A Christmas Promise by Anne Perry (The Christmas Stories: Book Seven)

 

Publication Date: October 13, 2009

Length: 209 pages

It's time for a little Christmas in July! I only have two more Anne Perry Christmas books to read and with her recent passing, that will be all that is left. Normally I read them during the holiday season, but I was able to get this one now and wanted to go ahead with it. 

Having read several books in the Thomas Pitt series, this was an interesting backstory featuring their maid, Gracie Phipps as a young girl of thirteen and seeing her humble beginnings before she joins the Pitt household. Shortly before Christmas, Gracie finds little Minnie Maud Mudway, just eight years old, alone on a snowy street, frantic to find her beloved Charlie, a donkey that serves to pull the cart of her Uncle Alf. Charlie and Alf are missing and Minnie Maud worries something terrible has happened to them. Gracie feels an immediate instinct to help and doesn't want to leave Minnie Maud on her own. 

As the two girls start to do a little digging into what might have happened, they find that Alf didn't take his usual route and aren't sure why. It appears that whatever befell him it was something unplanned and since it is an unfamiliar path, they aren't sure who would recognize him or be able to assist them. They set out to follow the scant clues they have and eventually are given some insight into what Uncle Alf was carrying in his cart and that the mysterious object could be something sinister. It is a golden box, but what is inside is anyone's guess. How is the box related to Alf's disappearance? And how would anyone have known the different route he would take with Charlie?

Like all of Perry's Christmas novels, this one is short and has a fairly simple storyline. It also has a sweetness to it that makes it very endearing. Gracie and Minnie Maud's relationship blossoms as they work to find Alf and Gracie has a protective, mothering way with her even as she becomes exasperated with trying to protect Minnie Maud from her naive, childlike way of being too trusting with venturing out on her own to investigate. We are given insight into the home life of both girls and as always in these Victorian stories, are shown the harshness of life in 1800's London for those less fortunate. Perry has a way of depicting both the desperation of this time and place while demonstrating the resilience and scrappiness of the people. I always find myself simultaneously sad and admiring of the children in her stories. Gracie and Minnie Maud are so young but are expected to take on so much in order to survive. But this was the reality of the times. And very few adults have the time or patience to want to help them. It is made very clear how fast children had to grow up and learn to do for themselves. 

I enjoyed this story very much. The plot wasn't super detailed but there was enough to make it intriguing and mysterious until the end. And the ending is what makes her Christmas stories worth it. They can be dark and gritty but the last page will always put you in the holiday spirit. It was fun to read one in the summer for a change. 

Can't Wait Wednesday: Blood On the Tiber by B.M. Howard (The Gracchus and Vanderville Mysteries Book Two)

 For this week's Can't Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa  at Wishful Endings, I'm featuring Blood On the Tiber by B.M. Howard. I really hope I can get an ARC copy of this one! It's a mystery set in the 1700's with an exotic location and taking place during the Napoleonic Wars...everything good about an historical mystery. This looks like one to watch for sure. Hope you have found something you can't wait for this week :) 

August 10, 2023

Historical Mystery/Thriller

Description courtesy of NetGalley

When Rome falls, so too will the world…

Christmas, 1797. Erstwhile magistrate Felix Gracchus wakes in the French embassy beside the Tiber after a serious bout of malaria. Despite his poor health, the intricate puzzle of a local inheritance scandal proves irresistible.

To his delight Lieutenant Vanderville has been assigned to the embassy intelligence section, tasked with pacifying the rabidly pro-revolutionary local patriots who seek to overthrow the state and install a republic in Rome.

But a sudden, terrible development threatens to bring disaster upon the whole embassy. Can the pair resolve it before Napoleon Bonaparte brings the full force of the republic down upon Rome in vengeance? Will Vanderville succeed in persuading the patriots from setting the city aflame? And why, amidst all this chaos, is Gracchus more interested in finding a missing nurse?

An engrossing historical mystery rich in period detail and fascinating characters, perfect for fans of Steven Saylor and C. J. Sansom.

A title in the Gracchus & Vanderville Mysteries series

Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie: A Hercule Poirot Mystery, Book Twenty-Three (Read Christie 2023 July)

 

Publication Date: June 1941

Length: 256 pages

I had heard of this book before and one friend said it was her favorite Christie book. So I was excited to finally read it. I liked the title too, as you don't normally think of "evil" in broad daylight. 

Arlena Marshall is the kind of woman other women don't like. She is beautiful and flirtatious, always the center of attention in any room she walks into and generally vapid of real substance. When Hercule Poirot travels to Devon on holiday he encounters her along with several other vacationers at the seaside hotel they are staying in. When Arlena is later found strangled on a secluded beach, Poirot suspects jealousy as the motive. He begins investigating her suspicious death, along with the local inspector. There are many suspects to choose from.

Staying at the hotel and interacting with Arlena are her husband Kenneth and her step-daughter Linda, Rosamund Darnley, who used to have a relationship with Kenneth, Patrick Redfern and his wife Christine, Odell and Carrie Gardner, the Reverend Stephen Lane, Horace Blatt, Major Barry, and Emily Brewster. There are triangles to be explored: Linda loathes her step-mother , Rosamund has a past with Kenneth, and the others all have their opinions of Arlena which are anything but flattering. Her death, while shocking in its brutality, is not surprising to any of the guests gathered there.  

As Hercule interviews them all and zeros in on his theory of the likely culprit, he finds everyone had a seemingly plausible alibi. From typing letters to recreational activities, all those present seem to have been unable to have followed Arlena and killed her. Patrick Redfern and Emily Brewster were the two who found her body and therefore the most likely to have been involved, although at the outset it doesn't appear they are guilty of anything other than trying to help. Strange happenings also bother Poirot, such as a bottle being thrown out of a window, narrowly missing Brewster, and the sound of someone running a bath around noon, an odd time to be sure. As he continues his investigation, Poirot realizes the little details are all linked and add up to a clever plan that is difficult to prove. 

This book was fun to read. I enjoyed the mystery and the ending is really ingenious. I would never have figured it out. There are so many little red herrings along the way that I predicted the ending two or there times and was wrong on all of them. The guests' discussions about Arlena Marshall and her "type" of woman were something you'd still hear today in a circle of gossip, and the relationship of the Gardners was comical. Mrs. Gardner talks incessantly and when she asks her husband anything his reply is always, "Yes, dear." It becomes cute and endearing throughout the book. Poirot was great as usual and he really is my favorite out of all the detectives Christie created.

This was a great summer read for the Read Christie challenge. Looking forward to the next one!

 

Stacking the Shelves #9

 

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 jogs your memory of something you want to read. Enjoy your reading this week :)

I have become very interested in the lives of the rich and famous during the Gilded Age. The Vanderbilts, the Astors...they are just fascinating families. This story chronicles the rise and fall of a family trying to marry their daughters into the upper crust of New York society circa 1870's and how they find out things aren't always as golden as they seem. 

This is the Amazon Prime Historical Fiction free read choice for July. It is about a woman escaping the Irish famine of the 1840's, a subject that always interests me. She goes to America and has to make hard choices to survive. Yes, it's been done many times, but I thought it looked worth giving a try. Just skimming through it so far it may be a little dark and gritty for me though.

This is one of my favorite cozy mystery series. I am a sucker for the colorful covers and the cute characters. The mysteries are always great fun to solve too. This is book 13 and I am only on book 7 so it will be awhile before I read this one. I can't help it...I'm going in order because they do build on one another with Ellie's love life especially. But this one was absolutely free this week! So of course I had to buy it. 

The Secrets of Ashmore Castle by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles (Book One of the Ashmore Castle Series)

 

Publication Date: August 30, 2022

Length: 526 pages

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles has an extensive collection of works and seems to be historically accurate so I wanted to give this series a try. Also, it is set during a time and place that I love with a Downton Abbey feel. I am definitely a fan of series books, so knowing if I liked it there would be more was a plus.

In the year 1901, Giles Stainton is happily living his life in Egypt, working among the archaeological ruins and far away from the family drama back in England. The son of an Earl, Giles has no wish to return anytime soon but when his father is unexpectedly killed in a hunting accident, he knows he must return to the family estate to take up the running of it and all the drama that goes with it. Upon his arrival he soon becomes aware that his father has not managed the money well and the home and its surroundings are in danger of being lost. Giles tries to find a way to salvage things but eventually comes to the conclusion that the only way forward is to find an heiress to marry who also possesses a large enough income to save the Stainton heritage. 

Meanwhile, the servants below stairs are dealing with their own issues. Newly arrived sewing maid Dory is tormented by the arrogant, ambitious footman, James, who fancies himself for grander things. She must work to fit in with all the many personalities she encounters and to not lose hope that she will be able to find her place in the intimidating world of serving a prominent family in style.

In addition to the family home, Giles has two sisters to look after and a wayward brother, Richard who returns to stay and help him run things. His newly widowed mother expects him to be practical and marry for the good of the family and his prospects seem to be many as the new "coming out" season is approaching with several promising debutantes. As Giles meets the young ladies he is introduced to two in particular, Kitty and Nina, who catch his attention. Nina he finds especially interesting but learns early on that she is not in fact an heiress with money but a companion of Kitty's, the one with the real income. Giles must decide if he can put aside his apathy for marrying anyone to fulfill his duties. 

The storyline in this book is minimal and from what I gathered it was really to set up the main characters and their roles in order to continue with the coming books. I felt like there was definite substance there though because you really got some insight into the thoughts and motivations behind the characters and their actions. As an example, there is a moment beautifully described in which Giles's sister Alice spends time with an unlikely love interest and the slow unfolding of their budding feelings is told in great detail. I came away from that chapter really feeling and seeing their surroundings in the countryside and the differences in their class as a barrier between them. So even though there wasn't a lot of action per see it was a deeper meaning that came through.

If you are looking for a book that wraps things up neatly in the end and then continues on with the next, new phase this probably isn't the book for that. But if you enjoy beginning the first of a series in which you become invested in the people and want to know what becomes of them you will enjoy reading this as a starting point and continuing with the following two books. Book three is out in August and I featured it on this week's Can't Wait Wednesday.