Book and Audio Review: Flying Too High by Kerry Greenwood

Flying Too High
Author: Kerry Greenwood
Narrator: Stephanie Daniel
Series: A Phryne Fisher Mystery (Book 2)
Publication: Poisoned Pen Press (September 30, 2011); Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd (July 9, 2009)
Length: 169 p.; 5 hours and 6 minutes

Description: From the author of the bestselling Phryne Fisher Series comes Flying Too High, the next historical mystery featuring the unstoppable amateur sleuth Phryne Fisher. And this time around, she takes to the air...

Walking the wings of a Tiger Moth plane in full flight would be more than enough excitement for most people, but not for the unflappable Phryne—amateur detective and woman of mystery, as delectable as the finest chocolate and as sharp as razor blades.

In fact, the roaring 1920s' most talented and glamorous murder detective flies even higher here, handling a murder, a kidnapping, and the usual array of beautiful young men with style and consummate ease. A bit of a flight risk herself, she does it all before it's time to adjourn to the Queenscliff Hotel for breakfast. Whether she's flying planes, clearing a friend of homicide charges, or saving a child, Phryne does everything with the same dash and elan with which she drives her red Hispano-Suiza.

My Thoughts: Phryne Fisher is beginning to build her reputation as an amateur sleuth in this episode. She is consulted by Mrs. William McNaughton who overheard a conversation between her son and her husband and now fears that her son is going to kill her husband. 

Phryne goes to consult with the son at his place of business. He teaches flying lessons. Phryne herself is a devotee of flying. It is part of her daredevil nature. She impresses him with various stunts including wing-walking and convinces him to conduct further arguments with his father away from home to keep from upsetting his mother. She thinks everything is settled but the William McNaughton is found dead on his tennis court after being bashed in the head with a paving stone and Bill McNaughton is arrested.

Meanwhile, six-year-old Candida Maldon is kidnapped when she goes out, without parental permission, to buy sweets. Her father has recently won a large sum in a lottery and has attracted villains who want some of it. Phryne also gets involved in that case. 

Phryne mobilizes her forces including truckers Bert and Cec to check out each of these cases. The Police Detective who is investigating the McNaughton case is a man who develops his own theories about cases and doesn't let any contrary evidence change his mind. Phryne is the one who lets the evidence guide the theories. She sends Bert and Cec to find out where the paving stone came from and to check into a group of children the daughter of the house invited in but her father threw out. 

Phryne also checks with witnesses at the sweet shop where Candida was snatched and has a police officer who owes her a favor check out the partial license plate one witness remembers. This leads to identifying the kidnappers but it takes a daring plan including a dangerous airplane flight and Phryne's hitching a ride in the back of the kidnappers vehicle to find out where they have the child stashed. 

This story is firmly rooted in the 1920s. Phryne is a daring young woman who isn't bound by convention. She drinks, she smokes, she takes lovers. She's also wealthy which lets her cruise around in her red Hispano-Suiza and learn to fly Gypsy Moths. The other women in the story like Mrs. McNaughton and Amelia McNaughton live more narrow lives since they are under the thumb of Mr. McNaughton who turns out to physically abuse his wife and daughter and also control all of their access to money. I was also somewhat surprised that a man accused of murder would be released from jail on his own recognizance and for a small bail. 

The story was fast-paced and fun. I enjoyed Stephanie Daniel's narration and also the interview with the author at the end of the story.

Favorite Quote:

The Gypsy Moth trundled on her bicycle wheels along the grassy paddock and lifted intoxicatingly into the air. Take-off was Phryne's favourite moment: the heart-lifting jolt as gravity gave way under pressure and the earth let go of the plane.

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

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (March 15, 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... 

Well, taxes are done for another year. As usual I'm getting a refund from the Feds but have to pay the State. My State bill was bigger than last year when I had to pay $1 but not a lot bigger. Luckily, my Federal  refund is much bigger than my State debt. Otherwise, I had a pretty lazy week. I don't know why but I have been extra tired this week. I took my first nap in three years and still slept ten hours that night. 

We had about 6 inches of snow from Wednesday afternoon until Thursday morning but most of it melted away the next day. It sounded like an avalanche when the snow slid off the solar panels and fell on the sidewalk right outside my living room window Thursday afternoon.

This week I'm on chauffeur duty as my brother has a follow-up cataract surgery tune-up Monday morning. I also have a follow-up myself with my gastroenterologist on Thursday afternoon. 

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.)

• Animal Instinct by David Rosenfelt (Review; April 6) -- The sequel to The K Team was another snarky mystery with quirky characters and a twisty plot. My review will be posted on March 31.
• A Wicked Conceit by Anna Lee Huber (Review; April 6) -- This 6th Lady Darby mystery was an excellent addition to the series. My review will be posted on March 30.
• Changing the Rules by Catherine Bybee (Review; March 23) -- This was an entertaining romantic suspense title. My review will be posted on March 24.

• Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold (Mine; Audiobook) -- This was a reread of one of my favorites by this author. I love her use of language and ability to illuminate a character with few words. I won't be reviewing this one on my blog.
• A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold (Mine; Audiobook) -- This is also a reread. It is the follow-up title to Komarr and is filled with all sorts of "cunning plans" that don't always go as the planner expects. It is probably my favorite book by the author. I won't be reviewing it on my blog at this time. 

Currently

• The Murder Game by Carrie Doyle (April 6)
• The Sign of Death by Callie Hutton (April 13)

Next Week

• Pride and Premeditation by Tirzah Price (April 6)
• The Unkindness of Ravens by M. E. Hilliard (April 13)
• All That Fall by Kris Calvin (April 13)

• Finding Perfect by Susan Mallery (Mine)
• The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn (Mine)
• Bootlegger's Daughter by Margaret Maron (Mine)

Reviews Posted

• The K Team by David Rosenfelt 
• Deal with the Devil by Kit Rocha

• Spellmaker by Charlie N. Holmberg
• Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley

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

Review:

• Purrfectly Dead by Dixie Lyle (April 27)
• A Peculiar Combination by Ashley Weaver (May 11)
• Fallen by Linda Castillo (July 6)

• A Good Day for Chardonnay by Darynda Jones (July 27)
• Changing the Rules by Catherine Bybee (March 23)

Bought:

• Finding Freedom by Omid Scobie
• Spellmaker by Charlie N. Holmberg (Keeper Copy)
• Heartbreak Bay by Rachel Caine (Keeper Copy)

What was your week like?

Book and Audiobook Review: Deal with the Devil by Kit Rocha

Deal with the Devil
Author: Kit Rocha
Series: Mercenary Librarians (Book 1)

Narrator: Lidia Dornet
Publication: Tor Books (July 28, 2020); Macmillan audio

Length: 331 p.; 12 hours and 36 minutes

Description: Deal with the Devil is Orphan Black meets the post-apocalyptic Avengers by USA Today and New York Times bestselling author duo Kit Rocha.

Nina is an information broker with a mission—she and her team of mercenary librarians use their knowledge to save the hopeless in a crumbling America.

Knox is the bitter, battle-weary captain of the Silver Devils. His squad of supersoldiers went AWOL to avoid slaughtering innocents, and now he's fighting to survive.

They’re on a deadly collision course, and the passion that flares between them only makes it more dangerous. They could burn down the world, destroying each other in the process…

Or they could do the impossible: team up.

This is the first book in a near-future science fiction series with elements of romance.

My Thoughts: DEAL WITH THE DEVIL is a near-future, post-apocalyptic science fiction story with a lot of romance. The setting is Atlanta but an Atlanta divided into many neighborhoods with a wide variety of resources. 

Nina, Maya, and Dina are all escapees from various places that bred and trained them and likely want them back. They are using their various talents to help the people in their neighborhood to survive. They are also librarians who are intent on gathering and sharing information that would be helpful to survival.

Knox is the leader of the Silver Devils - a squad that is AWOL from the Protectorate. Since his soldiers are all bio-enhanced and in danger of dying now that they don't have access to the Protectorate's maintenance drugs, he agrees to take a job to kidnap Nina and exchange her for a hostage who can help keep his men alive. He tells her that he has a lead on a buried library archive that holds all sorts of riches. 

As the two groups - Knox and his men and Nina and her team - travel together and face bandits and other hardships, they begin to appreciate each other. Knox has second thoughts about betraying Nina once he gets to know her and see her essential goodness. But he still needs to find a way to rescue the hostage and save his men. 

I enjoyed the worldbuilding in this story. I thought the post-apocalyptic world was intriguing. As a librarian, I was also intrigued by the idea of future librarians keeping the light of civilization burning. The romance was spicy but I felt it was realistic considering the personalities of the characters. I enjoyed the banter between the characters who all had unique personalities and histories. 

I look forward to reading more books in this series as they become available.

Favorite Quote:

Evil wasn't afraid of good. Because good people always expected evil to play by the rules, and by the time they realized the game had changed, evil had won. 

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

Friday Memes: Deal with the Devil by Kit Rocha

 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:

Nina had broken the cardinal rule, and now she had to kill someone.

Friday 56: 

Nina was accustomed to packing light and moving fast. At one point, she'd traveled with everything she owned tucked carefully into a single pack.

This week I am spotlighting Deal with the Devil by Kit Rocha which was a recent Kindle Deal. Here is the description from Amazon:

Deal with the Devil is Orphan Black meets the post-apocalyptic Avengers by USA Today and New York Times bestselling author duo Kit Rocha.

Nina is an information broker with a mission—she and her team of mercenary librarians use their knowledge to save the hopeless in a crumbling America.

Knox is the bitter, battle-weary captain of the Silver Devils. His squad of supersoldiers went AWOL to avoid slaughtering innocents, and now he's fighting to survive.

They’re on a deadly collision course, and the passion that flares between them only makes it more dangerous. They could burn down the world, destroying each other in the process…

Or they could do the impossible: team up.

This is the first book in a near-future science fiction series with elements of romance.

Book and Audio Review: The K Team by David Rosenfelt

The K Team
Author: David Rosenfelt
Narrator: Fred Berman
Series: K Team Novels (Book 1)
Publication: Minotaur Books (March 24, 2020); Macmillan Audio (March 24, 2020)
Length: 292 p.; 6 hours and 12 minutes

Description: From best-selling mystery author David Rosenfelt comes a new series - a spinoff of the much beloved Andy Carpenter mysteries - about a dynamic new investigative team featuring a determined former cop and his loyal German Shepherd.

Corey Douglas and his K-9 partner, Simon Garfunkel, have recently retired from the police force. Not ready to give up the life yet, they come up with a proposal for fellow former cop, Laurie Carpenter, and her investigating partner, Marcus. Laurie and Marcus - who help out Laurie’s lawyer husband Andy on cases - have been chafing to jump back into investigating on their own, so they are in.

They call themselves the K Team, in honor of Simon. Their first job as private investigators comes to them from Judge Henry Henderson, who's known as a very tough but fair judge, and they've all come up against him in court at one time or another. Though it's hard to believe, Judge Henderson is being blackmailed and extorted, and he doesn't want to involve the police - he needs the K Team to figure out why.

My Thoughts: This story is a spin-off of the Andy Carpenter mysteries. It stars Corey Douglas, a retired cop, and his also retired K-9 partner Simon Garfunkel along with Laurie Carpenter and Marcus Clark. Andy makes a few appearances in this story too.

They have formed an investigations agency. They work with Andy when he has a case but, since Andy doesn't want to take cases if he can avoid them, they need more work. They are hired by Judge Henry "Hatchet" Henderson because someone is trying to blackmail him.

All of them have been in court with Henderson and all of them find him to be a hard-ass but fair judge. Since his reputation would be on the line if any blackmail attempt becomes public, Henderson wants the K Team to find out who is trying to blackmail him. 

Since one of the items that are being used for blackmail is a substantial bank account in the Cayman Islands in Henderson's name which he knows nothing about, the team uses the date the account started as a place to start investigating. They begin looking at cases the judge was involved with then and what might be coming up in the near future. 

The audience is given a clue in the first chapter of the story which case is relevant but the Team doesn't have our foreknowledge and need to look at a number of cases. One has them investigating a double homicide by the local gang's leader's brother which causes some sidetracking.

While a good part of the story is told from Corey's viewpoint, the plot is moved along by other viewpoints including a couple of hired killers. The plot was nicely twisty with lots of threads and lots of surprises. I liked the way the clues were slowly revealed to the K Team. 

I like the typical Rosenfelt humor with snarky and sarcastic viewpoint characters. Corey takes after Andy in this way. I also liked that a number of recurring characters from the Andy Carpenter mystery have roles in this one like Marcus Clark and accountant and badass wannabe Sam Willis. I liked that Simon Garfunkel has a small role in this one. It is clear that he is Corey's best friend and, as he says, "the best cop (he) ever worked with."

Fans of the Andy Carpenter mysteries will also enjoy this new series. 

Favorite Quote:

My name is Corey Douglas and people know me as an easygoing guy, except when I'm not.

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

ARC Review: Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley

Firekeeper's Daughter
Author: Angeline Boulley
Publication: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) (March 16, 2021)

Description: In Firekeeper's Daughter, debut author Angeline Boulley crafts a groundbreaking YA thriller about a Native teen who must root out the corruption in her community, for readers of Angie Thomas and Tommy Orange.

Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She dreams of a fresh start at college, but when family tragedy strikes, Daunis puts her future on hold to look after her fragile mother. The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team.

Yet even as Daunis falls for Jamie, she senses the dashing hockey star is hiding something. Everything comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into an FBI investigation of a lethal new drug.

Reluctantly, Daunis agrees to go undercover, drawing on her knowledge of chemistry and Ojibwe traditional medicine to track down the source. But the search for truth is more complicated than Daunis imagined, exposing secrets and old scars. At the same time, she grows concerned with an investigation that seems more focused on punishing the offenders than protecting the victims.

Now, as the deceptions―and deaths―keep growing, Daunis must learn what it means to be a strong Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman) and how far she’ll go for her community, even if it tears apart the only world she’s ever known.

My Thoughts: Daunis Fontaine is a young woman pulled between cultures. She is the illegitimate daughter of a White mother and Ojibwe father. Her mother was sixteen when she was born and her White grandparents didn't want her to have anything to do with her father's people. Her mother rebelled and made sure that Daunis knew her father's family. While Daunis loves her grandparents, she also loves and honors her Native family and its traditions.

Daunis has just graduated from high school and had intended to leave home for the University of Michigan to begin her studies to be a doctor. But her Uncle David has recently died and her GrandMary has suffered a stroke which has left her mother in a very fragile state of mind. Daunis has changed her plans and is now going to attend the nearby community college with her best friend Lily in order to stay at home and take care of her mother. 

Only plans change again when her friend Lily is killed by Lily's ex Travis who has become a meth head and who then kills himself. Daunis and her new friend Jamie are quick to come upon the scene. There she learns that her new fried is an undercover cop sent to investigate the growing meth problem on the reservation. Lily agrees to become a confidential informant to try to get to the bottom of the drug problem on the Rez. Her knowledge of chemistry and her in with both the Whites and the Natives puts her in a powerful position to be of help. But it also puts her in a position to learn a number of secrets that she would prefer not to know.

This excellent story is filled with information about Ojibwe beliefs and rituals and culture. It is also a great depiction of the hockey culture of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. An it is an excellent mystery/thriller that kept me guessing about the whole situation. Along the way there is a growing love story between Daunis and Jamie that was filled with much more than the usual "getting to know you" of a normal relationship.

It was wonderful watching Daunis grow into her own power as a strong Native woman and decide what she wants to do with the rest of her life. 

Favorite Quote:

When someone dies, everything about them becomes past tense. Except for the grief. Grief stays in the present. 

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

ARC Review: Spellmaker by Charlie N. Holmberg

Spellmaker
Author: Charlie N. Holmberg
Series: Spellbreaker (Book 2)
Publication: 47North (March 9, 2021)

Description: Dead wizards, stolen enchantments, and broken promises force a young spellbreaker out of the shadows in the next thrilling installment of the Spellbreaker series by the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Paper Magician.

England, 1895. An unsolved series of magician murders and opus thefts isn’t a puzzle to Elsie Camden. But to reveal a master spellcaster as the culprit means incriminating herself as an unregistered spellbreaker. When Elsie refuses to join forces with the charming assassin, her secret is exposed, she’s thrown in jail, and the murderer disappears. But Elsie’s hope hasn’t vanished.

Through a twist of luck, the elite magic user Bacchus Kelsey helps Elsie join the lawful, but with a caveat: they must marry to prove their cover story. Forced beneath a magical tutor while her bond with Bacchus grows, Elsie seeks to thwart the plans of England’s most devious criminal—if she can find them.

With hundreds of stolen spells at their disposal, the villain has a plan—and it involves seducing Elsie to the dark side. But even now that her secret is out, Elsie must be careful how she uses the new abilities she’s discovering, or she may play right into the criminal’s hands.

My Thoughts: The second book in the Spellbreaker duology begins with Elsie's arrest. Unregistered spellbreakers are horribly illegal and can even be put to death. However, she has new Master Bacchus Kelsey on her side. He manages to free her from jail by swearing that her gifts are new and also that he intends to marry her. 

While Elsie suffers from her low self-esteem and abandonment issues, the major villain of the story is not letting up on her so far undetermined goals. Master Lily Merton is still trying to gather opuses and accomplish some mysterious goal. Elsie, Bacchus, and Ogden are busy trying to figure out what she wants and how they can keep her from accomplishing her goals.

Meanwhile, Elsie is saddled with a new teacher to help her learn about her abilities as a spellbreaker. Irene Prescott spends way too much time teaching Elsie things she already knows but can't tell anyone she knows. But when Elsie's skills are outed, Irene becomes a colleague who is willing to help in defeating Master Merton's plans.

The worldbuilding is intriguing in this story. I enjoyed the setting and the time period. I liked the growing relationship between Elsie and Bacchus once they stop acting at cross purposes and begin to believe and trust each other. 

Fans of historical fantasy will enjoy this duology. But be sure to read SPELLBREAKER first!

Favorite Quote:

One of her abilities as a spellbreaker was to detect magic. Physical spells could be seen, rational spells had a certain feel to them, spiritual spells had a sound, and temporal spells had a smell.

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