As Luck Would Have It (2008) Alissa Johnson (Providence) Set in London in 1811. Sophie Everton is headed to London for her Season. Since the death of her mother and her sister, she and her father have traveled around the world, but she’ll experience one Season and then go back to her father overseas. Alec, […]
A Caribbean Mystery (1964) Agatha Christie (Miss Marple) This was my first Miss Marple, and remains on of my favorites. This is Miss Marple at her fluffiest and most dithering, yet still able to cause action to be taken. And still a product of her time. “Sex” as a word had not been mentioned in […]
The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side (1962) Agatha Christie (Miss Marple) The famous movie star Marina Gregg as moved to St Mary Mead and she and her husband completely renovated Gossington Hall, and have invited the public to visit to support St John’s Ambulance Association. We also get Mrs Bantry, who is just as […]
Upside Down (2019) N.R. Walker Jordan O’Neill is unhappy. Things have been going terribly for him in all of his relationships, so his co-worker convinces him to go to an asexual support group, to see if perhaps that’s what’s going on. I didn’t need another label. I had enough of them. I had enough hang-ups, […]
Blank Spaces (2016) Cass Lennox (Toronto Connections) Vaughn Hargrave is tired of dating. He doesn’t want what every other guy wants, so he’s decided he’ll just stop trying. Devon took a hefty gulp, then pressed his mouth to Toned’s. Vaughn saw liquid dribble from one corner as the gulp passed from mouth to mouth. His […]
A Seditious Affair (2015) KJ Charles (Society of Gentlemen) Set in London in 1819. This book dovetails and overlaps with the previous, A Fashionable Indulgence. Dominic Frey is a Tory who works for the Home Office. He also has want and needs that embarrass him, because he has been told that what he wants is […]
A Fashionable Indulgence (2015) KJ Charles (Society of Gentlemen) Set in London in 1819. Harry Vane has spent his life on the run. His parents were both radicals and they had to flee England after a riot broke out during one of his father’s speeches. After his parents died of cholera, he sneaked back into […]
The Boy in the Red Dress (2020) Kristin Lambert Set in New Orleans in 1930. It’s New Year’s Eve and Millie Coleman is in charge of her aunt’s speakeasy for the evening. When a rich young woman comes looking for her aunt’s star performer, Marion Leslie, Millie does what she can to protect Marion. When […]
The Ruin of a Rake (2017) Cat Sebastian (The Turner Series) Set in England in 1817 Lord Courtenay has a reputation of the worst sort–as a rake, libertine, and wastrel. Courtenay was effectively stranded in London, a city populated by people who thought him a monster. He had spent the last of his money getting […]
The Lawrence Browne Affair (2017) Cat Sebastian (The Turner Series) Set in England in 1816 Georgie Turner needs to leave London ASAP. He has run afoul of the crime lord with whom he had worked for several years, because he couldn’t go through with a confidence game. So his brother sends him out to Cornwall […]
Turning Darkness Into Light (2019) Marie Brennan Audrey Camherst, grand-daughter of the famous Lady Trent, is a scholar in her own right. But it’s so hard when I can feel everyone looking at me, waiting to see what I’ll do. Not my family, of course; if I decided I wanted to retire to a country […]
The Night Watch, Audiobook (1998/2006/2010) Sergei Lukyanenko translated by Andrew Bromfield, narrated by Paul Michael (Night Watch) “The common good and the individual good rarely coincide . . .” Sure, I know. It’s true. But some truths are probably worse than lies. When I ran out of podcasts I wanted to listen to for the […]
A Gentleman Never Keeps Score (2018) Cat Sebastian (Seducing the Sedgwicks) Set in London in 1817. Hartley Sedgwick has been hiding in the house left to him by his godfather–a house he earned, that is now almost a prison as rumors have swirled about just what Hartley did to earn that house, and the livings […]
It Takes Two to Tumble (2017) Cat Sebastian (Seducing the Sedgwicks) Set in England in 1817. Imagine the sound of music, except with three kids, Maria is a local vicar, and the sea captain is hiding his reading disability. The children of Barton Hall have been running wild since their mother died. Their father is […]
Death in D Minor (2017) Alexia Gordon (Gethsemane Brown Mysteries) This book is set three months after the first, Murder in G Major. Gethsemane Brown has decided to stay in Carraigfaire to keep teaching music, but now the home where she has been staying may be sold to a hotel magnate–a man who turns historical […]
Behind These Doors (2018) Jude Lucens (Radical Proposals) St in England in 1906. Aubrey Fanshawe spends much of his free time with his best friends,Lord and Lady Hernedale. When an accidental meeting with Lucien Saxby turns into something more, Aubrey fears his trust will be betrayed. But when Saxby turns to him for him, things […]
The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History (2004/2009/2018) John M. Barry I started this immediately after finishing Gina Kolata‘s book on the flu. Interestingly, these books work well together. This book looks at things up to and during the outbreak, Kolata’s book is during and after the outbreak. This book covers […]
The Grimrose Path (2010) Rob Thurman (Trickster) Trixa has avenged her brother, and now she has to live as a human until she regains her powers. But now I was human, and had discovered living off diner food. . . . It was less than a block away; what could I do? I packed on […]
An Unsuitable Heir (2017) K.J. Charles (Sins of the Cities) Set in London, 29 November 1873 – January 1874 This book ends the Sins of the City series, and we finally learn who has been behind the murders, as well as why (although that had been pretty obvious). Mark Braglewicz is looking for the heir […]
An Unnatural Vice (2017) K.J. Charles (Sins of the Cities) Set in London, 15 November – 25 December 1873 The second Sins of the City book overlaps the first, but shows those events from Nathaniel Roy’s point of view. The other character is Justin Lazarus, who is spiritualist Nathaniel is determined to expose as a […]
An Unseen Attraction (2017) K.J. Charles (Sins of the Cities) Set in London 28 October, 1873 Clem Talleyfer is quite happy running a lodging house. There is quiet and order and it’s in a neighborhood where he doesn’t stand out. As a plus, he currently has Rowley Green as a lodger. As a minus, he […]
The House in the Cerulean Sea (2020) TJ Klune I’ve read several TJ Klune books, and I am not always sure how I feel about them when I am done. That was not a problem here. Linus works for the agency in charge of monitoring the welfare of magical children. He is a caseworker who […]
4.50 from Paddington (1957) Agatha Christie (Miss Marple) This may well be my favorite Miss Marple story. Elspeth McGillicuddy is coming home from London when her train briefly runs alongside another train, and she witnesses a man strangling a women to death. The other train sped on, and Mrs McGillicuddy told all the proper people, […]
NPCs (2014) Drew Hayes (Spells, Swords, & Stealth) What happens when the haggling is done and the shops are closed? When the quest has been given, the steeds saddled, and the adventurers are off to their next encounter? They keep the world running, the food cooked, and the horses shoed, yet what adventurer has ever […]