Death Comes to London (Kurland St. Mary Mystery, #2)

Death Comes to London
by Catherine Lloyd
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780758287359
Series: Kurland St. Mary Mystery #2
Publication Date: November 25, 2014
Pages: 259
Genre: Fiction, Historical, Mystery
Publisher: Kensington

With the reluctant blessings of their father, the rector of Kurland St. Mary, Lucy Harrington and her sister Anna leave home for a social season in London. At the same time, Lucy's special friend Major Robert Kurland is summoned to the city to accept a baronetcy for his wartime heroism.

Amidst the dizzying whirl of balls and formal dinners, the focus shifts from mixing and matchmaking to murder when the dowager Countess of Broughton, the mother of an old army friend of Robert, drops dead. When it's revealed she's been poisoned, Robert's former betrothed, Miss Chingford, is accused, and she in turn points a finger at Anna. To protect her sister, Lucy enlists Robert's aid in drawing out the true culprit.

But with suspects ranging from resentful rivals and embittered family members to the toast of the ton, it will take all their sleuthing skills to unmask the poisoner before more trouble is stirred up. . .

I chose this book to read right before going to sleep at night because it’s a Regency historical cozy and would be a more calming read than, say, a thriller or a paranormal ghost story.

This was also dumb, because I enjoyed the story enough that I didn’t want to close the book and I ended up staying up too late three nights in a row.

Ms. Lloyd created excellent characters: likeable and flawed. The clincher for me is not that they are flawed, but that there isn’t any spotlight on the flaws; they weren’t created to give the characters something to overcome, they just are what they are. Lucy is too headstrong and independent for most of the eligible men of London, and maybe a bit too old. Oh well, she is what she is and she’s fine with it. Robert is a grumpy ass in a lot of pain (war wound). He’s a good person, just really not subtle and he’s short-tempered. He apologises when he offends, but well, it’s the way he is. Anna comes closest to a trope: beautiful, naive, sweet-natured, but she shows not only the expected flashes of temper but also appealing moments of rational thinking and decisive action.

The mystery concerns the death of a dowager countess during a ball at Almack’s – she was universally loathed so the suspects are thick on the ground. The plotting is complex, well-thought out and until the very end there are just too many people who could have done the terrible deeds that begin with that old woman’s death.

There’s a romantic element between Lucy and Robert but it’s ethereal at best; I would have liked a little more forward momentum and less of Lucy jumping to unwarranted conclusions. (The end was what griped me the most – the rest was fine.)

A great read and it looks to be a great series – I’ll be waiting for book 3.

A Little Night Murder (Blackbird Sisters Mystery, #10)

A Little Night Murder
by Nancy Martin
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780451415271
Series: Blackbird Sisters #10
Publication Date: August 4, 2014
Pages: 372
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: Obsidian

While a pregnant Nora relaxes in her best friend’s Bucks County pool, she doesn’t have far to look for her next big story. A Broadway show is in rehearsal next door at the home of the legendary late composer “Toodles” Tuttle. His diva widow, Boom Boom, reigns over his estate with an iron fist. She has also racked up a chorus line of enemies, so the old broad’s death is a hotly anticipated event. But imagine everyone’s dismay when it’s her beloved daughter, Jenny, who drops dead just as the lights are set to go on for the lucrative new Toodles musical.

This series is one of my top cozy favourites and I always look forward to the next one. A Little Night Murder, though – this one was just chock full o’ surprises.

Lexie’s back! Nora’s (the MC) best friend is out of prison early for reasons unexplained and Nora’s helping her hide from the press and all the former clients who lost their fortunes when Lexie’s partner’s embezzlement came to light. Nora is 7 months pregnant and her constant financial worries have reduced her to wearing her sister’s old maternity t-shirts sporting such gems as ‘Let Me Out, It’s Dark in Here!’ Nora and Mick are trying to prepare for the birth of not only their biological daughter, but for the adoption of Nora’s grand-niece whose biological mother is in prison and due the week after Nora. Speaking of biological mothers: Mick’s mom is in town and Nora’s meeting her for the first time.

Nora’s sisters aren’t left out of the angst either: Libby is imploding over becoming a grandmother and Emma has reached the pinnacle of unsuitability in her lovers.

Those are just the things mentioned on the front flap. I’m not mentioning anything else because if you enjoy this series, I don’t want to take anything away from the surprises awaiting you. Suffice it to say there are more than a fair few.

In the midst of all of this, Lexie’s neighbour, an old showgirl has-been is trying to revive her career, claiming she has found an unpublished musical left in her late husband’s papers. He was famous for his musicals and everybody is buzzing about this new find. Until the man’s daughter is found dead and oddities and absurdities surrounding the production become apparent. Nora’s editor has given her an ultimatum: a story about Lexie and her whereabouts, or a story about Jenny’s murder.

Generally speaking, this was a wonderful romp of a story and I didn’t want to stop reading it once I started. The mystery plotting is always well done, but my investment is 100% in the characters. The sisters and the people surrounding them are all fleshed out characters with realistic lives, if sometimes their names are a little out there. (I went to school with a Binky and Bubba (sister and brother) so I won’t say the names are unrealistic.)

My only harumph: Nora’s boss/editor is an Aussie and perhaps in an attempt to avoid the cliched Aussie slang terms such as Bonzer!, Fair Dinkum! etc. etc., the author has chosen to skate a bit close to the obscure. The one that sticks out the most is ‘dinger’ – which I had to look up. It’s recognised slang for ‘condom’ but my Aussie born-and-bred husband has never heard of it. Perhaps some of my BL Aussie friends are more familiar with it? There were a couple of others as well, but I forgot what they were and I’ll never find them again. Also, in a book with no swearing, I snickered over the author’s liberal use of ‘bugger’, but I’m assuming she’s well aware of the word’s meaning and is banking on most of her readers being unaware. I’m choosing to see it as a quiet little rebellion on her part. 🙂

The mystery is tied up at the end but the characters are left with a shock – not a cliffhanger, but definitely a story to be continued. Which makes me happy, because it means there’s another Blackbird Sister adventure on the horizon. Somebody pass me the champagne and a tacky t-shirt.

NB: I’ve been googling the surprise at the end of this book and personally I think it’s a tissue paper dragon based on the holes apparent after a quick search. But such a thing does exist, who knew?

Death Comes to the Village (A Kurland St. Mary Mystery)

Death Comes to the Village
by Catherine Lloyd
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780758287335
Series: Kurland St. Mary Mystery #1
Publication Date: November 26, 2013
Pages: 282
Genre: Fiction, Historical, Mystery
Publisher: Kensington

A fast, entertaining read I picked up and finished in one day.

A wounded soldier and a rector’s daughter discover strange goings-on in the sleepy village of Kurland S. Mary in Regency England.

The author has a degree in history so I’m taking on faith that this is a historically accurate cozy mystery tale. Either way I found it to be well-written with both likeable and detestable characters. I’m pretty sure I liked all the characters I was meant to like; Lucy, the MC, and her sister Anna are modelled after Lizzie and Jane in Pride & Prejudice and I suppose arguments could be made for Major Robert Kurland favouring Darcy.

The setting was sketchy; I didn’t get a clear sense of the village at all, although the rectory and Kurland Manor are both well described.

The plot was good; very good. I know many readers feel like a murder mystery should have a dead body appear almost immediately. If you’re the type who is looking for the body to drop, this book isn’t for you; you’re going to be waiting a long time for a corpse to appear. Instead, this is a very well crafted mystery focussed on the disappearance of two young girls and a rash of thefts taking place in the ‘big’ houses of the village. The author takes you where she wants you to go, then slowly starts introducing the clues that make it clear things aren’t as obvious as they seem. I picked up on part of the mystery early, but the bulk of it I didn’t get until Ms. Lloyed wanted me to.

Two things about this book stood out for me, neither of which detracted from my overall enjoyment of the book (much). The first thing is niggling, really rather trivial: the opening two sentences of the book should be reversed. The second, and I’m certain this is historically accurate, is the author doesn’t sugar-coat the complete disregard men have for women in this time; how women are truly nothing more than chattel. It was a rather infuriating theme throughout the story.

I’m under the impression that this is the first in a new series. If so, I’ll gladly read the second; I’d like to see more of Lucy and Robert and I’d like to see more of what the author is capable of in terms of plotting.

Home of the Braised (White House Chef Mysteries, #7)

Home of the Braised
by Julie Hyzy
Rating: ★★★★½
isbn: 9780425262382
Series: White House Chef Mystery #7
Publication Date: January 7, 2014
Pages: 293
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime

Tensions are running high as the White House staff adjusts to a new chief usher and prepares for a high-stakes state dinner, where everything must be perfect. But as the date for the event approaches, things go disastrously wrong when the secretary of defense is found dead in his home, seemingly killed during a break-in.

At the same time Olivia’s fiancé, Gav, is looking into the mysterious murder of an old friend. Is there a connection? Despite an increase in security following the secretary’s death, Ollie learns the president is in imminent danger at the dinner and must do everything in her power to get to him—before it’s too late…

This series is the perfect example of a good-but-slow-to-start series. I read the first three and always thought they were good enough to pick up the next one, but I was never really invested in the characters.

Then the protagonist, Ollie, got a new love interest. I don’t know why this made such a HUGE difference, but I could not put down the last four books; in fact, I read 4, 5 and 6 back-to-back last year. You might be thinking ‘well, the sex scenes must have been better’, but there are zero sex scenes. In the last four books I think the author only mentions them kissing twice. In passing. But Ms. Hyzy does an outstanding job, IMO, of creating sexual tension without the sexual descriptions. Maybe it’s just me.

Home of the Braised is a great entry in this fabulous series – the action and mystery start right away and Ollie is fighting battles on enough fronts to keep things busy without being overwhelming to the reader (if I were Ollie I’d be drinking heavily). There’s a lot of detail about being a White House chef, but it flows nicely in the story and it’s obvious the author has done her homework. The writing is smooth, fluid and without any oddities that jarred me out of the moment. Very little (if any) page filler disguised as internal speculation.

I don’t really want to include much of a synopsis here because it all feels spoiler-y. Suffice it to say that there are threats to the presidency, the White House, national security and Ollie finds herself in the thick of it. If I had to complain about anything, I’d prefer the author didn’t turn Ollie into a pariah; I know any real person involved in at least 7 ‘adventures’ (and counting, I hope) would start to garner questions, if not a 48 hour psych eval, but it got to be repetitive enough to notice in the last couple of books. Luckily, not so repetitive that it annoyed me. Everything was excellently plotted though and I thoroughly enjoyed the book from start to finish. I saw the very end coming, but that’s ok – it wasn’t anything plot related and it was a great way to leave the reader smiling at the end.

I count the months until the next book is out.