Joyce's mystery and fiction book reviews with some non-fiction too!

I have read and enjoyed many books by Jill Mansell. In fact, Miranda’s Big Mistake was one of the first books that I ordered from England when it was not available where I live. I have gone on to read just about all of Mansell’s novels. (See my blog for reviews of some of these titles.)

Just One Look at You is vintage Mansell in all the best ways. This is a story that offers some lovely settings (including Venice), good characters, complex relationships, some sad times and more. I recommend it highly.

In these pages meet Fen, Leon, Disa, Hattie, Kyla, Jamie and others. Watch as their lives evolve and intersect. I think that readers will want the best for them within what is possible. (No spoilers, so no more) I know that I did.

Those who enjoy women’s fiction should definitely give this one a look.

Five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the publisher:

Venice. The perfect setting for romance, and for secrets to be shared.

Fen can’t believe her luck. A luxury holiday with her beloved grandmother Disa – what could be more delightful? It doesn’t cross her mind that she might fall in love. Or that love can bring complications . . .

Jamie can’t help it that women always fall for him, rather than for his kind-hearted friend Leon. Nor that only one of them got the looks (that would be Jamie). But how will he feel if the girl he’s drawn to only has eyes for Leon?

Disa has a secret. A few weeks ago, an old letter in a file revealed a shocking truth about her late husband. She’s come to Venice to find out more.

There’s news on the way that will reverberate through all their lives, as Jill Mansell’s joyful, heartbreaking new novel takes readers on a roller coaster ride of emotion – and makes us believe in love again.

Love for Just One Look At You:

‘Stunning, utterly beautiful . . . Jill at her absolute best. One of the most beautiful love stories I’ve ever read’ Jo Thomas

‘A wonderful, fulfilling ride on a tidal wave of emotion . . . Guaranteed to flood your heart with all the feels’ Milly Johnson

‘Sunshine in every line, a great big romantic read to sink into and enjoy – I loved it’ Faith Hogan

64 pages

Children’s Nonfiction

Four stars ****

Pub date: 13 October 2026

Description:

from the publisher

True stories of fearless explorers who changed the world! Includes an exclusive Explorer’s Passport to collect the journeys of today’s young adventurers.

Adventure, discovery, and courage: Brave Explorers takes young readers on a journey through time and space! From Marco Polo to Christopher Columbus, from Freya Stark to Margarita Salas, every page tells the extraordinary stories of men and women who dared to face the unknown.

Hidden inside is an exclusive Explorer’s Passport to customize and carry “on the journey,” where children can collect stamps and keepsakes, jot down fun facts, routes, and personal discoveries—turning reading into an interactive, creative adventure.

• Interactive Explorer’s Passport included for notes and curiosities.
• An Innovative Format: This illustrated large book with a bonus element is perfect for engagement and merchandising.
• Historical and Modern Learning: Features both historical and modern explorers—men and women—for an inclusive and engaging narrative.

---

A Note From the Publisher

Explorer’s Passport included as a bonus!
Features Historical and Modern Explorers: Includes both men and women—for an inclusive and engaging narrative.
Bright, Detailed Illustrations: Catches the eye and makes the book stand out on shelves.
Educational Approach: Blends history, geography, and culture in an accessible, stimulating way.
Large Format with Hardcover Finish: Ideal as a gift or collector’s item.
Short, Clear, Narrative Texts: Suitable for independent or shared reading.

My thoughts:

This title invites children to learn more about famous explorers. For each, there is a two page spread with lively illustrations. I like that those featured are from different cultures, places and times and that both men and women are found in these pages. Some explorers will already be known to the reader white others may be new to adults as well. Kids may be inspired to learn more about any favorites that they come to know in these pages.

There is a “passport” at the back which is a notebook where kids can record their own travels. Hopefully they will be inspired.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster-White Star for this title. All thoughts are my own.

#TheParisCookingSchool #NetGalley

The cover of this novel drew me right in. It promised exactly what I needed during a stressful time. In these pages I knew that I would find Paris and food. In addition, reading the book I found characters about whom I cared.

Sophie Beaumont really knows the city and its culinary world. The descriptions of both helped me to feel that I was walking in many neighborhoods and tasting many treats. The cooking school itself sounded so special that I wished it were real.

Readers most closely follow three characters and those around them, including their romantic interests. Each has a backstory that readers get to know as they spend time with Kate, Gabi and Sylvie. Readers will want to witness their growth and will hope that they find happiness.

It is very easy to recommend this title. I very much look forward to whatever this author writes next.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Alcove Press for this title. All opinions are my own.

Pub date: 06 August 2024

A Novel

by Fiona Davis

This is a repost from when the book was first reviewed

#TheStolenQueen #NetGalley

Mark you calendar for the pub date for Fiona Davis’s forthcoming new novel. I think that this may just be her best book yet. I thoroughly enjoyed The Stolen Queen.

As is often the case, the story is told in two time lines and in two countries. Interestingly, both time lines have characters in common.

Readers first meet Charlotte Cross when she is a young girl embarking on an adventure of a lifetime. She has left her society family behind to be part of a 1930s dig in Egypt. So much happens to Charlotte there in terms of both her professional and personal life, but readers need to find out all of this for themselves.

The second timeline takes place partly in NYC right around the time of the famous King Tut exhibition. Now Charlotte is working in the Egyptian section of the museum when a necklace becomes part of an exhibit and leads to many events.

In this second time line, readers also meet Annie. She has been an enabler to her mother. Unexpectedly Annie secures a position working for the very well known Diana Vreeland just in time for a major fashion event. As was true for Charlotte, things don’t go according to plan.

It is not long before Charlotte and Annie travel to Egypt together. There is, again, much that happens while they are there.

Davis handles all of the plot elements flawlessly. It is also clear that she did her homework in order to give this book a real sense of its historical authenticity.

Anyone who has enjoyed a novel by this author will want to read this title. My guess is that this one will also bring her many new fans.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group-Dutton for this title. All opinions are my own.

Pub date: 07 January 2025

Other books by Fiona Davis

A Masterpiece of historical fiction (Davis)

What happens to “The Chelsea Girls”? (Davis)

Bibliophiles rejoice: The Lions of Fifth Avenue A Novel by Fiona Davis

Do you know the story of “The Magnolia Palace”?

Just published: The Spectacular by Fiona Davis

This book comes highly recommended by three very trusted sources. See below:

“Gunasekera’s marvelous debut centers on New York City taxi driver Siriwathi ‘Siri’ Perera, who picks up a passenger headed to JFK, only to discover once they arrive at the airport that the man has been murdered in her backseat… Gunasekera, an attorney with the Innocence Project, pulls no punches when it comes to detailing the hostility Siri faces from law enforcement, but she never loses sight of the brain-teasing fun inherent to the best locked-room mysteries. Meanwhile, Siri herself—an only child who deferred her dreams of law school in order to become the family breadwinner—is a character well worth spending time with. Readers will be rapt.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“This is a richly detailed, well-crafted debut mystery led by an appealing amateur detective duo in Siri and Amaya. Recommended for fans of Nita Prose and Jesse Q. Sutanto.”—Library Journal, starred review

“Mystery readers should be drawn to this lively loner, perhaps the most engaging whodunit heroine since Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone…A charming debut mystery told with panache.”—Kirkus Reviews

The publisher describes the book this way:

When the last fare of the night turns up dead in her backseat, a Sri Lankan American taxi driver works off the clock to clear her name in this mystery novel by debut author Yosha Gunasekera.

Siriwathi Perera doesn’t quite know where she’s going in life. She never expected to be a taxicab driver in New York City, struggling to make ends meet and still living with her parents at twenty-eight. The true-crime podcasts that keep Siri company as she drives don’t do much to make up for the legal career she imagined for herself, or the brother she’s grieving.

When public defender Amaya Fernando gets into her cab, they make a quick connection through their shared Sri Lankan roots. Siri, whose social circle is limited to her grade-school best friend, Alex, thinks things might finally be looking up with this new potential friendship. But she’s suddenly dropped into her own true crime when she discovers her next passenger murdered in the backseat, and she has to call Amaya sooner than she’d expected.

Pinned as the obvious and only suspect, and desperate to clear her name, Siri chases down leads across the boroughs of New York City with Amaya’s help. But with her court date looming, they have just five days to find out who really killed the midnight passenger—or Siri’s life will be over before she can even truly live it.

The author:

Yosha Gunasekera is a Sri Lankan American attorney who represents people who have spent decades behind bars for crimes they did not commit. She teaches a course at Princeton University focused on wrongful conviction and exoneration. Yosha is a former Manhattan public defender and has written and spoken extensively on the criminal legal system.

My thoughts:

I loved the idea of a New York City set book that has a taxi driver as a protagonist. These often nameless people help to keep those who live in a very populated place to get where they need or want to go. How clever to think of finding a passenger dead after a ride. The case will have to be solved or driver Sirwathi will be in deep trouble. She may be found responsible for the murder of her passenger, a public defender.

Sirwathi, the self-deprecating main character connected with this passenger. They shared a Sri Lankin heritage.

Readers learn that Sirwathi loves true crime podcasts. Will the knowledge that comes from these help her to solve the case? Read this one to find out. Then hope that this might be the start of a series.

Many thanks to Berkley Publishing for the invite to this blog tour. Thanks too to NetGalley for this title. All thoughts are my own.

Pub date: 10 February 2026

Post first published on 10 February 2026.

#TheWhisperedWord #NetGalley

The Whispered Word is the second entry in the Secret, Book and Scone Society series.  The main characters’ secrets were fully described in the first book but a reader can still enjoy this one as a standalone novel.

What I enjoyed most about this book were the characters and the setting.  Yes, belief has to be suspended, but I would love to visit and spend time with Nora and her three closest friends.  Nora’s town, Miracle Springs. attracts people in need of saving and second chances.  Nora owns the local bookstore and is a very astute and well-versed bookseller.  There are many references to both fiction and non-fiction titles throughout the novel.  Nora herself is named for the character in Ibsen’s play.  Just a few of the titles mentioned in the novel include The Witch of Blackbird Pond, A Doll’s House, Harry Potter, One Snowy Day and a number of books on adoption and tidying up.

But of course, there is more than just books in this book.  Abilene comes to town and is a young girl who has had a difficult life and clearly has secrets of her own.  Has she committed crimes including murder?  There is also a shop, Virtual Genie that is offering to consign goods for people in the town.  It looks like a fantastic service but is there more to it?  You can probably answer these questions but finding out the answers is still fun.

The Whispered Word is about friendship, relationships, taking risks…and solving mysteries.  It is an excellent cozy.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.  I enjoyed my second visit with these characters .

#TheMoonstoneSister #NetGalley

464 pages

Historical fiction-Women’s fiction

Five stars *****

Pub date: 14 January 2027

My thoughts:

The Sea Stone Sisters was a five star book for me and I do not have an overabundance of those. So, when I was invited to read this second in the series (I think that there will be four in all), I was so excited that I wanted to pinch myself. I couldn’t decide whether to read this right away or save it for when I needed a good read during a stressful time. However, there was no way that I could wait until January so I have now read this and will have to wait for the third.

The background in brief is that very long ago, four sisters met a terrible fate. Stones in their memory that were meant to stand were instead knocked down by a selfish owner of a beautiful home (they obstructed his view). In the more recent past, the four sisters who were living there have been dispersed to different places and fates.

The first book in this dual time line series told the story of the oldest sister. With background in places including Scotland, Ceylon and Australia, it made for absorbing reading. Readers also met Roz and learned about how the two women’s history intersected. Those who read the first book will find references to Iris and Roz in this title. They will have that nice feeling of being insiders to a story. A lawyer from that first book also features here.

This time, the story focuses on Lily (in the more distant plot). Like all of the sisters, she has a ring that she inherited from her mother. The ring has some interesting properties. Watch for it.

Lily and Daisy thought that they would always be together, even as Iris and another sister have gone their separate ways. However, this is not to be. Lily finds that she is being sent to the South of France to live with a relative that she did not even know existed. She has both her struggles and joys over the course of the book from this point.

Background for Lily’s story includes her love of photography. This leads her to contact with a well-known photographer and some of the famous writers and artists who were in the area. There are also two men who will be important to Lily.

In the present, readers meet Clara. She has her own romance issues as readers learn. A researcher, she becomes involved in trying to learn more about photographer, LB, whom Clara suspects is Lily.

As in the first book, histories intersect. Readers will hope for some happy endings and will then eagerly await the next book.

I definitely rate this one five stars although I liked the first book just the teenisest bit more.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Headline for this title. All thoughts are my own.

Post first published on 12 August 2026.

Description

from the publisher

Wear the ring, take it with you wherever you go. It is your link to Skara and to your sisters and it will keep you strong.’

1931. When Lily Blackmore and her sisters are forced to leave their beautiful Scottish home of Skara, she hopes to at least remain with her younger sister Daisy, but instead finds herself on the Blue Train headed for life on the French Riviera, and an aunt she’s never met.
As she attempts to find her feet in this completely new world, Lily is faced with both the beauty and ugliness of life in Cannes. And, as a shadow starts to fall over Europe, she must learn to forge her own way forward.

Present day. Newly engaged and working on a job she loves, Clara Gibson had thought that everything was falling into place. But when her grandmother dies, and she is faced with an unthinkable betrayal, Clara finds herself desperately trying to escape her life.
When the newly discovered secrets of her grandmother’s life emerge, and demonstrate odd parallels to the mysterious 1932 photographer that haunts Clara’s research, she starts to uncover a long-forgotten story . . .

Four lost sisters. An epic journey home. Will you follow?

From the (American) Publisher

I have read so much historical fiction that takes place during WWII and its aftermath. This makes it easy to think that I could skip reading a new book set in that time period and you may think that as well but DON’T.  Paris Never Leaves You is an extraordinary novel.

From its visceral opening scene in which collaborators are shamed and attacked on a Paris street, and right on through the novel, this is an immersive, engaging and intriguing book. Within its pages readers will spend time with Charlotte and Vivi, a mother-daughter who survived the war and came to New York. The book is told in seamlessly interwoven timelines; there is one in which Charlotte works in a New York publishing house and Vivi is a fourteen year old school girl and a second that takes place during the war in Europe.

The characters in the novel are each brought to life from Horace, in a wheelchair, to Julian to so many more. The settings are also evocative. Readers will feel what it was like to scrounge for food and to reconsider moral stands in the Paris of the war. Book lovers will also enjoy the inside view of the world of publishing in the U.S.  that Ms. Feldman provides.

Early in the book, Charlotte is at a makeup counter where she is told that a certain product “will erase your past.” But, of course, the past cannot be erased. Should it be? Another provocative quote is when Charlotte says that she was not Jewish until Hitler made her so. What does this mean to her? How do we form identities? These are just some of the issues to ponder.

I give this book a solid five stars and highly recommend it. Readers will be drawn in and the novel will resonate with them even after they have read the last lines.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title in exchange for an honest review.

AND WATCH FOR ELLEN FELDMAN’S NOVEL

I am currently reading an ARC of this title and will be reviewing it soon. It is excellent.

#TheInklingsDetectiveAgency #NetGalley

Anyone who has stepped into Narnia, or traveled with a Hobbit, or read stories by the wonderful Agatha Christie and/or Dorothy Sayers, will, I think, be intrigued by this book’s cast of characters. They are most impressive.

The locations and settings in this historical mystery were also well done. I enjoyed being in the clubs, the pubs, Lewis’s home and more. It was easy to imagine each of these places.

The mystery itself is fine. It is just not what most made me want to read this one. That said, I have hopes that this will be the start of a series.

Also, the cover is gorgeous. I wanted to read this one as soon as I saw it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Christian Publishing for this title. All opinions are my own.

Pub date: 05 May 2026

Post first published on 24 December 2025

Description:

from the publisher

J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Agatha Christie, and other literary legends join forces to unravel a deadly conspiracy in this gripping mystery that sweeps from the halls of Oxford to the streets of London and the shores of Loch Ness.

In the streets of 1936 Oxford, dark forces are at play and members of a secret society keep turning up dead. After being called upon to help solve these murders, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and their fellow literary enthusiasts known around town as the Inklings trade their pens for magnifying glasses to catch this evasive killer. With time running out, they get a helping hand from mystery writers Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers to help unravel a sinister web of secrets. Can they crack the case before the murderer strikes again?

Packed with historical intrigue, mystery, and a cast of literary giants, this novel is a masterful blend of high-stakes drama. Dive into a world where the creators of fantasy and mystery confront a real-life menace in a race against time.

Pub date: 11 August 2026

Four stars ****

718 pages

My thoughts:

Those who enjoy romance fiction will swoon when they sit down with this free copy of Buzz Books Romance.

There are generous excerpts from twenty-four novels in these pages. I don’t read enough romance to recognize many of the authors but I may well be adding to my reading list after browsing here.

See the covers, read the summary, try the book. It is so easy.

I like that for each title there is a “heat scale.” This ranges from one, which is just a bit of touch (like handholding), to five which is where it becomes quite steamy. The scale allows the reader to choose books with which they are comfortable. In addition, a category is given for each book such as Enemies to Lovers, Dark Romance, Forced Proximity, to name a few.

Pick this one up if you want to explore this genre.

Many thanks to Buzz Books, Publishers Marketplace and NetGalley for this title. All thoughts are my own.