Going to a different country for business and deciding to stay indefinitely certainly qualifies as a change of plans, so Mr. Churchill’s Secretary, first in the Maggie Hope series, made a perfect choice for this month’s TBR Challenge. After all, not only does the heroine stay on in England instead of returning to the United States to…
It’s 1934, and the normally idyllic village of Buncome-upon-Woolly has been the site of four homicides in the past year—an unprecedented crime wave. As a result, the village is overrun with Murder Tourists hoping to emulate the plots of their favorite detective novels and do a bit of amateur sleuthing. This irritates Georgiana Radcliffe, the…
All of Us Murderers is a fabulous mixture of murder mystery and gothic horror, a superbly crafted homage to the gothic novel that expertly captures the essence of the genre while at the same time having some fun with its conventions. It’s clever, witty and atmospheric, with superbly drawn, vibrant characters, a charming romance, a…
I adore Mariah Fredericks’ Jane Prescott mysteries, and her YA novels are always fun. Sadly, The Girl in the Green Dress was a disappointment. This novel has as one of its leads Zelda Fitzgerald, a fascinating woman. But we never hear directly from Zelda. Instead, we spend our time in the dry-eyed, squaresville mind of…
Set in the ruthless, chaotic heart of 1749 London, this historical thriller is a masterclass in deception, survival, and the art of the long con. Hannah Cole, newly widowed and barely keeping her confectionery shop afloat, knows better than to expect miracles. Her late husband, Jonas, left her with debts, dwindling options, and, worst of…
After struggling a bit with the first book in this series, I decided to relax and accept the fact that this series features modern mysteries in historical clothing. Thus With a Kiss I Die is definitely a better experience than A Daughter of Fair Verona; I had great fun with it. But if you aren’t…
One Final Turn is the perfect title for this historical mystery because it’s the fifth and final book in the Electra McDonnell series by Ashley Weaver. I’ve been a fan of this series since book one, A Peculiar Combination, so I’ll state up front that I’m biased in its favor. I’ll avoid spoilers for previous…
The Girl from Greenwich Street is a fictionalized account of an actual murder trial bursting at the seams with famous Americans. Ms. Willig does a fantastic job summarizing the event in her notes at the novel’s end, but a slightly less spectacular one of bringing it to life in her primary narrative. A few days…
After reading Disturbing the Dead, book three in Kelly Armstrong’s A Rip Through Time series, I knew that I was going to eagerly reach for more in this time travel historical mystery/fiction series. While I’ve picked up the first two book with plans to see exactly how the main character ended up where she is,…
Who Will Remember, the twentieth instalment in the long-running series of historical mysteries starring Sebastian St. Cyr, is another engrossing, clever, and superbly researched tale full of twists and turns as our favourite aristocratic amateur sleuth attempts to solve a very unusual murder. This story takes place around a year after the events of What…
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