Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Can't Wait Wednesday: The Secret Detective Agency by Helena Dixon (Book One of The Secret Detective Agency)

 



For this week's Can't Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings, I'm featuring, The Secret Detective Agency, by Helena Dixon. I have enjoyed her other long running cozy mystery series with Kitty Underhay as the heroine, set in the 1930's. This book is the start of a brand new series which is something I've been looking for to read and feature on my blog. I always seem to never get to start new with series books.

This one is set in the 1940's during WWII and feature a Miss Jane Treen and her cat (a definite draw!) and code breaker Arthur who use their secret sleuthing skills to find a killer. I am excited because book two is already set to release in April. I am looking forward to being in from the beginning this time! 

I hope you've found something you can't wait to read this week. Happy reading ya'll!







Cozy Historical Mystery

March 27, 2025

Book Description courtesy of GoodReads:

Meet Miss Jane Treen – the coffee-drinking cat lover dressed head to toe in tweed, who just happens to be a secret super sleuth!

London, 1941Miss Jane Treen is at her desk, strong black coffee in hand and fluffy ginger cat by her side, when her top-secret government work is interrupted by an urgent call to Devon. A woman has been found dead in a lake in a place where she shouldn’t have been. Jane needs to gather the clues and find the killer before someone else from the agency gets hurt…

Shy and handsome code-breaker Arthur Cilento is bewildered by the arrival of the efficient Miss Treen and her cat Marmaduke. She bursts into his life unexpectedly, forcing him out of his comfort zone. The reluctant colleagues huddle near the warmth of a crackling fire in Arthur's country home, working to piece together the murderous puzzle at hand.

In the sleepy Devon village, someone is hiding something: but is it the busybody vicar and his sister, the dutiful housekeeper and her secretive son, the stern librarian, or someone else altogether? And who were the people with the woman in the lake on the day she died?

No sooner have Arthur and Jane have drawn up a list of suspects, than a parcel reveals a clue that sends them in hot pursuit of a coded diary stashed in a village church. But as the heavy wooden door slams behind them and a key turns in the lock, one thing is they need to unravel the truth and crack this code before the killer decides their number is up

But if they can catch the culprit in time, might this unusual pair become the finest crime-solving partnership since Holmes and Watson hung up their hats…?

Sunday, March 9, 2025

Stacking the Shelves #49

 


Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Reality. It's a place to showcase any books I have purchased, borrowed, or been lucky enough to have been given an advance copy of. Hope you find something that looks interesting to you or that makes you remember a favorite book you need to finish. Enjoy your reading this week!



Purchased with Amazon digital points: Free

I had heard of this author before but wasn't sure how good her books would be. I took a chance on this one and am loving it. Set in England during the reign of Edward III it features a man and woman, Rhys and Catrin who are Welsh and in the employ of the King and Queen. They must work to solve a murder all while dealing with the stigma of being Welsh in an English world. The author is Welsh and clearly knows her history too, making it a great start to what I hope will be an interesting series. She has written others as well. 



Purchased on sale on Amazon : $1.99:

This is the first in a series by an author I have reviewed before. She has a great newsletter that I get in my inbox and will send advance copies of her new books if you sign up to review them. The Dora and Rex Mysteries series is very popular and is one I started awhile back. In this new series a regency Lord and Lady must work to solve the mystery of the disappearance of a woman dubbed "the missing diamond of the season" before something bad happens to her. 





Purchased on sale on Amazon for Kindle: $1. 99:

I have read the first two books in this series and I love the locations they are set in. I was a little disappointed that the last book didn't have quite the detailed atmosphere I would like in a book but I'm going to give it another try. Miss Atalanta Ashford is always caught up in a new murder mystery and in this book she helps to solve the murder of an Italian heiress's father, along with dashing race car driver Raoul. 











A Body in the Villa by Isabella Bassett (Lady Caroline Murder Mysteries Book 3)

 

Publication Date: November 16, 2022

Genre: Historical Cozy Mystery

Series: Lady Caroline Murder Mysteries

Length: 190 pages



Book Description (GoodReads):

Switzerland, 1925

A rare bird is nesting in the lush summer meadows of the Swiss Alps, and the grizzled members of Uncle Albert’s Royal Society for Natural History Appreciation travel en masse to get a closer look.

The fact that they will be encamped at an opulent villa, coupled with the promise of a midsummer party, persuades his niece, and unenthusiastic secretary, Lady Caroline, to follow suit.

As the champagne flows, and tales of rare birds grow taller, a killer makes a bold move. One of the more risque guests is strangled with her own elaborate dress. When a rakish rogue, a charm-the-birds-out-of-the-trees kind of man, is picked off next, the police speculate that someone is stalking the more exotic specimens of this country house party.

Dismissing this bird-brain idea, Lady Caroline suspects instead that a cunning killer is using the party to feather their nest. Ready as ever for a good scavenger hunt, she follows the clues to the bad egg spoiling all the fun.

My Thoughts:

This is book three in the series. I have read books one, two and five already. I know I'm strange the way I skip around and I'm honestly trying not to do that anymore but it's hard. Sometimes a series book down the line looks good and I just don't want to wait! But it creates spoilers and unanswered questions too. So that bugs me. I can't win, lol.

Lady Caroline and her Uncle Albert have come to the Swiss Alps and the Royal Society for Natural History Appreciation, to search for a special bird. She is his secretary, unusual for the time as the others are male, but determined to do her job well while also looking out for her elderly beloved Uncle. While staying at a beautiful villa, Caroline becomes involved in three deaths, all of which seem unrelated until she starts to dig into the past of the victims. 

The story centers around the local hippie commune which seems to house a strange, eclectic group of people who all have their own secrets. Caroline is sure some of the answers to the deaths lie within but she also is suspicious of one of the members of the royal society. Along with her wacky friend, Poppy, who arrives and offers to help, they investigate and have some shenanigans along the way. 

I enjoyed the book but not as much as the one set in Cairo. I love how Bassett picks exotic locations and the commune made the story even more interesting. I wish Caroline and James, her love interest had had more interaction but overall the story was cute and I'm happy to move on to the next one in the series soon. 

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

Can't Wait Wednesday: A Recipe For Murder by Verity Bright (A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery Book 21)

 


For this week's Can't Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings, I'm featuring,A Recipe For Murder, by Verity Bright. I am finally reading book 11, Death Down the Aisle, which is where I left off a few months ago. This series was my first introduction to cozy mysteries and it remains in my top favorites. This book has Lady Eleanor and her dashing beau Detective Hugh Seldon planning their nuptials when their chef is poisoned. As more murders occur she must work to find the killer before they harm her or anyone else. Even Hugh is in danger and needs her help this time!





Cozy Historical Mystery

March 31, 2025


Book Description courtesy of GoodReads:

Cream cakes, cucumber sandwiches, apple tarts and… poison? Lady Swift is trying to plan the menu for her wedding, until murder strikes in kitchens across the village!

Lady Eleanor Swift’s marriage to dashing Chief Inspector Hugh Seldon is just days away. There’s a lot to organise from the dress to the catering, including, of course, the all-important wedding cake.

But Eleanor is heartbroken when their chef, apple-cheeked Annie Tibetts, dies of poisoning. And as the doctor confirms her death wasn’t an accident, accusations fly around the whole community.

With more of the village struck down by the poison, Eleanor must unmask a killer who seems intent on spreading chaos amongst her nearest and dearest. Everyone is accusing their neighbour… and Eleanor is in a pickle as the seating plans for the wedding fall apart. But she soon has bigger fish to fry when the source of the poison is traced to a trusted establishment in town. Eleanor is certain they are being framed and that sabotage is afoot…

And when a sample of poisoned wedding cake is delivered anonymously to Hugh working at his station miles away in Oxford, Eleanor realises that while she has been planning for the future, her past has been catching up with her. Eleanor must race across the countryside to save her love from certain death. Can Eleanor find the proof in the pudding and save Hugh in time? And will the poisoner finally get their just desserts?



 






Sunday, March 2, 2025

Stacking the Shelves #48

 


Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Reality. It's a place to showcase any books I have purchased, borrowed, or been lucky enough to have been given an advance copy of. Hope you find something that looks interesting to you or that makes you remember a favorite book you need to finish. Enjoy your reading this week!


Borrowed audiobook and book from Libby: Free

This is the second book in the Jane Wunderly series. I enjoyed the other two I've read and wanted to go back and see how the one set in England turned out. I like that these books are following her from overseas back to America and then to other exotic locations. That sounds like a lot of fun! In this one she works with her love interest, Redvers, to solve a murder at the home of Lord Hughes, where she is a guest. 




Purchase from Amazon for Kindle: $1.49 with points:

I am so behind on this series! For a long time I read one each season. The books follow a seasonal rotation with locations and theme. I really like that idea. This one I should have finished over the fall but life got busy. I think this was my first series exposure to "cozies" and I love it but have found so many others to read now. I finally bought it and need to get going in March. This is the 11th book and the series I've read the most from. Eleanor attends a wedding and of course......stumbles into another murder to solve. With the help of her love interest, Dectective Hugh Seldon, she is on the case!






Purchase from Amazon for Kindle: $0.99 with points:

The title and cover appealed to me because of course, Egypt and pyramids. Oh, and a mystery too! My favorite kind of book. I had never heard of the author or series so thanks Book Bub for introducing it to me. It is book two of a three part series written by an English author. I might wait to read this one until I've read book one. It is part of the Ursula Marlowe Series and there are three books in all. Set at the turn of the 20th Century, it features a young heiress who finds murder and mysteries to solve. I love the covers and it has that old time classic feel to it. 














Saturday, March 1, 2025

A King's Ransom by Sharon Kay Penman (Plantagenets Book 5)

 

Publication Date: March 4, 2014

Genre: Historical Fiction/Medieval Fiction

Series: Plantagenet Saga

Length: 685 pages










Book Description (GoodReads):

From the New York Times-bestselling author of Lionheart comes the dramatic sequel, telling of the last dangerous years of Richard, Coeur de Lion’s life.
 
This long-anticipated sequel to the national bestseller Lionheart is a vivid and heart-wrenching story of the last event-filled years in the life of Richard, Coeur de Lion. Taken captive by the Holy Roman Emperor while en route home—in violation of the papal decree protecting all crusaders—he was to spend fifteen months chained in a dungeon while Eleanor of Aquitaine moved heaven and earth to raise the exorbitant ransom. But a further humiliation awaited him: he was forced to kneel and swear fealty to his bitter enemy.

For the five years remaining to him, betrayals, intrigues, wars, and illness were ever present. So were his infidelities, perhaps a pattern set by his father’s faithlessness to Eleanor. But the courage, compassion, and intelligence of this warrior king became the stuff of legend, and A King’s Ransom brings the man and his world fully and powerfully alive.

My Thoughts:

When I read the last sentence of this book Sunday night I was pretty elated. Not because I'm done and didn't like it but because I've finished all the books in this series which I started during Covid. I felt like I'd accomplished something big! Penman's books are so amazing they take awhile to read carefully. And there were times I thought I'd never finish a chapter, trying hard to concentrate on everything going on. 

It made me want to go back and re-read The Land Beyond the Sea, her last book and set during the period of Saladin and Baldwin, The Leper King. So I am reading it again before I start another epic. 

If I'm honest, this was my least favorite of the series. It was still amazing! Penman doesn't write a bad book, period. This one just wasn't quite as exciting as I'd hoped. The one before, Lionheart, was so intense and so beautifully written it was hard to top though. In this story, we spend a lot of time inside Richard's head. Penman said that she felt her novel Lionheart was about Richard the warrior and A King's Ransom was about Richard the man. I totally agree.

Richard leaves the Holy Land at the end of Lionheart. This book picks up at that point and takes us in spectacular detail through his attempted journey back to Europe. Through a series of bad events, he is captured first by Leopold, the Duke of Austria who has a major axe to grind with him, and then handed over to brutal captivity in the hands of the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry Hohenstaufen. His mother Eleanor works back home to raise his ransom. After three long years he is freed but must now deal with his shady brother John and arch enemy Phillip of France as they have sought to steal Richard's kingdom and thwart his freedom at every turn. They never anticipated Richard would be freed. Now, as John says, "Look to yourself... the devil is loose!" They are panicked and realize their schemes will be revealed and have no idea how Richard will react.