Covert in Cairo by Kelly Oliver: A Fiona Figg and Kitty Lane Mystery Book Two

 

Publication Date:

April 25, 2023

Length:

290 Pages

Summary:

This was on my Summer 2024 list because its setting is Egypt. I love the cover too. This has just been a cozy mystery year for me. Due to some personal stress this last year these keep me lighthearted and are welcome at the end of a long, trying day. I especially enjoyed the setting of the pyramids, tombs, and Egyptian feel. So even though I hadn't read any other books in the series I started with this one for those reasons. 

Former nurse Fiona Figg and her young friend Kitty Lane are working undercover for the British Intelligence Office. Escorted by their companion, Captain Clifford Douglas, they travel to Egypt working from a tip left by the elusive spy Fredrick Fredricks (ridiculous name I know, but stick with me!). Soaking in the tourist vibe the girls and Clifford get to know some locals, and investigate a supposed plot to blow up the Suez Canal, although Fiona is unsure if this is a red herring planted by Fredricks to disguise an ulterior motive and keep her distracted. Fredricks seems to pop up everywhere unexpectedly and both Fiona and Kitty do not trust him. He seems to be working as both a German spy and possibly British Intelligence but who knows?

Death in a Scottish Castle by Lydia Travers: The Scottish Ladies' Detective Agency Book 4

Publication Date:

July 11, 2024

Length:

313 Pages

Summary:

I read book one of this series and since I got this advance copy I decided to go ahead and skip to book four. It was easy to pick up the storyline and these books can be read as standalone. I don't like to do that with a series but it worked out here okay.

It's 1912 in Scotland and Lady Detective Maude McIntyre and her former maid Daisy are thriving with their business, chasing down criminals and solving mysteries. When they are asked to investigate a missing statuette in a remote Highland castle they jump at the chance to travel. Clachan Castle on the Island of Mull is as far as they can imagine and when they arrive they expect only to find a theft to solve. Little do they know they will become embroiled in not one, but two murders and a locked room mystery. 

Stacking the Shelves #31

 

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!

Another Golden Age of Detective Fiction book from the British Library Crime Classics.....this book features a set of short stories from G.K. Chesterton, Arthur Conan Doyle, and others. I thought it would be great for quick reads when I'm short on time. You can't go wrong with the authors in this book.

The Santa Klaus Murder by Mavis Doriel Hay

 

Publication Date:

1936

Length:

253 pages

Summary:

Hay only published three novels and all were detective mysteries written in the 1930's. I had not heard of her before reading this one. I thought the cover was adorable and the perfect read for the hot June weather. So I am calling this review a "Christmas in June" book review. This is part of the revived collection of British Library Crime Classics and so it falls into the category of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. I am glad these books are being republished and with such vibrant, beautiful covers. The story is told in a series of chapters written from the perspective of each character, with the main detective having most of the story from his thoughts on the case. It is unique, giving insight into how each person is thinking.

The Melbury family is gathering for their annual Christmas. Sir Osmond, patriarch of the clan is domineering and particular in how he likes things done. His five children: George, Hilda, Edith, Eleanor, and Jennifer are all very different personalities, including how they feel about and handle their father. There is also the money and inheritance to consider as each vie for what is in theirs and their children's best interest. Although they don't always see eye to eye, they gather together and try to get through another trying holiday reunion.

Stacking the Shelves #30

 

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 :) 

This looked like an interesting mystery series. Set in WW II in Sydney, Australia with an intriguing main character, I was drawn to the cover, the synopsis, and the setting. I bought book one on sale for Kindle and hope to start it this year. There are ten books in the series so of course I had to pick another set of books I can't possibly read at once! But I'll start here and see if it's good enough to continue with more. The author has won an impressive array of awards for this series as well as previous ones.

Traitor's Arrow by David Field (The Medieval Saga Series Book Two)

 

Publication Date: 

April 25, 2022

Length:

222 pages

Summary:

I have always been interested in what really happened in the forest all those years ago when King William Rufus mysteriously died from an arrow wound. His brother Henry racing to Westminster to seize the royal treasury seemed like a cold hearted act to me. Field portrays this from a new perspective using some real historical people and facts and some fictional ones as well. While no one can ever be sure what really happened, Traitor's Arrow manages to give an entertaining story of the rise of Henry I due to the demise of his wicked brother, while also portraying him as a sympathetic character, only doing what he needed to save England and usher in a new era of stability.

Will Riveracre, or as he is now known in Book Two, Sir Wilfrid de Walsingham, having been knighted and land bestowed to him, is content to live out his days with his family. The current King William Rufus has other plans for him and needs constant support to field off his enemies in foreign and domestic entanglements. Wilfrid is unable to have a moments peace when William is king and longs for the day he can finally be left alone in his advancing years. Trying his best to walk a line between his family and his loyalty to the King, he eventually finds himself a prisoner for two years, scared and alone and far from home. When William Rufus meets his demise in the forest with the mysterious arrow and Wilfrid is brought before the new King Henry, he is amazed to discover he has been tasked with Henry's request of finding out what happened and clearing Henry of any wrong doing in the death of his brother.

Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie (A Hercule Poirot Mystery): Read Christie 2024 March Selection

 

Publication Date: 

March 29, 1928

Length:

296 pages

Summary:

This was the Read Christie 2024 selection for March but I didn't quite get to it in time to review that month. Better late than never though, right? 

The story begins with a prologue that seems to purposefully confuse the reader. Shady characters seem to be discussing jewels and the reader can't quite grasp if these are victims or villains. When Book One begins, Poirot boards Le Train Bleu, the Blue Train, traveling to the French Riviera. So does heiress Katherine Grey and Ruth Kettering, an American who is also wealthy but leaving her husband due to the problems in their marriage. She is also in love with another man and wants to meet up with him. When Ruth is found strangled to death suspicion is immediate due to the priceless jewels she was carrying. Her father, Rufus Van Aldin, had given her an incredibly expensive ruby dubbed "Heart of Fire" and it is found to be missing. He hadn't wanted her to take the jewel with her and is heartbroken that it may have been the cause of her death. 

Can't Wait Wednesday: The Pyramid Murders by Fiona Veitch Smith (Miss Clara Vale Mysteries Book Three)

 

For this week's Can't Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings, I'm featuring, The Pyramid Murders, by Fiona Veitch Smith.  If you subscribe to Amazon Prime the first two in the series are free to read. So I might go back and tackle those too. 

Hope you have found something you can't wait to read this week! 

June 13, 2024

Historical Mysteries

Description courtesy of Amazon

A night at the museum, a dead body and a trail to Cairo. Sounds like a case for Miss Clara Vale!

1930: Miss Clara Vale, chemistry major turned detective, is taking a night off from sleuthing to attend the launch party of a new exhibition at the Hancock Museum in Newcastle. But when the piece de resistance, a rare ornate sarcophagus, is finally opened and it turns out the mummy inside it is a fake it looks like there is no rest for Clara after all...

Later that night, she is summoned back to the museum and asked to investigate a series of stolen Egyptian artifacts. Using her scientific and forensic prowess, Clara, with her trusted assistant Bella in tow, embarks on a trail that will lead from Newcastle to London and along the river Nile to Cairo.

But she is not the only person hunting for stolen antiquities and when she uncovers an international smuggling ring with a penchant for murder, it becomes clear that Clara's own life is in danger too.

Can Clara catch the smugglers before they get away with another murder among the pyramids?

Murder at the Grand Hotel by Isabella Bassett (Lady Caroline Mysteries Book One)

 

Publication Date: 

July 1, 2022

Length:

214 pages

Summary:

Lady Caroline is used to the finer things in life. When she misbehaves and is sent to spend her days with her Uncle Albert on the French Riviera, she is sure being his personal secretary will be a total bore. But she is determined to make the best of things and when her eccentric Uncle, member of the Royal Society for Natural History Appreciation, shares he is in a contest with the other members to win an odd prize for finding an obscure flower, she cheerfully agrees to step in and do the work to find it. 

Little does she know that her mission will change to dead bodies instead of plants and when a woman is poisoned and dies she is determined to find out why and who did it. With help from her growing love interest, James, another secretary, and the clues she can gather while observing the other members of the hotel, she begins to piece together a more complicated scheme than she thought. When a well known architect falls from a cliff's edge Lady Caroline believes the two deaths are connected. The background cast of characters include a Polish Count and a society woman wishing to marry Caroline off to her son. Also, she has to deal with being a suspect herself at one point. She is amazed at her Uncle's total lack of interest in the murders and his laser focus on his flower gathering mission. She presses on to solve the case before anyone else gets hurt.

My Thoughts:

Having enjoyed the other Isabella Bassett book, Secret of the Scarab, I wanted to read the first book in the series. It was a cute, cozy mystery and has a better, well written style and plot than some I've come across. I enjoy these books as an escape between heavier ones but appreciate them if they have some semblance of time and place. Bassett is great with this. I found the mystery engaging, her Uncle endearing, and Lady Caroline plucky without being annoying. The background of the characters and the location and storyline were detailed and the plot moved along nicely. Some of my favorite parts were the ones about the Society and its members because I already knew they factor into subsequent books. The clues were misleading and guess worthy too and I did not figure out the ending or who committed the crimes. It was well hidden inside a lot of other clues that I didn't see coming. Lady Caroline also has a friend, Poppy, an uber society girl who is funny and adds to the humorous side of the story. I will be reading Bassett's other books for sure. This is a great cozy mystery series so far. 

Stacking the Shelves #29

 

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 :) 

I love finding historical fiction about people who are rarely given the spotlight. And especially queens. Anne of Denmark became the wife and queen of James I of Scotland and Great Britain but I have found very little information about her life. This book is short at only 170 pages but according to what I've seen it seems well researched. It was on sale on Kindle for $0.99 this week. Hoping it's good and I learn something interesting about a new subject. 

I absolutely adore the cover of this book. The title also caught my eye and the fact that it was written in the 1930's is special too, making it a classic. I have never heard of this author but the book is described as part of the golden age of whoodunit detective fiction and is a country house murder mystery. Reading it in Texas in May when it is already super hot is fun and puts you in the Christmas in summer feel. It is part of the British Library Crime Classics that are being reissued. On sale this week for Kindle at $1.99. I've already started it and plan to review it soon in June.

Normally this era doesn't interest me much. But the "epic family saga" tag and beautiful cover had me interested enough to read the "about this book." It was on sale this week on Kindle for $0.99 so I bought it. At 809 pages it is definitely an epic and I'm not sure when I'll get to it. Being the first in a series is always good for me too as I prefer to start at the beginning. The three book trilogy runs in time from the German Empire in 1871 to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 when I was in high school. It looks like a good read to dig into.