Patti Callahan Henry’s novel, Becoming Mrs. Lewis, is one of my favorite books of all time. I similarly loved Once Upon a Wardrobe. Now I want to read every title of hers. So, I was very happy to spend time with this novel.
The Secret Book of Flora Lea is a book that I enjoyed very much. I found that I wanted to read it slowly so as to savor the story and the time that I got to spend with the characters. I also delighted in the many literary references that were scattered through these pages. (Mecklenburgh Square, a pen of Virginia Woolf’s and many more)
Henry creates a fully realized world in this novel, both in her characters’ pasts and presents, but also in Whisperwood, the special place that two sisters shared in their imaginations.
This is a story with a timeline during WWII and another that begins in 1960. In the 30s, Flora and her older sister, Hazel, are sent to the countryside to keep them safe from London’s bombs… but something happens to Flora. This leaves Hazel alone and bereft. How and why did Flora disappear…and what is the meaning of a book that Hazel “borrows” from her employer? Readers, start here and then you will want to keep going.
This is the sort of novel that will resonate with its readers. I think that they will both like and admire Hazel as she goes on a quest. I highly recommend this one.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria books for this title. All opinions are my own.
Lisa See has written many works of historical fiction yet this is the first book of hers that I have read. It won’t be the last.
Ms. See tells an absorbing story and one that is filled with historical detail and, numerous characters and aspects of Chinese culture. Her settings come to life so gorgeously. Early in the book, the protagonist is traveling to Shanghai. I could feel her seasickness and claustrophobia. I think I was as eager as she was to get outside for some air. The author’s words made this voyage so vivid.
Characters are a strength of this writer. They are complex, multidimensional, interesting and relatable, despite the fact that they lived long before us. For example, the protagonist’s mother dies very early in the story. I had been admired her and was upset when she collapsed. The why of this was historically accurate and tragic to those of our present day. I could feel the daughter’s grief. Another example… a concubine was living in the home. She, too, was not a cardboard figure but rather a woman with feelings, education and a wish to help this grieving girl.
These are examples from early in the book but so much more follows. This is a long and involving novel. Along the way, readers will learn much about the China in the 1400s.
Readers are introduced to Yunxian and her friend/colleague Meiling . Yunxian has a life in which she tries to balance her love of medicine with the traditional women’s roles of the time. Readers will hope that she can achieve all that she wants.
Highly recommended to fans of historical fiction. I know that I will now read more titles by this author.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for this title. All opinions are my own.
I have been reading books by Elizabeth George ever since her very first which was titled A Great Deliverance. I found many of the books to be quite excellent and hard to put down. Others have been “misses” for me. This title is somewhere in the middle.
What I liked:
I enjoyed spending time with the many characters whom I had gotten to know in the earlier books. These include Thomas Lynley and Barbara Havers who have investigated numerous crimes together (although I think that the class differences may be overplayed. Also, is Britain so formal that after all this time, Barbara never calls Lynley by first name, even when away from work and a guest in his house?) There are also members of Tommy’s family in these pages and it was nice to see them.
Other characters that I was glad to see included Daidre (a one time love interest of Tommy. She has a significant back story) and Bea (another detective who has a lot going on in her personal life).
I liked the setting in Cornwall. Here readers get to spend time at Lynley’s ancestral home. It is in need of a serious cash infusion.
What I liked less:
The book is very long at 640 pages and, I think, could have used some editing.
Not spoilers because readers learn this early on (but skip if concerned).
Three male characters are involved with women who are significantly younger than they are. Yes, comparisons can be made but it seems unnecessary to me to have this plot repeat.
I did not find many of the characters likeable.
I wish that I had cared more for the victim.
Final comments:
I spent a lot of time reading this book. I wish that I had liked it more. I hope that George’s next book will be better as I will almost definitely pick it up.
If any blog readers, read this one, I would love to know your thoughts
From the publisher:
Description:
from the publisher
A new and highly anticipated Inspector Lynley TV series releasing this fall from BritBox
Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers and Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley are back in the next Lynley novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth George.
Michael Lobb has just been found dead on the floor of his family’s tin & pewter workshop. It’s suspicious enough that his body was found by a representative of Cornwall EcoMining, a company keen on acquiring his family’s land, and it’s made even worse when he’s revealed to have been the majority owner of the business and the sole obstacle preventing a deal from being made. But it doesn’t take long for Inspector Beatrice Hannaford to unearth the layers of estrangement that surrounded Michael in his final days, pointing suspicions elsewhere. In comes Kayla, a young woman half Michael’s age, who has just been made his widow.
Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers are brought in to help solve the crime and search for justice in a community where lust, greed, and family traditions collide with devastating consequences.
Editorial reviews:
Praise for A Slowly Dying Cause and Elizabeth George
“George again delivers a winner…this is George at her best; she delivers a stunning must-read for Lynley fans new and old.” —Booklist (starred review)
“Plenty of intriguing twists and turns that will leave the reader guessing. Trademark George, with a satisfying resolution that’s a long time coming.” —Kirkus Review
“[George] is an essential writer of popular fiction today.” —The Washington Post
“[George is] one of the reigning queens of the genre.” —Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
“Elizabeth George is a superstar of the crime-fiction world.” —The Seattle Times
“It’s tough to resist the pull of [George’s] storytelling once hooked.” —USA Today
“George can do it all, with style to spare.” —The Wall Street Journal
“[Lynley is] one of the greatest character portraits in contemporary crime fiction.” —The Boston Globe
The book is, also as ever, too long by a quarter, but it’s got plenty of intriguing twists and turns that will leave the reader guessing. Trademark George, with a satisfying resolution that’s a long time coming. Kirkus Reviews
The author:
from Amazon
Elizabeth George is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty-one psychological suspense novels, five young adult novels, two books of nonfiction, and two short-story collections. Her work has been honored with the Anthony and Agatha awards, two Edgar nominations, and both France’s and Germany’s first prize for crime fiction. She lives in Washington State.
This book is just the thing for a quick smile. The poems are all very short and organized by subject. Some of these are politics, money, marriage, sport, family, food & drink and many more.
The poems are witty with a dash of sarcasm and puns. I have enjoyed paging through. This is poetry of the every day, very easy to understand.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Livingston Press at the University of West Alabama for this title. All opinions are my own.
Pub date: 24 October 2025
From the publisher:
The title says it all: humorous verse cover a variety of topics from Family to religion to money and diet. The verses are short, punching, and PUNishing. You’ll enjoy them all.
About the author:
from Amazon
Charles Ghigna – Father Goose® lives in a tree house in the middle of Alabama.
He is a poet, children’s author, nationally syndicated feature writer, and the author
of more than 5000 poems and 250 books and anthologies for children and adults from
the 1990 Pulitzer Prize nominee Returning to Earth to the popular children’s books
THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR’S FIRST POEMS illustrated by Eric Carle
and THE FATHER GOOSE TREASURY OF POETRY: 101 Poems for Children.
His books are published by Random House, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster and others.
His poems for adults have been published in numerous journals and magazines including
Harper’s, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, The Saturday Evening Post and The Wall Street Journal.
His poems for children appear in Highlights for Children, Cricket, Ranger Rick, Humpty Dumpty,
Jack and Jill, Spider, Ladybug, Babybug, Caterpillar, Children’s Digest and The School Magazine.
Ghigna served as poet-in-residence at the Alabama School of Fine Arts, instructor of creative writing
at Samford University, and has received fellowship grants and various awards and recognitions
from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Mary Roberts Rinehart Foundation,
the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Library of Congress.
A popular speaker at schools, conferences, libraries, he has spoken at the American Library in Paris,
and at schools and conferences in South America, Alaska, and throughout the U.S. and overseas.
The Christmas Murder Game gives readers the chance to enjoy a variant on a locked room mystery with the added bonus of both the Christmas season and some side puzzles for solving. These extra puzzles are things like anagrams.
Lily is in her thirties and is a designer of corsets, many of which she reproduces from historical sources. She spent a great deal of time at Endgame House when she was young but has not wanted to return there since her mother’s death…was that a murder?
When Lily’s aunt dies, she wants Lily and her cousins to come to the manor over the festive season. While there, they are set a series of tasks which will require their solving skills with a lot at stake; the winner will become the new owner of the house. Oh, by the say, there will be a number of deaths over the twelve days of Christmas.
Whodunnit? Why? This was a fun read as I waited for answers. I also enjoyed Ms. Benedict’s images. For example, Lily talks about wanting to make a briefcase shaped corset for lawyer, Isabelle. She describes a housekeeper as something like a candy cane without the sweetness.
I enjoyed this book and recommend it to those who would simply like to be entertained.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this title. All opinions are my own.
Interspersed with riddles and puzzles that both Destiny and the reader must solve, A Most Puzzling Murder is a one-of-a-kind mystery that will leave you guessing and gasping until the very last page!
Destiny Whip is a former child prodigy, world-renowned enigmatologist and very, very alone. A life filled with loss has made her a recluse, an existence she’s content to endure until a letter arrives inviting her to interview for the position of Scruffmore family historian. Not only does an internet search for the name yield almost nothing, it’s a role she never applied to in the first place!
She decodes the invitation’s hidden message with ease, and its promise to reveal her family secrets proves too powerful a draw for the orphaned Destiny, who soon finds herself on Eerie Island. It’s a place whose inhabitants are almost as inhospitable as the tempestuous weather. The Scruffmores themselves turn out to be not much better, a snarled mess of secrets and motives connected by their mistrust for one another.
Their newly arrived guest proves to be just as much an enigma to them as they are to her. While Destiny slowly works to unravel the mysteries hidden throughout the ominous castle, she struggles to interpret disturbing nightly visions of what is to come. In the midst of cryptic ciphers, hidden passages, and the family’s magical line of succession, Destiny is certain of two things: one of the Scruffmores is going to die and she’s running out of time to stop it.
Start reading:
CHAPTER 1
Destiny
Sunday, 9:57 a.m.
Destiny Whip warily eyes her bedside table, thinking how it could easily be mistaken for a miniature graveyard, what with all the little pills neatly lined in staggered rows, positioned upright like tiny headstones. It certainly feels as though she’s regarding the burial ground of her hopes and dreams, haunted by the specter of the enormous potential she’s so dismally failed to live up to.
When you’re declared a child prodigy, everyone expects you to go far in life, but all Destiny has managed today is a slow shuffle to and from the bathroom. Even that required Herculean reserves of energy.
Balancing her laptop on her knees, she reaches to the farthest side of the bed for her emotional-support urn, pulling it close and tucking it into her armpit as though cuddling a teddy bear. She kisses the top of the teardrop shape, the metal cold against her chapped lips.
Bex appears in Destiny’s doorway, leaning her head against the frame. “Good morning.”
Her best friend is still too scrawny, but not nearly as emaciated as she was a year ago when all she feasted on was beauty magazines and models’ Instagram pages rather than anything resembling food. Bex looks mostly healthy again, her long chestnut hair gleaming, the hollows of her cheeks no longer reminiscent of sinkholes.
“You okay?” Bex asks, the corners of her mouth turned down.
It’s the anniversary of the accident today, one year somehow crawling by on scraped knees.
Some people act like severe depression is a tarnish, one that can be polished off with the application of enough elbow grease. Luckily, Bex isn’t one of them.
Destiny tries to speak, but a knot of regret is so tangled up in her throat that the words don’t stand a chance.
Her laptop suddenly squawks with an incoming video call. In the months that Destiny has been seeing Dr. Shepherd, they’ve never once had a virtual consultation over a weekend. But today is going to be a tough one, which is why the psychiatrist insisted on the appointment.
As the ringing continues, Destiny gently places the urn beside her and instinctively reaches for her notebook before paging to the list of tasks the doctor assigned last month.
Bex sidles up next to her, reading over her shoulder.
1. Leave the apartment once a day to go for a walk or grab a coffee.
2. Reach out to an old friend or colleague to suggest a meetup.
3. Replace all the dead plants.
4. Keep a dream journal about the white-haired ghost woman.
5. Email the council expressing your wish to return.
6. Accept one of the consultancies that you’ve been offered (one that doesn’t require travel).
7. Work on forgiving Nate.
8. Limit your interactions with Bex.
Bex side-eyes the last item on the list. “Rude,” she huffs. “You’d think I was a bad inf luence or something.”
Rather than answering Bex or the incoming call, Destiny thinks of how she’s never f lunked an assignment in her entire life. Always top of her class, and despite being admitted to university as a twelve-year-old, Destiny cannot fathom this degree of failure.
She’s ticked nothing off the list, not even throwing away the plants whose shriveled corpses goad her, their untimely deaths undoubtedly due to the curtains constantly being drawn tight. That, and Destiny forgetting to water them.
The laptop’s ringing grates on Destiny’s nerves, but she can’t force herself to answer and face Dr. Shepherd’s disappointment. It will be carefully concealed, of course, with the psychiatrist gently pointing out there’s always next week, or the week after that, to achieve these seemingly simple goals. But it doesn’t matter how much of an extension Destiny is given.
It’s no use.
For how can she possibly cut ties with Bex, who’s her dearest, not to mention only, friend?
Plus, there’s no way the Council of Enigmatologists will take her back after she’s been AWOL for so long. Each time an envelope drops through the mail slot, Destiny fully expects it to be a letter informing her that they’ve completely revoked her membership. It hurts to remember how thrilled she was to be appointed president of the prestigious group just thirteen months ago, and how she, Bex, and Nate all splurged on a fancy dinner to celebrate.
When the call finally drops, Bex exhales, a long whoosh of defeat. “I know I shouldn’t enable you with all the talking, but it’s not like I can call anyone on your behalf.”
They both look down at the wallpaper on the home screen of Destiny’s laptop.
It’s a photo that was taken thirteen years ago when Destiny was eight. In it, her mother’s arm is f lung across Annie’s shoulders, happiness radiating from the two best friends in waves. Destiny’s eyes fill with tears as she studies her mother’s straight black hair and pale skin, and those enormous glasses obscuring most of her face.
Jutting her chin at Destiny’s mother, Bex murmurs, “I wish I’d known Liz.”
Destiny nods before turning her attention to Annie, with her striking Afro and beaded shoulder-duster earrings, and her smile as bright as the sun.
The image was captured two weeks before Liz died. A year later, the paperwork went through to officially make Annie Destiny’s second adoptive mother. Their deaths were a wrenching loss, a tearing in the fabric of Destiny’s being that she never quite stitched back together.
There were times in the before when Destiny experienced the sting of loneliness, that awful yearning of the one forever stuck outside, nose and palms pressed against the cold glass, gazing in at what belonging looked like: foreheads bent together, raucous laughter elicited by inside jokes, sentences finished by those who knew you best.
But this is not loneliness, in the same way that a drop of water is not a deluge, the way a sigh is not a hurricane.
“I’m so sorry that you’re having such a rough time of it,” Bex says, reaching out to tuck a f laming red curl behind Destiny’s ear. She freezes upon seeing Destiny’s expression, her hand hovering like a ghost between them. “A year is a long time, though, and Dr. Shepherd is right despite the fact that she clearly has it in for me. You need to move on.”
God, that Bex is apologizing to her, of all people, when everything that happened was Destiny’s fault.
“No, I’m sorry,” Destiny says, her voice pulled so taut that it snaps. Seeing the pills all standing to attention—no longer a cemetery full of headstones, but rather an army ready to fight the last battle—Destiny reaches for the urn again, stroking it like a security blanket. “If you stop talking to me, Bex, I don’t know what I’d do.”
“Not gonna happen,” Bex replies breezily. And then more firmly she says, “Okay, it’s tough love time. You seriously need to shower because you’re stinking up the place. Plus, the kitchen needs cleaning. Those take-out containers have grown thumbs. I swear I caught them trying to hitch a ride to the nearest primordial swamp.”
Destiny laughs at how incredibly bossy Bex is.
Especially for a dead person.
Still, it’s reassuring that no matter how much has changed, some things stay exactly the same.
BIANCA MARAIS cohosts the popular podcast The Shit No One Tells You About Writing, which is aimed at helping emerging writers get published. She teaches creative writing through the podcast and was named a winner of the Excellence in Teaching Award for Creative Writing at the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies. She lives in Toronto, where she loves playing escape-room games and writing about strong female protagonists.
This book drew me right in, beginning with the first chapter. It offers a unique read with some “Choose Your Own Adventure” elements and puzzles for the reader to solve. These make it a perfect read for those who enjoy both doing logic puzzles and reading mysteries. I imagine that the author had fun with this title. Add it to a summer beach read list…or read it wherever you are.
Many thanks to the team at HTP for the invitation to this blog tour.
March 2026 Prepub Alert: forthcoming titles to know, share, and buy; plus a downloadable spreadsheet of all the titles and an Edelweiss catalog with plot summaries, author profiles, and more.
— Read on www.libraryjournal.com/story/Prepub-Alert-April-2026-Titles
!["Filled with conundrums, murder most foul...[it's] a puzzler's delight."—Nita Prose](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/aplus-media/vc/407e2299-aaa4-4048-ac21-5cfef9b3854c.__CR0,0,970,300_PT0_SX970_V1___.jpg)
Joyce's mystery and fiction book reviews with some non-fiction too! 