<\/p>\n This is the follow up to Mango, Mambo, and Murder<\/a><\/em> and I had been waiting expectantly for it. Miriam Qui\u00f1ones-Smith and her husband and son have returned to their hometown where Miriam has struggled with finding a job in her field (food anthropology) and her (terrible) mother-in-law.<\/p>\n She has gotten a regular slot on the Spanish-speaking TV channel hosting a weekly cooking\/food history show, and also involved in murder.<\/p>\n I absolutely adore the food anthropology bits.<\/p>\n The Celtic pagan tradition of feeding the dead was not unlike the Mexican Dia de los Muertos practice of taking your relative\u2019s favorite meal to their grave site. The Japanese did something similar during the Buddhist Obon festival.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Set in England in 1948.<\/p>\n This is the sequel to Hither, Page<\/em><\/a> which is about two men who served in the second world war\u2014one as a surgeon and one as a spy. Both struggle to deal with what they saw and did in the war, and also their relationship\u2014which is illegal.<\/p>\n James has been called to Cornwall for the reading of his uncle\u2019s will<\/p>\n The more Leo thought about it, the less he liked it. Leo had read this detective story and he had seen the film and knew that when you made the heirs gather together, they immediately started putting exotic poisons into one another\u2019s tea. They simply couldn\u2019t help themselves.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I am often annoyed by stories where the couple doesn\u2019t talk to each other about things that bother them, but in historicals\u2014where the relationship is illegal\u2014it makes sense that neither partner knows how to talk about their feelings and needs in a relationship.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lindenshaw Mysteries by Charlie Cochrane<\/a> I love a good cozy. This series features a police officer and a school teacher who fall in love in the first book, and have a solid relationship going forward, which is something else I love. I find will-they-won\u2019t-they annoying and will often quit a series when the main character ends every book with a relationship on solid footing, and opens the next with the couple on the skids.<\/p>\n Because one of the main characters is a police officer, it actually makes sense there would be multiple murders (despite their living in a small town) but I adore that they recognize the cozy-book situation where there are often a ridiculous number of murders around a main character.<\/p>\n While matters hadn\u2019t quite become as bad as one of those television series where the amateur detective was dealing with death in their vicinity on a weekly basis, it did feel like the universe was having a laugh. The Best Corpse for the Job<\/a><\/em> , Jury of One<\/a><\/em> , Two Feet Under<\/a><\/em> , Old Sins<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Motts is Ace and is on the spectrum, which makes this a unique book in many ways, all of which I like.<\/p>\n This book ends the story arc with the murder of Motts childhood best friend being solved, so although each book can be read as a stand-alone, if you are interested in that specific cold case, you will want to start at the first book.<\/p>\n Poisoned Primrose<\/em><\/a>, Pierced Peony<\/em><\/a>, Pickled Petunia<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ellery moved to Pirate\u2019s Cove after he inherited his great aunt\u2019s home and book store, and decides to try to make a living there.<\/p>\n This is another LGBT cozy that gently pokes fun at the genre.<\/p>\n \u201cUh, you live in Pirate\u2019s Cove, right? That quaint New England village with a homicide rate second only to Cabot\u2019s Cove?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n There is a romance that builds slowly over several books, and starts with a friendship between the two characters.<\/p>\n Each of these books works as a stand-alone, so you don\u2019t have to read them in order if you don\u2019t want to.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is one of my favorite series going. Sebastian owns an antique store and has a form of complete color-blindness that renders him legally blind, even if he does have vision. As I noted when discussing covers, this series always renders Sebastian as he would see himself: grayscale and washed out.<\/p>\n Sebastian eventually marries Calvin, a police officer who struggles with PTSD from his military service.<\/p>\n One of the things I like best about this series is Calvin\u2019s story arc.<\/p>\n His military service had forever changed who Calvin was as a man. But two years ago he couldn\u2019t even admit to himself that he had a serious problem. A year ago he could hardly say, \u201cI have therapy tonight.\u201d Instead, he\u2019d say, \u201cI\u2019m seeing Dr. Chambers tonight.\u201d So yes, he\u2019d cried at the recollection, he\u2019d allowed that loss in the past to affect his decision-making in the current, but he\u2019d also willingly told me that story. It was huge progress.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Each book should work as a stand-alone, but the relationship does build over the course of the series, so you might want to start with the first book The Mystery of Nevermore<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is the final Montalbano book, and was written years before Camilleri\u2019s death, given to his editor to publish after his death, and then revised when Camilleri lived longer than he was expecting to, and continued to write.<\/p>\n Montalbano suddenly felt extremely agitated. Some years back he\u2019d had the brilliant idea to tell a local writer the story of a case he\u2019d conducted, and the guy had immediately spun it into a novel. Since hardly anyone reads anymore in Italy, nothing came of it. And so, being unable to say no to that tremendous pain-in-the-ass of a man, he\u2019d gone ahead and told him about a second case, and then a third and a fourth, which the author then wrote up in his way, using an invented language and working from his imagination.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Do. Not. Start. Here.<\/p>\n The individual books work as stand-alones, but this is the conclusion to the series and should be read as such.<\/p>\n I will miss all the lovingly described meals Montalbano ate.<\/p>\n The first book in the series is The Shape of Water<\/a><\/em> (1994\/2002) but after the third book you can pretty much jump around the series.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Set in an alternate England in the early 1800s.<\/p>\n This is a series of interwoven but stand alone mysteries set in an alternate England where same sex marraiges were allowed.<\/p>\n In 1783, the Marriage Act Amendment was introduced in England to allow marriages between same-sex couples. This was done to strengthen the law of primogeniture and to encourage childless unions in younger sons and daughters of the peerage, as an excess of lesser heirs might prove burdensome to a thinly spread inheritance.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This is book four of the series, but they can easily be read in any order, and skipping books is also fine. I read the second book, A Case for Christmas<\/em><\/a> before this one, and never read book one and three.<\/p>\n The cover and description make the story sound fluffy and silly, so be aware there are dark themes, from grief to PTSD.<\/p>\n \u201cMy father wears a set of false teeth. Expensive things, wondrously made. Do you know what they call them? Waterloo teeth. I asked him once if he ever wondered if it was my brother\u2019s teeth rattling around in his skull now.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The mysteries are interesting and I particularly like the way the grief and the PTSD were addressed (that is, they were addressed realistically).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Set in NYC and rural VA in 1946.<\/p>\n The sequel to Fortune Favors the Dead<\/em><\/a> finds Will enjoying becoming a private investigator and her work with Ms Pentetcost. However, a call from her old boss at the circus draws her back into that world as she tries to discover who murdered her friend.<\/p>\n With no blood pumping through it, Ruby\u2019s flesh had gone the sickly pale of the dead. Without that rosy background glow, the ink of her tattoos stood out brilliantly, floating on top of her skin like leaves on a pond.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I like the characters in this series, but also the time period, and the peeks at how life was for those who were on the fringes of society.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Set in Scotland in 1832<\/p>\n The Lady Darby series begins with Kiera something of an outcast, because after the death of her husband it is discovered she was forced to do the art for his anatomy book–with source material sourced from resurrection men. Her past allows Kiera to look at bodies with detatchment, and notice when things are not as they should be–in art and in bodies.<\/p>\n If the forger had been able to replicate Van Dyck\u2019s style and technique more exactly, I think I would have been less upset, for then they would have at least exhibited skill equal to that of Van Dyck, or nearly so. I was no prig. I appreciated talent wherever it appeared. But to pass off this mediocre effort as the work of a master was frankly infuriating.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Although Kiera and her now husband, Sebastian, do work as private inquiry agents, she has begun to again take comissions are a portratist.<\/p>\n I found this book much better than the previous, mostly because I found the birth scene at the end of A Wicked Conceit<\/em> to be incredibly annoying and over-the-top ridiculous.<\/p>\n Theoretically these books should stand on their own, however, the development of the relationship between Kiera and Sebastian is an overarching story arc.<\/p>\n These are books I am pretty sure Grandmom would have loved.<\/p>\n The first book is The Anatomist\u2019s Wife<\/a><\/em>\u00a0 and that’s probably where you should begin.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Set in England in 1900.<\/p>\n This series is a bit of a romp, in a delightful way. Victoria is an unrepentant blue stocking and adventuress, and insists upon behaving as she pleases–although she typically finds it far easier to do so outside of England.<\/p>\n She also likes speaking her mind.<\/p>\n \u201cI do not like the way he speaks to his sister and I certainly do not like the way he speaks of his grandmother\u2019s companion\u2014 Anjali, I believe he said. He talks of her as though she were some useful thing to be loaned\u2014 a book or a horse.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t be ridiculous,\u201d Stoker said absently. \u201cThat sort of man would never loan a horse.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Each book has a stand-alone mystery, but as with the Lady Darby series, the relationship between Victoria and Stoker develops over the course of the series. The first book is A Perilous Undertaking<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Set in England in 1882.<\/p>\n This is the sequel to Lady Helena Investigates<\/em><\/a> and finds Helena slowly reaching the end of her mourning period.<\/p>\n Here, Helena is drawn into events around her sister.<\/p>\n I took the paper from her. \u201c\u2018 How long will you get away with it, you\u2014\u2019\u201d I stopped reading. \u201cGood heavens, I\u2019ve never actually seen that word written down.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n To be clear, this story unfolds slowly, and is not one of action and adventure, so it’s definitely a cozy rather than a thriller.<\/p>\n I really like this series, and hope I don’t have to wait four more years for the next book in the series.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Set in England in 1882<\/p>\n Mrs Halloway is a cook, but has been drawn into several mysteries, first from a murder that occurred in a house where she was working and then, sometimes, through her association with her beau, Daniel.<\/p>\n Although each book in the series is a stand-alone mystery, there is a significant amount of character development not just of Kat, but of those around her, from her assistant to the young lady of the house.<\/p>\n \u201cI doubt Mr. Thanos would instigate any goings-on,\u201d I said. \u201cBut very well, I take your point. If Mrs. Bywater heard they met alone in her house, she\u2019d be incensed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe he\u2019d have to marry her,\u201d Tess put in happily. \u201cThat would be wonderful. Stay downstairs, Mrs. H., and let them kiss if they like.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I look forward to every new entry in this series.<\/p>\n A Soup\u00e7on of Poison<\/a><\/em> , Death Below Stairs<\/a><\/em> <\/p>\n Set in London in 1900.<\/p>\n This is another series where I look forward to a new book coming out every year. There is nothing specific that stands out, it is just that the stories are fun, and pull me in and keep me engaged.<\/p>\n Also, the main character’s sense of humor.<\/p>\n \u201cHis own wife?\u201d George looked ill.<\/p>\n \u201cWives have been known to murder their husbands.\u201d<\/p>\n He clutched at his chest. \u201cAnd you tell me this on our wedding night?\u201d<\/p>\n I made a dismissive motion. \u201cYou probably have nothing to worry about.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cProbably?\u201d His voice rose on the last syllable.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n A Lady\u2019s Guide to Etiquette and Murder<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Books of 2022: Yearly Reading Roundup<\/a> I love a good mystery. Detective, cozy, historical, police procedural, I enjoy them all. Thrillers less so, because I dislike being scared. Since I started keeping track, a third of the books I’ve read have been mysteries, although sometimes the mystery is the secondary element to a fantasy setting or a romance. Much as you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,1090],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books-reading","category-years-favorites"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pefxA-4DT","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17849"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19584,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17849\/revisions\/19584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Calypso_Corpses_and_Cooking.jpg?resize=200%2C300&ssl=1\")
<\/a>Calypso, Corpses, and Cooking<\/em><\/a> (2022) (A Caribbean Kitchen Mystery)
\nby Raquel V. Reyes<\/a>
\n[Cozy, Food]<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/The-Missing-Page.jpg?resize=200%2C319&ssl=1\")
<\/a>The Missing Page<\/em><\/a> (2022) (Page & Sommers)
\nby Cat Sebastian<\/a>
\n[Historical, LGBT, Romance*]<\/p>\n~ 8\/10 ~<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nA Carriage of Misjustice<\/em><\/a> (2020), Lock, Stock and Peril<\/em><\/a> (2022)
\n[Cozy, LGBT]<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/A-Carriage-of-Misjustice.jpg?resize=200%2C300&ssl=1\")
<\/a>![\"Lock,](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Lock_Stock_and_Peril.jpg?resize=198%2C300&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\n— A Carriage of Misjustice<\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"Purloined](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Purloined_Poinsettia.jpg?resize=200%2C316&ssl=1\")
<\/a>Purloined Poinsettia<\/em><\/a> (2022) (Motts Cold Case Mystery)
\nby Dahlia Donovan<\/a>
\n[Cozy, LGBT]<\/p>\n![\"Body](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Body-at-Buccaneers-Bay.jpg?resize=200%2C300&ssl=1\")
<\/a>Body at Buccaneer\u2019s Bay<\/em><\/a> (2021) (Secrets and Scrabble)
\nby Josh Lanyon<\/a>
\n[Cozy, LGBT]<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/The-Mystery-of-the-Spirits.jpg?resize=200%2C300&ssl=1\")
<\/a>The Mystery of the Spirits<\/em><\/a> (2021) (Snow & Winter)
\nby C.S. Poe<\/a>
\n[LGBT *]<\/p>\n![\"Riccardino\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Riccardino-scaled-e1641133031405.jpg?resize=200%2C306&ssl=1\")
<\/a>Riccardino<\/em><\/a> (2020\/2021) (Inspector Montalbano)
\nby Andrea Camilleri<\/a> translated by Stephen Sartarelli
\n[Police]<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/A-Sanctuary-for-Soulden.jpg?resize=200%2C319&ssl=1\")
<\/a>A Sanctuary for Soulden<\/em><\/a> (2021) (The Lords of Bucknall Club)
\nby J.A. Rock<\/a> and Lisa Henry<\/a>
\n[Historical, LGBT, Romance*]<\/p>\n![\"Murder](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Murder-Under-Her-Skin.jpg?resize=200%2C304&ssl=1\")
<\/a>Murder Under Her Skin<\/em><\/a> (2021) (Pentecost and Parker)
\nby Stephen Spotswood<\/a>
\n[Historical, LGBT]<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/A-Perilous-Perspective.jpg?resize=200%2C312&ssl=1\")
<\/a>A Perilous Perspective<\/em><\/a> (2022) (Lady Darby Mystery)
\nby Anna Lee Huber<\/a>
\n[Historical]<\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/An-Impossible-Impostor.jpg?resize=200%2C302&ssl=1\")
<\/a>An Impossible Impostor<\/em><\/a> (2022) (Veronica Speedwell)
\nby Deanna Raybourn<\/a>
\n[Historical]<\/p>\n![\"Lady](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Lady-Odelias-Secret.jpg?resize=200%2C321&ssl=1\")
<\/a>Lady Odelia\u2019s Secret<\/em><\/a> (2022) (Lady Helena Investigates)
\nby Jane Steen<\/a>
\n[Historical]<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/The_Secret_of_Bow_Lane.jpg?resize=200%2C312&ssl=1\")
<\/a>The Secret of Bow Lane<\/em><\/a> (2022) (Kat Holloway)
\nby Ashley Gardner<\/a>
\n[Historical]<\/p>\n
\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/A-Brides-Guide-to-Marriage-and-Murder.jpg?resize=200%2C327&ssl=1\")
<\/a>A Bride\u2019s Guide to Marriage and Murder<\/em><\/a> (2022) (Countess of Harleigh Mystery)
\nby Dianne Freeman<\/a>
\n[Cozy, Historical]<\/p>\n\n
\nThe Books of 2022: Mystery Covers<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"