Home Sweet Christmas by Susan Mallery

I wish that either River and Dylan or Camryn and Jake had gotten their own books. Both relationships had some big problems (well, one person in the relationship had Big Problems) that were solved relatively quickly and it would have been nice to see a little more introspection. Also, I really don't love the meddling mother trope. 

Camryn Neff is only in Wishing Tree long enough for her twin sisters to graduate high school and then she's going back to Chicago. At least, that's the plan until Helen Crane picks her as a contender in a project to marry off her son, Jake. The first thing Camryn does is to find Jake and let him know what is going on. He's charmed, she's charmed by him and they decide to have a short-term affair. And there are a lot of little things that crop up that are usually solved within 2-3 pages, just, so many things. 

River Best is new to Wishing Tree. She's really good at computers and very shy having grown up with scoliosis and not really getting to participate in regular life growing up. But she consents to having her name put in for the Snow King, a tradition that has been dormant in Wishing Tree but is being resurrected, purely so that Helen (yes, Jake's mother) can also find a wife for Dylan Tucker, the local craftsman. And they're attracted, but Dylan has a big secret that he is unwilling to share with River, even though she's opened her heart to him.

Three stars

This book came out October 4, 2022

Follows The Christmas Wedding Guest

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

The Case of the Counterfeit Colonel by Christopher Bush

Ludovic Travers runs a private inquiry agency in the days after the great war. One day, a man named Henry Clandon comes to him and asks if Travers can find a man by the name of David Seeway. Apparently, Seeway saved Clandon in the war and now Clandon would like to talk to him again. Seeway also mentions the name Archie Debbins and the town of Bassingford. So, Travers is off on a journey that twists and turns around itself. A fairly straightforward mystery throughout most of the book, Travers is able to locate one of the men, but, when he shows up, the man has been murdered. Then, it just gets really complicated and there is a giant exposition dump at the end of the story that I felt didn't so much fill in holes in the solution as create it from whole cloth.

I picked up this as a result of listening to the Classic Mysteries podcast.

Three stars
This book came out in 1952

Follows The Case of the Happy Medium

Followed by The Case of the Burnt Bohemian

Borrowed as ebook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

A Poisoning in Piccadilly by Lynda Wilcox

The Great War is over and Lady Eleanor Bakewell is one of the Bright Young Things, living life to the fullest after being so close to death. But death can find you anywhere, even in a sparkling club as Eleanor discovers when Henry Eisenbach dies in her arms. Though the American millionaire was older, there is something suspicious about the way he went down. And Eleanor saw enough death during the war to know that something is terribly wrong. 

I've been suggested a large number of 1920s female sleuth mysteries by Kindle Unlimited. Two of them even have heroines with the same name. After this book, I'm definitely going to keep reading this series. Eleanor seems fairly competent and not ONLY a busybody which I do enjoy. 

Four stars
This book came out August 16, 2019

Followed by A Burglary in Belgravia

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

It Happened One Night -- Anthology

The Fall of Rogue Gerrard by Stephanie Laurens

Rogue "Ro" Gerrard is on his way to London when a storm sends him off track. At the inn he stops at, he discovers Lydia Makepeace, a woman he has known since childhood. It seems that she is about to break into a house party in order to retrieve some indiscreet letters that her sister has written. Unfortunately, Ro knows the host and knows it's not the kind of party that Lydia should be attending. They go to retrieve the letter and, inexplicably, have sexy-times in the middle of the heist. Of course, they realize it's Twu Lurv and the story ends with marriage.

Three and a half stars

Spellbound by Mary Balogh

When Nora Ryder was hired by Mrs. Witherspoon, she didn't expect to have so much trouble getting paid. And she didn't expect to be stranded at an inn when the stagecoach is broken. She most certainly didn't expect to see the man she had married ten years ago. 

Richard Kemp, Lord Bourne, was just a secretary when he ran away with Nora. And her family caught up to them quickly and beat the tar out of him. But his fortunes have since changed and so has he. Is this a second chance at true love?

Three stars

Only You by Jacquie D'Alessandro

Cassandra Heywood is a duchess. But a lonely one. Her late husband's family has dismissed her and she's not looking forward to going back to her father's house. So she makes a stop on the way to visit an old friend, Ethan Baxter, a childhood friend who is now the proprietor of a roadside inn. The two sit and talk, have some sexy-times, but then she leaves to go home. Of course, there is an HEA but it's nice to see the journey for both of them.

Three stars

From This Moment On by Candice Hern

A lovely story about an older couple who were young lovers torn apart by circumstance. When her youthful lover disappeared, Willie was thrown out of her mother's home. She became an artist's model/lover, a famous courtesan, and then a duchess. Her erstwhile lover, Sam, is now a Captain in the navy on half-pay (not quite retired but not active duty). This is a sweet story with exposition through discussion and a wonderful example of two people <i>actually talking to each other</i>. 

Three stars

The Case of the Canterfell Codicil by P.J. Fitzsimmons

The description for this book was that it had a protagonist similar to Bertie Wooster so I thought it might be interesting. And I agree that the humor is very much like P. G. Wodehouse. The prose got a little overly flowery in the end and the mystery was a little too convoluted but overall a very fun story.

Antony "Anty" Boisjoly has just buried his father and gets called to help out his old friend Evelyn "Fiddlesticks" Fairfax whose uncle is dead by defenestration. On the train up, he meets a man in a trenchcoat; the man turns out to be the Detective Inspector Wittersham assigned to the case. That inspector is also focused on making Fiddly the bad guy. But Anty was on crew with the man and knows he couldn't be the murderer. Anty's not adept at solving murders but he was helpful in school so Evelyn is counting on him to save the day and hopefully so Evelyn can then live happily ever after with the visiting young woman.

Four stars

This book came out October 30, 2020

Followed by The Case of the Ghost of Christmas Morning

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Eat, Pray, Love Made Me Do It -- Anthology

I didn't love "Eat, Pray, Love" but many people did and listening to their stories was an interesting way to pass time. Just more proof that literature can change people's lives, often for the better.

Three stars

This book came out March 29, 2016

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

The Thursday Murder Club Richard Osman

I read this book after the second and third in this series but that didn't bother me at all. The story is great, the narrator is fantastic, and the characters are in their pupal state but, knowing the butterflies, I enjoyed them maybe even more. I feel like we get to see Joyce quite a bit but not as much of Elizabeth, Ibrahim, and Ron who we see more of in later books.

When the book starts, we meet Joyce. Well, she keeps diary entries about her days. She's a former nurse and has been invited to join the Thursday Murder Club (on Thursdays because that was the only day the common room was available. It was started by Elizabeth and Penny as a way to solve cold cases. Now Penny is close to death and the crew is a little at loose ends. Right now they are working on the mysterious death of the man who wanted to develop next to their retirement home. Then there's another death. And they're somewhat connected to one of the cold cases the crew worked on.

Four stars

This book came out September 3, 2020

Followed by The Man who Died Twice

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own