Author: MurderByDeath

An Inquiry Into Love and Death

An Inquiry into Love and DeathAn Inquiry into Love and Death
by Simone St. James
Rating: ★★★★★
isbn: 9780451239259
Publication Date: March 5, 2013
Pages: 355
Genre: Fantasy, Fiction, Historical
Publisher: NAL / New American Library

Boy howdy can St. James write a ghost story!  I love this book; I woke up at 6.30 this morning and did nothing until I finished it and then I re-read a few passages just to make it last longer.

In 1920’s England, Oxford student Jillian Leigh’s uncle Toby, a renowned ghost hunter, is killed in a fall off a cliff, and she must drive to the seaside village of Rothewell to pack up his belongings.

Almost immediately, unsettling incidents—a book left in a cold stove, a gate swinging open on its own—escalate into terrifying events that convince Jillian an angry spirit is trying to enter the house. Is it Walking John, the two-hundred-year-old ghost who haunts Blood Moon Bay? Was Toby’s death an accident?

The arrival of handsome Scotland Yard inspector Drew Merriken leaves Jillian with more questions than answers. Even as she suspects someone will do anything to hide the truth, she begins to discover spine-chilling secrets that lie deep within Rothewell… 

If you’re a horror or psychological horror lover, pass this review right on by; this book is a cream puff in comparison to your regular fare, but for the rest of us, this is truly an old-school, spooky ghost story with a mystery and a romance (oh the romance…).  There’s nothing gothic about the story, but I keep thinking of the old gothics anyway, for lack of any better comparison.

I probably should have gone 4.5 stars because Jillian goes through an improbable – neigh, impossible – number of physical calamities to still be standing upright.  Or breathing, really.  But the story was just so good; I was sucked in so thoroughly that I was willing to overlook her superhuman regenerative powers.  Inspector Merriken was incentive enough to spur on a rapid recovery.

Ok, anything else I say beyond this point would just be repetitive gushing.  I loved this book; it gave me exactly the experience I hope for every time I start a new story and I’ll be looking for more of this author’s work.

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend

The Readers of Broken Wheel RecommendThe Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend
by Alice Menzies (translator), Katarina Bivald
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780701189068
Publication Date: June 18, 2015
Pages: 376
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Chatto & Windus

Sara is 28 and has never been outside Sweden - except in the (many) books she reads. When her elderly penfriend Amy invites her to come and visit her in Broken Wheel, Iowa, Sara decides it's time. But when she arrives, there's a twist waiting for her - Amy has died. Finding herself utterly alone in a dead woman's house in the middle of nowhere was not the holiday Sara had in mind.

But Sara discovers she is not exactly alone. For here in this town so broken it's almost beyond repair are all the people she's come to know through Amy's letters: poor George, fierce Grace, buttoned-up Caroline and Amy's guarded nephew Tom.

Sara quickly realises that Broken Wheel is in desperate need of some adventure, a dose of self-help and perhaps a little romance, too. In short, this is a town in need of a bookshop.


I have a lot of thoughts about this book, all swirling around in my head avoiding cohesiveness.

This is not a gripping or exciting book and it isn’t a faced-paced one either.  This is a slow moving book and I suspect it’s appeal is going to be limited to those readers who have more than a little bit of the characters inside themselves.

I’m one of those readers; as much as my RL friends would say I’m outspoken and intolerant of crap, a lot of me shares a lot with the Broken Wheel characters, or I have at some point in my life.  So while I can’t say this book emotionally moved me or cause me to think Profound Thoughts, I did connect with it and enjoy the story.

3 things that nagged at me:

  1.  As lovely as the idea of sharing/selling Amy’s books might be, all I could think about was ‘who inherited those books, and are they ok with you liquidating the estate?!?’  I’m assuming it’s Tom, since no other relatives are ever mentioned, but never once is it brought up.  What’s the Swedish word for probate?

  2.  They misspelled Jane Austen’s Sanditon (Sandition).

  3.  I forgot the third thing, dammit.  Obviously something huge.

On a side note, my copy is a UK edition, so the translation from the original Swedish used UK words and idioms, which I thought was kind of funny for a story set in the middle of corn-field Iowa.

All in all, a book I enjoyed.

The Counterfeit Heiress (Lady Emily, #9)

The Counterfeit HeiressThe Counterfeit Heiress
by Tasha Alexander
Rating: ★★★
isbn: 6781710024695
Series: Lady Emily Mystery #9
Publication Date: January 1, 2014
Pages: 292
Genre: Fiction, Historical, Mystery
Publisher: Minotaur Books

This should have been a lot creepier than it was and the dialogue failed in a lot of places, leaving Emily sounding like a boasting second grader at times and Colin a condescending but kindly nanny.

Even though the story didn’t quite meet the level of creepy it was capable of, it was still a good story and definitely not one that’s been overused.  Cecil’s odd childhood friend grew up to be an adventuress who always appeared in the news from a different spot on the globe.  Then one night at a masquerade in London, Cecile is introduced to her friend, and it’s an imposter.  The imposter turns up dead the next morning and everyone is off in search of a killer and, incidentally, to find the real Estelle.

I’m not sure if I’ll read the next one or not – it does feature Jeremy Bainbridge and he’s one of my favourite characters, but the odd dynamic between Colin and Emily really threw me off.

The author does include a note at the back explaining the historical connections to the creation of this plot, and I always enjoy these; I always learn a little something from each one.

Perhaps if the next book is on sale…

Marked in Flesh (The Others, #4)

Marked in FleshMarked in Flesh
by Anne Bishop
Rating: ★★★★½
Series: The Others #4
Publication Date: March 1, 2016
Pages: 416
Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy
Publisher: ROC Hardcover

 

Well, obviously I loved this one. I almost went the whole 5 stars, but I was able to put it down when I finished and not just start re-reading it, so I figured it must be lacking something.  Let’s call it ‘not enough Tess’.

But honestly, I had some fears over this one because surely the author couldn’t keep on writing books this consistently good; surely there had to be a weakling among the litter?  If there is, it hasn’t yet been written.  Once I started it, I didn’t want to put it down.

That’s all I’m going to say, because I don’t want to spoil it for those that haven’t read it yet.  But yes, it is well worth the read.

Fire Touched (Mercy Thompson #9)

Fire TouchedFire Touched
by Patricia Briggs
Rating: ★★★★½
Series: Mercy Thompson #9
Publication Date: March 4, 2016
Pages: 342
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Ace

Tensions between the fae and humans are coming to a head. And when coyote shapeshifter Mercy and her Alpha werewolf mate, Adam, are called upon to stop a rampaging troll, they find themselves with something that could be used to make the fae back down and forestall out-and-out war: a human child stolen long ago by the fae.

Defying the most powerful werewolf in the country, the humans, and the fae, Mercy, Adam, and their pack choose to protect the boy no matter what the cost. But who will protect them from a boy who is fire touched?


Maybe my favourite of the nine books so far.  It was fast-paced, a little bit breathless and everybody pulled their heads out of their… and started acting like a unit instead of a roomful of kids hyped up on too much birthday cake.

Fire Touched took a page of out Zee’s book of philosophy and played no games; there weren’t any sly plots on the side, no melodramatic angst, no misapprehensions or misunderstandings.  It was a welcome change to have a story where Mercy and Adam worked together from beginning to end.  I loved that Zee got a lot more page-time and I think it might be a little wrong how much I liked Baba Yaga’s character.  These two and Margaret’s cameo made up for the absence of Samuel and the small bit with Bran (although I loved this scene, with Charles playing invisible chorus).

I’d have liked to have known more about Aiden’s power (how it works) and his past, although I did enjoy learning a bit more about Underhill and, I don’t know if the author intended this or not, I liked the allegory of mankind’s treatment of Earth.

At the end of the book, I had a feeling it lacked a very small something, but on thinking about it, I think that’s more about my expectation of side plots and melodrama (because let’s face it, that’s pretty much SOP in most books) going unfulfilled than anything of substance actually missing.  I went 4.5 stars because as much as I really enjoyed the plotting, the writing and the characters, fae politics just aren’t that fascinating to me, and that’s purely personal taste.

I’m looking forward to seeing what Briggs does next.

Foreign Éclairs (White House Chef Mysteries, #9)

Foreign ÉclairsForeign Éclairs
by Julie Hyzy
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780425262405
Series: White House Chef Mystery #9
Publication Date: January 5, 2016
Pages: 295
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime

Things are about to really heat up for Ollie. News of a bombing and attempted breakout at a federal prison reveals that the brother of a terrorist she helped defeat is back with a vengeance. And after she gets mugged on her way home from work, the Secret Service won’t leave her side, fearing she is now a target.

When a White House staff member is murdered, officials rush to action over a possible security breach. It may be time for Ollie to trade in her apron for a bullet-proof vest as she becomes part of a bold strategy to make sure this terrorist gets his just desserts…

The bad news is that this is the last book in what is a very, very well written cozy series.  There aren’t enough good cozy series left out there and the loss of one is disappointing.

The good news is that this was the author’s decision and as such, this book is written with no loose ends, and for that I am thankful.  It’s bad enough to lose a good series, but for it to end abruptly, with stories half-told, is an insult on top of injury.

Hyzy doesn’t own the copyright on this series or the characters, so while the story brings us to a good place for a series end, it’s also left in an interesting place that allows for someone (Hyzy, one hopes, after obtaining copyright on what is arguably her own work) to someday bring Ollie and Gav back into the thick of things where they belong.

The plot is action packed, fast paced – almost a cozy thriller.  It’s got a bit of an out-there plot like a thriller too, but it works within the confines of the world Hyzy has created from the first.  This isn’t really a mystery at all; we always know who the perpetrators are and what they want; it’s just a matter of what the solution will ultimately cost our MC.  The final part of the roller coaster plot was gripping and left me with a bit of an adrenaline rush.

Thank you, Julie Hyzy, for 9 wonderful adventures with Ollie. I’m gonna miss her and Gav, although I’ll revisit them often in my re-reads.

Jane Austen Cover to Cover

200 Years of Classic Book Covers
by Margaret C. Sullivan

Published: Nov 11, 2014 by Quirk Books
ISBN: 9781594747250

[star]

I’ve been lusting after this book for a few months now and it finally arrived today.  Nothing else got done as I promptly flopped onto the couch and dove it.

There’s more to this book than I originally expected, with thoughtful and sometimes downright snarky commentary about each cover.  The quality of the covers in each time period range from tasteful to tasteless to downright tacky and all a lot of fun to look at.

If you are a Jane Austen fan, this one is a keeper, although now I want to go out and search for some of these old editions (the original Peacock edition: yes please!).

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Handmade for the Garden: 75 Ingenious Ways to Enhance Your Outdoor Space with DIY Tools, Pots, Supports, Embellishments, and More

by Susan Guagliumi

Published: Mar 18, 2014 by Stewart, Tabori and Chang
ISBN: 9781617690976
Format: Paperback / softback

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[star]

This one was on my Christmas list but by the time MT made it to the bookstore, they were out of stock and had to order it in.  I picked it up yesterday and in the midst of cleaning the house for our NYE barbecue, I “took a quick break” … you know, just to “flip through” my new book after bringing it home. A couple of hours oohing and ahhing and suddenly I’m greeting our dinner guests with wet hair.  Oops.  Ah well, it was all family and they were all vastly entertained by what my hair does when it’s left to it’s own devices (ch-ch-ch-chia!)

Anyhoo… the book is full of DIY projects for the garden that not only look cool and fun but also really useful, which is exactly what I’d been hoping for.  I’d definitely going to try a lot of them, although some may take longer than others to get to (I have to psyche myself up to start in on the concrete projects).

I stuck with 4 stars since I’ve not yet actually tried any of the projects yet.

Thursday Next

First Among Sequels
by Jasper Fforde

Published: Aug 01, 2007 by Viking USA
ISBN: 9780670038718

[star]

Um… I don’t even know what to say about this one. Trying to talk about any of the Next novels is hard, but this one has just got too many things going on. It’s not bad, but I didn’t like it. It got better towards the end, but it felt like Fforde was writing this like it was the last one until the last 1/3. I also got the impression that he was making future book-writing easier on himself:

Destroying the ChronoGuard has to make future plotting easier; some of the time paradoxes that are in these 5 books hurt to read about – I can’t imagine creating them.

But while a few big issues are tied up in bows (see spoiler above – or don’t if you haven’t read this yet), there were a LOT of things left unanswered, like the Holmes and Brennen issues and what has he done to Pickwick!!!

So I didn’t like Pickwick’s lack of page time and when he was in scenes he was marginalised. I didn’t like the time jump either – I get why Fforde might have done it, but I imagine Thursday as a bit of an action/adventure heroine, and it’s rather hard to maintain that image when Thursday is in her 50’s trying not to notice her greying hair. I’m not saying I didn’t get there in the end, (I’m in Thursday’s demographic myself and I’d like to think I could keep on adventuring) but Fforde made me work harder for it than seems reasonable. Aornis Hades’ manipulation of Thursday added to my struggle to get behind this story. I also didn’t like the multiple Thursday Nexts; they were just over-the-top caricatures.

So really, there was a lot I didn’t like. But I did love the bookworld scenes, and whenever there was any interaction with the book characters, I had a lot of fun. The final scenes in the Bookworld were excellent too – I really enjoyed reading about TN’s time spent on that ship. I also love how he segued into the next book’s plot (and it made me laugh).

So not really a useful review, really – the book is just such a departure in so many ways from the previous 4 books. I’m still looking forward to the next one but not as much as I looked forward to the earlier books.

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A Christmas Carol / A Christmas Tree

Let me start by saying that the four star rating is a combination rating for both stories.  A Christmas Carol was definitely a 5 star read.  It’s brilliantly written and, as I discovered with the audio edition, surprisingly funny.  I found this beautifully illustrated hardcover edition at a library sale for 20 cents.  I got a real steal.

My absolute favourite quote:

“You seek to close these places on the Seventh Day?” said Scrooge. “And it comes to the same thing.”

“I seek!” exclaimed the Spirit.

“Forgive me if I am wrong. It has been done in your name, or at least in that of your family,” said Scrooge.

“There are some upon this earth of yours,” returned the Spirit, “who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are as strange to us and all our kith and kin, as if they had never lived. Remember that, and charge their doings on themselves, not us.”

This seems an apt quote for our times as well as his.

This book also includes A Christmas Tree.  This was a story I loved in spirit but in deed, it’s a slog.  It took me forever.  It’s rambling and it’s not always easy to comprehend.  It’s Charles Dickens, the stream-of-consciousness version.  I love how he viewed the Christmas tree, but man was I glad to finally see the backside of this story.  3 stars.