Can't Wait Wednesday: Murder By Invitation by Verity Bright (A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery) Book 15

 

For this week's Can't Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa  at Wishful Endings, I'm featuring Murder By Invitation by Verity Bright. I am currently finishing Book 7, A Lesson in Murder and enjoying it as always with these books. Eleanor, Clifford the butler, and Gladstone the bulldog are back for the new installment and although I'm choosing to read them in order, I want to promote these books for those who are ready for book 15. Hoping you've found something you can't wait to read this week!

September 27, 2023

Historical Mysteries

Description courtesy of Amazon books

Lady Swift has been cordially invited to a huge royal celebration in Little Buckford to toast the King’s birthday… but wait, is that a body in the village hall?

Lady Eleanor Swift and her loyal butler Clifford are busy lending a hand with preparations for the big day. The grand dining room at Henley Hall is overflowing with home-sewn flags, paint and royal rosettes. Even Gladstone the bulldog and his new friend Tomkins the ginger cat are invited!

But just days before the event Mr Prestwick-Peterson, the chairman of the celebrations committee, is found dead in the village hall: strangled with handmade red, white and royal blue bunting.

With the village hall in total disarray and a key part of the decorations missing, Eleanor wonders if someone dastardly is sabotaging the King’s birthday celebrations?Teaming up with her handsome beau Detective Hugh Seldon to question the local butcher, baker, and pub landlord it becomes clear that the meddlesome busybody Mr Prestwick-Peterson was not universally liked in charming Little Buckford. Indeed, the only mystery is why he wasn’t murdered before…

Searching Mr Prestwick-Peterson’s pristinely organised rooms, Eleanor is surprised to find a faded photograph of a beautiful young woman hidden within the pages of a novel. Could this be the key to untangling this very village murder? And can Eleanor catch the killer before the party is over for her, too?

A totally charming, unputdownable Golden Age murder mystery with characters readers will adore. Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Lee Strauss.

Stacking the Shelves #14

 

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 :) 

Several of my fellow book blog friends have recommended this author to me. Loving historical mysteries set in India I thought I needed to try it. Looking over the series this one appealed to me first even though it is book 3. Weird because I almost always like to read a series in order, but I just was more interested in this story line. I'm borrowing it from the Libby app and if I like it I might buy the first one. Hopefully it's a good one.

In keeping with my desire to read more straight history this year, I bought this biography on one of my favorite subjects...Eleanor of Aquitaine. I just can't seem to tire of her and have read several takes on her life including Jean Plaidy's The Courts of Love and Sharon Penman's excellent novel, Devil's Brood. But I haven't read a strictly biographical account before. Alison Weir is the best at this and so I'm going to give it a try. It is a very long, thorough book as hers always are so it might be awhile before it's read!

This is the Read Christie 2023 September choice. I wasn't too interested in last month's book but this one looks pretty good. And it's a Hercule Poirot mystery which are my favorite of hers. I'll go ahead and admit that while I prefer reading this I might borrow and download the audiobook to listen to when I'm short on time. Yes, I wrote a whole post on how I don't care for audiobooks but occasionally I cave and listen. David Suchet, who played Poirot for many years on the television series narrates too which is a lot of fun! Maybe I need to revise my original thoughts on audios :) 

Murder On the Orient Express by Agatha Christie (A Hercule Poirot Mystery)

 

Publication Date: January 1, 1934

Length: 256 pages

This is an exciting review for me. I have wanted to read this book for a very long time and the August choice for Read Christie just didn't interest me. I had originally wanted to read and review this in August but just didn't quite finish it in time. I consider this story to be the quintessential Agatha Christie mystery and I can hardly say I've "read Christie" without it. So it's a personal achievement and has taken way too long to accomplish. 

Detective Hercule Poirot has had to return to London from Instanbul and books passage on the Orient Express. His friend, Monsieur Bouc finds him a second class car but good friend that he is, decides to give Poirot his first class cabin instead. Traveling with them are several passengers who all appear to have different backgrounds and reasons for travel, as any train would contain. There is the English woman Mary Debenham, American businessman Samuel Ratchett, Princess Dragonmiroff, Count Andrenyi and his wife and many others. 

Early the next morning, Poirot hears noise from the compartment next door where Samuel Ratchett is bunking. Later, when the train becomes stranded in a snow drift, Ratchett is found dead and it is obvious the murderer must be on board. Several clues including a handkerchief with the letter "H" and a piece of paper with the words "member little Daisy Armstrong" are found which serve to ignite interest in a long ago forgotten case of child abduction and murder. Poirot has little time to investigate each passenger, each clue, and put them together before they are moving again and the suspect has a chance to get away. Along with Monsieur Bouc and one Dr. Constantine, another passenger, he sets out to solve the case. 

I don't want to reveal too much of the story as it would spoil things. I also realize the vast number of people who have read this book already or watched the movie already know everything. But just in case someone is reading this and doesn't know the story I'll stop there. I found that even though I'd seen the 2017 movie with Kenneth Branagh and knew how it ended I still enjoyed reading the book version. It is, after all, the original and a movie is just not the same. I found the ending in the book heartbreaking in a way I didn't with the onscreen version. The ending was a little more abrupt and having to picture the characters more in my mind, I think I grew more attached to them than I did in the movie. 

While this was definitely not my favorite Christie book (I actually found it got a little tedious in some parts) I know it is very popular and is a staple in the mystery genre. It's one of those books you just "have to read." And having done so, I can now call myself a real Christie connoisseur. Well, I like to think so anyway!

Stacking the Shelves #13

 

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 got this book for free which is my kind of deal! I had some Kindle credits and it was on sale for $1.99 already. It's the story of Maria Theresa and her daughters. The most famous of which is Marie Antoinette. I have been really neglecting history books this year and so this one looked like one to tackle. I hope I have the time and energy. Cozy mysteries and short historical fiction have been on my radar lately due to being incredibly busy. If you've read this one did you like it?

My Mom says she read the Thomas Costain books in high school and loved them. I have heard them recommended for years and I bought all four on the Plantagenets. This one in particular I'd like to read as it is hard to find good books about the first three Edwards. So in keeping with my theme of reading some straight history books, this one was added to my shelf. At only $1 on Kindle it is a steal!

This looks like a very unique historical mystery. The title and cover made me curious and I'd never heard of this author either. This is book one of the Joe Sandilands mystery series set in Calcutta in the 1920's. It looks like an original premise and lately I've been on the hunt for good historical mysteries with male detective characters. I love the female leads in cozy mysteries but for some reason I really prefer men in the grittier more serious roles. Maybe it's my fondness for Hercule Poirot?

A King Ensnared: A Historical Novel of Scotland (The Stewart Chronicles Book One) by J.R. Tomlin

 

Publication Date: November 16, 2013

Length: 288 pages

As I wrote on Sunday in my Stacking the Shelves post, I have seen Tomlin's books everywhere for years. I have had her Black Douglas series in my Kindle for a very long time. For some reason I just never was very interested in trying them. Probably because I've been immersed in the Crusades and the Plantagenets this time period in Scottish history just wasn't something I wanted to delve into. But looking for something different I decided to give this book a try. 

Young James Stewart is heartbroken at the death of his older brother, David Stewart, starved to death in a dungeon by his evil Uncle, the Duke of Albany who is plotting to seize power for himself. King Robert III is dying and in order to save James the decision is made to remove him from his scheming relatives' grasp. Before he can be taken to safety in France, he is captured at sea by pirates who take him to London where he is imprisoned by King Henry IV.  

Although he is deeply unhappy about his situation, James is nonetheless treated somewhat well by the King who resolves to educate him and treat him with some dignity. James grows to accept that he will probably not be let out anytime soon and as the years pass he tries to do the best he can with his frustrating circumstances. He trains as a knight, writes poetry, falls in love, and longs for Scotland and his birthright. When Henry IV dies and his merciless son Henry V becomes King, James finds himself often balancing a tightrope of demanding the respect he feels he deserves as Scottish royalty, while trying to hang on and not incur the wrath of the English monarch. He feels if he can be patient and focused enough, he might just find his way back to his homeland and all that awaits him there.

I learned a lot about this area of history that I didn't already know. I had read about James and his poetry but didn't really know all the background of his imprisonment and his interaction with both Henry IV and V. You really became fond of James due to his loyalty to his duty and his unwillingness to cave when faced with multiple attempts by the English to renounce his crown and be set free. James is very clear that he desperately longs for that freedom but will not be bought cheaply at the expense of his country. I thought he showed a lot of bravery and courage for his young age and know I couldn't fare as well as he did.

The book was just okay though. It had enough positives for me to recommend it if you are interested in the Stewarts and their early back story. And the author does a good job of describing life in the time and place she sets the story in. There is enough here for those who like battles as well as personal stories and like I stated above, you do become somewhat attached to James and his suffering. Unfortunately though it did become a bit slow and dragged as it went on. I found myself skimming towards the end. I know the next couple of books in the series deal more with life after his imprisonment and as he becomes King of Scotland so they might be better. There were too many battles and fighting for my taste too here but if you like that sort of detail it might be your thing. I'm not sure when I'll read the next one but the nice thing is they are fairly short, easy reads so you can pick it up and follow it without the need for deep concentration. Overall, a good, solid, well researched history story with a personal connection to the main character.