Harm's Way by Catherine Aird

When a man and woman go out to scout a footpath for their groups trek the next day they think the hardest part might be clearing a path or dealing with a farmer who doesn't want them using the easement. However, today a crow drops a finger in their path. Since the local police normally keep things pretty clean, Sloan is called in to figure out what is going on and maybe try to find the rest of the body. 
The farm the finger is found on belongs to a man named Mellot, the brother of the man who owns the famous furniture store. Tom, the brother who owns the furniture, has just beaten off a takeover bid from a man who disappeared soon afterward. Len, a local, had a fight with a stranger at the local pub. Another farmer appears to have run away with a woman named Beverly. Any of them could be the body. Especially since, when Sloan does find the body , it doesn't have a head. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out in 1984

Follows Last Respects

Followed by A Dead Liberty

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Plus

Opinions are my own

Seduction by Erik Henry Vick

I had a friend recommend this book to me and enjoyed the book quite a bit. It was a little short and scattered in this first book with the world-building going on and is some major cheese. However, I like the idea of setting Law and Order in a fantasy world. 
Leery Oriscoe is a Hassidic werewolf with a new partner, Dru, who is half vampire, half succubus with even more secrets. On their first case together, they're going to have to solve the case of a 19-year-old boy who was sucked dry, ostensibly by one of Dru's kind. But it doesn't quite ring true for her. Luckily, Leery notices something during the notes that helps them crack the case.

Three stars

This book came out March 27, 2020

Followed by Arms Dealer

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Plus

Opinions are my own

Jeeves and the Mating Season by P.G. Wodehouse

This story is even more twisted than the usual Jeeves as Bertie sets out to deceive. He shows up at Deverill Hall but is pretending to be Gussie Fink-Nottle. So Jeeves is, obviously not his valet. Instead, it is a friend playing the part, one who is in love but his beloved's family doesn't want her to marry an actor. Esmond Haddock's plethora of aunts understand that feeling as they would really prefer that he not marry Corky who is in town to help her vicar uncle but is, in actuality, a Hollywood actress. One whom Gussie admires and starts to fall in love with when he shows up to the hall as Bertie.

Oh what a tangled (and often confusing with the casual racism of the time that is jarring to a modern ear) web that will take all of Jeeves' brilliance to untangle.

Three and a half stars

This book came out in 1949

Follows Joy in the Morning

Followed by Ring for Jeeves

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium Plus

Opinions are my own

Last Respects by Catherine Aird

When an unknown man's body turns up on a slow river, Inspector Sloan is called in to investigate. Though it seems he was dropped from a great height, the man didn't drown. He and Constable Crosby will have to work to figure out what is going on.

As a concurrent timeline, we meet Elizabeth Busby. She is a young woman who lost her aunt to stomach cancer and her fiance to... well she's not sure. The man up and left one day. He left a note but it wasn't very helpful. She and her uncle are left to grieve.

With Aird, you know what to expect. Usually a lot going on in the story but it's generally gentle and so very British.

Three and a half stars

This book came out in 1982

Follows Passing Strange

Followed by Harm's Way

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium Plus

Opinions are my own

Requiem for a Mezzo by Carola Dunn

Once again, Daisy is pulled into a murder mystery when her next-door neighbor is killed onstage. Unfortunately, as often happens in mystery stories, Bettina Westlea (her stage name; in real life Mrs. Roger Abernathy) has a lot of people that really don't like her. Her sister Muriel has always lived in her shadow and still acts as her housekeeper today. Her husband is a quiet man who knows of her many affairs but has suffered through them without a noise of complaint. Then there is the woman she beat out for a coveted role and the numerous scorned lovers. Really, it could be anyone.

We see Alec and Daisy's relationship grow in this book as well as they spend more time together. And it may be that Daisy's friend Lucy is even beginning to thaw in regards to the handsome inspector as well.

Three and a half stars

This book came out July 1, 2001

Follows The Winter Garden Mystery

Followed by Murder on the Flying Scotsman

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Plus

Opinions are my own

Joy in the Morning by P.G. Wodehouse

Edwin, the less-than-helpful Boy Scout, makes another appearance in this book as Bertie and Jeeves are in Steeple Bumpleigh. Jeeves has finally won his bid to be able to go fishing on his break. Bertie is supposed to stay in a separate home but it is burned down on his first day there through Edwin's actions. This is not great as Lord Worplesdon (Edwin's father, also father to the fearsome Florence Craye who once tried to marry and "improve" Bertie) needed that cottage to make some super secret side deal that he doesn't want anyone, ANYONE, to know about. 

More engagement confusion as Florence is affianced to the local police constable who definitely does not look kindly on her former fiance. Also, there is also Xenobia "Nobby" Hopwood who wants to marry a friend of Bertie's before he goes off to write scripts for Hollywood but her uncle (Lord Worpledon) doesn't trust writers.

A mass of confusing stories as usual but still a fun read.

Three stars

This book came out in 1947

Follows The Code of the Woosters

Followed by Jeeves and the Mating Season

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible

Opinion are my own

The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse

The cow creamer. It is all about a silver cow creamer. "Pop" Bassett wants the creamer and steals it out from under the nose of Bertie's Uncle Tom. So his Aunt Dahlia commands him to steal the creamer. Bertie would rather not but he heads out to the estate anyway as he has been sent a series of frantic telegrams from Gussie Fink-Nottle whose engagement to Angela Bassett seems to be on the line. When Bertie arrives, he discovers that Roderick Spode, a man who is in love with Angela but Jeeves is able to spike his guns. There is also an engagement between Stephanie Bink (the niece of Pop Bassett) and an old friend of Bertie's, "Stinker" Pinker, now a curate, as well as some kerfuffle related to a policeman's hat. 

Of course, all is finished satisfactorily and Jeeves has convinced Bertie to sail off on a world-round cruise.

Three and a half stars

This book came out October 7, 1938

Follows Right Ho Jeeves

Followed by Joy in the Morning

Opinions are my own

Right Ho, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

Bertie never learns. In this book, he is absolutely certain that he knows best. However, it will come as no surprise that all he knows is how to create chaos. It is, of course, up to Jeeves to sort out the relationships between Gussie Finknottle and Madeline Bassett (else she might turn her eye back to Bertie(!)). There are also issues arising between his gambling aunt and Uncle Tom once again. 

When Bertie recommends the same course of action to both his aunt and Gussie, he ends two engagements and almost causes Anatole (the unparalleled chef from previous books). Luckily, Jeeves is there to step in.

Four stars

This book came out October 5, 1934

Follows Thank You, Jeeves

Followed by The Code of the Woosters

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Plus

Opinions are my own

Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers

What happens when a doctor suspects murder but has no way to prove it? If he's overheard by Lord Peter Wimsey and his friend Charles Parker, police detective extraordinaire, he might have a chance.  A doctor believes that a niece has killed her aunt but can't prove it. The local village rallies around her and he is forced to leave town. But he still believes that the death was not accidental. Lord Peter helps him prove that the niece is not as innocent as she appears to be but not before a couple more murders.

Love, love, love Ian Carmichael as the narrator. He is simply amazing.

Four stars

This book came out in 1927

Follows Clouds of Witness

Followed by The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Plus

Opinions are my own

Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers

Lord Peter Wimsey's brother, Gerald, the Duke of Denver, is in a bit of a pickle. He's been arrested for the murder of his sister's fiance. And, while he says he has a witness, he refuses to say who it was that he was with. Now, he's going to trial but the court of public opinion is already swinging against him. Sister Mary isn't saying what she knows, their mother is wildly amused, and Gerald's wife is coldly shutting down. 

Peter will nearly lose his life twice in this book, once in a bog and once on a transatlantic flight but he is able to come through in the end.

Four stars

This book came out in 1926

Follows Whose Body?
Followed by Unnatural Death
Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium Plus

Opinions are my own

Rock Redemption by Nalini Singh

There was a time when Kathleen "Kit" Devigny had hopes for her relationship with Noah St. John. They were friends with the crackle of something more. But then he went and crushed her heart in a very deliberate manner. Now she's just concentrating on getting her acting career going and trying to avoid her stalker.

Except now she needs Noah's help with the acting. She's up for a major role but the director is concerned that Kit doesn't have enough of a social media presence. Well, that changes when one shot of a photographer's camera, taken at a function Kit is attending with Noah so he doesn't have to face his family alone, means that the actress and the rock-star-drummer are now seemingly the newest "It" couple.

We get to see behind both the facades of Noah and of Kit. The faces they show to the world are not their true selves. Kit grew up with famous and distant parents while Noah was trauamatized as a child. The ending felt a bit unfinished for me in regards to Noah's "recovery" and parts of the book felt semi-repetitive but overall I liked this book and am looking forward to reading the last in the series.

Rock Kiss #3

Four stars

This book came out October 6, 2015

Follows Rock Hard

Followed by Rock Wedding

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Reread as Audible Plus audiobook February 2024

Rock Hard by Nalini Singh

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. The premise of mousy Charlotte "Charlie" Baird hooking up with big time businessman and former rugby star Gabriel Bishop sounded fun. And the glimpses of their relationship we got in the first book was fun. But the way the story played out... Ufda. 

Gabriel can tell that Charlotte is hiding and he figures out pretty quickly why. And that's why I'm so confused that he's pushing her so fast. All of the thoughts that we get from him are that he doesn't want to push her but... he's pushing her. And I feel like I missed broad strokes of their story. Things bounded ahead quickly and we missed parts where they grew closer. The first book and then the novella were so good, I was hoping for better for this one.

Weirdly, this is one of my favorite books in this series to re-read. I honestly skip over the flashbacks and the end and I like the book much more. 

Rock Kiss #2
Three and a half stars

This book came out March 10, 2015

Follows Rock Courtship

Followed by Rock Redemption

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Reread as Audible Plus audiobook February 2024

Rock Addiction by Nalini Singh

The Smart Bitches have been raving about Nalini Singh for years. Years. And I never got on the bandwagon. Mostly because I thought all of her books were shape-shifting novels and I've only recently gotten into those as well. I finally picked this book up from the library. And while it wasn't totally my cat nip, I really did enjoy it. 

Zachary Fox, known as Fox, is a big time rock star. Which means that Molly Webster really doesn't want anything to do with him. Her whole life was destroyed when her famous father was discovered not to be the saint everyone thought he was. So, even though there are almost-visible sparks when she sees him across the room, she doesn't plan on doing anything with them. Until he follows her into the elevator. Okay. She'll do a one-night stand. But he wants more. In fact, he wants forever.

I didn't love Zach or Molly but they were pretty well fleshed out and I definitely am anxious to read ab out her sister, Thea, and Fox's bandmate, Dave. (I originally wrote this in 2016 but my feelings haven't changed).

Rock Kiss #1

Three and a half stars

This book came out September 9, 2014

Followed by Rock Courtship

Borrowed as ebook from Libby
Opinions are my own

Reread as Audible Plus audiobook February 2024

The Plus One Pact by Portia MacIntosh

I live in a small town and have definitely hit the page on dating apps where they say, "Sorry, no men left." Cara is in the same place but she has also just discovered that her cousin, bride in The Wedding of the Century, has retaliated against Cara by inviting her ex to the wedding. Cara is now officially desperate. Luckily, her last match has actually answered her. Unluckily, he doesn't show up. Instead, Cara is sitting at a restaurant alone when a man approaches her. He is downright beautiful. And fit. But he seems to feel bad for her so she agrees to meet him at the local It place. From there, the two exchange commiserations. He, it seems, has a series of family events to attend and has been told he can't just bring his flavor-of-the-month. Bringing someone like Cara, an erudite woman with a real job (escape room designer) would get him off the family's black books.

Things do not go smoothly. In this book, both of the main characters are the klutzy but oh-so-sweet ones. And, yes, that is a little annoying and repetitive but I really liked that Millsy liked Cara even before her makeover and that Cara was actually upfront with Millsy about something that she did later in the book. A quick listen on a Sunday afternoon that I enjoyed quite a bit. 

Four stars

This book came out May 21st, 2020

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium Plus

Opinions are my own

Some Die Eloquent by Catherine Aird

When a rich old lady dies in a mystery, there is often a rush to figure out how she was murdered and by whom. In the case of Miss Beatrice Wansdyke, it comes as surprise that the woman was actually rich. I mean, she was a chemistry teacher in a girls' school, where did the money come from? She had managed her diabetes for years but her autopsy shows that she is distinctly lacking insulin. Plus there's the weird thing that her dog has disappeared as well. 

Inspector Sloan is sort of distracted as his wife is about to give birth and we get a lot of details related to that miraculous happening. But that also takes up a lot of the book leaving less room for Aird to show on page how the mystery actually gets solved. 

An interesting story but maybe a little too short.

Three stars

This book came out in 1979

Follows Parting Breath

Followed by Passing Strange

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium Plus

Opinions are my own

Tied Up in Tinsel by Ngaio Marsh, Wanda McCaddon

Agatha Troy is on site, painting a picture of Hilary Bill-Tasman ahead of the holiday season. His family and friends and the local villagers are getting ready for the upcoming Christmas season. There is an eccentric group of people joining them at the manor, Halberds, and that includes the servants who are all reformed murderers. There is Hilary's fiancee, a beautiful woman but maybe not much more than her elegance to add to the depth. Also attending are his (honorary) uncle Bert who likes to keep his low-origins accent on full display even though he has made his fortune as well as Hilary's aunt and uncle, Mrs. and Colonel Forrester, the latter of whom is very deaf and the former who has a tendency of not only talking loud but repeating herself. 

Troy is bemused by the servants and amused by the family. On the night of the big celebration, Forrester has a spell and is unable to play the druid around whom the festivities revolve. The Forrester's manservant, Moult, steps in but then disappears. Hilary works to make sure that Roderick Alleyn is the one called in to the case. What the heck, his wife is already on site.

I liked this one and a lot had to do with the narrator. There are a few red herrings but the clues are fairly obvious and the murderer is easy to guess. This is the best of the Troy/Alleyn relationship though the clues are a bit heavy-handed at points.

Four stars

This book came out in 1972

Follows When in Rome

Followed by Black as He's Painted

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium Plus

Opinions are my own

Save the Date by Monica Murphy, Ava Lucas

Okay, the first maybe third of this book is about Caroline Abbott discovering that her newest bridezilla at the stationery store is engaged to Caroline's first kiss, then discovering that bridezilla is cheating on the hotel scion, and then telling Alexander. And that's all before they even decide to fake date so that Alexander's family can close a business deal in France. 

And it's all nuts but... somehow Murphy makes it work. And the narrators definitely add to the story.

Four stars

This book came out June 14th, 2019

Followed by Fake Date

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium Plus

Opinions are my own

The Innocence of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton, Frederick Davidson

The audiobook of an inauspicious Catholic priest who goes up against some of the most criminally minded men in the world (and comes out on top) is just as good as reading the stories. I've read these stories several times now and each reading is better than the last. You have Father Brown thwarting the notorious Flambeau by creating chaos in his wake. Then Flambeau changes sides and becomes a detective, one who Father Brown often assists such as in the case of the man who worships Apollo and a headless body at a dinner party. Interesting stories that are often fairly clued.

Four stars

This book came out 1911

Followed by The Wisdom of Father Brown

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible

Opinions are my own

The Wedding Date Disaster by Avery Flynn

Hadley Donavan can't believe that this is her life. She is handling a big event, one that will help her keep her job with an event company, when she is ambushed by her best friend's twin. While Web is a perfectly nice man, Will seems hell-bent on ruining her life. Their anger explodes into a passionate kiss in a coat closet which is interrupted by Will's ex who immediately steps out to start spreading rumors. And that's the end of Hadley's job. Now she's going home for her sister's wedding with no boyfriend, no job, and her dreams of making it in the Big City shattered. But she doesn't want her family to know so she's lined up Web to come and be in a fake relationship.

Will knows that Hadley is a gold digger. She is Just Like his ex pretending to be interested in Web until she can get her hooks into the family billions. When Web gets food poisoning the night before he's supposed to leave, Will takes his place - this will be the perfect chance to see what she is really like. 

The last Big Misunderstanding should have been left out. The rest of the story was perfectly fine, maybe the relationship was a little fast but otherwise a good story. And then.... blergh. 

I do hope that Web gets a story one day because he seems like a good dude. 

Three stars

This book came out August 26th, 2020

Follows The Schemer

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Plus

Opinions are my own

Lady Osbaldestone's Christmas Intrigue by Stephanie Laurens

It is once again Christmas and Lady Osbaldestone is hosting an additional person this year, her youngest son, Christopher. He usually stays in London as long as possible, joining the family as close to Christmas as possible. But this year, his work in the Foreign Office is making him change his habits. Someone has been staking out his London residence and the higher ups are afraid it might be someone from France. The war from Napoleon looks like it might be ending soon (God willing) and Christopher's web of informants will be vital in rebuilding should the war actually be at an end. So if a French agent is staking out his house, Christopher needs to disappear. Add in to that the fact that he suddenly seems to be on the target of eligible lades, he's ready to disappear. And heading to Little Moseley might be the answer. He loves his nieces and nephews and knows that they've had fun there the last few Christmases. Joining them there might be a bit of a hardship but not entirely.

Marion Sewell is tracking Christopher but not for matrimonial purposes. Instead, she is trying to do a favor for her brother who is in the Foreign Office. But she thinks that Christopher might suspect her of the former. He certainly ran away from her in that London ballroom fast enough. But she is going to be relentless in making sure that he hears what she has to say, even if she tracks him down in the back of beyond.

The Christmas Chronicles usually focus around a mystery with a little romance on the side. This book is no different. But from the description (and even the way I described it myself), the romance seems to take the fore. However, there is actually a lot of back and forth between the children and Christopher, the children and Lady Osbaldestone, and even the children and the man sent to protect Christopher. The mystery in this one was weaker than usual and there was a lot of running around with little to show for it until a lot of action was packed into the last 5% of the book.

Three stars

This book came out in October 15th, 2020
Follows Lady Osbaldestone’s Plum Puddings 

Followed by The Meaning of Love

Borrowed as audiobook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own