Book Review: Miss Aldridge Regrets by Louise Hare

Miss Aldridge Regrets
Author: Louise Hare
Series: A Canary Club Mystery (Book 1)
Publication: Berkley (July 5, 2022)

Description: The glittering RMS Queen Mary. A nightclub singer on the run. An aristocratic family with secrets worth killing for.

London, 1936. Lena Aldridge wonders if life has passed her by. The dazzling theatre career she hoped for hasn’t worked out. Instead, she’s stuck singing in a sticky-floored basement club in Soho, and her married lover has just left her. But Lena has always had a complicated life, one shrouded in mystery as a mixed-race girl passing for white in a city unforgiving of her true racial heritage.

She’s feeling utterly hopeless until a stranger offers her the chance of a lifetime: a starring role on Broadway and a first-class ticket on the Queen Mary bound for New York. After a murder at the club, the timing couldn’t be better, and Lena jumps at the chance to escape England. But death follows her onboard when an obscenely wealthy family draws her into their fold just as one among them is killed in a chillingly familiar way. As Lena navigates the Abernathy’s increasingly bizarre family dynamic, she realizes that her greatest performance won't be for an audience, but for her life.

With seductive glamor, simmering family drama, and dizzying twists, Louise Hare makes her beguiling US debut.

My Thoughts: This historical mystery is set in 1936 and stars Lena Aldridge who is Black but passing for White. She is a singer in a seedy club when she is offered the chance to go to New York City to star in a Broadway musical. This couldn't come at a more perfect time. Her married lover has just left her. She's been kicked out of her room at her rooming house and has been fired from her job at the club. 

She has also just witnessed the death of her boss who also happens to be her best friend's husband. Tommy Scarsdale wasn't much of a husband flaunting his younger and younger lovers in front of his wife's face. Even worse, he has just asked her friend Maggie for a divorce and plans to leave her destitute. When he dies from cyanide poisoning, Lena suspects Maggie but decides to cover up any possibility of her involvement. 

Once onboard the ship, she finds herself seated at the table of the powerful Abernathy family. The head of the family is Francis Parker who is a very wealthy man who has suffered a stroke and is dying. However, he still has a tight grip on his family which includes his son-in-law Jack, daughter Eliza, and grandchildren Frankie and Carrie. Also in the entourage is his personal physician Dr. Wilding and Parker's secretary Daisy.

Lena is wondering why Charlie Bacon, who is supposed to be her guide to New York, wants to have her get to know these people. It soon becomes clear that he is eager for her to ingratiate herself with them in the hopes of having them support the upcoming Broadway show. 

Then Francis Parker is also poised with cyanide and Lena is sure that she will be blamed. Two deaths having the same cause is just too coincidental. She's right that she'll be blamed because that's what a hidden enemy has planned. But why Lena has been chosen to be the scapegoat only slowly becomes clear. 

Luckily, Lena has an alibi for the third murder in the person of bandleader Will Goodman. It is Will who brings the theme of prejudice into the story. He's a Black man who is knowledgeable about the difficulties Lena will face in New York if anyone learns that she's passing. 

This was a complicated story with a variety of flashbacks and viewpoints. I found Lena to be morally ambiguous and I'm not sure I agree with her choices even while knowing there was no other real choice about what she did. 

The time period was well drawn and the characters interesting and complex people. I enjoyed the story. 

Favorite Quote:

Alfie had told me that there were two sets of rules in America -- one for them and one for us. In England, there simply weren't enough colored people for most people to have thought about it that hard. 

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

Friday Memes: Miss Aldridge Regrets by Louise Hare

 Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is 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:

The doorman barely glanced at me as I slipped past him and down the stairs into the basement club, the stale air thick with cigarette smoke. No one here knew who I was; no one cared.

Friday 56:

The point is that, whether she knows it or not, Lena Aldridge has a very good motive for murder, and it would be a shame to waste it. When the truth comes out, no one will believe she's innocent.

This week I am spotlighting Miss Aldridge Regrets by Louise Hare. This historical mystery is the first in a series. I felt I should read it before I read the sequel which was on my TBR mountain. (The review was for my review book was posted on August 23.) 

Here's the description from Amazon:

The glittering RMS Queen Mary. A nightclub singer on the run. An aristocratic family with secrets worth killing for.

London, 1936. Lena Aldridge wonders if life has passed her by. The dazzling theatre career she hoped for hasn’t worked out. Instead, she’s stuck singing in a sticky-floored basement club in Soho, and her married lover has just left her. But Lena has always had a complicated life, one shrouded in mystery as a mixed-race girl passing for white in a city unforgiving of her true racial heritage.

She’s feeling utterly hopeless until a stranger offers her the chance of a lifetime: a starring role on Broadway and a first-class ticket on the Queen Mary bound for New York. After a murder at the club, the timing couldn’t be better, and Lena jumps at the chance to escape England. But death follows her onboard when an obscenely wealthy family draws her into their fold just as one among them is killed in a chillingly familiar way. As Lena navigates the Abernathy’s increasingly bizarre family dynamic, she realizes that her greatest performance won't be for an audience, but for her life.

With seductive glamor, simmering family drama, and dizzying twists, Louise Hare makes her beguiling US debut.

ARC Review: Redemption by Deborah J. Ledford

Redemption
Author: Deborah J. Ledford
Series: Eva "Lightning Dance" Duran (Book 1)
Publication: Thomas & Mercer (September 1, 2023)

Description: From award-winning author Deborah J Ledford comes a thrilling new series featuring a Native American sheriff’s deputy who risks it all to find a friend who’s gone missing.

After four women disappear from the Taos Pueblo reservation, Deputy Eva “Lightning Dance” Duran dives into the case. For her, it’s personal. Among the missing is her best friend, Paloma, a heroin addict who left behind an eighteen-year-old son.

Eva senses a lack of interest from the department as she embarks on the investigation. But their reluctance only fuels her fire. Eva teams up with tribal police officer and longtime friend Cruz “Wolf Song” Romero to tackle a mystery that could both ruin her reputation and threaten her standing in the tribe.

And when the missing women start turning up dead, Eva uncovers clues that take her deeper into the reservation’s protected secrets. As Eva races to find Paloma before it’s too late, she will face several tests of loyalty—to her friend, her culture, and her tribe.

My Thoughts: REDEMPTION is the first in a new contemporary series starring a Native American Sheriff's Deputy who is willing to put it all on the line to find her missing friend. Paloma has been her friend since childhood. But a car accident that killed her husband and two others and left her severely injured has left her with chronic pain an addiction to any sort of drug she can find to relieve it. Paloma was once the most famous hoop dancer in the Southwest. 

When Paloma goes missing only Eva and Paloma's eighteen-year-old son Kai are willing to look for her. Paloma has burned her bridges with the tribe because she was stealing in order to support her habit. 

This story is told from multiple viewpoints. We hear from Eva, and from Kai, and from Paloma, and from Alice the traveling nurse who is determined to find a cure for the drug addiction that is making inroads on the reservation and who especially wants to save Paloma since she has been a fan since she first saw her dance.

The story deals with real life problems. Drug addiction and dealing in drugs find a fertile ground on Indian reservations for a number of reasons including their large size and sparse population. This story also deals with people trying to meet other people's expectations which is something Eva is dealing with being the only Native American and one of few women in the Sheriff's Department. 

This story wasn't a who dunnit. We knew the criminal. We knew her motives and watched her mental state deteriorate. The tension came from wondering if Eva would be able to follow the clues fast enough to save her friend before the villain killed her accidentally. 

I liked the action. The rafting scenes to get to a body were graphic and exciting. I liked the characters. 

Favorite Quote:

"Now what?" Kai asked. 

"Now we wait for the cavalry."

"Because that worked out so good for our people in the past," Kai deadpanned.

She almost laughed, then caught his serious tone and spiraled down the path of doubt, right along with the younger member of her community.

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

ARC Review: Murder at Midnight by Katharine Schellman

Murder at Midnight
Author: Katharine Schellman
Series: A Lily Adler Mystery (Book 4)
Publication: Crooked Lane Books (September 19, 2023)

Description: Perfect for fans of Deanna Raybourn and Ashley Weaver, when a body is found shot to death after an unexpected snowstorm, Lily Adler quickly realizes that some people will stop at nothing to bury their secrets.

Regency widow Lily Adler is looking forward to a quiet Christmastide away from the schemes and secrets she witnessed daily in London. Not only will she be visiting the family of her late husband; she will be reunited with Captain Jack Hartley, her friend and confidante, finally returned after a long voyage at sea.

But secrets aren’t only found in London. Jack’s younger sister, Amelia, is the center of neighborhood scandal and gossip. She refuses to tell anyone what really happened, even when an unexpected snowstorm strands the neighborhood families together after a Christmas ball. Stuck until the snow stops, the Adlers, Hartleys, and their neighbors settle in for the night, only to be awakened in the morning by the scream of a maid who has just discovered a dead body.

The victim was the well-to-do son of a local gentleman—the same man whose name has become so scandalously linked to Amelia’s.

With the snow still falling and no way to come or go, it’s clear that someone in the house was responsible for the young man’s death. When suspicion instantly falls on Jack’s sister, he and Lily must unmask the true culprit before Amelia is convicted of a crime she didn’t commit.

My Thoughts: An unexpected snowstorm strands Lily Adler and others after a Christmas Ball. Among the stranded is a murderer and Lily's friend Jack's youngest sister Amelia is the prime suspect. Amelia is the focus of a local scandal which also concerned the victim. She won't share her secrets which makes it hard to clear her name.

Lily and her brother-in-law John who is the local magistrate need to solve the crime before the weather clears and the houseguests depart for their own homes. Amelia's are not the only secrets and Lily and John and Matthew Spencer, the man who wants to marry Lily, need to uncover them all if they are to find the killer. 

It doesn't help that Jack "confesses" to the murder in order to clear his sister's name. Nor does it help that there is a second victim whose death is supposed to look like a suicide. Missing jewels, a cunning financial scam, and Lily's own indecision about whether or not to accept Matthew's offer add layers to this story which was engaging and entertaining. 

This was an excellent addition to an entertaining series. 

Favorite Quote:

There were not many people Lily considered true friends. But Jack, who had been a boyhood companion of her husband and become her own trusted confidant, was one of them.

A bit of a scoundrel by nature, he had his mother's good looks but little of her reserve. And he never lost an opportunity to tease Lily or make her laugh.

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

ARC Review: Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas by Vicki Delany

Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas
Author: Vicki Delany
Series: Year-Round Christmas Mystery (Book 6)
Publication: Crooked Lane Books (September 19, 2023)

Description: It’s beginning to look a lot like murder in the sixth installment of this charming cozy mystery series, perfect for fans of Donna Andrews and Jacqueline Frost.

It’s the beginning of December in Rudolph, New York, America's Christmas Town, and business is brisk at Mrs. Claus’s Treasures, a gift and décor shop owned by Merry Wilkinson. The local amateur dramatic society is intensely preparing a special musical production of A Christmas Carol. But it’s not a happy set, as rivalries between cast and crew threaten the production.

Tensions come to a head when a member of the group is found dead shortly after a shopping excursion to Mrs. Claus's Treasures. Was someone looking to cut out the competition? Everyone in the cast and crew is a potential suspect, including Aline, Merry’s mother, and Merry's shop assistant Jackie O'Reilly, who was desperate for a starring role.

It could be curtains for Christmas—and for Merry—unless the killer can be ferreted out of the wings.

My Thoughts: As Christmas approaches in Rudolph, New York, tensions are rising when the local dramatic society prepares to put on a musical version of A Christmas Carol. This wouldn't normally impact Merry Wilkinson's life since she keeps busy running Mrs. Claus's Treasures, a gift and decor shop. But Merry's mother who is a retired opera singer has a part and is directing the musical numbers. 

Merry happens to be at the theater and witnesses the tensions herself. A new person in town is the troop's artistic director and she is always trying to override the director and influence the casting. One of Merry's employees is in the chorus and the understudy for Mrs. Cratchit and has delusions of talent. When the woman playing Mrs. Cratchit is killed in Merry's store while Merry is in the backroom dealing with a dog issue, her employee and Merry herself come under suspicion. 

Merry wants to investigate to clear her name and that of her employee but she doesn't know enough about the players. She has never been interested in theater herself. However, the local gossip network, or which her landlady is a charter member, is on the case providing Merry with clues she gladly shares with the detective on the case. Tensions rise as the production gets nearer to its first night and Merry is on the case to find the murderer. 

This was an entertaining cozy mystery which is sixth in a series. I haven't read any of the others but didn't have any trouble getting into the story and learning about the characters. Fans of cozies and fans of this series will enjoy this story.

Favorite Quote:

In the past, I believed I could sometimes uncover things Detective Simmonds, with all her official resources could not. People didn't see me as an authority figure or a threat--or didn't care if they were wasting my time--so they talked more freely to me. Simmonds herself had never quite come out and said I was a help. But she'd hinted at it. I thought she'd hinted at it. 

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

Audiobook Review: Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters

Crocodile on the Sandbank
Author: Elizabeth Peters
Narrator: Susan O'Malley
Series: Amelia Peabody (Book 1)
Publication: Blackstone Audio (August 23, 2002)
Length: 8 hours and 47 minutes

Description: Meet Egyptologist Amelia Peabody in the first mystery in the Victorian-era, New York Times-bestselling series.

"If Indiana Jones were female, a wife, and a mother who lived in Victorian times, he would be Amelia Peabody Emerson."—Publishers Weekly

Amelia Peabody, that indomitable product of the Victorian age, embarks on her first Egyptian adventure armed with unshakable self-confidence, a journal to record her thoughts, and, of course, a sturdy umbrella. On her way, Amelia rescues young Evelyn Barton-Forbes, who has been “ruined” and abandoned on the streets of Rome by her rascally lover. With a typical disregard for convention, Amelia promptly hires her fellow countrywoman as a companion and takes her to Cairo.

Eluding Evelyn’s former lover, who wants her back, and Evelyn’s cousin Lord Ellesmere, who wishes to marry her, the two women sail up the Nile to an archaeological site that is home to a rather lively mummy. Soon strange visitations, suspicious accidents, and a botched kidnapping convince Amelia that there is a plot afoot to harm Evelyn.

My Thoughts: This book introduces Amelia Peabody who will eventually feature in 20 books written between 1975 and 2006. Amelia is a semi-proper Victorian lady who, after inheriting a comfortable income upon the death of her father, decides to travel the world. 

Beginning her journey in Italy, Amelia discovers a gentlewoman in distress and decides to make Evelyn her companion. The two travel to Egypt because Amelia wants to visit the pyramids and other Egyptian antiquities. She meets irascible archaeologist Radcliffe Emerson while touring a museum in Cairo.

The two meet again when Amelia stops her voyage south on the Nile to view the site he is excavating only to find him desperately ill and in need of her medical care. Not only does she fall in love with Emerson but she also falls in love with Egypt and Egyptology.

Meanwhile, her companion who is the disinherited granddaughter of a very wealthy Earl has troubles of her own. She is fleeing the Italian lover who coaxed her away from home and dealing with another Italian cousin who is the heir to her grandfather's property. He really wants to marry Evelyn who has fallen in love with Emerson's brother Walter.

This story has mummies some of whom seem to have left their graves to frighten both Amelia and Evelyn, bat-infested tombs, superstitious natives, and all sorts of danger and adventure. It was a fun story to hear since Amelia, who narrates the story, has her own unique and eccentric viewpoint.

The story has a lot of historical detail since many of the characters who are talked about were real people and the leading archaeologists of the day which is about 1890.

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

ARC Review: The Golden Gate by Amy Chua

The Golden Gate
Author: Amy Chua
Publication: Minotaur Books (September 19, 2023)

Description: Amy Chua's debut novel, The Golden Gate, is a sweeping, evocative, and compelling historical thriller that paints a vibrant portrait of a California buffeted by the turbulent crosswinds of a world at war and a society about to undergo massive change.

In Berkeley, California, in 1944, Homicide Detective Al Sullivan has just left the swanky Claremont Hotel after a drink in the bar when a presidential candidate is assassinated in one of the rooms upstairs. A rich industrialist with enemies among the anarchist factions on the far left, Walter Wilkinson could have been targeted by any number of groups. But strangely, Sullivan’s investigation brings up the specter of another tragedy at the Claremont, ten years earlier: the death of seven-year-old Iris Stafford, a member of the Bainbridge family, one of the wealthiest in all of San Francisco. Some say she haunts the Claremont still.

The many threads of the case keep leading Sullivan back to the three remaining Bainbridge heiresses, now adults: Iris’s sister, Isabella, and her cousins Cassie and Nicole. Determined not to let anything distract him from the truth—not the powerful influence of Bainbridges’ grandmother, or the political aspirations of Berkeley’s district attorney, or the interest of China's First Lady Madame Chiang Kai-Shek in his findings—Sullivan follows his investigation to its devastating conclusion.

Chua’s page-turning debut brings to life a historical era rife with turbulent social forces and groundbreaking forensic advances, when race and class defined the very essence of power, sex, and justice, and introduces a fascinating character in Detective Sullivan, a mixed race former Army officer who is still reckoning with his own history.

My Thoughts: It's 1944. It's San Francisco. Detective Al Sullivan gets involved in the murder of presidential candidate Walter Wilkinson who is shot to death and stage in a humiliating way in the Claremont Hotel. Wilkinson was a controversial candidate with enemies at all ends of the political spectrum. But another reason, far more personal, is a possible motive for murder too.

Sullivan finds himself investigating the cream of society in the Bainbridges. Any of three attractive Bainbridge young women - sisters Nicole and Cassie and their cousin Isabella - all have their own reasons for wanting him dead. Or it is possible that there is a Chinese connection since he's been rumored to be having an affair with Madame Chiang Kai-Shek.

Sullivan, a mixed-race former Army officer passing for White, finds himself dealing with all sorts of prejudices and presumptions as he investigates from his superior's certainty that no woman of good family could be involved in murder to a DA who is all too ready to frame one or the other of the Bainbridge girls if it will help his political career. Al also dealing with his half-sister's eleven-year-old daughter who is going astray and is in debt to the mob after the disappearance of her mother. 

This story was filled with incredible historical detail and has extensive notes of the sources the author used. As a liberal, I was extremely uncomfortable reading about the prevailing attitudes and prejudices of the day. However, the story was compelling and hard to put down.

Favorite Quote:

"There's a suspicion line in every society, Miriam, and you're either about or below it. The people above that line, they never even think about it. They walk the streets like they own them. They take for granted that the law is there to protect them, because it is.

"But if you're below the line, different story. Below the line, you're what the law protects against. Society has its constant eye on you, not just cops but average people and people lower than you--everyone. You start to look and feel like you're doing something wrong even when you're not."

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