to take custody of their kids unless Hadley pays him off with money she doesn't have.

When Hadley discovers that the dead couple fostered an eight-year-old girl who was a recent liver donee, the search for the killer takes on a new and terrible urgency. With no access to immunosuppressant drugs, transplant rejection will kill the girl in a matter of days.

As a deadly ice storm downs power lines and immobilizes roads, Russ and Clare search desperately for the truth about the missing child, but the hunters will become the hunted when they are trapped in the cabin beside the frozen lake and stalked through the snowbound woods by a killer.

My Thoughts: Russ and Clare are set to go on their honeymoon - in January, at a remote rural cabin with no electricity or running water - to go ice fishing. They are also carting along a lot of "baggage." Russ has just learned that the town council will be making a decision in a week about whether or not to disband the police department and contract services from the State Highway Patrol. Clare has been given an ultimatum by her bishop. He wants her to resign for "unpriestly" behavior. She is also dealing with the fact that she was still using drugs and alcohol when she became pregnant and the baby could be facing significant issues. Even worse, she and Russ had agreed to not have children before she found herself pregnant and Russ isn't dealing at all well with it.

Throw in arson, two executed people in the house before it was burnt, and a missing eight-year-old girl who has just had a kidney transplant and needs her immuno-suppresant drugs or she will die and the story gets filled with drama and tension. Mikayla's mother has lost custody of her because of her drug use. When the police go to search for her, they find that she is gathering pharmaceuticals used in making crystal meth. She flees before they can find out if she has Mikayla.

Meanwhile, the storm of the century bringing snow, ice, falling trees, downed power lines, and collapsed cell towers is bearing down on the region. And Russ and Clare attract the attention of bad guys who send them fleeing from their shelter in the height of the storm.

While Clare and Russ are dealing with their issues, Kevin Flynn and Hadley Knox are also dealing with theirs. Hadley's ex-husband has shown up demanding money, threatening to take her children back to California, and threatening to expose her secrets. And Flynn is still dealing with his love for Hadley and also a job offer in Syracuse.

This was a fast-paced and tension-filled story. Many characters are faced with difficult decisions and police work has to go on while they are troubled. The ending leaves a number of plot threads dangling and I can't wait for the next book to tie them off.

Favorite Quote:

"I don't think one broken leg in ten years as chief actually sets a precedent," Russ said.

"Still, we're glad you came." Clare wanted to get the subject away from "officer down,"before they started showing each other their bullet scars. "I'd expect a trooper, not a lieutenant."

"Oh, Mrs. Van Alstyne. I wouldn't have missed this for the world." 

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.