My God, Anne Perry can write! This is the 19th Christmas novel and they get better and better as each year passes. This year's installment stars Gracie, CHarlotte and Thomas Pitt's former maid. With an uncomfortable amount of tension this story races along to one of the most satisfying conclusions EVER! A must read!
This is my second time reading The Amber Room. I first read it in 2010. I have to say it's lost none of it's fascination in 11 years. The subject matter is interesting (and still a real unsolved mystery); the characters are larger than life and put into extraordinary situations; and the action is gripping. This was the first book that turned me onto Steve Berry's work and I've been a fan ever since!
Daniel Sloss is an acquired taste...and everyone should mature their palette and give him a try. Look paste the foul language and you'll be treated to a healthy helping of hilarity and a side of brilliant insight. Sloss is so intelligent it hurts-his dissection of difficult topics to bite size digestible pieces will make you laugh and think. He's an utter genius!
I have to say...this could have been a good book, but instead it was a slow moving, boring, 749 pages of set up for book two which I now have no interest in reading, if book one is any indication!
A book that is right up my alley. Mystery shorts based on and/or inspired by Dickens and his work!!! I was in heaven reading these clever, intelligent and fun mystery shorts stories! A Stake of Holly had to be my favorite and was a perfect opener for this this book!
Not a lot of books in the true crime genre focus on the women who've stepped to the dark side, so it is refreshing to have Eliza Toska's book. As a true crime fan I really appreciated Toska's ability to cram a lot of information into a small amount of space. Having read a great deal of true crime, I was surprised to read about a serial killer that I hadn't heard of previously!
I knew going into this that it was a short, but I found Eden to be so fascinating, that I wish it were longer so as to learn more about him and his past. Both characters are fascinating and would make for great characters if there was more to their stories. With all that said, this little snippet of their lives intersecting and their romance was well done.
Another charming adventure in Mistletoe, with Holly and the gang. With a Victorian Inn to finish, a kitchen remodel at the Hearth to finish, and a friend to save from arrest, Holly needs a Christmas miracle! Despite the corpse and the threats, this series is so delightful and uplifting!
This first book in the Christmas Tree Farm mystery series is a wonderful introduction to Holly White, Cookie Cutter and the denizens the enchanting Christ mas village of Mistletoe, Maine. Lovingly created this town is so vivid and charming the reader can't help but to want to visit!
I am ga-ga over this book. I found the setting to be utterly charming, the over-all feel of the book warms you like a mug of hot chocolate and the mystery is well plotted. Was sobbing during the last chapter! Just a delightful read and I've ordered to first two in this series for my kindle because I didn't want to leave Holly and the gang of Mistletoe, Maine!
The way this man writes is astonishing. This (and his other two books), are stunningly detailed depictions of the human conditions from all angles. I thought I knew where this one was going-but I was so wrong-but I sure as hell enjoyed the journey!
A really interesting take on a fantasy novel. This innovative tome throws convention out the window and sort of reverse engineers a fantasy novel. Without giving too much away..the main thrust of the story is; how do you pick up the pieces of your life when magic is no longer an option? Well plotted, interesting characters who are so much more than they first appear to be, and a fascinating premise made this an intriguing read from start to finish!
A pulpy reporting of some famous murders/mysteries. These stories are reprints of original pieces reporting at a certain times in the 60s, 70s and 80s. In some instances the stories end without resolving, because at the time they were written trials hadn't happened. I did have fun googling the cases I didn't know and finding out the resolution of the trials.
Again, very thankful that authors trust me with their book babies. This will be the 6th installment in a very popular cozy series. It has a delicious number of twists and turns that will keep the reader guessing until the very end. Fans may well place it as the best so far in this series!
Blessed again to be offered the chance to read a pre-published manuscript! This will be the 4th book in a popular cozy series. It will further the story of some shadowy supporting characters int he previous books and several intricately plotted mysteries. Lots of out loud laughs as well as some quite tender moments. This will be a great addition to this series!
I've seen a great number of Robin Hood movies and TV series, but had never read the book-hell, I didn't even know we had it in the house! SO glad I found it! Told with great joy these stories following how Robin became Robin Hood and ultimately an Earl are a treat to read!
A fast paced-well plotted mystery set in Blueberry Cove Maine. Beautiful settings, fun characters, plenty of intrigue and red herrings, Hems and Homicide is the first book in this delightful series, whose central mysteries are sewed up beautifully in the end!
Oh, My Lord, the ending will FLOOR you! So not what I thought it was going to be! ow I understand what all the hooplas is about! This is a wonderful read-a whole lot of old Hollywood glamour, and melodrama, and love and finding one's place in their own lives. Really, a creative and brilliant book!
I've only ever known the thrillers that Baldacci has written, so I went into this one with a little trepidation. I should have known better. What makes Baldacci's thrillers so fantastic is his abilities as a storyteller. If you're a good storyteller then it makes no difference in which genre you choose to tell those stories. One Summer is taut with drama, heart, danger, redemption and hope-a lot like a thriller; and let's face it family dramas can be a fraught as national security or international intrigue!
This was so fascinating! What could have been a cut and dry true crime novel where the players and the crime, trial and the aftermath are laid out clinically, became en engrossing read in the history or hypnotism during the Belle Epoque in Paris. Science and history blend beautifully as the back drop to this tale of greed, domestic abuse and murder.
Not having read the first book in this series, I was worried that I might have missed some set up, but luckily this was not the case. The characters are well developed, the locale lovingly described, and enough of what happened in the first was explained. There were some plot points in this one that I felt weren't developed fully which took me out of certain parts of the book, but other than that, it had an interesting murder, and some great subplots.
What I like to referent as an in-between novelette, this short story featuring Cotton Malone, the star of Berry's brilliant series, is as fulfilling and as packed as Berry's full length novels. This throwback to Cotton's early days offers an alternate look at bin Laden's fate.
Reading a Steve Berry novel ticks two of my favorite boxes: history; and international thriller. I always learn something, or find something to read more about while in the midst of the heart pounding action. Seven religious artifacts, a pile of old papers, and Poland all conspire to keep the reading on the edge of their seat! If you haven't read Steve Berry, you're missing something special!
It's always a delight to visit with Lilly and the rest of the Garden Squad. The wonderful thing about reading Julia Henry's series, is the time she takes to set up the situations and relationships within her stories. The reading is brought along with the characters through their day until they are unexpectedly faced with a murder. This brings the characters up short, and the reader. It's a subtle way of writing, but oh so effective. Wreathing Havoc takes place at Thanksgiving, and involves the local theatre and the local theatrical troupe, memories and people from the past and alots of twists and turns. The diverse characters that make up the Garden Squad all bring a different energy and perspective to everything, allowing the group to tackle numerous mysteries all at once. It is such a creative and fun series that everyone should be reading!
The problem with reading one of Hank Phillippi Ryan's books is that you are compelled to read it as quickly as possible and then in a blink of an eye, your finished...and you have to wait for the next one. Her Perfect Life pulls the reader in from the get go, and it is impossible to put down. You get the feeling that if you close the book for just a moment, you'll miss something. It's hard to discuss Ryan's books for fear of giving away a major, or minor, plot point, so I'll just say, set aside a long afternoon, or start in the early evening, put on a neck brace, because the twists and turns come at you at break neck speed, and enjoy the ride!
Yet again, I find myself a little stunned at how much I enjoy this series! I never would have thought that a Quaker Mid-Wife series would be my thing, but there is something about Rose that is so engaging and appealing, I can't help but be sucked in! A Changing Light moves with the times as new advances in the world mirror the advances in Rose's life. The annual opening of the carriage manufacturers plants/showrooms brings all the locals and many foreign representatives to Amesbury. It also brings another murder for Rose to become involved with. With exquisitely painted scenes and visits from characters form pervious books in this series, A Changing Light is a wonderful exclamation point to this beautiful series.
Oh, Chloe...the poor girl can't catch a break. In the second installment of this fine new series, Chloe returns from packing up the rest of her belongings in Chicago to make a go of setting up roots in Emerald Cove. Of course, there are complications with this plan. A ghost ship, a corpse, a possible threat to her new home and new job. What I adore about Harris' novels (in this series and her Sarah Winston Garage Sale series) is that she manages to throw extra mini-mysteries into each story, so it's not just the murder that needs to be solved. These extras complicate and distract the heroine as well as the reader, to keep everyone on their toes, until the oh, so satisfying conclusion!
A re-read, because I ran out of new things to read. Found it as fascinating this time as the first time.
I saw the first hour of this Poirot on Masterpiece and missed the ending, so I was thrilled to finish the book and get the ending!! I had guessed partially correctly! There is a great twist that answers a question that's not really posed-which only shows, yet again, how brilliant Ms. Christie is; to supply three endings to a story that only really asked for one solution!!
A collection of shorts: well 7 shorts and one medium. Some with Poirot some with Miss Marple, some stand alone. Some I've read in another collection, some were totally new to me. All have Christie's, inimitable style and wow factor.
This tightly written presentation of the Borden case truly reads like a novel. I've been fascinated by this case for a good 40 years, and I was riveted by this book and on the edge of my seat...and I know what happens in the end! That's good writing. I kept waiting for the "evidence to be presented afresh" as one of the reviews said, but I kept reading thinking, this is not covering any new ground, I've read the history of this case from a soci-sexual, -economic, -politcial and -historic perspectives before. Then I realized why this wasn't covering new ground for me (and this is why readers should always read the acknowledgments), I'd read the author's original thesis! Two of the people Ms. Robertson thanks in the acknowledgements are the daughter and son-in-law of a dear friend of mine, for whom I house-sat for 30 years. The daughter had a coy of the thesis and left it at the house and I read it while house-sitting. It's a small world!
This fantastic novel reads like a day on the porch swing sipping a glass of crisp white wine while listening to the coolest jazz! An absolutely lovely book about a couple and the family they cobble together, and the secrets that threaten to tear them apart; a story of the resilience of families, those we're born into and those we create. While the main story will keep the reader hooked, the history of the greats in Africann-American artists, musicians, scientists, leaders and locales imparts an education that is sorely needed in this day and age. This book is storytelling at it's most exquisite!
A deliciously deviant twist on the 'magical school' trope of fantasy novels. This dark and snarky take on magic school follows El and her fellow students as they navigate their junior year. Constantly on the look out for poisonous food, evil creatures trying to eat them and the seniors; El still has to attend classes and get her homework done. Full of astonishing visuals and teenage angst, this is a glorious addition to the fantasy oeuvre!
Great fun and a nice start to a new series. The settings are gorgeous, the protagonist has been through it, but still manages to keep her sons of humor. I adored Julia (Rain's best friend who is a school teacher) habit of using creative phrases instead of swearing-made me chuckle!
A private Women's Club, housed in an old mansion, with plenty of generations, secrets and oh, yeah...a ghost. What could possibly go wrong? Apparently everything, for Avery as she starts her new job smack dab in the middle of long standing feuds, intrigue and now a murder. This book is great fun-Avery and Clemmie are a great team, and the mystery itself is well plotted with just enough red herrings to keep the reader guessing until the end.
