The Curious Inheritance of Blakely House by Joanna Davidson Politano

Sydney Forrester has never known her mother. But little did she know that a search for the woman would lead her to a new life. While more or less happy in London, Sydney is given the chance to change her life at Blakely House when she learns that she's the sole inheritor of the place. She assumes it's a small cottage but instead, it is a large house on a small island and it is feared by the neighbors.
She arrives with her cat, Micah, in the middle of a storm. She is saved (?) by a one-armed Frenchman but finally makes it into the house where she is immediately charmed by all of the movement, then immediatley after scared by the servants. It's then that she finds out that she is not actually the sole inheritor but one of four. Now it's up to her to figure out not only the machinations in the house, but in person.
The ending to the main story was a little overwrought but an overall okay story.

Three and a half stars

This book came out Aprill 15, 2025

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

The Dark Lord's Guide to Dating (And Other War Crimes) by Tiffany Hunt

This books is VERY like the Assistant to the Villain series although Arabella doesn't end up with Kazimir by choice. Instead, she is kidnapped because of her bloodline. The Dark Lord needs someone with magical blood to help unlock an ancient artifact. However, it seems like the artifact needs more than just marriage to have the powers the Dark Lord needs. Kazimir doesn't want to trick Arabella but the attraction they feel toward each other isn't necessarily a bad thing so a lot of Happy Fun Times ensue. It's just a darn shame that every time they have sex, they destroy a little more of the castle. 

Three and a half stars

Guides to Villainy and Love #1

Followed by The Dark Lord's Guide to Honeymooning (and Other Acts of Tyranny)

This book came out May 24, 2025

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Safari Murder Party by Rachel Moore

As an executive assistant, Fletcher Spence thought she knew her boss. She thought she'd work her way into his magazine as a photographer. But when she's not invited to his ultra-exclusive island getaway, it's the last straw. She's already got an eviction notice and had to divest herself of the boyfriend she's had since she was sixteen. But this is the limit. She decides she's going to show up anyway. And Dyer Cartwright lets her. He lets her join all of the coworkers that look down on her and his son who isn't even working for the business at the moment anyway. 

They arrive at the fabulous island and get settled in. But then comes the twist, Dyer dies. And his will reveals that the last person standing will inherit the entire media empire. Chaos erupts. 

Three and a half stars

This book comes out May 19, 2026

ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

The Botanist's Assistant by Peggy Townsend

Margaret Finch is described in the book as tall and big-boned. Several times. There are also a number of references to her nickname, Big Bird. So, a bit of an oddity. And her personality only helps to set her apart. Her life is ruled by routines with the same outfits on the same day of every week, getting to work on time, etc. She also has a rigid sense of rules and will follow them, even to the point of her own detriment. 

Her entire world is shattered when she finds her boss dead. When thinking back over the scene, she becomes convinced that he was murdered. But, having no friends and few people who even like her, no one wants to listen to what she has to say. 

This was a short book with a lot of beats that repeat, but was overall an enjoyable read.

Three and a half stars

This book came out November 18, 2025

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Summer Knight by Jim Butcher with James Marsters (Narrator)

Harry knows not to mess in the realm of the Fae... now. But he made a promise to his godmother when he was young and she gave that promise to the Winter Queen. The Winter Queen  will release Harry from his promise if he performs three tasks. The first thing is to figure out who killed the Summer night so that the Winter Queen is not blamed.

It's going to be impossible for Harry to do this by himself, but luckily he has made friends and allies (whether he wants to or not.)

Three and a half stars

Dresden Files #4

Follows Grave Peril

Followed by Death Masks

This book came out September 3, 2002

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

The Accidental Alchemist by Gigi Pandian

Zoe Faust is finally settling down. She's been living out of an RV for years but bought a house in Portland, Oregon. She's hopeful of putting down roots. But that hope is dashed when her contractor dies on her front steps and she makes the mistake of telling the police that it's poison. Of course, they're going to suspect her. At least she had already met the officer before when he came to drag away the young teenager who broke into her house.

All this would be bad enough but it turns out she also has a living gargoyle that she has to deal with. In her centuries of living, she's not had to put up with anything like this. But maybe it's something she can get used to. 

I'm not sure all the bits and bobs of this story hang together particularly well but it was an enjoyable story. 

Three and a half stars

Accidental Alchemist #1

Followed by The Masquerading Magician

This book came out January 8, 2015

Borrowed as ebook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

This Weekend Doesn't End Well for Anyone by Catherine Mack

As the narrator even notes, there are a LOT of people in this book. There were nine people that were going to be integral to the story introduced within the first 11% of the book (might have been 10, 11 is just when I looked.) I had to write them all down just to keep track of how each one was related to the narrator. And I've read the other two books in this series. The ending was a bit complicated but the clues were there if you listened.

Eleanor is going to a writing conference. Just because her last two vacations have contained murder doesn't mean this is going to end badly, right? Sun, sand and writing. It should be a blast.

Except that they walk right into a dead body. The hotel is, of course, wanting to downplay the incident. Eleanor is ready to leave but her boyfriend, Oliver, and her sister/assistant, Harper aren't as enthusiastic. They want to stay. 

Eleanor decides that she has not other option but to stay at a conference that contains not only the people she loves, but her ex-boyfriend Connor, his former partner (who Eleanor included in her books), her own ex-best-friend, and a BookToker who doesn't like ANYONE'S books. Oh, and crazy Kathy (sp?), Eleanor's very own stalker. 

Three and a half stars

The Vacation Mysteries #3

Follows No One Was Supposed to Die at this Wedding

This book comes out April 28, 2026

ARC audiobook kindly provided by Minotaur Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

How to Cheat Your Own Death by Kristen Perrin

Annie adores her mother. She really does. Plus she knows her mother inside and out. Which is why she's so confused when her mother starts talking about Felicity (Fliss.) First of all, Felicity is a sculptor. Second of all, she's Detective Crane's ex-girlfriend. I mean, what the heck?

But then, Annie findes Felicity dead and missing a particular body part. Is it linked to the threats her mother's been getting? How can it not be? End the end, there are ties to her mother, father, and her Aunt Frances as history overlaps on itself, even as the chapters bounce back and forth between Annie's view and her aunt's diaries. The whole time, she is concious of the last prediction of Peony Lane. 

There was a lot going on in this book. A lot. But there was some good character and relationship building.  

Three and a half stars

Castle Knoll Files #3

Follows by How to Seal Your Own Fate

This book comes out April 28, 2026

ARC kindly provided by Dutton and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Pomona Afton Can Totally Catch a Killer by Bellamy Rose

After the last book, Pomona has been trying to turn her life around. But only a little. You can't expect her to ride the subway, after all. She's starting a foundation to help underprivileged children. There are a lot of nerves surrounding her first gala. She has to prove that she's changed her life. Too bad it's not going well even before a body comes over the balcony. 

She's once again off to the races. And as much as she pretends she's working with Gabe, we get a lot of insight into the fact that she is very much still the pampered party girl that she started out as in the first book. She's growing but, ufda, as much time as has passed, it is slow. 

This ending made a little more sense and I thought the book was fairly clued without being overt about the person behind the death. 

Three stars

Pomona Afton #2
Follows Pomona Afton Can So Solve a Murder

This book comes out April 14, 2026

ARC kindly provided by Atria Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews

Many readers wish they could live within the covers of their favorite books. They don't always consider where they will land. Maggie discovers, to her dismay, that just because she is in her favorite world, it doesn't mean she's going to be the top of the heap. In fact, she's quickly running out of money and resorts to a desperate act to get some more. But once she does, she embarks on a campaign to make sure that the bad guy who takes over the kingdom in the stories isn't going to do so anymore. Using her knowledge of the books, she starts to make deals based on her knowledge of future events. But, even knowing that if she makes changes, it could affect the book's timelines, she is willing to make those choices and try to save the world. 

I have read most of the books the Andrews team has written but this one took me longer than usual. And not just because it clocks in at almost 400 pages. There was so much going on and so many characters with so many names that I had to stop and think about who was whom. Maggie is dropped into the world knowing the books REALLY well. Would I remember everything with such clarity, even a book I have read over and over? Probably not. But I do believe that there are people who can so that wasn't a point I needed to suspend disbelief over. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out March 31, 2026

ARC kindly provided by Macmillan and Edelweiss

Opinions are my own

The Late-Night Witches by Auralee Wallace with Robyn Maryke

Cassie Beckett lives on Prince Edward Island in a neighborhood she loves. The book opens with her enjoying the quiet of her neighborhood but she does feel a gentle quiet, like she's supposed to be doing something other than all of the other things she does as a mother with three kids who's husband is away with Doctors Without Borders.  Then, her sister Eliza appears with a story about going to battle with a car. There's a lot going on. This is really not the time to find out she's The Chosen One. Well, the thirteenth witch. There's a Big Bad and, if he kills her, she's the thirteenth witch and he can escape the curse her great-great-whatever-grandmother put him  under. 

There was some character development but not a lot. There was also a lot of time hopping and glossing over parts. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out August 19, 2025

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Fortune Favors the Dead by Stephen Spotswood

Willowjean Parker (not the name she was born with) meets Mrs. Pentecost on a fraughte evening when they both almost die. Willow grew up in a small town then moved around frequently with a circus so she hadn't heard of Mrs. Pentecost, the famous detective. But after that night, Mrs. P sought her out and hired her. Three years later, Willow is still working with Mrs. P. They are approached by the Collins twins and their "uncle." Their father committed suicide then, during a party with a seance, their mother is bludgeoned to death. They want to know what is going on. 

Willow and Mrs. P are on the hunt for a murderer and getting pulled into the world of a medium who, past the time when most were moving into the world of tarot readers, is still working with the richest people (including Mrs. Collins.)

The set up very much reminds me of Wolfe and Goodwin with Parker being the legs, though she is not just the muscle, she is very much being trained to take over the agency some day.   

Three and a half stars

Pentecost and Parker #1

This book came out October 27, 2020

Followed by Murder Under Her Skin

Opinions are my own

I Haven't Been Entirely Honest by Miranda Hart

I knew of Miranda Hart from her show, "Miranda," and didn't look to closely at what this book was before requesting it from the library. I didn't realize how much of this would be talking about her illness. I was newly dealing with my own brush with a scary illness and had to take a break from the book for awhile.

She talks a lot about what worked for her in coming to terms with the life she has versus the life she thought she was supposed to lead. Instead, she had to become very introspective, to go into a metaphorical cave to find the treasures of her life. 

As Hart reads the biography, it becomes apparent that many of the most delightful parts of her fictional character are a part of her own true life. Speckled with poetry and suggested dance breaks, this was an interesting story that I may have enjoyed more if I were in a different place in my own life. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out October 10, 2024

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe by Agatha Christie

A visit to the dentist doesn't usually but end up with a visit from the police, but it happens to our favorite protagonist. After he sees Dr. Morely for a tooth issue, the man ends up dead. It is possibly a suicide but Japp would like to talk to Poirot anyway. Alistair Blunt had an appointment with the same dentist and there is a possibility that this was an assassination attempt on the banker. 

There is a sprawling cast of characters in this one including an actress who was also at the dentist but who has since disappeared, a political activist, and the people who live with Mr. Blunt. The solution is a bit convoluted but wouldn't be out of place in a story that was written today. 

Three and a half stars

Hercule Poirot #22

Follows Sad Cypress

Followed by Evil Under the Sun

This book came out November 11, 1940

Borrowed as audiobook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Murder on a Moon Trek by Diane Vallere

Sylvia Stryker has a Plunian mother and human father. Her family business is ice mining but she longs to be a part of the Intergalatic Cruise Ship Security team. Perhaps sneaking on board a ship and posing as the uniform lieutenant is not the way to do that but it's a way she can get on board ship. She just has to lay low. 

Too bad practically the first thing she does is discover a dead body which brings her right into the focus on the ship's Head of Security. Then she discovers two of the ship's crew passed out. What is going on on this ship? Neptune, the Security Head seems to believe her but still puts her in a cell. 

There is a lot going on in a relatively short book which introduces not only a number of characters, but a whole world. That means the end is a little rushed but I'd like to at least read the next book to see how the series builds. 

Three and a half stars

Sylvia Stryker Space Mystery #1

Followed by Scandal on a Moon Trek

This book came out December 17, 2017 (reissued February 5, 2026)

ARC kindly provided by Polyester Press and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

A Killer Guest List by Sarah Bonner

A mysterious invitation appears, a party is being hosted at the Holne House and Cassie is ready to go. She's not sure why she and her wife were invited but figures it may be down to a previous coworker she recommended to the venue. When they arrive, they are paired up with a brother-sister team who have also played the game before. 

On the other hand, Sadie has been going to the murder mystery weekends for almost fifty years. And every year she's taken care of somebody who... needed to be taken care of. This year, she's bringing her twenty-five-year-old goddaughter, her best friend's granddaughter. They are paired up with twins, young men for whom this is their first time playing.

There is a LOT going on in this book and we keep seeing the situations as they flip back and forth between Cassie and Sadie. I knew that this was going to be a book to REALLY suspend my disbelief but the ending was a little too much, even based on what we had read so far. An interesting read for most of the book. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out February 10, 2026

ARC kindly provided by Boldwood Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Murder Wore a Mask; Deadly Cargo; Danger in the Air by by Neil Richards, Matthew Costello, Nathaniel Parker (Narrator)

Follows books 1, 2, 3

Murder Wore a Mask

Aunt Lavinia is throwing a fancy dress ball. Kat and Harry are attending and having fun, but notice that that is not true for everyone. One of the people, Carmody, who was having a hard time (arguing with others) is found dead by the lake. His partner is convinced it is no accident and asks Aunt Lavinia for help.

The suspects include an MP, Palmer, a singer and her fading-star-actor husband, an illegitimate son posing as a footman.

Three stars

Mydworth Mysteries #4

This book came out May 25, 2020

Audible book of mine

Deadly Cargo

We open with the point of view of a lorry driver. He is delivering a dozen radio-phonographs from the Excelsior Radio Company, arguably some of the best radios currently being made in England. The problem is that someone is getting ahold of the delivery routes. Why? To do what exactly happens to this driver, to hold them up and take away their inventory. The problem is that this is the second time it's happened to this particular driver. Luckily, his wife appeals to Kat and Harry for help. 

There was a LOT going on in this little book. Fast, fun, and fluffy if you need a quick read. 

Three stars

Mydworth Mysteries #5

This book came out December 2, 2020

Audible book of mine

Danger in the Air

Airplanes come to Middlebridge when Amelia Earhart, at the beginning of her fame, has come to England. She, and a number of other pilots, are going to have a show. Harry is especially excited as he used to be a pilot, himself.

It is that history that allows him to notice that the plane that Earhart is flying seems to be having more problems than one might expect. 

Three stars

Mydworth Mysteries #8

This book came out July 28, 2020

Audible book of mine

Guilty by Definition by Susie Dent

10 years ago, Martha's sister disappeared. Today, postcards are arriving at the Clarendon English Dictionary office where Martha now works. The postcards hint at the true series of events that happened. Some of Martha's coworkers today were Charlotte's coworkers then, so there are plenty of suspects, especially when previously held secrets start coming to light. 

I heard about this on NPR's A Way with Words and they were enjoying the wordplay. Knowing of Susie Dent from various game shows, I expected no different. I didn't think there was a lot of plot because there was so much built up around the characters. I also felt vaguely like I had read so many similar books but couldn't really pinpoint one. However, the word use exceeded my expectations. 

Three and a half stars

The Clarendon Lexicographers #1

This book came out August 13, 2024

Borrowed as audiobook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

The Shop on Hidden Lane by Jayne Ann Krentz

There has been a Harper-Wells feud for generations. Krentz tells us that quite a bit in this book. But that feud seems to have been broken by Sophy's aunt, Bea, and Luke Well's uncle, Deke. And the two have discovered that because Bea and Deke have disappeared.

Luke is in line to inherit his family's company specifically because he has no psychic talent. At least, that's what everyone thinks. However, he is unusually good at pulling data together and coming to conclusions. Most often, this happens when he dreams. He's come to the conclusion that he needs help because he needs someone who can read crime scenes.

Bea is a librarian. She also reads crime scenes and can clear bad energy from a space. In the recent past, she's also had a series of failed experiments, men who have seen her work and then run away. One even called her a succubus.

Of course, these two are going to fit together and they'll figure that out in the three days this book covers. If you enjoy Krentz, I think you'll like this book. 

Four stars

This book comes out January 6, 2026

Loosely connected to the Fogg Lake books
ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Jane and Dan at the End of the World by Colleen Oakley

It's Jane and Dan's nineteenth anniversary (he seems to think it's their twentieth.) Dan won a reservation to a very exclusive restaurant that were for that same night so they are off to have an adventure. Well, sort of. This is the night that Jane is going to tell Dan that she wants a divorce. Except that, right after they are let in to the restaurant with the world's most expensive dessert, the restaurant is invaded by a group of masked gunpeople. They are after a specific patron, one who is not there yet. 

As the night unfolds, both Jane and Dan will have to confront some home truths about themselves, about their family, and about the beliefs they have about the lives they are living. And also, why this all seems to be unfolding like the book Jane wrote six years ago that only three hundred people have read. 

An interesting book with a fun twist although the end stretched my belief suspension just a little too much, but overall enjoyable.

Three and a half stars

This book came out March 11, 2025

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own