Summer Makeover (2021) Kelly Fox This is a cute story about returning to the real world after the pandemic. Cal spent his pandemic hiding in his cabin, working and working out. But he has to present at a big conference, so he really needs to stop looking like a wild man. As I make my […]
Mistlefoe: A Mead Realm Tale (2021) Kimberly Lemming This story is very silly. It’s also fun. Many family dinners throughout my childhood were filled with ramblings on taxes being too high or the current king spending too much money on mistresses and trebuchets. Ruby’s father snuck into a demon’s territory and stole some ore (because […]
Whirlwind (2021) A. M. Rose (Daydream, Colorado) This book finishes the arc started in the previous book. Felix is clairvoyant. He didn’t have some grand purpose, but he could help ease the suffering of both the living and the dead, and that was just as powerful. He goes to where he is pulled, never settling […]
Wards of the Roses (2019) Celia Lake (Mysterious Charm) Set in Wales & England in 1920 I still want these books to be edited. But the story and world building keep pulling me in. Kate Davies doesn’t want a return to war, but she would like the more interesting assignments she got while all the […]
An Agreement with the Soldier (2021) Sadie Bosque (Necessary Arrangements) Set in England in 1817. Miss Samantha Lewis twice had her coming seasons interrupted for periods of mourning. So she is quite old to be on the marriage mart despite her looks and her dowry. John Godfrey never expected to become the Baron of Ashbury. […]
A Sanctuary for Soulden (2021) J.A. Rock and Lisa Henry (The Lords of Bucknall Club) Set in an alternate England in the early 1800s. Philip Winthrop, Viscount Soulden is easily bored. But you wouldn’t guess that if you saw him out on the town, where he presents himself as a fop, concerned with little other […]
Bee Cave Magic (2020) Kelly Fox Micah is a dud. He’s 25 and never shifted, which means that he avoids his long-time crush, Rex, like the plague. I’m a non-shifter, and he knows as well as I do that shifters and non-shifters should never date or fall in love. Also, coming from a family of […]
Hearts and Flowers: A Tale of Hay Fever and Bad Decor (2013) Angel Martinez This is a very silly story. The ballroom looked like a Hallmark store had wandered by and thrown up its innards in a fit of disgust over the excesses of the season. Michael has been forced to attend a costumed Valentine’s […]
Heartwood (2021) A.M. Rose (Daydream, Colorado) For months, Darian has been searching for the man his friend Mason has Glimpsed. Someone hurt, in danger, being chased. So he isn’t surprised when Tate shows up. Tate, however, had no idea that magical communities such as Daydream even existed. I’ve read several books and novellas in this […]
Magician’s Hoard (2019) Celia Lake (Mysterious Charm) Set in England in 1926. Pross has been a widow for six years, raising her daughter, running a small bookstore, and taking on the occasional research project. “What did you want from the Society, then? You seem to have most of it covered.” He looked up at her […]
Celtic Myths series (2021) A. L. Lester These are stories based upon various Celtic myths, shifted, twisted, and retold. Surfacing Again (2021) Lin (Malinda) is now spending her Christmas alone, after a blow-up with the friend with whom she was supposed to be vacationing with. The subtext was that she’d turned up on Lin’s doorstep […]
A Case for Christmas (2021) J.A. Rock and Lisa Henry (The Lords of Bucknall Club) Set in an alternate England during the Napoleonic Era. The only thing that makes this a fantasy is this bit: In 1783, the Marriage Act Amendment was introduced in England to allow marriages between same-sex couples. This was done to […]
The Love Hypothesis (2021) Ali Hazelwood There are things I quite like about The Love Hypothesis–first and foremost all the science and academia bits. I’m a grad student living in Stanford, California. I make less than thirty thousand dollars a year. My rent takes up two-thirds of my salary. I’ve been wearing the same pair […]
That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon (2021) Kimberly Lemming (Mead Mishaps) This is utterly ridiculous. My self-preserving habits made me a bit of an outlier with the other girls in town. “Who wouldn’t want to go off on a grand adventure with a bunch of hot heroes also chosen by the goddess?” […]
Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World (2017) Laura Spinney This one took me a bit to get through, but mostly because I completely stopped reading non-fiction for awhile last year. This is another story about the Spanish Influenza, this time focusing upon the changes the diseases wrought upon […]
Lessons in Seduction (2010) Charlie Cochrane (Cambridge Fellows) Set in England in 1907. Jonty and Orlando go undercover to investigate a possible murder! Jonty has to go as himself, since he and his family are too prominent for him to be unrecognized, but few people know Orlando on sight. “We thought the role of professional […]
Lessons in Temptation (2009) Charlie Cochrane (Cambridge Fellows) Set in England in 1907 Orlando is sent off to see if any of a collection of books being sold in Bath would be worth purchasing. Jonty takes the time as a vacation, and becomes involved in a production of Macbeth with an old friend. “I’ll definitely […]
Lessons in Power (2009) Charlie Cochrane (Cambridge Fellows) Set in England in 1907 Orlando is not best pleased when Matthew Ainslie visits–he and Jonty are settling into their new home–but is willing to listen to what the man wants. What he wants is for Orlando and Jonty to look into the murder of which his […]
Fearless (2016) Shira Glassman Lana Novak is okay being divorced, as she and her ex-husband were finally able to admit who they were to each other–and the world. Although neither of their parents are enthused, their kids are fine with it, so when Lana develops a crush on one of the high school conductors / […]
Lessons in Discovery (2009) Charlie Cochrane (Cambridge Fellows) Set in England in 1906 Amnesia! An historical murder! Letters hidden for centuries! It’s been a year since Jonty and Orlando met, but they didn’t expect to spend their first anniversary in the infirmary, with Orlando suffering from a concussion and a complete loss of memory of […]
Dearest Milton James (2021) N.R. Walker Malachi Keogh’s father is giving him one last chance to stick with a job. What Malachi isn’t expecting is to end up at what used to be known as the Dead Letter Office. (T)his is the Mail Redirection Centre. It used to be called The Dead Letter Office, but […]
Lessons in Desire (2009) Charlie Cochrane (Cambridge Fellows) Set in England in 1906 Jonty and Orlando take a vacation! Murder ensues! That’s the summation, but it isn’t at all the feel of the story, just so you know. Unsurprisingly, Orlando has never taken a vacation. “It sounds delightful, Jonty,” Orlando said, with liar written plain […]
The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels (2021) India Holton (Dangerous Damsels) Set in an alternate Victorian England. Cecilia Bassingwaite is a proper Victorian young lady, and she is also a member of the Wisteria Society crime sorority, and she flies around England drinking tea, blackmailing friends, and acquiring treasure by interesting means. Ned Lightbourne goes […]
Parker Pyne Investigates: A Short Story Collection (1934) Agatha Christie “The Case of the Middle-Aged Wife” was first published as “The Woman Concerned” in Woman’s Pictorial, 8 October 1932. “The Case of the Discontented Soldier” was first published in the USA as “The Soldier Who Wanted Danger” in Cosmopolitan, August 1932, then as “Adventure—By Request” […]
An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination (2021) Sheera Frenkel, Cecilia Kang This book sets out to tell you how things are, and pulls no punches, right from the start. For years, Facebook had exercised a merciless “buy-or-bury” strategy to kill off competitors. The result was the creation of a powerful monopoly that wreaked […]
Life’s Too Short (2021) Abby Jimenez (The Friend Zone) After her sister’s death and the realization she had no idea how long she herself had to live, Vanessa Price quit her job and decided to follow her dream of traveling the world. “I never save anything,” I said, grabbing the bottle opener on the counter. […]
Lessons in Love (2008) Charlie Cochrane (Cambridge Fellows) Set in England in 1905. Jonty has returned to St Bride’s College as a fellow in English. He is immediately drawn to dark, silent, and grumpy mathematics fellow Orlando Coppersmith. The words aren’t used (because of the setting) but Orlando is very clearly demi. Orlando thought it […]
Life Saving Dal (2017) Ada Maria Soto It’s been one year since his divorce was finalized, but Nathan still fantisizes things aren’t truly over. “Waiting for the other half of that?” He nodded to Nathan’s ring on the bar top. Nathan shrugged again. “My ex-husband loved movies, the kind with big romantic gestures at the […]
A Carriage of Misjustice (2020) Charlie Cochrane (Lindenshaw Mysteries) Alas, I am now all caught up with this series. Robin and Adam are newlyweds, but since it’s midterm, it’s back to work for both of them until they can take a proper honeymoon over summer break. Unfortunately, Robin is seconded to Hartwood to lead up […]
Death and the Joyful Woman (1961) Ellis Peters (The Felse Investigations) (T)hat was the sign – The Joyful Woman. Lovely, isn’t it? Goes right back to about 1600. Detective-Sergeant George Felse of the county CID is called back to the pub whose opening he’d attended just hours earlier, when the owner–businessman Alfred Armiger–is found dead, […]
Something Fabulous (2022) Alexis Hall (Something Fabulous) Set in Historical England. To be honest, I don’t think this is historical England as much as fantasy historical England. Which is fine, since as he says in the author’s note, almost everyone in the story is queer. Valentine Layton, the Duke of Malvern is expected to marry […]
Frog (2012) Mary Calmes THis story doesn’t open with a sex scene–but it comes close. If it hadn’t had the opening scene of the phone call I would have put it down and not looked back, but I was curious, so I skimmed and read on. Weber Yates has spent his entire adult life on […]
And Everything Nice (2016) Ada Maria Soto This is another hug I treated myself to. This one is funny and silly. “He might not be gay, and he’s probably already got a boyfriend.” “Prescouted. Single, new in town, currently into Elder Scrolls online, and has a pride flag bumper sticker, so out and proud.” “Why […]
Jericho Candelario’s Gay Debut (2018) R. Cooper I needed the softest and fluffiest of escapes, so I turned to this, even though it hadn’t been that long since my last reread. Because Jerry is sweet and adorable. They always asked for him. Probably because a slender, average-sized man with a low voice was a lot […]
Christmas Dessert Murder (2021) Joanne Fluke (A Hannah Swensen Mystery) This is actually two novellas: “Christmas Caramel Murder” (2016) “Christmas Cake Murder” (2018) The first story is Hannah (the main character) telling a friend with whom she is out to dinner, the story of a murder she get involved in the previous winter. The second […]
Conventional Shadows (2022) Lissa Kasey (A Simply Crafty Paranormal Mystery) Alex and Micah are taking a trip to an anime convention–one that will hopefully go better than the previous convention they went to, which ended up with Alex bringing home a ghost cat. Alex is still learning about crafting, but is more than happy to […]
The Boy Next Door (2017) Josh Lanyon Encyclopedia Brown grows up and wants to be a private detective for real. But his former sidekick is now the town sheriff who refuses to grant him his PI license. And the detective, his former sidekick, and his nemesis all went to school together. And I wasn’t crazy […]
Stranger in the House (2019) Josh Lanyon I didn’t have this book, so I was surprised to realize I’d read it before. It was in Footsteps in the Dark: An M/M Mystery Romance Anthology which had stories from multiple authors I very much enjoy. Miles has inherited a house–a mansion, really–from his godmother. Despite the […]
The Beat Goes On: The Complete Rebus Stories (2015) Ian Rankin ‘Dead and Buried’ © 2013 ‘Playback,’ ‘The Dean Curse,’ ‘Being Frank,’ ‘Concrete Evidence,’ ‘Seeing Things,’ ‘A Good Hanging,’ ‘Tit for Tat,’ ‘Not Provan,’ ‘Sunday,’ ‘Auld Lang Syne,’ ‘The Gentleman’s Club,’ ‘Monstrous Trumpet’ from A Good Hanging (And Other Short Stories, Featuring Inspector Rebus) © […]
The Missing Page (2022) Cat Sebastian (Page & Sommers) Set in England in 1948. It has only been a few months since James and Leo met during a murder case, but Leo is now claiming James “spare room” as his landing place when he is home from whatever missions he is sent out on. But […]
Murder Under Her Skin (2021) Stephen Spotswood (Pentecost and Parker) Set in NYC and rural VA in 1946. Will has been working for Ms. Pentecost for more than a year now, and is enjoying becoming a private investigator. But when Will gets a telegram from her old boss–Big Bob Halloway–asking to look into the death […]
Old Sins (2019) Charlie Cochrane (The Lindenshaw Mysteries) I am thoroughly enjoying this cozy series. After a vacation, Robin and Adam are (mostly) ready to jump back into their jobs for the fall. Even if they keep putting off making definite plans for getting hitched. The real reason they were making no progress was the […]
Mr Warren’s Profession (2017) Sebastian Nothwell Set in England in 1891 I almost gave up on this book. The first dozen chapters dragged for me and I did a lot of skimming. I put the book down to do something and decided to give it one more chance to draw me in. I did continue, […]
In the Winter Woods (2020) Isabelle Adler Declan has escaped to his family’s summer cabin–in December–in the hopes it will let him write the book he desperately needs to get to his editor. And it looks like he can’t just churn out another mystery with his hero–he needs something new, and doesn’t know where to […]
Two Feet Under (2018) Charlie Cochrane (Lindenshaw Mysteries) Adam Matthews and Robin Bright are settling into their new jobs: Adam is deputy headmaster at a new school and Robin is Chief Inspector at Abbotston (the nick that had all the issues in the last book). When Robin is called out to a body found at […]
Reflection of a Curse (2022) Lissa Kasey (Romancing a Curse) After getting the second story in this series for free last winter, I’ve been getting Lissa Kasey’s newsletter, and in the fall she started sharing chapters of this story in the news letter, and to her Patreon followers. About six chapters in I finally started […]
An Irregular Arrangement A. L. Lester (Border Magic) Set in England in 1920. This is a short story set in the Border Magic world. Tim and Flora are best friends who chose to get married to make things safer for Tim and his lover, Rupert. Val is finally twenty one and ready to leave their […]
The Postscript Murders (2021) Elly Griffiths (Harbinder Kaur) Apparently I don’t love mysteries written in the present tense. Primarily because sentences like this are jarring. There’s another man called either Brodie or Brady, Harbinder never does discover which it is. Can she see into the future that she will never learn his name? Which was […]
Christmas Wish List (2021) N.R. Walker (Hartbridge Christmas) Last year I read Tic-Tac-Mistletoe which was cute and sweet, so I was pretty sure I was getting cute and sweet here. Cass inherited an old manor and has spent the last two years turning it into a modern B&B. He just needs a chef to help […]
Threshold (2013) Jordan L. Hawk (Whyborne & Griffin) Set in Boston and WV in the late 1800s. This wasn’t bad, but Lovecraftian monsters just aren’t my thing. So why did I keep reading? Because it was set in WV, and it featured mining and was actually accurate for those things! I mean, this: By the […]