Saturday, October 30, 2021

Book & Audio Review: Buried in a Bog by Sheila Connolly

Buried in a Bog
Author:
Sheila Connolly
Narrator: Amy Rubinate
Series: County Cork (Book 1)
Publication: Berkley (February 5, 2013); Tantor Audio (January 31, 2014)
Length: 303 p.; 7 hours and 38 minutes 

Description: New York Times bestselling author Sheila Connolly introduces the first novel in the County Cork mystery series—set in a small village in Ireland where buried secrets are about to rise to the surface...

Honoring the wish of her late grandmother, Maura Donovan visits the small Irish village where her Gran was born—though she never expected to get bogged down in a murder mystery. Nor had she planned to take a job in one of the local pubs, but she finds herself excited to get to know the people who knew her Gran.

In the pub, she’s swamped with drink orders as everyone in town gathers to talk about the recent discovery of a nearly one-hundred-year-old body in a nearby bog. When Maura realizes she may know something about the dead man—and that the body’s connected to another, more recent, death—she fears she’s about to become mired in a homicide investigation. After she discovers the death is connected to another from almost a century earlier, Maura has a sinking feeling she may really be getting in over her head...

My Thoughts: At loose ends after her grandmother's death, Maura Donnelly decides to honor her grandmother's wishes and use her small inheritance to visit the small Irish village where her grandmother was born. Her grandmother never talked much about her life before emigrating; she was too busy working multiple jobs and taking care of Maura after Maura's father's death and her mother's desertion. 

Maura finds that there are a number of people in Leap who knew her grandmother and a number of relatives she didn't know she had. She'd barely arrived when a man's body was discovered in a local bog and she discovers a letter in a pub where she is temporarily working which might point to the identity of the man. But a new murder of a man who had just been in the pub takes over the time of the local police before they can see the letter Maura found.

Then Maura finds herself the target of a stalker who runs her off the road, harasses her when she's visiting her grandfather's grave, and breaks into her room at a local B&B. Neither she nor the police can understand why this is happening to a woman who's been in Ireland less than a week.

I enjoyed this audiobook. The narrator made Maura come to life. I could understand her new feelings of rootlessness and her bewilderment as she learns about the things her grandmother hadn't told her about Ireland. I liked the descriptions of the people and countryside. The mystery was well done. 

I'm eager to read more of Maura's adventures as she begins her new life in Ireland.

Favorite Quote:
Maybe the Irish had it right: expect the worst, and be happy about anything better.
I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

Friday, October 29, 2021

Friday Memes: Buried in a Bog by Sheila Connolly

Happy Friday everybody!
Book Beginnings on Friday is now hosted by Rose City ReaderThe 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:
Maura Donovan checked her watch again. If she had it right, she had been traveling for over fourteen hours; she wasn't going to reset if for the right time zone until she got where she was going, which she hoped would be any minute now.
Friday 56:
"I'm so sorry -- she must have been a good woman. Sounds like you've had a hard time of it. So you've no place to go back to? No one who's waiting for you back home?"
This week I am spotlighting Buried in a Bog by Sheila Connolly which is a recent addition to my Kindle and Audiobook TBR pile. Here is the description from Amazon:
New York Times bestselling author Sheila Connolly introduces the first novel in the County Cork mystery series—set in a small village in Ireland where buried secrets are about to rise to the surface...

Honoring the wish of her late grandmother, Maura Donovan visits the small Irish village where her Gran was born—though she never expected to get bogged down in a murder mystery. Nor had she planned to take a job in one of the local pubs, but she finds herself excited to get to know the people who knew her Gran.

In the pub, she’s swamped with drink orders as everyone in town gathers to talk about the recent discovery of a nearly one-hundred-year-old body in a nearby bog. When Maura realizes she may know something about the dead man—and that the body’s connected to another, more recent, death—she fears she’s about to become mired in a homicide investigation. After she discovers the death is connected to another from almost a century earlier, Maura has a sinking feeling she may really be getting in over her head...

Thursday, October 28, 2021

Book Review: The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The Hawthorne Legacy

Author:
Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Series: The Inheritance Games (Book 2)
Publication: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (September 7, 2021)

Description: Intrigue, riches, and romance abound in this thrilling sequel to the New York Times bestselling The Inheritance Games

The Inheritance Games ended with a bombshell, and now heiress Avery Grambs has to pick up the pieces and find the man who might hold the answers to all of her questions—including why Tobias Hawthorne left his entire fortune to Avery, a virtual stranger, rather than to his own daughters or grandsons. 

Thanks to a DNA test, Avery knows that she’s not a Hawthorne by blood, but clues pile up hinting at a deeper connection to the family than she had ever imagined. As the mystery grows and the plot thickens, Grayson and Jameson, two of the enigmatic and magnetic Hawthorne grandsons, continue to pull Avery in different directions. And there are threats lurking around every corner, as adversaries emerge who will stop at nothing to see Avery out of the picture—by any means necessary.

With nonstop action, aspirational jet-setting, Knives Out-like family intrigue, swoonworthy romance, and billions of dollars hanging in the balance, The Hawthorne Legacy will thrill Jennifer Lynn Barnes fans and new readers alike.

My Thoughts: The sequel to The Inheritance Games was another exciting, puzzle-filled adventure. Avery Kylie Grambs thought she had finally figured out why multi-billionaire Tobias Hawthorne left her almost his entire estate, disinheriting his daughters and grandsons, but she might have only uncovered one of Tobias Hawthorne's secrets.

She is dealing with disgruntled relatives - both Hawthornes and her own - while trying to locate the missing heir who supposedly died in a fire some twenty years earlier. She has to find a way to stay alive while untangling all kinds of family secrets.

The characters are smart and relatable. The mysteries and puzzles are intriguing and the story is fast-paced. The writing is engaging. I really liked getting to know Avery and all of the fascinating Hawthorne brothers. 

Favorite Quote:
I stepped into the secret passageway to find Jameson waiting for me. "Fancy meeting you here, Heiress."

"You," I told him, "are the most annoying person on the face of the planet."
I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

Book & Audio Review: Elfhome by Wen Spencer

Elfhome

Author:
Wen Spencer
Narrator: Tanya Eby
Series: Elfhome (Book 3); Tinker (Book 3)
Publication: Baen Books; 1st edition (July 1, 2012); Audible Studios (December 12, 2014)
Length: 219 p.; 14 hours and 42 minutes

Description: Pittsburgh, PA has been magically transported to a world of elves and magic in order to stave off a monstrous invasion of Earth. Now Tinker, once a downtrodden waif from that city, but now a full-blooded elf ruler, must root out and destroy an evil plot that involves the kidnapping and breeding of elf children.

Tinker uncovers ancient secrets and a web of betrayal as she searches for the lost elflings. Meanwhile, the orc-like oni gangster kidnappers will stop at nothing to win, so neither can she. At five foot nothing, Tinker’s greatest weapon has always been her intelligence. Politics, she discovers, is a battle of wits, and Tinker comes heavily armed.

My Thoughts: This third book in the Elfhome series is told from multiple viewpoints. While Tinker does have a substantial role, the focus for me was on her cousin Oilcan. Oilcan has been the supportive side-kick in earlier books but this time he gets center stage.

His story begins when he rescues a Stone Clan child who has just arrived on the train. She is being kidnapped when Oilcan comes on the scene. Saving her leads to a conspiracy wherein multiple Stone Clan children have been drawn to Pittsburgh and then kidnapped to be experimented on by oni. 

Because Pittsburgh is under control of the Wind Clan, no one at the train station did anything to help these children. Oilcan calls in Tinker to help rescue the children and finds them in horrible situations. The only Stone Clan in the city are very unsuitable as guardians which is why Oilcan ends up responsible for five Stone Clan children who are in various states of distress including one who has lost her name and memories and only makes the sound of a duckling and is called Baby Duck.

Oilcan needs a new home that will accommodate his expanded family and takes over a former girls' school which needs lots of repair. That brings in Riki and his clan of tengu who have been taken under Tinker's care despite the way he betrayed her to the oni. Tinker can forgive him but Oilcan isn't there yet. Oilcan contemplates sponsorship by Wind clan but hesitates when he finds out the depth of commitment needed.

Meanwhile, Tommy Chang is also dealing with the new situation in Pittsburgh. He is the head of his group of half-oni - most of whom are either children or pregnant women. Although Windwolf offers sponsorship to him, Tommy sees it as just another kind of slavery and his people have been slaves to their oni masters for far too long. It takes the head of the tengu reframing the situation for him before he realizes that he needs relationships with other groups if he's to keep his own people safe. 

As Tinker tries to discover why the oni wanted the children Oilcan is now protecting, she discovers a long-term plot with some members of Stone Clan cooperating with, or being puppets for, a new oni leader who is determined to conquer Elfhome. Tommy discovers huge encampments of oni in the wilderness outsside Pittsburgh while he is looking for a kidnapped member of Stone Clan whom he is searching for to forestall being blamed for her disappearance. 

The worldbuilding in this story was excellent. It was fascinating to see the various groups - elves, humans, half-oni, and tengu - try to learn to work together and build a new sort of society. The characters were richly drawn and brought to life by Tana Eby's masterful narration of this story. 

Favorite Quote:
There were things that nothing could make right. They stayed hidden as black holes inside you. You went on the best you could, pretending everything was fine.
I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

ARC Review: Miss Moriarty, I Presume? by Sherry Thomas

Miss Moriarty, I Presume?

Author:
Sherry Thomas
Series: Lady Sherlock (Book 6)
Publication: Berkley (November 2, 2021)

Description: Charlotte Holmes comes face to face with her enemy when Moriarty turns to her in his hour of need, in the USA Today bestselling series set in Victorian England.

A most unexpected client shows up at Charlotte Holmes's doorstep: Moriarty himself. Moriarty fears that tragedy has befallen his daughter and wants Charlotte to find out the truth

Charlotte and Mrs. Watson travel to a remote community of occult practitioners where Moriarty's daughter was last seen, a place full of lies and liars. Meanwhile, Charlotte’s sister Livia tries to make sense of a mysterious message from her beau Mr. Marbleton. And Charlotte’s longtime friend and ally Lord Ingram at last turns his seductive prowess on Charlotte—or is it the other way around?

But the more secrets Charlotte unravels about Miss Moriarty’s disappearance, the more she wonders why Moriarty has entrusted this delicate matter to her of all people. Is it merely to test Charlotte's skills as an investigator, or has the man of shadows trapped her in a nest of vipers?

My Thoughts: The sixth Lady Sherlock mystery begins when Charlotte is hired by a most unusual client - Moriarty himself. He wants her to investigate a religious center on the Cornwall coast that has been his daughter's home for a number of years. He has reason to believe that something has happened to her.

Moriarty is not a client that Charlotte can refuse. So she and Mrs. Watson, along with Lord Ingram, make a visit and uncover a number of secrets. 

Secrets abound in this episode. Mr. Marbleton is leaving secret messages that require deciphering and then investigation. Charlotte's half-brother Myron Finch is on the run from Moriarty too and hasn't left a message for a while which causes Charlotte to worry.

Charlotte and Lord Ingram's romance is proceeding in a typical Charlotte sort of way. Ingram's divorce is nearing finality and he's worrying about how to tell his two young children about it. And Charlotte is sending him racy letters...

This was an entertaining and engaging episode of this series with lots of twists and turns. New readers would likely be lost, but fans of the series will enjoy this addition. 

Favorite Quote:
Lord Ingram and Miss Charlotte suited each other both very well and not at all. She wanted to picture a lovely future for them, but she could just as easily imagine a slow, soul-crushing disaster.
I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Book Review: Rival's Break by Carla Neggers

Rival's Break

Author:
Carla Neggers
Series: Sharpe & Donovan (Book 9)
Publication: MIRA; Original edition (August 27, 2019)

Description: A deadly poisoning. A stolen painting. A criminal mastermind. Don’t miss the latest high-stakes Donovan & Sharpe case by New York Times bestselling author Carla Neggers.

Emma Sharpe is recovering from a shattering loss while her husband, Colin Donovan, is deep into his latest undercover mission. The couple are grateful for a respite—a chance to enjoy a peaceful autumn weekend together on the southern Maine coast to celebrate Colin’s brother Andy’s wedding.

But the peace is short-lived when Kevin Donovan, a marine patrol officer, receives a call to check on suspected food poisoning at a party aboard a yacht. Colin decides to tag along. He is surprised to recognize one of the victims as an undercover British intelligence officer, and it quickly becomes evident they’re dealing with something very sinister. At the same time a valuable painting by Irish artist Aoife O’Byrne—a friend of Emma and Colin’s—goes missing from the yacht, and the connections make the investigation international and extremely personal.

Emma and Colin discover they are up against a deadly foe who plans to strike again. With the help of their small, elite Boston-based FBI team, they must foil an attack that will have devastating effects. It’s a case that will alter their lives beyond anything they’ve ever imagined…

My Thoughts: Colin and Emma are at his brother Andy's wedding reception when Kevin Donovan gets a call to check on a food poisoning incident at a yacht in the harbor. Colin decides to tag along and is there when he discovers an old friend Jeremy Pearson - MI5 - undercover as an art consultant is one of the victims. 

The chef, who might have accidentally included a poisonous mushroom in the canapes, is Georgina Masterson. Her father is a scientist who specializes in neurotoxins and is a colleague of Jeremy's. Georgina's father is in critical condition after ingesting a poisonous mushroom. He's in London. Jeremy has come to Maine to bring Georgina a painting by Aiofe O'Byrne that was a gift from her father and to check up on her. 

Now the painting is missing and Georgina isn't sure if she accidentally put the wrong mushrooms in the canapes. And Henrietta and Oliver have arrived at Father Bracken's to add more complications to the story. Oliver had met with Georgina's father in London because the father wanted to know more about poisons in mythology. Henrietta, who works for Jeremy, is wondering if her boss has gone rogue. 

The investigation is a little different for Colin and Emma since their specialties - art crimes and arms dealing - need to give way to an investigation of chemical weapons. They do great anyway. 

Lots of futures are decided in this one, too, as many of the characters are asking what comes next in their lives and careers. 

Favorite Quote:
Sister Cecelia hopped off the pine root and lifted a low-hanging branch, pointing to the ground. "See those red mushrooms? I haven't had a mycologist make a positive identification, but I believe they're the russula emetica species. They'd be my first candidate for yesterday."

"Emetica? Another one appropriately named?"
I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

Book & Audio Review: Crime & Punctuation by Kaitlyn Dunnett

Crime & Punctuation

Author:
Kaitlyn Dunnett
Narrator: Margaret Strom
Series: Deadly Edits (Book 1)
Publication: Kensington Cozies; Reprint edition (May 29, 2018); Tantor Audio (July 10, 2018)
Length: 213 p.; 8 hours and 48 minutes

Description: After splurging to buy her childhood home in the Catskills, recently widowed Mikki Lincoln emerges from retirement as a freelance editor. With her ability to spot details that others fail to see, it's not long before Mikki earns clients - and realizes that the village of Lenape Hollow isn't the thriving tourist destination it was decades ago. Not with a murderer on the loose....

When perky novice writer Tiffany Scott knocks at her door holding a towering manuscript, Mikki expects another debut novel plagued by typos and sloppy prose. Instead, she finds a murder mystery ripped from the headlines of Lenape Hollow's not-too-distant past. The opening scene is a graphic page-turner, but it sends a real chill down Mikki's spine after the young author turns up dead just like the victim in her story....

Mikki refuses to believe that Tiffany's death was accidental, and suspicions of foul play solidify as she uncovers a strange inconsistency in the manuscript and a possible motive in the notes. As she gets closer to cracking the case, only one person takes Mikki's investigation seriously - the cunning killer who will do anything to make this chapter of her life come to a very abrupt ending....

My Thoughts: Recently widowed Mikki London has moved back to her hometown in the Catskills and is renovating the family home. She had spent almost all of her married life in Maine and had lost track of all of her childhood friends.

After a career as a Language Arts teacher, Mikki has set herself up as a freelance editor to help pay for the renovations and supplement her retirement income. Since she got most of her clients from online referrals, she was surprised to find Tiffany Scott knocking on her door to ask Mikki to edit her debut novel. But before Mikki had done more than write out the contract and read the first few pages, Tiffany is found dead with Mikki's card in her pocket.

Mikki is immediately concerned when the first verdict is that Tiffany committed suicide. Tiffany hadn't given any signs when she met with Mikki. Things get more complicated when she learns that Tiffany's husband was a shady businessman who wanted to turn some land outside of town into a theme park and that Tiffany's grandmother who was a childhood rival of Mikki's was opposed to the plan. 

When Tiffany's manuscript draws attention from a number of sources, Mikki begins to wonder if the story is hiding some things that could have led to her death. On the surface, a murder mystery featuring mobsters set in 1937 would not seem to do so. But why were so many concerned that Tiffany might have left anything else besides the manuscript with Mikki?

I liked Mikki who is quite an opinionated woman especially about grammar. I liked her relationship with her cat Calpurnia. I liked that she was eager to reconnect with old high school friends now that she was back home. 

The mystery was interesting with an assortment of suspects and red herrings. It also had exciting bits where Mikki is followed by a suspicious character and her house is broken into. I liked the narration by Margaret Strom. I liked that the main character was an older, retired woman who was both curious and nosy.

Favorite Quote:
Then I spent the rest of the day trying to find various functions in the newest incarnation of the word processing software I use. Can you say frustrating? I come from a long line of folks who believe that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." The computer industry had obviously never heard that saying.
I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

Monday, October 25, 2021

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (October 25, 2021)

 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 was another quiet week albeit much sunnier than it has been for some time. The highlight was a phone call from my brother at 10:17 PM asking me to go get him from work since his car refused to start. He started with an apology because he knows I don't see very well when driving at night and don't drive at night unless I have no choice. 

He was busy for a couple of days between calling for a tow truck to take his car to the dealership and learning that he needs a new starter. Since his baby is a 2001 Honda Prelude, the parts take a week to arrive which means his car as been sitting at the dealers and he's been driving his equally old winter car - a Subaru Outback. At least a starter is available. He's been finding some other needed parts unavailable. I think he should look for another car and stop pouring money into this one, but he loves it and hasn't found another kind that he likes as well. 

I kept busy watching baseball and listening to the Liaden Universe audiobooks. With Houston clinching last night, half of the World Series is set. My Braves need to win one of the next two games against the Dodgers. Edited to add: THEY WON! THEY WON! I'M SO HAPPY FOR THEM!

I have the most recent Liaden Universe story to listen to again. Then I'll take a break since the authors have just submitted the next Liaden Universe book to their publishers for publication in May. The new one will be third in a story arc earlier in the timeline. I'll listen to the first two books nearer to when I can get my hands on the new book. 

This coming week has only one appointment. I have to have blood drawn as I do every three months. It looks like I will finally get to reading the rest of my November review books. 

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.)
DNF
  • A Murder Like No Author by Amy Lillard (November 30) -- This was an interesting combination of over-description and under-description often on the same page. Characters - large numbers - were introduced with no background while the setting was described in minute detail.
Currently
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What was your week like?

Saturday, October 23, 2021

Book & Audio Review: Murder at the Breakers by Alyssa Maxwell

Murder at the Breakers
Author:
Alyssa Maxwell
Narrator: Eva Kaminsky
Series: A Gilded Newport Mystery (Book 1)
Publication: Kensington Books; Reprint edition (March 25, 2014)
Length: 305 p.; 9 hours and 42 minutes

Description: In a historical mystery for Downton Abbey fans, a society reporter covers a killer party in Gilded Age Newport.

Newport, Rhode Island, August 1895: She may be a less well-heeled relation, but as second cousin to millionaire patriarch Cornelius Vanderbilt, twenty-one-year-old Emma Cross is on the guest list for a grand ball at the Breakers, the Vanderbilts’ summer home. She also has a job to do—report on the event for the society page of the Newport Observer.

But Emma observes much more than glitz and gaiety when she witnesses a murder. The victim is Cornelius Vanderbilt’s financial secretary, who plunges off a balcony faster than falling stock prices. Emma’s black sheep brother Brady is found in Cornelius’s bedroom passed out next to a bottle of bourbon and stolen plans for a new railroad line. Brady has barely come to before the police have arrested him for the murder. But Emma is sure someone is trying to railroad her brother and resolves to find the real killer at any cost .

My Thoughts: Emma Cross is a poor relation to those famous Vanderbilts who spend summers in Newport. She's invited to the grand reopening of The Breakers and discovers the body of Cornelius's financial secretary and also her half-brother Brady passed out in the room the victim fell from. Everyone wants to quickly cover things up and railroad Brady for the crime. But Emma doesn't believe that her brother could have done that. Not that Brady is squeaky clean; he's noted for scams and not unknown to the police. In fact, he had lined Emma up as a distraction for Cornelius so that he could return some stolen plans that same evening.

Emma decides to use her family connections and her abilities as a writer for the Newport Observer to discover who really murdered Alvin Goddard. Her investigation takes her into the secrets of the summer visitors to Newport and force her to learn things she didn't want to know about some of her friends. 

She finds a number of suspects who had reason to want Goddard dead including her cousin Neily who objected to Goddard following him to discourage his romance with a woman his parents feel is unsuitable. There is lots of financial chicanery going on too, centering around a railroad line Cornelius wants to take over. One of childhood friend's new husband is involved with the railroad as is her father's best friend and honorary uncle. Then there is the mysterious Derrick Anderson who seems to be following Emma around. 

Emma is an interesting character who combines shrewdness with a sort of naivety that seems to go with her young age. She's only twenty-one; her parents are artists who have left her and moved to France. She lives in a home inherited from her great-aunt and cared for by her former nanny whom she thinks of as an unofficial grandmother. 

There is a nice mix of real historical figures and made-up characters in this story. There is also a touch of danger as Emma gets closer to uncovering the murderer. And there is a potential new romance for Emma. 

This was an engaging story. I liked the way Eva Kaminsky portrayed Emma through her narration.

Favorite Quote:
But sometimes a child just wants to be held. Just wants a mother's or father's whole attention, not as a reward for any particular achievement, but simply because.
I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

Friday, October 22, 2021

Friday Memes: Murder at the Breakers by Alyssa Maxwell

 Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is now hosted by Rose City ReaderThe 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:
Newport, Rhode Island, August 1895
She awoke that morning to an angry sea battering the edges of the promontory, and gusting winds that kicked up a spray to rattle against her bedroom windows. She might simply have rolled over, closed her eyes again and sunk pleasantly back into sleep, if not for the ...
Here the nib of my pen ran dry and scratched across the paper, threatening to leave a tear. If not for the what? I knew what I wanted to say; this was to be a novel of mystery and danger, but I was having a dickens of a time that morning finding the right words.
Friday 56:
With Mrs. Peterson's inquisitive gaze burning into my back, I hurried on. I exited through the alley without any trash-bin mishaps and came out onto Mary Street.
This week I am spotlighting Murder at the Breakers by Alyssa Maxwell which is a recent addition to my Kindle and Audiobook stack. I chose it because I like historical mysteries. Here is the description from Amazon:
In a historical mystery for Downton Abbey fans, a society reporter covers a killer party in Gilded Age Newport.

Newport, Rhode Island, August 1895: She may be a less well-heeled relation, but as second cousin to millionaire patriarch Cornelius Vanderbilt, twenty-one-year-old Emma Cross is on the guest list for a grand ball at the Breakers, the Vanderbilts’ summer home. She also has a job to do—report on the event for the society page of the Newport Observer.

But Emma observes much more than glitz and gaiety when she witnesses a murder. The victim is Cornelius Vanderbilt’s financial secretary, who plunges off a balcony faster than falling stock prices. Emma’s black sheep brother Brady is found in Cornelius’s bedroom passed out next to a bottle of bourbon and stolen plans for a new railroad line. Brady has barely come to before the police have arrested him for the murder. But Emma is sure someone is trying to railroad her brother and resolves to find the real killer at any cost . . .

Thursday, October 21, 2021

Book Review: Imposter's Lure by Carla Neggers

Imposter's Lure 

Author:
Carla Neggers
Series: Sharpe & Donovan (Book 8)
Publication: MIRA; Original edition (August 21, 2018)

Description: Tune in for an exhilarating page-turner where the disappearance of a federal prosecutor launches the latest high-stakes case for FBI agents Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan.

When prosecutor Tamara McDermott is a no-show at a Boston dinner party, newlyweds Emma and Colin are suspicious. Matt Yankowski, head of HIT, Emma and Colin’s small, elite Boston-based team, is a friend of Tamara’s, and he needs them to find her.

In London, a woman who was supposed to meet Emma’s art-detective grandfather to talk about forgeries is discovered near death. Her husband has vanished. The couple’s connection to Tamara adds to the puzzle.

As the search intensifies, a seemingly unrelated murder leads Emma, Colin and HIT deep into a maze of misdirection created by a clever, lethal criminal. Emma must draw on her expertise in art crimes and Colin on his experience as a deep-cover agent as the investigation takes a devastating turn — a turn that tests the strengths of their families and friendships as well as their FBI colleagues like never before.

My Thoughts: This eighth Sharpe & Donovan mystery was filled with interesting characters and plot twists. It starts when a federal prosecutor invites them to her daughter Adalyn's 21st birthday celebration and then doesn't show up herself. While Adalyn is angry, she isn't really surprised. She knows her mother has been stressed and was on her way to an off-the-grid vacation. But Emma and Colin and especially their boss Yank, who is the prosecutor's friend, are more concerned.

Meanwhile in London, Wendell Sharpe has been invited to meet a woman named Verity Blackwood to answer her questions about art forgery. Verity is a friend of Adalyn's. When she doesn't show up at the meeting, Wendell along with with Henrietta and Oliver check her whereabouts and discover her in her hotel room near death from an opioid overdose. 

Checking further they discover that her husband didn't fly home from Maine with her and set Emma and Colin on the case of discovering where he is. 

This mystery is centered around Adalyn - her mother, her friends, her new boss. Adalyn is a college student studying archival restoration and preservation and she's got a new job with an art restorer whose current job has to do with restoring art by Fletcher Campbell who is suffering from Alzheimer's and who had a recent fire at his studio in Maine. 

I enjoyed this story. I like that the characters from earlier stories are continuing to grow and expand their characters. There is a large cast and the story is told from multiple viewpoints.

Favorite Quote:
"Car's here." Colin said. "If Graham took off on a kayak, he must have launched from close by the house."

"Unless someone picked him up, or stole the kayak, or he wants us to think he's disappeared or --" Emma sighed. "Or aliens beamed him up to their spaceship."

"There's always that."
I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Archangel's Light by Nalini Singh

Archangel's Light

Author:
Nalini Singh
Series: Guild Hunter (Book 14)
Publication: Berkley (October 26, 2021)

Description: Nalini Singh returns to the world of the Guild Hunters for the most highly anticipated novel of the beloved series—a love story so epic it’s been half a millennia in the making…

Illium and Aodhan.  Aodhan and Illium. For centuries they’ve been inseparable: the best of friends, closer than brothers, companions of the heart. But that was before—before darkness befell Aodhan and shattered him, body, mind, and soul. Now, at long last, Aodhan is healing, but his new-found strength and independence may come at a devastating cost—his relationship with Illium.

As they serve side by side in China, a territory yet marked by the evil of its former archangel, the secret it holds nightmarish beyond imagining, things come to an explosive decision point. Illium and Aodhan must either walk away from the relationship that has defined them—or step forward into a future that promises a bond infinitely precious in the life of an immortal…but that demands a terrifying vulnerability from two badly bruised hearts.

My Thoughts: This is Illium and Aodhan's story. Through flashbacks we see key events in their 500 year long friendship from the time they met as baby angels to the current day in a Lijuan-ravaged China. We finally get the story of what happened to Aodhan when he was captured and imprisoned for twenty-three months of torture and then took 200 years of seclusion to come to terms with it and rebuild himself. We learn more about the hidden fractures in Illium too.

Aodhan and Illium have been at odds for the past year since the final defeat of Lijuan. Illium's need to protect is coming into direct conflict with Aodhan's need to be independent and strong on his own. Aodhan being seconded to Suyin - China's newly ascended archangel - threatens to make their quarrel and separation a permanent thing. 

But Raphael isn't going to give up one of his Seven to Suyin without a fight. He knows she wants to offer Aodhan the permanent position as her second since she asked him for permission to approach him. Raphael's secret weapon is Illium who he sends to China to provide more help for Suyin. He ceratinly hopes that will cause Illium and Aodhan to mend their differences and also bring them back to New York as parts of his Seven.

Flashbacks show how the relationship between the two of them grew over their lives and forced proximity in the current time forces them to finally talk to each other but what each of them needs in a relationship. 

While all of the Guild Hunter books have a central core of romance, this is the first in the series when the romance is between characters who have literally known each other all their lives. It is a wonderful exploration of how love changes with time. It was a lovely story.

Favorite Quote:
"Cubs grow," he'd said with a shrug when Illium asked him once. "Life moves. Only the old and the stupid don't move with it. The old have earned their rest, and the stupid will be eaten by predators."

Sometimes, Illium thought Naasir was the wisest person he knew.
I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

ARC Review: Grave Reservations by Cherie Priest

Grave Reservations

Author:
Cherie Priest
Publication: Atria Books (October 26, 2021)

Description: A psychic travel agent and a Seattle PD detective solve a murder in this quirky mystery in the vein of Lisa Lutz’s The Spellman Files and Charlaine Harris’s Aurora Teagarden series.

Meet Leda Foley: devoted friend, struggling travel agent, and inconsistent psychic. When Leda, sole proprietor of Foley's Flights of Fancy, impulsively re-books Seattle PD detective Grady Merritt’s flight, her life changes in ways she couldn’t have predicted.

After watching his original plane blow up from the safety of the airport, Grady realizes that Leda’s special abilities could help him with a cold case he just can’t crack.

Despite her scattershot premonitions, she agrees for a secret reason: her fiancé’s murder remains unsolved. Leda’s psychic abilities couldn’t help the case several years before, but she’s been honing her skills and drawing a crowd at her favorite bar’s open-mic nights, where she performs Klairvoyant Karaoke—singing whatever song comes to mind when she holds people’s personal effects. Now joined by a rag-tag group of bar patrons and pals alike, Leda and Grady set out to catch a killer—and learn how the two cases that haunt them have more in common than they ever suspected.

My Thoughts: Leda Foley is a travel agent (currently) and an inconsistent psychic. She is also still deeply grieving the murder of her fiancé - which she didn't see coming. When she rebooks a flight for police detective Grady Merritt which keeps him off a plane that slides off the runway and catches fire, Grady begins to think that Leda could be helpful in solving a cold case that is driving him crazy.

Leda and her best friend Niki are willing to help but Leda isn't confident in her abilities to actually be useful. As the two - and sometimes three of them - interview witnesses and explore crime scenes, Leda comes to believe that there is a connection between her fiancé's unsolved murder and the case that Grady is working on.

This was a very engaging story. I couldn't put it down. Leda is a wonderful, well-rounded character. I liked that she is honing her skills as a psychic by doing Klairvoyant Karaoke at her favorite bar which is managed by Niki's boyfriend. Currently, she's being paid in free drinks but as her reputation grows - in part because of publicity by the bar owner - she's going to be getting a cut of the night's receipts when she performs. 

I liked Grady too, He's a widower and a great parent to his seventeen-year-old daughter. He's also willing to stretch the bounds of what he previously believed and bring in Leda and her psychic insights if that is what it takes to solve crimes. 

This is the first book I've read by the author and a new direction for her writing according to her Acknowledgments. I hope she continues with more stories like this one which was thoroughly enjoyable.

Favorite Quote:
Niki knew Leda was only talking. Her friend had learned the hard way that warning people about tragic misfortune could lead to restraining orders, at best -- and at worst (just the one time), a ride in the back seat of a cop car. Because sometimes a frantic heads-up sounds like a threat. Apparently.
I received this one in exchange for an honest review from Edelweiss. You can buy your copy here.

Tuesday, October 19, 2021

Book Review: Thief's Mark by Carla Neggers

Thief's Mark

Author:
Carla Neggers
Series: Sharpe & Donovan (Book 7)
Publication: MIRA; Reissue edition (April 12, 2021)

Description: A murder in a quiet English village, long-buried secrets and a man’s search for answers about his traumatic past entangle FBI agents Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan in the latest edge-of-your-seat Sharpe & Donovan novel

As a young boy, Oliver York witnessed the murder of his parents in their London apartment. The killers kidnapped him and held him in an isolated Scottish ruin, but he escaped, thwarting their plans for ransom. After thirty years on the run, one of his tormentors may have surfaced.

Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan are on their Irish honeymoon when a break-in at the home of Emma’s grandfather, private art detective Wendell Sharpe, points to Oliver. The Sharpes have a complicated relationship with the likable, reclusive Englishman. Emma and Colin postpone meetings in London with their elite FBI team and head straight to Oliver. But when they arrive at York’s country home, a man is dead and Oliver has vanished.

As the danger mounts, questions arise about Oliver’s account of his boyhood trauma. Do Emma and Colin dare trust him? With the trail leading beyond Oliver’s village to Ireland, Scotland and their own turf in the US, the stakes are high, and Emma and Colin must unravel the decades-old tangle of secrets and lies before a killer strikes again.

My Thoughts: This 7th book in the Sharpe & Donovan series stars Oliver York. He saw his parents murdered and was kidnapped as an eight-year-old. He grew up to be a mythologist and thief. Wendell Sharpe had been on his trail since his second theft from an Amsterdam museum. But he began his career in art thievery by stealing paintings an a Celtic cross from a home in Declan's Cross.

Now his history in theft is known but for a number of reasons, including his usefulness to MI5, he hasn't been arrI lested or prosecuted. In fact, he's never admitted to being the thief Wendell Sharpe and the FBI hunted for so many years. 

For all the 30-some years since his kidnapping, he's been looking for the two men who killed his parents and kidnapped him. Even so, he didn't expect to find one of them murdered at his home in the Cotswolds. 

Henrietta Balfour was a neighbor of Oliver's since childhood. She was farmed off to her great aunt's whenever her parents wanted to do things without her which was most of the time. Henrietta became an expert gardener under her aunt's care but she also followed her favorite grandfather into working with MI5. She's left MI5 - a case of burn out - and is trying to establish herself as a garden designer. One of her first commissions is at Oliver's house which puts her right there when the body is discovered. 

I enjoyed the story and especially liked that Oliver finds romance with Henrietta. He's been such an intriguing character through so many of the earlier books in the series. I liked the way the past was woven into this story and I liked that Oliver finally found out what happened when his parents died. 

Favorite Quote:
Wendell was engaging in pure, in-your-face evasiveness. No wonder he's stuck to sparkling water. Colin snatched up his pint glass and nodded to Emma. "Do you want me to get the truth out of him or do you want me to...or just forget it and pretend drinks and a night at the Shelbourne are a last-minute wedding gift."

"They're a surprise wedding gift," Wendell said, unruffled. "They're not last-minute."
I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

Book & Audio Review: Wolf Who Rules by Wen Spencer

Wolf Who Rules

Author:
Wen Spencer
Narrator: Tana Eby
Series: Elfhome (Book 2)
Publication: Baen Books; 1st edition (April 1, 2006); Audible Studios (December 12, 2014)
Length: 366 p.; 13 hours and 10 minutes

Description: Tinker: just a quick-witted girl from Pittsburgh - who happens to be responsible for depositing high elves and her hometown humans into a melting pot of magic. Now the draconian oni seek to destroy the elves by breeding human git to do their evil bidding. But half-breeds who are half-human may not be the slaves the oni imagined. The revolt is on! Its leader A certain newly-minted elven princess from Pittsburgh, PA, by the name of Tinker.

My Thoughts: This story is a direct sequel to TINKER. It begins with a Prologue that catches up the reader on the main events in TINKER through the vehicle of Windwolf's participation in a ceremony of memory. Then the action begins...

Pittsburgh is stranded on Elfhome along with its 60,000 citizens who are mostly human but also include tengu and oni and half-oni. Windwolf and the Wind Clan need to root out the oni who are also immortal, breed like rabbits, and want to conquer Elfhome. It is too big a task and requires Windwolf to call in help from other clans. But this comes at a cost: the Stone Clan sees this as a weakness in Wind Clan and wants to institute a land grab and even assassinate Windwolf and Tinker and the Queen's representative also wants to gain a greater control in the Westernlands.

While Windwolf plays politics, Tinker is busy trying to clean up the mess left behind when she destroyed the interdimensional gate. Besides stranding Pittsburgh on Elfhome, it also left the ghost lands - a weird spatial discontinuity which seems to contain fractured pieces of various dimensions all jumbled together.

Tinker is also being plagued by dreams that seem to contain prophesy which are waking her screaming in the night and leaving her sleep deprived during the day. The dreams indicate that there is something she still needs to do to make things right. They contain elements from the Wizard of Oz which is odd because Tinker had not seen that movie. In it, she is the Scarecrow and is the one with the answers which she finds increasingly frustrating.

While helping xenobiologist Lain with a black willow - a mobile and dangerous tree, she needs to explore her grandfather's papers and discovers the family birth certificates but hers is missing and a strange file on a woman named Esme whose picture shows her to be one of the people who are starring in her dreams of Oz.

The story is action-packed and has great worldbuilding. I love that Tinker hasn't lost her human heart in her transformation to elf. I also like the look at Elven culture and the ways it is suited to a race that is potentially immortal. 

This book was immensely engaging and entertaining. I do recommend reading TINKER before this one despite the information catch-up of the prologue. While this book can stand alone, much depth and richness would come from reading TINKER first. 

Favorite Quote:
"So, on top of the royal troops and the oni, we have an unaligned dragon running loose in Pittsburgh."

"Well, a party is only fun if you invite lots of interesting people."

She stuck her tongue out at him.
I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

Monday, October 18, 2021

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (October 18, 2021)

 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 spent most of the last week lost in the Liaden Universe. I've been listening to that series of books again while ignoring the gray, gloomy weather. I have also been watching the baseball playoff games with the sound off - except for my Atlanta Braves games - while listening to audiobooks. 

I also spent some time filling out my December calendar with books from my TBR mountain that still sound interesting. Whether I'll actually read them or toss them on the donate pile will be decided when I'm a few pages into each one.

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.)
  • Fledgling by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller (Audiobook Reread) -- Here's my review of from July 9, 2011.
  • Saltation by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller (Audiobook Reread) -- My review was included in the July 9, 2011 post. 
  • One for the Money by D. B. Borton (Kindle; mine since January 2021) -- Fun mystery set in the 1980s and starring feisty grandmother Cat Caliban who is starting a new career as a detective now that she is widowed and the kids are raised. My review will be posted on November 18.
Currently
Next Week

Should Read:
Probably Will Read:
Reviews Posted
Want to See What I Added to My Stack Last Week?

Review:
Audible $5 Sale:
Print & Kindle:
What was your week like?