India Black (Madam of Espionage Mystery, #1)

India Black
by Carol K. Carr
Rating: ★★★½
isbn: 9780425238660
Series: A Madam of Espionage Mystery #1
Publication Date: January 4, 2011
Pages: 296
Genre: Historical, Mystery
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime

I needed a break from all the new, experimental reads and grabbed this off my shelf to re-read. My original thoughts were succinct:

Excellent first novel. I was amused and enthused from the first chapter. The book is categorised as an “historical mystery” but there really isn’t much mystery involved. A lot of the story reads a bit like keystone cops play spy, but truly, I found the book entertaining and the characters interesting enough for me to care what happened to them. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

Mostly, that hasn’t changed; I originally gave it 4 stars, but on re-reading I nudged it down to 3.5 stars. There were a few verbose expository passages I found myself skimming; I found them mostly irrelevant to the plot and they felt like padding. But otherwise, it’s a highly irreverent spy adventure and entertaining in a way that only a sassy madam of a brothel MC can make it. High on humor, but historically accurate in its broad strokes. Where the fine details are (ie anachronisms), I couldn’t say; I’m pretty terrible at spotting any but the most egregious examples.

A bit of familiar fun that served as a quick palate cleanser before moving back into uncharted territory.

The Murder of Mr. Wickham

The Murder of Mr. Wickham
by Claudia Gray
Rating: ★★★½
isbn: 9780593313817
Publication Date: May 2, 2022
Pages: 382
Genre: Fiction, Historical, Mystery
Publisher: Vintage Books

The happily married Mr. Knightley and Emma are throwing a house party, bringing together distant relatives and new acquaintances—characters beloved by Jane Austen fans. Definitely not invited is Mr. Wickham, whose latest financial scheme has netted him an even broader array of enemies. As tempers flare and secrets are revealed, it’s clear that everyone would be happier if Mr. Wickham got his comeuppance. Yet they’re all shocked when Wickham turns up murdered—except, of course, for the killer hidden in their midst.

Nearly everyone at the house party is a suspect, so it falls to the party’s two youngest guests to solve the mystery: Juliet Tilney, the smart and resourceful daughter of Catherine and Henry, eager for adventure beyond Northanger Abbey; and Jonathan Darcy, the Darcys’ eldest son, whose adherence to propriety makes his father seem almost relaxed. The unlikely pair must put aside their own poor first impressions and uncover the guilty party—before an innocent person is sentenced to hang.

I’m conflicted about this book. On the one hand, the mystery was very good (although the ending was somewhat predictable, not because of bad plotting at all, but because of who the suspects are). On the other hand, Gray is trying to write Austen’s characters, which for some of them, I can’t say she succeeded overmuch.

Gray was smart; she wrote the book from the POV of all the characters, so she never has to spend too much time with any of Austen’s creations. This keeps her from straying too far outside the lines of their personalities as written by JA. The MCs, on the other hand, are the offspring of the Darcys and the Tilneys (the Tilneys are the only ones that do not appear in the book; instead they are represented by their daughter). This leaves Gray free to develop these characters while remaining true to Austen’s generation.

But, when she does spend time with those characters, she takes some liberties that I’m not entirely comfortable with. She makes Fanny and Edmund so holier than thou – although they are sincere, I’ll give her that. She also takes a HUGE liberty with Fanny’s brother William, in an effort, I suppose, to make the book more socially relevant to today’s audience. It gives Fanny a weakness that can be exploited by Wickham, sure, but its execution is entirely implausible. View Spoiler »

Overall, it’s an excellent mystery and probably an enjoyable read for anyone who hasn’t read Austen’s books more than once. For those of us who have, the same caveats apply to this book as any other work that uses classic characters and reimagines them.

Murder at the Serpentine Bridge (Wrexford & Sloane Mystery, #6)

Murder at the Serpentine Bridge
by Andrea Penrose
Rating: ★★★
isbn: 9781496732538
Series: Wrexford & Sloane #6
Publication Date: September 27, 2022
Pages: 361
Genre: Fiction, Historical, Mystery
Publisher: Kensington

Charlotte, now the Countess of Wrexford, would like nothing more than a summer of peace and quiet with her new husband and their unconventional family and friends. Still, some social obligations must be honored, especially with the grand Peace Celebrations unfolding throughout London to honor victory over Napoleon.

But when Wrexford and their two young wards, Raven and Hawk, discover a body floating in Hyde Park’s famous lake, that newfound peace looks to be at risk. The late Jeremiah Willis was the engineering genius behind a new design for a top-secret weapon, and the prototype is missing from the Royal Armory’s laboratory. Wrexford is tasked with retrieving it before it falls into the wrong hands. But there are unsettling complications to the case—including a family connection.

Soon, old secrets are tangling with new betrayals, and as Charlotte and Wrexford spin through a web of international intrigue and sumptuous parties, they must race against time to save their loved ones from harm—and keep the weapon from igniting a new war . . .

Is platitudinal a word? My spell checker thinks it is, but when I ask it to define it, I get the definition for latitudinal.

Anyway, this book is platitudinal, as in full of the platitudes. All about love, and family, and friendship, which is all very nice, but not why I read mysteries. Still, this book was better than the last one, which just about put me off the series entirely. This one featured a plot of international intrigue entering around the London Peace Celebrations that took place after the Napoleonic war ended. Penrose was clever; she wrote the story in such a way that I was sure it was transparent and I was going to be annoyed … but while I did figure out one part of the solution, I was totally wrong about the other. There was also some double crossing and double dealing going on that made the whole thing more complicated than it looked. Overall, it was a decent story, but not as compelling as the earliest entries.

At the end the author includes a note that clearly delineates what is historically factual and what she made up (which was actually not as much as I’d have guessed).

When Gods Die (Sebastian St. Cyr, #2)

When Gods Die
by C.S. Harris
Rating: ★★★½
isbn: 9780451219688
Series: Sebastian St. Cyr #2
Publication Date: January 1, 2006
Pages: 338
Genre: Fiction, Historical, Mystery
Publisher: NAL Hardcover

The young wife of an aging marquis is found murdered in the arms of the Prince Regent. Around her neck lies a necklace said to have been worn by Druid priestesses-that is, until it was lost at sea with its last owner, Sebastian St. Cyr’s mother. Now Sebastian is lured into a dangerous investigation of the marchioness’s death-and his mother’s uncertain fate.

As he edges closer to the truth-and one murder follows another-he confronts a conspiracy that imperils those nearest him and threatens to bring down the monarchy.

Much better than the first one, What Angels Fear, in that it is a far less graphically violent story line, which allowed me to thoroughly enjoy this one in a way I could not with the first.

I really like Sebastian, but as I mentioned in my thoughts on the first book, he needs his friends around more; Harris wrote a nice scene at the start of the first book with some banter between St. Cyr and his friend that I’d like to see more of in future books. While this book isn’t weighty and depressing, it could use some lightness that friends would bring to the table. As it is, When Gods Die is a very earnest read that gets a little bogged down in the forbidden-love dynamic between St. Cyr and his love interest, Kat.

The mystery was good though – extremely well plotted and the motivation not at all clear.

I’ll definitely be checking out more of this series from my library.

What Angels Fear

What Angels Fear
by C.S. Harris
Rating: ★★★½
isbn: 9781741753653
Series: Sebastian St. Cyr #1
Publication Date: January 1, 1970
Pages: 421
Genre: Fiction, Historical, Mystery
Publisher: Allen & Unwin

It’s 1811, and the threat of revolution haunts the upper classes of King George III’s England. Then the body of a beautiful young woman is found savagely murdered on the altar steps of an ancient church near Westminster Abbey. A dueling pistol discovered at the scene and the damning testimony of a witness both point to one man: Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, a brilliant young nobleman shattered by his experiences in the Napoleonic Wars.

Now a fugitive running for his life, Sebastian calls upon his skill as an officer during the war to catch the killer and prove his own innocence. In the process, he accumulates a band of unlikely allies, including the enigmatic beauty Kat Boleyn, who broke Sebastian’s heart years ago. In Sebastian’s world of intrigue and espionage, nothing is as it seems, yet the truth may hold the key to the future of the British monarchy, as well as to Sebastian’s own salvation….

This series has been popping up on my radar for years and years, and I always thought I need to try those, and then something shiny would distract me. When Jennifer’s books posted about one of the more recent books in the series, it was the motivation I needed to check out the first one from my library.

At 400+ pages, I was wary of what I was getting into, but the pace is fast enough to make the pages fly by. They flew even faster when I started skimming some of the more descriptively verbose sections, the kind you’re either in the mood for, or you aren’t. I really liked Sebastian and was disappointed that his friend (Sir Christopher?) wasn’t around more – I liked the dynamic between them best for its light-hearted banter. I’m reserving judgement about Kat and the rest of the cast as there was an element of … not melodrama, but Very Serious, to the tone of this book that I’m hoping is a natural result of the plot, rather than the series’ permanent tone.

The one thing I categorically did not like was the graphicness. Harris seemed to take particular delight in trying to sicken the reader with the perverseness of the crime, bring it up again, and again, and dwelling on details View Spoiler ». I have speculations about what drove her to write like this, but I’ll keep them to myself, as they aren’t very generous, but suffice it to say I didn’t care for the heavy handedness.

I did like everything else though; the multi-threaded approach to the investigation, with multiple POVs handled gracefully, the intricateness of the plotting and the confidence of the characters. I am definitely interested in reading the next book in what is a very long series. If the heavy handed graphicness continues, well, they’re library loans. God bless libraries!

The Honjin Murders

The Honjin Murders
by Louise Heal Kawai (Translator), Seishi Yokimizo
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9781782277316
Publication Date: November 12, 2020
Pages: 189
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: Pushkin Press

In the winter of 1937, the village of Okamura is abuzz with excitement over the forthcoming wedding of a son of the grand Ichiyanagi family. But amid the gossip over the approaching festivities, there is also a worrying rumour – it seems a sinister masked man has been asking questions about the Ichiyanagis around the village.

Then, on the night of the wedding, the Ichiyanagi family are woken by a terrible scream, followed by the sound of eerie music – death has come to Okamura, leaving no trace but a bloody samurai sword, thrust into the pristine snow outside the house. The murder seems impossible, but amateur detective Kosuke Kindaichi is determined to get to the bottom of it.

I wavered between 3.5 and 4 stars; ultimately, I’m going with 4. This is a really well-written, cleverly plotted ode to the Golden Age of mystery, specifically, the golden age of locked room mysteries (I loved all the name dropping!). Even though it’s written much later, everything about it harkens back to those magic days when mystery writing was new and full of unexplored nooks and crannies. The device that the plot turned on was fiendish, but part of me wants to quibble about the mechanics – specifically the speed which everything happened, but that’s just pickiness – the buildings could have been further apart, the people slower, or the water faster than I’m imagining them.

None of that matters anyway, it didn’t detract a bit from my enjoyment of the book. The only thing that ticked me off is the same thing that’s been ticking me off about historic literature since Bronte and Austen: the affectation of using O– instead of just putting the damn village/town/city name in. Just seeing “the –shire” makes me itch in irritation, and the liberal use of it in this book had the same effect. I don’t care why they did it, it’s irritating.

I borrowed this from the library, and I have to say, I enjoyed it enough that I’ll be looking for my own copy to add to my personal collection. I’m sort of curious, too, to read the next one, which my library happens to have as well.

I needed a Locked Room Mystery for my Halloween Bingo 2022 card and this is the perfect fit. It also works for Death in Translation, Home is Where the Hurt is, and Country House Mystery.

The Mushroom Tree Mystery (Crown Colony Mystery, #6)

The Mushroom Tree Mystery
by Ovidia Yu
Rating: ★★★★½
isbn: 9781472132055
Series: Crown Colony Mystery #6
Publication Date: June 21, 2022
Pages: 311
Genre: Fiction, Historical, Mystery
Publisher: Constable

The Allies have defeated Germany in Europe, but Japan refuses to surrender the East.

In Singapore, amid rumours the Japanese occupiers are preparing to wipe out the population of the island rather than surrender, a young aide is found murdered beneath the termite mushroom tree in Hideki Tagawa's garden and his plans for a massive poison gas bomb are missing. To prevent any more destruction it falls to Su Lin to track down the real killer with the help of Hideki Tagawa's old nemesis, the charismatic shinto priest Yoshio Yoshimo.

In so many ways, this series represents the best kind of historical, cozy mystery, although a few of the 6 published so far have been average. The Mushroom Tree Mystery is not one of the average ones. I’d rank it as one of the best, perhaps because it’s set in a time, and in the face of events that were my area of study at university, and I couldn’t put it down.

The writing style takes some getting used to, though if you asked me why, I’d have a hard time putting my finger on it. The narrative flows, but doesn’t; it can be choppy, or staccato, but after a few pages (or chapters) it begins to feel more natural.

It’s the tail end of WW2 and Singapore is caught between the Allies and a dying Japanese empire that would rather die than be defeated. As if that wasn’t enough, the people of Singapore are also caught up in the internecine warfare of the Japanese; the old-school ronin and those that felt honor didn’t imply death. In the midst of all this, Su Lin is further caught up in a murder mystery, where as a crippled straits born it would be all too easy to find herself convicted and executed.

I found this entry particularly fascinating, not only for the mystery itself, but for the perspective of someone born in Singapore, with ancestors who went through the war on the island and shared their first-hand experience with her. I was deeply moved by the image of a people that welcomed Allied bombing of their island because it brought hope of salvation along with destruction. To be cut off so completely from the world that a bombing was the only way of knowing that the war wasn’t truly over, as the Japanese asserted. I was also chilled to read in the author’s notes about how close Singapore came to being wiped off the map entirely by the Japanese warlords.

Overall, a very good mystery read.

A Perilous Perspective (Lady Darby Mystery, #10)

A Perilous Perspective
by Anna Lee Huber
Rating: ★★★
isbn: 9780593198469
Series: A Lady Darby Mystery #10
Publication Date: April 19, 2022
Pages: 389
Genre: Fiction, Historical, Mystery
Publisher: Berkley

Argyll, Scotland. July 1832. After a trying few months in Edinburgh, Kiera and her husband and investigative partner, Sebastian Gage, are eager to escape to the Highlands with their three-month-old child. Kiera is overjoyed for her cousin Rye and her detractor-turned-friend Charlotte who are being wed in a private ceremony at the estate of Rye’s great-uncle, the Marquess of Barbreck, in what seems to be the perfect wedding party.

But when Kiera is invited to peruse Barbreck’s extensive art collection, she is disturbed to discover that one of his most priceless paintings seems to be a forgery. The marquess’s furious reaction when she dares to mention it leaves her shaken and the entire house shocked. For it turns out that this is not the first time the word forgery has been uttered in connection with the Barbreck household.

Matters turn more ominous when a maid from a neighboring estate is found murdered where the forged painting hangs. Is her death connected to the forgeries, perhaps a grisly warning of what awaits those who dare to probe deeper? With unknown entities aligned against them, Kiera and Gage are forced to confront the fact that they may have underestimated their opponent. For they are swiftly made to realize that Charlotte’s and Rye’s future happiness is not the only issue at stake, and this stealthy game of cat and mouse could prove to have deadly consequences.

Well, that was, frankly, disappointing. Even taking out of account the babbling about the baby, this just wasn’t anywhere near as good as her first 8 books were. The potential was there – I really enjoyed the art forgery backdrop; that was genuinely interesting and really well done. But the character development just wasn’t.

Huber seems to be stuck on a need to constantly give Kiera (and Gage, to a lesser extent) some kind of melodrama anxiety. For the first 8 books it was the fallout from her late husband’s scandalous behaviour – and that worked well while it lasted. Book 9 was a fantastically over the top drama about Kiera’s impending motherhood and how it would mix with their inquiry business. This book, it was all about her mom, who died when she was 8, and someone’s attempt to gaslight her about it. It was completely unnecessary to the plot, it was silly and it detracted from the story.

The plot of the murder was so tissue-thin transparent I can’t believe it got through a beta read. I never once, for a second, doubted who the murderer was. And the climax … oh the problems I had with the climax. Huber broke the first rule every American is taught about handguns – you don’t carry one unless you’re prepared to use it. She also tried to belie the adage “Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight”. It was preposterous, and the whole thing was unbelievable. Which is a shame; written better, it would have been diabolical, as I’m certain she intended it to be.

I went with three stars, because I’d say I enjoyed about 50% of the story; the other half would have been better had it not been so over-written. I think I’m still going to want to read the next one, but I am definitely not feeling the excited I previously felt for the newest release.

DNF: A Fiancée’s Guide to First Wives and Murder

A Fiancée's Guide to First Wives and Murder
by Dianne Freeman
Rating: ★
isbn: 9781496731609
Series: Countess of Harleigh Mystery #4
Publication Date: October 8, 2021
Pages: 295
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Kensington

For Frances Wynn, widow to the late Earl of Harleigh, life has a cosmopolitan flavor of late. No sooner has she sent her mother and daughter off on a shopping trip to Paris than she and her fiancé, George Hazleton, are socializing with visiting members of the Russian royal family. Yet amid this whirlwind, scandal also comes calling when Inspector Delaney turns up outside Frances's house with a young French woman with a shocking claim: she is Mrs. George Hazelton.

As the future Mrs. George Hazelton, Frances assumes the woman is either lying or demented. "Mrs. Hazelton," aka Irena, makes other outrageous statements. Among them, she insists that she is the illegitimate daughter of Russian royalty, that she has been abducted and held for ransom many times, and that someone is sending her threatening letters. When George arrives, he clarifies that he is certainly not married to Irena--though he can confirm her royal parentage. But even as he agrees to investigate whether Irena's life is in danger, her claim proves tragically true. Irena is found strangled in Frances' garden.

To uncover a killer--and clear their own names--Frances and George must determine which of Irena's outlandish stories were based in fact, and who stood to benefit from her death. And as the search reaches a shocking conclusion, they may find that villainy lurks all too close to home...

It’s rare that I DNF a book, and I enjoyed the first three of this series, but I got 45 pages in and … a big fat no.

I’m never going to be able to suspend my belief enough to read about a spoiled rotten by-blow of the Russian royal family who baldly lies about being the MC’s fiancé’s wife so she can blackmail him into investigating someone sending her letters.

In an age where a woman would be sent to a sanitarium for merely reading the wrong book, the idea that this silly child could successfully throw this tantrum and manipulate the main characters is beyond ridiculous. I don’t care that she does end up dead, it’s a terrible, weak premise.

The Impossible Impostor (Veronica Speedwell, #7)

The Impossible Impostor
by Deanna Raybourn
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780593197295
Series: Veronica Speedwell Mystery #7
Publication Date: February 15, 2022
Pages: 327
Genre: Fiction, Historical, Mystery
Publisher: Berkley

London, 1889. Veronica Speedwell and her natural historian beau Stoker are summoned by Sir Hugo Montgomerie, head of Special Branch. He has a personal request on behalf of his goddaughter, Euphemia Hathaway. After years of traveling the world, her eldest brother, Jonathan, heir to Hathaway Hall, was believed to have been killed in the catastrophic eruption of Krakatoa a few years before.

But now a man matching Jonathan’s description and carrying his possessions has arrived at Hathaway Hall with no memory of his identity or where he has been. Could this man truly be Jonathan, back from the dead? Or is he a devious impostor, determined to gain ownership over the family’s most valuable possessions—a legendary parure of priceless Rajasthani jewels? It’s a delicate situation, and Veronica is Sir Hugo’s only hope.

Veronica and Stoker agree to go to Hathaway Hall to covertly investigate the mysterious amnesiac. Veronica is soon shocked to find herself face-to-face with a ghost from her past. To help Sir Hugo discover the truth, she must open doors to her own history that she long believed to be shut for good.

Not every book in a series can be equally excellent, and while this one was good, it wasn’t nearly as good as the first 6. I suppose it was inevitable that a story line about Veronica’s illustrious past came into play, but I think Raybourn could have done a better job than mirroring Veronica’s experiences with Stoker’s so predictably, and I found Veronica stewing in her own guilt and emotional angst unpalatable from such a normally headstrong and independent woman. I know nobody can get through life without some naval gazing, but it’s not the stuff I generally tend to enjoy reading about.

I also found the ending way too convenient and tidy, and I particularly dislike that Raybourn seems to have plans to play one brother against the other in the next book.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book for the characters and once I got a few chapters in, I lost myself in the adventures, even if I found myself critical of them. My problems with the story in no way diminishes my enthusiasm for the series nor my anticipation of the next book.