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

Four stars****

This book will absolutely delight cozy mystery fans and royal watchers. What a premise it is to have Queen Elizabeth discreetly investigating murder and mayhem. She may well become many readers favorite amateur sleuth.

In this third in the series, the Queen is in Norfolk for the festive December holidays. However, all is not well. A hand has turned up on the beach. The hand sports a specific signet ring which leads the Queen to name the owner of this body part. No, She is not squeamish. What happened? Who was responsible? Will justice be achieved?

The mystery itself is well done although I confess that, at times, I had a bit of trouble keeping all of the characters distinct in my memory. But, that did not pose any major difficulties and I very much enjoyed this book.

The delight of this novel lies in the insider feel that Bennett gives readers into royal life. The house and grounds of Sandringham feel accurately described as do events such as Boxing Day shoots and the exchange of gag gifts.

At Sandringham with the Queen are Anne, Charles, Beatrice, Phillip, Harry and others. No William however as he and Kate are at the Middletons. Every one is made to feel very real with personalities that reflect the sense that readers may already have of them.

As was true in the earlier titles in the series, 6 foot tall, Black, Rozie, the Queen’s APS, make her appearance. She is such a fun character.

I highly recommend this one. Readers who have not read the other books in the series will be fine here but many will want to go back to the first two just for the fun of it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for this title. All opinions are my own.

From the Publisher

A Novel

by Nina de Gramont

An e book bargain for 10 May 2024

Avid readers of Agatha Christie’s novels may well know that the famous author herself was the star/subject of one of her greatest mysteries. Why did Mrs. Christie disappear for all those days? It is not really a spoiler to say that she learned that Archie was having an affair. Still, where did she go? What made Archie seem so appealing to two very different women?

In addition to that mystery, who was the other woman? What was her story? Can readers empathize with her?

Learn more about both women in this historical fiction title. Nina de Gramont tells her story well. She makes Nan’s story believable and this is more her story than Agatha’s.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this title. All opinions are my own.

Pub Date 01 Feb 2022

From the Publisher

Death Comes to Marlow is the next in a series, following on The Marlow Murder Club. I enjoyed this title even more than that first book. The author knows how to tell a story; he is also known for TV’s Death in Paradise.

Anyone who enjoys Richard Osman’s series is sure to enjoy spending time with Judith, Becks and Susie. They help the police and specifically Tanika to solve another case in these pages.

Judith is in her 70s and deliberately eccentric. Susie finds it hard not to blurt and has a dog walking business, while Becks is married to the local vicar but…who is she seeing now?

One day, a man named Sir Peter invites Judith to his posh engagement party. He has had an intimation that he will be murdered and indeed he is. There are many suspects in the pages that follow, including his son and daughter, and his new fiancee, or is it someone else?

The plot just rattles along and I liked spending time with Judith and Co. I highly recommend this title to those who enjoy cozy mysteries and women of a certain age. I am eager for the next book by this author.

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

Five Stars

And, this just in from PBS

New Series: The Marlow Murder Club

A four-part adaptation of Robert Thorogood’s The Marlow Murder Club is coming to MASTERPIECE! Find out all about the new mystery starring Downton Abbey and Home Fires favorite Samantha Bond as  retired archaeologist Judith Potts, Jo Martin (Doctor Who) as local dog-walker and empty-nester Suzie, and Cara Horgan (The Sandman, Traitors) as unfulfilled vicar’s wife Becks.

FIND OUT

A Novel

by Robert Thorogood

An e book bargain for 10 May 2024

Readers who devoured Richard Osman’s two mysteries are pretty sure to enjoy The Marlow Murder Club. It has many similar good eccentricities while telling its own story.

As in Osman’s novels, our woman on the scene is a pensioner. Eccentric Judith Potts is in her seventies. She may be a little too fond of whisky. She sets crossword puzzles to earn money, lives in an inherited property and observes everything around her. She is also intrepid.

One night Judith hears a shot. Her neighbor Stefan is dead. It is quickly established that Stefan was murdered. His character is less clear; there are those who saw him as a good and kind man and others who did not. What was the nature of his association/relationship with an antiques business and Elliott, its proprietor? How, if at all, is Stefan’s death connected to another victim, a well-liked taxi driver named Iqbal? And, what about the people Judith gets to know along the way? There are a mysterious redhead, a dog walker and a vicar’s wife among others. It all crescendos in a satisfying story.

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

Pub date: 03 May 2022

A Novel of World War II

by Madeline Martin

An e book bargain for 10 May 2024

Pub Date 06 Apr 2021

As soon as I saw the title of this book, I wanted to read it. The magic word, of course, was bookshop. I also found the cover to be very appealing. So, I initially judged this one by its cover. That said, I wasn’t’ disappointed.

This novel’s protagonist, Grace, is a young woman who recently lost her mother. Along with her best friend, Viv, she moves to London to stay with a family friend. The two arrive only to have war declared not long after. Viv enters one of the women’s units while Grace remains with her mother’s friend. She takes a position in a bookshop and the shop is also a character in the book.

This story points out the importance of literature. In a lovely scene, Grace goes underground during a bombing raid where she begins reading Middlemarch to those who are stuck in the shelter over night. Those stuck there look forward to additional chapters when the next call to go underground comes.

Grace organized the bookshop and develops a relationship with its curmudgeonly owner. She studies way to make the shop successful and, for example, advertises buying books to read while unable to sleep in one’s beds due to the bombings.

The author does a good job of portraying wartime Britain. There are losses of people, property, usual foods, a way of life. There are also the joys of friendship, love, books and connection.

There are so many WWII set novels being written now. My theory is that, awful as the war was, it is more reassuring to look back at that time than our current one. For all of the suffering, the reader knows that eventually Britain will declare victory.

I think that this title is worth reading. Let me know what you think!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title. All opinions are my own.

Simone Gorrindo has written a memoir that is so absorbing that at times it read like a novel to me. In telling her story of being the wife of someone on active military duty, she is telling the story of many. However, it is also a story that is uniquely her own.

Simone, who wants to write, never expected to be a military wife or to move to Columbus, Georgia. She went because her husband had decided that he needed to be in the army. This put Simone in a small home near a base where she only knew one person at first, another wife. What will happen to Simone while her husband has his own experiences? Readers will want to know.

This is a story about the military, about the things we do for those we love/marry, how we find our way through situations we might not have chosen, the women who become our friends and more. I recommend it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for this title. All opinions are my own.

Pub date: 09 April 2024

An e book bargain for 09 May 2024

I was thrilled to receive the e-galley of this title from the publisher. Mainly this was because I have read and enjoyed all of the other books by this author. I was also delighted to be approved for a title by Berkley as this is a rarity for me.

Local Gone Missing was an absorbing book from the start. It followed many characters, among them, Charlie. He is quite the man but what is behind his facade? Early on readers learn that Charlie has a severely disabled daughter (Birdie) and a second wife (Pauline) who is quite attached to her creature comforts. What will “hail fellow, well met” personality, Charlie, do to meet his financial obligations?

Dee is a cleaner. As often happens in fiction, Dee observes a lot while she tidies. There is more to Dee than meets the eye.

Pete Diamond (is it a coincidence that his name is the same as Peter Lovesey’s detective? This is just an aside as I noticed the name). Pete is one of the weekenders, a group that the insiders do not welcome. He has organized a music festival. It does not go well. Read the book to find out why.

There are many other characters as well. They are both local and not. Many of them (and all of the ones in the book) have complex interrelationships.

Finally, there is Elise, a character whom I really liked. Elise is a police officer who has been on leave due to a bout with cancer. She is friendly with Ronny. The two insinuate themselves into the investigations that are going on in their beach community. Of course, the police are involved as well.

Much happens over the course of the novel. I was deeply immersed and eager to see what would happen next.

I can honestly say that this might be my favorite book by the author. Those looking for a suspenseful, slow burn summer read need look no further.

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

Pub Date 14 Jun 2022

May’s best thrillers — a suicide bomber in LA and a new Stephen King

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/733e70f0-af45-44a3-a904-cfcfa34bfd8c?shareToken=390e29c9a4aa620a8acbb18d5a9a45b7

Four stars ****

Emerson, Thoreau, Alcott (Bronson and Louisa May)…Margaret Fuller? Most readers of American fiction and essays know the first few names on this list. They may be less familiar with Margaret Fuller. However, by the time that readers close this book, they will fully appreciate her life with its successes, challenges and tragedy.

Young Margaret was a highly intelligent child, whose father took her education most seriously. When he died, Margaret was left feeling that she needed to support her family. She did that while also being part of the transcendentalist movement and more.

One aspect of the book that I really liked was the way in which icons became human. For example, early in the novel, Margaret visits Emerson and his second wife. Waldo, as Margaret is invited to call him, engages in a flirtation with Margaret. It is in moments like this, that readers get to look at great American figures in a new and less iconic way. Similarly, as the story opens, Thoreau is a young man working for the Emersons, and just beginning his writing career. Bronson Alcott is running a school, while Louisa May is still a child.

Pataki has written a number of works of historical fiction. She has another success on her hands here.

Many thanks toNetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this title. All opinions are my own.

From the publisher:

#TheBedtimeBookofMagicalCreatures #NetGalley

Kids with imagination will like looking at this title which can be read in order or enjoyed by looking at pages randomly. The illustrations are vibrant and engaging. The text is very readable.

Here are magical creatures from the land, water and air. There are many in these pages including a faun, a unicorn, a werewolf, Cyclops, troll, Jormungandr, selkie and the list goes on. I think that adults will be surprised by how much they may learn as well.

Many thanks to DK Children and NetGalley for this title. All opinions are my own.

Pub date: 28 May 2024