Showing posts with label Vivian Conroy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vivian Conroy. Show all posts

Sunday, April 9, 2023

A Fatal Encounter in Tuscany by Vivian Conroy

I hadn't read the first two books in this series and I regret that. While Conroy is an adept writer and put some information in to catch us up on characters without info dumping, I really wish I had known more about Atalanta Ashford and her sleuthing abilities. 
But we meet her in this book as she is solving the mystery of a missing ring. Having read Sherlock Holmes, she is very easily able to find where the ring went, riling Inspector Deriot who seems to be a rival of sorts. Or maybe she is more accurately a thorn in his side. 
But she won't be a thorn for long as her friend (?) Raoul is "abducting" her for a grand adventure, a ride on the Orient Express. It is there that she and Raoul meet Catharina Lanetti who is going back to Italy to celebrate her father's birthday. Her family is... interesting, to say the least. The patriarch worships the Machiavellis and his schemes are no less convoluted. Catharina invites Atalanta and Raoul to join the celebration. While Atalanta wonders whether this is a set up, she is still drawn to the Lanettie compound where, as predicted, Catharina's father is killed. She, as the person who has come back the most recently is blamed. But is she really the killer?
There is a LOT of drama and untold secrets in this book. I think, having read the first two books, I might be more invested in the story but I do feel like Conroy is setting up Atalanta and Raoul to be more than friends but the chemistry isn't there yet. 

Three and a half stars
This book comes out April 13, 2023
Follows Last Seen in Santorini
Followed by Last Dance in Salzburg
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter
Opinions are my own

Sunday, June 30, 2019

Honeymoon with Death by Vivian Conroy

Honeymoon with Death by Vivian ConroyThis story is very reminiscent of Agatha Christie's "Sleeping Murder." A newlywed comes to a faraway land and starts to recover memories of a long ago murder. And by reminiscent, this is very much a variation on the theme.
Damaris Ramsworth received a free play ticket in the mail which led to her meeting her handsome and connected husband. Hers is very much a Cinderella story and she is living it to the fullest. But then her husband chooses their honeymoon as a surprise and the more she's on this Greek island, the more she wonders what, exactly, is going on.
First are the things that she sees (skull in her room, beetles all over) that no one else seems to. Then, there's the sense that she's been to this place before. But how? And it doesn't help that her husband's friends have "accidentally" run into them in this remote place. Waking up to find herself standing over a dead body is the last straw.
At any other time, Damaris would probably immediately be indicted for murder. But, lucky for her, Inspector Jasper is vacationing on the same island and is willing to take up her cause...
This book starts with a LOT of frenetic energy. It is hard to follow the story and then becomes even worse when trying to follow the logic Jasper uses to solve the crime. An okay story but I probably won't follow the series.

Three stars
This book comes out July 1st
ARC kindly provided by Canelo and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Monday, February 11, 2019

Testament to Murder by Vivian Conroy

A Testament to MurderThis is set up as a quintessential English country house (or vacation house) murder. A cranky, old, very wealthy, dying man invites nine potential heirs and tells them that he is going to be choosing one person every night at midnight to be the beneficiary of his will. No one will know who it is but each day, someone might end up being his sole heir, or being written out of the will. He is setting up the perfect scenario for someone to be murdered.
And someone is, but it's not the old man. Through a series of winding expositions, we learn the true solution. Or do we?
It is a short read but is one that starts slow until it careens toward an ending that was interesting but very convoluted.

Three stars
This book comes out February 18
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley and publisher

Tuesday, August 21, 2018

The Butterfly Conspiracy by Vivian Conroy

The start of a new series, I quite enjoyed most of this book. It did take me a while to get into it but I did overall like this book and look forward to the next one.

The Butterfly Conspiracy by Vivian Conroy Miss Merula Meriweather is not pining for marriage. She would rather be inducted into the butterfly "club" in society. But she's an unmarried woman so that's not really going to happen. But she can present her work as her uncle's. Too bad her first presentation ends in death. And her uncle accused of the murder. Luckily, Lord Raven Royston is willing to lend her a hand in her investigations.

Three stars
This book came out August 7
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley

Monday, November 28, 2016

Deadly Treasures by Vivian Conroy

Deadly Treasures by Vivian ConroyLady Alkmene grew up with a somewhat peripatetic existence, moving from house to house while her father was on botanical explorations and after her mother died. One boy that never seemed to care was Duncan Woolsbury. He used to torment her and Alkmene used to do her best to get even. Now Duncan is  getting older and his parents are afraid that he's never going to get married and present an heir to the viscountcy. They want Alkmene to present herself as a candidate to be his wife. She's very excited to travel to some far away place like Egypt or the Himalays. Unfortunately, it turns out he's excavating a medieval village in Cornwall.
When she arrives, Duncan is being held in between two constables. It seems a man was killed on the work site, his head bashed in with Duncan's own hammer. And there is a lot of intrigue around the site, supposedly there is a pile of gold buried somewhere in the castle. Duncan may have found some of it but there are plenty of people that would like for him to fail. So was the man killed because of something he did or to prevent Duncan?
I would have liked to see more character development in both Lady Alkmene and Jake Dubois. We're in book three and they're pretty much the same people we met in the first book.

Three stars
This book came out November 21

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Diamonds of Death by Vivian Conroy

Diamonds of Death by Vivian ConroyThe book opens with a cat burglar (literally) stumbling upon a dead body. When the noise summons the household servants, they immediately jump to the conclusion that he is the killer. Jack Dubois feels differently and he enlists the help of Lady Alkmene since the dead man was married to Alkmene's aunt (her mother's half-sister.)
Alkmene is nervous about visiting a house of mourning, especially since she hasn't met Amy of her cousins before. And what she finds is astonishing. Her oldest cousin Albert is married to Helena, a woman who immediately resents Alkmene's arrival. His younger brother George is resentful of not being the heir and has a strange relationship with Helena. Her cousin Ann had written Alkmene several letters since the siblings and their father had returned to England but Alkmene wasn't sure what to do with them. Her father never discussed that side of the family and she gets the feeling that there is a reason why. She's worried it's because her aunt went insane before her death.
A nice addition to the Alkmene series. I like that both Jack and Alkmene are more fleshed out than they were in the first book. Still some slow places but overall a quick and fun read.

Four stars
This book comes out October 17
This book follows A Proposal to Die For
Followed by Deadly Treasures

Monday, September 12, 2016

A Proposal to Die For by Vivian Conroy

A Proposal to Die For by Vivian ConroyLady Alkmene Callender is a bit ahead of her time. She's wanting to do more with her life than just sit at home while her father travels the world searching for rare plants. And she gets her chance when she overhears a man proposing to someone but being told that the woman's uncle would never approve. There is a joke that she could marry whomever she pleases when the old man passes away. Lady Alkmene then meets the woman, American actress Evelyn Steinbeck. But, she doesn't meet her for very long. instead, she spends some time talking to her hostess, the Countess of Vivienne, and learns that Evelyn and her uncle were at the theater when a young man came and caused a scene.
It will come as no surprise to mystery readers that the uncle is killed two days later. Alkmene immediately jumps to the conclusion that it was murder and decides to head out and discover if anyone else feels the same. She encounters the countess sitting with a young man who ends up being a reporter. Or a private detective. Either way, he has a lot of contempt for the aristocracy. But he allows Alkmene to tag along because he thinks there something to this issue as well. It's an adventure that's going to take Alkmene out of London and out of her everyday life.
This was definitely a first book. The characters felt fuzzy around the edges, like she was still trying to figure out who they were. And the story is also a bit scattered with story threads not really weaving in smoothly. The author mentions that she did a lot of online research to get clothes and cars, etc. right but the tone... I just finished a mystery actually written in the '20s and the language was SO different. There were so many words and phrases that were just too modern and kept pulling me out of the story.
An okay story but I probably won't keep reading the series.

Three stars
This book comes out September 19
Followed by Diamonds of Death