The Father Hunt by Rex Stout

Lilly Rowan is a good friend of Archie's. One day, her secretary, Amy, asks Archie if he (not Nero) can help track down her father, a man whose name she never knew. Archie demurs, saying he only works for Nero and that Nero is very expensive. Well, Amy comes up with the money to pay Nero's salary and the boys are off on a case that tracks back twenty years and overlaps with the death of Amy's mother.
A good Nero Wolfe book. 

Three stars

Follows Death of a Doxy

Followed by Death of a Dude

This book came out May 28th, 1968

Audiobook borrowed from Libby

Opinions are my own

After the Funeral by Agatha Christie

A wealthy man has died. Since he was ill for so very long, no one thinks much of it. Except his youngest sister, who declares at the reading of his will that he was murdered. Still, no one thinks much of it until the sister herself is murdered. It is then that everything is turned topsy-turvy and it's up to Poirot to come in and untangle this web and figure out what really happened and why.

The solution to this one ends up being a little convoluted but it is a really good story with characters that you start to care about.

Three and a half stars

Follows Mrs. McGinty's Dead

Followed by Hickory Dickory Dock

This book came out in March 1953

Hard copy borrowed from library

Opinions are my own

Death at Wentwater Court by Carola Dunn

Daisy Dalrymple is breaking the barriers of the 1920s by striking out on her own (rather than marrying) and becoming a reporter/photographer (though, don't tell her editor because he doesn't believe women can take pictures.) Her first assignment takes her to Wentwater Court where the tensions are running somewhat high between the family as the father has remarried. His three children are having trouble getting used to their stepmother, especially since she is only a year older than her oldest stepson. To make matters worse, Lord Stephen Astwick has been invited to their house right after the Christmas holiday and he is making decided advances toward the stepmother while the daughter of the house seems to be obsessed with him. Lord Astwick all seems to be an oily snake. So it should not be a surprise that he ends up dead. Daisy and one of her old acquaintances are the one to find him floating in a hole where ice used to be.
Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher is called in and immediately appreciates the help that Daisy is able to give him. She is levelheaded and insightful, able to provide a clear picture of everyone at the party as well as seeing things in her photographs that aren't necessarily available to the naked eye. 
This was a nice start to a cozy series. Daisy seems smarter than the average amateur; not rushing into danger, sharing her evidence with the professional. I think I've read this series before and eventually she grated on my nerves but I can't remember why so I'm going to continue listening.

Three and a half stars

Followed by The Winter Garden Mystery

This book came out in 1994

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium

Opinions are my own

A Sinister Establishment by Lynn Messina

Newly a duchess, the former spinster Beatrice Hyde-Clare is thoroughly intimidated by her new husband's staff. They, however, are thoroughly NOT impressed by her. At least the butler sure says so to a footman when he doesn't know Beatrice is within hearing distance. Well, Beatrice is now determined to show them that she is more than a mousy former wallflower. Luckily, an opportunity presents itself when the chef next door is murdered. And his head is removed.

We get to see Beatrice in her element, solving mysteries, but this time, with her husband by her side the whole time. These books are short and the mysteries aren't particularly engaging but it is fun and fluffy and we get to see Beatrice grow into her role as a duchess. 

Three Stars

Follows A Treacherous Performance

Followed by A Boldly Daring Scheme

This book came out June 16th, 2020

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

The Villa by Nora Roberts

This book is one that I do re-read quite a bit, just because it's pretty fluffy but does include some great motifs like blended families and having to let go of people who don't treat us well.

Sophia is the granddaughter of a famous winemaker. Her grandmother is a grand dame known to all as La Signora. About twenty years ago, La Signora married a rival winemaker. With him, came his grandson who has also carried on the MacMillan family business, working in the fields. Tyler has little need for the business side of winemaking while Sophia, an advertising exec, spends as little time in the field as possible. But they are thrown together when her grandmother and his grandfather decide that they are going to ensure that their legacy is secure by shaking up the company and making both Sophia and Ty work in each others fields. This affects more than just the two of them as Sophia's father, a man who has been cheating on her mother steadily since marriage and has never really loved Sophia, is being audited, her mother, who is a timid woman, is forced to the forefront and they're bringing in a new Chief Operating Officer who is going to oversee them all. But that's not the quintessential spanner in the works... no. That actually comes when Sophias feckless father is found dead in her apartment and someone starts poisoning the family's wines.

Wonderful subplot with Sophia's mother and the new COO. Very sweet and incredibly touching (especially since on my most recent re-read I am closer to the mother's age than Sophia's...)

Five stars

This book came out March 26th, 2002

Hard copy of mine

Opinions are my own

Local Hero by Nora Roberts

It had been a LONG time since I had read this book but I vaguely remember it. It was originally a Harlequin novel in the 80s but held up surprisingly well. I liked the characters of both Mitch and Hester; they were fully-formed humans but were able to grow more with each other. Also a fully-formed human? Hester's son, Radley. He wasn't just a plot moppet but actually contributed to the story in substantive ways.
Hester has been a single mom for almost a decade after her husband disappeared one day. But her son doesn't seem to mind it much. He's the reason she's taken a new job in downtown New York, moving her son across town. He's nervous at first but, upon discovering that comic book artist Mitch Dempsey lives in their building, Radley becomes ecstatic. 
Mitch is intrigued by the woman but falls in love with both her and the kid. For Hester, it takes a little bit longer to trust but she is upfront about all of her feelings and Mitch is persistent without being an asshole.

Three and a half stars

This book came out January 1st, 1988

Borrowed as an ebook from Libby 

Opinions are my own

The Lady Has a Past by Amanda Quick

Lyra Brazier is not going to attain her dreams. She knows that she could run the family business but she's a woman in the 1920s. Her father isn't going to hand it over to her and the man she thought she'd marry and then act as a puppetmaster for got into bed with one of her bridesmaids. Now, she's reinventing herself as an assistant investigator for Raina Kirk. Too bad her first assignment almost ends in her death. And then Raina disappears. Lyra immediately calls Raina's lover, Luther. He teams her up with the unassuming Simon Cage.
Simon has just come off a job of his own. It also went sideways so he's just looking for some down time. His friend Luther knows the owner of a posh spa and can get Simon a place. Except that Simon now needs to be on the trail of Raina Kirk and that means going to a different posh spa and pretending to be newlyweds with Lyra. What they find will uncover a blackmail scheme that spans years. But it will also lay bare a plot for revenge that comes unexpectedly from the past.
While you don't have to have read the first four books in this series, it would help with some of the backgrounds for the characters. Especially knowing that both Luther and Raina have been B characters up to this point but both have shadowy pasts. I really liked Lyra, how she was able to see that one dream wasn't going to be attainable and so she pivoted. It didn't mean that she wasn't hurt or that the transition was easy (although she seems to have a natural aptitude for investigative work) but she did it. Like others of Quick's books, this book has many places where it seems to end but then the reader notices that there are many pages left. I almost put the book down at one point thinking everything to be resolved (because not every author ties up every loose end) but there was almost 15% left in the book.

Four stars
Follows Close Up

Followed by When She Dreams
This book comes out May 4, 2021
ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Reread October 2021, September 2022 as audiobook from Libby